Final Debriefing

I had some people heckling me to put up a final blog (well more specifically one person and she know who she is) but I am sure a lot of people were wanting me to. Anyway so this blog will be of my last thoughts and I know this is being done over a month since I have left but this has been the only time that things have slowed down enough for me to get to recap on my summer. And it's hasn't slowed down enough, I have a test Thursday and some homework due tomorrow but this week has been slower than any other and I thought I might as well take advantage of it.

This summer has been an incredible journey of highs and lows. Our team had some struggles at times but for the most part we all got along and that is what made the summer the most. We all had very different Spirituall gifts/strengths: Allen was our translator and leader; Ben was our teacher, he knows everything about everything in the Bible; Albee was our girl who loved on the kids, I have never seen anyone love on kids so hard; and I was the music person, I played the guitar and sang songs and provided some sort of entertainment.

The ministry we had in Coracora was left up to us. We didn't have any certain thing we had to do, we were just told to go live among the people, become one with the people and see where ministry needs to be. We started Bible studies and started going to a house church. We also spent a lot of time in the orphanage with the children and that was a grand time and I miss those children so much. I think that is the ministry I enjoyed the most.

Peru was an eye-opening mission trip for me. God took my summer and completely changed it around. I had a lot of expectations to see a ton of people saved and that I was going to become more holy because I spent my summer in Peru but God took that and showed me that it isn't always about the numbers and being more holy than other people. As a team, we personally only saw two people come to know Christ. When the Creative Ministry Team came, we did see a lot of hands raised but never got the chance to personally talk with them. We can only pray that they were sincere in their decision. I definitely did not become a more holy person because of my summer.

However, of course the summer taught me more about myself and gave me more of a passion for international missions. I learned a lot about being more dependent on Christ and giving Him my all. At final debriefing, I learned a lot about how my mission trip isn't over. That God still wants to use me beyond Peru. And how much easier it will be to be a witness to someone because I can actually speak the language and there is nothing standing in my way...The mission trip isn't over and God has been continuing to teach me more and more. Who knows where He will lead me next but at the moment, I am learning how to seek Him even during my hard times!

The Countdown

Alrighty, here is the second try at this. Internet has been acting weird lately here in Coracora.

The summer is quickly coming to an end, I can't believe it is already here. We only have 4 days left in our village and 11 days left in all in Peru. The summer has just flown by so fast.

So this past week has been great. We have been informing everyone of when we would leave and have been saying good-byes to people and taking tons of photos. We went to a bullfight in Chumpi for two days. It was absolutely amazing and I enjoyed it thoroughly. I got to meet some professional matadors and got to talk with them for a good while. They even let me come with them to the ring for their introduction and I stood to the side taking photos. We met one of the professionals here in Coracora one night while at the Pizzaria and he remembered me when we saw him in Chumpi.

Katya (a woman that we have been discipling here in Coracora) was able to hook us up with some seats with her friends in Chumpi and we just had a grand time. The second day we went, the matador I knew was able to hook me up with two banderillas and a Peruvian pin type of thing that they tie to the tails of the bulls. I felt pretty special because the people we were sitting with kept telling me that I would not get more than one banderilla, which I would have been fine with because there was a place outside of the ring where I could buy one to match the one I would get. But I ended up getting two anyway and it was really awesome. And the matadors, during a break would always come over and start talking to me and the people we were with. It was pretty awesome.

After the bull fight, we headed back down to the ring and a ton of people wanted to take pictures with us and interview us and even the matadors wanted to take pictures with us. It was pretty awesome! The matador I knew, let me use his cape and his gorro (the hat) to take a picture and I enjoyed it thorougly. As we were leaving, people would come up to us and start video taping us and asking us questions and a man came up with his voice recorder and started interviewing us and we sent him straight to Allen because none of us could understand him at all. I felt like I was someone famous in Hollywood with paparazzi all around. It was insane, the amount of people we were surrounded by.

Okay so back to everyday life. We have been holding Bible studies almost everyday and it has been awesome! This past week, we have had to Bible studies twice a day because people weren't able to make it to the early one but could make it to a later one and people couldn't make it to the later one but could make it to the earlier one. So all that to say that we just started doing two in the early afternoon and then later afternoon.

At a Bible study at Katya's house, we saw her friend/maid/sister (not exactly sure who she is towards Katya) come to know Christ, her name is Nelly. It was amazing how God moved so quickly during that time. As we were having Bible study, you can just see her face change and show how much in need she was and she asked a ton of questions about how would she be able to recognize Christ when she saw Him and other very deep questions and then she told us that she wanted to accept Christ, it was amazing! We gave her a Bible that day, it was so moving and just pumped us up so much! We had a Bible study the next day at Katya's house again and she was there and had even more questions from what we were reading out of. I must say that I love Nelly a lot and I am praying that there will be someone to disciple her after we leave.

