Getting Down To Business In Peru

Our second day in Peru had us back at Alcance in La Victoria. Paige gave us a tour of the outreach center, and then we prayed over each floor as separate groups. It was so exciting to hear what they're hoping to do there: dentist, chiropractor, and one other thing that I can't remember right now. They'll also be able to repair wheelchairs for people who need some help if theirs breaks down.

This is the view from the 2nd floor window. Believe it or not, there were car tires up there along with someone's laundry line.

We found out we were painting the wall outside of the center. First we had to wipe it down because it was super dusty, and had footprints (yes footprints) on it. While people started with different tasks, I was helping to clean the walls, and then cleaning the old rollers. I was surprised to find out we had so many to use!

I have to admit, it was hard for me to not be bossy. lol When I see tasks like this that need to be done, I believe I have some experience that would be helpful to our work. Sometimes though, no one cares to hear my opinions. lol Shocker.

Cleaning up before we get down busy painting

First we trimmed the wall. Dave went with the ladder painting the trim at the top to hopefully help us not get our black on the white. The paint from Sodimac (the Peruvian version of Menards) is super expensive. They used thinner to make the paint go further, and it dried really fast. We had to paint somewhat quickly.

Pastor Chuck, Mark, and Denise trimming the wall

The paint splatter is real, yo! Caillie got the spray roller. lol

Part way through the painting we were served our first lunch at La Victoria. Oh my goodness, Juanita and Rosa made food I couldn't stop eating. I seriously cleared my plate! It's funny, food I'd never give a thought to eating here, I scarfed in Peru. Those ladies know how to cook!

 This was Aji de ganilla. It's basically spicy cream chicken, but not spicy at all.

When in Peru you're require to try Inca Kola. It tastes like bubble gum.

Once we started painting, it went pretty fast. That is until we ran out of paint. Up to that point, if we needed something, a couple guys walked with Pastor Trent to the local hardware store to get it. Wellllll Fred and Pastor Chuck realized we'd run out of something and took it upon themselves to take a walk to the hardware store by themselves. Oh boy. When Pastor Trent found out, he wasn't a happy camper. It was one of the first times we realized that we were in a pretty unsafe neighborhood. He took off at a jog to catch up to them, clearly unhappy with those fellas. Ooooo someone was in trou-ble! HA!

They came back with their tails tucked between their legs, and we were ready to keep on keepin' on.

Tres Blanco Gringos is what we comically called these 3 as they were walking back towards the outreach center.

We got back to painting and it didn't take us long to finish! Clean up took quite a while. My goal was to get the rollers as clean as possible for the next time they needed to paint. I stayed so clean while we were painting, but cleaning these rollers with the thinner, I ended up with black paint everywhere. Totally worth it, for sure!

From painting we went to what was a huge mall, and next to the mall was the Sodimac. I kinda like the tradition that every time we go to Peru, I end up in a hardware store. Very apropos! There was also a grocery store that we went to, which we were searching for local chocolate and coffee. I left with a bar of chocolate (that I still haven't eaten), and we all decided to wait until we went to a Lima coffee shop.

No, he didn't leave the store with that, but we did get candy for ourselves (like I said above), and some candy for the kids to try when we got home. You don't say Sublime like su-blime, but the Peruvians say su-blee-may.

Dinner time came around, and the interns took us out to dinner at Pardos Chicken. Fred remembered eating there the first time he went to Peru. I had no idea what to expect, and the rest of us were all shocked at how much food we were served.

How it works is, you get 4 large pieces of chicken, a huge bowl of fries, and a massive bowl of "salad". It's shared between 4 people. Unfortunately, I couldn't enjoy it because I ate my entire plate at lunch and was still full hours later. The salad was made up of avocado, beets, carrots, and green beans. I happily at the avocado and green beans!

Have you ever been on a mission trip?