Another Update

So I'm really excited.  I was talking to our intern director's wife last Friday at Starbucks (oh yes, it has invaded Peru as well) and I was telling her that what I've really always wanted to do was disciple younger women.  I had the two best girls youth directors when I was in high school and I wanted to do the same for other women when I got older.  I told Robin (intern director's amazing wife) that I wanted to do that here in Peru but still had such a huge language barrier.  She suggested something that I should have thought of before but didn't: Missionary kids.  Two of the families down here have girls about Jr. High age and apparently one of the past interns did a bible study with them in the past.  I thought it was a great idea, and when I talked to them they got excited as well.  So this Saturday I'm starting up a bible study with them, at the notorious Starbucks!  It amazes me how God gives us opportunities in places that we don't look in.  I am very excited and I hope that you will all be praying for my energy and God's wisdom and I try to be there for these amazing girlies!

Bad News

I might not get to vote.  My absentee ballot still has not come in.  This is my own fault of course, I forgot that we moved to a new county so I had to register after I sent in my request.  Oops.  Oh well, God is in control whether I get to vote or not and even if the guy I don't want to win is elected God is still in control.  

I'm still sad though.  =(

Prayer Requests

I just had an idea as I posted my last little update.  Everyone's praying for me and I want to be praying for them as well.  So leave your requests in the comment box and I'll try to remember to pray for you everyday!

"Be joyful always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus."  1 Thessalonians 5:16-18

End of the Third Month

So this is the end of my third month and I thought it would be good to evaluate how things have been so far.  Some things I really want to improve on are:

• Patience when things throw my schedule off and with my students
• Making time for my students outside of class
• Seeking opportunities to present the gospel in the class room
• Seeking to encourage the other missionaries and interns down here with me
• Purposefully praying for those around me and those I've left behind
• And as always, seeking God's direction

So pray with me if you will.  Next month I have two of the same groups of students with me and I'm hoping to continue to build relationships with them.  One student already wants to go to lunch with me!  I'm so excited.  For part of the time we're going to practice English and part of the time we're going to practice Spanish.  She's already a Christian I think but I hope this will be an opportunity for discipleship or mutual encouragement!  Often times I find when I'm working so hard to help others often times they help me.  I really appreciate that because I know that God's giving me some encouragement through them.

Thanks for everyone who reads and prays!  Love and miss you all! 

And Actual Update

Ok, so I've come to realize that the main point of this blog was to update people on what was going on with me here in Trujillo, Peru and I haven't been doing too much updating!  So, here's a quick overview:

I'm teaching two grammar classes and one conversation class this month.  I love this schedule because my grammar classes are in the morning and conversation's at four.  I have a lot of time to plan and then be by myself a little in the evenings while the other girls are teaching.  I also use that time to work out and skype!  

Next month I'm teaching the next level of these classes (so I'll have the same students, yay!) and then I'll have test duty! (yikes!!!)  

I am going to start trying to go to grupo de jovenes (youth group for those of you who are not as Spanish savvy as I am ;-)) and hopefully build relationships there and improve on my Spanish!

For those of you who are praying for me, I have a little list:

1. That I would seek God's will and glory here in everything I do, including grading papers.
2. That I would be able to build relationships with my students and witness to them and or disciple them
3. That my Spanish would improve so that I can build more easily said relationships
4. That I would thank God daily for all he has done and is doing for me
5. That I would seek His direction and not mine
6. And most importantly that His kingdom would advance here, not mine.

Thanks for all your prayers and support!

Something I Don't Understand

A recent quote by Barack Obama, stating "The first thing I'd do as president would be to sign the Freedom of Choice Act" which would wipe out all state and federal abortion restriction including the partial-birth abortion ban has got me thinking about something that's bothered me for a very long time.  Let me start off by saying that I will attempt to understand the issue soberly but I admit that it is an emotional issue especially for me so...

First, I want to pose a purely hypothetical question: If I got married and found out that I was pregnant (I start off with marriage because I don't plan on getting pregnant outside of wedlock) and either miscarried or somehow otherwise lost my baby, would anyone dare tell me that it wasn't my child that had died?  I certainly would hope not.  It would be cruel and just plain wrong.  So my major question is, if you wouldn't tell me that I'd lost my baby early on during pregnancy then how can you turn around and say that it's not manslaughter to abort a child only because it's the mother's choice?  

If you would tell me that I hadn't lost my baby and just a fetus then I'd have to wonder how much you actually care about women.  People will tell you that it is about a woman's choice with what to do with her body, but what is more important?  Our choice?  Or the life of another?  I could then say, 'Well, it was my choice to drown my three month old daughter'.  I know you'll say that she was no longer part of my body but I honestly do not see or understand the difference.  

On the issue of rape, my biggest question would be do you really think that killing the child will help you recover from such a tragic event?  Moreover, having that baby is fostering life where the rapist was trying to destroy it.  And even if you can't handle keeping the child there are so many women who can't have children.  I know the adoption system isn't the greatest in the world, but in my opinion it would be far better to give that baby a chance to live, give a woman who can't have a baby the opportunity to love the child...

