Youth All-Nighter

I’m thirty years old and honestly, I’m not super excited about staying up all night for anything. As leaders, we decided to do a few things different this time. For one, we wanted to go away for the night. Not far, just not do it in the church like before. The church here owns some property just outside Cusco (only 10 minutes) with a covered soccer court and a large grassy area– perfect for youth retreat. It required transportation, which required extra cost. Rarely do we charge for youth events, but we decided to charge just this once thinking that if we only had a small group (<15), it would make the evening more intimate and enjoyable. We had around 28 kids come and it was a great evening.

We spent about three hours in spiritual worship through prayer and bible study– all about idolatry and how it affects us as youth. The spiritual time ended with each youth putting their idols on pieces of paper and nailing them to a large wooden cross we made. Very symbolic, but very powerful.

Afterwards, we played games and pretended we weren’t sleeping. That same day we had an Easter party at our house… some 35 people. Needless to say, I was tired.

Church Neighbors

Every now and then, at least once a month, we get a neighbor of the church visit us during youth group. Almost always, they’re three sheets to the wind. That is, they’ve been drinking. Usually they stay for 10 minutes or so and then mosey on out. Tonight, we were visited by two young men (well, one was 33 years old) who actually stayed for the entire time. After the music, they wanted to leave and I went outside to talk with them for a while. They were cognizant of what I was saying and seemed interested to know how to be saved. Of course, my experience in the past with sharing the Gospel with someone who is drunk is that they don’t remember anything. So, I just encouraged them to call me, giving them my card, and that we might get lunch some day. They ended up going back inside and staying for the entire lesson.

Pray for these two men. They told me that they both are chicken trainers for cock fighting (which is actually a fairly common underground business here), but that they would call me this week to get lunch. One thing I’ve come to appreciate is that God is glorified even if the person hearing the Gospel doesn’t immediately respond. The mere act of me proclaiming His promises and faithfulness to others glorifies him. I don’t say that to glorify myself, but to encourage you that it’s not “results” that God seeks, but faithful followers. Sometimes we only look for the response, for the confession of faith, when really our sharing of Gospel and our testimony glorifies Him greatly.

In the middle of March, we had the privilege of hosting a small four person team and take them to the “end of the road” in the jungle region north of Quillabamba. Of the four team members, one is a vascular surgeon, two are pharmacists, and the fourth is a great friend. The purpose of the trip was to take medicine and general care to people who rarely, or in most cases, never see a doctor. In the villages out at the “end of the road”, people regularly have medical needs and absolutely no means to get to the nearest medical post or hospital. The last town, for example, that has a medical post sits eight hours or more away from the “end of the road” villages. So, this was an exciting trip being able to bring medical services and the news of the Gospel to people who almost never get either.

My first concern for the trip was my car, which was released from the mechanic the day of the trip. Nevertheless, it worked very well almost the entire trip. It finally broke down (and really broke down!) only an hour outside of Cusco on the way back. I’m thankful for that because a break down in the jungle could have been a real nightmare. More about that later.

After our first night in Quillabamba (where they grow wonderful coffee beans), we took off to Kiteni, the last town with cell service. It took about 5 hours to get there even though it’s only 78 miles on the road and only 28 miles as the bird flies. I really need one of these by the way. Somewhere between Quillabamba and Kiteni, my camera left my possession. It was a nice digital SLR, so it was a big loss, really. At first, I thought I had left it in the hotel in Quillabamba, but I offered a very nice reward for finding it (one that no Quillabamban would turn down) and they denied seeing it. This means it was probably taken from the car at some point when we stopped in Quillabamba or Kiteni. Thieves here are quick, so it’s very possible.

After lunch in Kiteni, we continued on our path towards the end of the road. We finally arrived some 6 or so hours later to a small side-of-the-road restaurant who informed us that the road was washed out ahead. It didn’t surprise us as we had already driven through a good bit of deep mud alongside the side of the hill. We took advantage of the situation and treated people there as we could, but eventually turned around and returned to a cross in the road and went in a different direction. A few hours later we finally arrived in a village called Mantalo. We spent the night, but we didn’t sleep much.

The next day we finally made it the “end of the road” village where we did a half-day clinic and treated a g00d number of people. When we returned to Mantalo, we did a small clinic there also. They were so excited about it, even though it was last minute, that they requested we come back soon.

Return trips are more boring and they always seem to take longer. This was true for this trip. Along the trip there is a mountain cross at 14k feet and coming down the other side, my car’s thermostat must have seized shut. That, along with the genius design of some engineer at Hyundai, prevented my dashboard from reflecting the actual temperature of the engine since the sensor sits between the thermostat and radiator. Anyway, I finally noticed a smell of engine coolant and when I pulled over on the side of the road next to a gas station, the car decided to die. Blown head gasket… burnt out fuel injectors… you name it. I spent the night while the rest of the team returned to Cusco. The next day I towed the vehicle with another truck… by a small pole. The car then was in the shop for three weeks and I just received it the other day. Unfortunately, I have little desire to keep it at this point. It’s proving less reliable than I had hoped.

However, don’t let this post sound like a downer… it was a great trip and even though it cost well into the thousands for loss of camera and damage to the car, it was worth sharing the Gospel to people who had never heard why Christ died on the cross. I really hope there are more opportunities in the future for trips like this.

First, we got to have what we call “Culto Unido” at our church Jesus The Good Shepherd. Culto Unido means “United Service.”

