So yesterday was quite the medical adventure.... a couple of the girls here had the flu this week, and I started getting it yesterday... not very fun. So luckily Lindsey was allowed to stay behind with me and we decided to go to the medical clinic down the street, which our host lady said was safe and reliable.....
And apparently not very clean or hygenic. There was vomit ALL over the entryway and waiting room, which was also suuuper overcrowded with cranky Peruvians who were all arguing over who was next in line, and finally after 25 minutes they cleaned up the vomit. I ended up with an injection (which a nurse gave me in the bathroom since it was so crowded so she took me to the tiny, dirty little bathroom and gave me the injection, weird and kindof unhygenic, but okay) and almost passed out, I got all lightheaded and dizzy and had to sit on the curb outside. It was pretty funny cause Lindsey thought I was going to pass out, and I was so loopy I didnt know what was going on. Good times in Peru!
I was also pretty sure everyone in the clinic waiting room was thinking, ¨oh great, this stupid gringa is going to give me the swine flu¨, since it´s all over the news here that it originated in the US (which isn´t even true, right?) and the first case of the swine flu here in Peru was brought here by a Peruvian who was in NYC last week and only discovered she had it after she disembarked her plane ride and put 150 other passengers at risk. So now all the stores here (like big supermarkets where lots of American tourists shop) have all the employees wear SARS masks, which kind of makes me laugh, except when they all look at me every time I cough like ¨go home gringa, we dont want your swine flu¨, while I am thinking ¨first of all I havent been in the states for the last 6 months, and second of all it would be your medical system here that would contaminate you, NOT me¨... Man, Peru seriously needs some good doctors and medical practices... any medical missionaries up for improving the medical system here?? Come on over!
But it was definitely a good move to get the injections because when we cross the border to Chile on Monday (ahhh! Monday!!), there´s no way they would let an American with any kind of flu cross the border. So now I am getting much better and I have to go back for one more injection in about an hour, so let´s just hope theres no vomit on the floor and everything will be fine.
The good news is we got to stay in the YWAM base/house by ourselves all day and watch American chick flicks in Spanish without subtitles, so we worked on our Spanish while falling in love with Julia Roberts all over again. It´s hilarious to watch American movies with weird, fake, really corny voices dubbed over in Spanish (including a horribly, horribly corny laugh, which is espcially lame since her laugh is the thing that makes Julia Roberts Julia Roberts). It´s just not the same.... but we did improve our Spanish and learn lots of new phrases!
Ohhhh my gosh and the funniest thing happened to Lindz and I when we went to buy bread in the morning! This older guy, probably about 55 or 60 years old, who we´ve never seen before in either of our lives, ran up to Lindsey, kissed her on the cheek and literally yelled ¨How are you! I´ve missed you! Where have you been??¨and started asking us a million questions and was absolutely convinced he knew her. When he asked us what food we liked here, and if we liked a certain dish, we told him we hadn´t tried it, and he launched into a full-on recipe discourse he had memorized for this octopus soup dish (still yelling, mind you), and of course Lindsey is trying to listen politely, while I am cracking up and had to walk away because I was about to cry I was laughing so hard... so finally he says he has to go, after like half an hour, and asks her for her name again and thinks she says Nancy, so he´s going on and on saying ¨Now Nancy if you just call me, we can go dancing sometime and maybe make some dinner, here´s my number, Nancy; just call me later Nancy¨ and I am dyyyying laughing and no help whatsoever to poor Lindsey, who is trying to tell him her name isn´t Nancy, she doesn´t know him, she will not be calling him, and she doesn´t want him to make her octopus soup... ohhhh man I am still laughing about it.
Ok injection time, much love and besos (kisses) from Peru.... I´ll be home before ya know it.....
Keep us in your prayers for safe travels, for a good time reuniting with everyone at the base, and for soaking up every last opportunity here and learning every lesson God has for us
Thursday, May 28, 2009
Sunday, May 24, 2009
You know it´s time to leave Peru when...
...your whole team is pretty sure the church fed you dog meat for lunch. Seriously, those bones were NOT from a cow, sheep, pig or even a horse. At this point I dont even want to know, I just think that means it´s time to get outta Peru!
..you´re excited to go back to the almost-YWAM base for the last week, solely because there is actually a working TV and maybe there´s a chance we can watch a movie! Unless the granny who owns the house wants to watch a Brasilian soap opera, then she gets dibs. Or sometimes she decides to sit and drink tea in front of the TV in case she maybe decides she might possibly start thinking about considering watching TV in the near future, therefore preventing us from usurping her supreme power of TV-watching privileges. She´s a sneaky little granny.