During the early afternoon we have been having Bible study with Flor and that has been going great, she has actually been reading her Bible and one night she wanted to lead us in the closing prayer. Wow, does that not sound Baptist or not. She prayed and thank God for us and for how much we have impacted her life and the witness that we have brought. Saying bye to Flor is going to be so hard because I have just been reaching out to her this whole summer in love and wanting to see her come to know the Lord. This brings me to tears just writing that out and thinking about how she prayed over us and was so thankful for the witness we have had on her. Honestly, if Flor isn't already saved she is sure close to accepting Christ. Earlier this summer, she told us that she doesn't read the Bible and now she is coming to all our Bible studies and is reading the Bible while she is at home and it has just been awesome!

Here is a HUGE prayer request. Yesterday when we were leaving our hostel for church, we ran into a guy who stopped us and asked us what we were doing here. We begin to talk to him and tell him that we were Christian missionaries. Well he didn't seem to agree to that so we started talking to him and found out that he doesn't believe in God. Allen asked him what would happen to his spirit when he dies and he believes that his spirit will just wonder around the earth. Allen started talking to him about hell and heaven and the Bible and he just disagreed with everything we had to say. His name is Treveña, please keep him in your prayers. Pray that we had some sort of impact during the 30 minutes that we got to talk to him. He seemed to like us a lot and said it was very nice to meet us but he just didn't agree with what we had to say about God. My heart is really breaking my heart for him.

Also please pray for these next 4 days and for our trip from Coracora to Lima. It is going to be a 19 hour bus ride and I am not too excited about it. For the first 10 and a half hours, we will be on mountain roads and it takes a huge toll on my stomach. That is the trip from Coracora to Nazca. After Nazca, the road is flat and straight all the way to Lima. Pray for our safety, after Greg's death I have been really nervous about traveling on these mountain roads. Especially since the drivers like to drive as close to the edge as possible.

Thank you all for your prayers during this whole summer. I will be definitely updating this at least one more time before I get back to the States so keep your eyes opened!!! I love you all, I truly do and I am so thankful for your support!

A Calling Home

Okay so this past week has just been so hectic...In fact, I just don't even know where to begin. I am sitting here in just stupidity not knowing where to start. Okay...

So we were suppose to receive the Creative Ministry Team in Coracora on July 5th but there was bus was so late arriving to Nazca that we didn't see them until 8:30 a.m. the next morning. But back to the night of July 5th. Albee and I decided to wait in the plaza for the CMT's arrival while the Ben and Allen led a Bible study back in our hostel. But before Bible study started the guys waited for the Popular Grove team from Tennessee and brought them to the plaza to meet us while we waited for CMT. Meeting Walt, Tammy, and Greg was so awesome! They were all so cool...While waiting in the plaza, I decided that I needed to go eat a dinner. So Albee and I went to a Hamburgesa stand and I ordered me one hamburger and french fries and a coke. After eating, we went back to our hostel and grabbed a couple of alpacha blankets because it was getting to the point of freezing in the plaza. We went back to the plaza and some kids started talking with us and then they just start running through the garden picking flowers of all sorts and giving them to us. Albee and I have no idea what to do, we just sit there and say thank you as they bring us flower upon flower. Well Albee decides that maybe we can start giving the flowers back to the kids, so we start handing the flowers back. Next thing we know, the kids start ripping the flowers apart and begin showering us with the flowers. There are flowers and peddles everywhere on us. We get up to shake it all off and the kids start chasing us with peddles and pine needles and whatever else they can find. At this point, Albee and I decided the best thing to do is probably leave the plaza for a few minutes. When we come back all the kids are gone but the plaza is now a mess with flower pieces and peddles and it was just a hilarious time.

Well 9:00 p.m. comes around and the guys finally come back to the plaza and Albee and I head to bed. At this time, I start feeling really sick to my stomach for some reason. Not sure why but I am feeling super sick to my stomach. So I decided instead of trying to wait it out for the 10:00 bus from Puquio, I need to get in the bed and try to sleep. At about 3:30 in the morning, I just start throwing up. I think that I got food poisoning from the hamburgesa stand, I don't think she deep fried my hamburger enough. I only threw up for about 5 minutes and I tried to catch me some sleep thinking that it was all over. At about 8:15, I woke up feeling sick again and it ended up being diarreha. All day, I either layed in my bed or was on the toilet. I even took medicine for nausea and all it did was send it out the other way. It was not a good day at all.

Besides being super sick on July 6th, we also found out that day about a summer missionary here in Peru that was killed in a car accident. It hurts a lot to think about but Greg's death has brought us all a much deeper passion to see God's kingdom come here in Peru. We have a much deeper purpose now, time is so short. I am definitely learning that serving the Lord comes with a price, whether it be time, or health, or even my own life. I am serving the Lord wholeheartedly! Greg had just graduated with an engineering degree from Ole Miss and had a great job awaiting his returnal from Peru. In fact, we found out at mid-summer about him passing his final test to become an engineer. It is all just crazy, I met Greg at LTC and then we talked a good bit at Orientation and at mid-summer debriefing. There were two other missionaries in the wreck, Lydia from Georgia and Claudia from Peru, but they are both very good. The team was about 3 hours outside of Cuzco looking for villages to do demographics for and to research about to try and find State side partners to sponsor those villages for future missionaries. The driver of the vehicle lost control and ran into an embankment. Both girls are good and were both stable enough to be flown back to Lima to be checked up on there. I can't imagine how hard it must be for them, please keep them in your prayers during this time. I am sure that they are having their ups and downs with this. On the day of the 6th, the CMT and I spent the morning sleeping while the Popular Grove team and Allen, Ben, and Albee went to church that morning. In the afternoon, Allen took the teams to the orphanage and the CMT did a presentation there. I am not sure how things turned out there because I was stuck in the bed all day.

