United.....

Yay, I have some exciting news! So a little while ago I blogged about my frustrations with how things were going and that I needed to stop having expectations when I pray to God. I have been leaning on the verse, "If we ask anything according to His Will, He hears us, and if we know that He hears us, we know that we have what we've asked of Him." And I was praying to God, asking and expecting Him to answer my prayers in the ways I had planned out. Ha! You would think I would know this by now, but I'm a slow learner! I found this quote online last week, "Prayer should not be seen as our means of getting God to do our will on earth, but rather as a means of getting God's will done on earth." duh!

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So, now on to the exciting news. Although I love everyone on my Tacna team, I was frustrated with dynamics of my team headed to Tacna. I was frustrated we've had so many people leave already, and we were left with a small group, and our age differences were so large. So I prayed. But like I said, I prayed for God to answer this dilemma in my way, I was praying for a Peruvian partner close to my age, someone I click with right away and I had an image formed in my head. Well, luckily God didn't listen to me because His plan is way better, of course! God provided me with a sweet gal to be my Peruvian partner and she is at least 10 years older than me and is not what I had pictured at all. But like I said, that's a good thing! My plan is always wrong anyway so I know that I have been blessed with an awesome partner and I look forward to our, as we call it down here, "arranged marriage".

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But there's more good news....because the Tacna group was so small and the Puno group was small as well, Extreme decided to combine the groups....we are all going to Puno! This is super exciting because I have made great friends with everyone on the Puno group, Trevor, Garren and Micah (my fellow 40/40's) and the cluster support family, the Duerre's (Chad, Amanda, Ella and Thomas). I am sad to be leaving behind my previous cluster support family, Tricia and Lindy, as we have grown close. But they will still be in Peru and will take a team to Tacna in about a year.

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So this week is quite important to our group. The announcement was made just yesterday that Roy and I would be joining the Puno group, so that is a big change. Also we have some drastic changes coming up in the next few days. Tomorrow is our last day of Spanish class and we have a graduation on Friday! Wow! I am definitely not fluent and won't be for about two years, haha! But I can get by and I'm excited to learn more and improve every day. But that's not it; we have two other large changes happening this weekend. We will all meet our Peruvian partners. I have technically met mine but this is not typical and the guys have not met their partners yet. So we will be adding five more people (five Peruvian partners for our five North Americans) to our group. And we are all moving to Zamacola Iglesia del Nazareno. Zamacola is a church building with rooms for the 40/40's, one for girls and one for guys. Right now I have a whole bedroom and wall of closet space to myself and I live with a Peruvian family who has become family to me. So leaving all this to live with 13 other girls in one large room, cold showers, a curfew, and washing clothes by hand will be a big change. Also, we start college level Bible classes in Spanish on Monday!

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Soooooo, we have many changes coming up! Please pray for our group that we would truly unite and stand strong against any attempts to break our unity in Christ during all these changes and the emotions that are sure to come with change. Our group is quite close and united but with all that is to come very soon, this opens up a great opportunity for God to use us and stretch us in preparation for the work ahead. And therefore we are anticipating spiritual warfare. But through our Father and your prayers, we are confident we can overcome any obstacles and stand strong because of our unity with our Savior at the center.

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May the God who gives endurance and encouragement give you a spirit of unity among yourselves as you follow Christ Jesus, so that with one heart and one mouth, you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Romans 15:5-6

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Pictures of Cohort 4.......

We are all going to Puno except our beloved Tricia and Lindy as explained above.....

Tricia and Lindy at the beach

Movie night with the boys (me, Garren, Trevor & Micah)

Roy and Micah in Florida during orientation

Amanda Duerre and Thomas at dinner in Mollendo

Chad so proud of his coloring!

Ella Bella and Tickelish Thomas with all our carry-on luggage in Houston