The Climb

I haven´t had internet in a few days. I feel like I have so much ground to cover. I just got on facebook and I´m feeling kind of bummed, I feel like all of my friends are off doing all this stuff this summer and forgetting about me. Meh, I´m probably just being a baby. Here we go...

Wed, June 16th
Hello, I am currently sitting on the roof of the hostile, looking over the whole city. Today we are going to Juliaca to go shopping and to get stuff for our home in Conima! It´s only 7:45 a:m here but my days always start at 7:00 a:m. We have worship at 8:30 a:m as usual.
Okay so I´m back from shopping in Juliaca. I went to exchange my dollars bills for soles and they wouldn´t taked my ripped bills, even if it was just a tiny rip! Ridiculous. Sara and I met two of the sweetest, cutest litte girls in Juliaca. We got to eat at the really good restaurant, I had fettucini alfredo. It was so weird to have normal american food. Heather bought a sweet guitar when we were out shopping so we can use it for worship in Conima.
Sonia(the missionary training us) made us a delicious going away dinner! She made hamburgers, potatoe salad, and baked beans...and then a special grilled chees sandwich for me! After dinner walked to a ladies house and had worship in English, Spanish, and Aymaran which was sooo cool! Pastor Rueben told the story of Adam and Eve, John(the missionary) translated. Then on the way back to the hostile Jeremy Lou played the guitar and we sang to the Lord! Sleep time. ZzzzzZZz.

Thursday, June 17th
THE CLIMB
We woke up at 3:45 a:m today to hike a mountain, yes...a mountain. I felt out of breath just walking to the base of the mountain! I literally almost turned back and climbed right back in bed. I´m not going to lie, hiking that mountain in this altitude was the hardest thing that I have ever done physically. We hiked 800 feet up. The whole time I was asking God to hold my hand. I finally got to the top (last of my team because I walked with the Huancane girls and Andrea tore her acl before she came). Let me tell you, that hike was worth it! I got to see the sun rise on top of a mountain, in the middle of Peru. WOW. All I could do was marvel at God´s creation. I hiked back down on the trail (which is harder) with Kelsey and we had a really great talk. We arrived back at the house around 7:15 a:m so I packed all my stuff up for Conima!!! We had worship and then we cleaned the hostile, squeaky clean! Then we packed everything in John´s vehicle. The two Jeremy´s and I had to stay behing and catch a bus because there wasn´t enough room for us. So we waited at the bus stop with Pastor Rueben for an hour and a half! We found out that there was only one bus and it wasn´t going to Conima so if we got on it then we would have to walk an hour to Conima. So we decided to go back to the Huancane girls house and get some lunch because it was about 1:30 by now...our team left at about noon. Andrea made us grilled cheese sandwiches and we played scrabble! After we got done playing scrabble, I started feeling pretty sick so I layed down. I layed down for about two hours and then got up and went to the bathroom, where I threw up about four times. I wasn´t feeling too great at this point so we walked back to John and Sonia´s and I took some medicine. They decided that it would be best to wait until Friday to leave for Conima. I decided to go lay in bed around 7:00 p:m and I finally fell asleep after about an hour. ZZZZzzzzzzzzZZZ.

Friday, June 18th
So last night was my breaking point. I felt awful and I was in a foreign country, far away from home. I wanted to go home, and still kind of do. I know God brought me here for a reason.
So John, the Jeremy´s, and I left for Conima around 9:00 a:m. We took this really pretty route but of course, I started to feel car sick and I was still feeling pretty sick from the night before. So they pulled over and I took some medicine. Lake Titicaca is probably the most beautiful creation that I´ve ever seen, I´m thinking this as I´m about to puke. So we go to Mo to see where to Mo team lives since its on the way to Conima but they aren´t there. But of course, I end up throwing up in their bathroom. We start driving again but my breath is tasting pretty gross so John pulls over so I can brush my teeth on the side of the road, using a water bottle. All this kids are staring at me and I know that their thinking "loco gringo". We finally ariive at our new home in Conima around 11:00 a:m and its so amazing and beautiful! Its a cute yellow house, three stories high, with NO heating and concrete walls but I still love it! John showed us around the city and then I took a two hour nap! We had dinner and then bad time. ZZZzzzzzzzzz.

Saturday, June 19th
I´m hanging out at Lake Titicaca right now, but its really like and ocean! We just got done with lunch and now we are all just hanging out by the water. This morning Jeremy locked himself out of his room so this guy spent three hours trying to get the lock off, and finally did. While the guy was working on the door, we played frisbee with the kids. I´m falling more in love with this place every day! I´m sitting here listening to the water hit up against the rocks and Jeremy is playing with Alex and Jose (two little boys that we met). I caught the coolest looking frog! Jeremy and I decided to take off our shoes and walk in the water, which was a terrible idea because it was freezing!!!! We taught the kids how to skip rocks, which was soooo fun! After we went to the lake, we pray walked around the city...prayer is so powerful! Then Jeremy and I cooked home made spagetti which took about two hours but it was sooo good! We are taking turns preparing meals here since it takes so long! Then we finished off the night was a group meeting and some telephone pictionary! Of course, my drawings were ridiculed but I know that they were all just jealous! Bed time. ZZzzzzzZZZ.

I´m sure that there are so many grammar mistakes and misspelled words so I´m sorry! I´m typing this in a tiny little internet cavena with a ton of kids staring at me, I´m not joking. I´m a gringo which means I´m a rare bread around here!

-Love in Christ, John 16:33