Overwhelming thoughts

Today has rushed by. The past 2 weeks back in Peru have rushed by. I have to cherish these moments here more.

Since going home to the states and coming back, my outlook has been distorted, not in the good way.  I loved being home. I loved being with my awesome family, my wonderful boyfriend, and my crazy friends, and, of course, my snuggy ruggers. I didn't want to leave all that behind again.  I was ready to be home and to stay there. But the LORD has put me back here in Peru for a little while longer...

Last week I was able to go back to Vilcas, and was blessed by seeing my friends there. I love that little village in the middle of nowhere Peru, but that's not what God has put on my heart for now...

You see, as I was homesick, I started looking for and applying for jobs in Nashville. Any job that I qualified for that I could find, I sent in a resume.  In the urgency to get home, I forgot to sit and ask God what he wanted from me. He revealed that today.

Today, like every other day in this land, was random.  I seem to start out each day with no set plans, but usually have a full day.  After my morning walk and nap, running around town a little, and lunch, my friend Corrie called me and wanted to hang out.  Corrie's like a little sister that gets up 3 times a week to walk with her mom and I, and we love her for it! We went to McDonalds to get smoothies (cuz they're cheap and delicious!).  While sitting in outside McDonalds, some little boys came around selling candy.  This isn't unusual. Many kids and adults come around with their sad stories and puppy dog eyes begging for money all over the city. It really frustrates me when they're in the really nice parts of town dragging their babies and using them to exploit money from tourists. Whoever invented the words "propinita and invitame" in the Spanish language should be hit 40 times with a wet noodle! (For you English speakers, they're basically saying "give me a tip" and "buy me something".) Anyways, I usually either get annoyed with this, feel extremely awkward, or give money to the next beggar I see. Today was different though...

There were first two little boys that couldn't be any older than 5 at first.  They came in McDonalds and stuck their candy in my face as I shook my head no. Then the guard kicked them out, and another older boy joined them, giving them more candy to sell.  Then this man who I'd seen just hanging out in the same spot yesterday came up to them and looked in their bags and talked to them for a while. When they dispersed again, the man just watched the two small boys intensely. Not like a fatherly watch, but a "you better do your job" kind of watch.  I hate to assume that this guy was like a pimp to these boys, but that's exactly what it looked like. This is the second time I've seen an a group of begging kids, babies even, report to an adult for instructions. My insides burned and rumbled.

Although I wasn't present, I learned from Passion Conference that there are approximately 27 million slaves in the world today. Read that again. 27 MILLION men, women, and children all being used for labor, trade, and sex.  Women in hope of a better life being scammed into a living hell.  Men sacrificing themselves in order to protect their family from the ones holding them in bondage.  Children begging late into the night to buy their food from someone who's using them and robbing them.  It is believed that about 15,000 of those are in the USA.

And what are we doing about it?  Not enough.

As I sit in my plush apartment, my mind races with ideas of what I can do to stop this injustice, this cruelty.  As believers, we are called to do something for those who need help.  Christ says in Matthew 25 "Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me".  I'm not saying we hand out money to everyone that asks for it, but God will us the discernment to know when it's okay that we can feed the hungry, clothe the needy, and visit the oppressed. The people we encounter, we can help them. Not only can we help, but we are called to help. Called to give. Called to love.  

But still, giving kids a McDonalds cheeseburger and walking away still leaves them in the same situation tomorrow and the next day. They will still be forced to beg for money for someone else to take it and control them.  We, as a group of believers, have to stand up against this and fight it. There are several organizations listed below in which I encourage you to get involved. Give your time, money, and prayers to supporting them and fighting for the lives of so many around the world who aren't able to help themselves.  Slavery didn't end in the USA until people stood up and fought for it, and it's crept its way back in again. 

I have no clear answers of what to do, but I know that God has called me to pray for these people, love these people, and care for these people.  Ask Him what you can do to glorify Him in this as well.

www.ijm.org

www.tinyhandsinternational.org

www.thea21campaign.org/

Strawberry Juice..

The breakfast juice of champions. Thank you Lord for cheap strawberries and opposite seasons in this country!

It's been a while..

So, yet again, it's been a while since I've blogged.  I'll stop commenting on this on every post and just assume that you understand I'm busy and/or lazy and will average 1-2 blogs each month!

