Bibles Needed

Two Sundays ago we were out to Villa Maria having our usual Bible lesson, worship, and activities with the kids. We brought a Children's Storybook Bible to use with the lesson and one of the girls came up to me and asked if she could borrow it. She came back last Sunday and had read almost half of the entire book! She wanted to know how much it would cost to buy one and that her brother wanted one too. Another little girl that was overhearing our conversation said she wanted one as well. The thing is I'm not sure if any of the kids that come to our time together for one, have a Bible and two, could actually afford to buy one. The one we brought costs $10 which is about 27 soles which is frequently more money than a family lives on per week in Villa Maria. We normally have between 35-45 kids every Sunday and I'm making it a goal to raise enough money so that every set of little hands that comes can have a Bible of their own.

If it's on your heart to be a part of this you can send/give your donation to my mom, Karen Phillips, and she will in turn make sure the team here in Lima gets those Bibles to the precious little hands. You can email me at lyndsay.phillips@hotmail.com or Chelsey at chelseyshaver@gmail.com if you need an address. Any amount that exceeds the goal will be used toward our ministry in Lima.

Thanks in advance for your generosity!

YouTube Entertainment

As I was searching for some fun kids songs in Spanish to teach the children in Villa Maria on Sundays, I found this gem of a video! It will get stuck in your head (at least it did mine....and all the roommates' heads too), but it's worth it! Watch the first minute and you'll know the song! Oh, and to translate the words: "I am happy, Christ saved me". That's it. That's all it says besides when it adds "I sing glory, hallelujah, Christ saved me". Enjoy!

*NOTE:  When you click play, it probably won't play, but it should ask you if you want to go to YouTube to watch it, so just click that to watch it!*

 

Homey Feelings

The past two days have been incredible! Yesterday we went to Villa Maria as usual for our VBS-like activities, I caught up on Bible studies, emails, and got Bible class ready for the adorable Corban (I've been teaching the toddler's Bible class the past few Sundays and Corban, who's one of the missionary's kids, is the only one out of three that was there). After church we went to dinner at La Lucha which is a sandwich place that has delicious fries (if you know me well you know I'm not huge on fries so that says a lot) and a frozen de fresas which is a strawberry smoothie, deliciousss...The best part of the day, however, was that we went to the movies for the first time and I don't think I've felt more at home than sitting in that movie theater, besides the subtitles in Spanish I suppose. On top of that, we found out that if we went to see a movie on a Tuesday and got a grande popcorn it would cost less than $4! Since we're on a budget that was great news.

Today, we met with the missionary guys as usual in the Portico (the church building) and figured out our week's plans. We also had our first, of hopefully many, English worship/potluck's. I'm speaking for me and the other interns when I say we greatly look forward to any event that involves homemade food! Besides the meatloaf and fried potatoes and fruit tray and cookies, the greatest part was by far the worship time we had together. I always feel closer to God when praising Him in English and we don't do that too much here so it was absolutely amazing.

The last thing I'm going to add is that my baby sister's 16th birthday is tomorrow! Kelsey is growing up wayyyy too fast but she is turning into an amazing, strong Christian young lady so I'm okay with that. I wish I could be there to celebrate such a precious girl's birthday but the phone call I'll be making at 6:30am will have to do. Kelsey, I love you to pieces and I hope that although you'll be spending your birthday at school and soccer practice that you find a way to make it special! I love you!!


PS Kels, sorry for the old school pic, I couldn't find a more recent one...

Count Your Blessings

This is an exciting post for me to be able to write! As I write, I wish you could all see the JOY I have...

So living overseas is rough and uncomfortable, at least so far. And if there were one thing I had to choose that I was not completely prepared for, it would be being away from family and friends. I mean, I KNEW I was going to be in a different place for ten months, that I would likely not see any familiar faces except through Skype during my time here, and I was prepared to lose contact with some people, and I was prepared to feel disconnected and a little bit forgotten.......I thought. 

And I would be lying straight to your computer screen if I said I hadn't felt those things since August 6th. But who wouldn't feel disconnected?!

It's crazy...I missed my parents moving to a different town, I missed my brother and sister-in-law moving into my parents' old house, I missed David getting an internship with the Cowboys, I missed Joshua leading worship in a football stadium, I missed cooking for him during his first round of tests, I missed my old roommate's Aggie Ring Day, I missed all the Rangers' baseball talk between my friends, and I missed getting to see my precious "8th grade girls" start high school. I'll miss Thanksgiving and Christmas with my family, I'll miss one of my friend's weddings, seeing old friends in Canyon....the list continues. 

But more days than not, I feel remembered and I feel connected to the life I have/had back in Texas. And the only reason is because I have incredible friends and family that are, whether they know it or not, incredibly encouraging to me! 

*I have a Mom who still sends me pictures of the dogs! And who has never taken more than a 24-hour period to respond to an email filled with encouragement. And who still sends me a text reminding me of birthdays in the family

*I have a nutty Dad who still says "atta girl" when he hears I tried cow heart. And who still reads every blog post on his iPhone, even though he probably has to ask the young kids at work how to do it. 

*I have a boyfriend who texts me everyday, Skypes me more than I imagined, fills me in on what he's doing that week, or what's going on at church. And has tried multiple times to Skype me in on a Wednesday night worship with the youth. And reassures me I can do it on my rough days

*I have two old co-workers, one that said "That's why you're still my favorite...I'll take care of that for you!" and the other that said "Can't wait for you to be back so I'll have someone to talk baseball with."

*I have a Reece (and family) that hooked me up with an awesome laundry basket. And who told me "You're right where you need to be" 

*I have an "8th grade girl" that told me "We all miss you so much! We were talking about you 2 Sundays ago" and who also told me "I'm facebook stalking you..." haha I loved it! (Jordan, don't be embarassed, it's awesome!)

