Katie and I have finished the initial part of the training for this summer internship. It was just over two weeks of intense travel and experiences. We spent time in Bogota, Lima, Trujillo, Quito, and Huaticocha. Inbetween we had about 50 hours on busses from place to place. For Katie and I, it's hard to say whether the training or the travel is more draining. Right now, I'm (John) writing from Tumbes, a town near the border of Ecuador and Peru. We are waiting between busses - it's 3 busses to get from Quito to Trujillo, another 24 hours plus layover, so we'll end up near 75 hours total on busses in 3 weeks. It's been very challenging on me because I have a hard time fitting in the seats, and I get up with pinched nerves and tight muscles.
We spent our last few days in Quito for training. While the team finished up their Race, Katie and I had a day off to explore Quito - we shopped for the team at a mall and had a relaxing lunch and cappuccino, then went downtown to see the sights and stopped for a slice of chocolate cake at a small cafe. Then we, and the team, spent 3 days at a Christian camp in Calacali (45 min drive), Ecuador, doing more teambuilding and summer-specific training. We did everything from high ropes challenges to team-building games. We also spent the afternoons in seminar-type training talking about Strengthsfinder 2.0 and the specifics of how the summer will work. In the meantime, I sprained my ankle pretty well - it's very swollen but I only had one day of limping.
The biggest culture shock for Katie and I has been the shock from our experiences of mission work and Inca Link's model. It really makes me think about mental models. We all carry these models around in our minds, based on experiences and training, and we often don't communicate them. When one person's models clash with another's, frustration results that could be cleared up with better communication. One example is with packing. Katie and I have somewhat nicer clothes, based on my experience with spending time in the community and wearing what they wear. Inca Link's teams spend a great deal of time doing construction and manual labor (as well as schlepping suitcases along sidewalks from one bus terminal to another) and so they need different clothes. Katie and I can adapt, but my experiences and training with mission work have been very different than our experiences this summer so far.
We are looking forward to settling into Trujillo and starting to figure out what the bulk of the summer will look like. Training has been challenging on Katie and I, in a variety of ways. It's more physical than we're used to, and more unstable (constant travel, planned surprises), plus being the only married couple and the aforementioned different mental models. We are here to learn and to serve the community, so we're trying to maintain an attitude of humility. We are trying to figure out how our skills, gifts, and training fit in here, and are useful here. No answers yet, but hopefully they are coming soon. Our desire is that, having left two ministries to come here and serve, that what we learn here will empower our ministries back home. Please pray for that!
Blessings to you all, and once we figure out the internet situation in Trujillo we will be in touch again!
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