Adventures in South America

POP TARTS!!

2009-05-31T20:18:00.000-07:00

So I love pop tarts. I’ve always been a fan, but I can say I truly fell in love with pop tarts in Peru. I’m told it’s very common for missionaries to find a familiar food from home and that food becomes their comfort food while overseas. Well, mine is pop tarts, especially blueberry. And not just any pop tarts. I LOVE generic pop tarts. They just taste better! I can’t find any pop tarts here, so when I go to the States I make sure to load up.

The best pop tarts I’ve found are from a little store called Fred’s. I’m not sure how many Fred’s there are in this world, but I know there is one about 20 minutes from where my parents live. I make it a point to pay them a visit every time I’m at home to shop for a wide variety of things, the most important on the list being GENERIC pop tarts!!

In the last month, while I was home, I continued this tradition. Dad and I headed to Fred’s to stock up on my favorite comfort food. When I got there, I found that they were on sale! Five boxes for $5! What a deal! I started stocking up. I didn’t get just blueberry, of course, because I wanted some variety, so I started picking out my selections, all the while telling my dad just how much I love their pop tarts. (He knows this I’m sure, as I’ve probably told him the same story every time he’s gone with me, but he graciously listened, smiled, and nodded.) I was telling how I haven’t found a better generic pop tart. There is just something about Fred’s that makes pop tarts better. As I was telling my story, I noticed a lady standing near us doing her shopping. She seemed to be listening, but not too intently. I didn’t really pay any attention to her at the time; I just continued my praise. I got 10 boxes and figured that should be enough. I did, after all, need room in my suitcase for things other than pop tarts. As we walked away, the lady who was near us went over and started stocking up on pop tarts as well. Who knew I was selling pop tarts while talking to Dad!! Perhaps Fred’s should hire me as their pop tart advertiser … and then set me up with a lifetime supply of them!! ☺

Tree Climbing Finally Paid Off

2009-02-24T10:28:00.000-08:00

Peruvian doors are built a little different than most in the States. When a front door closes in Peru, it locks automatically. There is no way to unlock it and then close it with it still being unlocked. Once it’s locked, it’s locked. This safety factor is a great blessing at times, but on this particular day it turned out to be a nightmare. I usually take my keys with me anytime I go out the front door in case it closes accidentally. This day, however, I was not planning to go outside. I was merely picking up the front doormat. Christmas had passed and it was time to get the reindeer off the front step. When I picked it up, I realized how dirty it was and decided to beat it against the tree in the front yard. I beat it a few times and then heard a very large SLAM behind me. As my eyes began to widen, and realization sank in, I turned to see that my fear was confirmed and I was in a world of trouble. The door had in fact closed on me.

This may not seem like a huge problem, but let me explain a little more about the situation. We have a front yard that is surrounded by a very large concrete wall. It also has a locked gate in the front. Without keys to get into the house, I also could not get out of the yard. Without a phone, I would be stuck there until someone happened to come along. This would likely be a very long time, as my roommate was out of town and the apartment above us was vacant. My only options were to wait for someone to walk by and allow me to use their phone, to try to find a way into the house (aka break into my own house), or find a way over the wall so I could get help. The other problem with this was that I was barefoot and had no money to make a phone call at a pay phone. I was baffled.

My first attempt was to try to break into my house. Windows here are covered with bars. My front window was open but the bars were in the way. I determined that there was no way I could fit through the bars and they definitely were not budging. If I ever got back into my house, I could rest easy knowing that no one was breaking into my house through the front window. The stability of the bars led me to my next option.

There are two windows, one right above the other, on the front of the house. There is also a vine going down the side of the house. Knowing that the bars were very stable and able to hold my weight, I decided to climb the side of the house, using the vines and the bars on the windows, to see if I could get onto the roof. From the roof there is a staircase that leads to the backyard. I knew that my backdoor was open and unlocked (this one would stay unlocked even when closed). It just might work. I should also interject here that I am slightly afraid of heights. Not completely afraid obviously because I did decide that climbing to the roof was a good idea. But afraid enough that one story off the ground, my legs started shaking and threatened to give out underneath me. Not good!! I prayed my way through this harebrained idea and discovered that there was no way to get up and over the front of the house and onto the roof. Between the plants in the way and the lack of a ledge to get a grip on, there was no way this redhead was getting onto the roof. Using the vines and the bars again, I climbed down. I found another window that could have been a possibility to climb and give me better access to the roof, but the bars guarding that one were not stable at all. Plan failed … what’s next?