..... a litte boy gives your team the ¨thumbs down sign¨while you´re doing a dance to start the program for kids at the church. Really? A thumbs down?? I know we´re not Lord of the Dance or anything, but come on!
...youve had the same meal twice a day for three days this week: bread, butter and jam. But we have coffee here too it made things all better :)
Ha I am not dying to leave here, these are just some funny happenings that made me laugh this week. I will miss you Peruuuuu!!!!! Yesyerday we went out to a small village that doesnt have light or water yet, and did our kids program for them, and it went so well, the kids all wanted to pray with us and we gave them kids Bibles... thats when I remember why we are here!
..you´re excited to go back to the almost-YWAM base for the last week, solely because there is actually a working TV and maybe there´s a chance we can watch a movie! Unless the granny who owns the house wants to watch a Brasilian soap opera, then she gets dibs. Or sometimes she decides to sit and drink tea in front of the TV in case she maybe decides she might possibly start thinking about considering watching TV in the near future, therefore preventing us from usurping her supreme power of TV-watching privileges. She´s a sneaky little granny.
..... a litte boy gives your team the ¨thumbs down sign¨while you´re doing a dance to start the program for kids at the church. Really? A thumbs down?? I know we´re not Lord of the Dance or anything, but come on!
...youve had the same meal twice a day for three days this week: bread, butter and jam. But we have coffee here too it made things all better :)
Ha I am not dying to leave here, these are just some funny happenings that made me laugh this week. I will miss you Peruuuuu!!!!! Yesyerday we went out to a small village that doesnt have light or water yet, and did our kids program for them, and it went so well, the kids all wanted to pray with us and we gave them kids Bibles... thats when I remember why we are here!
Thursday, May 21, 2009
Rio Seco.. the ¨Dry River¨
Traditional Arequipa hat and a fuzzy Alpaca hat... I want it!
Waiting for the sheep to cross the road.. normal
Monkeys in the fruit market.. also normal
We went to a mission dental clinic to support some missionaries from Ohio and Virginia.. I don´t know why but they trusted me with a tooth polishing machine and let me, Tere and Lindz clean Peruvian´s teeth. It was fun and now I practically have my dental license.
This is how almost all the women here carry their babies.. in a bright colored woven blanket tied to their back. Apparently it doesn´t hurt at all and is way easier. I would only be afraid that I would accidentally hit my kid´s head on the doorways and walls when I turned around.
Tere cleaning teeth
Beautiful Arequipa
This is a really bad picture of some of us at and English school we went to.. we talked to them for an hour, got to know them, asked them basic questions in English, and at the end prayed with a few of them to accept Christ. All in all it was a good day!!
The beginning of the end....
We only have 10 days left! I am running out of shampoo, sunscreen, bug spray and I probably have like three articles of clothing that aren´t totally covered in paint, stains, or aren´t ripped and torn. I can´t remember the last night of good sleep I´ve had, and anyone who knows me can guess that I would kill for a CBTL Southern Blend. I´d say it´s about time to be done with this whole outreach thing.
But... I am definitely not ¨over it¨. On the contrary, I am starting to get sad when I think about this thing ending! I can´t imagine not living with my team, who I share every second of every day with, and I can´t imagine coming home so soon! I know God still has more to teach us and more to show us... even though this last church is very small and they all work so no one is here to work with us during the day. So sometimes we´re a little bored, especially since staying at the future YWAM base was sooo busy, but it´s nice to have some down time in the mornings. This town is called Rio Seco, which means ¨Dry River¨... hmm interesting name choice, guys. Feeling oxymoronic?
The other day we were walking by a police training building and heard gunshots, and saw men in a car with black masks on... turns out they were doing a hostage situation simulation and invited us over to watch them. It was so cool! It was like SWAT team training, and they had guys in ski masks drive into the complex with a hostage, bring him into a room in the building, then all the police guys ran in with guns, rappelled from the roof to break into the windows, and get the guys out... we felt like we were in a James Bond movie! But with a Peruvian James Bond.
