Update

Life in Peru is speeding right along. Some days I miss my family and it feels like I have been here forever. Most days though, I feel like six months just is not enough. I have really fallen in love with these children and sometimes it hits me that I will have to say goodbye. I wish I could stay for longer.

My work in the houses is going well. We have a new Madre named Hilda. She works upstairs with the Chispas (girls house). She is a fantastic women with two grown children of her own. She treats the girls as if they were her own and you can really see her love shine on them. She is always outside playing basketball or volleyball with the girls and boys. In the morning I am in her house with Allison (3 years old) and Alondra (10 years old). They both have school in the afternoon. We do gardening, finish up homework and play games or paint nails. I also help with laundry and straightening/cleaning the house.

Allison is a very spirited little girl. She will go from being your best friend one second to completely ignoring you the next and pretending you are not in the room. She loves to color and pretend she is cooking. Alondra is the most fashionable of 10 year olds and could quote any verse of a High School Musical song, in English.

Milagros, who is the 29 year old Madre Tutora in the boys house has a lot of patience with my Spanish. She has taught me many household words. She has a fantastic sense of humor and we laugh through our work most days.

The boys in the Tesoros are a handful. They are wild and crazy and I love them with all of my heart. When they see me going upstairs to see the girls in the morning they will scream my name and shout Buenos Dias Tia Laura!! If I go in they will attack me with hugs and kisses. After a few airplane hugs and mosquito tickles they let me go. (I drag myself out the door. lol) In the afternoon we have garden again, laundry, chores and play time. It is usually Arnold (9yrs), Kevin(15yrs), Josue(13yrs), his brother, Junior(not sure of his age), Abel(6yrs), Edwin(6yrs), Dante(6yrs), Danni(8yrs?) and Saul(4 or 5 yrs).

They are such fantastic kids. They are always wanting to help in one way or another. Especially when I bring in the laundry and put in on the sofa. The boys dive into it head first, no matter how many times I ask them not to, and start searching for their clothing, while much of it ends up on the floor. Sometimes it's easier and a better choice to join in on the caios so once in a while I will put someones clean pants on my head and socks on my hands and become the laundry monster. I chase them around and tickle them until they can hardly breathe they are laughing so hard. They usually let me be after that for at least five minutes. :-) Homework is probably the hardest time. Not many kids enjoy sitting and writing in cursive or figuring math problems. When they pay attention though, they breeze right through it.

Garden is going well but slow. We are going plant radishes, pumpkins and who knows what else. Elias is the master mind behind it, we are just along for the ride. I hope the kids really get into it. It is good for them to see the process of growing through cooking their food.

Weekends are fairly quiet. Friday nights we put a movie on for all the kids to watch. Sometimes we pop popcorn and have soda. It's always an experience. Saturday mornings some of the kids have visits from family. The kids who don't get visits sometimes go on a trip to the beach or a park with the volunteers. Sundays are fairly relaxing. I am going to be bringing Abel and his older brother Italo with me to church every week. They can't go to the church the other kids frequent because their mom knows where it is and was bothering them. I brought Abel two weeks ago and he loved it so I think it will definitely be a weekly thing from here until March. Italo is very excited to go and talked about it every time he saw me this week. I am sure I will have updates.

We have two new boys here. Louise and his brother Yanpier. They are about two and three years old. I don't know much about them except that the officials found them on the streets and the Albergue picked them up at City Hall. They are beautiful, loving little boys. They are getting a ton of love and are on the road to recovery from malnourishment and a terrible eye infection. The swelling of their poor little bellies has gone down and they have beautiful smiles that we get to see very often. The boys talk up a storm and are very bright!!



My Spanish is so-so. I can understand a ton (when people don't speak at warp speed!!). Speaking it is another story. I am afraid to mess up. But..... I am working on it and will get it down. My friends have patience with me so it makes all the difference.

See you in a month! Enjoy the snow!!

The Wish List...

Some have asked about Christmas and what is on my list this year.

Here it is...

The kids here are really in need of new Backpacks for school,
Pencil cases,
Construction paper is always needed, along with copy paper,
Number two pencils,
New underwear for the kids. ages 2-15,
art supplies,
coloring/activity books (IN SPANISH)
alot of these things I could find in Peru for cheaper than in the States. So, If anyone wants to send a check for something listed above just write on it what item(s) you would like it used for.
Beads (colorful plastic and also natural)

Here are some things I could use...

Thread (thick and thin, in different colors),
Baby wipes,
Books to read,
Letters ;-)


I will update later...

Why do we let this happen?

Last night my heart broke.

Angela and I went dancing with some friends. Everything was great until I noticed the two girls nearby. They were around twelve or thirteen years old. I pointed them out to my friend and his response was "It's Peru." apparently there is no rule against under aged girls in a club. I noticed two men around fifty years old watching them. They started to shout to them but then left so I thought the trouble was over. Until one of them came back. He dragged the girls on the dance floor and started pulling at them and holding them to him. The girls looked scared and he wasn't listening to them about not wanting to dance. I told the waitress and she did nothing. Nothing. The man then dragged them out of the room to the patio below. I was really worried for them at this point so I stood looking down and watching where he could not see me but the girls could. I motioned to them in a way to ask if they were OK. One looked up and tried telling me she was but eyes don't lie. When I was watching I saw the man grab one of the girls and kiss her. He then dragged her out of the room.

I ran down stairs and told the guard and my friend told a man that worked there. Again, nothing was done for the girls. My friends ran down with me and Angela and I saw one of the girls standing by herself. We asked her if they were OK and offered a free taxi ride home. She told me the man was her uncle and she was fine. She didn't look fine, she looked desperate. She also told us the man was the other girls father. It was his daughter he had kissed so passionately on the lips! She insisted she was OK so we started to walk out but we couldn't. Angela and I stood there for a while trying to figure out what to do. The girls were alone for a minute so we asked one last time if we could help and if they needed a ride home.

The man came out while we were talking and stared at us. The girls gave us a look as if to say please go, you are only making things worse. There was nothing more we could do there. We went back home and prayed a while for them and for the man as well. I will never forget our eyes meeting when she turned to look at us as he led them back into the other room. I found it heartbreaking that something like this would happen. It happens everywhere. Peru, the states, over the entire world. The only difference between here and in the states is that back home, its less public. It's better to act than to do nothing. Please pray with us for the people in this situation.

Last night I told my friend what had happened and he asked why I don't just come home. This isn't just a problem in Peru. Its a problem world wide. We sometimes wonder why God lets things happen. It isn't God. I know he wonders why WE let these things happen. Why we stand by and watch the abused and the abusers and do nothing. "It's not my business. It doesn't involve me." You're wrong. If you don't try to do something, you have sinned just as the abuser sins. Take action. If only, it is praying hard. Take action.