I don't think that I could have asked for a better birthday. Today was literally one of the best days of my life, and definitely top on my list for birthday days :) I literally went up on our roof and just wrote in my journal and cried because I felt so overwhelmed with love. I thanked God for His goodness to me on this day and how He showed me His perfect love through the hands of my family here in Peru.
This is what my day looked like:
I got up in the morning and went downstairs to breakfast. My whole team sang Happy Birthday to me first thing in the morning before I could even sit down. They are great. We took the bus to the construction site and right when I got off the bus I was bombarded with more Happy Birthdays from the nationals that were already there at the site. The Kimbros also all wished me Happy Birthday and gave me a hug as usual. They are the best.
For construction I got to play in the mud all day with my girls from my team to mix together the materials to make bricks. So I had to change into shorts so I didn't ruin my pants, and while I was doing that, my friends Jess and Annie went and got a little donut-cake thing for me and put a candle in it and when I got out of my room at Albergue they sang me Happy Birthday and I blew out the candle :) We had lots and lots of fun doing bricks. And when Annie opened her little snack corner she gave me a piece of her delicious Tres Leches cake. It's probably my favorite cake here.
Joca, one of my friends here in Peru, told me that my gift is coming tomorrow. He's sweet and I'm excited to see what it is! On the bus to lunch all the Peruvians sang me Feliz Cumpleanos and then a couple other Peruvian Bday songs. THEN when we got to lunch ALL of the teams for this week were there (over 50 people in total) and Marion made everyone stop eating so that they could sing me Happy Birthday AGAIN. hah. After lunch my co-interns for this team, Jereme and Vicky gave me flowers! They were really beautiful.
The second half of our day consisted of going to the fruit market down town and then spending our day giving the fruit away at the dump. I think that this time really impacted my team. I had been praying that God would give me a new experience this time in the dump than he had ever given me before and that He did. I was able to just stand there in the midst of the dump, in the middle of all of this burning trash, dirty people and animals and just pray for the people. In Psalm 113, I love verses 7-8 which say, "He raises the poor from the dust and lifts the needy from the ash heap, to make them sit with princes, with the princes of His people." What a beautiful picture that is. To think of the God of Heaven and earth reaching down and scooping one of His dearly loved children out of the dust and ash heap of the dump and places them with princes! WHO IS LIKE OUR GOD?!
All of us took quick showers and ran real quick to America Sur. (where we have dinner every night when we have teams here.) At dinner I got to sit by Cindy and tell her all about my day. Then for dessert we all got ice cream! And before we left Kaleb gave me a gift! He said he had been working on it for a while and then he gave it to me...It was 2 journals. Both of them were hand-made from scratch. And they were awesome. This was probably one of the highlights of my day.
We got back home to Helping Hands after dinner and Jereme, Vicky and I prepared for debrief with our team. I was a little "late" to debrief, but really everyone was just early, and my team brought out a cake for me with candles and sang Happy Birthday to conclude one of the best days ever. They went out after dinner and picked out a cake just for me :) As they were singing Happy Birthday, Vicky came up and smashed the frosting from the top all over my face. It's a tradition here in Peru! To conclude the night we had worship in our living room with some of our Peruvian friends, so we sang in Spanish. It was beautiful.
Bethy was sick on my Bday so I visited her, and when I went to my room to write all of this down I found the most encouraging letter from her on my bed. She is the best. I love being in Peru together.
Also, Mom and Dad sent a little gift down with Bethany to give me on my Bday and it was the Newsies soundtrack. Hah. I've already listened to it and I love it a lot. It was a fun little surprise.
Lastly, Joca gave me my gift the day after my Bday and it was a "wolf in sheeps clothing" stuffed animal. It's great. He got it for me cause he laughed when he saw it and knew that it would make me laugh too. I love extended Birthdays!!
