Okay, ladies and gents, I promised a post just for Liz and Miguel soon and due to our circumstances now seemed like an appropriate time to stick it in.
Let’s start at the beginning. Our very first Sunday in Peru. We’ve been here for two days and are lost, confused, tired/ on the brink of exhaustion, our brains are fried from Spanish, we feel alone in the world and probably look horrid because it’s the first time our bodies have gone more than two days without showering. We’re sitting in a pew, singing the opening song and I glance behind us and realize there’s a white girl there! I whisper to Noelle “the old intern is sitting right behind us!” Then, instead of getting excited I got kind of nervous. Like, what if she didn’t like us or was mean? What if she was mad she wasn’t working at El Bichito anymore? Sooooo many negative what if’s were going through my mind. What could make this experience even more scary and hard?
Well after the meeting she greeted us with a friendly smile and said “Are you guys the new interns?!” And she sounded excited!!! Her husband, Miguel, shook our hands and gave us warm smiles. We couldn’t talk long because Liz had to go teach Primary but we stayed in Miguel’s Sunday School class and he made sure we were with the group the whole time. After church we walked home with them and got to chat (all in English!). It felt so good! We finally had friends! (I say finally because even though we’d only been there two days, it felt like a week had gone by)
Since that time, this family has shown way more love for us that we ever could have hoped for. They have taken us into Cajamarca to get hamburgers, shown us some sights, come to visit at El Bichito and cooked us delicious authentic Peruvian food. Food, that’s a good tangent to go on.
One Saturday, Liz taught us how to make Ahi de Gallina, one of the most popular dishes here in Peru. Then we got to eat it for lunch and we all just about died it was so good. The entire time we were at their house making it, they talked to us, showed us pictures of their wedding (they’ve only been married two months…one month when we met them), asked us questions about ourselves and were overall so hospitable. Two weeks later we went over for another Peruvian lunch and Liz already had it prepared! I think I liked that one a little better than the first even. Whenever we come over to their house they have bread or something to serve us even though we consistently tell them we don’t expect anything since we’re American. They counter with they have to serve something because they’re Peruvian.
This week, they’re showing more love and trust in us than I ever thought they would! They’ve practically given us their house!!! You heard me right. Since our house is under lock-down for mold (I should really update about that next…) they offered for us to live with them. And the timing worked out great because they are going to Lima this week for a wedding and for Liz to finish up her residency papers. They’ve also left Aleksi here (he get’s his own post in a bit) so we could watch out for him…although I think he does more watching out for us.
I honestly am still in shock at how kind they’ve been to just say “come on over and live here! Bring all your stuff with you. You can use whatever you need here. Eat whatever food you want. Take as many hot/ warm showers as you want. If you need to hang up clothes, just use our closet. We have a washer so wash all your clothes while you’re here. Here are the keys, see you in a week!” Yep, that’s about how it went down. Have I said how amazing they are?
They’ve invited us to their family home evenings multiple times and taken us to meet other families in the ward. This has been a blessing for us because we have more people for fhe, we get to interact with actual families, we get to see a variety of Peruvian homes and we get an awesome lesson and activity each week.
Liz has been helping us make travel plans for the end of our trip. We wouldn’t have had any idea where to even start with these if it hadn’t been for her. She’s given us names of tour agencies, airlines, people to stay with, good places to eat and anything else we could possibly ask about. She’s a fountain of knowledge!
And now we know where all this love comes from. We met Miguel’s family a while ago and fell in love with his mother. She has got to be the sweetest Peruvian mom in Peru. She taught us how to crochet flowers (even though I didn’t really pick it up…but Brittany did), she’s cooked us lunch, fed us breakfast, and offered her home to us when we need it. She’s always smiling and doesn’t seem fazed by the fact that we can’t understand half the things she’s saying. His dad is a hard worker and has such a great spirit about him. He likes to joke around and hopefully we get to talk to him a little more before we leave Peru.
Last night, Aleksi was skyping with his family and we went in to meet them. Well, we ended up talking to Liz’s mom for like an hour and half! And she’s amazing too!! Holy cow, I want to be like her someday. She had so many encouraging words for us, so many awesome stories and just another perspective on Liz :) Which made me appreciate her and Miguel ten times more! I didn’t even think that was possible, but it was.
Liz and Miguel truly have been our angels since being here. They’re the reason we’ve had so much fun, learned so many things about Peru and made so many of our other friends. They’re our age but sometimes I feel like they’re our parents since they know what’s dangerous and what we should and shouldn’t do. We probably would have been kidnapped by now if it wasn’t for them.
I appreciate Miguel for his watchful eye and his warnings of what not to do in Banos del Inca or Cajamarca. I’m grateful for his lessons every Sunday and for his willingness to try to include us. I’m grateful for his prodding to keep learning Spanish and to keep practicing it. I’m grateful for his firm handshake every time we walk into his house, asking how we’ve been and laughing at our stories. I’m grateful for his older brotherly teasing about boys or the kids or any time we do something dumb. He’s a spiritual giant and such an all around great man and he has set the standard a little bit higher for my future husband.
Liz is one of the most giving women I have ever met. She’s willing to give material things, time, stories, help…everything. I’m grateful for her enthusiasm in whatever she’s doing. She doesn’t do things halfway and when she puts her mind to something, she gets it done. I’m grateful for her experiences she’s willing to share. Be that life experiences, one’s she had while working at El Bichito, or ones she’s had since living in Peru on her own, they always teach us something. I’m grateful for her willingness to share her material things with us. She’s shared food, clothing, a place to sit down and rest, and now her entire home. She’s shared her husband at times as he’s taken us around Cajamarca and helped us buy things we need (including Brittany’s guitar). It sounds funny to say I want to be like Liz when I grow up since she’s only a year older than me, but I really do! I wish I could say that I haven’t had opportunities to serve someone like she’s serving us, but I have. I just haven’t taken full advantage of them like she has. Her heart is so incredibly big and I don’t think it will ever run out of room for anyone.
Liz and Miguel have inspired me. I’m really going to try harder at school next semester focusing on people and helping them with whatever they need. Especially with material things. Even though the material things “don’t matter” they can help make someone’s life easier so that the things that do matter become easier. They’ve shown me what a good, solid temple marriage looks like. It’s not like theirs is the only good one I’ve seen, I have great examples ALL around me, but theirs is one more to add to the list.
Oh, I could just keep going on and on and on and on about them! I don’t even feel like I’ve said half the things I wanted to say but I can’t even put into words what I’ve already said. They’ve done more for me and for us then they could possibly imagine and there’s no way we could ever repay them. While you’re sending prayers our way, send some their way as well. Maybe I can help get them some spiritual blessings from God since I don’t have anything temporal to give.
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