This past month has been interesting, to say the least.  I've actually started several posts, but never went on with them because they were touchy subjects and would have possibly caused some issues, but then I thought, this is my blog! I can write what I want!  So, I'll save you from listening to my rants on what's wrong in the world, and just write what's on my heart now. However, if you're lucky, you may get a future post on America's problems (healthcare and welfare in particular) and the American mindset of missions.

Just for you, I'll stay off my soapbox for now and share some things from this past month!  From November 12-21 I was in the jungle of Peru playing with babies, napping in my hammock, and cruising down the Amazon River!  It was real hot, but a nice change from chilly Lima.  Here's my favorite baby, and yes, I picked a favorite! If I bring one home, I'll go back to the jungle and get Jhon!

    











 I got back, and Melissa had already moved my stuff into our new apartment!  It's amazing how much an apartment affects your outlook on living here.  The old house was fine, just old. Now this apartment, that some missionaries are letting us "house sit" for the rest of our time here, is wonderful! We have a recliner, lots of natural sunlight, and a washing machine.  It's nice, such a little blessing that we don't deserve!

This week, we went with our friend with Santiago to do Bible studies in Cieniguilla and Pamplona. They're both on the outskirts of Lima, but they're soo different.  Cieniguilla is a small town atmosphere, and Pamplona is an overly populated shanty town.  Both are unique, but have so much in common.  Santiago goes to each town once a week and leads a Bible study with a group of believers, so we just accompanied him and did what we could to add in the conversations.  In Pamplona, Santiago had me read from Nehemiah where they were re-building the wall.  In Spanish, it says Levantémonos (let's all get up and go), but I read aloud Levántete monos (get up, ya monkeys).  Needless to say, everyone laughed, and we've continue to laugh for the past two days.

Yesterday, we went to the zoo for the first time here!  It was similar to American zoos, we saw lions and tigers and bears (oh my!).  When it came to the monkeys, naturally I told them "Levantete monos" for kicks and giggles. They didn't listen.  Lazy.  There was also a bird called the Macareño. Say that aloud. Yes, it sounds like the Macarena. So, I danced in front of the birds. They didn't really think it was clever. Whatever. All in all, the zoo was a good trip!

We don't have classes for the month of December. We're going through a huge transition and we're supposed to be planning for the new class structure during that time. So totes, keep that in your prayers, that we'll glorify God through our planning and that our strategy will be what will make Him the most famous in this land!

Blessings Abounding

Friends, yet again, I'm sorry I've let you down.  If any of you ever really were interested in my blog, I've failed you big time, and I will make it up to you somehow.  I'll bring you a llama or something!

It's true. I haven't posted in over a month, but I've been crazy busy the past month!  Things seem to start to be slowing down, which may or may not be a good thing for my sanity. Who knows?  I just know that a little over a month ago I was pouting and angry that I wasn't doing much here, and I felt like I was wasting my time. Then the Lord filled my schedule with ways to serve Him, my heart with joy and peace, and my mouth with his praise!  Call me crazy, I just love to brag on my Savior's faithfulness!

Anywho, life here has been going by soo fast!  I've already been here almost 5 months! The days are flying by, and I'm not really sure how!  Everything is changing in the organization I'm working with, so it feel like we're just holding out til the big changes happen. We'll deal with new stuff when it comes around in January! 

I will share one big change with you, and even add a picture!  Our immediate supervisors, the Constantes, left for the states last weeks as they ended their term here.  I'm going to miss them!  Especially this little booger!

This is Joshua, and I taught him to walk before he got on that plane!

But yeah, changes are happening, and it's very exciting!

In other news, God is just showing me day after day his faithfulness, and since this blog was meant to share my heart, I will!  It just seems that every day God is showing me how much He is in control of absolutely everything, and that Romans 8:28 really is true:  all things work together for the good of those who love the Lord and are called according to His purpose.  When we stop trying to run from God and do things our way, we can see the faithfulness of His Word in full force.  Even in the hard times, He gives us unspeakable joy, which is so awesome. 

So as you go throughout the rest of your day and/or week, I just want to challenge you to seek the Lord.  Sing praises to Him. Talk to Him. Listen to Him. Study his Words.  He will be faithful to be beside you every step you make!

Sorry for the vagueness of this blog, and no real information on what I'm doing now.  Have some patience, and I promise to get my A game on and write more! Peace and blessings people!