One thing we are learning that it´s always the times we feel least equipped and least energetic, yet we say yes to what God wants us to do, are the times He uses us the most. For example, yesterday we waiting around all day for someone to come to the church and take us to a plaza to work with youth there. But no one came. We were really tired and not wanting to go, but finally someone came at 4 pm (not 9 am like they told us!) and took us to the plaza, where we ended up doing dramas and prayed with a bunch of people to accept Christ! Shea and I prayed with a group of kids who were so open and receptive, it was amazing to see. It´s honestly so much easier and more effective to let God work through you than do anything on your own power.. it´s always through His power anyway!
Ahhh only ten more days then back to the base, then to Conception to Dani and Tere´s houses, then to Canada with my family, then home in July, then up to Santa Barbara again someday.... I can´t wait!!! It´s always an adventure...
Friday, May 15, 2009
Pachacutec and Arequipa in technicolor...
Giving the girls facials! We are so dirty all the time that when we actually put on makeup or do our hair we say ¨wow you look really outreach pretty today¨ because theres really only so pretty you can get when your on outreach!
In the Plaza Espana - very pretty!
In front of the Palace of Justice, which is kind of the joke of Arequipa because it´s a city known for a very corrupt justice system. Basically if you have money, youre free, and if not, you might end up in the prison for a long time.
Ha Lindz and I with our awesome makeup. Ahhh gotta love it!
In between dramas and evangelism in the plaza...
The gorgeous Andes
This little boy, Jose, had been waiting to find out if he needed another operation, and when we came back to visit him the next week he was on his way out and we JUST caught him in time to pray for him. He was leaving to go to Lima for the operation, we were so thankful God brought us back in the nick of time to pray for him!
Me and little Zahid
Me and Lindz in front of the beautiful Andes, even though in this picture you cant see them!
This is a really pretty Catholic church, but it´s suuuper creepy inside - it has all these sculptures of demons and Jesus all bloody on the cross and Mary dying in her bed. It´s very into images, which is a huge problem with the Catholic church here. Almost everyone we talk to says theyreCatholic and pray to their saints and images, so we´ve been trying to give them the truth to free them from this idolatry!
This is after the infamous night of sleeping pills on the bus. This is Lindsey saying ¨Brooke last night my hands were numb!¨
One Brazillian and three blondes = party time at the wedding!
My first Peruvian wedding!
hahaha Tere and I going for the bride´s bouquet
Marc, Andre, Lindsey and I holding CUY! its like a little South American hamster that they eat here all the time. we still havent tried it though, which is okay cause theyre so cute I don´t really want to!Thursday, May 14, 2009
Arequipa, the ¨White City¨... some thoughts....
I wonder if they call Arequipa la ¨cuidad blanca¨ because there are so many American and European tourists here. Or maybe because of the white snow-capped mountains that surround the city? Either way, its pretty here and we are enjoying not being the freak show walking down the street, hearing ¨gringos!¨everywhere we go. For whatever reason Arequipa is called the ¨white city¨, its a win-win.
After almost two weeks here, it´s been a really productive, really busy, really fruitful time. We have had a crazy schedule, leaving the house every morning with two or three stops and returning when its dark outside, so the time is flying by! We are living in a nice house which will be the YWAM base here when they establish the base next year. We each have our own, real bed and there are three bathrooms!! Usually we have one bathroom thats dirty and without real running water for all twelve of us, so this is a big step up.
-This city is soooo beautiful with amazing architecture, fountains, plazas, and cathedrals that reminds me a lot of Paris, Berlin, Italy or Geneva... it´s the European city of South America, which explains why so many Europeans come here. They can ¨travel South America¨ without feeling like they´re actually IN South America.. and they don´t even have to learn a word of Spanish to vacation here! I am surprused by how defensive I am of South America; when I see gringos here who clearly dont speak Spanish or try to know the real culture at all, I´m like ¨why are you here? buy your souvenoirs and go home!¨, but how many times have I been in their position? At least it makes me feel like a South American more and more :)
-We´ve been visiting hospitals and prisons to pray with people and share God´s Word with them, which is super emotionally draining, but a powerful way to bless the city and bring light into the darkness here. Some of the people I´ve prayed with have been crying and telling me their stories and it´s really sad to hear them and see how the medical system is so poor here. We basically just walked into the hospital, said we wanted to visit people, and were able to go anywhere, without being checked or having to wash our hands. Don´t want to think about how many germs and bacterias WE probably got from going there! One girl we prayed with was only 15 and had kidney failure, mental handicaps, and has an 11-month old baby. Another can´t afford to stay in the hospital and out of work longer so is going home without recvering from their operation correctly and will probably get an infection, but they have no other choice. One woman broke down crying when we told her God loved her and had a plan for her, and it turned out she didnt believe in God or that a God could love her because she had abused one of her 6 children. All we could do was pray with her, and she accepted Jesus as her Savior, but it´s hard knowing we will never see her again or be able to encourage her more. It´s in God´s hands now.
