5 months and I'll be off to Africa!

As some of you know, last summer in Peru God gave me the wonderful opportunity to help at the local clinic in Conima every Sunday. Through my experiences there He instilled in me an excitement for medical missions that has only grown since then. Soon after returning to the U.S. I began praying about where I will serve this summer. While visiting with a couple that I look up to & love dearly, they lent me a book called Operation World that has statistics & information on every country in the world. As I read about many different countries, I wrote down the names of countries that returned to my thoughts often - countries rich with medical needs, overcome with spiritual darkness, trapped in war, infrequented by missionaries, unreached with the gospel. I wrote down the country's names on sticky notes and posted them on my bulletin board. More & more sticky notes filled my bulletin board as I read about countries like Sudan, Afghanistan, Indonesia, Morocco, Uganda, Rwanda, Iran, India, Haiti. As I prayed about the countries whose names hung above my desk, the list slowly grew smaller until 3 names remained - Sudan, Uganda, & Rwanda.

While narrowing my list of countries I was also searching by many different means for chances to use my nursing skills & love for the Lord to serve for the summer. Time after time I would get excited about a potential opportunity only to find out later that it wouldn't work out.

During my search for a God-appointed opportunity, Sara Hamilton Kiwanuka returned to her hometown in Pflugerville to raise funds for the Rafiki Africa Children's Home, an orphanage in Uganda that she & her husband started. Sara is a UMHB nursing graduate so while in the area she visited her alma mater. This visit was around the same time that advising began for spring 2011. During my advising appointment, my advisor asked me how my trip to Peru went and whether I was planning another mission trip soon. When I told her about my search for a place in Africa to serve she immediately asked, "Do you know Sara Hamilton??" She told me about Sara, gave me a brochure about Rafiki Africa Ministries, and told me I should contact her. I thought it sounded pretty cool but figured it probably wouldn't work out. Only a week later at the hospital my clinical instructor, Ms Meeker, told me she had something for me. She pulled out the same brochure and said that she thought of me when she heard about Sara & the orphanage. I thought that was a pretty weird coincident. But it got weirder when one day in class I asked Ms Hubbard about malnutrition & B12 deficiency. We got to talking about how I want to practice nursing in a third world country, and she asked me, "Have you heard of Sara Hamilton? She is doing the same thing. She has an orphanage in Uganda. I can get you one of her brochures from the nursing office if you would like." I couldn't help but laugh. Okay! I figured it was past time to contact Sara.

I found Sara on facebook and sent her a message asking if she might want any help at the orphanage over the summer. I didn't hear back for a little while and assumed that was another dead end until I returned home for Christmas break. I hadn't been on facebook for a month and had received a return message from Sara in that time. In short it said she would enjoy having help over the summer from someone with a medical background. Sara & her husband, Joseph would be in Pflugerville until the end of December so we arranged a time to meet. The meeting went wonderfully, and we got to talking for over 4 hours! After much prayer on my part as well as many others and a feeling of direct guidance from the Lord, I have decided that this is where the Lord is leading me.

I will be spending the summer in East Africa, both in the outskirts of Kampala, Uganda as well as a rural village in the Rift Valley of Kenya. I will fly to Uganda mid-May and live at Rafiki Africa Ministries Orphanage assisting Sara in attending to the children's medical needs, beginning their medical records to facilitate future adoption, and assisting with some short-term medical clinics in slum areas. On July 29 I will say farewell to Uganda and fly to Kenya where I will meet a team of fellow UMHB nursing students. Our UMHB team will then travel to a very rural village where we will host a medical clinic. We will leave Kenya and return home on August 10.

God has amazed me in how He has brought my summer plans together, and this is just the beginning!

Counting my Blessings

Thanksgiving...
The preface to Christmas?
A day of total & complete gluttony?
Food, football, and family?

Thanksgiving is meant to be so much more. It is a day devoted to recognizing the blessings God has poured out on you. By recognizing blessings I mean more than just praying "God, thank you for this chance to spend time with family & friends and thank you for everything you have given us. Bless this wonderful food to the nourishment of our bodies. Amen" before digging into the extravegant feast laid out before you. We are so so blessed with luxuries beyond what we could ever need, and we hardly ever take the time to recognize it.

God has given me so much that I never appreciate until I have to live without it, things like:
a roof over my head to protect me from the sun & wind & rain, much more than a single pair of clothes, shoes, a toothbrush, clean & drinkable water, plumbing, electricity, easy access to medication and medical care, a bed, soap, education, Christian parents who love me, an electric stove, microwave, dishwasher, washing machine & dryer, heat & air conditioning, nutritious food, a sense of safety & protection, a car, a computer & internet access, grocery stores, a fair government, freedom. I could go on and on.

Read through that list again, slowly this time, and think about what your life would be like without each of those things. Now think of the people who live every day without those things. The woman living in Afghanistan who is oppressed & devalued by the Muslim religion and men all around her. The people of Haiti living in filth surrounded by death & disease with no hope of a better tomorrow. The innocent young woman trapped in the sex-trafficing business with no way out. The orphan who has no concept of love and family. The heartbroken widow in India who is seen as an outcast of society because she no longer has a husband. The people who lie sick & dying of preventable & treatable illnesses hundreds of miles from any kind of medical care. The child soldiers in Uganda who are trained to fight & forced to kill after they are kidnapped from their families. The malnourished children of Africa who search for scraps of food among the garbage. The homeless, poor, rape victims, enslaved, tourtured, lost, searching, hopeless, depressed, suicidal, lonely, neglected, addicted.

Counting my blessings makes my heart ache for those who so desperately need the very things I take for granted. So this thanksgiving as you thank God for all the blessings you have - big & small, luxuries & needs, overlooked & unappreciated - allow your mind to spend some time dwelling on those in your city and around the world that are in need. Pray for their hearts, their salvation, and their needs. And then go a step further and do something about it.

A Call to Get Uncomfortable

Throughout this semester I have been reading through the book Radical by David Platt slowly but surely. It has challenged me to change the way I live, to live outside my comfort zone. It would be redundant to say that in some ways this is an uncomfortable idea to me, but as I read Platt's words and reflect on scripture there is something within me that yearns to fulfill this challenge, some part of me that desires that uncomfortable living. Kinda weird, I know. So the past few weeks I have been trying to work out all of this that is floating around in my mind & my heart. Then this morning as I'm driving I hear a song come on the radio. It seems like a good song, but unfortunately I park my car and have to get out to go to class before the song is over. So I store away a couple lines of the lyrics in my head and resolve to look the song up on the internet during my lunch break. These are the lyrics I found when I looked up the song, and they touched my heart in a powerful way.

In my own little world it hardly ever rains.
I've never gone hungry, always felt safe.
I got some money in my pockey, shoes on my feet in my own little world
Population: me.
I try to stay awake during Sunday morning church.
I throw a twenty in the plate, but I never give till it hurts.
And I turn off the news when I don't like what I see.
It's easy to do when it's population: me.

What if there's a bigger picture? What if I'm missing out?
What if there's a greater purpose I could be living right now outside my own little word?

Stopped at a red light, looked out my window.
I saw a cardboard sign
Said "Help this homeless widow",
And just above that sign was the face of a human.
I thought to myself, "God, what have I been doing?"
So I rolled down the window and I looked her in the eye.
Oh, how many times have I just passed her by?
I gave her some money then drove on through,
And my own little world reached population: two.

Father, break my heart for what breaks yours.
Give me open hands and open doors.
Put your light in my eyes, and let me see
That my own little world is not about me.

What if there's a bigger picture? What if I'm missing out?
What if there's a greater purpose I could be living right now?
I don't wanna miss what matters. I wanna be reaching out.
Show me the greater purpose so I can start living right now outside my own little world.

~My Own Little World by Matthew West

Let these words stink in even though it will be very uncomfortable. It is when our hearts are penetrated with the need of others and the compassion of Christ that we are moved to drastic action.

A heart to help the sick & share the Hope

I can hardly believe fall semester is already halfway over. Nursing school has been quite the whirlwind. I could say I've loved every minute of it, but the constant studying does get tiring after a while. Other than that, I have been absolutely ecstatic about all I have gotten to do and learn! Clinicals are challenging and exciting, full of new expreiences and trying to balance all my responsibilities as a nurse. I have gotten to put my knowledge into practice and aquire knowledge of things they don't teach you in class. The best part about it all is caring for the patients. Each week I try to convey Christ through my nursing care, nurturing love, and encouraging words. I thank the Lord each day for the blessing He has given me to intersect my life with the lives of my patients. Anxiety was high as I thought about my first clinical semester of nursing school, but God has been faithful to carry me through everything.

Inevitably when I get the chance to care for my patients, my heart longs for the day that I can care for the sick & dying of third world countries who have no one to treat them. They have no hospital, no clinic, no medical help. Instead, they lie in filth and dirt wasting away with no idea or means of what to do to ease the pain and stop the illness. The malnourished children, the AIDS victims, the pregnant & scared young girls, the poor lives infected with preventable & treatable diseases - all they need is someone to help them, to care for them, to teach them, to be by their side, to share hope, to show them a better life. That is what God has called me to, and my heart jumps with anticipation for the day I can finally fulfill that. I have been prayfully seeking out direction from God of where to serve this summer. It would be greatly appreciated if you would join me in asking the Lord to open up opportunities to serve the rural, third world population who desperately need medical care and, more importantly, desperately need to know the Lord.

When struggles come my way and temptations seem too much to bear...

There are many times that I have felt like my walk with the Lord is like a circle...or maybe a spiral. It just goes round and round passing the same points time after time just with a wider impact. Like when I grow stronger I fall harder, but it is always the same struggles and the same lessons. And to be completely honest, it gets frustrating.

Then there are other times when I have felt like my walk with the Lord is like a line, a wave even. It goes up and down, sometimes slowly, sometimes plummeting...like a nauseating rollercoaster. You get an adrenaline rush when your going up and then that funny feeling when you fall that makes your stomach float in mid-air for a few seconds before you begin to blackout and just want to vomit. There are times when it crescendos and then fades off.