All this to say I will not be voting for Obama next month, but more importantly, I will be praying that the church will reach out to hurting women in the community, those stuck in bad situation and even those suffering from depression after aborting their child.  I encourage those of you who are Christians to reach out to your friends and family into your community, let people know that there is a better way, that we will love on them and not judge them for the things they have done because God calls us not to judge and to remember what we've been forgiven for!  And I encourage everyone to pray for our hurting nation, in this issue and all the economic issues there are.  In the end, I will pray for whoever becomes president and I encourage you to do the same.

Learning Spanish: Church and Bible language

So I have decided to start reading a passage from Psalms in Spanish every morning.  This is incredibly difficult and often times it goes completely over my head, but from my desire to start my day with scripture, and learn more language for Spanish church services I'm soldiering on.  At the very least my some amazing church friends from back home gave me a Spanish/English bible for graduation so I can check back and forth.  

When my Spanish teacher (Pastor Eduardo's wife Noami) found out I was doing this, she started teaching me some of the songs from our church in Arevalo because many of them are based on Psalms.  She also give me bible verses for the week which I am going to try and make more of an effort to memorize.  

Her is this week's verse:

"Porque para mí el vivir es Cristo y el morir es ganancía." Filipenses 1:21

A comparison

Now can you tell?  =P

Bored with my hair...

Don't know if you can tell, the lighting isn't very good, but my hair is no longer blond.  Last night, Sarah, Hamilton, and I dyed my hair brownish red.  Sometimes you just need a change.

Spiritual Friendship, Loving those that May Annoy You

I've been meaning to post this all week, but admittedly I am sometimes a little lazy.  Last Sunday, Trujillo had this huge parade, complete with beauty queens and baton twirlers.  We knew it was going to be a little crazy through the day, but we didn't think that it would make us miss church.  After trying to find a comi (these cars that will take as many people as possible and run one route for just a sole!) we gave up and attempted a taxi.  After another fifteen minutes of going the wrong way because of the streets blocked off for the parade, we really gave up.  Sarah, Ham, and I came back to the apartment to listen to a sermon by Tim Keller (Kellar???) and I must say it almost made me glad that I missed church.  The sermon was about spiritual friendships, taken from Acts 20 where Paul is getting ready to go to Jerusalem.  

Keller talks about how the gospel creates and causes us to spiritual friendships.  That they are needed, discovered, made, and eternal.  One of the most interesting things he said was that "the essence of friendship is to kneel before the same thing."  He talked about how seemingly very different Christians, who would otherwise never, ever, hang out, have more in common than others of their same "social group".  What that said to me was that I should be able to hang out and love another person despite the fact that for whatever reason they get on my nerves.    Keller went on to say that "When you start to fall in love with Jesus, friendship begins" that friendship without God at the center of it, it always selfish, always self-seeking.  

I've been thinking about this all week, of course constantly seeing myself as the victim of other Christians who I think aren't seeing this concept and who aren't treating me the way I think they should.  But of course God smacked me in the face a few dozen times to remind me of how I have treated others in the past, and how in the relationships I think are not right, I have failed in putting forth effort to make them right, or even getting to know the other person.  I often times ponder the verse "love your enemy and pray for those who persecute you" but I had a revelation recently.  I don't have that many enemies, people pursuing me for my life, but there are people who just grate on my nerves.  I think that God would tell me to love those who annoy me, and pray for those who I get irritated with.  I should be seeking to see who I have wronged, and know that just because my personality clashes with another does not mean that I have the right to ignore or mistreat them.  If they are my brother's or sister's in Christ then I should be loving them as a brother or sister in Christ, if they are not a Christian then I should be loving them as one of God's created beings!  Made in His image!  Anything less is just down right sin.  And I am the worst.

Two Pics from Murder Mystery!

No idea what I was doing.
All the characters!

Apparently I'm in a picture posting mood...

Most of the office gang, we're missing three people =(  I think this is kind of the 'early' morning crowd, and by early I mean eleven or so.  Of course some of us get up at six or seven (*cough* Caleb, Fabian, Harrison, Jamie, and me =P)  

Murder Mystery Dinner

I'm a sad clown.  Though...I'm smiling...I might be a murderer also!  I'll find out by the end of the night!

For Those of You Who Want Pictures...

All the current interns at one of the missionary's houses.  Sometimes they feed us.  It's great.

New Discovery

So you know how you're probably supposed to get about eight hours of sleep a night?  Well, I'm discovering a few things that are very interesting.  Not only do I need at least eight hours of sleep a night, but I need to go to bed at 10 PM and wake up at 6 AM.  It is seriously the best thing every as ridiculously early as that may sound to some of my college buddies.  A friend told me that her doctor recommended this to her at one time but it just wasn't possible for her, I'm discovering that it's true, at least for me.  I have so much more energy then I did before and am way less grumpy.  Even on the weekends when I get eight hours but go to be at Midnight I don't feel this good.  So give it a try sometime if you actually have the time, it's pretty amazing.