Dave’s Blog

We took a sightseeing trip to inner and upper Peru. We all were to fly to Cusco from Lima but my name was not with the others. Nancy tried to get me on but at the last minute had to leave to go with the group. She gave me the name of the tour company to try to get me on another flight or to get me to the States.

After much trouble with the phone system and getting the right numbers, I did get the tour company and they said they would call back at the pay phone in 15 minutes. Later, someone said that the pay phones cannot get incomming calls, so I called back and said I would turn on my cell phone. It is expensive but worth the effort.

They did get me on a flight and the company met my plane in Cusco and took me to the hotel where I met up with the group. That evening a group of us went to the town square to the Inca Grill. Cusco is an ancient Inca city with stone foundations that are very impressive. The Spanish took over and build over these foundations and then modern civilization built on top of that. Some of the origional foundations can be seen on some buildings.

It is very mountainous here and we walked up and down to get there. Cobblestone streets that are very narrow and winding. The square had a Catholic church in the center with shops all around. It is very tourist friendly. Vendors everywhere but not in your face. Very polite and if you say no thank you, they go on.

Of course our group had to try some of the local specialitys. I had Alpaca, which was very good. Like a rich veal. Johathan had the Guinea Pig and of course we traded samples. I was very glad I had made the choice that I did. His was sort of strong.

The next morning we got up and were met by a bus that took us to the bus station. There we took a bus for 1 1/2 hours to the train. They are working on part of the train track. We then got on the train. Wow what a nice modern train with glass on the roof so you could see the mountains. We rode about 2 hours on the train to the town of Cuidad Inca Manchupicchu.

Again it is touristy but polite. They have a big market with a couple hundred stalls of people selling beautiful woven cloth, crafts, jewlery, hats and whatever else you might need. It was very relaxed and calm with no pitch men.

We took a bus up to the ruins. Wow was that a winding hairpin road. The mountains here are very straight up and down. On the train ride we went through a couple of climate changes. We were in desert, cloud forest and jungle. Snow capped peaks were in the background and it was pretty overwhelming. That was before we saw any of the ruins.

Manchu Picchu itself was thought to be a temple and villa for the rich Inca. It was not found by the Spanish and only known outside of the area in the early 1900’s. You enter from above and have a panorama view of the ruins. In some ways…if you have seen one… In some ways it was very individual. I have a great picture of a LLama on top of one of the buildings and chinchillas in the buildings. The craftsmanship is amazing.

I did not feel like walking through the whole area so sat and squinted and imagined. I watched people and thought of all the people that had been there for so many years. It was a great experience. Very calm and cleansing.

After that I took the bus back down the wwwwwwwwwwwwinding road to the town. I had fun walking through all the stalls of people selling things that represented their lives and those before them. I then found a restaurant to sit in and relax. I had refreshment and visited with the owner. Showed him some strings and he taught me one that I had not seen before…at least not made that way.

We had a good time with strings right there in the restaurant. The owner, cook and waitress all learned strings and showed me some. What a good way to connect with people. I then ate there…trout and the fixings. I met up with the team for the train and bus ride back to Cusco. It was a long day but a great one.

Because of the ticketing snafu, I left the next morning before the group for Lima. I was there for a couple hours before they came. We had about 8 hours in the Lima airport. Most of the group took a tour of Lima. I had met a Jesuit missionary who works with Lima prison kids and he came to the airport and we visited for 3 1/2 hours. I taught him strings along with a couple of onlookers. What a great ending to the trip.

Went through all the inspections, payments and paper stampings necessary to leave a county and headed for home. Tired but felt that I had served where I was needed. No bells and whistles, just good basic service.

Dave

On Monday after breakfast…we loaded up on two busses to go to the work sites. When we got there the surveying at the construction site was not done. Nothing for that team to do but wait. And they waited most of the day.

We set up the clinic in the Library (Which was an empty building of one room. We also set up the PortaPotty. It consists of a pop up tent that is about 4 feet square and 7 feet high with a portable potty inside. That was set up out back.

