First things first, by the time we left the construction site where I was working yesterday, the bamboo house was almost complete — with new interior walls and a brand-new roof installed. I guess that’s the good thing about building with wood and bamboo — it’s a very quick build. The other house, made of brick, is still a work in progress. Today — our last day of service — the volunteers were laying bricks. There is still work to be done, but much of the hard work has been completed.

After all the manual labor of yesterday, our team attended our usual evening Mass. Last night was a special one, with approximately 20 baptisms and nearly 100 confirmations. It’s clear the parish pastor, Father Joseph Uhen, has been successful in building a devoted faith community here.

After Mass, we attended the fiesta, which was held in a neighboring village in honor of all of the visiting missionaries — our team and a dental mission group from Oklahoma. The fiesta was a lot of fun, with a LOT of dancing. Every time we sat down, it was time to stand up again, thanks to the many children asking each of us to dance.

This morning was our last official service outing. Several of us decided to adopt Peruvian families through the family-to-family program I mentioned Wednesday. This morning, each of us had the opportunity to visit the homes of our newly adopted families and introduce ourselves. My family consists of a husband and wife who have been married for nine years. They have three children at home and one who works in Lima. When I got to the home, both parents were working and two of the children were in school, but I was able to meet the oldest daughter and the youngest son, a 3-year-old named Robert. I´m definitely looking forward to writing my family letters and getting to know more about them over the next year, as a way to continue my service here in Piura.

I’m sad to say this will be my last blog from Peru, as we are leaving to head home tomorrow morning. More photos and a full article about my trip will be in an upcoming issue. In the meantime, more photos can be found on my twitter page @kbahrACH.