-One interesting thing about the city here is that it´s much more traditional, the people come from the Incans and still have some of the ¨conquered¨ peoples´ mindset. For example, when you talk to them, they barely look you in the eye and they speak veeeerrryyy softly and mumbly. I seriously can never understand them. Only a small percentage of the people speak Quecuah, which is the native Incan language here, and they think it will be a dead language within ten years. Everything is wayyy cheaper here but we´re also all going broke so thats a good thing!
-I preached in Spanish! To the youth group at the church we´re working with.. and I´m pretty sure they actually understood me! It was a message about our identity in Christ, and I had planned on giving it in English with a translator but at the last minute I decided I shuold try in Spanish and it went so well... its amazing how big God´s plans to use us are if we actually let Him use us how He wants to. I´ve also prayed with a few people in Spanish to accept Christ which has been really cool to experience! Thanks God!
-We are trying to finish strong as a team, we´ve had some interesting culture clashes lately but nothing some prayer and Bible verses can´t handle. God is good! He also healed my stomach (we thought I had a bacteria or something cause I was sick for a while) so that´s made a big difference in quality of life here. Thanks God!
Thanks for your prayers, keep praying for health, unity, to finish strong and keep laying the foundation for a YWAM base here. For protection and guidance.
I wonder if they call Arequipa la ¨cuidad blanca¨ because there are so many American and European tourists here. Or maybe because of the white snow-capped mountains that surround the city? Either way, its pretty here and we are enjoying not being the freak show walking down the street, hearing ¨gringos!¨everywhere we go. For whatever reason Arequipa is called the ¨white city¨, its a win-win.
After almost two weeks here, it´s been a really productive, really busy, really fruitful time. We have had a crazy schedule, leaving the house every morning with two or three stops and returning when its dark outside, so the time is flying by! We are living in a nice house which will be the YWAM base here when they establish the base next year. We each have our own, real bed and there are three bathrooms!! Usually we have one bathroom thats dirty and without real running water for all twelve of us, so this is a big step up.
-This city is soooo beautiful with amazing architecture, fountains, plazas, and cathedrals that reminds me a lot of Paris, Berlin, Italy or Geneva... it´s the European city of South America, which explains why so many Europeans come here. They can ¨travel South America¨ without feeling like they´re actually IN South America.. and they don´t even have to learn a word of Spanish to vacation here! I am surprused by how defensive I am of South America; when I see gringos here who clearly dont speak Spanish or try to know the real culture at all, I´m like ¨why are you here? buy your souvenoirs and go home!¨, but how many times have I been in their position? At least it makes me feel like a South American more and more :)
-We´ve been visiting hospitals and prisons to pray with people and share God´s Word with them, which is super emotionally draining, but a powerful way to bless the city and bring light into the darkness here. Some of the people I´ve prayed with have been crying and telling me their stories and it´s really sad to hear them and see how the medical system is so poor here. We basically just walked into the hospital, said we wanted to visit people, and were able to go anywhere, without being checked or having to wash our hands. Don´t want to think about how many germs and bacterias WE probably got from going there! One girl we prayed with was only 15 and had kidney failure, mental handicaps, and has an 11-month old baby. Another can´t afford to stay in the hospital and out of work longer so is going home without recvering from their operation correctly and will probably get an infection, but they have no other choice. One woman broke down crying when we told her God loved her and had a plan for her, and it turned out she didnt believe in God or that a God could love her because she had abused one of her 6 children. All we could do was pray with her, and she accepted Jesus as her Savior, but it´s hard knowing we will never see her again or be able to encourage her more. It´s in God´s hands now.
-One interesting thing about the city here is that it´s much more traditional, the people come from the Incans and still have some of the ¨conquered¨ peoples´ mindset. For example, when you talk to them, they barely look you in the eye and they speak veeeerrryyy softly and mumbly. I seriously can never understand them. Only a small percentage of the people speak Quecuah, which is the native Incan language here, and they think it will be a dead language within ten years. Everything is wayyy cheaper here but we´re also all going broke so thats a good thing!
