Entering the home stretch

Before you get to the more reflective part of this multi-day blog, a quick listing of happenings here in July:

1. `Kina,` a Peruvian woman from Lima, defended her women`s world boxing crown against a Brazilian, much to the delight of people and the national press. The guys all stayed home from choir rehearsal to watch the fight.
2. The Peruvian women`s volleyball team keeps winning, qualifying for the world cup next year, while the men`s soccer team remains much more popular, better funding, and has yet to win a single qualifying match.
3. We attended with youth a fun and inspirational Catholic music concert here in Chimbote by a group called the Alfareros, from the Dominican Republic.
4. JUMIFRA put on a 150-plate barbecue fundraiser at our house on July 25, to raise money for a group trip to Cajamarca the weekend of August 22-23. Chaotic, fun, successful – and delicious with a half-found slab of beef, corn on the cob, potatoes, sweet potato, and salad.
5. We are tackling various home-improvement projects in light of the imminent arrival of our two new missionaries, Jenn and Marcelle. Jenn will be working in the parish and I am making efforts to document what we`ve done, current projects, etc, to help a little with the transition on both ends.
6. Youth Center project is slowly moving forward, looks like we`ll start the remodelling phase the middle of August. There is a lot of excitement about this project to create specific space for youth activities.
7. With the theatre group, we rehearsed and performed (at a Bingo fundraiser for the sisters` clinic here) three short, comedic scenes about health care at different stages of life. I played a foreign doctor on his first day here in Chimbote.


ONE MONTH MORE…
I have reached the point of having just one month left here in Chimbote, and I alternately feel two very distinct sets of feelings: excitement for going back home (especially for seeing family), and sadness at leaving. I have been reflecting on the state of youth ministry at the parish, nearly two years after my arrival in September 2007, and I see some concrete steps forward (forming the active youth council JUMIFRA, a solid English education program, more youth-planned events in the parish, a new and active theater group, a youth center initiative with much potencial), I also see some setbacks: both youth choirs and the Confirmation group are down in numbers, I don`t see the new young faces we had hopes of inviting into parish life, efforts at outreach into the community in general stalled. Chimbote continues with the same struggles of crime, poverty, and pollution as before. There is so much to do. A recent volunteer support publication I was reading asked the question: how have you changed since beginning your volunteer work? I have become less idealistic, I believe – or better put, more realistic. I haven`t lost my hope or my conviction that change is possible, but have indeed realized that noticeable change takes a lot of work, a lot of hands, and a lot of time. Coming down with visions of helping create links between US and local parishes, we have yet to achieve any significant link between even one parish here and one parish there. It seems that some ideas for projects I had in my mind more realistically would require five or ten years, not two. Nevertheless, I trust that the seeds I have helped to plant, the five loaves of bread and two fish that I have offered, God can indeed take and use to do great work through the hands of others, such as my fellow and incoming Incarnate Word Missionaries. I am thankful for being here, for knowing and working alongside hopeful, dedicated people here at St. Francis Parish, who will continue their lives, work and ministry after I depart. I will miss them. Thoughts to stay longer have periodically entered my mind during my stay here, but the pull on my heart for home and family has proved stronger, and I will indeed soon leave. Will I feel the same after a few months back in the US, I wonder?

The above stream of thought reflection started with a more practical list-making exercise to help process my upcoming transition out of Chimbote and back to life in the US – what will I miss and not miss about my life here, and what am I looking forward to and worried about concerning my re-entry. Enjoy!

What I will miss about my life in Chimbote
1. People
2. Speaking Spanish
3. Running down Avenida Perù in the mornings through the fields to the big sand dune
4. Wednesday and Friday afternoon guitar classes with Courtney and Roger
5. Early Sunday morning walks downtown to the waterfront
6. Hanging out at the rotunda by the parish for a few minutes with friends before heading home at night.
7. Theater group rehearsal on Sunday mornings (and our performances)
8. Singing with my choir Trovadores at Mass, Friday/Saturday rehearsals
9. Hearing the live folkloric music that our choir plays, including the quena and charango (Peruvian folk music instruments)
10. Dancing
11. Informal gatherings with music and singing in our living room
12. Buying fresh bread in the morning and evenings
13. Not having to drive, but instead walking everywhere
14. Afternoon walks downtown to make copies, navigating the hum of evening life, maybe meeting up with Susan for a few moments in the plaza or at the waterfront
15. Nightly English classes
16. Greeting and buying from known shopkeepers in the Progreso Market
17. Ceviche
18.That people take time to greet and say goodbye to each other individually
19. Here, I`m still a joven (young man)
20. English class conversation practice gatherings at our house Friday evenings
21. That people are so willing and eager to get up and dance at any chance
22. That I feel useful and needed in my work at the parish – with youth/young adults and English students.
23. Giving `missionary` as my profession.
24. Comaraderie of JUMIFRA events
25. Being present as the youth center project moves forward.



What I will not miss about life in Chimbote
1. Having to watch my back every time I go out.
2. The noise (horns, music at 4 a.m., etc)
3. People yelling `gringo` in the street
4. That everything starts late (though I`m adapting a bit )
5. People stay up late into the night.
6. That there are no (or very few) traffic laws that are followed
7. The dust
8. The trash
9. Washing clothes by hand.
10. Having to get up early to run safely.
11. Transportation strikes
12. Having to always boil the water.
13. Putting toilet paper in the trash can
14. The way Peruvians are generally very poor at patiently waiting in line
15. (Most of) the smells


What I am looking forward to about returning to the United States
1. Sharing moments and celebrations with my family
2. Spending time with and helping out my mom and dad with projects at their house
3. Fall (and seasons in general)
4. Natural beauty of the green-hued variety
5. On cold mornings, I will love the hot showers.
6. Peanut butter, ice cream, cold cereal with milk, oatmeal that you don`t drink 
7. Seeing Ryan`s (my brother) and his wife Michelle`s new house (almost two years ago)
8. Visiting old friends
9. Rain and storms
10. Sharing about my Peruvian experience with family, friends, and others (music, stories, photos)
11. Soft couches
12. Future of posibilitéis
13. Riding my bike
14. Seeing my new nephew Timothy.


What concerns me about returning to the US
1. That I will not fit in, out of place, or will have trouble relating within US culture
2. How will it go in my relationship with Susan
3. Missing my life here
4. Losing my Spanish skills
5. Spending money in $ instead of soles.
6. Uncertain future