Interesting Conversation of the Day

After dropping the boys off at school (Brandon is in 1st grade, and the other two are in pre-school-- all are learning Spanish so well!), I went to get my haircut. I usually go to the same place-- where a widow (in her late 60s probably) named Carmen has a shop. She has shown interest in Scripture and in spiritual things. I have given her a Bible, and we have studied it, and talked a number of times. I need to get over there more to talk with her!

While she was cutting my hair (cost: 80 cents, though I tip a bit, so it comes to about $1.30 for a good haircut!), there were all sorts of interruptions. One guy wanting to buy a bottle of water ("with or without carbonation?"), another wanting to buy some cement (she has a little business on the side), which he did, another guy coming in asking questions about the cement, and a old lady (probably in her 70s) walking the streets of Abancay, stopping at open doorways, and calling out, asking if whoever wants to buy alfalfa (Many people even in the city raise "cuys" (guinea pigs), and alfalfa is mainly what the cuys eat. So for 65 cents, Carmen bought a big pile of alfalfa for her scurrying, little cuys). After the haircut and the showing off of these alfalfa-chowing “animalitos”, she insisted I stay for a coffee. I resisted, saying I had a lot to do (which I did, but how many times do ministry opportunities present themselves, and we convince ourselves there are "more important" things to do!), but she kept insisting-- so we sat down. We chatted, and eventually got talking about the mountain overlooking our town that is 17,000ft and glacier-covered. (See pic below). Many years ago she said she went on a hike with her family (her husband and three young kids; her husband and oldest son have died, the latter from a severe fever). When they got to the big lake on the mountain, she said her kids were throwing rocks in the lake, and because of this, the lake was bothered. I kind of did a double-take and asked what exactly she meant. She said the lake didn't like having rocks thrown in him/her/it, got bothered, and then suddenly there appeared clouds everywhere, and then really strong thunder. I laughed, (probably a bit too harshly), and tried to tell her that that was pure coincidence, and that the Sovereign God did not lose some of His control to an isolated lake in the middle of nowhere deep in the mountains of Peru. She would have none of it. I told her I would go to the lake and throw huge rocks and even trees into it to prove it. She just laughed. She has been a Roman Catholic all her life, but like many here, they hold on to older, animistic beliefs. I may be giving her a lift in a few weeks to Lima, as I take some pastor’s to a conference. This might afford some good conversation time on the 12 hour journey.

Pray for Carmen!

Ampay: a peak that still is begging to be bagged...