Tuesday, March 31, 2009

This Week

This week SALI is closed.  We have a little break to recup. before heading back into teaching etc., which is nice because SALI needed a week to get the new coffee shop set up.  That's right, SALI is opening a coffee shop.  We'll see how that goes.  I'm working it in the mornings in April along with two classes.  My last month... crazy.  I'm hoping for a good month where I can connect with my students and maybe hang outside of class a little.  Of course if I just end up hanging out with my Jr. High girls then I'll be happy.

Back to this week.  I've already been boogie boarding once and aside from an altercation with some mean surf guys who made us pay for a board that we didn't break, it was a lot of fun.  I got cold so ended up on the beach after an hour, but it was really nice just to relax in the sun.  

Today I just bummed around, reading The Count of Monte Cristo and playing a little guitar.  Hopefully, I'll finish that book sometime this year.  It's pretty long.

Friday I plan on going to the beach again with my girls to boogie board.  

Very short update complete.  More detailed one to come.

Sunday, March 22, 2009

Machu Pichu/The Fam continued


Dad and me in Huanchaco... drinking Champagne 
Squatting on a cool rock in Machu Picchu

The fam... can you guess where?

Thomas, Mom, our tour guide (Percy???) and Me

Me... and Machu Picchu

Parents, brothers, and Machu Picchu

My parents came to Trujillo last week.  We spent Sunday night, Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday in 'The land of eternal spring' and then headed to Lima to meet my brother and fly on to Cusco.  It was an awesome week and, although it made me a bit more homesick than before, it was wonderful getting to hang out with them and show them where I've been living for the past nine or so months.  Here are some pics from our amazing week.
Dad and Me atop the Arevalo church.

Mom and Me atop Arevalo
Mom, Dad, and Me at Big Ben's in Huanchaco. (Correction, thanks to Janelle!)

Mom and me in Huanchaco... I can't remember the name of the boats behind us... ask my Dad if you know him =D
Thomas, a llama, and me in Machu Picchu.


More to come...





Monday, March 16, 2009

Really just because I'm slacking off on the web...

Despair.com, introduced to me by Brian Land my old youth director.  The website devotes itself to making demotivational posters as opposed to motivational ones.  It brings me hours of time wasting entertainment.  This picture made me think of someone who reads my blog.  I won't say who, maybe she can guess.  It has something to do with a comment she made out once being "heartless" and how she isn't anymore because she likes flowers.  You know who you are.  Hope this makes y'all laugh.

Saturday, March 14, 2009

P.S.

P.S.:  My parents will be in Trujillo tomorrow night!  Yay!

Girls Night!

Friday night I had the girls from my bible study come over and spend the night.  We made sushi and watched Hairspray.  This morning we made French toast again, as I had excellent success yesterday with my morning class.  Here are some pictures of the evening festivities... which are again blurry because I'm taking all pictures with my computer camera:

Making sushi with not very sticky sticky rice, salmon, cucumbers, avocado, and cream cheese.


Phoebe making a "sushi salad".  (Like I said, the sticky rice wasn't very sticky).
Mollie, Brueck, and Phoebe's arm.  Mollie had the best sushi of the night.  It actually looked like a sushi roll.


Friday, March 13, 2009

French Toast!

This morning I made french toast with Basic 6 class.  We had planned to make pancakes but after a disaster I had trying to make them last Tuesday I decided french toast instead.  Things went well and everyone loved them.  My students were a little camera shy.

Our table includes, French toast, bananas, and grapes.  No syrup, couldn't find any.

It took a lot of doing to get them together for a group picture.  Meita, the girl right beside me, was the only one who was willing to take any pictures.  She also did a really good job of helping with the French toast.



Brady and Pricilla decided to get in on the French toast action.  The cups they are holding contain the most amazing fresh squeezed orange juice you will every drink, and it only costs a sole.
The almost finished pile of French toast, held up by the beautiful Johanna who works at Starbucks.  Yes, Trujillo has a Starbucks.... Still not sure how I feel about that.

The girls.  Like I said, Meita was the only one who would voluntarily let me take a picture.



Wednesday, March 11, 2009

Worst Blogger Ever!

Ok, so I am a bad blogger.  I need to update at least once a week but I don't.  So, I apologize.  This week has been crazy but good.  One of my classes got canceled because there was only one student in it.  Thankfully, she was able to join another class.  We moved our bible study to Mondays at 5:30 and it went well.  One problem though was that I think I tried to do too much.  How do you tackle Paul's comments about women being silent in church with a bunch of Jr. High girls?  Maybe 1 Timothy wasn't the best idea.  But it was a good discussion.

Monday night was hard.  I got a little bit of insomnia, along with some other things, and did not get to sleep until 3:00 (very bad when you have to get up at six).  Some good things happened though.  I got to read a lot of Count of Monte Cristo and I did a lot of praying.  God is really teaching me a lot lately about what Jesus meant by "blessed are the poor in spirit".  There are times at night when I get really frightened (attribute it to an over active imagination and possibly a little spiritual war fair) and it is in those times that I find myself on my face (sometimes spiritually and sometimes literally) realizing that I can do nothing.  There is no way I will be able to get any sleep unless God intervenes.  I can't stop my mind from going to places it shouldn't, I can't conquer my demons, I can't fix myself, only God can.  I don't like this.  I would love to be able to free myself, but the reality is that I can't.  It is extremely humbling, especially when I sit there and think, "I'm twenty three years old and all I want is my mommy."  I have to realize that I need to crawl into God's arms and let him be my Father.  