There was no place to have Bible school so the team set up a tarp on the sand and the kids colored and made wind socks with colored streamers for the rainbow after Noah’s Ark. The kids were happy and some made 3 or 4 wind socks. They tried to show a Spanish Vegetales cartoon video but it was difficult to see outside.

I wandered around and did strings with some of the older children and some of the adults that were standing around. We had lunch and continued on with the same activities.

The medical team had two Doctors, two translators and a pharmacy with nurses or pharmacists dispensing medications. We also had a couple of people testing people for reading glasses. Janice, one of the team stepped in and translated as best she could at that station.

John, the local person is a physicain in the states 6 months of the year and in Peru for 6 months. Instead of going to a new site, he decided we should stay at the same site. At the end of the first day we packed everything up and headed back to the Methodist camp.

When we got there we had rice and a piece of chicken again and some cucumbers and tomatoes. People were in hopes of getting more a taste of Peru. There was a little discontentment over the camp situation.

The next morning was hot water for tea or instant coffee and rolls and jelly. Sid was the savior with real coffee. He had set up the coffee maker and could make 12 cups at a time. Everyone took turns and did get a second cup.

We loaded up after the busses finally got there. They were late by about one hour. We set up the clinic again and the construction people continued digging for the footer. One person on the team had a medical problem that the doctors could not take care of and suggested that she return to the States.

It was her first time to travel out of the US and she was timid about buying a bus ticket to Lima and transfering there so I offered to travel with her. I have enough Spanish to handle most situations. We went by taxi to the bus station and bought out tickets to Lima. The trip was in the day time so I got to see what I had missed on the night trip to Chincha. John had arranged a taxi driver he knew in Lima to meet us. He did and I paid him and he asssured her that he would get her to the airport where people spoke English. She was comfortable with that so I did an immediate return to Chincha.

I took a little 3 wheeled motorcycle to John’s appartment near the station. I checked my email and waited til they could get a ride for me to the camp. When I got there I found that someone had entered the compound and stolen a suit case, camera and some other articles. That was the last straw and they decided to move to a hotel. It still was within our budget of $10 a day.

The next morning we packed everything so we could come get it after a day of work. Hot water for tea and instant coffee and a roll with jelly. They added margarine. The busses were late and we headed off. Each day we had to stop by John’s appartment to pick up the medications that he restocked. That took time and then one group went to the construction site.

They were having trouble getting supplies. The wrong things were sent or did not get there. They did accomplish an amazing amount of work in the 5 days were were there. I think that John did not believe them when they said they needed some of the supplies. As a team they were very fast and competent.

The medical team went to a new area and John had to ask where we could set up. This should have been done the week before. We found a thatched building that was quite large. Large enough for the clinic, eye glasses, intake and the portapotty all in one room.

I did strings with some of the people standing around and then with some of the people in line to help them pass the time. Later that day John decided that we would be there the last three days of our time and went off to type up flyers for us to hand out. That too, could have been done the week before.

We finished and packed everything up because there was no where to lock it up. Stopped by the appartment to drop off the drugs and then went to the camp to get our things. We then went to the hotel and needed our passports to check in. I had mine since I took that trip to Lima so I checked in right away and had a hot shower. Some of the later ones had cold showers.

The rooms were nice and they had wifi. We went out to a chicken place…rotissorie…whatever or deep fried or flank steak, fries and a salad. Some did not eat the salad but I did. No problems. A stop at the ice cream store and back to the hotel.

We had the “American” breakfast in the hotel. Scrambled eggs and ham, rolls, jelly and real coffee.

Off for another day at the clinic. I ask around and found out there was a school near so after checking it out with our leader I ask a man in a taxi to take me there. It cost a dollar US.

I met the headmistress and they were happy to have me work with the kids. It was an elementary school of 5 classes of about 50 in each class. I met with each of the classes and did strings. Boy were they happy with that. One of the kids had a string from the clinic. I really enjoyed the morning.

I thought that I might walk back but saw it was much too far. I stopped at a market area and there was a man on a motorcycle and his wife. He ask what I needed and after I explained, he took his wife home and came back to take me to the clinic.