*I have a boyfriend's mom, Melissa, who's using her resources to hook me up with a guy at the embassy here so I maybe don't have to leave the country again! And who also let's me know I'm missed

*I have a boyfriend's dad, Scott, who so graciously showed me the new small can of Dr.Pepper over Skype so I wouldn't feel out of the loop when I return to the States haha

*I have a brother, David, who took time out of his busy schedule so that we could find the absolute best way to text each other (iMessage, if you're wondering...). All on a Friday night - just like in college when I would text him, home alone, feeling lame on a Friday night!

This is not an exhaustive list, by far! It's only from this week!! So what I was also unprepared for is how much encouragement and love I would feel from my friends and family, all the time! Your words and emails and skype dates and pictures and ways you still include me in your everyday life are priceless. 

So I'm counting my blessings, and haven't found a stopping point!

Just Pictures

 Paul, when writing to Philemon:  "Your love has given me great joy and encouragement, because you, brother, have refreshed the hearts of the Lord's people." - Philemon 7

Some Peruvian told us we looked like Charlie's Angels before we did this 

That's Jake, one of the Yoakum's sons. He's probably going to invent
the best thing since sliced bread

Ok, Scott, these are for you...I've had them on my iPod for a while (sorry for keeping up the suspense!). These 4 pictures are taken, quite literally, no more than 15 minutes apart! 

This dog actually "guards" our street. He's pretty good.
I've seen him chase off homeless people on more
than one occasion

This is Derek, the other Yoakum boy. He loves grass. And pretending to be a jaguar

The Thompson's kids, Corban and Kailyn
We're playing princess

I realize this picture is already on the blog, but...
I just like to think of warm, sunny weather
and the beach trips that will be happening soon

On my way to school one morning and I couldn't resist the photo-op

For those of you without Facebook (aka Dad)
Spent Sunday morning loving on this cutie

Oh ya....do you like the new blog format??? (You can say no...)

Movements

This is a band called Rend Collective Experiment that I have discovered semi-recently and like a lot! This video is pretty cool too, so enjoy :)

I wanna soar with you

Up on wings like eagles

But I'll crawl with you too

When the dark and lonely questions  come

I wanna stand true

No matter what's new or comes through

I can't stand still

Whatever hits I'll keep making movements to you 

I'm running fast and free to you

Cos your love is the movement and fight in me

I'm running fast and free to you

Cos you are my home where I wanna be

I wanna float with you 

The currents driving me

But I'll paddle hard too

When the waves and rapids overcome

I wanna stand firm

When my mind is weak and my emotions squirm

I must stand true 

Whatever hits I'll keep making movements to you

Won't walk away

I won't walk away

A New Phrase

I'm going to introduce you to a phrase - "to get Peru'd". I'm not sure how to explain this, and what I learned from iHouse is that if you can't explain something, use examples. So, here are some examples of a few situations in which we might say "We're being Peru'd" or "We got Peru'd":

• When you arrive at an event 10 minutes late and you're still the only one there for at least 30 more minutes
• When you go to a place (for example, we'll use the University) and ask a simple question, they send you to the next window, you ask the same simple question again, and the people at this window act confused and send you back to the first window, and when you are back asking the question again at the first window they tell you again you need to go to the other window, and when you look over you see the guys from the second window jetting out the back door because they apparently get off at 3:23
• When you invite someone to come eat with you and it's assumed you're paying
• When people say they will come to your fiesta and nobody shows up
• When people say they want to cook for you, but you pay for it
• When you ask someone to bring snacks to an event and they all bring Inka Cola (a nasty soda here)
• When you leave a party feeling sick to your stomach because you tried to refuse food 19864 times but the Peruvians insisted you're too skinny and for sure need more food
• When your upstairs neighbors in your apartment complex have a party for their 14 year old child ALL night, complete with strobe lights, music that literally shakes your walls and windows, and you're unable to do anything about it, because this is totally normal
• When the ice cream man's horn sounds like a "dying rabbit" (phrase courtesy of Heather Lowery)
• When your taxi driver feels comfortable enough to talk to you about his entire life and is more than happy to pry into yours
• When you've known someone for less than a day and they tell you they will be going to Machu Picchu with you very soon. 
• When someone asks if you've tried a food or drink, you say you don't like it, and they bring you a glass or plate of it so you can see if you'll like their version
• WHEN YOU ONLY RECEIVE 60 DAYS ON YOUR VISA, DESPITE PREVIOUSLY HAVING 183, DESPITE BEGGING, DESPITE SMILING SUPER CUTE, DESPITE USING ALL THE SPANISH YOU KNOW, AND DESPITE ASKING TO SPEAK WITH SOMEONE TO CHANGE IT AND STILL BEING RUDELY DENIED...

So the last one is clearly a frustration for me (Chelsey), and was my experience coming back into Peru from Chile. And now, I have to leave the country - AGAIN - before December 1st. NOT in the budget, and NOT something I want to have to do every two months while I'm here. But, I'm trying to see this as a blessing in disguise.....suggestions of where to travel next?!

Chile Pictures

Our vacation to Chile was great! The city was beautiful, the people were friendly, the food was good and plentiful, our hostel was interesting, the weather was amazing, someone only attempted to pick-pocket us once, we were able to sleep and it was overall really relaxing!

We went with our roommate Heather to renew her Visa, as she only received 60 days when we arrived in Lima back in August. Being the good roommates we are, we agreed to accompany her to Chile so she wouldn't have to go alone!

Here's our trip in a nutshell of pictures - Enjoy!

**So if some of these pictures look crazy and are messed up, sorry! Don't know what happened with the uploading but I'm entirely too tired to re-do it!**