God is good and He blessed me more than I could ask for on my 18th Birthday. Thank you everyone who wished me Happy Birthday on this special day!! :)
Saturday, July 2, 2011
June 20th
Today was the first day that I talked on the phone with Mom and Dad since I've been here. It was wonderful to catch up on life back home and update them on mine. I got to wish Dad a Happy Father's Day and they got to wish me a Happy Birthday...perfect timing.
Tonight at debrief we had everyone share about the reason why they think that God has brought them to Peru, why did they come down here, what were their intentions? As we went around the circle, it was beautiful to watch as God began to break hearts and tears began to roll down faces. This was also the first time that I had cried in a month. It was a beautiful time of connecting to my team and so refreshing. At this point in the week we have had our ups and downs...or maybe I should say our downs and ups since that's the order that things have happened. The first day of construction we had a little bit of difficulty because the first two days that our team was down here were chill days and we just rode the bus into Trujillo and then on Sunday went to church and then to Huanchaco to go to the beach. So the first construction day was a little rough. But even in day number 2 of construction we saw such a great improvement in attitude and encouragement from the team towards eachother. It was great and the 3 of us interns couldn't have asked for a better team! I'm excited to see what God has instore for this team.
Tonight at debrief we had everyone share about the reason why they think that God has brought them to Peru, why did they come down here, what were their intentions? As we went around the circle, it was beautiful to watch as God began to break hearts and tears began to roll down faces. This was also the first time that I had cried in a month. It was a beautiful time of connecting to my team and so refreshing. At this point in the week we have had our ups and downs...or maybe I should say our downs and ups since that's the order that things have happened. The first day of construction we had a little bit of difficulty because the first two days that our team was down here were chill days and we just rode the bus into Trujillo and then on Sunday went to church and then to Huanchaco to go to the beach. So the first construction day was a little rough. But even in day number 2 of construction we saw such a great improvement in attitude and encouragement from the team towards eachother. It was great and the 3 of us interns couldn't have asked for a better team! I'm excited to see what God has instore for this team.
June 15th: LIMA
This was the last day that our KY team (which was actually from my cousin's church back home) was here in Peru. What a blessing their team was to us. All of them were such hard workers and a great encouragement to all of us interns. Plus, they brought us nutella and peanut butter! How much better could it get?
Here are some more thoughts from my journal:
We said goodbye to our first short term team in the Lima airport tonight. We went on a small bus from the airport to Flor's house. (Flor is the lady that we stay with over night each time we have to go to Lima to drop off or pick up a team. The bus right to and from Lima is around 10 hours. It's about a 20 hour round trip.) Our friends, Jose and Juan Diego made sure that we got there safe, and they still make fun of me for having 4 years of Spanish and knowing the little that I know. :) But they have been a huge help in learning Spanish while I've been here.
We spent 3 days in Lima at Flor's house. We dropped off our 1st group and had to stay and wait 3 days to pick up our next group who was coming from Harrisberg, PA.
I found a side note that says: "I learned a phrase that the guys use down here as a joke, it's 'tocame que soy realidad.' - meaning 'touch me, I'm real.' Apparently it's from some famous soccer guy from Peru who said it one time to a woman who was freaking out about meeting him." :)
June 16th -
The first thing that I did this morning was open my letter from Erica which actually ended up being from Michelle! (Erica Griffith wrote me letters for specific days throughout the summer and some of them ended up being from some of my other friends!)
Every meal in Peru consists of chicken, rice and potatoes. But I have loved every meal that I've gotten so far. It's all very delicious. We ate at Flor's house for breakfast and lunch today. I am learning how layed back this culture is. Often times in the States people will just eat meals and then run to the next thing on the schedule. Here, that is not the case. Oftentimes we are found sitting at the dinner table talking for an hour or more after we are done eating. This culture is all about the importance of building relationships with people.
At 4:30 Jose picked us up and we took a bus into central Lima. This is like the Washington DC of Peru. It was so beautiful. There were lots of historic buildings and statues everywhere. I took lots of pictures, so I'll have to put those up on the computer sometime.