Also we found out on the 7th that there was going to be a huge worker´s/bus strike beginning on the 9th. The Popular Grove team and two of the girls from CMT were told that they needed to leave that day to get back to Lima before the strike begin. So Walt and the Team and Beth and Elza from CMT left Coracora about 2:00p.m. to head for Nazca and then to Lima the next day. We begin to wonder what the rest of the CMT would need to do but they were still missing one member who went to visit his old village for a day. They could not leave Coracora without the guy, so they contacted Mike and Mike told them that they needed to stay in Coracora until they called Mike again and asked if it was safe for them to leave. On the 7th, we took the Popular Grove Team and the CMT to a technical school in the morning. This was the only school meeting with all the strike talk going on. The CMT performed a skit and we did some music and then Tommy from CMT shared a message. We saw a lot of people raise their hands to accept Christ, just pray that their decision is genuine and that our team here in Coracora will be able to disciple these people within the next two weeks.

We started seeing some strike action on the day of the 8th, but it wasn't dangerous enough to keep us from being out in the city yet. With the CMT, we held two events in the plazas on the day of the 8th and it was lots of fun. Didn't seem like any strike action going on, there was a lot of people there in the plaza. The strike just made Coracora seem very dead, every store was closed and there was no place opened selling anything unless they sold through the bars on the door. It was really interesting. We saw our picarones lady come to know the Lord and that was amazing! We saw several older adults accept Christ and many children to raise their hands to accept Christ. Pray that these people are also genuine too and that we will be able to disciple them within the next two weeks also. We also held a Bible study this night in two groups. One with 4 kids and the other with 3 adults. The kids told us about a tremor in Coracora at 4:00 in the morning. I pretty much slept right through the tremor and am definitely sad.

So, to the day of the 9th. The huge strike day. The whole city was dead besides those screaming up and down the streets about whatever they were screaming about. I am not exactly sure who they were screaming at either. We are about 19 hours away from Lima and the only thing that is hearing these people are the mountains. We don't quite understand the point in having a strike if nothing is changed and the person you are striking at can't even hear you. On this day we decided to take the CMT to they Hot Springs to get away from the city and how dangerous it could be. About halfway there, Katherine (from CMT) and I turned around and came back to the city. Neither of us were feeling really well. I had still not gained back energy from the day of stomach bug and Kat was sick with a cold. We came back to the hostel and hung out with Nick (from CMT), who was sick, and Ben who was starting to get a sore throat so didn't want to try and push himself to get to the hot springs. We had a grand time napping and watching the strikers and just hanging around talking. We also found out this day that a huge earthquake (like a 6.2) had hit Arequipa and the tremors that hit Coracora yesterday morning was the effects of that earthquake. On the afternoon of the 9th, we took the CMT back to the orphanage to hangout with the kids and it was just a grand time. I was so glad that I got to join them this time. On the way there we saw how crazy the strike really was. The roads were filled with huge bolders blocking the roads and they were everywhere.

On the 10th, we all kinda slept in and the CMT spent their morning packing stuff up. The team should have left yesterday but there was no way with how strong the strike was. We heard that it was way to dangerous to even try and travel on the Pan-American highway because there would be strikers everywhere, throwing rocks and bottles through the windows of any vehicles traveling on the road and putting rocks in strategous places to cause a vehicle to run off the side of the mountain. People just get crazy here during strike time. Thankfully though, the strike ended at about midnight and that was also when all the rocks and glass were being removed from the roads. Albee and I ate lunch with the girls from CMT and Ben and Allen ate lunch with the boys from the CMT. It was a great time just being able to talk to them and being able to converse with other girls. All three of the girls are absolutely amazing! They left on a Sanchez bus at 3:00 and I was sad to see them leave because they have all encouraged me so much in my walk and in my ministry.

Now, we literally only have 14 days left here in Coracora before heading back to Lima and that is just crazy to me. The time has flown by so fast and I cannot believe that we are starting to have to wrap things up. Just pray that our focus remains here on Coracora for these next 14 days. I am definitely afraid that I am going to lose focus as the time grows nearer. I am so sad to be leaving this place but at the same time I am so ready to get home and see my family and my dog and get back to Miss. State and see all of my friends and eat more food than rice and chicken and bisteck everyday. Pray for a leader to become apparent to us within these next two weeks. We are praying for someone that we can leave behind in this community and that will continue the mission and continue Bible studies.