-I preached in Spanish! To the youth group at the church we´re working with.. and I´m pretty sure they actually understood me! It was a message about our identity in Christ, and I had planned on giving it in English with a translator but at the last minute I decided I shuold try in Spanish and it went so well... its amazing how big God´s plans to use us are if we actually let Him use us how He wants to. I´ve also prayed with a few people in Spanish to accept Christ which has been really cool to experience! Thanks God!
-We are trying to finish strong as a team, we´ve had some interesting culture clashes lately but nothing some prayer and Bible verses can´t handle. God is good! He also healed my stomach (we thought I had a bacteria or something cause I was sick for a while) so that´s made a big difference in quality of life here. Thanks God!
Thanks for your prayers, keep praying for health, unity, to finish strong and keep laying the foundation for a YWAM base here. For protection and guidance.
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
Image update
Here are a few from someone else´s camera, I will post mine soon too.
Our Pachacutec family! A fun night of learning Peruvian dances and games ended in a dogpile
:)
Some of my Pachacutec family
Eating on the patio - do you see my face?
Our Pachacutec family! A fun night of learning Peruvian dances and games ended in a dogpile
:)
Some of my Pachacutec family
Eating on the patio - do you see my face?
(hint: it´s the really white one amidst the sea of Latinos)
I thought we´de never make it...
Well after an 18 hour bus ride through the desert, over treacherous moutain passes and past beautiful beach cliffs (which we thought would be the end of us all), we made it to Arequipa alive. But let me back up a little bit.
This last week in Pachecutec was my favorite week so far, probably because it was kind of a ¨rest week¨ and we were in my favorite place so far. We thought we were going to be in Arequipa a week ago, but this is YWAM and nothing is certain until it happens, so we stayed an extra week in Pachacutec. It was so nice to have some down time, invest in the church by cleaning, painting, building, and helping prepare for the church´s first wedding!
One of the pastor´s 12 kids was getting married, and basically we were the guests of honor! One person from our team read a poem for the couple, one girl from our team sang a song at the reception, and we all danced and played games all night. It was really fun to experience a wedding in another culture, especially feeling like we were part of the family. I will miss our cute little pastor who called us all ¨hermana¨ or ¨hermano¨ (sister/brother) cause he couldnt remember our names after two weeks! The night before we left we had a ¨culture night¨ and all made food from our countries to thank them and give them a taste of our cultures. Lindsey and I made peanut butter chocolate chip cookies and now everyone reaaaally wants to come to America. These people don´t know what real desserts are, they only eat packaged cookies or rice pudding! I feel kind of bad cause maybe we should have let them live in blissful ignorance, but it´s too late now. Plus WE wanted to make the cookies for ourselves too :) Then we all sang songs in all our different languages and taught them kids songs and games from our countries. We even taught them the Chicken Dance and they loved it, then did Brazilian dances and sang in Swiss-German. It was a very ¨It´s a Small World¨ kind of a night.
After a long, tearful goodbye to everyone and writing out our emails like 1000 times to every little kid in town, we piled into three cars and literally raced across Lima, weaving in and out of traffic and barely missing mopeds, to make it to the bus station on time. But we weren´t on time, we were ten minutes late and the bus was pulling out of the station and one of the cars with our team members wasn´t there yet. So half of us were on the bus, all our luggage was on the bus, Felipe and I were saying bye to the guys from Pachacutec that drove us there, and the bus literally started pulling out of the driveway and into the street. So Felipe and I are running after it yelling in the driver´s window ¨please, please, give us five more minutes!¨, and I figured this was a good time to play the blonde American card and I start saying ¨we´re missionaries here from seven different countries, we´ve traveled so far to bless your country, I´m all the way from California, and we need our whole team, they are girls and shouldnt travel alone, please please please!¨ and they actually stopped and waited! So the other car finally arrived, ran onto the bus as it started moving again, and we were off. Lindsey and I took sleeping pills which made us both really loopy and made our hands feel weirdly heavy and useless and weak, like we couldnt open our bags or flex our hands. In the middle of the night I spent some time in the semi-darkness of the bus staring at my hands trying to flex them, thinking ¨what the heck is wrong with my hands?? they arent moving! These aren´t even Peruvian sleeping pills, theyre from Target!¨ but in the end I slept ok and I am happy to report that I now have full control of my fingers.