What am I doing here?

Dearest readers,

I'm really sad to tell you that this will be another photo-less post. I know, I know. I promised more photos so I could keep you entertained. Truth is, I haven't taken many pictures. It's not that I don't want to, but it's not smart to carry valuables to some of the places I want to take pictures at.  One day, I promise I'll brave up and do it.  Until then, I'll tell ya about what I'm doing now, since people at home are curious! The best way to get everything in is probably to just go down through the week. So, if you're interested, follow me through a typical week!

Sunday-- I wake up at like 8:30, eat breakfast, find clothes, and facebook chat with my mom for about 2 minutes, then Melissa and I catch a bus to Barranco, an area of Lima about 15 minutes from our house. Muy cerca.  Sunday school starts at 10:30ish. We're usually 5-10 min late. No worries though, so is everyone else. I love this culture for that!  Anywho, Sunday school usually goes til 11:40ish, and then church starts around 12.  It lasts til 2.  Yep, that's right. TWO hours.  But I love it.  Our worship songs are verses out of the Bible, like verbatim, set to music.  Last week we sang Psalm 95, 97, and Revelation 15.  Love it.  We sometimes eat lunch at church for 5 soles, but not always.  However, we always get cremoladas on the walk back to the bus.. These are like creme slushes basically, and just 2 soles (that's 66 cents!).  Soo yummy. Then we come home.  I usually take a lil nap or read. Then we have class from 6-8, and hang out til about 9. That makes for a full day!

Monday-- Mondays are planning days, or atleast I try to make them that.  I try to get things planned for my classes on Wednesday and Thursday.  Something always seems to come up on Mondays.  Either visiting someone or getting lunch with someone, but both are always fine with me!  At 5 we get ready to take the S bus to San Miguel to work with some translators (keep a lookout for a blog about the buses here). Our friend Arturo has started a "Christian Interpreters Club" at his church, Calvary Chapel, and we go to be the native speakers that correct and perfect their English.  We sit in circles of 4 or less and take turns reading passages of Scripture in English and translating it to Spanish, and vice versa.  This is always fun. And they usually make me translate too, so I get to practice some Spanish.

Tuesday-- Tuesdays are my Sabbath.  It's the one day I have no where to be all day.  Usually I still have some planning to do, but then I can read and blog and cook and do whatever I want really.  Melissa and I do have our team time on Tuesdays, and we usually go to the market after that.  But that's about all that's consistent and worth talking about for Tuesdays.  If you ever want to skype or something, this would be the day!

Wednesday-- Wednesdays are my full days.  I get up and get ready to go downtown.  I catch my bus at 9:05ish to go downtown.  It takes about 30-35 minutes on the bus to get downtown, then I jet down two blocks and get to the orphanage/school that I'm teaching English at.  I say I jet down two blocks because I definitely stand out downtown, and I don't want to risk getting robbed or anything just because people think that I have money just because I'm white.  So I get to the school, ring the doorbell, and the fun begins.  Wednesdays I teach 1st and 2nd grade English.  These kids have or have had difficult living situations, so they all want love and attention.  They're all a mess, but all so super sweet (watch, they'll be crazy tomorrow since I'm bragging on them now).  I've only been twice so far, but I love this.  I'm teaching from 9:50-1, all a mixture of broken Spanish and English they don't understand.  As the weeks go on, I'll write about days here.  At 1 I jet back down 2 blocks and go to a mall.  I have been buying a drink in Starbucks and sitting there reading and looking up stuff on my iPod until 5.  At 5 I go about a block away and meet Melissa as well as Gina and Quentin Roberts.  Quentin and Gina are missionaries in downtown Lima, and we help them with English here.  I teach a group of about 5-8 adults basic English.  It's so fun because they actually listen!! It's great!  We finish there at 8, and we leave immediately.  Again, this part of town isn't very safe, especially after dark.  Quentin and Gina are very good about getting everyone out by 8 in order to get home safely.  We usually get back about 9 and eat something & then I retire to my room.

Thursday-- Thursdays aren't quite as busy as Wednesdays, but still full.  I go downtown to the orphanage/school to teach 3rd and 4th grade.  These kids listen better than the younger ones, usually. It's nice.  When I finish at 1, I take a bus back home.  I usually take a nap and work on some planning stuff.  We have translation class at our house from 6-8.  And then we hang out for a little bit and then back to my room! 