I began looking around the yard for options for going over the wall. I found a little hole in the wall just a little higher than what I would need to use as a foot hole to scale the wall. I was still shaking from trying to climb the house, so I had to calm my nerves a bit. I then jumped up, locked my hands on the top of the wall, and used the added distance off the ground to put my foot in the hole. Using the hole as my step, I managed to pull myself up the wall and swing my legs over. Once I reached the top, however, I realized it was an incredibly long drop on the other side. I managed to hang down the other side and walk myself down the wall. (The wall had Sandi’s dirty little toe prints going down its nice white color.) Finally I was out of my locked yard. But now what?

I tried ringing the doorbell for the neighbors. We have an apartment building next to our house. I tried ringing every apartment. Either no one was home or no one wanted to help the shoeless girl who had just climbed over the wall. I tried the neighbors on the other side, also with no luck. I finally found the security guard that rides around the neighborhood and explained, in my horrible Spanish, what had happened. He called others that he works with who came with a ladder. They went over the wall again, used the ladder to climb onto the roof, went down the stairs and through the unlocked backdoor, and let me back in. Praise the Lord for security men and their ladders!

It was quite the adventure. I came away with lots of bruises and scratches from climbing walls, not to mention dirt all over me from the vines and plants I encountered during my climbing. But I learned a very important lesson … always take your keys with you, even if you’re just going outside to pick up a doormat. You never know when you’re going to get locked in your yard!

Prayer Request

2008-07-06T10:48:00.000-07:00

Please pray with us for the family of one of our summer missionaries, Greg Gomez. Greg arrived here in Lima the end of May with 60 other summer missionaries to serve on the REAP South Team. Since then he has traveled around southern Peru with a team researching unreached micro people groups. Yesterday afternoon Greg was traveling on a public transportation van near the town of Abancay with another summer missionary and a Peruvian national who also serve on the REAP South team. The van was in an accident and Greg died of head injuries.

Greg is from Illinois and recently graduated from Old Miss University with an engineering degree. Greg’s family was on a trip and weren’t notified until late last night. Please pray for peace for his family and friends. Also, please pray for the two young ladies who were in the accident.

Please pray for the other summer interns. Many of them are in hard to reach places and don’t even know about the accident yet. Pray for the REAP South team and our mission leaders who are ministering to the family in the U.S. and working with Peruvian officials here.

Chicken-something Soup

2008-05-17T19:41:00.000-07:00

So yesterday, Claudia, Brad, and I went to a menu to eat lunch. A menu is a small restaurant that serves a small variety of things. Usually at a place like this, one can get an entree, a main dish, and a drink for about 6 soles ($2). It's a pretty good deal and the food is usually great. Yesterday was no exception. The food was good. It definitely wasn't what I was used to though.

They brought out my soup first. I'm not sure what I was expecting, or if I was even expecting anything ... I've learned to be pleasantly surprised by all sorts of random things. As I was slurping up my soup, I noticed one of the 'chunks' didn't look quite normal. So I scooped it up, only to follow it up with the question of "what is that??" There were a few other things like that in my soup. We started analyzing and determined that they were random chicken innards. The first one was either a heart or a liver ... or maybe both stuck together. The gizzard was in there somewhere. I had part of a foot and the neck bone. The neck bone actually had some decent meat on it, so I ate that. I didn't eat the other parts of the chicken though; I'm not a huge fan of heart ... it's a bit chewy for me. :-) I did enjoy the broth and the noodles.

So, next time you order some chicken soup and find a bone, don't complain. At least it's only a bone.

PS - The soup was REALLY good. The random parts definitely add just the right touch of flavor.

What in the ... is that?? IT IS!!

2008-02-27T21:17:00.000-08:00

Okay, so we've determined that end of the world as we know it is coming soon. 'Why in the world would you say such a thing?' you wonder. Well, I'll tell you ... it actually rained in Lima! No joke. We were headed to church on Sunday, walked outside, and discovered that RAIN was falling on us. Now, it wasn't a hard rain ... in fact, under normal circumstances, you would barely call it a drizzle. But, the fact that it was happening in Lima was unbelievable.

