Puno....

So much has happened and I haven't had time to write! Our Puno group started Bible classes two weeks ago. Don't ask me why, but it hit me in our first class that not only is God the same, yesterday, today and tomorrow, but He is also the same in every language! Yes, I knew this before, but it hit me in class how amazing it is that He is the same, He hears in all languages, He loves people of every type, He has mercy on people in every country, He wants us ALL in His kingdom.

Last weekend we had the opportunity to visit Puno where we will be evangelizing and starting cell groups and churches. I am so grateful God put me in the Puno group for many reasons. While we were in Puno I got so excited and scared for the work ahead. I realized yet again how unequipped I am for this work I have been called to. I go back to the verses I found while preparing to leave the states: Brothers, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth...It is because of Him that you are in Christ Jesus who has become for us wisdom from God - that is our righteousness, holiness and redemption. 1 Corinthians 1:26 & 30 Actually, every day I notice how unprepared and inadequate I am for what God has called me to. But I am grateful we serve a God who fills in our shortcomings with His overflowing capabilities. I'm glad I can't do this on my own otherwise I would try to do it without God and fail.

So let me tell you a little about Puno. It is so beautiful! Not as magnificent as the Rocky Mountains in Colorado, of course, but Puno has a different beauty of its own. The altitude is over 12,000 feet so I will be over two miles high! And to get anywhere from the city center you have to walk up some steep hills. But once you get up the hills, you get a beautiful view of the city and Lake Titicaca. I actually got to row a typical boat made from the Uro people on Lake Titicaca! Here are a couple photos from our trip to the Uros......

The need in Puno is huge. Puno is a huge party and drinking town. In February there is a major fiesta in Puno and the statistic is that there is more beer in the Puno area in the month of February than in all the rest of Peru for a whole year. We did see a drunk man falling down and knocking on doors while walking in the city central at about 4 pm one day while there. And another sad fact about Puno is that their beliefs include more Incan rituals than many other cities in Peru. They still hold onto beliefs from their ancestors and there is one that particularly saddens me. Many of the people in Puno believe that if they need money or want to be rich, they will kill their youngest child and rip out the heart and present it to the spirits in return for money and material possessions. My partner Francisca and I have been praying for God to prepare Puno for our team and our team for Puno. To begin opening the minds, ears and hearts of those in the city for the work we are about to embark on in 4 months. Please join with us in prayer that the people would be ready to turn their lives around and spend their lives in communion with God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit. We want to saturate the city in prayer!

But overall, our trip was great. We had a fun time getting out of Arequipa and being able to see where we will be living and working for almost 2 years. The Uro Islands were beautiful and interesting and as you could see above, I had fun dressing up in typical attire. Also, just walking around the city, getting to know the pastor in Puno and experiencing the city made for a great weekend trip!

And as promised last time, here is the English version of my Spanish story from last time, Tres Deseos….

Three Wishes

I was walking by a lake in Colorado. This lake is very close to my parents house. I always walk to this lake because there is a beautiful view of the mountains. But, one day my walk was different. When I was walking this day, I fell in the street. When I was lying in the street, I noticed there was a lamp beneath a tree. I got up from the street and walked to the tree. I took the lamp and this lamp was very pretty.

I had a headeache and was thinking the lamp was a dream. But the headache went away and the lamp was still in my hands. I carried the lamp to my house and put it on the table. En the evening I always wash the plates after dinner. When I was washing, I heard a noise. The table was shaking and the lamp was missing. The noise came from the living room, so I went to the living room. The living room had a lot of smoke. When the smoke left, there was a Genie in my living room! The Genie told me, “You have three wishes, what do you want?”

When I was a little girls I wanted a white horse so a white horse was my first wish. In one moment the Genie said, “white horse!”. And there was a white horse in my living room! Later, I told the Genie, “I want an airplane”. Again, the Genie said what I wanted and there was an airplane in my garden! I only had un more wish. I thought a lot and finally decided. I told the Genie, “I want all the colors and patterns of high heels in all the world.” One more time, the Genie said what I wanted. I ran to my room and there were all the high heels of the world in my closet! I was the happiest girl in all the world! The Genie told me, “You don’t have any more wishes”. He went back into the magical lamp. I took the lamp with me to the lake and put it beneath the tree again for the next person.