Friday-- Fridays are always different and fun.  We wake up, either visit people, or spend the mornings reading or doing whatever around the house, then we meet our friend Santiago for lunch.  Then the 3 of us take a bus to Pamplona Alta.  Pamplona started out as a shanty town, but now it's HUGE.  A couple thousand people living in what most Americans would call huts. Oh yeah, it smells like pigs and pig poo too.  But these people are (mostly) happy.  Yeah they all have their struggles, but they are unstained from the greed and ignorance that most of us live in.  The children there are ecstatic for a coloring sheet to color, not for an iPod or  cell phone.  Although their living conditions aren't necessarily the best, they don't know any better and are just as happy and joyful there as most of us are in the US, sitting in our houses of fortunes.  In Pamplona we have Bible study with several ladies, and it's always really good. Santiago likes to put me on the spot and ask me to pray in Spanish.  It drives me CRAZY, but I have to remember that it's for the Lord and that with him all things are possible, even my broken Spanish.  We then take the hour long bus ride back to our area of town and find something to do with the rest of our afternoon/evening (it's usually around 5:30 or 6 when we get back).

Saturday-- Saturdays are my days to teach!  Saturday morning is devoted to finding college football, and hoping that some online station is showing the Vols.  I also do a lot of planning for our Saturday afternoon conversation class.  These classes are really laid back and we just have a topic that we try to get everyone to discuss.  It's a big fellowship time basically.  Then we sometimes go out with our students after class, or just have a night in.  Either or. 

I'm sorry if I bored you with that book I just wrote.  I just thought some of you would like to know where you're money is going!  Every week is different, and things change a lot, but you have some idea now.  I promise next time to take pictures and make things more interesting!  Thank you for reading!

Streaker

So. This is a great story. There will be no pictures, you'll be thankful for that.

On Fridays, we're going with our friend Santiago to a part of Lima called Pamplona.  It started out as a shanty town, and now its HUGE, but it's definitely one of the poorest places in Lima. He's been doing Bible study with some ladies there a couple days a week.  It's been pretty neat to be a part of, and Santiago refuses to let us just sit in.  He makes us speak in Spanish, even when we don't want to and we aren't prepared, but we're better because of it!

Anyways, we usually meet him in Parque Kennedy and get lunch before the hour long bus ride there.  After lunch, we were standing on the sidewalk waiting for the bus, and Melissa notices a cop on a segway crossing the street.  Yes, in this crazy busy popular part of town, its a bit odd to see that, but not too out of the ordinary.  Here's the dialogue from this time.. "There's a cop on a segway."-- Melissa. "There's a naked guy beside him!"-- Santiago.

This is a true story.  There was a bare butt naked man walking beside this cop crossing the street!  TRAUMATIZING!! He then proceeded to run in between the cars stopped at the red light while the cops chased him. EVEN MORE TRAUMATIZING! At one point he ran into a guy on a motorcycle! ahh! Luckily our bus was there (they had their doors closed so he couldn't run on there), and they let us on!  Once we got through the traffic lights, we saw that the cops had caught the streaker (PTL). 

This is soo not what I expected to happen when I woke up yesterday!

Unfailing

So, I apologize again that I haven't done this in a while. No excuses. I'll try to keep all you who are supporting me updated on life in Lima these days!

First off, let me just tell you that God's rocked my world the past couple of days.  We all know the "ask and you will receive" verse; yeah, I'm receiving blessings in abundance! 

Let me tell you how this has all unfolded.

Background information.  I've felt pretty useless the past few weeks here. We've been finding different things to do in addition to our English ministry, but I still had a ton of downtime each day.  Yeah it was nice being able to sleep in and be in the Word as I pleased throughout the day, but I was wasting soo much time I felt.  I came here to serve, not to be lazy. Not fluently speaking the language of a place really puts a limit on doing street evangelism and such, and the organizations I'd contacted, such as World Vision, hadn't gotten back to us on opportunities. Last week I was frustrated most of the week just because I was hanging out all day in the house, and I didn't know how I could be out ministering more. 