Perhaps I should explain why I'm so excited. You see, I'm a Florida girl, born and raised in hot, humid summers that brought afternoon thunderstorms everyday during the summer. One of my favorite childhood memories was sitting on the front porch watching the storms and listening to the rain. And I still LOVE the smell of rain. So, given all that, just think of what moving to one of the driest deserts in the world and not seeing rain for 7 (count them -SEVEN) months can do to a person. I was just like a little kid at Disney world when I walked outside and found it raining. (Had I stopped and thought about it, I probably would've rushed out of the rain because of the amount of pollution that I'm sure was falling on my head. But I didn't want to think about it and ruin the moment.) It was definitely a great way to start off the week (and probably one of the most exciting things of the week).

You know what's funny is that I actually prayed for rain not too long ago. Silly request? Perhaps. But look at what happened. Just goes to show my God can do anything ... even make it rain in Lima!! Too cool!!

(The picture above is one my friend took ... that's RAIN on the windshield of our taxi!!)

Yep, it's true!

2008-02-23T10:12:00.000-08:00

Well, I should point out a fact that most of you have already figured out ... I am a TERRIBLE blogger. Right about the time I get into a routine of writing on my blog (well, as much of a routine as I seem to be able to muster), something happens and I lose it all. All that hard work and effort, gone! Haha Perhaps that is a little dramatic of me, but I do feel I should apologize. I will work at getting better ... promise!

So, let's see ... where did I leave off?? Oh yes, the colonoscopy. Well, I got the results back from my colonoscopy. The doctor was a bit vague about things, but did say things were normal. When I asked what samples he took and what they were if they were 'normal', he said, "Well, they're not cancer!" Well, gee thanks Doc ... that's good to know. Didn't know that was an option. Apparently, it was, they just hadn't told me. Yikes! I'm very, very thankful they decided to withhold this tidbit of information. I imagine I would've been a bit concerned the whole weekend had he mentioned this in the beginning. So, a praise ... I don't have cancer!

Now, as far as the rest of the stomach story goes ... it's actually still going. I went back to eating normal food when we headed to Chile (a blog about Chile is still to come, I promise!), and for the most part, things went well. I had about a day where I thought my stomach was relapsing, but then it settled down and things were fine. We came back to Peru and things seem to be staying fairly normal. Then this week hit and suddenly my stomach decided it couldn't contain itself anymore. So sad! Why can't it just behave?!?! So right now, I'm actually at home, opting out of the day's activities because of my sick feeling stomach and eating plain noodles. How boring!!

So, all that to say, please keep praying for my stomach. It needs it. And for my sanity during this whole process. I'm sure I need that too! :-)

Colonoscopy

2008-01-04T17:35:00.000-08:00

Well, I had my colonoscopy yesterday. Let me tell you how they do colonoscopies here. They aren't too much different than the States, except for one minor detail ... you are fully awake, able to see what's going on, and feel the pain. Yes, that made this whole event quite exciting.

Kathy went with me to my appointment because we weren't sure how drugged I would be when I came out of the office. We got there, found the doctor's office (thanks to Kathy ... me being the space cadet that I was that day left ALL the information at home ... I didn't even know the doctor's name ... smart, huh?), and checked in. They called me back, had me put on the very comfortable, open back hospital gown (gosh, I love those), and had me lay on the bed. I was looking around the room, intrigued by the differences between here and the States. The room was quite warm, not like the typical operating or testing room in the States. The nurse put an IV in my hand, but instead of attaching it to a bag on a pole, she just attached a syringe. She told me, in Spanish, of course, that this would make me sleepy. Well, it's more like she acted out 'sleepy', but I got the idea. The doctor came in and talked to me (in English!!), telling me that he would be back when the medicine had kicked in. I could feel the medicine as it started to take effect and I started to fall asleep. But then they started the procedure and I got to watch the whole thing on the TV screen. I was definitely groggy because I don't remember everything that was said to me (though I do remember them talking to me and me asking questions ... it's a homeschool moment even when I'm drugged up and having a colonoscopy! Mom would be so proud!). I saw (and felt!) as the camera moved through my colon. It was pretty cool to see (not fun to feel, but can't have it all, I guess).

