Despedidas + Lagrimas

I. Hate. Saying. GOODBYE.

I also strongly dislike packing.

This means that this week sucks a whole lot as I have to do a whole lot of those 2 things.

And it all started on Saturday..

For the first time in a long time, we actually made it to church on time! It was weird, but also quite nice. The only people that get to church on time are the little kids and as it was the last class I was teaching, it was welcome to have some time to do some prep before they all came in running and screaming.

Singing "Si Tuvieras Fe"

I was looking through the themes on the Calvary Chapel website for something that would involve keeping the little ones active, give me a reason to give them prizes, and of course give them some bible time. I happened upon a theme called "Running the Race" with 1 Corinthians 9:24-27 for the main scripture. I modified the lesson to fit my class. It was fun to plan and fun to hang out with my class again, though they ended up being a ridiculously noisy bunch. I enjoyed singing the song "Si Tuvieras Fe" with them, which seems to be the popular song for the year. It was an excuse for me to finally learn it as well. Plus, as per the theme, we did some stretching and running around to win some prizes. I was very thankful to have the help of the awesome mom, Jahaira. All in all, a good last class.

La Clase de Los Ninos Chiquitos 21.6.2014

As it goes, it seems goodbyes don't effect them or they didn't understand that Melissa and I wouldn't be returning. Either way, I was sad to say goodbye to them. I will always remember their sticky, wet (and sometimes mucousy) cheek kisses. They have the cutest dang smiles. Their enthusiasm and energy always woke me up and made me glad to be at Monte Sion. Thank you Yasmin, Clara, Yasui, Fray, Leo, Andy, Zauri, Maricielo, Natsumi, Sumiko, Diana, Cody Chelsea, Mirella, Meli, Kayla, Cielo, Alice, Raid, Aaron, Elias, Yusu, Nayeli, Britney, Alfredo, and Ruben for an incredible year! (Thankfully, they didn't normally come all at the same time..haha.)

After all the little ones went on their way, we had church. Ironically, or not, the theme for the weekend was Take Up Your Cross and living out your life for Jesus. After a very long time, Wilfredo was in charge of the service and Gladys preached. To conclude the night, Melissa and I shared some final words with the congregation to share our appreciation and fond memories we had with them. This was then followed by receiving hugs from everyone. As Maria is normally in charge of things, she brought sandwiches and juice and we had time to fellowship before really saying goodbye goodbye to Monte Sion. It was nice to spend the last service with Maria and her kids Gaby and Dairon, Maruja and her family Neli, Jose Luis, Andy, Jake, Marycruz, Elsa, and Nicole, Juan, Doris, and Shirley. Thank you for your love, support, and presence in our lives this year.

Obligatory Group Photo! {Monte Sion}

I didn't cry too much in Monte Sion, but there is definitely an ache in my heart knowing that I won't get to see my family there again.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Then the fun continued on Sunday..

Let me back up for a second. Ever since we started traveling, Prudencio has been asking to see our pictures from our trips to show him the places around Peru that he doesn't know yet. Finally, on Friday, we made time to do just that. Also, when we went to Lunahuana, Wilfredo told us that Prudencio had asked for some pure pisco, so we got him some. The plan was to make some sort of pisco dessert and share it with him while we showed him the pictures, but time got the better of us and it didn't happen.

Pisco Cake!

So back to Sunday, first thing in the morning, we went to the market to pick up ingredients for the cake. When we got to Prudencio's house, Livia let us use her kitchen to get to work on the cake. We made a pisco cake with pisco glaze and frosting. 


We had a great BBQ lunch with chicken and beef, corn on the cob, potatoes, and the oh so delicious sauces a la Hermana Livia. To top it off, of course, we ate the pisco cake. Yum yum yum.

For church in Filadelfia, Karen presided and Rocio gave the sermon. I liked this video that she used to talk about how the burden of the cross may seem like too much at times, but God gives us only what He knows we can handle. Good service.

Melissa and Me with our Chuyos & Llamas.

Jhonny prepared a sort of going away program for us. Wilfredo, Virgilio, Karen, and Jhonny all shared some of their thoughts and memories with us. They made a video of the kids from Monte Sion saying another goodbye (Gladys made it before church the night before - she kept pulling kids aside as if they were in timeout or something - now we know why). There was also a slideshow of pictures from over the year - wonderful memories. Then, Melissa and I shared some more parting words with everyone, which is the part where I started to get choked up. The real kicker though is when they sing the song "Dios Os Guie Con Su Tierno Amor" and everyone comes up and gives you a hug and says some sort of thanks/wish you the best/goodbye in your ear. Forget about it. I was straight up crying the whole time - to hug all 20 people. Those in attendance were: Prudencio, Livia, Melissa, Carlos, Gladys, Mirtha, Robert, Karol, Paulo, Wilfredo, Virgilio, Graciela, Rocio, Jhonny, Karen, Sandra, Consuelo, Eder, Betzabe, and Doris. It was torture. Nonetheless, I appreciate that they were there for us and we had the opportunity to spend the year with them. I also love my new chuyo and llama, which were our going away presents from the congregation!

Estribillo de "Dios Os Guie Con Su Tierno Amor": 

Hasta que volvamos a vernos

Y poder gozar de la amistad, 

Recordemos este momento.

¡Que preciosa es la hermandad! 

Always gotta have a group photo! {Filadelfia}

If only that was the end of the goodbyes..really, it was more of a see you later, as everyone is going to come over Thursday night to say goodbye again since they can't see us off at the airport Friday morning.

In the meantime, I will hop to on the packing, amidst all of the trips to do the "one more time" activities. The packing part - BOOOO. The visiting of our favorite spots - YAYYYY! 

Well, that's all for now.

~nos vemos~

P.S.  Depending on if we do anything noteworthy, I probably won't get in another post until we arrive in Honduras. Woo Honduras! I hope you're ready for us!