Leaving San Josecito...crossing the river on the scary bridge!!
Crossing a stream....
We took the long way this time (6 hours) so we could stop at all the brothers' and sisters' houses to invite them and their kids to the meetings.
What a place...it's a village in the middle of the mountains where everyone calls you hermana.
Crushing peppers for our soup
I learned the best way to kill a pig and how to make tea from avocado leaves. It's a place where chicken soup for lunch is a treat. It's a place where getting your child to bed is rocking them while picking lice out of their hair. They have a school, but the teacher just left after only teaching 2 classes. I guess teaching 6 grades together is hard?! ;) All the kids are grades behind in books but they know how to make sling shots and kill birds for dinner.
Some of the kids and Angela!
Most of the men there have left to work in Argentina because the recent drought ruined all their crops. This past week the rain finally came, and it CAME! Two months worth of rain, ruining the roads and wiping away a whole town nearby. We had two kids' meetings with puppets, stories and crafts. This trip was awesome because several of the kids who are really shy opened up to us and were on our laps or holding our hands the whole weekend. 
Cute little girl I was holding. No diaper on...praying she wouldn't pee on me!
This is Santiago's daughter. She is deaf and mute.
This is her son. He´s 7
Crushing corn and scraps for the dogs
Jonni...:)
Rosie...
We left Sunday afternoon, after 3 bowls of chicken soup (they keep giving you more and it´s rude to not eat what they give you). When we got back to San Josecito we were able to take a quick shower before the night meeting. The church is very big there. They actually have a worship team :) I shared with the church on loving others, even our enemies. The church was packed, people were sitting outside the doors listening.
best friends in San Josecito!
Empanada stand outside the church in San Josecito...:)
The way home from San Josecito is a whole story in itself! Our plan was to catch the bus Monday morning at 8am. Well, the bus didn't come because it rained the whole night ruining the roads, so we spent the day with the Pastor's family. A bus also leaves at 4pm, but nobody knew if it would...everybody in town had their own opinion. According to them, the driver that day was the crazy one so he probably would attempt the trip. Comforting right? :) Well, they were right, we left at 4 and had no idea what was ahead of us!
We had to stop several times to move fallen trees and rocks out of the way. We stopped around 7pm because of a land slide which blocked the road. The crazy driver didn't drive back to San Josecito, he decided he wanted to stay overnight and wait for a bulldozer to come clear the way. He knew if he turned around he wouldn't get paid. So we slept on the bus that night. Half of the people decided to walk back to San Josecito. Once they left, everyone remaining scrambled to get two seats to themselves so they could sleep better. Pretty funny! This guy kept trying to wake me up (I was pretending to sleep) so he could sit next to me...."Señora...spanish spanish spanish something" I was trying so hard not to laugh. It worked and he left and I had two seats to myself. We woke up from our great deep sleep (not!) at about 5:30am. Another group decided to leave then to walk to where the crossroad was (about 4 hours) to catch the other bus to Entre Rios. We decided to leave with that group and so we put on our hiking shoes and we left!
Leaving at 5:30am to hike the rest of the way...
We didn't have any water, only a piece of bread. I made sure we stuck with the guy who had the chicken (it was alive!). You never know!! Gotta stick with the food. :) It started to rain, the road was so soft, in parts of it you would just sink! We had to cross the river 4 times on the way. The current was so strong our whole group had to cross together, holding on to each others' arms. I SO wish I had a picture for you of it...but then again everyone stripped down to their underwear to cross because it was waist deep so I wouldnt post it...but yeah, it was a sight!! We stopped at a little house to get water but their pipes had broken because of the storm so they just had rain water to give us. We hiked about two hours and came to a bus coming our direction that couldn't go any further. That bus was turning around towards Entre Rios so we got on, muddy and wet but happy. That bus had to stop several times for several hours so everyone could get out and help repair a stream so we could cross. We finally got to Entre Rios about 5pm yesterday!
There is a leadership retreat at the mission this week (the pastors or their wives from the country come). I was really moved last night by the meeting. During the worship time, I opened my eyes and everyone had tears streaming down their face...crying out to God asking for his help. Please pray for the rest of the retreat! Pray the Lord would strengthen the weary and encourage the depressed. I need to run, I'm making soup for dinner for everyone.
One last thing... You know what I was thinking this weekend? When God tells us to do something, it's not just a "Go do that...", it's a "Come with me here..." It's like he takes our hand, and says, "Come with me, let me help you love others, let me mold you, bless you, show you." :) Pretty neat!!
Love and miss you all! Thanks for all the emails!
Julia
2 comments:
you're a trooper girl. memories for a lifetime, for sure.
love from Wales.
from Allura: Wow, Julia, this is an awesome story! Actually, your mom told me about it last night and I wanted to read it for myself! Man oh man, i love what He's showing you, honey. :) Did you hear that Officer Wilson said he was arresting me on Tuesday at owc? I'll send you the update,but what you wrote about God saying, "COME" instead of "GO" ministered such peace to my heart. He will never leave us or forsake us! What an awesome God! I love you & miss you!
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