When I got back to the clinic I found that some of the women at the camp had prepared a meal for us. Flavored spagetti and pieces of fried chicken and a sauce with tomato, pineaple, other things and spices. The one doctor suggested that we not eat it but the other one got a plate and ate. I ate some as did a few of us. We were careful to explaine that some had very weak stomaches and could not eat the spices. None of us got sick from the food.

I talked with John about going to another school on Friday and he said he would take care of it. Guess what. It didn’t happen. If I had known I could have gone with the construction team and done the school in their area. I spent Friday at the clinic seeing the few people that we had. This was a good time to bond with some of the team members.

Sometimes I get so wrapped up in numbers that I don’t notice the two or three boys that were completely enthralled with the string. They came back again and again to learn more. They learned so much…the spider…the cross…the porcupine and much more. How do you put value on their interst ad the time spent with them. One of the team members…a boy 15 also became enthralled with the string and learned many things and was teaching others.

Sometimes I need to let go of how much can I do and just enjoy what God has for me to do. I am enough and do not have to perform for him. I did meet some neat people in these two areas. I helped in the clinic and wherever necessary. Even made peanut butter sandwiches.

Back to the hotel and get cleaned up to go to the same restaurant because it was close and fast. I had a grilled chicken this time.

Our oficial VIM trip was over and we were to get up at 4 to go to the airport to fly to Cusco and see the ruins of Machu Picchu.

Dave

I did not blog during my trip to Peru because of time and wifi connection availability. My trip was from Sunday July 17 through July 27 of 2010. It was a Volunteer in Mission (VIM) trip organized by Nancy Reynen of First United Methodist Church of Edmond, OK. There were 34 that went on the trip. Some of the members were on a trip that I took with Nancy to Venezuela. It was good to reconnect with them.

Some members of the trip were going to start construction on a community center, some members were to work on a medical mission team and some of us were for a Bible school. I was with the Bible school but also helped out other places.

We met at the church and drove to the OKC airport for our flight to Houston. We then flew to Lima, Peru and got on a bus to drive the 150 miles to Chincha. It was night but the drive was along the Pacific coast line. We arrived at a hostel built by the Methodist church of Peru. They had wooden beds, cold showers and dining accomodations for us. We were one of the first groups to use this place and they were still working out the bugs.

It was right on the ocean. Speaking of the Pacific, did you know that if you went straight South from Florida you would hit the West coast of South America. There was a high wall around the compound but we could walk around to see the go to the beach. We could hear the breakers all night. Quite a refreshing sound.

Our first day we arrived about 10:00 AM and they said they would have a meal at 11:00. At 12 they served us tea and papya juice. Some of the tables got a plate of small hard rolls but mine did not. They ate the rolls and got up. I said “when are we going to eat?” and was told “We just did.” At 6:00 we had rice and each had a piece of chicken. We also had some canned diced beets.

We found out that they were not going to fix our lunches so some went out to buy bread, peanut butter, jelly and some chips to make our lunches. We understood that that was included in the price of the hostel. Some were beginning to not be happy with the place.

That afternoon two busses took us to the work site where we were to start. The construction site was just a few blocks from the clinic area. The lot for the new community center had not been surveyed but we were told it would happen first thing in the morning. At the (library) an ampty building they called all the community people together to tell them of our plans. The leader from Peru talked a long time giving credits etc for things.

The community is built on a flat land fill. It looks like a desert. Sand and no vegetation except along the river about a mile away. That is their water source. They have electricity. Since it does not rain there their houses are made of panels of woven bamboo bigger than a sheet of siding. These are the walls and roof. One room for everyone. Sometimes they have planted a tree, cactus or geranium in front of the house. They are in neat rows with well defined dirt roads.

They have made a park with white painted rocks outlining walkways, etc. They have also planted a few trees about 2 feet tall. The rest is sand. There seems to be no trash in these communities. There are little storefronts that are connected to homes where you can buy candy, pop, chips and some staples. I’m not good with estimates but there might have been 2 or 3 hundred in this community. There are communities like this surrounding the outskirts of Chincha on the desert side. Just beyond this are the beginnings of the foothills to the Andes. They are sand covered with no vegetation.

