A day in Yantaló

Saludos a todos. Today was our first work day in Yantaló, and proved as adventurous as all of our workdays have. Megan and Dawn worked with kindergarten students at the local school, playing games and teaching English numbers and colors and greetings and goodbyes. It seems they had a busy day, but had a good time interacting with the students. There does exist one problem, however, in working with the students: beginning tomorrow, they will be out for vacation until a few days after we leave. ¡Ay! Andrés and I began working with the LabCorp-donated computers with Victor, which also proved a bit problematic. The room where the computer lab is to be is without sufficient power to supply the computers. At this point, it is a room with desks and chairs. We have arranged the chairs in the most sensible configuration, have gone through the equipment available to us and decided what is already in our possession and what more is needed, ran some errands, and have roughly mapped out a plan. Unfortunately, the electrician cannot begin working on the lab until Thursday, which potentially has us out of a job for a while. I do hope we will be able to finish the project by the time we leave, but we will simply have to see. If nothing else, we will have planted good seeds and can hopefully continue this mission otherwise. This afternoon found us rather exhausted again - Megan and Dawn from playing "Gato, Gato, Perro," Andres and me from playing run-all-over-Perú-seeking-equipment-and-expertise. Being thusly exhausted, we took a while to rest and relax, napping, reading, talking. Daniel (cousin of Leslie and Robinson) came to visit, and we took a walk to el punto, where the picture to the right was taken. It is a bit dark, but rather beautiful. As impoverished a nation as this is, it carries a great wealth of natural beauty that, in my opinion, would probably be destroyed at the introduction of America-style wealth and progress. Our walk out to the point was one of many nice opportunities to bond as a smaller team that we have had in the last few days. We have enjoyed being together the whole time, I think, but I am starting to feel us becoming a good team, partners in mission, old friends. Tomorrow will begin later in the morning than today did, and given my recent lethargic tendency, that is good news. Please add to your prayer list a hope that we find some good work. I am not entirely sure how long it will take to fix the electricity in the room, or what other work we might find for the less computer-inclined among us, but let us all pray that avenues show themselves and that we react with patience and hope when they don't. On a personal note, I miss everybody. It is wonderful to be here and in such good company, but already I am anxious to share my experiences here face-to-face in spoken English. Don't mistake me for homesick, though: this place is amazing and the nine full days that are left are nothing but a blessing. And until that face-to-face spoken English occurs, there are digital photographs, blogs, faith, and prayer. Grace and peace, everyone. I will leave you with these words, untranslated, from a song sung at church. If you are dying to translate them, you can get a computer-generated (and therefore somewhat inaccurate) translation at http://babelfish.altavista.com. Te pido la paz para mi cuidad Te pido perdón por mi cuidad Ahora me humillo y busco tu rostro ¿A quien iré, Señor, sino a tí? Happy trails - sch