New chapter.....

So I graduated from the Extreme Spanish Institute on Friday! Yaya! And I moved all my stuff two blocks from my Peruvian family's home to the church where I will be living for a month then we are all moving to some apartments two blocks away until January when my team moves to Puno! So two very short distance moves and then one big move! On Monday we start Bible classes in Spanish. Yesterday I helped my partner prepare the Sunday School lesson and today I helped her teach the kiddos about the sabbath and why its important. It was awesome to be involved at church here and to work together as a team with my partner! Everyone has their partners now except Micah. He should be here by Tuesday and our team will be complete!

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In honor of my graduation, here is a little story I wrote in Spanish for homework a couple weeks ago to practice two types of past tense verbs. Try and figure it out then I'll post the English version soon to see how you do! I have the vocabulary knowledge of a first grader so it should be an easy read if you know a few spanish words, haha!

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Tres Deseos

Una vez estuve caminando cerca de un lago en Colorado. Aquel lago estaba muy cerca la casa de mis padres. Yo siempre caminaba a aquel lago por qué había una vista muy bonita de las montanas. Pero, un día mi paseo fue diferente. Cuando estuve caminando este día, caí en la calle. Cuando estuve en la calle, noté que había una lámpara abajo de un árbol. Subí a la calle y caminé al árbol. Tomé la lámpara y esta lámpara era muy bonita.

Tenía un dolor de la cabeza y pensaba la lámpara estuvo en mis sueños. Pero, el dolor de la cabeza se fue y la lámpara estuvo en mis manos todavía. Llevé la lámpara a mi casa y la puse sobre la mesa. En la noche yo siempre lavaba los platos después de cenar. Cuando estuve lavando, oí un ruido. La mesa estuvo temblorosa y la lámpara se perdió. El ruido fue de la sala, entonces fui a la sala. La sala tenía mucho humo. Cuando el humo se perdió, ¡había un genio en mi sala! El genio me dijo, “Tienes tres deseos, ¿Cuál quieres?"

Cuando era niña, quería un caballo blanco, entonces, el caballo blanco fue mi primer deseo. En un momento el genio dijo, “caballo blanco”, ¡y había un caballo blanco en mi sala! Luego, le dije el genio, “quiero un avión”. Otra vez, el genio dijo cual quería ¡y había un avión en mi jardín! Yo solo tenía un deseo más. Pensaba mucho y finalmente decidí. Le dije el genio, “quiero zapatos altos de todos los colores y los estampados del mundo.” Una vez más el genio dijo cual quería. Corrí a mi cuarto y ¡habia todos los zapatos altos del mundo en mi closet! Era la chica más contenta del todas las chicas en el mundo. El genio me dijo: “No tienes más deseos”. El regresó a la lámpara. Llevé la lámpara conmigo al lago y la puse abajo del árbol para la siguiente persona.

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Mi hermanita with her mohawk one morning!

The first of many pictures with my partner, Francesca!

And the first picture of Garren and his partner Jeremias!

My Peruvian mom with the special lunch she made me on Friday for my last meal at their home and to celebrate my graduation. It is now my second favorite Peruvian dish and its so fancy looking!

And my Peruvian Padre ready to devour the yummy food!

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

Empty Bottles.....

So, I was telling my friend Katie Bechtold the other day on Facebook, at this point I feel very much acclimated to my surroundings and so many things in North America are going to be weird to me now. But one thing that struck me the other day was many uses of empty pop bottles here.

So here are the Top Five Uses For Empty Bottles:

# 5 - Use as a refillable bottle, not too strange, we do this in the states. But they do refill the bottles with juice and tea sold on the street corners.

# 4 - So those ladies selling the juice and tea on the street corners are vending their homemade drinks with reused pop bottles. The "2 liter" pop bottles here are actually the size two 2 liter bottles combined in the states. So imagine a large dirty 4 liter pop bottle filled with some ladies homemade tea on the street corner.

# 3 - Refill the large "4 liter" bottles with household items such as cleaning solutions, liquid garden fertilizer, or oil. Take your pick!

