Several weeks ago, we attended a free event at the Peruvian North American Cultural Institute. A theater team in Piura presented the drama called, “History of the Tondero Dance.” The Tondero is a dance native to the department of Piura in Northern Peru. According to fun drama, this dance tells a story of two young people who have just met; a proud young woman from the city, and a simple young man from the country. During the course of getting to know one another, there are missteps and cultural clumsiness. Their embarrassment at first caused a pulling away from one another, but later they both recognized a renewed interest. This comedy of errors happened over and over until at last they fell in love.
We feel like we too may be learning to dance the Tondero these days. We feel like (assume) we know “Peru,” only to find that our new city of Piura is not the same as Chiclayo. It was founded over 400 years ago and has a very proud Spanish and Catholic history.
We are trying to meet new people, find our way around our new town, and learn some new vocabulary. In our dance routine there is certainly some clumsiness!
We are also learning to work together as a new team. We have two Danish families living in Piura and working with us. They are new to Peru, to the language, and to the culture. We are trying to help them get their sea legs under them, even as we are trying to do the same ourselves. Two young single volunteers are joining them for several months of service.
We also have the support of brothers and sisters in Chiclayo. They have prayed for us as we moved up here. They also meet together to pray for the new work regularly, and are planning to come and help here. What does that look like for them? How does the Spirit help us dance the Tondero together?
We ask you to join us all in prayer. Here are a few prayer points:
- Pray that God would help us make key initial contacts as we pioneer here in this city. We have seen some answers to this prayer already, and ask you to pray with us for Oscar, Will, Kimberly, and Marcos among others.
- The Danish children have been placed in a Peruvian school and are finding the early days of adjustment difficult. Pray for Ingeborg and Ludvig (Tomas and Ana’s children) and Elisabeth and Daniel (Filip and Cristina’s children) as they wade through the language, culture and Peruvian school system. Pray that they would be able to find good friends who are patient as they learn Spanish, and who would look beyond the color of their skin.
- We have been encouraged several times to use English classes and conversation to serve and connect to the community and have many questions about what this could look like. One idea is to open a snack bar (Chatter Box Cafe?) where people could buy a cupcake and practice their English.
- It is exciting to work on a team with a wide variety of gifts and interests. Pray that we can build up each other and maintain harmony.