Overall our team is doing well, we of course are tired and running out of steam, but last week was a little bit re-energizing and restful. Only three and a half weeks left, and out of all the things God has showed us so far, I can only imagine there is much more in store. My prayer is to stay focused and motivated to keep loving and serving the people here, which is hard if the end is in sight and we all are excited to go back to the base in Pichilemu. But I know God has more to show us, and more to work in us and more to do in the churches and people here in Arequipa. One thing He really showed me through the church in Pachcutec was service and dedication. The pastor´s family is all so loving, so dedicated to serving the people and the church there, so strong in hard times, and God is their Rock above all else. Even though they live humbly, and we were there to serve them, they gave us so much and loved us so much, and it was a blessing just to know them.
Also keep praying for our health, somebody is always sick, which usually includes me since my stomach does not like Peru very much, but overall we´re good.
I have some really good pictures I promise I will post soon!! XOXO love you all
This last week in Pachecutec was my favorite week so far, probably because it was kind of a ¨rest week¨ and we were in my favorite place so far. We thought we were going to be in Arequipa a week ago, but this is YWAM and nothing is certain until it happens, so we stayed an extra week in Pachacutec. It was so nice to have some down time, invest in the church by cleaning, painting, building, and helping prepare for the church´s first wedding!
One of the pastor´s 12 kids was getting married, and basically we were the guests of honor! One person from our team read a poem for the couple, one girl from our team sang a song at the reception, and we all danced and played games all night. It was really fun to experience a wedding in another culture, especially feeling like we were part of the family. I will miss our cute little pastor who called us all ¨hermana¨ or ¨hermano¨ (sister/brother) cause he couldnt remember our names after two weeks! The night before we left we had a ¨culture night¨ and all made food from our countries to thank them and give them a taste of our cultures. Lindsey and I made peanut butter chocolate chip cookies and now everyone reaaaally wants to come to America. These people don´t know what real desserts are, they only eat packaged cookies or rice pudding! I feel kind of bad cause maybe we should have let them live in blissful ignorance, but it´s too late now. Plus WE wanted to make the cookies for ourselves too :) Then we all sang songs in all our different languages and taught them kids songs and games from our countries. We even taught them the Chicken Dance and they loved it, then did Brazilian dances and sang in Swiss-German. It was a very ¨It´s a Small World¨ kind of a night.
After a long, tearful goodbye to everyone and writing out our emails like 1000 times to every little kid in town, we piled into three cars and literally raced across Lima, weaving in and out of traffic and barely missing mopeds, to make it to the bus station on time. But we weren´t on time, we were ten minutes late and the bus was pulling out of the station and one of the cars with our team members wasn´t there yet. So half of us were on the bus, all our luggage was on the bus, Felipe and I were saying bye to the guys from Pachacutec that drove us there, and the bus literally started pulling out of the driveway and into the street. So Felipe and I are running after it yelling in the driver´s window ¨please, please, give us five more minutes!¨, and I figured this was a good time to play the blonde American card and I start saying ¨we´re missionaries here from seven different countries, we´ve traveled so far to bless your country, I´m all the way from California, and we need our whole team, they are girls and shouldnt travel alone, please please please!¨ and they actually stopped and waited! So the other car finally arrived, ran onto the bus as it started moving again, and we were off. Lindsey and I took sleeping pills which made us both really loopy and made our hands feel weirdly heavy and useless and weak, like we couldnt open our bags or flex our hands. In the middle of the night I spent some time in the semi-darkness of the bus staring at my hands trying to flex them, thinking ¨what the heck is wrong with my hands?? they arent moving! These aren´t even Peruvian sleeping pills, theyre from Target!¨ but in the end I slept ok and I am happy to report that I now have full control of my fingers.
Overall our team is doing well, we of course are tired and running out of steam, but last week was a little bit re-energizing and restful. Only three and a half weeks left, and out of all the things God has showed us so far, I can only imagine there is much more in store. My prayer is to stay focused and motivated to keep loving and serving the people here, which is hard if the end is in sight and we all are excited to go back to the base in Pichilemu. But I know God has more to show us, and more to work in us and more to do in the churches and people here in Arequipa. One thing He really showed me through the church in Pachcutec was service and dedication. The pastor´s family is all so loving, so dedicated to serving the people and the church there, so strong in hard times, and God is their Rock above all else. Even though they live humbly, and we were there to serve them, they gave us so much and loved us so much, and it was a blessing just to know them.
Also keep praying for our health, somebody is always sick, which usually includes me since my stomach does not like Peru very much, but overall we´re good.
I have some really good pictures I promise I will post soon!! XOXO love you all
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