It gets dark at 6:30 here, so around 7 we went to El Parque de Aguas. The Fountain Park. It was one of the most beautiful things I've seen. There were some incredible fountains; in the middle of the park, there's a fountain that does all of this crazy stuff. It sprays water, but then is like a water and light show mixed together. There is also a much more intense version of the fountain in downtown Cuyahoga Falls, where it's like a game to get to the middle without getting wet, and then make it out dry again too. I was the only one who failed at this game. The fountain was huge and Juan Diego saw the water coming, but thought it would be funny to see me get wet. So i was drenched and had to also go to dinner that way. Wonderful.
Every day I have my hora de espanol. Hour of Spanish. My friend Vicky is from Venezuela and she is fluent in Spanish and English, so it's been wonderful to practice spanish with her each day. In Lima it was especially fun because our friends liked for me to try all that I knew in Spanish and then help me better say things and understand.
On Friday we had our intern meeting and organized our thoughts and prayed for our incoming team from PA. Later we went and bought a "Tres Leches" cake for our friend Jose and surprised him at work for his birthday. That was really special. Then at 7:30 we went to the airport to pick up our first real team that we would lead on our own. Once we finally found them we had pizza in the airport and I had fun hanging out with my team. I got to know Justin, Jess and Kaylen the first day, and had a good conversation with Brandon. That first night we slept in a hotel in Lima (which was actually really nice) and in the morning we got home for our 10 hour ride back home.
I can't tell you how much I missed my Peruvian family back home at Albergue. It was so wonderful to get home and see everyone's familiar faces.
Here are some more thoughts from my journal:
We said goodbye to our first short term team in the Lima airport tonight. We went on a small bus from the airport to Flor's house. (Flor is the lady that we stay with over night each time we have to go to Lima to drop off or pick up a team. The bus right to and from Lima is around 10 hours. It's about a 20 hour round trip.) Our friends, Jose and Juan Diego made sure that we got there safe, and they still make fun of me for having 4 years of Spanish and knowing the little that I know. :) But they have been a huge help in learning Spanish while I've been here.
We spent 3 days in Lima at Flor's house. We dropped off our 1st group and had to stay and wait 3 days to pick up our next group who was coming from Harrisberg, PA.
I found a side note that says: "I learned a phrase that the guys use down here as a joke, it's 'tocame que soy realidad.' - meaning 'touch me, I'm real.' Apparently it's from some famous soccer guy from Peru who said it one time to a woman who was freaking out about meeting him." :)
June 16th -
The first thing that I did this morning was open my letter from Erica which actually ended up being from Michelle! (Erica Griffith wrote me letters for specific days throughout the summer and some of them ended up being from some of my other friends!)
Every meal in Peru consists of chicken, rice and potatoes. But I have loved every meal that I've gotten so far. It's all very delicious. We ate at Flor's house for breakfast and lunch today. I am learning how layed back this culture is. Often times in the States people will just eat meals and then run to the next thing on the schedule. Here, that is not the case. Oftentimes we are found sitting at the dinner table talking for an hour or more after we are done eating. This culture is all about the importance of building relationships with people.
At 4:30 Jose picked us up and we took a bus into central Lima. This is like the Washington DC of Peru. It was so beautiful. There were lots of historic buildings and statues everywhere. I took lots of pictures, so I'll have to put those up on the computer sometime.
It gets dark at 6:30 here, so around 7 we went to El Parque de Aguas. The Fountain Park. It was one of the most beautiful things I've seen. There were some incredible fountains; in the middle of the park, there's a fountain that does all of this crazy stuff. It sprays water, but then is like a water and light show mixed together. There is also a much more intense version of the fountain in downtown Cuyahoga Falls, where it's like a game to get to the middle without getting wet, and then make it out dry again too. I was the only one who failed at this game. The fountain was huge and Juan Diego saw the water coming, but thought it would be funny to see me get wet. So i was drenched and had to also go to dinner that way. Wonderful.
