Building Wheelchairs In Peru

Day 6 in Peru and we were ready to build wheelchairs. I think when that morning showed up, I was surprised at how fast our time had gone. One week goes by in the blink of an eye The first couple of days made me feel like our time there would last forever. Guess that wasn't the case.

I was so thankful we started our mornings off with a devotion that Fred brought for us. We'd gather together as a team, eat our breakfast, and then spend about fifteen minutes going over the devotion and praying. What a great way to get the days started.

We drove over to where the men had gone the day before, and wow, they had to carry all 150 of the wheelchair boxes up to a second floor in some really crazy traffic. Not only was there a lot of traffic, but there were a lot of people. I never really got a chance to look around because we were because from the moment we arrived, until the time we left, but I think we were above a market of some sort. We were once again warned not to walk anywhere alone.

This was our first view out one side of the building. The corrugated roofs are over the market stalls.

Paige split us up into teams of 2-3, and we set about building 150 chairs. Fred and I had built them before so we had a pretty good idea of how to build them again. The first time I had gone down, there were only about 10 of these style of chairs. Now this was all we were assembling.

When you look at the boxes, and understand how to build them, you'd think it wouldn't take long to get them together, but in the 5 hours we were building, we got 10 1/2 built. We finished up one someone had gotten started, but wasn't able to finish.

 Mark and Frieda working with Daniel, Rosa's son and another gal.

 Caillie working with one of the interns

 Pastor Chuck is doing a great job supervising his wife, Jenny, and another worker

 Molly and Dave both working with Peruvian volunteers

It was amazing to watch all of these wheelchairs come together. We were brought lunches from the outreach center. When you get into the groove of building, there's no way you want to go anywhere to get food.

Denise and Denny met this man, Sean, who was originally from Vietnam, but lived in the US. He felt called to be a missionary in Peru, and just left everything behind. He wasn't there with any specific church or with any organization. He was there because he said that's where God sent him. He was SO cool to talk to. There's another story that goes along with him, and our team, but it's personal, but just know that God's timing is supernatural!

Bernie & one of the interns working on a chair, and Fred working on one of ours while I take the picture

The final part of the wheelchair is to tighten the strings on the back. Not too tight, not too loose. The first couple we tied way too tight

 Denise and Denny getting started on a new wheelchair

Towards the end, Denny came over and helped Fred with the last chair. He was such a handy guy

Here they all are! Ok, well, they actually go around the corner in the back

You know how I've talked about dogs being everywhere? We saw cats on occasion, but as I look at this next photo, I realize I don't remember ever seeing one walking on the road. I saw these cats during our lunch break, and realized most of the time I've seen cats, they've been up high...or in the cat park. lol

As soon as we got done here, we headed out with the interns. I think we must've had time to kill because we went to a coffee house and hung out there for about an hour? It was a really cool little oasis in the middle of a busy city. I realized I didn't take a photo of the inside of the place. Check out these empanadas though. I think what's stamped around the edge is the name of the place. I can't remember though.

After the coffee house, we headed out to eat at a Chifa restaurant? I think it's Chinese food with a Peruvian twist? I know, I'm forgetting everything because it's been a month since we've been back!

Denny and Denise hanging out with the interns as we wait for Toby to bring the van

Our meal was once again family style. Our intern ordered the food, and we were wowed with what was put in front of us. Of course, I'm not going to be able to remember the dishes at this point.

The plates were large enough that we were able to all have at least one serving. Now, see that spoon in the picture above. That became a spoon that Denise and I were loving! It has this amazing bowl that made scooping fabulous. It was just a great spoon. Here she and I are conniving about pilfering this spoon, while on a mission trip. Oh my gosh, she and I were in stitches.

And, to be honest, I tried, in extremely bad spanglish to convince our server to allow me to go home with it. I didn't try very hard because I was a little embarrassed. These poor people don't understand how crazy us gringas are.

This was our first view as we came into the restaurant, and as we left. hahahaha

From dinner, we headed back to The Guitierez home for the night. Our last night. We could hardly believe Saturday was going to be our last day, and heading home that night.

You know those sugar cane pieces I had been wanting, and ended up getting an entire bag of? Well, Jenny, one of the gals who spent quite a bit of time with us, brought me a pouch of cane on Wednesday. UGH, she was so sweet! Well, as we were packing up all of our stuff, it turned out that all of it had spoiled. It had fermented! It smelled so incredibly bad. I was bummed because I wasn't able to take any home, and neither was Tammy. And I just KNEW we wouldn't find any on Saturday.

What's the most fulfilling way you've ever given of yourself and your time?