Happy 4th of July

Nazca was amazing, I didn´t get to see the Nazca lines though. But it was an amazing time with everyone. We stayed in a nice hotel, Hotel Alegria, that had heaters and fans and a swimming pool and it was just a fantastic time. The time with everyone was amazing and very encouraging. God definitely opened up my eyes to more things and our purpose here in Coracora is now more known because of other teams testimonies and hearing stories of what everyone has been doing. Before Nazca, we had just been trying to become one with these people and planting seeds and having Bible studies. Now after Nazca, we are praying for the harvest and are preaching more of salvation. We have a different purpose now.

The trip back from Nazca was very interesting and definitely an experience I will never forget. We were the last team to arrive in Nazca and one of the first to leave. We left Nazca on the night of the 30th at about 11:30 at night (our bus was suppose to leave at 9:00 but didn´t show up until 11:00) and arrived in Puquio at about 3:00 a.m....We then found out that nothing would run to Coracora until about 5:00 a.m., so we went inside the bus stop and waited. I slept on the floor on top of Ben´s poncho, it was still freezing cold though. Then at 5:00, we found a taxi that would take us to Coracora and it cost us 200 (that is 50 a piece) soles to go. The price was super high but we just didn´t care enough to argue him down.

On the road, we needed to make a restroom break but there are not really any cities between Puquio and Coracora so we pulled over on the side of the mountain and found bushes/rocks to hide behind and go to the bathroom. As I was climbing to a good hiding place, I stuck my hand on a cactus. Thankfully, I had my gloves on and only had two pieces of cactus stuck in my hand. Needless to say though, I had to jerk the pieces of cactus out. It was not a pleasant feeling and you can still see the dots on my hand where they poked me. They landed right in a muscle, it is still very tender but nothing that is unbearable.

Okay, so we arrived back to Coracora at about 9:00 in the morning and me with my upset stomach and Albee who had been throwing up all night, head straight to bed. I slept all day, I woke up at about 1:00 in the afternoon, ate a few crackers and some potato chips to keep something on my stomach and fell back asleep at about 1:30. I woke back up at about 6:00 and decided that I needed to try and eat a dinner if I could. I go knock on the guys' door to see if they want to go eat but they didn't answer. I just head downstairs but no restaurants were opened so I ran to a grocery store and bought some yogurt and cereal and a gatorade. I get back up to the room and eat a little and then the guys come and knock on my door about dinner. They had just gotten back from a bull fight in another small city. They said it was pretty cool and stuff and they got some good pictures. We are going to go to a bullfight later in July as a team that is hopefully going to be better than the one that they went to.

We were suppose to head up to a volcano before the Creative Ministry Team and the Popular Grove team comes to Coracora but I had a very deep conviction about leaving right before they come and not being here to prepare the way for them. So we have moved our trip to after they leave. We have had a lot of chances since staying here to do a lot of outreach and let people know of our plans. We have also ran into a couple of roadblocks that we are hoping will fall before the teams get here. Both teams will arrive in Coracora tomorrow afternoon and will stay until the 5th so pray for them as they come to us. We are praying for safe travels and that God will move beyond compare as they bring the message of salvation to these people.

(This three paragraphs below were added July 5th)

We started our first Bible study in our hostel on Thursday and it went great. Pray for Albee and my neighbor, we invited him to our Bible study but he denied the offer because he is agnostic and doesn't believe in God. Pray for our ministry with him in the very short time that he is in Coracora. We had our second Bible study last night on John and invited Flor the English teacher in Santa Maria and Andres the English teacher running around Coracora trying to find people to teach English to. It was good and Flor had some good questions and Andres had some good words of wisdom. We also gave Flor a bilingual Bible last night so we are hoping that it comes into good use. She leaves Coracora come July 27th so we are praying for an impact with her before we leave.

We celebrated the 4th of July with fried chicken, french fries, and cokes. We then found a place here in Coracora that sold firecrackers and bottle rockets so we bought a few to celebrate on the roof with. We found out that we weren't the only ones celebrating, we heard some firecrakers going off in another place too but there is also a couple here from Illinois that is heading back to the States tomorrow and headed back to Lima today! It was cool running into them in the internet cafe. Pray for Allen, as we were celebrating on the roof with fireworks he accidently stepped on a board with a nail in it and it went into his foot. We cleaned it out pretty good but his foot swole up today and is causing some nerves in his neck to start hurting. So we have him walking with a stick and are using water to try and ice his foot since the water is very cold here. The hole isn't deep but it is very painful.

We are expecting both the Creative Ministry Team and the Popular Grove Team today so pray for their safety as they come to us and pray for their safety as they leave us. We are all very excited about their arrival. Pray that, that excitement doesn't leave once they leave! I am so ready for them to be here but I don't want to fall out of that excitement once they leave and fall back into a complacent just living in the city situation so pray that our ministry doesn't stop after they leave.