When the test was over, they rolled me into the 'recovery' room, which was really more of a passage between two rooms. It really had the feel of privacy to it, as the nurses passed through to the office and back. (Yep, love Peru!) As I layed there, Kathy came in and sat with me, and I mentioned yet again that I was STARVING! I guess I should've mentioned this earlier ... I hadn't been allowed to eat since midnight the day before ... that means, I hadn't eaten since Tuesday night and the colonoscopy was Thursday at 11am. I WAS HUNGRY! So, Kathy whipped out a bag of M&Ms and handed them to me. I was laying on the bed, still feeling groggy, snacking on M&Ms when the nurse walked in, saw the candy, shook her head and just sort of smiled. She didn't try to stop it or anything. That's my kind of recovery room!! (Way to go Kathy ... those M&Ms were a life saver!) She asked me to sit up and see if I felt dizzy. My head sort of spun when I sat up, so she had me lay down for a little while longer. Once I finally got up and got dressed, Kathy and I had to walk the specimens that he removed from my insides over to the lab for testing. I can honestly say it was a first having to walk my own innards to the lab. :-)

After we finished up with everything at the hospital, we headed to Chili's to meet up with our team for lunch and I enjoyed a nice, juicy BBQ Bacon Burger. But Sandi, that's not on your diet! That's right it's not ... but I figured after NOT eating for over 36 hours, a hamburger is just what I needed. (Hopefully my doctor doesn't read this blog ... I promise I'm back to the diet now!)

We don't have results from the colonoscopy yet. The doctor that performed it said there were two places where things did not look normal. Those are the places he took samples from and we are now just waiting to find out what exactly "not normal" means.

During our team meeting today, I was once again reminded of the verse that seems to be coming up so much during my time here.

2 Corinthians 12:9-10

"9But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. 10That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong."

As I was considering the frustrations of being sick and the frustrations of waiting to find out what might be wrong with me, I was reminded that I need to delight and boast in my weaknesses, for in this Christ's power may rest on me and then I will be strong. That's not really the first thing that comes to mind for me when I think about being sick. I tend to think more along the lines of 'man, this is annoying', 'gosh, I hate bland food', and 'why does something have to be 'not normal'?' But then I remember that I am called to rejoice in even these things because then will I be made strong.

So this is me rejoicing ... I know God is big and going to do great things even through me being sick. And, one day, I'm pretty sure I'll be telling my grandkids about Peru and God's faithfulness ... and how cool it was that I got to watch my own colonoscopy on a video screen. :-)

War Zones, Yellow Underwear, and Luggage ... Feliz Ano!

2007-12-31T21:39:00.000-08:00

Well, this New Year's Eve has been an interesting one, that's for sure. The evening started with dinner at Mike and Kathy's with some friends and some of Kathy's wonderful cooking. I'm still on this bland diet, so it wasn't as exciting as I would've liked ... Kathy had set aside a little bit of everything before she seasoned the food, so I got all the sad little bowls of food with no flavor ... but I still enjoyed it. We sat around and chatted for a bit after dinner and then started watching football (that's the way to ring in the New Year, for sure!). As it started getting closer to midnight, however, the number of people shooting off fireworks began to increase. If there's one thing Peruvians love, it's fireworks. By the time Mike and Kathy were walking me home, just a little after midnight, it sounded like it was a war zone. If another country ever decides it wants to invade and/or bomb Peru, all they need to do is wait until New Year's Eve. No one will ever know they are being bombed ... they'll just think it's more fireworks. Crazy!!

Also, as we were walking towards my house, amidst the crazy fireworks going off everywhere, there were people out walking with their suitcases. I had heard, though I hadn't seen it until tonight, that Peruvians take their suitcases and walk around the block if they want to travel in the new year. Apparently, this midnight stroll around the block with an empty suitcase is good luck and will bring lots of traveling. Hmmm, now where did I put my suitcases?

Another tradition that I find incredibly entertaining is yellow underwear ... I'm not exactly sure of the significance of the yellow underwear, but I believe the idea is that you wear yellow underwear on New Year's Eve and/or New Year's day for good luck. Just think, all these years, that's what has been missing in my life. Well, let's see if this year is any better because of the yellow underwear. :-)

On another note, though still related, I had another moment today where I was immensely grateful that I don't speak the language well (I've had a few of these in the last few days). When I say I am grateful that I don't speak the language, I mean I am grateful that they can not understand what I am saying. As I was walking home tonight, right after Mike and Kathy had turned off to head back to their house, about a block from where I live, I saw a kid leaning out his window with a firecracker. It looked like a sparkler and I was really hoping that is what it was. But as he let it fly and it went whizzing just above my head, I discovered that it was not. He saw my momentary frustration with the fact that it had just missed my head and decided that screaming "Feliz Ano" to me would make it better. As I said "Feliz Ano, don't shoot your stupid fireworks at my head!", I realized that, if for no other reason, God has allowed me to struggle with this language so that I would not shout at people in words they can actually understand. I'm so glad God has a sense of humor ... and that He protects me even from silly things like fireworks.