At our church, we usually have two services, a 9am service in Quechua and an 11am service in Spanish. But one Sunday a month, we join together and have a super-long service in both languages. We sing songs in Quechua, then in Spanish. We read all the Scripture verses in both languages, the announcements are made twice. Even the pastor tries to preach with both languages intertwined.  It seems a daunting task, but it’s worth it. We always take this Sunday and have Santa Cena – Communion – together. It’s a lovely time. And our first Sunday back in Cusco was spent in Culto Unido.

What a great time it was getting to see so many friends that we’d been missing for so long. We are so blessed by our church in Cusco. I hope we’re as much of a blessing to it as it is to us.

Then, we got to have lunch with the Powlison’s and Dr. Henson (he would rather be called Mr. Nathan – or “Nafan” as Mark says it, I think, but we’ll go with Dr. Henson for fun). I love these people. Seriously. I honestly don’t know what life in Cusco would be like without the Powlisons and the Hensons. But… I think the real fun part was that Rachel got to have a lot of fun with Ellie and Emma Powlison – her sweet little friends whom she has missed tremendously since we left in September. They are a very major joy in her life. It’s good to see them playing together again.

Our lunch, by the way, was a fund raiser for the father of a man in our church. Actually, he’s the father of about 6 members of the church. He had hurt his leg, needed surgery, and because of his surgery was unable to work. So they had a luncheon fund-raiser to raise money to help afford the surgery. It was a great way to be able to help out a neighbor in need. But, what’s really amazing is that within one week of the fund raiser, this man gave his life to the Lord. God used this awesome opportunity to open this man’s heart for Him. And what an honor it was to celebrate with the family, our dear friends, that their dad is now going to worship God with them forever in Heaven.

The kids have enjoyed having their toys unpacked and available for full-time play. I’ve enjoyed having clean clothing.

Two things that I brought from home that I am SO GLAD I did and would be so sad if we left behind are:

My food chopper – You know, that little round thing that you bang on and it chops up your food -  Pampered Chef sells it. LOVE it. My life is changed already.

My can opener – I know, it’s just a can-opener. But seriously, every single time I had to open a can in the past three years, it has been all out war between me and that silly contraption that is now in my trash can. I could not find a can opener here that didn’t give me grief. Clearly, it was user error, since all of my Peruvian friends had no problem at all whatsoever with the little devil. So now that I have my new can opener, opening cans has been… mmm.. less than frustrating… maybe I would even consider it a delight.

It really is the little things.

Altitude adjustment has been going well. I feel tired more than I used to, and my throat is dry – I probably need to drink more water. Scott’s doing great, though, and so are the kids. Overall, we’re doing well. I even made it to the grocery store on Friday and have cooked some. You know what it’s like, moving to a new home, finally getting settled, and making that first grocery store trip? Finally having something for dinner besides take-out or fast-food? It was good.

On Thursday, our friends Jordan and Joy Allen who are missionaries here with YWAM brought us dinner. (It was awesome. Chicken Parm is a favorite around the Dillon house, and hers was excellent) They have three children the same ages as ours. It’s nice to not feel all alone on the mission field. I know that’s a struggle in many places… and it’s even been one for us before. But right now, we are surrounded by people who love the Lord and care for us, and we for them. It’s a beautiful thing. Praise Jesus.

Since this is our second time coming to Peru, we have learned a few tricks. One is that LAN, the company we use to fly from Lima to Cusco, charges overage fees for traveling with more than one checked bag, whereas the companies (ie Delta, Continental) whom we use for our international travel usually allow 2 bags. So, to avoid loads of extra baggage charges, once we get to Lima, we take most of our bags to a shipping company in Lima and have them shipped to Cusco for a LOT less. It’s a great plan. So, Wednesday, we had to go pick up all of our bags. Yet another blessing – they all arrived on time, and unharmed. (insert sigh of relief – we all have clean clothes for tomorrow).

Then, our lovely team in Cusco had a party for us. Brooke Daniel was a party-planning beast, knowing all of the important things, and with the help of everyone planned a really fun party, including: 1. Food that everyone likes – tacos. Perfect. Brownies. Also perfect (and tricky at altitude, but it was delish). 2. Disposable paper products. Since we actually hosted the party at our house (which was nice; it meant we didn’t have to go anywhere), it was nice to not have to wash a single dish. 3. Last but not least –lots of great friends welcoming us back. It was so wonderful to have not one, not two, but SIX families welcoming us home to Cusco! We are blessed beyond words. It was surreal and beautiful and sweet and special. Rachel especially liked getting to play with her new and old Cusquenan buddies. It was a real treat for her – well, for all of us. Thanks to our very awesome Cusco team!

We are now in the process of getting adjusted to the altitude. For those of you who didn’t know, Cusco sits at around 10-11 THOUSAND feet in the air. It’s crazy high. And there’s what feels like next to no oxygen up here. You can be 7 words into a sentence, and have to stop to take a deep breath before you can go on. You can feel dizzy from simply sitting still. You can get a pounding pressure headache which will NOT be helped by ibuprofen. Some people even get nausea and severe fatigue. Dehydration’s also a problem. Thankfully, we haven’t been too sick. Tuesday and Wednesday were both hard altitude days for us. We’re doing well with the adjustments thus far. All of these altitude symptoms are usually temporary and go away after the body makes its adjustments. We’re almost there.