(This next part was written on July 4th)

We will be leaving the 10th of July for Sarasara (the volcano) and will be spending a day in a city and then heading up to the crater on the 11th. The crater is about 16,000ft up so pray for that because it is going to be a challenge getting up there and not being short of breath. Then we will come down a little ways to about 10,000ft and spend the night on the mountain and head back down to the city on the 12th. We will then be doing some ministry in the city and talking to some of Yulber´s friends about Christ. Pray for that: pray that we will not be worn out completely from the trip, that we will get a good nights sleep on the mountain, and that none of us will run into physical barriers going up. We will have a few donkeys to go on, so some of us will be riding donkeys and the rest will be hiking. It is going to be lovely. But I am very excited about our trip up! It is going to be great and I can't for the views. This is a once in a lifetime chance and I am so excited about being able to do it. Just pray for safety!

Oh Happy 4th of July everyone! I hope it is a great one for you all!

Nazca Bound

Today we leave for Nazca for mid-summer at 1:00! We were told it would be about a 6 hour bus ride, which would put us there at 7 or a little later tonight. When talking with one of our friends here in Coracora, he told us we wouldn´t be getting there until about 1:00 tomorrow morning, so we are expecting to be there sometime between about 10 or 11 tonight, hopefully! We are all very excited about going to Nazca but also very sad to be leaving Coracora this weekend. This weekend is a festival of food in Coracora, and as much as I love food I would almost be willing to start a strike for the buses so we could stay but I really do want to see all my friends again!

Things have been going great this week. We have had a busy week. We went to a school about 8:30 on Monday morning and hung out with the kids, sung a few songs and taught some English. Before leaving, we scheduled another meeting with them on Thursday with guitar and Bible story in hand. On Tuesday we headed to another school at 8:30 in the morning and hung out with the kids, taught them English, and sung a few songs. That seems to be the story for every school trip. We then scheduled another trip to visit them on Friday. This is also the school of the teacher who speaks English. We talked to her that day and Allen was telling her about his bilingual Bible, I told her we had one more and asked if she wanted. She then told us that she doesn´t read the Bible. At that point, things became a mission for me. I really want to work with her and reach out to her with Christ! We could really use her as a translator for a woman´s Bible study and maybe even asking her to do that would be a good way to get her started in the Bible.

On Wednesday we went to the MMM Pentecostal church with our friend Yulber and that is all we really did that day. We didn´t have anything scheduled in the morning so we all kinda slept in a bit. Oh, also this week we have been teaching a woman English in one of the plazas and then playing basketball or suppose to be playing basketball at about 3 or 4 in the afternoons in the municipal building. The two days we tried to play basketball in the municipal building, they ended up having volleyball or soccer or a men´s Coracora vs. Nazca game going on. We just stay and watch and then leave for dinner time. It has been fun to watch games, reminds me of home a bit.

Thursday was a good day at the school, Ben shared a lesson in the Bible and we sang 4 songs with the guitar and were scared we were losing there attention but when we started putting up the music, they asked for one more song. It was a good time with the kids and we are planning to visit them again when the Creative Ministry Team comes to Coracora on July 5-9. We also had Bible study on Thursday night at the Pastor´s house that we have House Church on Sunday mornings at. We actually ran into Flor (the amazing English speaking teacher) in the internet cafe Thursday afternoon and invited her to Bible study, and she came! God definitely blessed that because I really wanted to invite her but wasn´t sure where we would see her again and God just worked there.

That Bible study really opened our eyes to some things that could possibly be happening and something that has really kinda bothered me and question why he would bring something like that up. Towards the end of the Bible study, the pastor started talking about a tall American girl playing guitar in a plaza one day and singing songs of praise but it wasn´t really praise because of the guitar. I don´t think he realized that who he was talking about was me but I really want to know where he bases his belief off of. We are also scared that some other doctrines of his may not be right but that we have been translating what he has said to agree with what we know is right. Needless to say, after that Flor had a lot of questions to ask and she told us how deep she thought the songs were and just talked to us about that time and asked about why he didn´t believe that if someone were to use an instrument it wouldn´t be praise anymore. Like we do with everyone who is new to the Bible study, we invite them to dinner and pay for their meal and she joined as at Junior´s Pollo a la Brasa and we talked to her there.

Friday, we went back to Flor´s school with guitar in hand. They enjoyed that time and instead of doing a Bible story, we sang Amazing Grace (My Chains Are Gone) and explained that song to them. They definitely did not have the attention span that the other school did. After that, Flor cooked us a potato sauce kinda thing that was absolutely amazing and we ate lunch with the students, then we went to a field kinda thing below the amazing swing bridge here in Coracora and tried to play American football with the kids. It was a lot of tackling and just beating up on each other, never really did the football come in play at all. Some older girls from a different school came down to hang out and Albee and I ended up hanging out and talking with them while the guys played with the boys. Albee sang songs in Chinese and I sang songs in English and then the girls sang us a song in Spanish called Amiga, it is a really popular song here. We hear it everywhere and all the girls love to sing it.

Last night we went to a musical festival in one of the four plazas located here in Coracora, it was very fun at first until all the drunk Peruvians seemed to be attracted to us. At that point, we decided it was time to leave and go to bed. I got a video of a very cool Incan group doing a dance on the stage and it was awesome. They had fireworks without the lights and a huge bonfire. The fireworks only shoot up and pop, they don´t glow big lights. We are thinking about getting some of those for the 4th of July, we gotta celebrate somehow!