# 2 - Many times I have seen children kicking around an empty pop bottle like a soccer ball. No need to buy the kid a soccer ball for his birthday, just get a pop, drink it, and give him the empty remains as a toy. The kids will have fun for hours. (Much like cardboard boxes in the states! Forget about the toy; just give the kid the box!)

And my favorite use for empty pop bottles in Peru.....

# 1 - Take a large, empty (of course), 4 liter bottle and bang it against the wall at your work while you are on strike. It's actually quite a good noise maker and annoying for all those around!

Obviously, this is a whole different country with a different culture and ways of doing things. I just thought you would like my list of interesting ways to use empty pop bottles so you all can get the trend started in the states. But really, there are so many things we can learn from each other! For example, reusing these pop bottles seems silly at times but how resourceful! In the states I know I jump at the chance to buy something new I "need". One of my favorite quotes from "What About Bob" is: "Gimmie, gimmie, gimmie, I NEED, I NEED, I'm doing the work, I'm not a slacker!" Just ask my Dad, I quote this to him all the time! Well, I'm learning to live in a more simplistic and resourceful way and I'm excited to see what else this culture has to teach me!

Here is a video of a little piece of a mercado here in town. This market is huge! My friends (Garren & Trevor) and I had fun walking around the market especially in this Pet Store. Oh wait, its not a pet store, its a grocery store! Haha! Another cultural difference!

Expectations.....

So I have procrastinated writing what is really on my heart lately because I don’t even understand what is going on in my mind and my heart! My favorite verse the past few weeks has been Psalm 147:5 (MSG) “Our Lord is great, with limitless strength; we’ll never comprehend what He knows and does.” These past two months I have been in Peru I can honestly say I don’t understand what is going on but that I am trying everyday to trust God knows and that I don’t need to comprehend the situation but to only trust in His greatness and strength.

So let me give you a short version on what has gone on….out of six positions available in Tacna (the city I’m headed to after training to plant churches) only two of them are filled. We have had three people back out and head home or decide not to come. So we haven’t even started the church planting process and have already lost more than half of our team. This is very sad for all of us as that means we have less forces working with us in Tacna to reap the harvest for God’s Kingdom. I also am very sad about this in a very selfish manner as I am much younger than everyone else on my team. I came into this expecting to be with a bunch of people my age and now I am half the age of the North American’s on my team by 24 years. Ahhhh, expectations. Katie Hooks teaches in New Orleans to throw expectations out the window and boy was she right!

So I have been reading in 1 Samuel and I feel connected with David after he kills Goliath. David trusts in God and through his willingness to be used, he is able to kill Goliath. That’s really all of the story we ever learn in Sunday School. But what comes next I feel is the real trial. Saul is jealous and wants to kill David. God rescues David from Saul once and then Saul comes at him again. So David must flee. Don’t get me wrong, I’m NOT leaving Peru! But I feel as though I connect with David in that I thought coming to Peru and putting my faith in action by actually moving here (my Goliath) was going to be the biggest and hardest thing. Yes, I had to trust God to come down here but now I am facing the real test of faith. Now I have the devil coming at me with all these changes in my expectations and I got over one change, trusting in God to work everything out and being okay with my new circumstance. Then I experience another change, then another, then another. I feel like David, God rescues me from one situation only to face another right after. This is how life works, but I guess I didn’t expect to be going through so much in such a short period of time.

So, anyway, my cluster mom, Tricia, called me last night and said she had read a verse yesterday morning in Psalm 31. Psalm 31:15a – My times are in your hands. Or in The Message it says, “Hour by hour I place my days in your hand.” So I decided to read all of Psalm 31 to see what I could glean from this chapter. And what do I find, it’s a Psalm of David! Ha! I love it how God puts everything together! So in this Psalm, David first is asking for God to rescue him, probably from Saul the first time. Then God sends help and rescues him. Then David prays for help again and God sends help again! So the whole chapter is on exactly what I have been feeling connected with in David’s life. Facing one trauma right after another and God keeps sending help and comfort.

And as I found out yesterday who my Peruvian partner is and she is not what I had expected or been praying for…..I know that my expectations are out the window and I am crying to God, “I’ve put my life in your hands. You won’t drop me, you’ll never let me down.” (Psalm 31:5 MSG) “Desperate, I throw myself on you; you are my God! Hour by hour I place my days in your hands.” (Psalm 31:14-15a MSG) God will take care of me and I just need to keep trusting He knows the best path and He is good and faithful to His servants. Therefore, no more expectations!

