Peruvians are very poor, but they are also very smart. Most anything can be fixed over here
where at home, we would throw it away broken. They make do out of very little and do very well. They take care of their things that we
may consider trash better than many of us do our prized possessions. It is not uncommon to see a woman
sweeping her dirt “yard” or area in front of her house or tienda (store). She is taking care of what the Lord has
given her with a grateful and thankful heart. And while the city is very dirty and structures are thatch
or often half built, in the middle of it all are parks everywhere. All through the neighborhoods there are
parks with beautiful landscaping.
And as we are going into summer, they are being cared for, watered,
groomed, and loved. As I walk each
morning here in Arequipa, I pass many of these parks and always enjoy the spot
of beauty in the midst of what we all would consider a dirty and sometimes ugly
neighborhood. Often they are being
watered and I am again reminded of Peruvians ingenuity. I have yet to see a sprinkler system or
even a sprinkler. Most of the time
it is a bucket of water thrown on the sidewalk and then swept or water thrown
on your dirt floor after sweeping so it would not be so dusty and your dirt
floor would be “clean”. But in the
parks I have noticed sprinklers.
Upon a closer inspection it is a plastic coke bottle attached to the end
of the hose and holes punched in the bottom of the bottle. Check out the picture. It works pretty well. And all those sprinklers I went through
at home and they would break and I would throw them away; when all I needed to
do was save my diet coke plastic bottle and screw it on the end of my hose,
punch some holes in it and I would have been good to go! I am learning a lot from the Peruvians—and
not just how to be cleverer with my resources, whatever they may be, that the
Lord has given me. I am shown
daily how to love one another, care for one another, and find true contentment
from the Lord. Who is being
ministered to here? Them or me? I think the line gets blurred as it
always does when you dive into a ministry. As you minister to others, the Lord will inevitably minister
back to you. And along the way you
find helpful hints such as plastic bottles as sprinklers!
