Jessica, on the left, and other sweet girls from Villa Maria
Fresh vegetables! Entire markets full of them
Yeah, I won't be eating any of that...
A Catholic church on the way to lunch after class
Don Mamino's - a delicious restaurant here!
Also the place where Heather and I helped ourselves to the
basket of bread that was sitting out on the counter while
waiting for a table, only to find out it wasn't for the taking...oops!
Jake and Lyndsay at the bowling alley one Saturday morning
Jake and myself also at the bowling alley hanging out
Wes (whom we also call "dad" since he's
the one "in charge of" us), Derek, Jakob
In Villa Maria celebrating "Kid's Day" with lots of smiles
Villa Maria
My little gem from Villa Maria, Juan Pierre
The watchdog on our street - we've seen him chase
homeless people away! He deserves a new sweater
The street our school is on
One day of sun in 3 weeks!! We love sun :)
Our adventure to learn more about pharmacies - check!
"Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus" - 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18
On Tuesday after Spanish class, we all headed out to a poor area of Lima to help out a friend, Gloria, and her three kids - check out the video!
The three guys in the video are John Mark (one of the missionaries here, who grew up in Thailand - he's using his Thai-English in this video), Mark (another missionary here, who is in the yellow shirt) and Wes (another missionary here, who is in the maroon). Did I mention they're all three Aggies?? WHOOP!
L to R: Chelsey, Heather, Lyndsday, Carolina, Gloria, John Mark (behind Gloria), Wes, Mark, Abuela, Violeta, Peruvian stinky dog
All of our legs were shaking by the end of the afternoon! Ok, actually, let's be real - they were shaking after 30 minutes. I'm humbled when I think about the powerful God we serve. A God that IS our strength. A God that provides, whether it be bricks and sand for a house, or more energy to climb stairs, or a ride from an empty truck. He provides strength and He provides rest
"For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength" - 1 Corinthians 1:25
"Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest" - Matthew 11:28
Yesterday we went exploring the city and had our first experience taking a taxi somewhere! Hope you enjoy the videos, but here's a brief explanation -
1. "Soles" (pronounced so-lays) are the Peruvian currency
2. I apologize for the gum in my mouth in advance!
3. I'm practicing my Spanish
4. We had no idea what a reasonable price for a taxi to where we were going was, so we decided to start low and see where that got us. I started with 5 soles (you can see the driver's reaction in the second video) and after a couple taxis, we ended up paying 10 soles.
The horn you heard at the end is actually a taxi "chasing us down"
(He drove off after the apparently ridiculous offer of 5 soles!) But here we are after our taxi ride -
At Jockey Plaza - we made it! From L to R: Carolina, Heather (from ACU), Lyndsay, Chelsey (me)
Haha Peru loves the 80s and the classic mannequin poses
To start the day off we decided to go to a boot camp class at 6 am that two of the missionary wives teach overlooking the ocean. It was a great view and there were awesome people there; but I’m pretty sure I became sore during the workout…and that’s not an overstatement. However, working out in Peru will be a necessary part of my life due to the amount of starch and carbs that are entering it.
On a more serious note, yesterday, there was a church meeting and huge lunch to welcome us and send off the summer intern. It was amazing to meet the fellow Peruvian Christians and get to speak some español although I’m a little rusty and got a headache trying to rethink the vocabulary I’ve learned. We’re all very excited about the opportunities ahead!
As for the rest of this week, we’re going to hopefully finish getting settled in, get enrolled in language school, and jump in on the involvement.
We are about to board after having visited both Terminals C & E in the Houston airport, receiving what I would consider "fake" boarding passes, making it through security, hugs and kisses goodbye, running to catch our flight, and then experiencing a "mechanical problem" for about 30 minutes. But, no worries...here we are, enjoying one last Dr. Pepper before our flight!