Bland diets are BORING!

2007-12-27T13:06:00.000-08:00

In my Christmas post, I mentioned that I couldn't eat a lot at breakfast because of my bland diet. I've been having some stomach problems lately and am in the process of trying to figure out (with the doctor's help of course) what is wrong with me. While we're trying to figure all this out, the doc has put me on a 'bland' diet. By bland I mean pretty much no taste whatsoever. The list of what I can't eat is rather depressing. Things I can not eat or cook with:

- fried food
- greasy food
- olive oil (or any other kind of oil)
- dairy products
- spices of any kind
- junk food
- raw fruits or veggies (which means no fruit juice)

Basically, I can only cook with cooking spray.

I've been eating a lot of plain bread, seasonless chicken, dry potatoes, boring veggies, butterless noodles, and regular oatmeal. Food without flavor just isn't too exciting. There has been, however, one saving grace through this whole ordeal ... BUTTER FLAVORED COOKING SPRAY! Who knew that one little can of cooking spray could be so exciting. Little did I know it in the beginning, but it has now become my best friend and my one shot at flavor for every meal. Haha Praise the Lord for butter flavored cooking spray. Despite the feeble attempts to flavor my food with cooking spray, I'm still missing out so much on flavor right now and missing some of my staple foods ... please tell me, how do people live without milk and cereal, and orange juice?? I think it's gonna kill me!! It's gotta so bad I'm actually considering using soy milk so I can have cereal again (did I really just say that?? SOY MILK????). Never thought I'd see the day, but desperate times call for desperate measures. And these sure are desperate times ... haha.

I have no idea how long this 'diet' will last, but I'm hoping it will end sooner than later! I don't know how much more of this I can stand! :-)

Oh yeah ... Christmas pics!

2007-12-27T12:48:00.000-08:00

I forgot to include this link in the last post. This is my Christmas album, full of pics of the various Christmas activities throughout the last week or so. There are pics with Santa, our team Christmas party (complete with documentation of our newest Christmas party tradition), the ESL Christmas party, and the girls night out to see the Nutcracker Ballet. Hope you enjoy!

http://ufl.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2434159&l=bd78b&id=2045616

Christmas in Peru

2007-12-27T12:45:00.000-08:00

Well, I survived my first Christmas in Peru. I must say that it was wonderful. I got to keep some family traditions and experience some new things. I talked to my family on Christmas Eve and got to listen to Dad read our traditional Christmas Eve stories: The Christmas Puppy, ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas, and the Biblical account of the birth of Christ. It was officially Christmas once that tradition was finished. The next morning I woke up to my Skype phone ringing. Ryan was calling to wake me up so we could open presents on the phone together. I got up, washed my face, and called them back. Of course, as is tradition, Ryan and I were sitting, chatting, staring at our presents, waiting to open them, all the while waiting for Kate to finally get up and get out of bed (she’s not a morning person :-). We finally got everyone around the computer and started opening presents. It wasn’t quite the same as being at home in the midst of all the wrapping paper, but it was a close second.

After opening presents, I headed to the Weavers’ house for breakfast. Breakfast consisted of all kinds of good food (most of which I couldn’t eat because of my ‘bland’ diet) and plenty of people. I hung out the rest of the day with the Weavers. Madison and I worked on some Sudoku games, played house, painted fingernails, watched movies, practiced her new ‘skip it’ toy, and really just had a good time. It was so nice just to be able to hang out and play. And really, who doesn’t love going outside on Christmas day to play with their new toys? I know I enjoyed it, even if they weren’t my toys. :-)

Christmas really was wonderful for me this year. I am so thankful that the Lord provided me with so much peace during this time while I was away from my family. I definitely missed them very much, but He was so gracious to remind me of what Christmas is really about. It’s not about opening presents or eating lots of food or even being with my family. It’s about His birth and ultimately His sacrifice. And I amazed at how much peace He gave me about the sacrifices I am making by being here and the things I am missing out on. He helped me to see how I can truly love and cherish some traditions and still be completely at peace a world away from all of them. It’s really all about His love and helping others to see that love no matter where I am.

Finally done with language!

2007-12-13T20:23:00.001-08:00

Well, as you can tell from the title, I made it through language. Hooray! Being finished with language means many things, one of which is that I don't have to get up early every morning. Oh, how wonderful that is! Besides getting up later, though, it opens me up for more ministry activities, which is even better than getting to sleep in. I still have to take my proficiency exam. I'm slightly nervous about that ... if I don't get to my level, well, I don't know what'll happen. But it won't be good. So, please pray that I remember what I need to remember when I finally have my proficiency exam.