Every day I have my hora de espanol. Hour of Spanish. My friend Vicky is from Venezuela and she is fluent in Spanish and English, so it's been wonderful to practice spanish with her each day. In Lima it was especially fun because our friends liked for me to try all that I knew in Spanish and then help me better say things and understand.
On Friday we had our intern meeting and organized our thoughts and prayed for our incoming team from PA. Later we went and bought a "Tres Leches" cake for our friend Jose and surprised him at work for his birthday. That was really special. Then at 7:30 we went to the airport to pick up our first real team that we would lead on our own. Once we finally found them we had pizza in the airport and I had fun hanging out with my team. I got to know Justin, Jess and Kaylen the first day, and had a good conversation with Brandon. That first night we slept in a hotel in Lima (which was actually really nice) and in the morning we got home for our 10 hour ride back home.
I can't tell you how much I missed my Peruvian family back home at Albergue. It was so wonderful to get home and see everyone's familiar faces.
June 14th, a time of questioning
It was on this day that I began questioning why God had brought me to Peru.
I'm reading back in my journal and will share some thoughts and prayers:
"The days go by really fast here. At times I absolutely love being here in Peru and I never want to leave, and other times I question the reason why God has brought me to this place. In these times of questioning I have realized the importance of trusting the Lord. Being here in Peru isn't an accident, and I know that the Lord has told me that His plans are to prosper and not to harm me; but sometimes I get anxious not knowing what those plans are and what to expect."
"I have realized even moreso that I connect best to God through His Creation. I love being outside, and even though it's much different than I expected here with all the sand (there is literally sand everywhere I look. I live in the desert and am surrounded by sand dunes!) and weird desert plants, I love getting up in the mornings to go early and sit on the roof and feel the morning breeze on my face as I look out at the vast Andes mountains and sometimes catch a sunrise."
"Lately, I have been able to see God through the beauty of people. Not only their physical beauty (every Peruvian that I've ever met is physically beautiful!) but their inward beauty, as I have gotten to know many, many people that I never knew prior to coming to Peru. The cultural differences here are also beautiful. It is such a loving and genuine culture."
From Galatians:
I am known by God.
I am a child of Promise.
5:1 "For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to the yoke of slavery."
5:13-15 "For you were called to freedom, brothers, only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love, serve one another. For the whole law is fulfilled in one word, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself." But if you bite and devour one another, watch out that you are not consumed by one another."
Both of these passages are wonderful reminders both for me, and for all of you back home. Stand firm. Serve one another.
I'm reading back in my journal and will share some thoughts and prayers:
"The days go by really fast here. At times I absolutely love being here in Peru and I never want to leave, and other times I question the reason why God has brought me to this place. In these times of questioning I have realized the importance of trusting the Lord. Being here in Peru isn't an accident, and I know that the Lord has told me that His plans are to prosper and not to harm me; but sometimes I get anxious not knowing what those plans are and what to expect."
"I have realized even moreso that I connect best to God through His Creation. I love being outside, and even though it's much different than I expected here with all the sand (there is literally sand everywhere I look. I live in the desert and am surrounded by sand dunes!) and weird desert plants, I love getting up in the mornings to go early and sit on the roof and feel the morning breeze on my face as I look out at the vast Andes mountains and sometimes catch a sunrise."
"Lately, I have been able to see God through the beauty of people. Not only their physical beauty (every Peruvian that I've ever met is physically beautiful!) but their inward beauty, as I have gotten to know many, many people that I never knew prior to coming to Peru. The cultural differences here are also beautiful. It is such a loving and genuine culture."
From Galatians:
I am known by God.
I am a child of Promise.
5:1 "For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to the yoke of slavery."
5:13-15 "For you were called to freedom, brothers, only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love, serve one another. For the whole law is fulfilled in one word, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself." But if you bite and devour one another, watch out that you are not consumed by one another."
Both of these passages are wonderful reminders both for me, and for all of you back home. Stand firm. Serve one another.
It's been a while...