All has been going great, we have really had an amazing time here and are very excited about the two teams joining us in July. Both teams will arrive in Coracora on the 5th and one of the teams will stay for a full week and the CMT will only stay for a few days. After both teams leave, we will only have two weeks left in Coracora and then it it back to Lima for Albee´s flight to China. It is all coming so fast, I can´t believe I have been here for a full month already!

God Provides

These past few days have been amazing...Jon from one of the Barnabas came to visit us for a couple of days because the whole group wasn´t able to make it earlier in the summer because of our altitude.

As I write this, I have three girls standing over my shoulder watching and asking me questions in Spanish...majority of time, I have no idea what they are asking but I am able to answer some of the small stuff...Internet times are the best here because in the States where everyone prefers privacy, no one here cares about privacy especially when it is a grenga (Spanish for a white girl)...Everytime we come to the internet cafe, there are always children and even some younger teenagers who come up to see what we are doing, it is amazing. They are currently hagging the boys and trying to get them to count to a thousand in English...I told them that I didn´t know how to count to a thousand, good way to get out of that, even if I do look stupid...

Okay so yesterday, we went to a Catholic school and shared a bible story with the kids. It was a great time, they were very quiet, no questions to ask and never really talked to us...Then after going to the Catholic school, we came back to our hostel, grabbed a few things and headed to the Plaza to find out that yesterday was the 183th anniversary of Coracora´s existence...Very event filled day...We hung out in the plaza for a couple of hours, with kids swarmed around us, and two English professors came up to us and asked us to come to their schools. One we will be going to on Monday and the other on Tuesday! We also ran into a woman who wants us to teach her English everyday this week before she has to go to Lima for something so we are going to help her...Just being out and about in the city has really opened up some doors as we saw yesterday! I really enjoyed showing Jon around our city and introducing him to our friends!

Okay so one thing to pray about: one of the English teachers that we ran into is a woman and her English is absolutely amazing! We go to her school on Tuesday, and are actually going to talk to her about possibly being a translator for a woman´s Bible study!!! I hope it all works out, and the woman´s Bible study will be started as soon as possible! Hopefully before mid-summer!

Mid-summer is only 6 days away and my heart is very excited to see people that I haven´t seen since orientation! Mid-summer also marks the halfway point of being home! Not that I am homesick but I have a feeling that things are going to either go by much faster once mid-summer is here! We have two teams come in July to see us, the Creative Ministry Team and a team from the church that is sponsoring Coracora! I will enjoy that time and showing them around. And then after that point, things will only be a couple of weeks away from ending...But I am not near that time now...People are already asking when will we be coming back and all I can tell them is I don´t know...that is such a hard question because I have no idea where God is going to lead me next summer or if I will ever be back here in Coracora! I wish I could give them a definite answer...

Hope Rising

Today there has been a cool breeze in the air which can be very significant of something...Mom is not going to be happy about this one but the wind gust could actually be a sign of an earthquake soon to come...I don´t know about any of y'all but I have never been in an earthquake and I really do want to feel one...It doesn´t have to be big, I just want to feel one...But I know my mom is praying against that while I am here in Peru and honestly I am not really sure if where I am located at times in the day is where I want to be when one hits...The building structures are not the best here, most houses are made of mud bricks or a stuco(SP?) sort of thing, not many would be very sturdy structures if a good sized earthquake were to hit Coracora...I´m afraid the only thing left standing would be the huge Catholic church...

This morning we went to one of the schools and taught the children English, it was a grand time with the kids and lots of laughs, I definitely enjoy these times and I learn lots of Spanish when doing this...During the class, we got a great big burst of wind gust that shook the tin roof...Romi, the teacher we were helping told us that the gust don´t normally happen until August. Then she told us about it being a sign of an earthquake. Romi, is an absolutely amazing woman! She is like a mom away from home for sure and is such a blessing! I love her tons and her daughter Sisary! I am happy to be spending the next month and a half with those two. They have invited Albee and I to live in their house with them come July and I am excited about this offer I just don´t feel like having to pack everything up and move again.

After school today, we went walking around town and realized that power was out throughout the town, not sure for what reason why but no lights or anything was working...It was nice and quiet, we walked towards a plaza that we found the other day and ended up running into a bunch of kids who had us say a lot of things in English...Then they asked us about these bracelets that we have on our arm. It is called the salvation bracelet, a lot like the beads that some people wear, except this was the colors all weaved in a braid as a bracelet. Allen explained the significance of the colors and it was just a great time of spreading the gospel, even if the kids didn´t understand there were some women in the back of the group that seemed to be very interested! I just pray that God will move in the hearts of those women and in the kids! We will probably make a few trips back up that way to continue what has started now! God is definitely working here and I am giving Him all the glory!!!

Two weeks and Two years

Today has been a very tough day...Today not only marks two weeks before I am off to Mid-summer, the halfway point of my ministry here in Peru but it also marks two years since my bestfriend was killed in a car wreck...I am very excited about only two weeks being left for me to go to Nasca and being united with everyone and receiving a fresh presence of people who encourage me so much...But my heart can't help but hurt today...