Randomness.....

Here are a few fun things I thought I would share with everyone.....

Funny Spanish

The spanish language makes me laugh sometimes. For example, I think its hilarious that the word for married (casado) is very close to the word for tired (cansado). So I guess if you are married, you are tired, which I think many of you would agree! And then, while I was talking to a friend about this, she was kind enough to point out that the word for wife (esposa) is incredibly similar to the work handcuffs (esposas). So I guess the phrase "ball and chain" does translate in a way! haha! Also, this is for you Kim! The word for boss is jefe, or for a female, jefa. When jefa is prounounced, I think it sounds a lot like heffer! Haha!

Flying Sopa

So here's a little story.....one night I was eating soup (sopa) for dinner with my Peruvian family and roommate, Ashley. An in their soup they like to put vegtables which I love! They have this awesome huge corn that is so yummy! The problem is, they put a whole piece of corn in the soups. So as I am trying to eat this corn off the cob in the middle of a soupy puddle in my bowl, I gave up and decided to use my fingers to get the large corn kernels off the cob. This was going fine and my family did not mind me using my hands in my soup. But then, one piece was quite difficult and slippery and as I was trying to remove the kernel it came free but then slipped out of my hand and flew across the room. haha! We were all laughing so hard! So I got up from my seat at the table and tried to find the large kernel I flung across the room. I couldn't find it anywhere! So my father in Peru, Cristobal, got up and looked with me while we were still laughing. He couldn't find it either and finally he moved the couch and it was under the couch in the living room!

Bajo Esquina

And here's another fun story.......For Love Extreme all the 40/40's from all over Peru came to Arequipa to help out with the MegaEvent. I was leaving the church and heading to Zamocola (basically a suburb of Arequipa) where I live with some of the Peruvian 40/40's from the jungle. We all hopped onto a combi (public bus/van transportation thingy) going to Zamocola So these girls had only been in Arequipa for a few days and they didn't know how to get back to where they were staying. But I live in Zamocola very close to where they were staying so I knew the way. When you are on a combi, to get off you say bajo (I get down). If you want to get off on the corner you say bajo esquina. I ride combi's everyday to school so I am quite used to the routine. So anyway, a bunch of Peruvian 40/40's and I were on the combi and when it was time for us to get off I yelled out bajo esquina for all of us. The girls thought this was hilarious as everyone in the combi looked at me and the girls told me they were probably all thinking how weird that this gringa chick is yelling bajo for all these Peruvians who don't know the way. The girls have talked about this incident and laughed for over a week now. And everytime I see them they say, bajo esquina!


Heaven in Peru

Here is a video of heaven in Peru! I also will soon be posting a video of one of our spanish classes. Those of you who use facebook, I have had some time this week to add photos and my friend has posted the other video I wanted to share with you all. So if you don't have any patience, you can go to my facebook page and click videos to watch the other one or go to my pictures to see what I have been up to!

Mi Hermanita

The Peruvian family I live with has a little girl, also named Kristin, que casualidad! (my favorite phrase in spanish, it means, what a coincidence). Kristin is five months old and within the past week or so has found her voice. Here is a link to some videos we took of her making noises after dinner the other night. She is so cute, its worth watching!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RC6PTvP6GZ8

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HY8IRHjCqyc

Trevor's Blog

My friend and fellow 40/40, Trevor, has an awesome blog on our recent cooking class in spanish school. He has pictures, recepies and a video of our desert! Check it out at the link below. Our food turned out wonderful and we had a fun time while learning the culture and some new words.

http://www.trevorinperu.blogspot.com/

Smarties

Oh yeah, and one more random thing....my cluster support mom, Tricia found Smarties here! But they are like mini m&m's, not smarties at all. hehe!

And now you know why I titled this.....Randomness! hehe!

Photos......

Beautiful architecture of Arequipa

An amazing sunset from our Creator.

My laundry out to dry.

Ashley & my bedroom. My bed is the messy one, go figure.

My awesome closet space!

Garren, Trevor and I at a beautiful vista, but I look really short!

Ashley and I with our 13 soles towels.

The boys and I on a combi.