Feliz Dia de la Madre! Happy Mother's Day. It is the second largest holiday in Peru. We had a great day today with a celebration of Larco's 25th anniversary. We started our day at church and enjoyed a wonderful service and then afterwards the celebration started. In total, it was about a three hour service. Church lasted for about half the time and the celebration the other half. Several age groups participated and either sang, danced, spoke or a combination of all three. Everyone from the small children to the older generation. One lady spoke that represented three generations and was the wife of the first pastor of Larco. I will have to post pictures later, but for now I don't have time. Be sure to check back. Anderson also took part and sang a few songs during the ceremony. Everyone was included.
After church, we went to the Balls home and enjoyed a picnic in the park with the missionary families and interns. It was a fabulous lunch and a great time for fellowship with the interns and missionary families. We had the afternoon free and so we went to the mall and had coffee at Starbucks. . . yes, Trujillo has a Starbucks! and it is within walking distance of my apartment. Too bad I don't like coffee. But we enjoyed seeing the mall, having coffee and even ice cream from Bembos (think Dairy Queen stand in the mall, but smaller selection and cheaper).
Earlier we had arranged to take some Salsa lessons from Milton a young man that attends Larco church and teaches dance. But by the time we had lunch, coffee and relaxed, everyone decided rest at the hotel was more in order than dance lessons after a long week of hard work. So, we may try again another day.
Tonight we are going to la Taberna for dinner. It is a chicken restaurant. You can get roasted chicken or fried chicken. You can get 1/4, 1/2 or a whole. That about sums up the menu. But it is some good food and they have frozen lemonade, which is always delicious!
This week we plan on more work to prep the foundation for the new Sanctuary at Larco and more English classes and University outreach. Also, we are going to visit the orphanage and some of the sights of Trujillo. It has been a wonderful first week with this group and I cannot wait to see what the next week brings!