But I have determined that my relationship with God can't be compared to a line, a wave, a spiral, a path, a mountain, an ocean, or any other symbolism. There is no sense in trying to think up an awe-inspiring imagery because it isn't like anything else in this world. The closest thing God can compare it to is marriage, but even that doesn't suffice because not only is He our Lover & Friend but also our Father, Judge, Creator, Sustainer, Savior, Protector, Provider, Healer. That relationship is always growing, changing. It is of such unique character that it can only be described moment to moment. At this moment I am at a loss for words to completely explain what the Lord is doing in me, but I will try my best to articulate it.

Even in the midst of struggle the Lord moves in amazing ways. I hate those times when I find myself struggling with things of the past - those things that you were sure you had gotten rid of and moved on from. But I am beginning to learn that as a human, I am never rid of temptation so my struggles of the past will never stay in the past. It is exhausting, and it ceratinly hurts to revisit places filled with guilt & pain. The difference now is I have found intimacy with Christ, I have seen the beauty of walking in His will, I have tasted the joy found in His abounding love & grace. I am a new creation. My strength is in Christ who has overcome the world. His truth I will cling to as this battle rages on. I used to wonder when the day will come that there will be peace, but as long as I am of human flesh this battle will continue until the day that I am reunited with my Savior.

I am more than a conqueror through Christ who loves me and gave His life for my redemption. Therefore, I will seek Him with unrelenting passion. Along the way I will learn humility, sacfrice, love, honesty, repentance, patience, joy, forgiveness, and be molded to look more & more like Jesus Christ each day.

A struggle to find peace

One minute I’m doing great, I’m happy all day long, and then all of a sudden I’m hit with a tornado of feelings that all contradict each other yet like an overwhelming tidal wave they beat me down and try to drown me in hopelessness. “But it’s not hopeless” I cry out. The Lord is never far. His hand guides me through the darkest of days, for He will never leave or forsake me. The Lord is my Rock & my Redeemer. But this sudden, overwhelming flood of feelings leaves me confused. I don’t even know how to explain it – anger, resentment, jealousy, frustration, sadness, loss, betrayal, powerlessness, sorrow, exasperation, impatience. But at the same time I know that my joy is found in Christ alone, the One who is always faithful & never changing, and that gives me peace. That gives me hope.

But no matter how much I pray, I feel like those feelings are always waiting to spring up again and drag me down. I wish I could be inspirational and optimistic, but that just isn’t where I am right now. There’s a struggle within me to find an unwavering peace in the Lord.

My life from now on...

After my first day volunteering in the clinic I couldn't stop thinking about how much I enjoyed it. Getting the chance to care for people & their health when they are in need is a passion God has given me. As I sat by the fire that Sunday night reflecting on the day & all that had gone on in the clinic, I heard a still, small voice speak to me when I was least expecting it. "Kelsey, this is what I've called you to. I have made you to do this for all your life for the glory of My name. All else pales in comparison to the joy you will know serving my children in my name through my love." Suddenly it all seemed to make sense. My desire had become that of the Lord. With the passion He has instilled within me and the love He has given me, God was just waiting for me to understand what it is that He is calling me to. Nate Saint puts it best in the book Jungle Pilot when he says, "Have you noticed that when a man finds the will of the Lord for his life, there always seems to be an evident relationship between the talents or gifts or preparation the Lord has given him and the job the Lord has called him to do?...Now we rejoice in God's gracious care for our lives even before they were entirely His -- preparing us specifically & without any wasted motion for the job He had for us to do!" God gave me the desire to be a nurse & the passion to help people in a medical capacity long before I began to feel any leading toward mission work and certainly before I went to Peru and felt a specific call to overseas medical mission work for the rest of my life. Thinking of all that God is & all He has done, I am taken back in awe. Amazement is the only word I can think of to describe the overwhelming love that has grown in my heart for the Lord, multiplying faster than I can understand. In the light of His glory & grace, I feel so inadequate to be used by Him yet precious & treasured as a child of God who is blessed to be called upon to be used as an instrument sharing God's glory & grace with souls lost in darkness.

As I dwell on memories of Haiti & the love /god has given me for those people, I can't help but see a connection between that and the immeasurable joy I feel in helping to restore health to people. I felt an immense burden on my heart as God continued to speak to me more clearly than ever before. "I have given you the desire to heal people's bodies so that then through you they may also hear of me and I may heal their soul & restore them." Since that evening my mindset on life has changed, and I've seen God teaching me in preparation for the work He has in store for me.

I have always had dreams for my life -- many of those same dreams every other young person has of marriage, a quaint life in a nice house, kids, and a fulfilling job. But God has changed my dreams. He has given me a passionate desire to live a radical life sold out to God. And I can't live a radical life with the same traditional life & dreams as the rest of America. A fulfilling job is nice, but it means nothing if the rest of your life is confortable & self-centered. You can give your 2 cents of meaningful humanitarian work for others and then return home to all the comforts & conveniences you could ever need. You can live most hours of your life indulging yourself while occazzionally volunteering at soup kitchens & clothes closets, VBS & children's ministry, write a check for you rmonthly giving & occassionally give to a mission trip.

A fulfilling life means living out an uncomfortable life of servanthood that the Lord has called us to. A fulfilling life means not separating youself from those in need so you can choose when to acknowledge poverty & desperate need, but it means living among poverty in the midst of desperate need so that all of life is spent fulfilling Christ's purpose to feed the hungry, help the ppor, clothe the naked, and care for the sick but ultimately to love the unloved, to love the least of these, and to share with them a hope greater than anything this world has to offer. I have finally claimed God as my only joy & grasped what that truly mean. God gives me joy inloving those who don't know the unconditional love of my Heavenly Father. He gives me joy in using my gifts to meet the needs of others and showing them the One who meets all their needs, even the ones they may not be aware of. That joy is greater than any I've ever known. That is an eternal joy.

My life is in God's hands to be used in bringing glory to His name. I will live it radically sold out to Him following wherever He leads serving others & proclaiming His name among the nations. I will not have the quaint country home, kids who grow up with most everything they want, and plenty of money to spend of frivilous things. I may not even have a husband. No, I have forsaken the dreams of this world for the one desire of my heart -- my Lord Jesus Christ. I will live as a servant, not knowing now what exactly that will look like but excited to find out in God's timing. It may very well be a life of physical discomfort surrounded by third world poverty, rampant disease, malnutrition, Voodoo, witch doctors, and spiritual warfare. But it will be a life lived every day, every hour, every moment for God filled with the joy of counting others as higher than myself. And though it will not be glamorous, though I may have nothing, in Christ I have found everything. That is all I could ever want. So here I am, Lord. Take me. Use me. Send me.

Learning what it means to love

Never before have I known spiritual warefare as I have this summer. I don't know if it was a result of drawing closer to the Lord & becoming more aware of it or if it is a consequence of bringing the Good News of Jesus Christ into a place overwhelmed by the strongholds of Satan. I believe perhaps both are contributing factors. Well, I've got some news for Satan: I'm not done doing the work of Christ, and there is nothing he can do to bring me down because the Almighty Creator has called me and He will be with me to the end.



Through sickness, home sickness, exhaustion, language barriers, physical limits, discouragement, doubt, and cultural obstacles we persevered and made it through our time in Peru working hard until the end, but it is not by our own power we pressed on but only through the power of the one within us who has overcome the world did we make it. God has taught me a dependence which I have never known. Through my time on the mission field my faith has grown to new heights.



When I arrived in Peru I thought it was out of a love for the people that I would grow close to them and come to share the gospel with them. But then after some time I began to question things. I was perplexed with the fact that in my heart I felt no love for these people and their self-centered, inconsiderate, unreliable, alcoholic ways. Obviously, I wasn't too fond of them. I prayed asking God why He had sent me to a people I couldn't love, and God told me "But you can love them. I will teach you to love those that seem unlovable. You will come to see the world through My eyes so that you may better fulfill the plans I have for you." So I began to pray each day that God woulf teach me to love these people. I expected God to do a magical work in my heart so I would begin to love the Aymaran people, but He had something else in store for me. I was reading through "Let the Nations Be Glad", the book we were all assigned to read for the summer. As I read further into the book, I came across a passage that struck me.



"Have you ever wondered what it feels like to have a love for the lost? This is a term we use as part of our Christian jargon. Many believers search their hearts in condemnation, looking for the arrival of some feeling of benevolence that will propel them into bold evangelism. It will never happen. It is impossible to love the 'lost'. You can't feel deeply for an abstraction or a concept. You would find it impossible to love deeply an unfamiliar individual portrayed in a photograph, let alone a nation or a race or something as vague as 'all lost people'. Don't wait for a feeling of love in order to share Christ with a stranger. You already love your Heavenly Father, and you know that this stranger is created by Him, but separated from Him, so take those first steps in evangelism because you love God. It is not primarily out of a compassion for humanity that we share our faith or pray for the lost; it is first of all, love for God." That was a clear answer from the Lord to my question of why He sent me to a people I couldn't love. It is out of love for the Lord and a desire to see Him name glorified among all the nations that I am here. In obedience to His call out of love for my Savior, I went to Peru to live out the comission to which He has called me. So with that answer always in the forefront of my mind, I continued to live in Peru day by day pursuing the open opportunities God set before me to build relationships & share His love, all the while still praying that God would give me a love for the people just as He had promised me.



