It was a great morning, filled with wonderful worship, a sharing of Pastor Gilverto's heart for ministry, and a message on adoption. It finished with a tasty lunch of rice, goat, and yucca. Good stuff. But we were also here for another purpose that day: to get some sand to build a sandbox.
Our house is large in Piura, and is completely finished out with concrete and tile. This means there is no real dirt or sand for Toby and Timothy to play in. So the task Sunday was an important one. When I asked where we could get some good sand, the men there laughed, and pointed outside the church door. There was a short heated debate about where the best sand would come from, whether Paraiso or San Antonio. Since we were heading to San Antonio to visit a friend recuperating from back surgery, we thought we would get the sand from there.
Photo: Pastors and church leaders Jesus, Faustino, Gilverto, (Lowell), and Maximo
Arriving at Saul's dad's home, he quickly learned of our plan, and asked his dad and pastor, Faustino, to hitch up the horse to the "carreta", or cart. Also, he said the best sand would be from the white sand dunes above the town, a short walk/ride from the house. It was a wonderful trip. Here are some pictures.
There were some funny moments. When Faustino lifted a bag of sand that I could not. When Faustino suggested I get on the horse, and then another moment when I actually did. :-) Mikaela screaming that the horse was going too fast (it wasn't...). The hilarious grins on the faces of Toby, Timothy, and Otoniel (Saul's son).
When we got home, we unloaded the sand and noted that, since it is so very clean and fine, it had begun to leak from the sacks and required a bit of cleanup. The next morning we headed to the hardware store to get materials for the new sandbox, and found that the sand was just right!
May you find joy in the little journeys you experience this week.
Lowell