OH PERU!

2007-10-12T17:07:00.000-07:00

Today was an absolutely hilarious day. It is funny … it is so easy to feel like we are not in a third world country sometimes while we are in Lima. There are so many modern amenities here that it is easily forgotten that we’re even in Peru (minus the language barrier of course). Today was not one of those days. Today, we KNEW we were in Peru.

Everything in Peru takes a little longer and things just get done differently than in the States. Not bad, just different. Basically anything that can go wrong, take longer than it should, or is just plain backwards, we blame on the fact that we’re in Peru … because, let’s face it, things are different in Peru. Well, today we said “Where are we?” “In Peru” oh so many times!

To start, we went to get my roommate a cell phone. When I got mine, it took about 20 minutes or so because I had a lot of questions. It was a little bit of a confusing process, but it went fairly smoothly. Hers did as well … it just took double the time. At one point, the salesperson wandered away, only to be spotted helping another customer on another floor while we were standing at the counter still waiting to finish our transaction. Oh Peru!

After finally finishing with the cell phone, we decided to head to the mall. We didn’t have a lot to do, but needed to stop by one of the sports stores to sign a friend up for a marathon. We weren’t sure exactly where the mall was in comparison to where we were, but I knew it was relatively close. We decided to ask the security guy that was standing near the crosswalk. Kristen, who speaks Spanish fluently, asked him where the mall was. It became pretty clear very quickly that he really didn’t have a clue what we were talking about. This mall is a pretty big deal in this area, and yet the security guy didn’t have a clue. Okay, fine … maybe he’s new. He decided to tell Kristen where another sports store was, and then just randomly walked away. Kristen wanted to know what he was doing and I said, “I think he’s going to ask the other security guard a question … or maybe not.” As I was saying that, he passed right by the other security guard and we watched him get on a bus and leave. Kristen and I looked at each other in complete amazement. Kristen asked “what just happened?” and we both burst out laughing. Where are we?? In Peru!!

We finally made it to the mall. We signed up for the marathon like we were trying to do, and decided to catch a taxi back to our apartment. We walked up to one taxi to ask how much it would be. Now, mind you, a taxi from this mall to our house should be no more than 6 or 7 soles. Eight is the most I would pay if I was feeling very impatient and late for something. Well, we asked this taxi driver and he said TWENTY SOLES!! I looked at him completely dumbfounded and Kristen laughed at him. He tried to tell us how he was a safe taxi and that was why he cost so much. He kept trying to convince us that 20 was a good price. I know we’re American, and they usually try to pull things over on the Americans, but I mean really … did he really think we were that stupid???? Apparently he did. As we were walking away, Kristen just said “No! No somos estupidas.” What in the world??

Where are we?? Peru!!

Hey Kristen!! Summer really IS on its way ... there's a spider in my bathroom!

2007-10-07T19:16:00.000-07:00

That's right! That is exactly what everyone near our apartment heard as I screamed it across the house! I've never been so excited in all my life to see a spider. I have been hearing for weeks that "Summer is coming", "Summer is on its way," and "Before you know it, it'll be hot!" And yet, I'm still cold EVERY DAY. I've been hoping for summer to happen for weeks now, but I haven't been too convinced that it is coming. Kristen, my roommate and fellow southerner, is also anxiously awaiting the arrival of warmer weather. I've been seeing more bugs around our apartment and other places lately. They've been a good indicator that summer really is coming, but I still haven't believed it. Well last week we had two days of sunshine and today I saw a spider. Forget groundhog day ... praise Jesus for spiders!!!

A Night Out on the Town ...

2007-10-05T19:58:00.000-07:00

A friend of mine learned an important lesson this past week. Lesson: Don't make a random suggestion around the rest of us if you don't want it actually carried out. Case in point, Brad randomly mentioned one day that he wanted to dress up in his suit and go out to dinner one night. WELL, we heard the idea and ran with it. ('We' is Kristen, Steve, and I.) We made a day of shopping. It took quite a bit of work and several hours, but we finally found the dresses we wanted and Steve bought a suit. The guys were put in charge of the reservations and us girls just had to focus on getting ready and trying to be on time. I'm sure this is no shock, but we were far from being on time. Thankfully, this didn't ruin our dinner reservations. We went to a cute little Italian restaurant and had WONDERFUL Lasagna. Then we headed to the movies. This part was great because we were strolling through town in our fancy dresses and got the best looks EVER from the people around us. As if we didn't already have people staring at the Americans (see the previous entry), we decided to dress up like we were some important somebodys and stroll through town. We walked into the movie slightly late and got even more funny looks. I'm pretty sure we disrupted the movie. But hey, at least we were fashionably late! After the movie, we headed for Starbucks. It's not a night out on the town here if we don't hit up Starbucks. We succeeded in getting more crazy looks and taking lots of pics. The night was completely random and crazy, but it was oh so much fun.