Then after finishing Philippians our team decided to begin reading though Romans together every morning during worship. In the end of Romans 1, Paul talks about God's anger at sin. "Since they thought it foolish to acknowledge God, he abandoned them to their foolish thinking and let them do things that should never be done. Their lives became full of every kind of wickedness, sin, greed, hate, envy, murder, quarreling, deception, malicious behavior, and gossip. They are backstabbers, haters of God, insolent, proud, and boastful. They invent new ways of sinning, and they disobey their parents. They refuse to understand, break their promises, are heartless, and have no mercy. They know God's justice requires that those who do these things deserve to die, yet they do them anyway. Worse yet, they encourage others to do them too." (Romans 1:28-32) But here is the kicker if those verses weren't humbling enough. "You may think you can condemn such people, but you are just as bad and you have no excuse! When you say they are wicked & should be punished, you are condemning yourself, for you who judge others do these very same things." (Romans 2:1) Looking back at that list of evil, whether in my actions or my thoughts I have indeed committed every one of those. And in that, I have no right to condemn others and judge their actions. For before God we are ALL wretched sinners, like is said in Romans 3: 9-12: "Well then, should we conclude that we Jews are better than others? No, not at all, for we have already shown that all people, whether Jews or Gentiles, are under the power of sin. As the Scriptures say, 'No one is righteous - not even one. No one is truly wise; no one is seeking God. All have turned away; all have become useless. No one does good, not a single one.'" But then at the end of chapter 3 comes the Good News! "We are made right with God by placing our faith in Jesus Christ. And this is true for everyone who believes, no matter who we are. For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God's glorious standard. Yet God, with undeserved kindness, declares that we are righteous. He did this through Christ Jesus when he freed us from the penalty of our sins." (Romans 3:22-24)



Through these verses God showed me that the only difference between me & these people is my faith in Jesus Christ. I am no less of a sinner, I am no more righteous, and I am no more loved by God. But because of my faith, I am saved by grace. So I can't hold these people to the same standards as myself. They are lost & living in the bondage of Satan. They don't know the amazing grace & saving love of Jesus. THAT sad truth is what brought me to a place of compassion for these people. Romans 5 tells of the peace & joy found in faith in Christ. I long for these people to know that peace & joy. I long for ALL to know that joy! Then Romans continues into chapter 6 where Paul proclaims Christ's power over sin through His death & reassurection, and he ends chapter 6 with this declaration in verse 23: "For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord." That truth compels me to go proclaim the Good News of Jesus from the mountain tops! I want to tell everyone of the unconditional love they have never known and a hope that never fades. God has taken my frustration with the Aymaran culture and harnessed it to develop a compassion for these people. He has shown me how to see past the sin & spiritual bondage and to love people like He loves them, in spite of their sins.

God is working

What a week it has been! The short-ter, team arrived on Tuesday, and we began Bible school on Wednesday. Bible school went wonderfully! On Wednesday we arrived at 1:30pm to set up, and the school was locked up. After sitting outside the school for half an hour, a teacher walked up with key in hand. Flexibility was key in setting up & dividing the kids into classes. The first day of Bible school there were 30 kids so we divided them into 3 groups - 5-7 yr olds, 8-10 yr olds, & 11-12 yr olds. We learned about the story of Joseph, made a coloring page of Joseph´s coat with colorful yarn glued on, ate fruit snacks, and did games & songs. Music was at the end with all the kids together. Heather & I taught them I´m in the Lord´s Army, I´ve Got Joy Down in my Heart, and Father Abraham obviously all in spanish. The second day there were 37 kids. That day we learned about Zaccheus, did another coloring sheet with sticks & green tissue paper glued on the tree, ate animal crackers, and played more games. During music at the end we sang all the songs from Wednesday and taught them Whose the King of the Jungle. The third day was the last day. We learned about the Feeding of the 5000, ate goldfish, decorated foam bookmarks with stickers, and played more games like Gringo Grande Gringo, Rojo Verde, & Hombre/Mono/Platano. For music time we sang the 4 songs they already knew and taught them Singing in the Rain. Overall I would say Bible school was very successful. At the very end we gave each kid a goody bag, and their faces lit up with excitement as they looked through all the candy, stickers, & little toys.

As for the storying this week, it seemed that the community storying was beginning to go downhill with less adults & more kids that just wanted to run around and be a distraction. So we prayed even more strongly against the enemy asking that God would do a mighty work in this town. And Friday night it seems we saw God answering our prayers. That night a young man named Paul told the story. After the story on Tuesday he had expressed interest in telling a story. Then on Wednesday we brought him a copy of the story of Elijah & the Prophets of Baal to be told Friday. The group still hadn´t returned from the storying session by 9:15pm, and usually they were back around 9pm. Dave said that must be a sign that things went really well so we continued to pray for them as we all waited gathered in the living room to hear how the story went. Finally at 9:30 Jeremy Stanley returned, but the rest of the group didn´t follow behind him. Then about ten minutes later we hear Alison, Jeremy Lou, Jonathan, Molly, & Cory stomping up the stairs. I asked how it went and sat eagerly as I listened to each of them share parts of the evening. There were 19 people, over 10 were adults. None of the kids were distracting or misbehaved. Paul did a great job telling the story, and since he speaks softly everyone had to play extra close attention to what was being said. After the story Paul had even com eup with some questions to ask the group. Everyone seemed to participate in the discussion very well. Then Paul turned to Jeremy and asked, ¨Why don´t we sacrifice anymore like in the story?¨ When I heard them tell me that part of the evening my first thought was ¨Because of Jesus!!! Because Jesus died to for!!!¨ Needless to say I´m excited for the next story when they will hear of the life of Jesus Christ and His love of each of them. Anyway, Jeremy answered the question with eagerness. Oh, how great it will be to tell the people of the Good News of Jesus Christ next time! Jonathan then asked the people a few questions. ¨In Aymaran history, did the people worship false gods like in the story?¨ A man answered, ¨Alot of people here STILL worship false gods today.¨ Jonathan questioned the man specifically, ¨Do you worship false gods?¨ The man responded, ¨I believe the Bible is true, but in this community & culture it is hard.¨ Then Jonathan assured the man that it is hard in the United States too, that many people claim Christianity but go on living in the ways of the world. That seemed to give the man some reassurance and comfort. After that Jeremy asked the people if they had any questions, and discussion continued on for almost another hour talking about God & Satan, the Trinity, omnipresence, and other topics. The people seem to be growing in their interest of the Bible. Praise be to God! What a blessing it is to be a vessel of the Lord and witness God work in the lives of these people.

On the other hand, my time with the Lord was interrupted on Thursday morning by the sound of drums & wind pipes. I looked over the balocony ledge to see the plaza filled with traditionally-dressed Aymaran men & women. A man began speaking over the PA system. ¨Representatives from every town in the area have come here to Conima for the Fiesta of the Potato Harvest.¨ Then I saw the big red plastic cases come out. Unfortunately, I have come to see those all too often here. Some of the men began passing out the beer to all who were gathered. More people and even more beer continued to fill the plaza as everyone began the tradition of drinking themselves into a drunken stupor. What a stronghold Satan has built in those wretched fiestas. As we stood on the balcony watching things unfold below, we began to cry out to God for the salvation of these people, even just a few people who may continue the work of His gospel when we leave in a week.

Saturday morning I woke up at 6am like always to spend precious time with the Lord. As I sat at the kitchen table eating a banana and warming my hands with my cup of tea, the wond howled outside beating the rain against the window pane. Yes, I said rain. That was the first glimpse of rain we´ve seen in Peru all summer. So our group hiking trip was postponed and eventually called off due to inclimate weather. Morning worship was a wonderful encouragement to our team. This coming week is our last 7 days in Conima. It is going to be even busier and ahrder than before. Everyone is gone now except the 5 of us. We are going to have to push our hardest and give our all. Satan has been at work battling while we´ve been here, and with us trying to get through the rest of the 8 stories & the potential of seeing some come to Christ I only see it getting harder. but as Paul says in Ephesians 6:10-13, ¨A final word: Be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on all of God´s armor so that you will be able to stand firm against all strategies of the devil. For we are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil rulers & authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against the evil spirits in the heavenly places. Therefore, put on every piece of God´s armor so you will be able to resist the enemy in the time of evil. Then after the battle you will still be standing firm.¨ So we will press forward clad in the armor of God. None of Satan´s fiery arrows will hold us back or strike us down because the Lord is our strength & our shield in whom we take refuge.

Side note: My digestive problems have gotten worse as of late, and it is becoming more of a hinderance than before. There are some nights that I have to miss out so that I can stay close to a bathroom. I´m just so tired of this, and it´s starting to hurt more & more. I wish I knew what was causing it. But God continues to keep me in good spirits. Instead of praying that God would take this away from me, I have begun to pray that my physical hardships would not discourage me and hold me back from the work we have to do here. God is working, and I will not let anything keep me from being a part of it!

The days are so busy

SUNDAY - Another busy day at the clinic

Today marks the day that I left the US exactly a month ago. 3 weeks left until I am in Texas once again. That´s 21 days - not alot of time to share the gospel! Time to kick it up a notch, and go at full speed every day until July 31st. But we only have 14 days left in Conima. That´s even less time! Yikes!!

This evening our team was discussing the coming week trying to find a good time to do community storying at the government building each evening on top of our regular storying appointments. Juggling all of it & trying to have all the right people at the right places will certainly prove to be tricky. We will be telling 2-3 stories a night which is such a blessing but will be pretty chaotic. I am coming to enjoy our storying time more & more as the anxiety subsides and I see the Holy Spirit at work.

