Cusco

Just three short days after getting back to Lima from Chinchil, the group and I were on the road again for other adventures. We took the hour long flight to Cusco instead of opting for the twenty-four hour long bus ride. (It took that long because it was all in the mountains weaving back and forth up the mountains.) We figured we spent enough time on the bus to Huacrachuco. Upon arriving in Cusco, we met up with Rachel Tarvin, a single missionary who lives in the seminary in Urubamba. She acted as our chauffeur and tour guide throughout Cusco, Urubamba, and Arin. With this trip to Cusco, we got to play tourist for six days. It was nice to relax in a different sort of way.
We attended classes at the seminary our first day and visited a famous pottery workshop. The following day we were able to visit one of the Seven Wonders of the World: Machupicchu, an ancient Incan settlement nestled in the Andes Mountains. On our way back to the seminary, we crossed paths with Jake, a lone traveler from Michigan who immediately took us for missionaries, since we were young, happy Americans in Peru. We talked with him for a while and soon went our separate ways leaving him to find his cheap room for the night. After getting in the combi, our hearts sank as we realized what an opportunity we had to share the Gospel with him, yet we did not make it a main topic in our conversation. After getting back to the seminary, we decided that we would head out early in the morning to search for him. In a tourist town of about 12,000 people, the chances of finding Jake again were slim to none, but God answered our prayers with a “yes.” After talking with some teenagers about the Gospel, Caleb and I quickly began our way back to the plaza to meet up with the rest of our group. While coming up a hill, Jake was passing by on a cross-street. We quickly went up to him and invited him to see some ruins with our group. He accepted and ended up spending the entire day with us on Saturday. He even went back to the seminary with us and helped us clean out a storage room. We enjoyed our time with him and before he left, Caleb was able to share with him why we had wanted to find him again. Caleb was able to share the gospel message with Jake and exchange e-mail addresses as well. It was amazing to see how God worked everything out in his timing and how He allowed us another chance to talk to Jake again. We were reminded of how we ought always to take the opportunities to talk about God and His Word that we have, because we may not be given a second chance.
Sunday we were able to visit two different churches and participate in their services. Again, it was such a blessing to fellowship with other brothers and sisters in Christ. Monday we got to go whitewater rafting and enjoy being out on the river. We had a great guide who allowed us to play around carefully with the rapids and later on allowed us to jump off a bridge into the deep part of the river. We jumped from some Incan-placed rocks some sixteen feet above the water. It was a beautiful day to be outside, as the sun shone on our rocking raft. That night we were able to walk around the different plazas in Cusco. It was beautiful. The lamps in the plazas gave the sky a golden glow and folk music from the restaurants nearby could be heard. Later on, it began raining lightly, which caused the wet sidewalks to reflect the lamp’s glow. Tuesday we took a tour van to a place to ride horses to see different ruins around Cusco. The horses were not the tame animals that are normally used for tour groups, but now, after-the-fact, we enjoyed the heart-racing times when the horses would break into a gallop.
The trip to Cusco was our last trip together as a team for a while. We left Caleb in Urubamba to help missionary Tim Whattley and his family, while Janae and Rochelle left on Friday for Chimbote to work with Steve and Molly Stillwell. Tessha and I are staying in Lima for this time to work with our Peruvian father, the pastor of our church here in Ate. These next six months will be our time of internship where we will be able to put into practice what we have learned by taking part in teaching Sunday school, doing kids clubs, working with the youth group, having discipleship meetings, working at camp during the summer months of January and February, and independently studying our Spanish. I would appreciate your prayers as November and December are the slower months of our getting into this internship time. Pray that I will use my time wisely and work the hardest that I can in the tasks that God brings before me.