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

The rooster crows...

And so my day has begun. Christ walks beside me holding my hand, today and always. Sometimes I walk in doubt but my friend continues to hold my hand and guide me in encouragement. At times I walk in fear but my companion holds on tight and gives me strength. My body aches and I feel as if I cannot go on any longer. My friend gives me water and we continue on our journey, hand in hand. Then I begin to walk in shame and I want to hide from my friend but he holds on even tighter. He tells me all about grace and that his grace will never run out. We go on about our way but my feet are covered in sores so my friend lets go of my hand and carries me. O, what a friend I have!

Honestly, this morning I was feeling a bit discouraged. My stomache didn´t feel too good and I was stressing out bad about the language barrier. As I was sitting with my cup of tea and the word of God I heard a rooster crow and it was an instant comfort. It took me back to waking up every morning in Africa and spending some time with God first thing in the morning and hearing a rooster crow every single morning. Its like that rooster is a symol of something new, a new day that the Lord will use. A new day that the LORD will use, not I. The story above came to me as I was sitting there on top of our building with my cup of tea. I´m not doing this alone, in fact I´m not the one whose doing anything...Christ is carrying me the whole way. I just have to be obedient to God and go when he tells me to go. With that said, I´m learning to get over the worry of the language barrier because I know God is going to use me no matter what!

Today we learned how to hand wash our clothes. It sounds easy but trust me, its harder then it sounds. That water was cold, its cold up here in the mountains. Period. I think that my bones are getting somewhat used to it. I actually enjoyed hand washing my clothes even though it takes forever. I´m really learning to enjoy the simplicity of life. Guess what else I did today!?! I cut a chicken, yes...the vegetarian. I didn´t eat it though! We each got to take turns cutting off the wings and learning how to take of the skin and everything and where to cut it on the joints. Lets just say that I killed it...literally...well not really because the poor guy was already dead! I can´t upload pictures here because most of the computers have viruses. ); So today we had about two hours of down time so the two Jeremy´s and I went and played frisbee on the street with a bunch of kids. We also did hand stands with them. It was so fun! I got to sit down with a bunch of young girls and talk to them, well it was mostly them telling me how to say stuff in Spanish. It was so awesome though! Jeremy said that there was a huge group around me. Everyone was just laughing at my pathetic attempts at Spanish but I tried okay!! Tonight an Aymara man came and gave his testimony, he is now a pastor at a simple church. That was pretty amazing to see the result of the missionaries hard work and prayers. I also got to hear some worship songs in Spanish. Can you say beautiful!?! I need you all back home to be praying for us here. It may get really discouraging here. Its interesting to not have all the luxuries we have in America. I never thought that being able to flush toilet paper down the toilet would be that big of a deal. Or hand washing clothes. Or litterally spending two hours to prepare a meal because it´s completely different cooking food in this altitude. Anyways what I´m saying is that yeah, America is great and we have a lot but living a simple life isn´t so bad. We´ll see how I feel after six weeks here though! Ha. Its still crazy that think that I´ll be here this long. I went to the store today and got eggs, butter, and bread...that´s rights folks! It sounds so easy but not so easy when everyone around you speaks a different language! Ha. The stores here are so different, well obviously. Everything here is different but I can´t explain it with words, its something you have to see with your own eyes. When I get back to the states I can upload all my pictures. Also, I´ll tell you all about what we´ll be doing in Conima tomorrow! This is sooooo long! I´ll leave you with this, get out of God´s way and just let him use you.
-Love in Christ!

The stars are big and bright...

DEEP IN THE HEART OF PERU!!! And they are! The stars are so beautiful here! What's up with the no comments everyone?!?! Are you guys even reading this!?! Today we did some more missionary training, we went out and got some candy from one of the stores near by but we haven't gotten to get out a whole lot yet. I am so excited to go to Conima on Thursday and start our ministry. Yesterday at the market Justin Bieber was playing on someone's radio...I wish that I was joking! I don't really miss home at all but I mean I haven't been gone long. I honesty can see myself living overseas for most of my life. I really enjoy this simple living and simple church. I have a lot to say about simple church but I will talk more about that later. I'm praying for everyone back at home, I really want you all to feel this deep fire inside of you that I feel. It's not enough just to proclaim that you are a christian, if your life doesn't show true worship and love for others then what are you doing? Wow, you proclaim to be a christian just like the rest of America...lets see some change in your life! Get out and do something, show someone love! Yeahhh! I don't know about you all but I want to live a life worth following. I'm tired and ready for bed even though its only 9:00 p:m here. I've been a busy bee! Keep praying everyone, God's going to move so much this summer!
-Love in Christ

Bread....no pan!

Hello everyone! I am feeling much better after getting ten hours of sleep last night. I know, I know...ridiculous. I lied to y'all earlier, I'm sorry! We are actually in Huacane right now with the Grady's. We will be here until Thursday and then Thursday evening we will be going to Conima. We will be doing missionary training until Thursday and we even get to hike up a mountain. HOORAY! I hope all my friends from back home have been keeping up with my blog, I mean it has only been three days. HA. So yesterday I had chicken foot soup, oh yeah...you heard me right. I had two chicken feet in it but I just scooped them out and put them aside. The soup was actually muy bueno! Today we had worship at 8:30 a.m. and then we went to the market place. I loved the market place!!! I swear that I ran into like twenty people but you just say "Oh per miso". I don't know if that was the right spelling for that word. I went to a little store and asked for bread and Fernando (the man at the store) laughed and said its pan not bread! We got a ton of stares at the market place, I just kept saying "Hola!" We went to a restaurant today for lunch and it was pretty good! I had french fries with cooked onions and some interesting sauce and then rice. There's like a million different kinds of potatoes here. Also, we are 12,800 feet up...talk about being short of breath! Ha, but seriously I really have been. Its soooo cold here at night and in the morning. You can go on top of the building here and look over the whole city so that's pretty cool. I am getting a little nervous about climbing up that mountain on Thursday! Well its 7:40 p.m and I need to read my Bible and some information that the Grady's gave us so I'm off! I will try to update this tomorrow. I found out that we won't have very fast internet connection in Conima so we'll see how much I get to update this. Adios amigos!