Today being a Sunday, I got my second chance to volunteer at the medical clinic. All day I kept thinking I wish I knew spanish better so I could actually do more, but because I don´t and there were so many patients to see today I spent most of my time simply observing. Don´t get me wrong though, I enjoy being there even if I´m nothing more than a wall flower the whole time. We saw so many patients in the short 3-hour morning before lunch. The first patient I remember clearly because he had been in 2 weeks before. The chubby, happy-go-lucky 9-month-old baby boy I wrote about who I held while his mother got a vaccination - that was the first baby we saw this morning. His mother recognized me and greeted me before taking a seat to unwrap Cristean from the manta on her back. He has now advanced to the 10-month mark. Everyone in the room was pleased to see that Cristean could easily perform all the developmental tasks expected of him. At the end of his check-up he had to get another of the 13 vaccinations required for children. I use the word ¨required¨ loosely knowing how few children are actually given regular medical treatment. All the other children ages 3 & under that came in this morning were given a vaccination for one or more of the 13 illnesses listed on the poster that hangs behind the nurses´desk. That is always the worst part - watching these little babies lie on the table most of them happy & jabbering away until they are held down to squirm beneath hands that overpower them as they are stuck with a 2-inch needle. It comes out of nowhere and leaves them screaming in pain with tears wetting their bright red faces. But it has to be done. It is in their best interest. And as odd as it may sound, I rejoice inside every time I see someone receive a vaccination because that is one less person who will die of one less preventable diaease. A list of some other patients we saw:
- a 2 1/2 yr o boy also named Cristean who came in with a cold and no insurance to help pay for the medication which is so expensive & often unaffordable to these people. The medication was 5 soles - the equivalent of about $1.60
- a 5 month o baby boy whose light skin, thick black hair, and almond-shaped eyes could´ve given him to be Asian if it weren´t for his dark-skinned, traditionally-dressed Aymaran mother who brought him in wrapped up in the manta that was slung over her back.
- a 3 yr o girl whom I would´ve guessed to be more like 1 1/2 or 2 yrs o based on her size. It was obvious she had been born with a cleft palate by the disfiguration around her mouth & nose. The nurse asked about the young girl´s eating habits & such because of her small size. She was in the red-warning region on the growth curve so the nurse instructed her mother that the little girl needs to be eating more meat and getting more exercise such as playing fütbol to hopefully fill out her fragile form.
- 2 grown women, one being older & more aged who was the mother of the second woman. They came in carrying 2 baby history charts, but there were no children in sight. Jeremy & I couldn´t exactly figure out why it is that they had come to the clinic for 2 children but not brought them in. After a seemingly long, confusing conversation of mixing spanish & Aymaran, the nurse turned the 2 women away telling them to come back with the children if they want any medical attention.

There were several other babies that came in, but I can´t remember the specificies of them at this moment.


MONDAY - Every seat filled

I am taken back by the amazing ways God works! This morning was a perfect way to begin an overwhelmingly fantastic day. It was an intimate time of simply dwelling in the Spirit and being reminded of God´s great love (Romans 6). Then the day began and within the first couple of hours we had set up a time for community storying this week, confirmed a reservation of the municiple building for every evening, and begun inviting people to come hear a Bible story tonight at 7pm. All day I was praying that God would draw the people who He has to hear His Word and that He would do a mighty work, all the while keeping my expectations low as to not be disappointed. Well, little dad I know what God was going to do this evening.

We had 3 appointments tonight. The English lesson went really well. I told Armando the second story tonight, and upon my suggestion we told the story BEFORE the lesson which captured his attention much better. After the English lesson, Emily, Alison, & Heather went to story with Sophia at 7:30pm. Her husband was busy elsewhere once again, but she had a friend with her that stayed to listen to the story. Alison shared with them the story of the Flood in English with Emily reading the translation in spanish. From what they said, Sophia´s friend was very interested & enthusiastic to hear another story. the fourth story with them is scheduled on Friday at 7pm.

But the most shocking & fantastic part of the day came at 7pm. After I told my story to Armando, I came back to the house with Jeremy Lou where he was preparing to share his story at our community storying. Then at 6:45pm he & I left to walk over to the municiple building where we had invited members of the community to join us at 7pm. The door was locked but we had written permission to use the building so Jeremy climbed up to a window & squeezed himself btween the bars on the window. We then went upstairs to the main room where we turned on the lights & moved some of the plastic lawn chairs into a circle. There were 12 chairs in the cirlce - one for Jeremy, another for me, and ten others in hopes that maybe half those chairs would be filled.

7 o´clock came & went. 7:15, 7:20...well John did say we would be lucky to see maybe one or two families come. I asked Jeremy how many people he expected would show up. He said he honestly wasn´t sure if anyone would come, but he was hoping for maybe ones, two, possibly three people. The challenge we run into here is that people say they will come to be nice, but they never really planned to show up. As we sat there silently in that big, empty room, we began to pray. ¨Lord, if it be your iwll fill these seats, every seat with someone eager to hear Your Word. Give them a desire that can only be quenched by Your presence. Draw people to hear this Good News whose hearts have a longing they don´t understand, a longing for Your love & grace.¨

7:25, 7:30...finally after over half an hour of waiting we hear footsteps up the stairs & voices jabbering in spanish. I turned around to see the 2 nurses from the clinic that I work with every Sunday. Then a few minutes later in walked a young boy, Ismael, & his cousin. We sat talking for several minutes. Jeremy said we were waiting on some other people that were coming. ¨Who else is going to come?¨I thought. ¨We are lucky to have 4 people, especially considering we had just been discussing the possibility of calling it a night & trying again tomorrow.¨ They in walks Katarina, one of the first little kids to become our friend here. Okay, 5 people now! That alone was a surprising turn out and puta smile on my face. Not too long after that an older man walks in the door. Jeremy went to greet him & offered him a seat which he gladly accepted. 6 people was more than anyone had expected so after a few moments, Jeremy began telling the Creation story. As the storying went on, my amazement grew as more & more people came in to join the storying. We ran out of chairs in the circle and had to go get more from the stack in the corner. There were a couple construction workers we had given gloves to, the man who runs the internet cabina, a couple of bogeda owners, and many faces I had never seen. By the time people stopped coming in, there were 18 Aymaran people who had come to hear the Word of God! 18 people!!! What an answer to prayer! And most of them participated in telling the story back to Jeremy. The last time the story was told, Ismael took Jeremy´s spot, and stood before the whole group telling the Creation story. I can´t even describe how I felt getting a chance to see God at work drawing all those people to hear and opening their hearts to be receptive to His Word. I had goosebumps on my legs, the biggest smile on my face from ear to ear, and this amazing tingling sensation that radiated all over my body. My heart was jumping in my chest as I shouted praises & thanksgiving to God from the depths of my soul. Our God is an awesome God!

P.S. Tomorrow I am sharing the story with the community, and the thought of doing that in spanish from memory in front of possibly 20 people or more is pretty nerve-wracking. I pray that God will give me a supernatural peace and speak through me guiding every word I say and every motion I do.

**More blogging to come soon. I know I am behind, but the days are busy with Bible school and so much storying. Having the second team here has been wonderful. God has certainly blessed our efforts in all we´ve done.**

Hardly time to take a breath

THURSDAY - Not enough hours in the day

Yet another busy & productive day in Conima. Today we ran some errands to ask the school director how many kids are in the school (answer: 70, ages 6-12), left a note on Armando´s door explaining why we weren´t at the English lesson on Monday, and bought some poster paper & scissors from the internet cabina. Side note: We found out at the internet cabina that power is out in the whole town. I am praying that it comes back on in time to contact the team back home about supplies to bring for next week.

The rest of the morning & well into the afternoon we were all gathered in the 4th floor living room sorting out candy, designing the posters for Bible school, and fillig the small goody bags we´d been given to use. There was so much candy, stickers, and little toys that we had to make an assembly line sitting on the area rug to get all the bags filled in any kind of timey manner. We ended up with 81 boy goody bags and 72 girl goody bags. Some of those will be passed out to all the kids on the last day of our Bible school, and the rest of the bags will be kept until one of our last days in Conima when we will play with all the kids in the town that we usually play with in the plaza. That is when the rest of the goody bags will be given out. As for the posters, Alison & Heather completed them this afternoon, and we will go hang them up at the school in the morning.

This evening brought about a new experience for me. I told my first story in front of the people here. At 4pm I storyed with 3 of the police officers in Conima. Emily, Alison, & I sat our in front of the station with them and did the story. Then afterwards we hung around and talked some more. They are such sweet men and so understanding when it comes to my minimal spanish skills. I decided that tomorrow I am going to make a plate of chocolate no-bake cookiesto take to them at the station. As far as the storying goes, it went really well. They were attentive as I recited the story in spanish with a couple of mistakes, and they were all willing to participate in the discussion afterwards. I pray each day that the Holy Spirit will work in each of their hearts through the stories we share & the love we show. My desire is that the Lord will make these stories come to life, that they would hold a meaning beyond mere words. Not only did I get to share the story of the Fall of Man with the policemen but also a few hours later with Sophia. Emily, acting as our translator for the summer (and a very good one I might add), had planned to accompany Heather & I to Sophia´s storefront to share the story, but when 8pm rolled around and Emily was curled up in bed in too much pain to stand up, Heather & I were sent out just the 2 of us. We were to use the spanish knowledge we had between the 2 of us to story with Sophia. Her husband was also suppoed to be there, but he had other business to attend to this evening. Surprisingly, we held a 20-minute conversation with Sophia and then storyed with her & discussed it afterwards. The spanish was a little sketchy at points especially on my part, but we were able to hold our own in the conversation. That storying session also went really well, and Sophia asked if her & her husband could hear the next story on Monday evening at 7pm. Praise the Lord for all the open doors, response, and ethusiasm!



FRIDAY - What a great reward

Today was full of small tasks such as hanging the posters for Bible school, visiting the clinic to ask about helping on Sunday, and making a plate of no-bake cookies for the policemen. It was a fun day. And the later hours of our afternoon were spent at the small homemade soccer field that the kids play on. Jeremy Stanley, Alison, and I played with the kids while Emily watched cheering us on. I got really into the soccer game. If I´m going to play then I play to win. My competitive nature is going to cost me two bruised shins, but Alison & Emily seemed entertained by me.

Side note: I bought a phone card for the first time today and got to talk to Momma for half an hour. It was nice, and we both really enjoyed it. That being said, obviously the power is back up & running in the town. Luckily, it came on last night soon after the sunset.

More good news came this afternoon when Emily told me that she had talked to Armando. He found the note we left on his door yesterday and was eager to continue with the English lessons so we set a lesson for this evening at 6pm. Unfortunately, as it came sloer to time for the lesson Heather wasn´t feeling well. We concluded that the best alternative was for me to go in her place so she reviewed her lesson plans with me. I was to teach him the months of the year, numbers 11-20 picking up where we left off last time, and begin explaining verbs starting with ¨to be¨, ¨to have¨, and ¨to want¨. The verbs were the most challenging to teach, but everything went smoothly. Armando´s joyful enthusiasm made the lesson all the more enjoyable. After teaching & reviewing all the material for this evening, Emily shared with him the Creation story. It was a great time, and our one hour flew by, came & went, and we were still there. The joy I got from being able to share my knowledge with Armando and be a part of sharing the gospel with him was such a blessing - moreso than I would´ve ever thought. I am seeing more & more each day what great reward comes with losing my life to Christ and serving Him & His glory.



