Joe is a decisive person, and he lets us know his decisions right away. Recently, he has declared his approval more often about the Peruvian cuisine, including almost everything the cook at Miguel Pro served and, yesterday afternoon in Cuzco, the mushroom soup and burrito. He scored a goal in our game with the fathers of the host families, and in one magnificent missed kick, did a complete somersault on the concrete without a scratch.
Peter is what they call a true ¨caballero,¨ a gentleman. Although he towers over the Peruvians, he is always gracious, helpful and curious to learn more. In Cusco, he is soaking up the sights.
Adam, for all his athleticism on the job, carrying wheelbarrows of concrete and on the soccer field hustling after the ball with all the zest of a linebacker in football, is quite a scholar. He wrote out his farewell to his family, had it translated, then read it to them at our farewell party on Sat night, changing many of the words into his best Latin pronunciations. Everyone enjoyed his enthusiasm. On the plane yesterday, he was explaining passages from Dante´s Divine Comedy that he found interesting.
Jimmy horsed around with his host-family brothers until the very end, they evidently were acting like true brothers. Here in Cuzco, his American radar located the McDonalds and within seconds was in line. We had to coax him back, but who knows if this morning he has not already chowed down on the Egg McMuffin, though he might have to reread Adam´s cautionary blog about Peruvianized American food.
Ben spoke his farewell in flawless Spanish. He has mastered ingress and egress from multiple modes of transportation: bus, taxi, minivan, airplane, mototaxi. He even made his way up the steep street of slippery ancient cobbles on the way to the San Blas procession.
Blake acted like the big brother to 10 year old Martin, his host-brother. He bought a soccer ball for him, and when Martin broke down as he tried to speak at the farewell ceremony, Blake went over, sat down next to him and consoled him, putting his arm around him.
Roger was one of the ¨stokers¨ for the beastly cement mixer, feeding its hungry craw for each round. Even I could not pull the shovel from his determined hands. Yesterday, he bought a stylish alpaca sweater but noticed a hole in the should seam. He was quite impressed that the saleswoman sewed it up with an alpaca strand in just a minute.
Peter is what they call a true ¨caballero,¨ a gentleman. Although he towers over the Peruvians, he is always gracious, helpful and curious to learn more. In Cusco, he is soaking up the sights.
Adam, for all his athleticism on the job, carrying wheelbarrows of concrete and on the soccer field hustling after the ball with all the zest of a linebacker in football, is quite a scholar. He wrote out his farewell to his family, had it translated, then read it to them at our farewell party on Sat night, changing many of the words into his best Latin pronunciations. Everyone enjoyed his enthusiasm. On the plane yesterday, he was explaining passages from Dante´s Divine Comedy that he found interesting.
Jimmy horsed around with his host-family brothers until the very end, they evidently were acting like true brothers. Here in Cuzco, his American radar located the McDonalds and within seconds was in line. We had to coax him back, but who knows if this morning he has not already chowed down on the Egg McMuffin, though he might have to reread Adam´s cautionary blog about Peruvianized American food.
Ben spoke his farewell in flawless Spanish. He has mastered ingress and egress from multiple modes of transportation: bus, taxi, minivan, airplane, mototaxi. He even made his way up the steep street of slippery ancient cobbles on the way to the San Blas procession.
Blake acted like the big brother to 10 year old Martin, his host-brother. He bought a soccer ball for him, and when Martin broke down as he tried to speak at the farewell ceremony, Blake went over, sat down next to him and consoled him, putting his arm around him.
Roger was one of the ¨stokers¨ for the beastly cement mixer, feeding its hungry craw for each round. Even I could not pull the shovel from his determined hands. Yesterday, he bought a stylish alpaca sweater but noticed a hole in the should seam. He was quite impressed that the saleswoman sewed it up with an alpaca strand in just a minute. 
Thank you for letting us know that you have safely arrived in Cuzco. It is very gratifying to hear that, after being with our boys for three intense weeks, you still hold them in high regard! It is quite apparent from Adam's e-mails that his perspective of the world and his place in it have been changed dramatically by his trip. Thank you for giving him this amazing opportunity to immerse himself in a different culture. I wish everyone an uneventful trip back home.
I'm so glad someone wrote up little descriptions of each of the young men who are laboring for the good of others. It helped to understand each of them a little better, and to see how they responded in this opportunity. God bless you all as you finish up this adventure.