March 5, 2001

Hello to All,

I apologize it has taken me this long to write the next installment of the Peruvian Adventures. It has now been a month and a half of living in Peru, and it has been quite exciting. The last month was spent making preparation for the school year and classes finally began today. In the mean time I joined the Religious Ed team at school and we planned out the school year. My specific responsibilities will be working with the retreats that we put on for the kids and also coordinating the community service that the juniors and seniors do. Brother Dominic, the headmaster, has also asked me to become the sacristan for the chapel on the school grounds.

I am really pumped about the retreats as we are overhauling the way things were done. Apparently the retreats the years before were more like workshops, so we have focused them more on prayer. They have asked me to give the talk at the first retreat which will be on the 17th. As far as the community service goes, we are aiming to start it in April, with the kids doing an hour and a half a week in various care centers and a maternity ward. We haven't been allowed to visit the prison, word has it there is a hunger strike because the administration hasn't paid their water or electric bills.

The first day of school went well as I got to talk to a few of the classrooms about what work I would be doing. I also hopped into a few English classes and taught them the contemporary greeting "what's up" and goodbye "laters." A lot of the kids do not have good role models at home, especially men role models. Because of the prevalent attitude of machismo, I am hoping to start a young men's group were we can discuss the responsibilities that men should take on as Christians.

A few weeks ago the religious ed. team was asked by the diocese to lead a retreat for some catechist leaders that was scheduled for this last weekend. This became a good example of how things happen in Peru. By chance we found out that the location we that was rented was already taken. We called the diocesan rep but they didn't get back to us until the day before the retreat to tell us the new location. As is custom, everybody was told different times as for the meeting time to travel to the retreat site. Half the participants were late as was the rep from the diocese. This being normal, nobody complains much about delays. We crammed into a couple vans, (the preferred mode of mass transportation in Peru). The vans are like the old 70's VW vans, and the driver and his assistant manage to literally cram 18 people into each van (they won't go unless the van is at max capacity).

We then travel some dusty roads to the small town of Santa were the retreat is to take place. The town looks like it could have been from the middle ages with the exception of a few household radios blaring some Peruvian music. The inhabitants all work in the fields harvesting grain, old army style - by hand. We set up shop in the chapel, which by far was the newest building in the town.

The second van somehow gets delayed and shows up almost an hour later. We finally start the retreat and things start going a little better. However, the stereo we had asked for turned out to have the wrong kind of plug and shorted the fuse in the chapel. We made do with a small battery operated radio for our reflection time. José, one of the teachers on the religious ed team, gave a moving talk about Christian leadership in the context of the catechetical work of the retreaters. The town turned out to be a good place to enjoy relative silence, as compared with the city. We had a reflection on the passion and resurrection of Christ. Later, the retreaters led some worship with some animated music. In the afternoon the heat really came on and we moved outside were we became fair game to the mosquitoes which devoured us. It would take me an hour to write about all the little things that weren't ideal. I realized that I was accustomed to demand certain things aren't important here. Punctuality is not as important as is everybody coming together and being relaxed... people don't work on a schedule. Heat, mosquitoes, tardiness, disorganization, being crammed into a van, etc... is no obstacle for people to have an experience of Christian fellowship.

On a final note, the volunteers have started a web page. I am going to be publishing these messages as well as photos I have taken here. The address of my page is down below, but the general page is at:

www.geocities.com/cfcperu

Thank you for all the emails you have been sending. It is a favorite part of the day of mine to hear of what is going on back home.