Origionally there were refugee camps from the 2007 earthquakes. The people are now being resettled in these planned communities. Things are surveyed and planned. I don’t know if they pay for the land or it is a gift. Doesn’t look like it is worth much. It looks like most of these people have only been here a couple of years.

The next morning we had tea and rolls with jelly.They also had hot water for tea or instant coffee. That was it. Someone had brought a jar of peanut butter that they shared. The saving grace was Sid. Sid likes his coffee and at 74 he gets his way. He brought along coffee and a french press and made real coffee for all who wanted it. Nancy had also brought along a coffee maker that made 12 cups that we set up the next morning.

I added a little humor to the morning. On my way to OKC Sunday I stopped at McDonalds and had a large coffee. When I finished with it I put the cup in my suitcase. Monday morning when I came into the dining area I had my McDonalds cup and everyone wanted to know which direction to go and how far was it. We had a good time with each new person that came into the dining area.

Some of the Church of Christ churches from Oklahoma, Kansas and Texas gather at Oklahoma Christian University for summer church camp. Usually they have different weeks but this time they overlapped and I gave programs for each of them on June 30, 2010 in the evening.

Camp Impact iis onganized by ///// who is a new grandfather and had to show me the pictures of his 5 day old grandaughter. We had 530 campers and staff in the main audatorium. It is amazing how the kids in the back can follow the word directions and also see what I am doing. They do so well.

I have been doing these camps for a number of years and to some I am a fixture. I tell them that my message is always the same because the Gospel message never changes. I do present it in different ways but usually with many of the same figures. For some of them, they forget from one year to the next and need a refresher. They seem to want me back every year.

Richard is over Camp Cornerstone and we had about 300 total for that group. They are the high school age and it is great to talk with them at their level. I don’t get to work with that many older kids. They are so receptive and want to be equipped to go out and share with their friends. Next year we will probably give each of them an extra string to share with a friend. That was not in this years’ budget.

Camp Cornerstone program started at 9:ish and so I was home at midnight I really had a good time.

Dave

I have purchased 4 airline tickets in the last two days. Chicago, Peru, Alaska and Germany.

I am going to Chicago from July 6 through July 11. I am on an Internation board for an organization and will be having meetings then a conflab with lots of old friends.

I had a call from the team leader going to Peru saying that they had a cancellation and asking if I could go. I had traveled with her one time before to Venezuela and she really wanted the strings to be present. I am going to Peru July 18th. We will be working with refugees from the 2007 earthquake. They are still unsettled and have nothing to do. Won’t strings be a blessing?

We are taking a medical team, a construction team and a Bible School team. I will be working with all three. Divirsion with the medical team…trying to keep the ones standing around out of the Dr’s hair. Also at the construction site…trying to keep the ones standing around out of the workers hair. The Bible School is self explanitory.

It will be my first time to Peru. It came up so suddenly that funding is a challange but God will provide for it. I am talking to some of the local churches about it.

I am going to Alaska to work in the schools and churches in September so I purchased that ticket. Now will try to fill up the time.

I also purchaced a ticket to Germany for 6 weeks. I will be working with some of the youth workers that I worked with earlier this year. They will be bringing Community, Catholic, Pentacostal youth workers and any others that we can find. I will also be at a youth retreat for 500 youth and working with the US Military Chaplins. That meeting will be in Switzerland.

I have enough frequent flier miles left for a trip in late fall, early winter if you know some place that needs String Ministry.

Dave

In the morning I was in Purcell at the Public Library. They have nice gym area with bleachers for the families to sit on. The kids sit on the floor in front…usually. We had over 150 there and again there were some who remembered me from last year. I talk about Toby Keith and if you went to a concert of his, he would get a hand for his new songs but the biggest applause is for his old favorites.

My favorite is an Anansi story that I use a number of string figures in. People love it when it is new and when others remember parts of it they get excited and nudge their neighbor to say…
“Watch this.” Bonnie and Peggy helped me at Purcell.