SATURDAY - Group hike gone bad

Diarrhea was sent from the devil to torture missionaries. I am now sure of that. The excitement on Wednesday that my diarrhea was gone was short-lived when I jumped up in the middle of my quiet time this morning and pushed Heather out of my way rushing to thebathroom. The medicine doesn´t work so I´m at a loss of what to do. I think I´ve just resigned myself to the reality that I will indeed have diarrhea all summer long. Sounds pleasant huh?...yeah no. That must be some kind of record.

The overall excitement among the team in anticipation of our group hike today was also short-lived when 2 of us woke up with diarrhea and one with stomach cramps. Ironically, this group hike was planned to be in celebration of all being in good health once again after our team-wide, all-inclusive bout with the dreaded stomach virus. So much for being in good health. It wasn´t any really serious health compromises, but Heather & Alison weren´t able to join us on the hike for need of staying close to a bathroom.

Now to some people this kind of open discussion of such a topic may be ucomfortable of even awkward, but I have come to learn that when living in another country there are many unusual & awkward things bound to happen. These things will happen not only to you but to other on your team. The best way to cope with these situations is to learn to laugh about it together. Many times if you can´t laugh at things - continuous diarrhea, difficulty with the language acquisition, catching boxes on fire with the gas stove top, slips while boulder jumping in the lake, and waking up at midnight to the sound of your teammate dry-heaving across the hall - then you will fond yourlsef crying about them. Like Mary Poppins said, laughter is the best medicine. Was that Mary Poppins?...well whoever it was, they were right.

As for the hike, it turned out to be Jeremy Stanley, Emily, and I hiking with Yasmani, his ittle brother, and Pollo. Those are 3 of the boys we played soccer with yesterday that we invited to go hiking up the mountain with us. In case you were confused, yyes one of the boys is named Pollo. He refuses to tell us his real name. Today it was Paul & then Babylon, and evey day it´s different. So Emily told him that until he tells us his real name we will call him Pollo.

The hike was lots of fun. The view from the top of the mountain was spectacular looking down on the town of Conima surrounded by mountains with the sun reflecting off the lake waters on the horizon. At the top of the mountain we stopped to have lunch and enjoy the view before beginnng back down. Emily told the boys that we were going to et lunch on top of the mountain. When she said we brought sandwiches for them, all 3 faces lit up with big grins. I pulled the 3 extra peanut butter & jelly sandwiches out of my backpack and gave them to the eager hands waiting to receive them. After the sandwiches were eaten, we pulled out potato chips, peaches, and as a special treat I packed a chocolate no-bake cookie for each of the boys. It was a wonderful picnic with some of my favorite boys here. After lunch they ran around on top of the mountain playing with rocks & sticks pretending that there were cannibal, savage Indians out to get them. Boys will be boys.

While they were all playing with Jeremy, Yasmani picked up a BIG rock to throw down the mountain. When he went to throw it, the rock fell short and landed on his foot usting open his middle toe. After cleaning it as best I could with napkins & water, I wrapped his whole foot in a plastic bag tying it at the ankle. That kept the dirt out of it until we were able to hike down the mountain & make it back to the house where I retrieved the first aid kit. Sitting out on a bench in the plaza I inspected, cleaned, and wrapped up his toe. The rock that fell on it was so big that I had a fear it might be broken. After having him flex all his toes & fan them out, I was satisfied that it wasn´t broken. So after wrappingh it I gave him 2 ibuprofen for the pain & told him to come back in the morning for me to look at it again.

Alarge part of my afternoon was spent practicing the guitar. Heather taught me how to strum. As of right now I know 2 songs although they are both still very sketchy. It is just going to take alot of practice.


The other team just arrived so I´ll finish blogging later!

We should make a movie

WEDNESDAY

After this long extended retreat to Huancane that turned into a puking party, we were determined to return to Conima today and praying that God would provide the means. The early morning was spent packing our things and cleaning once again. That routine was getting really old. Them Jeremy Stanley went down to the bus stop with his stuff & one of our cell phones. The plan was to call us as soon as a bus to Conima arrived. So while Jeremy waited out in the cold, we finished up all the last minute cleaning. At 7:45am our cell phone rang. We knew whaqt that meant. A bus! All the girls jumped up & frantically ran around grabbing our bags & yelling to Heather that it was time to leave. I collected all the ipods & the pot that had contained Sonia´s chicken soup from the night before. Emily & Alison grabbed the trash bags running down the stairs, and Heather followed quickly behind hauling bags of children´s supplies. I knocked on the Grady´s door and returned the ipods, soup pot, and hostel key while quickly explaining that there was a bus waiting for us. Alison threw the trash inside their gate where John had told us and took off for the us ahead of us. Alsion got on the bus, and Jeremy tried to explain that there were still other girls coming. ¨Tres mas gringas!!¨he yelled pointing down the road where Alison had come from as he was shewd on the bus by the driver. The Aymaran man saw us come up over the hill and waited as we hurried to the bus juggling all our bags and praying that there would be open seats. We made it to the bus, and it pulled away as soon as I stepped on. I walked to the back of the bus where the rest of the team was already sitting in the back row of 5 seats. Perfect! We all had seats & plenty of room. Praise the Lord we were on our way back to Conima!

The bus arrived at the plaza in Conima by 10am, and we all 5 piled off the bus with no car sickness or plastic bags filled with stomach content. Once again praise the Lord! I have never been so happy to see that beautiful little yellow house sitting at the corner of the paza as I was this morning. Everyone is thankful & excited to be back. If for no other reason than this, God kept us in Huancane in that cold, frigid hostel so as to be all the more elated upon our return to Conima. I now realize how comfortable this house feels to me and how much I missed our work here. This is home for the next two & a half weeks. That brings a smile to my face as I write.

Havig missed 2 days of work and with the added preparations for the team joining us on Tuesday, life will be busy in the days to come. After arriving back at the house, everyone immediately went to work unpacking, gathering laundry, doing dishes, sweeping, cleaning. There is so much to be done. After the cleaning, Alison, Jeremy, & I made some sandwiches and packed up our backpacks for a hike. Despite the wary words from Momma, Daddy, & Pawpaw, we had our sights set on doing some rock climbing. This time with an increased confidence we set out past the first peninsula which we had already climbed and went even another mile to a second peninsula which towered higher above the lake waters. The thrill of relying on your own strength & skill to climb those rocks with no harness or safety net is one that can only be experienced, not described. Many aprayer are sent up to the Lord while scaling those rocks only to come back down & do it once again in a more difficult spot. For those skeptics back home, I am sure to remain responsible & reasonable in these adventures. After a picnic lunch of canned peaches, peanut butter Oreos, a granola bar, & a turkey sandwich and several hours of rock climbing & exploring, we turned back and headed home only stopping for each of us to fill a potato sack with small firewood. I´m sure we are a sight to see always trekking back with wood, this time with a large potato sack slung over my shoulder and Jeremy & Alison with theirs tied up for an easier haul. Even the llamas & sheep stare at us as we pass by.

The afternoon was filled with errands to run & people to see. Emily went to give the school director a formal notice asking permission to use the school next week for our 3-day Bible school. We were kindly granted permission & even asked to hang up posters in the school advertising what we weill be doing. After the school we went to talk with the policemen who we were supposed to story with on Monday when we were gone. They were happy to see us and invited us back tomorrow at 4pm to tell the next story. The woman at the hostel that Alison would like to garden with was not there once again although this time the hostel door was open and were were able to walk into the courtyard where the garden is. Susana & Lucian were not in their bogeda when we went to visit. Their daughter said they were at the island & will be back tomorrow. So we said ¨Hasta luega¨and returned home to prepare for our storying appointments. Sophia told us that she was very tired and wanted to hear the next story tomorrow night instead. So that left only a 6pm English lesson & story. Emily, Heather, & Jeremy left to meet Armando for his English lesson and returned banging on the door 15 minutes later. Armando wasn´t home & never showed up for the lesson. We will try to contact him tomorrow. We spent the rest f the evening upstairs around the fire discussing plans for next week - the Bible school, the team joining us, the evening storying. It felt nice to get most of the details set.

What an encouraging day it has been - truly an answer to many prayers. Thank you to all those who have been praying for our team & the Lord´s work here.

P.S. Funny story of the day: This evening while Alison & I prepared dinner we managed to catch the cardboard box behind the gas stove top on fire. No worries though. All was okay, and noone was hurt. I slammed the flaming box against the pantry door (probably not the smartest move) and blew frantically while we were all yelling ¨fire!¨ Heather came running down the stairs right as all the commotion ended and I blew the flames out. Oh, the memories we will have! Truly, with all the crazy things that happen here, we should make a movie.

*Updates from Thursday & today to come soon, but that is all for now.*

There are good days and then there are bad days

For all you out there following my adventures in Peru, I´ll give a quick review of this crazy weekend. On Friday I was chosen along with Alsion to accompany Sara to Huancane with John in his truck. Before we left, John & Emily talked with the director of one of the schools about using the school building to do a VBS-type thing the week out other church team joins us. Then we ate lunch, and John drove all of us except Alsion to place 10 minutes away & up a mountain where there sits a whole village of pre-Incan Aymaran ruis - homes, burial sites with bones, remnants of gardens & livestock pins. That mountain ride rattled up my stomach and made me miserably carsick all the way to Huancane & the whole rest of the evening. After a long night´s sleep of over 12 hours, I woke up on Saturday feeling better.

On Saturday the rest of our team arrived in Huancane on a crowded Peruvian bus. That afternoon Alison, Heather, Emily & I took a combi into Juliaca to do some intense grocery shopping. We grabbed some souvenirs along the way and ate at The Royal Inn´s restaurant where we all got pizzas. Jeremy Stanley joined us for the pizza after e & John dropped Sara off at the airport, refilled our gas tank for the heater, and met us in front of the grocery store to load up all the groceries in John´s truck.