Not so funny thing but God definitely has a way of giving me a fresh reminder of how short life is...I have been wondering about what the tradition is for people who pass away here in Coracora since this town is built around traditions...Well today I got my answer that I really wasn´t looking for in this moment. When Albee and I were walking to the big store here to grab a few snacks and a gatorade, we heard a band in the distance...As it got closer and as we got closer, found out it was a funeral procession...casket and all...Tears couldn´t help but fall from my face, my heart started breaking as all I could think about was Tim and the very second I received the news of his death and his funeral and the casket and everything just rushing through my brain at once...

Not only was I thinking about Tim but I was thinking about my grandfather...On June 16th, it will be a year since he has passed away...It´s going to be so hard for my dad and for all my family, especially since tomorrow is Father´s Day, I am glad that the reunion doesn´t fall on Father´s Day...I don´t know how any of my family would be able to handle that...

These next few days are going to be really tough, three deaths in three days to remember...one I did not know but it was a friend of a dear friend of mine and not only that but he wasn´t a Christian so it makes it all the harder as I try to find some way to be of comfort to her at the two year mark...We were serving together in California for summer missions when we both received the news of our friends´deaths...

Okay, so off of this subject, and on to the now...things have been slow...everyone is getting sick, sadly the day after I got sick...our translator got sick with a stomach bug and then the next day our other guy got sick with a stomach bug and then yesterday we went and ate breakfast at a Pastor´s house...we had some type of tamale without meat also with some type of oatmeal chocolate colored drink...Needless to say, my stomach still wasn´t feeling up to eating something of that nature, I ate about a tamale and a half and I definitely only had a few sips of that oatmeal thing, it did not help with my stomach...Well after that, Albee got sick with a stomach bug so these days have been very slow since we have all been sick with something...I still have my cold, still trying to overcome it but I think it might stick with me until I get into a warmer place...Oh and FYI: here, they have no concept of heaters or insulation or things of that nature...the hostel we live in has no heater, no insulation, and the door in our room to our balcony has very huge spaces between it and the wall so it gets very cold in our room during the day and during the night...So that is definitely not helping with my cold here...Winter is definitely not my favorite season...

Today we are going to the Orphanage about 3:00 to play games with the kids and then share a Bible story...I am praying that they are very receptive and that their hearts are opened to God, who is their true Father...I don´t want the word ¨father¨ to be a bitter taste on this children´s lips because of situations that they might have went through, I want them to realize Who a real Father is, especially since tomorrow is Father´s Day!!! Pray for these children with me, that their hearts are open and broken for someone to be a father for them and that they choose God to fill in that gap!!!

A Cold Says It All

So I knew getting sick was inevitable, except getting sick with a cold is much different than getting sick over the food...none of the food has made me sick yet, I knock on wood after I say this...but I am sadly getting a cold, I always get a cold during the winter season and well for Coracora, it is the winter season. I don´t think I slept a wink last night from running a fever, to not being able to breath, to freezing to death, to burning up, and to spending most of the night trying to keep my throat from exploding of pain...

Today, my throat is a little soothed after a hot 100% coco drink, very bitter but felt wonderful on my throat, needless to say I think I added about 10 spoon fulls of pure sugar just so that I could drink some of it...We were also suppose to play basketball today with our landlord but God is definitely watching out for me, the landlord is having to move it to Wednesday because he is going to Lima. I just hope that I am not worst by Wednesday.

The Barnabas team comes in today to check up on all that has been going on! I am very excited to get some fresh faces in here and to be reunited with some friends!

Oh please pray for a female translator or that God will bless the tongue of a woman to communicate between the women of Coracora and Albee and I...The cry of my heart is to have a woman´s Bible study for the women here and last night, we went to our usual picarones spot! Picarones is a lot like a U.S. dough-nut but they pour a syrup/tea kinda thing on it and they are so good! We go to this place every night almost. Good example: we go to this place so often that these women already have our testimonies and everything about us memorized. Last night some people came by and were asking us some questions about why we were in Coracora and other things and the women were answering the questions for us! It was absolutely amazing! Well the women who make the picarones want to start a Bible study with her sisters and her! This is the perfect ministry opportunity; however, there is no one to be able to communicate between us and them except for our male translator... My heart longs to be able to speak with these women, I am not liking the language barrier at all!

Also please pray for the health of the team, we have all kinda been passing a cold around or something of that nature...needless to say, it is my turn to have it...I am the last of the group to get it, lovely!!! Just pray that I will heal fast and that I don´t pass it on again to anyone on the team!

Mountaintop

Okay so too much has happened in the past 24 hours for me to wait a week to type out!

Last night, we had a worship time with three men who all want to start a Baptist church here. It was absolutely amazing just hearing them sing in Spanish and hearing songs that we sing back in the USA in their language. The Spirit definitely moved through that time! It was so amazing! Then we had another bible study with what was suppose to be a group of boys but only one showed up! But that time with him was absolutely amazing! He asked us some extremely deep questions and it was awesome!!! Ahh God definitely touched that time!

