Author: Rachel Chapman

Homework

Homework

My co-workers, the Alkires, are now living in the village full-time.  They have their son, Josiah, with them.  When I was in the village with them, every morning I helped him with his homework that Katie had prepared.  Math, grammar, writing, social studies, Spanish, Bible verses, vocabulary, spelling, penmanship.  I had forgotten how much work […]
Read More
Packing the truck

Packing the truck

Whenever we travel into the village, there are so many things that vie for space: -building materials -diesel for the truck -fuel for the generator -tools -camping supplies -water -guitar -Josiah’s bike -our clothes -FOOD!… It’s like a giant puzzle trying to fit everything in.  We start early so there is time to move things […]
Read More
The Kitchen

The Kitchen

One of the elements of the Holy Week festival in the ceremonial center is food.  Within about 10 minutes of arriving in town, a young man about 20 came and offered us food.  He escorted us to one of the two “cocinas” set up in the main area of town.  His father, we learned, was […]
Read More
A feast

A feast

I grew up celebrating Easter with my family, a bunch of friends, and a good meal.  While we were out in the village, Sarah planned a feast for our Easter celebration. We made mashed potatoes with a hand beater. And, Sarah made a delicious blueberry pie in her cast iron skillet on top of the […]
Read More
Babies

Babies

There are lots of new babies in the village.  This last trip, we met 4 new babies.  The village leader’s wife had a baby while we were there.  And, we were able to see her and the bundled baby when he was 5 days old.  She kept him bundled the whole time, so we never […]
Read More
Good Friday

Good Friday

We had talked to our friends in our village about the traditional ceremonies that happen in the cultural center for Holy Week.  From what we gleaned, we figured Friday would be the best time to go take a look.  As soon as our friends found out we were heading down, our vehicle started filling up! […]
Read More
Down to the bottom of the Canyon

Down to the bottom of the Canyon

One day during Holy Week, we went down to the bottom of the canyon to the ceremonial center.  It is there that the people do their traditional rituals according to their beliefs. We went down with some friends from our village who also wanted to see the dancing. We drove for over an hour to […]
Read More
Lumber

Lumber

On our last trip, we were able to finally talk to the foreman at a lumber mill on the road to our village.  We placed the order for our lumber needs for our house with him. He said they’d have it all cut and ready within a week.  The foreman ended up getting called away […]
Read More
Progression

Progression

Now, we’re all ready to put our roof on and pour our concrete floors.  As soon as that is done, we will move in!
Read More
Accomodations

Accomodations

Up until now, we’ve just been making trips into the village and our mentality has been “temporary.”  My co-workers are now living in the village (in tents) but their mentality is a little more “permanent.”  So, this time when we went out to the village, we took a little more time to set things up […]
Read More