12-10-09
Today I was proposed to. I felt like it might be something that happen sometime during my life, and that perhaps the likelihood of someone asking to marry me might be higher while I was in Peru, but the manner in which it went down totally caught me off guard…
Backing up a little bit, let me try to fill in a few important basic details…
While living in Tupac, we (meaning us girls) have had a bit of a problem. A large portion of the population is young adults, which means a lot of guys between the ages of 13-25. Throughout the beginning part of the campaign we commented on how nice it was that people in Tupac did not whistle at us as much as they did in Kilometer 8; we thought our experience in this town would be a breeze from that aspect. As time went on though, and we befriended the locals, included the guys of all ages, rumors started going around about us girls. Needless to say, we have tried to cut them off with our actions, but we know even now they are still going around. I personally spaced myself from most of the guys, but was somewhat touched by one guy who came to apologize to us for any actions or words any of the guys could have said to offend us or disrespect us.
This guy was Pedro. Pedro, original Hispanic name, I know…Anyways, during our time here, I had not spent much time with him, and had not felt like he was pursuing me at all. With our time running short here, I was honestly afraid that a couple of the more attentive guys might talk to me about being the love of their life, but had safely avoided it thus far. So when Pedro asked me to talk with him tonight, I did not think anything of it. He even agreed to sit right in our big tent where bunches of other people were milling around.
He was baptized a few weeks ago and since has been acting pretty interested in the church. When we sat down, he started off asking me more questions about the church and living as a Christian. After a few minutes of talking though, he sneakily brought finding a good Christian spouse into the conversation. From there, the rest was history. He decided to inform me that he had been waiting and that God had picked me out for him. Everything was perfect about me (yeah right!), he respected everything about me, he would wait for me to finish school and return to Peru, and even though he is younger than me (18!), he had great aspirations for his life and that he was just as mature as the 24 year olds around here.
WOW…..I was totally floored. I tried to talk my way around it over and over again, without being hurtful, but he did not seem to be getting the point. And that is when he did it….he went and dropped the L word…yep, he told me that he loved me and that he wanted me to marry him...I will have to admit, it was really tough to shut down this offer because he did it so well, bringing God into the picture and everything….but do not get too nervous, I did not say yes.
So that is how it happened, my first proposal…really romantic I know. But I do have to admit I was expecting it more as a type of a desperate plea slash joke from the random guys who work in the shops that we walk pass in Pucallpa. Turning down an offer ended up being a lot more difficult than I thought it would be!
