week 6

Here we are, in the middle of our 6th week. Time for me these past 2 weeks have flown very quickly!
This past weekend the guys and I went on our midsummer “R&R” in Nasca, Peru which is about 7 hours south of Lima. We spent about 11 hours in busses and taxis on Friday to get to our desert destination. Nasca is famous for their “Nasca Lines”. Google them and you’ll see what they are. Josh was able to take an airplane up to see them and he took lots of pictures. It was definitely a tourist town and a bit different from Matucana. It was great place to find souvenirs. Andy seemed to have a good time getting to be around other people as well. I on the other hand was sick all weekend. Without going into detail Ms. Kathy Weaver named off some symptoms which I had and told me to go get some antibiotics to get rid a the parasite I apparently picked up between Matucana and Nasca. It’s a common one that can be in a single drop of water. I’m just surprised (and thankful) that none of us had gotten it earlier.
Last Wednesday, Tucker Swamp Baptist Church from Virginia, arrived in Matucana – all 14 of them plus 3 translators and a driver. We were only able to spend 2 days with them before we had to go to Nasca. We left them with all the info we could give them in that time period and they made great use of it. They decided to spend their time and use their resources in Huariquina where we’ve had the most difficult time. From the notes they left us they seemed to have made a lot of new contacts for us. With their 18 people they were able to do a lot more for the town than the 3 of us ever could all summer. Thank you Tucker Swamp!
There has been a huge festival going on in Matucana all day everyday for over a week now. This means that school is pretty much optional for the kids. We were able to have a class last Monday then again this Wednesday.
We have a group who just arrived from Virginia today. They will be here until next Friday. We are hoping to go to Marachanca twice with them and also go to Huariquina and follow up with what Tucker Swamp did there last week.
That’s all I have for now. I’m still a bit tired but I feel a lot better than I did 2 days ago. Please continue to pray for our health and for our safety. We are more than halfway through our trip, which is hard for me to believe.
That’s all for now. Thanks for reading!
~Chelsea><>