Let’s settle the fact that I dislike calendars. Don’t get me wrong, I use to love them, in fact my planner in college was always ripping at the seams because I used it so much. But this year, I don’t like calendars. They are just a constant reminder of how much time I have or don’t have left in Peru. The only problem… Peruvians love calendars, and I mean LOVE. They are everywhere. In fact on returning to Huáunco, I was given two calendars as gifts to celebrate the New Year. Then, while having dinner at an extended family members house the other day, I realized there were five calendars in one room. You just can’t escape them! Case in point, the other day I was asked to make a calendar for every month to put in our office at work. The girls I work with have no idea about my dislike for calendars, so they had no way of knowing that it would practically be torture for me. But then I started thinking; hey there is no better time than the present to break my hatred of calendars. So by golly I was going to make the most beautiful calendars and learn to like them!
Well I won’t lie to you, I didn’t begin to love calendars, but I might have calmed my hatred a bit. While drawing month after month I began to think about why I don’t like calendars, and in all actuality they just make me miss home. Then I got to thinking, around the time I was drawing the month of August, that if this is the hardest thing I have to face… a calendar, then I am so incredibly blessed.
I daily read cases of girls who face the decision of continuing to provide money for their family or telling someone that their boss is abusing them (not a really case but an idea of the type of situations my girls face.) My life seems like a cakewalk compared to the challenges and demons these girls face daily. But that’s why I’m here, to spread a little love wherever I go and give a little hope if I can. Now I’m off to enjoy the day, I only have 6 ½ months left, as you know!
| "I know God will not give me anything I can't handle. I just wish that He didn't trust me so much. -Mother Teresa |
You just made me sad, thinking that y'all only have a little more than 6 months left! Thanks for sharing, anyway. ;) Lots of Love!
ReplyDeleteWe love reading about your mission work and adventures! You brought back great memories with pics and stories of Puno, Cuzco, and Machu Picchu. These are places of great adventures with friends in the Peace Corps back in '73. Aquas Caliente was a little local train stop with no electricity and no road to "tourist train" stop at Machu Picchu---but we soaked in the warm pools and watched little parrots over the roaring river! Keep up your wonderful work with the Peruvian girls.
ReplyDelete