Sunday night

What a great day we have had! We headed to La Ramada (shelter in Spanish) this morning and after a harrowing ride up the mountain, we arrived about 10 AM. It was not that far in distance, however, as those of you who have been here know, the roads are so bad, it takes forever to get very far when you leave Cajamarca. Thankfully, everyone survived the bus ride and was ready to start church. We had understood that we were going to help put a ceiling in the church building, but were surprised when we arrived to find there was not only no ceiling, there was no roof on the church. As it turned out, it is acceptable to put the cart before the horse here because they don't expect any rain for a while. But, before the work started on the ceiling, we attended church in the courtyard of the home next to the church. It was quite an experience. There were 25 Peruvians, including men, women, children and 6 guinea pigs. There were 19 of us greengoes. Thanks to the gold mind situated over the next mountain, this village has electricity. And, as luck would have it, this enabled one of the young Peruvian men to play a small keyboard. When I say play, I say that in the loosest of terms. He kept his left hand on the C chord for all 8 songs played, while his index finger on the right hand randomly went up and down the rest of the keyboard. We sang At The Cross and Are You Washed in the Blood...we are not sure what they were singing and were certain that was not what was being played by our accompaniest. (sp) Ethan brought his guitar and sang a song (he has a beautiful voice) and Joann played the flute while we sang Amazing Grace. It was pretty special service out in the bright sunshine high in the mountains. The pastor of the church in La Ramada preached about Jonah and Nineveh, with Doyne translating (loosely). After church and a picnic lunch, work was started on the ceiling. Unforturnately, we only had 2 ladders and so only 2-3 could hammer at one time. Several did crafts and played with the kids who gathered round. They loved stringing beads and coloring. We headed home around 4 PM and a few took off to the banos for a hot bath. Then, we had church here at Villa Milagro. David Blankenship played the guitar and led the singing, afterwhich, Doyne had a very good devotional about getting things done before it's too late. Then, we had a special meal of a whole roasted pig. It was delicious. Tonight was a special treat. Bro. Richard celebrated his 50th birthday this past week and Annie Blankenship turns 15 in a couple of days. Also, Selso, a Peruvian that works at VM and has helped with us this week, had a birthday yesterday. Each one had a chocolate birthday cake. After cake, we went outside where a couple of bonfires had been built and were surprised by a marachi band that played for over an hour in honor of the birthday people. I think it will be a birthday they will never forget. If I can, I will try to post of few pictures from today at photobucket.