Settling In To Trujillo

Hey everyone, it's time for another update.  It's Sunday here in Trujillo, and we're excited to be finally going to church for the first time in South America.  The first two weeks we've been here, we didn't have room in our training schedule for church.  Although Katie helped lead worship for the team twice, we're really looking forward to evening service tonight at America Sur Alliance church here in Trujillo.  We'll be worshiping there all summer, and possibly even joining a cell group.

We're settled in here to Pasitos de Fe, the orphanage-in-construction that Inca Link is working on.  There's five of us interns here, plus an intern with the extreme sports ministry named Maddie, and our construction intern who had helped lead us in training.  Another year-long intern is here with us, Marion, and  she's involved in various ministries around town, including sewing and baking, the garbage dump, and more.  We're living in what will become the kids' rooms, and we're kind of co-op-ing our meals.  I (John) have taken the lead on cooking team dinners, so we're pooling resources to eat together in the evenings.  I'm really enjoying cooking for everyone and figuring out what meals will work with the things here in the supermarket.

One piece of very discouraging news - Inca Link has put all their ministries here in Trujillo on hold in favor of construction this summer.  This orphanage has been under construction, I've learned, for some 4 years, and numerous delays and setbacks have prevented it from being completed.  Even now, it looks like it needs a lot of work to me - it will be technically functional this summer, but it needs more furnishing to be more appealing, and in safer for kids.  Their goal is to have it open for kids by the end of this summer, and if it isn't, the leaders fear that it will be shut down completely.  Therefore, all of us interns have been instructed not to do any other major work this summer other than construction and manual labor to get this place ready.  Even our "creative project" that we were supposed to do will be focused on construction projects that need doing.  The 10-day teams that are coming will be spending a half day every day working on the orphanage as well.

We're disappointed by this news.  We had known construction was some of what Inca Link did coming in, but we hadn't known that we would be doing a lot as well.  We don't feel like this is what we're gifted for, or what we came down for.  We were really looking forward to investing in some cross-cultural ministries, learning a lot about culture, mission, and ministry, and finding ways to apply our strengths.  As of right now, we aren't going to be doing much of that, which we realize is also very different from what we told our donors.  For that, to each of you, we do apologize.  The leaders here believe that this will be the most significant use of our time this summer to help the ministry here, so you can take some comfort in that.  Regardless, Katie and I are looking for the best in the situation and looking for what God is trying to do in us through this disappointment.  We're trying to find ways to minister to our fellow interns, and looking forward to having some investment in the teams that come through.

Overall, we are beginning to get the lay of the land and how things will best operate this summer.  We're starting to settle into routines and systems that will work for us this summer, and we're looking forward to learning more.  One thing is for sure - we've both lost a significant amount of weight, and with all this manual labor this summer, we probably will keep it off!  At least it's forever spring here - the temperature moves between about 61 and 69 every day, with sun during the day and fog at night.  There's hardly a green thing in sight in this desert, but we're seeing the beauty in the sandy, dusty landscape...and in the mountains on the horizon. Our days off this summer will be Thursday and Sunday, so we hope during those times to see some of the beautiful areas, like the beaches of Huanchaco and downtown Trujillo.

Thanks for your prayers - we miss you all terribly, and hope the best for each one of you!