So Sunday was "one of my better days" as my Maw would say.  For those of you who don't know, I've had bed bugs/allergies/something biting or irritating my skin since the end of July, and we haven't been able to figure out what it is. It's like I get rid of them, and then a week later they find me again. We fumigated, and I moved rooms, and they moved with me.  We fumigated again, covered my beds with giant plastic bags (which are still there. no worries if I wet the bed though!), and they still came back. We stayed at someone else's house for a week, and I was still getting them there! So needless to say, I'm wayy over itching and scratching! 
Soo.. Melissa and I were staying at a missionary family's house all last week while they went back to the states. So Sunday I woke up and took my sheets off the bed first thing so they'd have clean sheets when they got home, and what did I find? A teeny tiny little ANT! and not just one of them, but 2,3,4,5,6 of them in different places on the bed!  This is where my "better day" began.

In addition to feeling like I wasn't doing a thing in Peru all week, I was spreading ants to other people's houses and they were going to start getting bit too.  I cried, a lot (go figure), and just really felt like packing my bags & coming home this week.  If I was useless here, and getting eaten alive by the pestilence, SURELY I was just in the wrong place & this was a sign for me to go home.  I basically pitched a lil pity party for myself for a while.  Finally I came to my senses and knew I just needed to be still before the Lord and just listen to Him and let Him calm me.  So I went to Romans 5 where it says "endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame."  Ok that was cool and somewhat encouraging, but I needed more. So I flipped to Romans 1 and just kept reading and reading.  It talked how we're all fully of sin, and not just petty "little sins", but  we're disgusting in our sin, and NONE of us are righteous. None of us deserve the love of God. But through faith in Jesus Christ, God will redeem us righteous.  So I just pitched a fit before God, the Creator of everything, and then I see how absolutely useless I am to anything that matters in the world, but it's through faith in His son that I am redeemed.  Ok Gerica. Feel dumb yet? It's this faith thing I was lacking.  I just somehow forgot that God is faithful, and that He's taking care of me in every circumstance, so I should be faithful to Him and trust in that.  Man did I feel ridiculous and embarrassed!

So Monday rolls around, and Melissa and I had a meeting scheduled in the morning with a missionary couple who do inner city missions in Lima.  She said they'd love to have us help with their English ministry there on Wednesday nights. Then I asked about any orphanage ministries they work with (cuz I miss my daycare babies), and she said they had one who actually needed an English teacher a couple days a week! So we took a bus downtown and saw there office, and then stopped by the orphanage.  This is where the "ask and you shall receive" plays in.  We just stopped to see if they needed someone, and they were quick to say yes, and asked me to start on Wednesday! People, that's TOMORROW! So now Wednesday and Thursdays I'm going to teach 1-4 grade English at an orphanage downtown.  So instantly I went from having empty mornings and some empty evenings, to having all day Wednesday full and now Thursday mornings.  Kinda cool huh?

But the story doesn't stop there!  We then went to the Llorens's to visit with them after their trip to the states for Mrs. Tammi's mom's funeral.  Just a side note, this is the coolest family in Lima Peru, and they have been so great to us and love on us like we're their own. Such a blessing to have that here, and I'm soo very thankful for them!  Anywho, they brought us good news of "house sitting" for 6 months for a missionary couple going stateside in November.  PTL we get out of this gloomy lil house we live in now!  They also wanted us to consider taking on some more logistical work in the future.  And we all know that I'm a walking, talking UPS commercial in that I LOVE LOGISTICS!  So yeah. Went from an empty plate when I woke up Monday morning to considering if I had enough time to take on anything else! How neat is that! 

We come home for a bit, and God just blessed me with great conversation and a full heart for my friends back home.  Then we went across town to help with a translating group one of our friends is starting, and had good fellowship and learning time there.  *Pause. One day I'm going to write a blog on my experiences with Lima transportation, get excited.*  And then we came back, and I just had more great conversations with people.  It just made my heart sooo stinking happy to see how God's working in people in different ways all across the globe.  And I'm soo tremendously blessed that He's allowing ME, the one who threw a temper tantrum in front of Him Sunday, take part in sharing and growing with these people!  He's allowing me to see the effects of not giving up on people, the importance of knowing what the Bible says on certain things, how to rejoice in blessings with others, humility, His hatred for sin, the importance of standing firm on the Word and its teachings, and share in the excitement of new believers.  WOW. Mind blowing how cool this all is. 

I must stop now and go plan my lessons for tomorrow and Thursday, but I write this book of a blog just to encourage any of you who are reading to stay faithful. God's got ya.  His love is steady and His faithfulness never ends.