Here's a link if you want to look at pics of the evening ... hopefully it'll work:

http://ufl.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2387950&l=fb45e&id=2045616

Check out the Peruvian artifacts … Hey look at the American!

2007-09-27T15:16:00.000-07:00

Well, today has been an interesting day. I felt very much on display. The day started with a trip to the museum with my language helper. We have been studying the different past tenses and she thought it would be good to go to a history museum (most of that’s in past tense … haha). The first hour went well. We chatted about Peruvian history and all kinds of other neat stuff. The second hour hit and all the little school children who were there on tour suddenly noticed the tall American girl (me!). From this point, we would have groups of students walk over to the exhibit we were looking at, stand close like they were looking at the exhibit, and then turn and stare up at me. These had to be elementary age students, and Peruvians are naturally shorter than I am anyways, so they were definitely looking up at me. The first group that it happened with, I just kind of ignored. The second group even made my language tutor chuckle a little bit. By the third group, we just couldn’t contain it anymore and burst out laughing. It was SO obvious by the third group that we just had to laugh. It completely stopped all historical discussion. I wasn’t too annoyed by this but more so amused.

We finally finished at the museum, and I went home to take a nap. I haven’t been sleeping well this week, so I figured while I had the chance, I would try to get some sleep. Because I’m tired, I know I’m feeling a bit crankier than I should. I didn’t realize how much until I walked to the bank …

Every missionary that I’ve talked to has said that they have ‘those days’ where they just get annoyed with the culture or something about it. One thing I am still getting used to in this culture is how forward people are. If they want you to buy something from them on the street, a simple ‘no’ does not make them go away. A strong ‘NO’ doesn’t always make them go away. A strong ‘NO, go away and leave me alone’ doesn’t always make them go away. The Lord has been teaching me a lot about ignoring people since I’ve been here. J Well, today, after getting up from my nap, I decided to walk to the bank. It’s pretty cold here right now, so I layered up and headed out. As I was almost to the bank, I heard some guy (I think he was a crazy, old, drunk guy) saying something to me in Spanish from the corner. I thought I heard what he said, but just ignored him and went to do what I needed to do in the bank. When I came out, I tried to cross the street away from him, but was still in earshot of him. This time, he decided to tell me his thoughts in English … well, sing them to me is more like it. “You’re beautiful! You’re beautiful!!” he sang. Now, if you remember back to the beginning of the paragraph where I talked about being cranky and being annoyed with this aspect of the culture today, you’ll understand how I was feeling. I really just wanted to scream at him, “I’m not beautiful!! I’m cranky!! Leave me alone!!” Somehow, however, I just don’t think that he would’ve gotten it. I had to turn my head away because I was just ready to laugh. What else could I do???

It’s funny though that even on days like this, in situations like this, I still feel an ever growing love for this country and these people (perhaps not this language yet because I’m still struggling to grasp it … but that’ll come too). God has been doing some amazing things in me. Even as I was walking around the museum (when I wasn’t on display), I was just in awe of this culture and all its history. And I was thinking just how amazing it is that I get to be here. Even with all of its idiosyncrasies, I really do love this country and am so thankful that God has called me to this time and to these people. Now, if they would only stop whistling at me, that would be great!

Let me tell you a story about an earthquake ….

