The Georges in Peru

Sunday we had a new couple, J & C, visit our church.  They are elderly but smiley.  "How did you come to hear about our church?" I asked after the service.  "We saw the sign hanging outside the church."  I'm not sure if it is a cultural thing or maybe they have something to hide, but when I tried asking them more information about themselves they answered very vaguely.  And shortly thereafter their answers started to conflict with previous answers.  I chalked it up to me being a scary gringo.  I asked them where they lived and they gave a vague, "On the last street near the Jesus statue on the hill."  What's that even mean?  After a few minutes, Pastor Elvis came up and talked to them a bit and I laughed inside as he got frustrated by their vague, evasive answers to the exact same questions I had asked.  Okay.  It wasn't fear of the gregarious foreigner after all.  

Today, I had about 40 minutes before our music lessons in the afternoon (Mary Beth is teaching guitar and I am teaching piano to some kids that attend our church) with nothing to do, so I decided to try to go visit J & C.  This was a completely unrealistic plan considering the time.   My first step was to ask the first person I saw in their neighborhood if they knew who J & C were and where they lived.  When I arrived at the Jesus statue on my bike 15 minutes later, I realized I was in a ghost town.  There was no one in sight anywhere.  I decided to inquire about J & C in a little corner store, but when I entered I was suprised to see a 10-year-old boy attending an 8-year-old boy obviously sent my his mother to buy mangoes. He was trying to calculate how he could include a chocolate bar in the purchase without it being too noticeable.  "Uh, do you know an older couple named J & C," I asked.  The 10-year-old looked pensive and shook his head. "Their last name is Roca," I added, not expecting my prospects to improve with that added detail.  "Hmm.  HIS last name is 'Roca'," he said, pointing to the 8-year-old.  "Do you know J & C?  Are they your grandparents?"  I asked redirecting my questions to the 8-year-old who quietly replied, "I don't know."  I realized that many 8-year-olds here don't know their grandparents actual names.  "Are they from Azángaro?"  "Don't know."  The 10-year-old called for his mom who came and after I explained why I was looking for them, she encouraged the 8-year-old to show me his home where I met his mother, J & C's daughter-in-law!  Unfortunately, J & C weren't home (or maybe they were, one never knows!), but I left greetings and thanked them for visiting our church and invited the daughter-in-law to visit too.

Searching in Alto La Punta on my bike

As we finish this year 2022, we want to wish you a (belated) Merry Christmas and Blessed New Year! 

We had the joy of having 3 of our 4 kids with us in La Punta de Bombón for Christmas!  Ben had to return to the States already as he is gainfully employed in Illinois now, but Mia and Paul will remain with us until their universities resume classes.  Peru is still in a State of Emergency, so pray that all of our planned travel is uncomplicated, especially with all the canceled flights on the US end of things.

I looked at Rosita.  “I’ve never seen a sow giving birth before.”  Neither had she.  We were all praying the sow and her babies would survive, but I haven’t heard yet.

When we bought our house here in La Punta, it came with most of its contents.  The previous owners live in New Jersey and obviously couldn't take all of their things with them, so we bought the house 'as is'.  That means that we had a lot of duplicate items that we needed to get rid of.  So, for the 3rd time in 2 years we had a garage sale!  It was scheduled for Friday and Saturday and we handed out flyers to people on the street and posted some pictures on the 'Buy & Sell La Punta' Facebook page. 

We're thankful that the sale was a good opportunity to get to know our neighbors better and for them to enter our patio where we hold our church services.  Pray that it leads to some attending church and becoming Christians!

Yesterday's heart ablation went well!  I'm recuperating at my sister Alice's (and Keith's) house while Mary Beth waits on me, since I'm not allowed to lift more than 10 pounds.  I didn't sleep very well last night (despite being sent home to a quiet house) as I still have a lot of chest tightness and premature atrial contractions (PACs) that kind of smack me awake out of my sleep.  The PACs are supposed to go away over the next couple of weeks.

Ablation technology is just amazing nowadays.  That one can run a catheter up my leg vein into my heart and find aberrant pathways and zap 'em is incredible.  

Travel technology is amazing.  I can be in Cuzco Friday afternoon and be in Chicago Saturday morning with Sarah and Zach.  150 years ago that would have been a 6-month trip, if you could have pulled it off at all.

Communication technology is amazing.  I could make all of the arrangements for the surgery and travel and housing easily from Peru.

Praise God for all of these great inventions!

                                                                      Post op

Our plan is to hang out in Nebraska for a couple of days while I recover and then head up to Canada for a week before we fly back to Peru on July 11th.

A big thank you to everyone that has been praying for my surgery to go well and please keep praying that I get through this recuperation time without complications.  I have to be on blood thinners for 3 months.