PRAY, PRAY, PRAY! Last night one of our team members went to meet with the Catholic priest here in Coracora, and the meeting went absolutely amazing! The rest of us stayed behind to hangout with that boy and talk with him. We are actually going to play basketball with him today and some of his friends in about 30 minutes...Okay back to Catholic priest. So the word is that God definitely moved during that time! The Catholic priest here might as well be a Baptist minister...he doesn´t believe in purgetory(SP?) or praying to Mary...he believes we are all here to reach out to other for Christ and wants to work with us...pray for this situation, this is a huge door that God is opening!!!

Also the kids and teenagers seem to love a white girl playing a guitar! Someone called me Avril Lavigne today and they all gathered round to here me play and sing! The guitar was very out of tune because mine was left in our hostal but tomorrow, the kids want me to bring my guitar and my music and play for them at 2:30, this can be an amazing time of reaching out to them with Christ! Definitely pray for that too!!!

Today we spent the morning trying to get me some money! I am so thankful because it finally came in and I have enough to make it to mid-summer where I can pull some more out! Then we climbed to one of the top of the hills or a part of the mountain and the view of our village/town was absolutely amazing! I wish I oculd upload the pictures I took but these computers are not capable of using my digital camera card...The view was spectacular, we then prayed over our town and begin the walk back down the mountain! Wow! I wish I could express how awesome it was!!!

One Week Into Peru

I honestly cannot believe that I have already been in Peru for a week. It seems like I only came yesterday! The flight from Atlanta here was absolutely amazing, the sunset from my seat was so beautiful and just a fresh reminder of God´s magnificence. We arrived in Lima at about 11:00pm and made it to our hostel at about 2:00am. FYI: going through customs and immigration went very smoothly, I got a greenlight! So thankful! For those of you that do not know, you walk through this part and you either get a greenlight or a redlight. If you get a redlight they take you over to the side and search all of your stuff. God is definitely already come before us becaues I don´t think that any of the 20 of us on that flight got a redlight at all. We began the long but adventurous day with an Amazing Grace race. It was a scavenger hunt through the whole city of Lima with our teams that we will be serving with this summer. The task included everything from buying team t-shirts to sliding down firemen poles to drinking frog juice. Which I must say wasn´t as bad as it was made out to be. It had a lot of honey in it but was very frothy, made for a great adventure.

We then went to the camp where our orientation was. I met some amazing people there that I will never forget. My heart is so excited for God´s movement through these cities and villages, I cannot wait for the Fire to fall down over this place. God is definitely breaking my heart of many things right now. Thing after thing keeps trying my trust in the Lord but this is what I have been praying for. I tried to get money out of my account and it wouldn´t work so I tried to call my mom with my cell phone because I have an international plan and my phone wouldn´t work. So I went to a pay phone and got a hold of her and have gotten her to get in touch with my bank so I can use my card. However, now that I am in Coracora there is no place here that will let me use my card to get money out. I am definitely trusting and I know God is going to provide.

God is already moving here in Coracora. I am on a team of four people: me, Albee, Ben, and Allen. We have held two bible studies in a matter of a 24 hour time period and will be having another one tonight. A man came to know Christ yesterday at our bible study and hearts are opened to us being here. We went to the orphanage yesterday and it was so amazing. Those kids definitely touch my heart in such an amazing way! I cannot wait to spend these next two months with them and getting to know them better. God is opening up huge doors that we could never accomplish alone and I am so thankful that Go is opening up the hearts of these people and continuing to show us different ways in which we can serve. My Spanish is slowly but starting to pick back up. It is going to take a while and a lot of practice but I hope that I can begin to communicate with these people soon. My heart is so excited about spending the next two months in this place even if I am living off of chicken and rice for every meal.

Peru Bound

Okay guys! Sorry it has taken so long for this post. I got on in the middle of the week and found out that my blog was blocked because they thought it was a spam blog. Well, I have finally gotten unlocked now so I can update you all on what is going on.

Here are a few things that you can pray for as Tuesday gets closer and closer:
1. Pray for the safety of those flying tomorrow (Monday) and for those flying on Tuesday
2. Pray, pray, pray for the people of Peru; that God will open their eyes to all He has for them, that they will be opened to hearing the Word and receiving the Holy Spirit, that language will not be a barrier, and that they continue to grow after we leave.
3. Pray for those going; that God will speak through us as we reach out to these people, that no one gets too sick, and that we learn to love far beyond our ability
4. Finally, pray for the families of all the summer missionaries. I know that my mom is having a hard time with me getting ready to leave for 10 weeks and not being able to stay in constant contact. It's going to be hard being away from family and comfort but I know that God is going to teach me so much outside of my comfort zone. I'm ready for my eyes to be opened to something so much deeper than I have seen before. I cannot wait for my foundation to be shaken and hold on God to become tighter!

The next blog will come once I get to Peru! I cannot wait to share with you all what Peru is like and what God is already teaching me! I love you all and see you again August 1st!!!