“Silence is one of the great arts of conversation.”
Marcus Tillius Cicero
So, you may think we’ve been slacking on our blog duties… but no… according to the above quote, we’ve simply been putting in some overtime on practicing our conversation skills!!
Actually, life has been insanely busy (yes – since last April!)… but we’ve also been extremely undisciplined when it comes to posting stuff. Ugh. But we’re back… yay!! And we’re back with some updated pics from Peru.
Due to technical difficulties outside my ability to solve up until this point, and due to my lack of discipline (see above), there are a bunch of photos from previous trips that I should’ve posted before these. But alas. As much as it messes with my OCD-ness to post images that aren’t in chronological order, I’ve made peace with it. I’ll get around to playing catch-up on another day… but for now, here’s a taste of the trip we just did in February/March…
After a sleep-deprived 20 hours of travel, Chris jumped into 1 of 2 evenings teaching leadership lessons to some of Pucallpa’s local pastors. They loved him… of course! It’s amazing to see the change in them over the course of the last 18 months. They’re extremely hungry to learn. And they’ve become so open about the challenges they’re facing in their churches. I think they’re starting to appreciate the strength that comes from allowing yourself to be known.Who’s that cute thing, crouching at the front of the bus?? : )Our mate, Calvin.So ugly, it’s beautiful!Memphis dentist extraordinaire, Tom Shipmon… his daughter Sarah… Rebecca… and her dad, Calvin, looking uncharacteristically miserable!The lovely Jenny… fluent in Spanish, and part of the water team.Mark and Chris.Ash and Elizabeth.Chuck and Michelle.I have a pic where Chris isn’t wearing his shades… but, bizarrely, it’s not as focused.Jeff and Elizabeth.Rebecca and Sarah, strapped into the first flight of the day to the jungle. #nervouslaughter
Apparently, there was a pink and gray dress code.
There are no strangers to Jeff. Here he is, chatting it up with David – one of the SAM Air pilots.Howler monkey. It blows me away how they can balance on a wire like that!
We met this pup over a year ago when he was so full of life. This time, he was neglected, hugely underweight and pretty sick. Ash loved on him and Peet laid hands on him. Poor, sweet thing.i LOVE Michelle’s glasses!
Peet, teaching Mark and Jeff the ins and outs of piranha fishing.
The first crew back from the village… and Tom giving a half-hearted thumbs up, indicating his approval of our pilot!Waiting for SAM Air’s John Armstrong to finish servicing the plane so the next group could head out.
Chris. Representing.Peet, you can’t afford it.The wonderful Genarro with the equally wonderful John from SAM Air.Peet. In his happy place.There’s always laughter when Ash is around!Peet’s beautiful piranha!!
Mark’s itty-bitty piranha!!
Chris, in his favorite place: the driving seat! I’m joking… he was riding shotgun!!This is hilarious!! A 4′ Genarro walking with a 7′ Mark. I exaggerate, obviously… but you get the idea. This is the village where Genarro is from, and it’s always such a privilege to go back there with him to see his family.The kids were hiding from Ash’s camera… so Ash found her own way of capturing their outrageously happy giggles.
This is some of Genarro’s family in their home (it was such an honor to be invited into their hut). They – and increasingly more of them – laid out their handmade crafts on the floor inside, in the hope that some of us would buy something. Alas… none of us had taken money with us. And their stuff is so incredibly overpriced, it makes it hard to get excited about it, however beautiful it may be.
A bunch of kids followed us into the church and looked to Ash for entertainment. Ash complied. : )I’ll apologize now for the number of these pics that are all so similar. But I just love how happy these kids are. Ash had them giggling hysterically as she introduced them to Snapchat on her phone!
I’ve been to this village 3 times now… and each time, I try to get a photo of this Shipibo lady. I finally got one!#piedpiper
Standing under the shade of the wing of the plane!The guy looking at the camera… that’s Genarro’s brother. He still lives in the village and is the pastor of the church there. He laughs just like Genarro: bigly and warmly!I’ve only ever seen small children and mature adults at the village. Seeing these teens seemed so unusual.I took this photo (and the next one) to show how high the river was in this rainy season. Every other time we’ve been there, we “park” the plane, then have to climb up the river bank to a sea of suntanned faces that greet us. This time, it looked like this… crazy!The river will rise another 3′ before the rainy season ends. It results in a huge increase in waterborne illnesses and injuries. Not only do they get lazy and use dirty water from outside their door rather than walking to the well… but they also have a lot of snakes in the water that bite them as they wade across the village. Ugh!