Sunday was July 4th which meant cookout! The Moho team came in to Huancane on an early bus to be part of the festivities. John grilled burgers. Sonia made salsa, chocolate cookies with peaut butter in them, and apple pie. The Huancane girls brought over banana pudding. It was all delicious and left us stuffed to the brim with food. Later that afternoon Jeremy Lou had planned ¨The Ultimate Showdown¨, Texas team vs Georgia team competing in all kinds of races & competitions. There was a frozen t-shirt race, timed cracker-eating competition, potato sack race, mandarine roll, apple bobbing, and massive put-on. After the 6 events Texas & Georgia were tied so the tie breaker was an egg drop. We had 15 minutes to use whatever we could find outside in the Grady´s yard and make a contraption to protect our egg when dropped one story. Neither group needed all 15 minutes so once we were ready everyone went over to the hostel. We dropped the contraptions made byboth teams, and neither egg broke. So we used the eggs to have an egg toss. The Georgia team won the egg too making them the victors of our 4th of July Ultimate Showdown. After the games the Moho team took a bus back to their house in Moho, and we spent the rest of the day relaxing.

Monday morning I woke up feeling odd, a little queazy. We packed up our stuff, cleaned the hostel, and prepared to go catch a bus with Pastor Rueben. I got to talk to my parents on the phone one last time before we left for the bus stop which was greatly appreciated. I miss them so much! We sat outside by the bus stop for several hours, but no bus to Conima. Finally there was a bus going somewhere else, and the bus driver said there weren´t anymore buses coming for the day. So that meant we wold just have to wait another day and try again tomorrow. Emily, Alison, & I have sat in the Huancane team´s house all afternoon. My stomach hurt, and I was going in & out of the bathroom with diahrea all afternoon. I prayed that things began looking up soon because I was starting to feel really discouraged in our work here. Because we weren´t able to catch a bus out to Conima, we missed 2 storying dates we had for Monday, one at 4pm & another at 6m. There was supposed to be a bus going out through Conima at 6am this morning so our plan was to get up early to take that bus out there.

But wait, there´s no bad news. I was sick throwing up all night. I kept tossing & turning trying to relieve my stomach pain long enough to fall asleep, and then I felt it. It was coming, and there was nothing I could do to stop it so I jumped up out of bed, flipped the light on, and grabbed a plastic bag just in time. I cried myself beyond the point of complete exhaustion as my night went on like that - toss & turn, sit up in bed, grab a bag, throw up until my body was satisfied to stop, and then get up to wash my face & blow all the stomach content outof my nose. Yeah, gross. I know. When I throw up it always comes out both my mouth & nose. Being here it was even worse because I´ve already had problems with my nose bleeding from the dry air & high altitude. So every time I threw up and then blew my nose, it started a nose bleed that was hard to stop.

After that horrible, long night I got upat 5am to get ready to catch the bus. Come to find out, Emily & Heather had caught whatever bug Alison & I have had, and they feel horrible. So we called a team meeting wondering what to do about taking a bus this morning. With the possibility of having to stand the whole 2 hours surrounded by smelly, unconsiderate Aymarans on a bus that wasn´t about to stop for a white American to get sick on the side of the road, we thought it best that Heather & Emily not go. Jeremy Stanley, Alison, & I were going to try to make it back to Conima so we set out for the bus stop in the freezing cold morning air. After sitting in the cold for an hour with no bus in sight, Emily called to tell Jeremy that she & Heather didn´t want us to leave them here. So we came back to the hostel. We do´n´t want to be at the Huancane team´s house or the Grady´s and run the possibility of getting them sick so we are stuck in the hostel feeling miserable & useless. Emily & Heather were both throwing up earlier, but as of now they are feeling somewhat better. After a light lunch of soup & crackers they are going to see how their stomaches are feeling. If they are up to it then we are going to pay to take a combi out to Conima this afternoon so we can be back in a place that feels a little more like home.

Even though these past 2 days have been discouraging & I have been doubting our effectiveness in being here in Peru, my confidence in the Lord remains steadfast because His will & His ways are so much greater than I know.

The past week in review

SUNDAY - What I was made to do

God works in unexpected ways. I finally got an opportunity to work in the clinic today, something I've really been looking forward to doing. There were some anxious thoughts in me about it when I woke up thinking about the language abrrier & differences in medical practice, but I voiced those to God in prayer and trusted that He would take care of it. I mean He IS GOD. Sometimes when I really take time to dwell on that & all it entales, I feel silly for ever worrying.

Sara, Jeremy Lou, and I left for the clinic at 8:50am. After waiting for half an hour the doctor was done seeing a patient, and we went back to see him. Dr Abraham graciously welcomed us and introduced us to the rest of the staff, explaining that we would be helping them in the clinic. I had no idea what to expect. Dr Abraham told the 2 other nurses that I would be helping them take histories, vitals, height, & weight of the children. Apparently since market day is Sunday that is also the day that alot of parents take their children to the clinic for check-ups.

After waiting a few more minutes, the 2 nurses said they were ready for me. Jeremy Lou & I followed them down the hall to a big room toward the back. In the middle sat a desk where the 2 nurses sat a single metal chair for the patient. Against the wall was a wooden bench where family members sat. The room also had a wooden table, baby weighing scale, and a refridgerator that housed all their vaccinations and some medications.

I took a place standing toward the corner of the room as to not be in the way, but one of the nurses told me to come close & watch how they fill out their patient history forms. So I moved closer & stood next to the desk. The second nurse came in with an old man who sat down in the metal chair across from the desk. I listened intently as they interviewed the elderly man. Jeremy translated some of it for me, but I was surprised at how much I understood.

The morning continued on like that, and the longer I was there the more I got to do. The first patient we saw was a 9-month-old baby boy who came in for a check-up. He was a chunky, happy baby with chubby cheeks, lots of black unruly hair, and a big sweet toothless grin. I held him while his mother got a tetanus vaccine & paid the nurses for the visit. Next was a baby girl who was only 7 days old. It was crazy to think she has been born since we've been in Peru. She was so tiny but very healthy. She had to get 2 vaccinations while she was there, one for tuberculosis in her arm and another one in her leg that I didn't know. Her father helped the nurses hold her down while they gave her the shots. She screamed so loudly & abruptly that I was taken back in surprise. It was hard to watch such a long needle go into such a tiny, helpless infant, but it was something that had to be done for her best interest. The last patient we saw this morning was another baby boy, this one 2-months-old. But when his mother unwrapped him from the bundle on her back, I was shocked to see how tiny he was. He didn't look any bigger than the 7-day-old little girl. When they tested his development he had no neck control, couldn't hold his head up, and didn't make any kind of response or acknowledgement to the ringing of a bell. I got to weigh him on the baby scale and measure his height. Then he was laid on the wooden table and given 2 oral vaccines, one of which I know was for polio. the ppor thing was crying as the nurses prepared a shot vaccine for him. So I put my hand on his belly to rock him, and he immediately clasped his tiny hands around my index finger & was not about to let go. I spoke to him in spanish to soothe his crying. It worked until the nurses came back over with a needle & an alcohol swab. He continued to squeeze my finger & began screaming as I held him still while the nurses gave him a shot in the thigh. Once they were done, I put his diaper back on him, pulled his pants up, and wrapped one of his blankets back around him. Then his mother came over to pick him up & breastfeed him. The nurses instructed his mother sit in the metal chair across from the desk, and they explained to her that her son is very small & underdeveloped for his age. One of the nurses went to the cabinets in the corner and retrieved a small bottle. She wrote down some instructions and handed them to the mother with the small bottle. "This medicine will help your son grow bigger & stronger. Give him 2 drops in his mouth 3 times a day. Do this every day for 4 months, and come back to the clinic in October." They repeated this to his mother several times trying to stress the importance of the medicine. Those were all the patients we saw this morning. Dr Abraham told us we could come back in the afternoon if we wanted but we didn't have to. I really wanted to go back, but the afternoon was too busy with the cleaning, showering, & laundry. I look forward to the next time I get to go back, and I will be sure I can spend all day there. It was such an awesome experience.



WEDNESDAY - Story Time

This week we have finally begun our storying, and it seems to have lifted everyone's spirits. There seems to be a more definite purpose for our presence here now that we have the first 3 stories memorized and have started sharing the gospel. We thought we could begin storying on Monday, but once the day began we realized that was doubtful. The whoel town was empty & closed down. Out of everything in the town only a couple of the bodegas & one restaurant were open. The schoolc weren't even in session. We found out through asking someone that everyone had traveled out of town for a fiesta in another town and they wouldn't be back until Wednesday. So much for going out in full force to story with people. We went to Gumericinda's restaurant for lunch. Surprisingly, it was open, Emily talked with her after we ate, and Gumericinda asked if we could go story with them at their restaurant on Thursday night at 7 or 8. We talked to John on the phone, and he said he would be able to come out here on Thursday to story with them. For now, John will be doing the storying with them bcause they have already heard some of the stories, and we don't have the later stories memorized yet. Monday afternoon some of us were hanging out in the plaza and started playing with a few little boys while Jeremy Stanley talked with a group of teenage boys. Jeremy was trying to get them to do some break dancing moves with him, but they boys would only watch. Then after a while one of the boys said we should go up to the lookout. So the Jeremys, Alison, Sara, & I trekked up the hill to the lookout with the 3 teenage boys & some little boys we had been playing frisbee with. Once we got up there, the boys were more open to try the moves Jeremy was showing them. I think they didn't want to look stupid in front of people in the plaza so once we went somewhere out of the way, they would try. The next hour was spent watching Jeremy Stanley try to teach these Aymaran boys how to break dance. Alison, Sara, & I watched in amusement for a while and then started doing our own dance moves. I did some swing dancing moves with Alison, picking her up and swinging her around my torso. Sara said that she is going to take me dancing once I get to Belton because she will be in Temple at medical school. Honestly, that sounds really fun even though I'm not the best dancer. The sun began to set and the wind picked up so we called it quits for the day and set up another time to hang out with those boys on Tuesday afternoon. Unfortunately, they didn't show up.

