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.