{"id":5010,"date":"2011-01-14T20:22:52","date_gmt":"2011-01-14T10:22:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/najin.x10.mx\/journal\/?p=5010"},"modified":"2011-01-14T20:22:52","modified_gmt":"2011-01-14T10:22:52","slug":"peru","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.najin.ca\/journal\/peru\/","title":{"rendered":"Peru"},"content":{"rendered":"
In light of all the flooding mayhem happening in Brisbane (where I live for the<\/div>\n
majority of the year), I haven’t allowed myself to get too excited about my Peru<\/div>\n
excursion. It’d be pretty selfish to focus on myself during such a time, especially<\/div>\n
since people and places I care dearly about are being forcefully affected by the<\/div>\n
floods. So…respectfully acknowledging the thousands of Queenslanders toughing<\/div>\n
out this hardship, I’m going to carefully ramble about my trip…<\/div>\n


<\/p>\n

\n

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The Lost Incan City, Machu Picchu.<\/p><\/div>
\n
\n<\/div>\n

…so I fly to Peru on Monday!<\/div>\n
I’m definitely filled with your typical tourist excitement to venture to South America.<\/div>\n
What will the culture be like? What will the food taste like? Will Machu Picchu be just<\/div>\n
as [or even more] stunning than the photos I’ve scoured through?<\/div>\n
I’ve grown fond of visiting places that have some established North American<\/div>\n
stereotypes. For example…obviously it was ignorant of me, but before I moved to<\/div>\n
Australia my mind swelled with visions of kangaroos, croc wranglers and dry desert<\/div>\n
terrain. I guess I could blame this on North America’s shallow notions on what<\/div>\n
Australia is actually like. But instead of wallowing in ignorance and pointing fingers,<\/div>\n
I’m more interested in putting such stereotypes to the test. I can’t think of a more<\/div>\n
effective way to debunk ridiculous stereotypes than to experience things firsthand.<\/div>\n
As far as Peru goes, what are the stereotypes associated with the country? In all<\/div>\n
honesty, most people I speak to here in Vancouver seem to know very little about<\/div>\n
the place. “They had a Japanese fellow as their president a few years back…?” and<\/div>\n
“Llamas roam free…?” is what I’ve been hearing.<\/div>\n
Hmmm.<\/div>\n
So possible stereotypes aside, I think traveling to a country with a blank<\/div>\n
preconceptions can be just as, if not more interesting.<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

John 3:16 packets filled with a month's supply of adult's multi vitamins. Simple supplements we take for granted!<\/p><\/div>
\n
\n<\/div>\n

Anyway, I’ve got something much more exciting to waffle on about. Despite what it<\/div>\n
may seem, I’m not going to Peru for recreation. Although I’m clearly gung-ho about<\/div>\n
experiencing a new country and culture, I’m actually going on a medical mission’s<\/div>\n
trip. (As a side note, speaking of stereotypes…When people hear the term “mission’s<\/div>\n
trip”, I can imagine the assumptions that can form. Bible thumping and near forceful<\/div>\n
preachy behavior to name a few. Anyway to try and address this, I’ll continue<\/div>\n
explaining what our team of 8 from VKPC will be doing…)<\/div>\n
I’ll be traveling down with a group of (mostly retired) health professionals (doctors,<\/div>\n
dentists, nurses, etc.). We’ll rotate through developing communities on the outskirts<\/div>\n
of Lima and provide whatever health services we’re capable of. Fortunately, this<\/div>\n
operation has now been running for several years, so the team has established<\/div>\n
relationships with some of these communities. This also means some of the health<\/div>\n
services provided will include things like routine checkups and provision of<\/div>\n
medication (if needed, obviously). And speaking of drugs…this is where I pop in. I’ll<\/div>\n
be joining them as their pharmacist to help administrate the provided meds :).<\/div>\n
\n

\n
\"\"<\/a>

Preparing a children's multi vit sachet. (remember those fun shaped chewables?)<\/p><\/div>
<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Anyway, I believe this trip does address certain misconceptions about missions<\/div>\n
work. Yes, it’s true that I hope for opportunities to share about God. But I also<\/div>\n
believe that going just to assist with someone’s healthcare is incredibly meaningful.<\/div>\n
If I’m able to enrich someone’s health and simply leave a good impression in his<\/div>\n
mind about Christians, I believe that is very influential. It’s not my duty (or any other<\/div>\n
Christian person for that matter!) to shove my faith into anyone’s life. So contrary to<\/div>\n
what some might think, missionaries should not involve any form of forceful<\/div>\n
preaching!<\/div>\n


<\/p>\n

At any rate, this entry is turning into a doozy. I just needed to outlet some of my<\/div>\n
thoughts and excitement revolving around this trip.<\/div>\n
Wish me luck and expect some interesting photos in the near future!<\/div>\n
: )<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In light of all the flooding mayhem happening in Brisbane (where I live for the majority of the year), I haven’t allowed myself to get too excited about my Peru excursion. It’d be pretty selfish to focus on myself during such a time, especially since people and places I care dearly about are being forcefully...<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5013,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[31],"tags":[148,1497,229,230,228,231,104],"class_list":["post-5010","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-life","tag-christianity","tag-life","tag-lima","tag-machu-picchu","tag-peru","tag-pharmacy","tag-travel"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.najin.ca\/journal\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/01\/DSC_1138.jpg?fit=500%2C391","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/s3qg3D-peru","jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.najin.ca\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5010","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.najin.ca\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.najin.ca\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.najin.ca\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.najin.ca\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5010"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.najin.ca\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5010\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.najin.ca\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5013"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.najin.ca\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5010"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.najin.ca\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5010"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.najin.ca\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5010"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}