Tuesday was a much busier day. I did my laundry Tuesday morning after worship because I didn't have time on Sunday with the clinic & everything else I had to do. Then once I finished rinsing & hanging all my clothes up to dry, the Jeremys, Alison, & I set out on another hike to retrieve firewood, this time going out to the cliffs instead of up the mountain. Monday night our gas heater ran out of gas so we wanted to make sure we have enough wood to last us through this weekend we go to Huancane for a retreat. We found fallen trees, and the boys used Jeremy Stanley's survival kinfe to cut up the tree trunks for wood. We came back with a ridiculous amount of wood, and it was HEAVY. My backpack was stuffed full of small sticks & overflowing out the top. I used strips of tree bark to tie together a big bundle of logs that I carried on my back sitting between my head & my backpack. And in my hands I carried a very large log that we found sitting on the rocks. The other 3 of our group had just as much wood on them so the 2-3 mile hike back was much harder than before. We had to stop & rest a couple of times along the way.

Tuesday afternoon we had times scheduled to story at 4pm with some man at the police station and 7pm with Sophia & her husband who are the niece & nephew of the man whose home we are styaing in. Sophia told us in the afternoon that she had a headache so she asked us to come tonight [Wednesday] instead. A man came up to Emily while she was sitting out in the plaza and asked if she would teach him English. She agreed and set up a time at 6pm tonight to teach him English & then share a story. The man said he is bringing 5 friends with him.

At 3:50pm Jeremy Lou, Emily, Jeremy Stanley, and Alison went to the police station to tell the Creation story. Heather, Sara, and I stayed behind so as not to overwhelm them. We went upstairs in the living room and prayed from 3:55-4:45pm as the story was being told. Then we went to the kitchen to begin dinner preparations. Just as we began cooking bacon & pancakes, we heard the rest of our team coming up the stairs. I eagerly asked how it went. Jeremy Lou told the story so that Emily vould see how it is done. They said that it went well, the men weren't very responsive in answering the questions afterward, but they were really interested by the hook Jeremy left them for the next story about the Fall of Man which is the story I will tell them. They set up a time to meet again next Monday at 4om because they will be gone out of town the rest of the week. The 2 policemen said they would also invite their families to come listen.

Tonight we ahve 2 storying times, one at 6pm for the English class and another at 8pm with Sophia & her husband. We have tried today to talk with the woman who runs the hostel in Conima. Alison has seen her garden & would love to garden with her, but we've had a hard time tracking her down. We also tried to talk with Susana & Lucian who run a little bodega, but they weren't there when we went to visit. More storying updates to come, and praise God for all the opportunities He is putting in our path.



FRIDAY - Plungers, guitar, English lessons, and a much-needed movie night

In case I haven't already mentioned it, I've had diahrrea since the day I arrived in Peru. That's 3 weeks of diahrrea so far, and no end seems to be in sight. It is starting to get old. Last night alone I had it twice. One of the time I had to run out of the restaurant during dinner and hurry back to the house to use the bathroom. I'm wondering if this is ever going to go away before I leave Peru. Another month of this diahrrea doesn't sound like much fun.

John came yesterday and stayed the night. After we storied at the restaurant last night we all watched Fireproof upstairs in the living room via John's portable DVD player. Having a movie night was really nice.

Thursday wasn't too eventful. I was elected from our group to find a solution to the clogged up toilet on the third floor. Noone knows who stopped it up. Wednesday the Moho team came to visit and used that toilet the whole day & evening. I wondered if maybe someone forgot that they can't flush the toilet paper. So Emily & I got to go ask Sophia about possibly getting a toilet plunger. Of course no one knew how to say "plunger" in spanish so we had to play charades. That was interesting & somewhat embarassing. Come to find out we would have to go to Juliaca to get a plunger and that wasn't gunna happen. The only other possible solution I could come up with was to call John & ask if he could bring one since he was driving out here that afternoon. After having to explain the situation to Sonia on the phone, she said she would make sure John came with a plunger. Yes! I had never been so thankful for a toilet plunger. When it finally arrived, Alison promptly went upstairs to resolve that problem.

Jumping back to Wednesday, the Moho team came to visit as I previously stated. We had a fun-filled evening of worship followed by the serranadings of Tim & his song-writing. He writes country songs, and I must say I was very impressed!

Also on Wednesday evening, Emily, Heather, & I went to teach our first English lesson. Jeremy came along as protection. We went throught he alphabet, days fo the week, and useful phrases like "Hello, how are you?" and "My name is...". The man we taught, Armando, asked if he could come to out house to make us dinner on Friday evening. We had to explain that we can't invite people into the house because it isn't our home. So we agreed to go to his house for dinner at 6pm Friday night and share the Creation story with him & his family. Only 3 of us will fit in his home so Emily, Heather, & Jeremy Stanley will go. Then at 8pm Wednesday night, Emily, Sara, & I got to story with Sophia & her husband in their storefront. Emily told the story well with no flaws, and they appeared very interested. They were very responsive when we discussed the story especially Sophia's husband. We set up another storying date with them next Wednesday at 8pm. So far that makes 3 story dates next week where I will be sharing my story, the Fall of Man.

John arrived here Thursday afternoon to share a story with Luis & Gumericinda, the couple that owns the restaurant where we eat. SO that night at 7pm we went there & ate trout for dinner. I was having alot of digestive problems and didn't want to be a distraction running out during the story to go to the bathroom so I left after dinner with Alison & Jeremy Stanley. When the rest of the group got back later that night, John said the story went great. They had a long discussion after he was done telling the story. Our group tried to set up another storying date with them, but because Luis has been traveling to Juliaca to look for work they didn't know when he would be back to head the next story. But the good news is they definitely want to hear another story.

In other news, I am learning to play a song on the guitar. Jeremy Lou taught me the chord progressions on Wednesday night so I've been practicing that in my free time. I think I'm almost ready to learn the strumming rhythm now. This is the song I chose to learn. I fell in love with the lyrics as soon as I heard it.

You said "Ask, and you wil recieve whatever you need."
You said "Pray, and I'll heal from heaven and I'll heal your land."
You said "My glory will fill the earth like water the sea."
You said "Open your eyes. The harvest is here. The kingdom is near."
You said...
Ask, and I'll give the nations to you.
Oh Lord, that's they cry of my heart.
Distant shores & the islands will see your light as it rises on earth.

An adventure to remember

SATURDAY

One word to describe today - rejuvinating. I awoke at 6am and had a solid 2 hours of time with the Lord in scripture before morning worship. Jeremy Lou is here for the weekend so singing this morning was greatly enjoyed since our team does NOT like to sing loudly when it´s just the 6 of us. I was appointed as the lead singer so that should give you a picture of how interesting our singing normally is. The scripture we read and dicussed today was the first 9 verses of Philippians chapter 4 - my theme passage at this point in my life when I begin to feel overwhelmed. It was a great time of growing as a group.

After worship the Jeremys, Alison, & I headed out with empty backpacks to scavenge the mountain for fire wood. After over an hour of hiking around in the trees on the mountainside and breaking branches & logs with our hands, legs, and Jeremy´s knife, we returned to the house with 4 backpacks full of kindling & arm loads full of logs. That wood should last us a good while.

Before lunch a trip to the store was needed so Emily, Sara, Alison, & I went to Sophia´s store right next to the house & bought all the groceries we needed at once. It all ended up costing over 42 soles which was alot of food for that little store.

Lunch was peanut butter sandwiches, apples, canned peaches, potato chips, and cream cheese dip. I´m really looking forward to dinner tonight. Alison & Jeremy Stanley are making stuff for build-your-own-burrritos: shredded cihcken, grilled vegetables, guacalome, homemade salsa, cheese, and rice. And then I´m going to make no-bake cookies & apple cider for us to have upstairs around the fire. Last night Heather & I made the best fried chicken, mashed potatoes, and fried cheese slices. It tasted so good! Needless to say, my cooking skills have greatly expanded in being here.

After lunch the Jeremys, Alison, & I decided to go on a hike. It turned out to be the best adventure we´ve had here so far - better than wading in the lake, boulder hopping, and climbing the mountain in Huancane. We walked probably between 2-3 miles out from Conima along the lake. Then we found some rock cliffs and decided to do some rock climbing. I was the last one to climb, and I was kinda unsure about it. While the others were climbing up, rocks were coming loose underneath then and falling to the bottom of the cliff where I was anxiously waiting. Once Alison reached the top and the boys pulled her up, I set aside my anxiety, told myself ¨You can do this¨, and began climbing with no fear. About halfwat up the cliff, one of the rocks I had my foot on fell out from under me. I lost my footing and grasped the rocks I was holding so hard that my hands turned white. Climbing that rock face made my adrenaline rush, but losing my footing like that was just too much adrenaline for me. My heart was pounding, and my stomach jumped into my throat. Tears began to fill my eyes as I frantically searched for a sturdy foothold knowing that one of the rocks my hand was grasping was moving underneath me and waiting to fall. It I fell down the side of the mountain to the rocks below that sat on the lakeshore, I would be alone until the other 3 found a way down to me. There was no 911 number to call, and we were a good 3 mile walk away from Conima by then.

I heard Jeremy Lou´s voice from the top of the cliff. ¨Kelsey, Kelsey. It´s okay. You´re okay. You´re doing great. Just find a rock to rest your foot on. I´m climbing down to help you.¨ I felt around for a rock that wasn´t moving and rested some of my weight on it just before aa rock fell out from under my hand and tumbled down the mountainside. By this time the tears continued coming as Jeremy climbed down next to me. Step-by-step he helped me find stationary rocks to climb, and I made it to the top with no more than a few scrapes.

