I'd been to Huaycán before, in 2005 when I first came to Peru, and our team was working at the orphanage where Juan Gabriel had grown up. His mom couldn't afford to raise him when he was younger and so like many of the other kids in orphanages, he was raised there until he was older and then moved back in with his family. When I was there in 2005, he was 14 (I still can't believe his 18 now!) and no longer living there, but was helping with the team. I have pictures from that trip, but not on my computer right now, so I'll post them later. I didn't take my camera this time, so I'll just have to explain the rest!
Huaycán is on the far outskirts of Lima and is very very hilly... it's pretty crazy how some of these houses are perched on the edges of these hills. Many don't have running water or sewage services. But, as Juan Gabriel was telling me, things are changing there and there are a lot of improvements being made. His house still doesn't have these services, but it looks like their neighbors a few houses down have already gotten running water and so his family should be getting those services soon.I knew from the start that Juan Gabriel felt a little self-conscious about his spoiled US friend spending the weekend in his house where the bathroom is a hole in the ground out back, and the shower is a 5 gallon bucket with cold water, but he kept telling me how happy he was that I was there hanging out with him and meeting his family. And I truly was happy to be there!
It's not that it didn't take a little getting used to. I'd visited houses like his before but this was the first time I'd be living in one with a family of people who only speak Spanish (although Juan's learning English now). Honestly the only part that I didn't like was that they had a TV which was constantly on. (I don't like TV much). The house, like Juan said, was simple. There was 3 rooms separated with sheets, and then the kitchen, dining area and living room were on the other half. He and his mom (Lupe) share a room, and his 2 brothers (Sergio, 15, and Yul, 19) share the other room, while his sister (Fiorella) and her boyfriend sleep in the 3rd one (Not crazy about that part, and neither is Juan). I wondered what the sleeping situation was going to be like before I came and kept saying I didn't want to be a burden, but it actually worked out well since his brothers work all night at a discoteca (basically a club) so everybody had a bed.
As for the Spanish, it's interesting how some people here are really easy to understand, and some people are ridiculously hard. Fiorella's boyfriend was ridiculously hard to understand! I swore at times he was speaking another language. I finally asked if he was from somewhere else and had an accent, but they joke around with him and say he just has a speech impediment. But even with Juan and Fio's very clear Spanish, it was sometimes a challenge not having someone around who could help me when I got lost! But it was cool.
During the day Saturday we played soccer for a few hours with people from the neighboorhood. You pretty much just show up at the court and there will be a game. One thing that was interesting is that they make the games a little more competitive by putting money on the line! That was new for me, but you could tell they weren't messing around by the way they played! I definitely stood out like a sore thumb as the only gringo playing, but I held my own. :-)
One of the parts I like the most was just walking around with Juan and talking and getting churros (so much better than the ones I've had in the States!), ice cream, and these really good fruit salads. We got to talk about a lot of things, including where his family is at with God and encouraging him to find some Godly guys from church to walk alongside him since he's surrounded by people who aren't living for God. He said his family believes that God exists, like almost all people here do, but as far as knowing Christ as the one who saved them and wanting to live the way He's called us to, well, that's another story.
Juan Gabriel has such an awesome heart and you can tell that he is following the Lord. I'd ask though, that you pray with me that God would place some Godly men in his life who live in Huaycán or nearby and can provide spiritual support/guidance for him.
It was so cool the way he and his family treated me. I was their guest and he didn't want me paying for anything and they just wanted to take care of me. It was truly a blessing for me to see that kind of love and hospitality. I was only planning on staying one night, but ended up staying another night and most of the day Monday. I'm so glad I got to go, and hopefully I'll have a chance to go back at some point.
These next two weeks are going to be pretty busy now. Christen and I met with the Young Life (called Algo Nuevo here) board Monday night and set out some plans for what we're going to do with this video and so now it's crunch time as we get interviews together and other footage and try to get this all done before I leave in two weeks!
