Journal 4

May 25, 2012

Yesterday was our last full day in Lima as a team!  (Today, we each split into our groups and headed separate ways.)

The morning was much like all the others, and everyone again enjoyed being spiritually filled!  Toni spoke with us today, and he’s quite hilarious. His lesson was more about the Bible and relating religion in the cultures.  He would throw out candy to answered questions, and sometimes even chips.  Which is why I have Plenty more snacks for the summer!

For lunch, we ate some delicious sandwiches at the hostel.  I promise the fruits and vegetables are magical here!  I love these wonderful friends I’ve been making.  We’ve gotten so close, so fast! 

We met with Emily and Matt, who had recently been up to Collpa when the Kentucky team (the church that has adopted the area in the CRV) came in the Spring.  Matt was actually a summer missionary to our area last summer through his church.  Jim, a missionary of IMB who would transport us to and from Collpa, held a q&a time for our team to learn some from Emily and Matt about the area and people.  We also learned a little bit about what they were doing in Peru, which was working at an orphanage in Lima independently.  Apparently the children extremely outnumbered the people working there and conditions were Not the greatest.  There are about 850 children to a staff of less than 10.  It’s insane.

After learning some more, we had chill time.  I took a nap. Happy times!  we had a lot of social time with each other, and pizza for dinner! More hang-out time, and I was able to mail out another email before bed. 

Thanks to the Lord for this Awesome opportunity!

 

Surely goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

Psalm 23:6 (NIV)

Journal 3

May 24, 2012

The doors are opening for the Lord’s wisdom to shine inside of us!

Yesterday was breakfast as usual which was just as delicious as ever.  My luggage received a MUCH-needed reorganization.  Now I can find things so much easier while las chicas are sleeping!  Morning session began with two missionaries, David and Cameron, talking about Quechua culture and what to expect once we get there, while their baby boy, Pete, held a slight distraction for this girl in his adventures running around the room.  I’m a sucker for kids, what can I say?  I love the simple and relational aspects we’ve learned so far.  Such as people are mostly late arriving places because if they run into someone while walking, they Always stop and talk, for even up to an hour.  Forming relationship are so important up there.  We learned a lot more, but I’m sure once we actually go up to Collpa, the lifestyle will speak for itself.  (Yup).  I love this culture and its caring, talkative, and loving people!

We went to a menú for lunch.  Which is basically large amounts of premade food that cost barely anything.  Peruvian fast food!  Apparently that will be a major part of the dining for the three teams.  Except it will just about always contain chicken, rice, and potatoes.  After lunch we walked back for some general discussion about what to expect for our specific teams.  Oh yes!  We also broke up into our specific teams and got to know each other a little better.  I’m looking forward to a God-filled summer with Morgan and Liz!  (Side note: sitting outside, drinking hot herbal tea, and writing in a journal is quite enjoyable!) 

After our final discussion with Mindy, we mainly relaxed around the hostel until dinner came.  The Peruvian food here is pretty delicious!  Just some talking after dinner, and I believe all of the girls were in bed before 10:00.  Traveling about 9 hours and filling your mind with cultural information can leave a lasting exhaustion.  Orientation over-all has been so nice.  God’s been showing us such great stuff.  I’m definitely blessed with this opportunity to make a difference and am constantly praying for God to lead me through this journey! 

Last note:  worshipping in Spanish brings me joy here!

“Therefore I will praise you, O Lord, among the nations, I will sing praises to your name.”                                   2 Samuel 22:50 (NIV)

Photo 1 via Morgan Payne

Journal 2

May 23, 2012

It has been Amazing to see how God is building us up, getting us ready for the summer!

Yesterday, breakfast contained jam-filled croissants and multiple kinds of fruit. Now this, I can learn to get used to! Delicious. We started lessons around 8:30 to begin educating ourselves in acting in the mission field and what to expect as we go. Donnie was first up to teach us how the Quechua people love to hear the Bible in Storying form. I loved learning this method. We said it, drew it, and acted it. With the method, these choices can be repeated multiple times and is very effective! Ask me a while from now, and I will still be able to speak about the demon-possessed man! (And this will be one of the beautiful examples of how God uses stuff in our lives to share His Glory down the road: with sweet Kandy a couple of weeks into the CRV).

Then, after some more training, we had a lunch of sandwiches and Peruvian snacks. Don’t know why, but Peruvian carrots are extremely delicious ! We had another session about being ready to accept their culture as is and not try to fix what works for them, but we think is broken. It’s about learning to embrace what they know as life!

We finished at about 3 (it felt like 5 because we were all so tired!). Then we walked to a grocery store (Wongs) and the beach after that! It was Beautiful! It was my first time to really see the Pacific Ocean. Wonderful big waves!

Photo via Morgan Payne

Then, we walked to our first Peruvian restaurant, and I enjoyed grilled chicken and fries and… cow heart! Ew. It was alright. Too mushy for my taste. Mindy only answered “beef” when we asked the name of the food. The smile on her beautiful face while replying gave away her dishonesty though. I decided to try anyways and she told us today what it Really was. We came back to the hostel for the night and enjoyed doing nothing but playing a couple of games, then sleep!