My last post was June 12th; two days ago (the 29th) marked living in Peru for exactly one month. I cannot believe how fast time goes. Peru feels like home.
I haven't had much time to get on the computer except to write back those of you who have written me via email, facebook etc. I'm sorry that I haven't had much time to update everyone back home. I know you guys are praying for me, so it would be nice for you to know how better to pray for me through updates.
I'm going to do several posts to better organize my thoughts and so that you won't have to read a book all at once. Hopefully it helps :)
Here are some thoughts from Mom and Dad (from My Utmost for His Highest) that got a hold of my heart on the 13th of June:
"We are uncertain of the next step, but we are certain of God."
"When we have the right relationship with God, life is FULL of spontaneous joyful uncertainty and expectancy. Jesus said, "Believe also in me" (John 14:1) not, "Believe certain things about me." Leave everything to Him and it will be gloriously and graciously uncertain how He will come in - but you can be certain that He will come. Remain faithful to Him."
I haven't had much time to get on the computer except to write back those of you who have written me via email, facebook etc. I'm sorry that I haven't had much time to update everyone back home. I know you guys are praying for me, so it would be nice for you to know how better to pray for me through updates.
I'm going to do several posts to better organize my thoughts and so that you won't have to read a book all at once. Hopefully it helps :)
Here are some thoughts from Mom and Dad (from My Utmost for His Highest) that got a hold of my heart on the 13th of June:
"We are uncertain of the next step, but we are certain of God."
"When we have the right relationship with God, life is FULL of spontaneous joyful uncertainty and expectancy. Jesus said, "Believe also in me" (John 14:1) not, "Believe certain things about me." Leave everything to Him and it will be gloriously and graciously uncertain how He will come in - but you can be certain that He will come. Remain faithful to Him."
Sunday, June 12, 2011
Dia Numero 13 :)
Hola amigos! I'll write some quick highlights to give you guys an idea of what I've been up to lately.
A couple days ago we went to the Trujillo Dump and handed out fruit to the 200+ people who work and live there. I'm not really sure how I felt about it all. It was a little overwhelming because I want to do so much more than just hand them a piece of fruit. I want to speak to them and share my heart and do something more. Give them Jesus...the thing that lasts. So, with that said, I'm really working on my Spanish. It's crazy how much you can learn here even in two weeks.
We also went to the Daycare for the kids in the dump. We did a VBS with the kids there and got to just play and build relationships with them. I got to meet Bethany's sponsor child, Stephanie, and I had so much fun practicing our different languages on eachother. It's amazing how much you can communicate and relate to people just though the simple stuff. God's love flows out of the people here and they're not afraid to share about their love for Him. They're so open and more than happy to share their testimonies with anyone who asks. I've already learned so much from their openness.
While we're here we have to do a Project to better the community or people here. I'm still praying about it, but I think that I want to do something with the children in the dump, or something to better improve their VBS program on Saturdays.
Today we went to Church in the morning, then went to the "not-so-ancient" ruins of Chan Chan and then went to the beach. We met a world traveler who played the flute for us. :) It's amazing to me that just down the road from the touristy beach is poverty. Still trying to process that reality. Ok, gotta go to dinner! adios!!!
A couple days ago we went to the Trujillo Dump and handed out fruit to the 200+ people who work and live there. I'm not really sure how I felt about it all. It was a little overwhelming because I want to do so much more than just hand them a piece of fruit. I want to speak to them and share my heart and do something more. Give them Jesus...the thing that lasts. So, with that said, I'm really working on my Spanish. It's crazy how much you can learn here even in two weeks.
We also went to the Daycare for the kids in the dump. We did a VBS with the kids there and got to just play and build relationships with them. I got to meet Bethany's sponsor child, Stephanie, and I had so much fun practicing our different languages on eachother. It's amazing how much you can communicate and relate to people just though the simple stuff. God's love flows out of the people here and they're not afraid to share about their love for Him. They're so open and more than happy to share their testimonies with anyone who asks. I've already learned so much from their openness.