On another note, we found an amazing underground (literally) sushi restaurant near SALI.  Seriously.  It is so trendy that I almost didn't feel like I was in Peru, not to mention the fact that the sushi was fresh and fabulous.  It's our new Tuesday night bonding place.  

And last but not least:  My parents will be here on Sunday night!  Whoop!  I am so stoked!  Please be praying for their safety and our enjoyment.  I'll try to get pictures from our Machu Picchu trip as well.  We are going Thursday, Friday, and Saturday.  Very excited.

Verse of the week: "My soul finds rest in God alone; my salvation comes from Him." Psalm 62:1 

Friday, March 06, 2009

In Later News...

We are house sitting this weekend.  Yay!  I love children, but our landlords brought their daughter-in-law and her hija along with them for their (Lord willing) ten day visit and the house is a little full.  Not to mention the fact that I have seen Mr. Landlord (is it bad that I don't know his name?) with out his shirt on more than once.  Is it just me, or is that a little awkward?  Not to mention the fact that we now feel uncomfortable inviting people over for dinner and things like that.  I've been locking the door to my room.  It isn't that I think they are going to steal something, but I don't want anything happening to my borrowed guitar.  

Anyway, we are house sitting, which is amazing.  I tried to take pictures with the camera on my computer (stupidly left my portable camera at home) but they were very blurry.  So to describe; this house is in El Golf, upper class Peruvian neighborhood complete with country club and the finest hotels in Trujillo.  Most of the missionary families live here, but to give a little perspective on what upper class means here I must note that there is still no air conditioning, you still cannot flush toilet paper or drink the water (the pipe system is a mess), sometimes there is an inexplicably bad smell (though I smell it too when I leave my house in the mornings sometimes), and you still have stray dogs running around procreating.  Oh yes, procreating.  I have been scarred.

I would say that the girl interns and myself live in a middle class neighborhood, but the gap between our "middle-class" and the poor here is stark and sobering.  Our house could fit at least two of their houses in it, if they have a house at all, we have paved roads, most of them walk in the dirt and sand, we have fans for hot nights and curtains to keep out bats and bugs... I honestly can't imagine what they use...

I've been complaining about how our widow maker isn't working (for those of you who have just tuned in, a widow maker is the device that heats up the water so you have enjoy a steamy shower - also can be dangerous to your health depending on the model, I have gotten shocked by one of these before), but I seriously doubt that the poor of Peru even have running water.  I gripe about not having internet at our house, but the poor of Peru don't even have electricity.  I wine when my food goes bad quickly, but the poor sometimes go days without a meal.  Where is my perspective?  How did I become so spoiled?  I pride myself on being so self-sacrificing for doing mission work, but I am living just as well as I did in the US while the poor starve.  Sure I give food every once in a while or clothes that I don't wear anymore, but couldn't I do more?

This is something I have constantly struggled with.  Daily I have children, dirty, wining, sometimes crying children come up to me with a little bag of candy or gum, begging me to buy from them and almost 99% of the time I frown and tell them 'no'.  I reason that if I bought from all of them I would have no money, I reason that I cannot help them all, I reason that they could be lying to me.  But are any of these reasons actually justifiable?  Jesus said that whatever you did for the least of these you did for Him, but he also said to be shrewd as snakes and harmless as doves.  Do I give all my change to every child I see?  

One way I have tried to find a happy medium is by 'adopting' a woman on my way to work.  I make her a peanut butter sandwich instead of giving her money, I try and talk to her a little, but most of the time I am still hurried, most of the time I fear I am just trying to ease guilt rather than show her the love of God.  I pray for pure motives, but I still fear.

I really don't have an answer to any of this.  I suppose I'll just pray for direction.  And ask for your opinion.  How do you think we should help the poor, especially when it is so obvious in a place like Trujillo?

Monday, March 02, 2009

Appropriate Words for the Times

1 Timothy 6: 17 - 18

17 Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. 18 Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share.


This Month

Goals and plans for March 2009:

Though making plans don't always work out as often times my plans don't match with God's I want to set out a list of things I would like to do.

  • Be patient and loving towards my students
  • Build relationship with my students
  • Find a conversation partner
  • Finish reading How to Read the Bible for All It's Worth
  • Make an outline for our 1 Timothy bible study (and become a better bible study leader)
  • Hang out with Mollie, Phoebe, and Brueck individually
  • Successfully have a sleep over with the aforementioned girls
  • Start hanging out with the Arevalo girls and to not be discouraged by our language barrier
  • Read a chapter of Count of Monte Cristo everyday
  • Practice my guitar every day
  • Complain less
  • Write a page in my novel everyday
  • And the last selfish one: go to the spa and get a massage... some parts of Peru are less third world than others...
These are also things y'all can be praying for, like the patience thing, becoming a better bible study leader, etc.  Lord willing my plans and goals will line up with His, but if not, I pray that I will be joyful with His changes.