My teammates (even the ones we only get to see like 10 days the entire summer) are great! I’m going to love getting to know everyone better. All for now!

But I won’t make a move until You move in me.

Move in me (Paul)                                                             Jeremy Camp                                                                   Music Inspired by the Story

Journal 1

May 22, 2012

Well, guys and gals, I'm here!  So far (in the less than 24 hours that I’ve been here), I don't think I'm too "culture shocked".  It reminds me a lot of New Mexico: Spanish (and even some English) everywhere, and skin tones more familiar to the West.  The hostel we are living at for the next couple of days is Absolutely beautiful though!

The adventure of my first international travel turned out splendidly.  Dad and I traveled via car from Memphis to Little Rock and met up with Danny, Rachel, and girls for breakfast.  I loved getting to see them, and it was cool to reflect on how far my walk with God has grown compared to the young freshman I was when God really started to become real in my life!

My flight from Little Rock gave me a two-person row all to myself (got to love extra plane space!).  And the sky was BEAUTIFUL!  Found myself praising God constantly for His magnificent walls of clouds and blue sky.

I had just enough layover time in the ATL to find my teammates.  And we left shortly after I arrived there.  It’s so crazy thinking about that first image in my mind seeing some of my teammates just sitting around in a circle, not really more than a face and name at the time- not counting the little bit of Facebooking we had with one another before trip-time.  And now, each of these people mean so much more to me!  Minus a couple of bumps and storms, this plane ride went well also.  A couple of movies played over the televisions lining the rows (2/3 of which I had Very recently seen with the lovely Mo-town!).  {There is always that moment when you evaluate the person sitting next to you and decide how to conquer the impending relationship that will develop by the end of the flight: either a flight in silence, talking all the way, or a little of both.  My chosen strategy was to start up conversations after an hour or so into the flight, so there’d be less awkward pauses after the initial introductions.  It is a seven hour flight after all!  And I’m not one to delight in awkward silences.  Not saying this is the best strategy always, but in our situation, I found it to work pleasantly.}  We ended up bonding over trying intensely to get a flight attendant so I could get some headphones that worked.  Eventually, we won. (Their attention that is).  Turns out my new friend was also heading towards a missions opportunity for a little over a month, staying with a minister in… some part of the country.  Our flight came to an end, and everyone’s luggage safely and fully arrived.  Everyone got through immigration flawlessly… minus one red arrow on my own part.  But apparently, it’s random selection.  We found our field adviser, Mindy, along with the rest of the summer missionaries; then, off to the hostel!

In all, everything went pretty smoothly yesterday.  Oh!  I have finally seen the Pacific Ocean.  But it was last night, so all I can say about it is that it’s dark.  It was also lovely to begin the letter-opening process resulting from hard letter-instructing and gathering by Mo-town.  I have received letters for most of my Peruvian days to help with the home-sickness and to seek inspiration for the many days ahead of me.  I’m going to love learning who all my letter-writers are.  Thank you all so much!

And now, I get to enjoy the “back yard” of the hostel (funnily called HQ) as I write the journal entry for yesterday’s events.  This place is beautiful, and I’m pumped for life these next two months as Peru opens herself up to my comrades and myself!  Absolutely ready for full day one! 

 

“And the gospel must first be preached to all nations.”                                                 ~Mark 13:10

Introduction

Hola a todos!

As some of you know, and some of you don’t, I was blessed with an opportunity to serve for two months in the mountains of Peru!  This was Most Definitely an exciting adventure for a girl that had never been outside of the country before and had never seen her faith from a different perspective!  My initial intentions had been to post up blogs that echoed my journal entries from the summer as my days abroad went on their merry way, but unfortunately the chances of that paralleled with the amount of internet I could receive on my two month journey- practically impossible.  Honestly, I do appreciate the fact that internet had no chance of becoming a distraction for me as I strove to learn the many things God would teach me and desired for me to learn about His Sacred Word this summer.  Believe it or not, I wrote in said journal just about every day… for the 60 days we were there.  Morgan and Liz (my teammates) can surely testify for the excessive writing.  Entries won’t be verbatim, but everything will be truth –to the best of my recollection.  I will write a summary for those of you that truly would like to know some highlights of the two-month adventure, but simply don’t have the time for a bunch of my ramblings!  A completely understandable predicament. 

My ultimate hope for these stories is that those who read them will be able to experience some of the revelations God blessed me with about His Word this summer, and that you will be able experience some Truths for yourself on your own understandings!  I suppose my secret desire for typing all of these up is that I may be able to look back on these memories years down the road, wherever I am as reminders that God constantly has extreme and wonderful plans for my life as long as I submit to His perfect will!

I hope this does inspire you to head out to adventure in your own faith and discover the beauties displayed by our Lord, Jesus Christ, and the craziness He calls us to pursue!

“Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.  And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” 

Matthew 28:19-20