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.