Alpha Conference snaps!

Conference

Just time for a quick blog to say that today has been AWESOME. We have had the first day of the conference and amazingly only finished one hour late though running on Latin time. The talks have been fantastic and we´ve met great people. Hardly anyone at the conference has run Alpha before and it is exciting to be at the brink of something new, which could really take off with the Latin passion and enthusiasm... Early start tomorrow so I`m going to retire.

Lima - first day

Our first day in Lima has been terrific. This is quite a city. Very big, sprawled out it seems and quite run down, but I love it! I think I´ve become used to quite a few things, such as chaotic driving and complete disregard for lanes, which are surprising my companions who´ve just flown in from England.

Today we went to visit a maximum security prison called Castro Castro. It was pretty grim but fascinating to see that they had a whole variety of workshops for the inmates, such as ceramics, art, literature, language classes and produce a lot of high quality products which they sell. They don´t yet run Alpha but are planning to after the conference. We could not believe that one of the inmates had made each of our team a mug with the Alpha logo painted on it and our names printed on the other side. I will treasure it!

It is so wonderful to see another South American city and I´m pleased to discover that I can still understand the Peruvian accent, although the pronounciation of a few words confuses me! It is also brilliant to be reunited with some of my old colleagues from Alpha. Tomorrow is the first day of the conference... I can´t wait.

For now I´m off to bed, so goodnight!

From one extreme to the other

Hello!
The last couple of weeks have taken me to extremes... from a survival camp in snow-capped mountains to the heat of the desert. As a result I now have dirt ingrained in my fingers that I can´t seem to wash out!! The camp, Niko, was intense but lots of fun. When I got to the end I exprencienced the same sensation as when I crossed the finish line of the London marathon a couple of years ago... I was just glad that I had survived and was still alive. I can´t say much about it because the way it runs depends upon people who´ve been on it keeping it a secret so the next lot have the same experience.

Suffice it to say that it involved lots of walking, not too much sleeping, and freezing cold conditions. I had no choice but to toughen up quite a lot and found myself doing things I never imagined I would or could! The whole thing was run in Spanish, which was fine except for the odd moment when urgent instructions were yelled out at top speed shortly after I´d woken up, and my brain was not quite alert enough to figure out why people were running around frantically in all directions!

We got back in the evening on Easter Sunday, I had a day of serving at the base on Monday, and then at 10 minutes notice the following day packed my bags (of mainly dirty clothes) to head off to the desert. We went round visiting families and talking to people, encouraging them, and drinking plentiful amounts of the obligatory mate in every house. It was a fantastic experience, seeing how people live there. They are very isolated, and live very simply... eating the animals they breed and drinking water which they haul from the ground... it made me realise how much we complicate life!

Nevertheless I must admit I´m glad to be back in the city today. Next week I´m off to Peru for the first-ever Alpha conference in Latin America. I´m extremely excited about it and will be working there as a volunteer.

Please keep in touch... will post again as soon as I can!

My new home

Hola todos!

It has been an interesting couple of weeks, getting adjusted to the new surroundings, but I have now found my bearings, made friends (even with the dogs, can you belive it? -- For the first time in literally years I am experiencing fond feelings for dogs!!), and found out more of the specifics of my role here. I´m glad to report that despite all the warnings from the Buenos Aires folk about how cold it would be here, it has been shorts and t-shirt weather pretty much every day - though I don´t know how much longer it will last.

So, my role involves helping with all the mercy ministries (outreach to the community that live in the desert, work with Aids patients, and a feeding programme for the homeless), as well as being on a ´mini-DTS´ team, where we will take teachings and dramas that we learnt during the DTS to other churches, schools etc in Mendoza and to other provinces. This will probably happen about once a month. They also run sports camps for the community here every so often, and hopefully I´ll be helping on those too. Next week (Weds up till Easter) I´ll be participating in some kind of extreme camp in the mountains, which should be challenging but great fun.

Other very exciting news is that this weekend I´m moving out of our underground rather cramped basement into a tiny wee trailer, which I´ll be sharing with just one other girl. It will be fun to have a mini-caravan as my home for the next little while!

I´ve had the chance to explore a bit of the city at the weekends, and it is absolutely gorgeous. The streets are all lined with trees and there are four lovely plazas. On a Saturday one of the plazas is filled with different live acts and performers, and has a great atmosphere. To my joy there are coffee shops on nearly every corner!

So, I will wish you a HAPPY EASTER now in case I don´t get to the internet beforehand. Eat lots of Cadbury´s chocolate on my behalf! Photos may follow, with any luck....