While we're here we have to do a Project to better the community or people here. I'm still praying about it, but I think that I want to do something with the children in the dump, or something to better improve their VBS program on Saturdays.
Today we went to Church in the morning, then went to the "not-so-ancient" ruins of Chan Chan and then went to the beach. We met a world traveler who played the flute for us. :) It's amazing to me that just down the road from the touristy beach is poverty. Still trying to process that reality. Ok, gotta go to dinner! adios!!!
Monday, June 6, 2011
Peru...home sweet home :)
Hello everyone!
Things have been going wonderfully since I've got here! Thank you for all of your prayers and thoughts! I'm so thankful.
I'll try to fill you guys in on everything that's happened so far. First, travel day: All the flights and everything went smoothly, praise the Lord! Our first flight was on this little plane to Atlanta, then had a 2 hour layover, and then flew into Lima (a 6.5 hour flight that ended up taking much longer.) Once in Lima, Peru we were met there by a man named Jose who was holding a sign for us to find him. He took us to a lady's house, and we spent the night at her house that night. She was so sweet, and asked if we needed anything. We were sooo thirsty because we forgot to buy water at the airport. So we asked for water, not remembering that we couldn't drink it. So we ended up pouring it down the drain to make it look like we drank it, cause it's rude here not to take the things that people give you, and to not eat/drink what people let you have. Kinda funny. We couldn't fall asleep until around 3am, but we finally did (after eating a whole bag of peach rings :) In the morning we were met by Jose and he took us to the bus station. Our trip to Trujillo was 9 hours long, but it was wonderful to just relax. Getting into Trujillo, we were met by someone from the church who took us to a lady's house and from there we were picked up by another two ladies who finally brought us to our destination!! hah. It was crazy, but everything went so smoothly. We met all the interns and today, only 6 days later we're already a big, happy family! :)
Here are some highlights since I've been here. We're staying at the Childrens home with some missionaries named the Kimbros. They're awesome. They have 4 kids, Kaleb (16), Luke (14), Kassidy (9) and Karson (he'll be 8 on Friday and he can't wait for his bday!!) It's been so much fun getting to know the kids and Mike and Karen Kimbro! They're like our family.
One of the days we had to do a mock work project with all the interns. We each got roles to play and mine was the "super spiritual student who incorporates God into every conversation and always wants to pray with everyone." hah. It was a fun role to play. But through that, we got to see how we should deal with each kind of student that comes down and what the appropriate way to approach them would be. Our work project was to work in the corn field. We shucked corn for what seemed like forever.
Two of the first days that we've been here we had training and read through our manuels and talked. We shared testamonies and heard the missionaries testamonies, which were such an encouragement. Their patience and trust in the Lord is beautiful.
Every morning here I get to go out on the roof of the children's home and have devotions. It's so sandy here, but it's beautiful, and the people are beautiful. the temperature is great, it's going to get colder soon, but right now it's perfect. (It's Peru's winter right now!)
All of the interns live alone together at the children's home and we are on our own for meals etc. So we make meals together, or go out in the city for dinner every night. we have a budget for each day. We get s./20 (20 soles) per day to either buy groceries for meals, or to go out to eat. It's fun to make meals together or to go out to eat with all the interns.
One of the nights that we were at home we were all out on the roof and Kaleb (the Kimbro's oldest son) came up with his guitar and we all sang together. After that he set up the projector outside on a big side wall of the building and we all watched August Rush together. The movie lasted until about 2am, and then we tried to fall asleep outside under the Peruvian skies, but ended up not being able to, so we went inside around 2:30am. It was lots of fun though. A bonding experience :)
On Sunday we went to one of the big Alliance church in town and experienced our first church service. It was cool all that I could understand, and even some of the songs. It's much more like a service in the U.S. than it is in the Dominican Republic. And i wasn't really expecting that. But it was great.
