The case of the tourist suitcase...

30 August 2008

Dear Family, Friends, and Supporters! And buenos dias!!

Having arrived safely in Cochabamba last Sunday 24 August, much of this week has been spent trying to get my "lost" suitcase, one of two that was sent from Winnipeg. After numerous hours on the telephone with both airlines, seven trips out to the airport, and more hours of waiting, they finally found my suitcase in Budapest! Apparently my suitcase has a travel bug, too...only it did not send me a postcard?!! Maybe it's in the mail...

Many have wanted to know about my long days of travelling to get here. My day and a half of flying and layovers (some 30 hours) left me feeling quite exhausted. I flew from Winnipeg to Chicago, a five hour layover there (that was mostly unpleasant unfortunately), then from there to Miami, for a three hour layover, then to Santa Cruz via La Paz...in Santa Cruz there was a four hour layover....and finally arrived in Cochabamba on Sunday afternoon. Although I felt exhausted for this last leg of travelling, I was still not too tired to view the Andes Mountains from my window seat. It was a beautiful, sunny day and the scenery was spectacular!

Cochabamba, itself, is nestled in a valley that is surrounded by mountains, they are brown now because it is winter here. The first of September is spring and with it will come some rain and by November everything will become green again. I am very happy that I will be here to see that as it is already quite stunning! All around the city there are many different types of trees and flora. Many palm, coconut, and banana trees can be found in the parks, with their fountains and green spaces. In places that get watered regularly it is quite lovely!

My host family are very nice and hospitable. They have hosted many other international students for over twenty years. Already I have heard many stories of others who have lived with them. In the house/compound are my host parents, both retired, their daughter and grandson, who is 2 years old, as well as a hired girl. The grandson is friendly and very busy...always into something. And I am grateful for his energy and curiosity in this first week here as I adjust to a new city, country, school, language, culture and temporary home. He has a way of making me smile at the most unexpected moments! We are conversing fairly well with my broken Spanish and their broken English and already my host mother has taken me to the very large market here, La Cancha, and to a local supermarket. I am beginning to get acquainted with them and with the neighbourhood in which we live, very close to the school.

As I settle into my room and new home, there has been time to adjust to cultural differences...the traffic which may or may not stop at a red light...the cars without seatbelts, small stores everywhere, people wearing traditonal clothing, the dry, dusty streets....as well as the calla lilies everywhere, elegant and simple beauty in the midst of harsh realities.

Classes begin on Monday and I look forward to meeting other students and learning Spanish in order to speak properly and conjugate verbs in their proper tenses!!

My family, friends, and supporters, thank you for your thoughts, prayers, and emails. As we begin this new journey together, let us give thanks to God, whose love and grace measures far beyond any distance we might be apart, whose loving embrace extends to all! Amen.

Hasta luega (until next time)...

Grace and Peace~

Fran.

Farewell Tour

Greetings to family, friends, and supporters in the name of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ!

Thank you all for your interest in and support of ELCIC's Mission in the World, and specifically, with our partner church, Iglesia Luterana Evangelica Peruana (ILEP), and my work as a long-term missionary. It is my hope that this blog will keep everyone "in the loop" with the ministry, the travels, stories, and learnings during these years. I hope to share with you something of my work and life, as well as what we can learn from our neighbours in Peru. I hope that this shared ministry will enrich and challenge our sense of who we are and how we respond as Christians in the world, as well as call forward deeper connections to God and to all of God's children throughout the world. Saved by grace, we are called and strengthened to be in ministry for and with our neighbour. I look forward to serving with our partner church in Peru, our global neighbours. 

The last couple of months have served as a time of preparation for this ministry and for leaving Canada. Details, arrangements, and planning have gone smoothly and only final details need to be taken care of at this point. Part of the preparation involved the Mission Orientation facilitated by the Canadian Church's Forum on Global Missions. It was a wonderful time of training, discussions, inter-faith visits,  and reflection.

This picture shows Co-Director, Alice Schuda, as well as this year's participants at the Mission Orientation in Toronto.

Interspersed with the details, there has also been the "farewell tour" of the summer, as a family member put it. The summer has been full and meaningful as I have travelled from Saskatoon to Strasbourg, Winnipeg, Thunder Bay, Toronto, southern Manitoba, and North Dakota to visit with family and friends and say goodbyes!  As the summer nears its end, I find myself reflecting on the last few years of Seminary: the studies, papers, friendships, examinations, CTEL interviews, colloquy, Graduation, Ordination, moving from the apartment and now the last couple of months of farewells and goodbyes. This has been an emotional and exhilarating time! Lots of mixed emotions, of course, as I plan to leave: sometimes sadness, but much anticipation and excitement, too!

Leaving Canada on August 23, I will travel to Cochabamba, Bolivia for three months of language training where I will live with a host family. From there, I expect to arrive in Lima, Peru in December and begin the ministry as parish pastor and teacher of church liturgy and music for ILEP.

At this time, I want to thank those whose support, love, hospitality, and warm send-offs have encouraged and strengthened me to serve in this way!  My heart is filled with gratitude for those who have helped in so many ways and who have journeyed with me during this whole process...what a blessing you are!

Now...we prepare to leave Canada and let the next step of the adventure begin! Come, journey with me!!

Thanks be to God...

Fran