I woke up this morning, quite nervous about today, but it ended up becoming another one of my favorite days in Peru. The day started out with the book of Ecclesiastes and a reminder that life is fleeting, but God truly intends for us to enjoy it. And that is what I will do.
Mercedes had invited me to go to mass with her tonight. My first thought was "no way, I can't do that!!" But after praying and talking to several people about it I decided to go. This is about the relationship, and Mercedes came to church with me, so I would go to mass with her one time. Also, someone told me it would be a good experience to see what it's like and to also be able to say why I don't do that stuff. Some people may disagree, I don't know, but now that I've gone once, I am thankful to at least know what it's like. I was really nervous about going because #1) I had never been to a catholic service of any kind #2) it would be in spanish
When I got to Mercedes' house she apologized that she had failed to mention that the mass was for the 1 year anniversary of the death of her brother. The whole church was praying for his sins =( I had been hoping to sit further back so I could watch what people were doing, but we had to sit in the very front since it was for her brother. I felt awkward sitting with Mercedes' family- her parents, brother and his family, aunts and uncles, cousins... Afterward I told Mercedes I was going to get a taxi to go home, but she insisted on me coming to her house. So I went, and I got to talk with her aunt for a couple of hours. Her aunt had a ton of questions about what I'm doing now and about my family, etc. At one point in the evening I accidentally drank wine for the first time. There is a purplish drink here that is popular, so I figured that's what was given to me. When I tasted the horrible stuff I asked Mercedes' aunt what it was and she said wine. She saw the funny look on my face and realized I didn't want it. She took the glass, drank it really fast and saved the day for me! A ton of people were at the house, and I figured they would stay long into the night, but I told them I didn't want to be riding a taxi by myself late, so I was able to excuse myself. One of Mercedes' cousins ended up riding part of the way in the taxi with me, then I got to have a good conversation with the taxi driver the rest of the way.And this morning I went to a women's Bible study in Spanish. It was a long two hours, but I hope I can keep going. It was good to have the fellowship and bible study while learning Spanish vocabulary and concepts from the Bible at the same time.
Some other news that made my day good...Autumn has a plane ticket to come to Lima next week!!!
5 comments:
i'm sure that was good to go with her. maybe she will be more willing to go back with you. i'm glad she wasn't there last week though! what would she think of a church worker stealing a wallet?!
I'm glad you went...I am sure that she appreciated it.
YAY! AUTUMN IS COMING!!!! :) How long will she be visiting??
i've been able to go to many churches i never would have gone to in the us. life is so different outside the us.. you just have to build on every relationship you can no matter what the circumstances. good job. :-)
Yes, the show actually ran. We were probably on there for around 2 minutes...but that is way more than I expected!
I think because it was Landscaper's Challenege there were fewer places to go to. (They just got new plants and furniture.)
Ha ha! I would have loved to see you face after you drank wine for the first time. That's cool that you've been going to that Bible Study. Good way to pick up the language! I can't wait til you come back and you are so fluent with your spanish! It will be awesome! :)
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