Moore Library had two programs, one at 2:00 and one at 7:00. Elaine and sandy helped with those programs and we had our hands full passing out strings, taking tickets, counting everyone and getting them settled. The programs went off without a hitch and some of the grown ups had more fun than the kids. We have a few parents with very young children that stay for the program then leave when we are working with the string. They are happy and the kids are happy that they only have to be quiet for a short time.

Dave

I gave two programs at the Norman Public Library, one in the afternoon and one in the evening. Basha is usually there to organize things but she was ill so Julie filled in very well in her place.

Parents sometimes do not realize how disruptive their 3 year old can be. I had to ask one mother to take her children out for a little while until they were settled. We had about 225 in the room and one can create havoc. It went well and she came in later with them and sat in the back of the room.

In the evening program I had one older woman who stopped me after the show and said that she used to do “crows’ feet” and could not remember a couple of steps. I walked her trembeling hands through it and her daughter said “Mom, your hands don’t tremble as much when you are doing that. You are probably one of the few 91 year olds that can do that.” I also had a family that were there with their kids. The father remembered me from church camp when he was younger.

I am getting a following. One grandmother had her grand daughter show me a thing she had learned from one of my books and the story that she had made up. It was great to see creativity at work. I am so glad to be a part of it.

Dave

Today I filled the pulpit in Rush Springs, Ok and Sterling, OK. They are both small towns near Lawton.

Rush Springs is the larger community and has a larger church building. It was build years ago when all the people were staying around instead of going to school and then leaving. It is now a small group…there were 11 today. They are mostly very elderly and have trouble hearing and seeing. They only do certain hymns that they all know and no one knows how to operate the cd player.

I handled the entire service including playing the music for the hymns on the cd. It was a very nice service and they were most appreciative of my efforts to come over there and have the service while their pastor is on vacation. Their service was at 9:00 and then about 5 of them have a Sunday School class.

The same pastor has Sterling which is smaller but has a Sunday School for kids and adults and then the church service at 11:00. There were about 50 with a nice mix of ages. Why the differences in communities baffles me. Anyway, at children’s moments I did a string figure with the kids and then for the service time, I connected it in as I told of some of my mission travels. It was all tied into the lectionary reading for today and I had many compliments on it even though I did go overtime.

I stopped in Elgin at a new Mexican restaurant on my way home. It was a great morning with some very nice people.

Dave

I stopped on the way at a picnic area and pulled the car in some shade and took a nap. There was a nice breeze so the 95 degree weather was ok. I rested and then went on to the library. I had lots of time till the next program and Dawn the librarian was most interested in the history of the string figures. She is Native American and we talked about the uses of string in those peoples lives.

There was an older man there who joined our conversation and we had a good time talking and showing some string figures. I showed them how to do a couple and we just visited. Soon a Native American family came in and the father was interested in the figures. I showed him a couple of slight of hand things and we waited for the rest of the group.

When we started we had NO PRESCHOOLERS. Wow. Then a couple of them came in but it was mostly an older crowd. School age, teens and adults. We alternated between showing something for the younger and then something for the older group. It was really a nice time.

I left there at 5:30 for home. It was a beautiful drive. The light was on the horizon, and there were some scattered showers. You could see them from afar and then you were driving through one. Everything was a bright green or gold. I love the landscape of Western Oklahoma.

I have had a good time with the Western Plains Library District. Thanks to Michael Hull for inviting me.

Dave Titus

Well, my GPS got me there early again so I had to go to the new Brahams and have a biscuit and gravy. It is a tough life. I traveled alone today. It was a beautiful drive. The new harvested fields of hay are so golden and clean.

The group in Weatherford was a nice size for the area and had some pre schoolers. They stayed for the story and then the youngest left when we were doing things too hard for them. They were happy to get out and be able to talk and run. We had a good time with the older ones.

I had a lot of time to kill between programs so I checked my email and the news on the web. I then tried out the Chinese restaurant in Weatherford. I thought it was better than the one in Clinton. I had a nice leasurely meal and then drove to Seiling, about one hour away.

Dave