As i hoisted myself over the last rock with Jeremy Stanley´s help, I heard Alison marveling at the view. I made it up and turned around to see the sparkling blue waters of Lake Titicaca laid out all around me. The sky was a beautiful bright blue, and the mountain peaks lined the horizon. We could hear waves breaking beneath us so we walked to the point of the peninsula. A straight shot down the cliff were rocks breaking the waves on the lake. It was too amazing to pass up so our adventurous group of 4 found a crevice to climb down to the water. The Jeremys decided to do some rock jumping out in the water while Alison & I continued to marvel at the beautiful landscape before us.

It was quite entertaining to watch the boys wish they were frogs as they jumped from rock to rock going further & further out in the water. Neither one of them managed to stay dry. In face, Jeremy Stanley went to jump to a rock, tried to land on it by hugging it with his arms & legs, and ended up slipping & jumping to short. He basically sat in the water right in front of the rock and quickly jumped up out of the cold lake water. The botton of his shirt and all of his shorts were soaking wet. Alison & I quickly asked if he was okay worried that he may have badly hurt himself, but he assured us that he was fine, just a little wet. After we were sure he was okay, we couldn´t help but laugh.

We headed back to the road we had traveled on, this time walking along the rocky shore of the lake. As we walked, Alison & I began collecting some really cool rocks & filling our backpacks. Between the rocks weighing down our bags and some large logs we found to use in the fire, the walk back was significantly more tiring than the walk out.

Finally we reached the house & unloaded all the logs & rocks. Now I´m just relaxing on the balcony enjoying the last rays of sun before it´s time to go cook dinner with Alison & Jeremy. This day of rest was deinfitely needed and thoroughly enjoyed, and it´s not over yet!

What do I do when the love isn´t there?

I have struggled with this dilemma - that I have been brought here to Conima, Peru to share the love & Good News of Jesus Christ, but my heart feels no love for these people. When I was in Haiti, there grew a love inside me for those people from the first day, but here I have talked with the people, played with the children, and lived among them for over a week yet I feel nothing. I pray daily that God will give me His love for these people that I might see them through His eyes, but my feelings remain the same.

As I was reading through the book ¨Let the Nations be Glad¨, I came across a passage that approached the situation in a different light.

¨Have you every wondered what it feels like to have a love for the lost? This is a term we use as part of our Christian jargon. Many believers search their hearts in condemation, looking for the arrival of some feeling of benevolence that will propel them into bold evangelism. It will never happen. It is impossible to love ¨the lost¨. You can´t feel deeply for an abstraction of a concept. Yuo would find it impossible to love deeply an unfamiliar individual portrayed in a photograph, let alone a nation or a race or something as vague as ¨all lost people¨. Don´t wait for a feeling of love in order to share Christ with a stranger. You already love your Heavenly Father, and you know that this stranger is created by Him, but separated from Him, so take those first steps in evangelism because you love God. It is not primarily out of compassion for humanity that we share our faith or pray for the lost; it is first of all, love for God.¨

It is out of love for the Lord and a desire to see His name glorified that I am here. In obedience to His call out of love for my Savior, I have come to Peru to live out the comission to which He has called me. So my love for God should overwhelm any lack of feeling for the Aymaran people. My love for God shoud overflow so much so that my only desire is to see the Lord glorified and praised by all as He deserves.

Abundance of Opportunities

Interesting happenings of the week:
1. On Wednesday we happened upon 4 drunk men that kept pointing at me as we were having a conversation with a store owner that we will be storying with. They men kept pointing at me, but I wasn´t paying attention. Jeremy said they were motioning for me to come over and whistling to get my attention. Needless to say, we didn´t pay them any attention much less go over to them.
2. I have de-boned 6 chickens this week. Pretty soon I´ll be a professional!
3. Alison has adopted the new spanish phrase ¨Hasta manzana¨ instead of ¨Hasta mañana¨. When she tries to tell the children ¨See you tomorrow¨, they understand her as ¨See you apple¨. That has been pretty comical.
4. Wednesday night we could hear a pretty rowdy party going on while we were all upstairs talking after dinner. I looked out the window to see a party going in full force in the middle of the road with a fire, dancing, yelling, and alcohol. But that´s just something we will have to get used to seeing.

God has continued to place opportunities in our paths to meet people and build relationships. Wednesday we met Susana & Lucian and gave them some photographs Les had sent with me. Susana especially liked the picture of Milagro, her granddaughter. Thursday we all went dow the hill to the high school where the whole tow of Conima had a dance festival competition. We watched lots of different age groups of kids dance to the story of their heritage. Each dance held a cultural meaning to the town. It was a great chance for us t show our presence further as well as experience the culture and be a part of the town. The whole town was shut down, and everyone showed up to watch the dances. Thursday afternoon while I was working on memorizing my story (which I´m almost one with) and preparing to cook dinner with Emily, Jeremy & Sara played soccer & basketball with some teenage boys. They asked Jeremy & Sara to play with them again today so this afternoon I´m going to join them. It just seems like every day we are given more & more opportunities with the people.

Our stories are coming along more quickly now. I will finish memorizing mine today, and we have all agreed to share our stories in front of one another tonight after dinner. We will begin storying with the people next week, and as it quickly approaches anxiety levels have seemed to rise in the team. But I am confident that the Lord will work through us as He desires and will bless our efforts at so studiously memorizing our stories.

Unexpected Blessings

Sunday was a pretty easy-going day until evening rolled around. Our team decided that Sundays are our market, cleaning, and laundry days. For dinner Jeremy & I made chicken & dumplings with macaroni & cheese. Things got a little crazy when Jeremy L called us and said, ¨Hey, I´m on my way to Conima with 2 friends. We will be there in about 30 minutes.¨ That caught us off guard! And who were these 2 friends? We didn´t know. So Jeremy S & I continued in our dinner preparations now wondering if we would have enough food for 9 people.

About half an hour later we hear a bang on the door, and Jeremy S goes downstairs to answer it. As I continue cooking dinner upstairs I´m able to pick up parts of the conversation at the door. After several minutes Jeremy S comes back up to the kitchen with a somewhat panicked look on his face. ¨Jeremy L brought 2 French hikers that are backpacking across Peru & Bolivia. I don´t know what we´re supposed to do because we´ve been told not to invite people into the house.¨ Jeremy L had taken his 2 new French friends up to the lookout to see the sunset, and they would be back soon. After several minutes of confusion & discussion, I decided to call John. I explained to him what little I knew of the situation, and he said he would call Jeremy L. A few minutes later we receive another call from John telling us that Jeremy L had invited the backpackers to stay the night with us but that John had made it clear they would have to stay at one of the hostels in Conima. That was a relief to hear. I went on cooking dinner as I heard lots happening in the house. The backpackers returned with Jeremy L, introduced themselvse to me as I was de-boning a chicken & rolling dough balls, and then were directed downstairs where they could take hot showers. They seemed extremely nice & thankful for out hospitality. The young woman was named Jane, and the young man was named Thomas. They looked to be about 26 years old, and although they weren´t married they told us they´ve been together for 6 years.

It was really interesting to hear about all their travels & their stories. Every day after they settle in for the night, they write about their experiences that day. Their hope is to make it all into a book and have it edited & published when they finish their journey and return to France. Not only was it great to hear about them, buit we got a chance to pour into them & bless them. After dinner they came up to the living room with us. We sang a few worship songs and talked for a long time. At one point Jeremy L asked if they wanted to see an example of our storying that we had told them about. They agreed and eagerly listened as Jeremy shared with them the story of Peter & the Ethiopian unic that we had heard during orientation. They they proceeded to ask us more questions about out storying & our purpose in being here. It was just a really neat, God-appointed meeting.

The next morning (Monday) Thomas & Jane returned at 7am upon our invitiation to eat breakfast with us before they continued on their journey. Thomas was especially excited that Jeremy L made crepes for everyone. He & Jane said they haven´t had crepes since they were in France years ago. Before they left we all got some pictures together, and Heather gave them some hand warmers that they were so grateful to receive.

Monday was filled with divine appointments and God-given opportunities. Jeremy S was hiking up a mountainside praying when a man invited him into his home for lunch. Jeremy amazingly understood all that the man was saying in spanish and was few a very big, interesting lunch of eggs, fried cheese, peaches, oranges, some finger-looking purplish green-brown potatoe things, & a big yellow fruit that remains unknown. The ironic part is that he was hiking up the mountain to pray & fast all day. After eating lunch, he & the man shared scripture with one another for a while, and the man even sang Jeremy a psalm in spanish. He is a seventh day adventist.

For lunch, all the girls went to eat at Luis & Gumericinda´s restaurant. After we ate & paid, we gave Gumericinda the photos that Les had sent with me, and Emily explained in spanish that they were for her from our friends that came in May. She told us they want us to tell them more stories so next week we will hopefully begin storying with her & Luis.

Sara spent the afternoon reading in the plaza, and a young woman began talking with her. They spent some time talking, and when Sara asked if she would want to hear a story, the young woman said yes. So we have a storying date with her next Wednesday afternoon.

We promised the kids we would play with them at 3 this afternoon so we all went out to the plaza at 3pm, and sure enough there was a small crowd of kids waiting. That crowd grew as we chased them around laughing & tickling, rolling them on the longboard, doing handstands & kartwheels. Today we played ¨Duck, duck, goose¨with all the kids and then changed the words to ¨Pollo, pollo, pavo¨(Chicken, chicken, turkey). The kids really enjoyed that game, and it got everyone involved & playing. Playing with the kids in the plaza also drew a crowd of older adults that sat on the benches & watched. Tomorrow some of us are going to make a point to begin conversations with those adults.

It has been pretty exhausting lately with things feeling up sometimes & down other times. It changes as the days go on. Sometimes I´m excited & encouraged but others I´m struggling to keep my focus & remain optimistic. I´m tired of up & down, up & down all the time. So after worship Monday morning I went out on the balcony and sepnt a good while talking with God. I prayed for a passioante desire to seek God alone, to be totally consumed with Christ, to spent my thoughts on nothing else, to know my purpse here and focus solely on how God wants to use me. I prayed that God would reveal Himself in mighty & unique ways to each of our team and that He would do immeasurably more than I could ever ask or imagine. And I have already begun to see God answering that prayer.