Americanized Life

A few years ago, I had the pleasure of living in Peru for a month. It was the summer before my senior year of high school. I went with a random group of people (from my community kind of formed around my high school sweethearts family) on a 9 hour flight to Lima and then traveled two hours by bus to a small fishing town called Pucasana. The town was tiny but very active. People were always on the move. I loved to watch the fisherman and see what they loaded off their boats. I even saw a Swordfish once. And the first morning we were there, there was an earthquake! Way to kick off the trip right? Haha, it was small. Everyone was fine but it's not everyday that you can say that. ;)

But my group and I spent time getting to know the towns people and students at the school we worked at. I taught English to my best ability to a class of 14-16 year olds. It was interesting and hard but I loved it. They knew as much English as I did Spanish so we did alright with communicating. I grew to love my students. There was even one day were a few of us made cookies and listened to American music. My team and I would play games with the students all the time. Everyone was so interested to see how “the Americans” did and said stuff. At lunch time, my team would eat together. And let me just say that the food there was A-MAZING! But in the evening, my team would talk about all we were doing and pray over the time we had with the people there. I was truly blessed by the people in my team. It really is truly wonderful how well you get to know strangers you live and work with on a missions trip. It amazes me how open you can be with a total stranger.

Anyway, for the first two weeks I was there, we spent most of our time building onto a hospital. We built a clinic so that the hospital could hold people over night instead of traveling two hours into the city, with someone dying in the backseat. It took us a whole two weeks to finish the clinic but it looked beautiful. We took down stone walls and put in concrete ones. We built a wooden roof and tiled the floors. We gave them electricity and glass windows to look out. Lastly we carved two long wooden light switched by the door that said “God is Love” in English and Spanish. The hospital had never looked better. 

On one of the first days we were at the hospital, a group of five women came and explained that they MUST talk to us. So we had our translate translate as one of the old ladies talked. She explained to us that ever since the hospital was built, it was never finish and for a long time people just waited for something to happen. But then these five women got together and started praying for a group of people to come finish the hospital. She explained that they had prayed for us to come, they had prayed for seven years. That was probably one of the most amazing things I had ever heard and I still hold that story very close to my heart. The power of prayer is an amazing thing people!

But anyway, after my team headed home, three of us girls stayed behind. Another team of just Doctors came and treated the towns people for free. Everyone just waited in lines for hours without getting angry so they could see the doctors. I mean, it was hot and people had to be tired but they waited patiently holding their sick children. You would never see that happen in America. A group of men even helped an old man into the hospital because he had broken his leg years before but it never healed right. I will never forget a little boy brought in by his father with what looked like blisters all over his back. He father explained that he must have gotten it from the dogs. And this is how these people lived! America has some of the best doctors in the world and I have a whole new appreciation for them.

For the last two weeks I was there, I lived with a lady named Elena, her two sons and two other girls who stayed behind with me, one of them being my boyfriends sister Kristen. She and I had some pretty interestingly funny stories and grew closer. 

Elena taught herself and her sons English. She was the principle of the school that I taught at and she was one of the most faithful Christian woman I have ever met. I will never forget her and our long evening conversations on the porch. Those last two weeks, I really got to spend time with the students and Elena’s family. We shopped and talked. We played Frisbee on the beach and eat oranges. I even was invited to one of my students 16^th birthday parties. And in the Spanish community the 16th birthday (The Quinceanera) is one of the most important. It was the celebration from when a girl becomes a woman. I was so honored to be there. We danced, eat and drank all night long. It was wonderful. I loved experiencing the culture.

Sometimes when I wake up in the early morning and walk outside, I have a flash back to when I lived in Peru. It's funny how just the hint of sunscreen and fish can take me back to those morning I work up and saw the ocean outside my window. I miss the amazing people who had nothing but were happy as if they had everything. I miss speaking Spanish and playing with my students. I miss Peru very much and hope to go back someday if God is willing.

But to close I must share the biggest part of Peru that I took home with me. The hospital that we worked at, was out in an area called “The Barrios”. It was the poorest of the poor. These people lived in cardboard boxes literally. They used whatever they could to make a roof. They had no beds, they just sleep on the dirt. No bathroom, no windows, no cars or toys. They had one room and a small hole in the roof, that smoke could go out of when they had whatever food they could get to cook over their tiny stove. Now, I’m talking families of five were living in these homes. Some of the students that I taught lived there. It was so sad. But the people always smiled and the children always laughed. To this day, I don’t understand why they were so happy. They had nothing. They lived in dirt. But they were happy. Some say it is because they didn’t know any better, meaning that they don’t understand how poor they actually are. But I think they did. They knew all that us Americans had. They saw our ipods, Nikon cameras, Mac computers, classy guitars and our brand name cloths. But instead of seeing all they didn’t have, they choose just to be content with what they did have and they had each other. They put worth in being alive, going to school and having a family. They were happy because they could be happy. Their happiness is also something that I have tucked deep into my heart and helped change the way I live.

Why are Americans not happy like that? Like the Peruvians? I didn’t even truly understand that kind of happiness until I became a Saved Christian a few months after this trip. I know that I am a completely different, freer, happy person now. Like the Peruvians. I am saved by Grace through faith, not by the good life I live or the materials I have. I know and believe in this salvation because I put my worth in my God, the creator of all earth and in my Lord Jesus Christ, who died for my sins. And just below that, I put worth in my loyal, encouraging, wise friends and in my loving, dramatic family. Relationships are worth fighting for and having. My Peruvian friends saw that and now I do also.

Sadly, since my trip to Peru, I kind of seen Americans as rude, snobbish and angry. Even though we have everything! Americans are not looked at as nice people in other countries and honestly, I completely understand why. Americans are selfish and only care about themselves. These people in Peru helped each other and always smiled when saying hello. I can’t even say that much about Americans. Now, I’m not trying to beat down on the USA. Go red, white and blue! God bless America… because we need it! But all I am saying is that my eyes have been opened. Americans are materialistic and unhappy. Gosh! Count your blessings people! I know how well off I am and I am thankful. And I’m not even that well off. But at least I have a home with a roof, a bed, a toilet, an education and Chipotle! BUT if all my wealth brings is rudeness and entitlement to have more then I want nothing of it. I want true happiness and you can only get that from the Lord. So strip me of my Americanized life and make me poor. Living on less is what I learned in Peru and it really has made me a much happier person. 

Isn't it a wonderful life?