I'm not sure when else I'll be able to update everyone on here because we only have internet at Helping Hands ( which is where all the short term teams will stay...it's about a 20 min bus ride from the Children's home)
Thank you again for all of your prayers! God is so faithful, and things have been so wonderful here. I wish I more time to update you guys, so I'm sorry if this sounds like rambling :)
MUCH LOVE!!
Things have been going wonderfully since I've got here! Thank you for all of your prayers and thoughts! I'm so thankful.
I'll try to fill you guys in on everything that's happened so far. First, travel day: All the flights and everything went smoothly, praise the Lord! Our first flight was on this little plane to Atlanta, then had a 2 hour layover, and then flew into Lima (a 6.5 hour flight that ended up taking much longer.) Once in Lima, Peru we were met there by a man named Jose who was holding a sign for us to find him. He took us to a lady's house, and we spent the night at her house that night. She was so sweet, and asked if we needed anything. We were sooo thirsty because we forgot to buy water at the airport. So we asked for water, not remembering that we couldn't drink it. So we ended up pouring it down the drain to make it look like we drank it, cause it's rude here not to take the things that people give you, and to not eat/drink what people let you have. Kinda funny. We couldn't fall asleep until around 3am, but we finally did (after eating a whole bag of peach rings :) In the morning we were met by Jose and he took us to the bus station. Our trip to Trujillo was 9 hours long, but it was wonderful to just relax. Getting into Trujillo, we were met by someone from the church who took us to a lady's house and from there we were picked up by another two ladies who finally brought us to our destination!! hah. It was crazy, but everything went so smoothly. We met all the interns and today, only 6 days later we're already a big, happy family! :)
Here are some highlights since I've been here. We're staying at the Childrens home with some missionaries named the Kimbros. They're awesome. They have 4 kids, Kaleb (16), Luke (14), Kassidy (9) and Karson (he'll be 8 on Friday and he can't wait for his bday!!) It's been so much fun getting to know the kids and Mike and Karen Kimbro! They're like our family.
One of the days we had to do a mock work project with all the interns. We each got roles to play and mine was the "super spiritual student who incorporates God into every conversation and always wants to pray with everyone." hah. It was a fun role to play. But through that, we got to see how we should deal with each kind of student that comes down and what the appropriate way to approach them would be. Our work project was to work in the corn field. We shucked corn for what seemed like forever.
Two of the first days that we've been here we had training and read through our manuels and talked. We shared testamonies and heard the missionaries testamonies, which were such an encouragement. Their patience and trust in the Lord is beautiful.
Every morning here I get to go out on the roof of the children's home and have devotions. It's so sandy here, but it's beautiful, and the people are beautiful. the temperature is great, it's going to get colder soon, but right now it's perfect. (It's Peru's winter right now!)
All of the interns live alone together at the children's home and we are on our own for meals etc. So we make meals together, or go out in the city for dinner every night. we have a budget for each day. We get s./20 (20 soles) per day to either buy groceries for meals, or to go out to eat. It's fun to make meals together or to go out to eat with all the interns.
One of the nights that we were at home we were all out on the roof and Kaleb (the Kimbro's oldest son) came up with his guitar and we all sang together. After that he set up the projector outside on a big side wall of the building and we all watched August Rush together. The movie lasted until about 2am, and then we tried to fall asleep outside under the Peruvian skies, but ended up not being able to, so we went inside around 2:30am. It was lots of fun though. A bonding experience :)
On Sunday we went to one of the big Alliance church in town and experienced our first church service. It was cool all that I could understand, and even some of the songs. It's much more like a service in the U.S. than it is in the Dominican Republic. And i wasn't really expecting that. But it was great.
I'm not sure when else I'll be able to update everyone on here because we only have internet at Helping Hands ( which is where all the short term teams will stay...it's about a 20 min bus ride from the Children's home)
Thank you again for all of your prayers! God is so faithful, and things have been so wonderful here. I wish I more time to update you guys, so I'm sorry if this sounds like rambling :)
MUCH LOVE!!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)