Changes (Dan)

(continued from Dan's last post)

Now for the big news!    ...   ...  I´m heading to Cajamarca!  Yes,
that´s right, as of tomorrow night, Sunday, I am moving up to
Cajamarca, (about 7-8 hours north) to help the kids up there.  A
pretty big shock to be sure, but it´ll be a great opportunity and
challenge.  I will be working with the kids at El Bichito, which is a
food center run by a woman named  Feliciana.  In talking with Chris, a
great guy I met who worked there with his wife this passed summer,
I´ll be helping the kids with their homework, and also with learning
activities.  I know I´m going to miss the Aldea immensely, but I know
that I can do some good in Cajamarca.  I also hope that being the only
volunteer up there, I´ll be able to improve my Spanish even more
rapidly.  I´ll let you know more next week about the changes and
everything.  I´m excited to serve the good people in that pretty city.

This past week, as I´ve been preparing to leave, I´ve been doing some
last minute activities with the kids and tias in the Aldea.  I´ve been
trying to make pizza or bread with each and every house in the Aldea
before I leave.  I´ve been teaching the tias how to do it, and the
kids have been having fun mixing and kneading the dough, and of course
eating the final product.  It´s fun to share what I know (thanks to
Preston and Kelsey for teaching me the cooking skills) and have a
great time with the kids.  Guadalupe in casa 1, who loves to dance,
and great fun grating the cheese and punching the dough until it was
ready for pizza.  We´ve also been doing a lot of drawing and coloring
in casa 6 (the craft house) and it´s been fun to do paper airplanes as
well.  I love seeing some of the more rambunctious kids like Jonathan
or Pedro, get really serious as they prepare their airplanes for
flight.

I don´t look forward to saying the last goodbyes to the kids.  This
really does feel like home, and I will miss their smiling faces and
laughter.  I´ll also miss those at the direction like Eduardo (our
stake president), Cesar, Blanca and Estelle in the direction, and so
many others too.  I will miss the tias especially, as they are so kind
and helpful with us and cook for us the great Peruvian food all the
time.  We just had papa de juan gallina, which is potatoes with this
creamy sauce poured all over it.  Hmmmmm, so so tasty!

Entonces, I´m sorry about the long email... I just need to write more
often, and keep them at a better length.  I´ll try to do that better
in Cajamarca.