2007-09-08T20:09:00.000-07:00

Okay, so my first experience with an earthquake was quite an interesting one. It was a Wednesday evening and I was headed off to teach English class. This was actually my first time trying to find the office (where classes are held) on my own. I thought I knew the way, but I took a left instead of a right. This left me wandering around for quite some time. I had left in plenty of time to make it to class, but as I continued to wander, the time slipped away. I knew I had the right area; I was just slightly off the mark. As I was wandering around, and passing the same security guards multiple times, I began to hear some shouting from one of the houses I passed. A few kids came running out the door and I immediately felt bad for them. “What did those kids do to deserve that kind of shouting??” Of course, I didn’t have any grasp of the language at that point, so I had no clue what was being shouted. As I continued down the street, I passed by a construction site that had a makeshift fence around it. When I passed this fence, it started to open into me. My first thought was “how rude!” and kept on walking. As I turned the next corner, still glancing back and forth between my watch and my map, I noticed more commotion in the streets and looked up to see people standing outside their buildings crying. “What in the world is wrong with all these people?” I continued my quick pace trying to find the office and just glanced up to see if there was a fire in the building I was passing. I got further down the street, however, and discovered that everyone was outside their apartment buildings and most of them were upset and crying. It was about this time that a second wave of the earthquake hit and I stopped walking. I looked up and could see the street lights shaking, but mostly I could hear them shaking. Right about that time, I felt the ground moving under me almost as if it was a wave … a very small wave, but a wave nonetheless. At this point, I honestly thought “This is so cool!!” I continued to wander around lost, with people crying in the streets around me, until I finally called a friend from our office to come get me. It’s funny though what I saw around me during this earthquake.

I almost missed an earthquake happening around me, but I couldn’t miss the hopelessness in the eyes of the people who were affected around me. I was thinking this was an amazing show of God’s power and they were standing in the streets in complete despair. Granted, I had never been in an earthquake before and had no prior traumatic experiences to be frightened by, but I was still so struck by this hopelessness. This hopelessness seemed so prevalent in the faces of everyone I saw standing in those streets, and then that I saw in the days to come on the news as they reported on the earthquake. God used this earthquake to remind me of this hopelessness … not just in the face of an earthquake, but in light of eternity. This is why I am here … because people need hope and I have been blessed to be sent here to help share it with them.

His Grace is Sufficient for Me

2007-07-31T21:57:00.000-07:00

Well, I made it to Lima. We had no problems getting here. Our flight was almost an hour late, but besides that, no problems whatsoever. All of my luggage arrived with me and I got a green light going through customs. I was met in the airport by almost my whole REAP South team ... and orange and blue balloons. Doesn't get much more fun than that!

When we arrived at the apartment, we discovered we had NO hot water. Combine this with the lack of heat in the house, and it made for a very cold evening. Thankfully, we were able to shower elsewhere and we didn't freeze to death the next morning. We spent most of the week trying to get things settled in our apartment.

During this first week I was struck by just how overwhelming everything could be. The overwhelmed feeling that I felt was unlike any other I had experienced. It wasn't a homesick feeling or a 'what have I done?' feeling. This feeling was more a feeling of complete helplessness. I discovered as we went around to stores and tried to get things settled that I didn't have a clue where I was, where I was going, where I had been, or how to get home. Now, for someone who is very accustomed to knowing where I am going and how to get there, and used to being able to drive myself everywhere without worrying about relying on others, this was difficult. But then to realize that I couldn't even leave my house alone because I didn't have a clue where I was or how to get home if I got lost was even worse. Then as I began to hear bits and pieces of info about my ministry position from my supervisor, I began to feel like I had no idea what I was doing or how I was going to accomplish what was expected of me. In simple terms, I began to feel completely insufficient and incapable. The moment that it hit me that insufficiency was exactly what I was feeling, I was immediately struck with the words of Christ that say his grace is sufficient for me and He is made perfect in my weakness. Here I was thinking about how insufficient I was (and am) and He was bringing to mind this verse. I was reminded about how perfect He is and how much strength He can provide me with because I am weak. I was reminded that He is COMPLETELY CAPABLE AND SUFFICIENT. I realized that this whole two years will be entirely because of Him because I am so completely incapable on my own that it will have to be through Him that anything gets accomplished. It is strange how realizing my complete weakness isn't disheartening once I am reminded that there is a strength that I can't explain that will be completely sufficient and will bring me through. It was amazing to realize this, but even more amazing was just how often I was reminded of this throughout the week. I have never had one verse of scripture come up in conversation more than this one did over the course of the week. I obviously needed to hear that lesson several times, and God reminded me of it constantly.

I feel so blessed and overwhelmed to think that God is so alive and cares enough to comfort me in my time of complete helplessness. I'm also still in a bit of unbelief that He is allowing me to be here in South America, right in the middle of what He's doing. While I wasn't so sure about these two years the middle of last week, now I can see that they are going to be absolutely amazing and I can't wait to see what He does during them.

Testing

2007-05-29T15:33:00.000-07:00

This is a test ... this is only a test. :-)