Uhhh Huuu!

Well, today was pretty interesting. Actually this whole week has been pretty interesting haha. Okay so yesterday, the Alpacas were gone. Guess what was on the lunch menu yesterday...yep. So also yesterday, Lauren informed me that we did not have school today. I mean its pretty normal not to find out about things until 2.4 seconds before they happen, but I am soo thankful for Lauren cause shes pretty much in the know about things. ha.


Okay so today, school was cancelled because of Earth day. Okay so this is what happened today. They planted a bunch of trees all over the community with one huge tree that they planted at the center of the community known as the ¨peace tree.¨ The kids wrote notes to ¨mother earth¨asking her to forgive them for not taking care of her as they should. The notes were thrown in the hole dug for the peace tree and then a sacrifice of cocoa leaves was made. A boy prayed in Quechua. The tree was placed on top of the notes and I guess all the cocoa leaves and stuff. So yeah. Lot more stuff going on here than we had originally thought...


I spent most of the day in bed trying to recover. I feel fine, but I just dont have a lot of strength. Ill get up and make a cup of coffee and then realize that I need to go lay back down. The medicine that Im taking is pretty strong and it basically wipes out all the bacteria in my intestines, so Im having to take probiotics every 6 hours. 12 more days and I go back to see the doctor for another diagnosis.


 Today was definitely a special gift though. Today was the first day that I have felt well enough to read in bed. I am reading Captivating by Staci and John Eldridge, and the Lord has really been speaking to me about some things in my life. I am reminded that just because I am in a different place, I still have the same problems I had before I left. So today has been for me a lot about dealing with issues from my past that still need to be dealt with. And I dont really want to deal with them, so Im asking God to help me to want to want to deal with them. Because I know they arent just going to go away.


This week has just flown by.

Health Update

Well, my friends, I found out today why I have been so sick. For those of you who don´t know, I have been sick every week that I have been here, and most of it has been stomach stuff. I figured it was just part of getting used to everything, but after having a couple of blood tests done, I found out today that I tested positive for typhoid. You get typhoid from contaminated food / drink. I got the vaccination before left, but it doesn´t ever cover you 100%. I have medicine that I started taking today, and I am going to be fine. It is pretty serious, but because I had the vaccination, I just need to take the meds the dr gave me to kill the bacteria in my intestines I should be back to normal. I am taking probiotics every 6 hours and I am cooking all my own food now...and of course drinking only bottled water. I really am okay, but I would just apprecate your prayers. God was so merciful to let me find this out now, and I am so thankful to know too that I wasn´t crazy this whole time hahaha. I feel fine, but I realize that I´m still sick. I taught all my classes today (except for intesive English tonight) and I have been able to do everything normally for the last couple of days, I just dont have my normal strength, and will try to take it easy for the next couple of weeks. Thank you so much for the prayers. Ill keep you updated.
Much love!

¨I Would Die For You¨

This is a Mercy Me song that I had never heard before and I was on the computer here at the locutorio doing lesson plans and just listening to different songs on YouTube and when I heard this song, I started crying.

And then I looked up the lyrics and read the first comment underneath it and I really started crying even more. Here are the lyrics and I  also posted the comment right under the lyrics. You can listen to it on YouTube here. I dont think Ive heard a song that moved me so much...maybe ever. The lyrics came from a 14 year old kid that died from a deadly infection he picked up while he was on a mission trip in Peru. I had no idea.

http://www.sing365.com/music/lyric.nsf/I-Would-Die-For-You-lyrics-MercyMe/3A3D0D45B74DC7CB4825716A00130D0C
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iQXai_lS9MY&NR=1

I WOULD DIE FOR YOU

And I know that I can find You here


'Cause You promised me You'll always be there

Times like these, it's hard to see

But somehow I have a peace, You're near

And I pray that You will use my life

In whatever way Your name is glorified

Even if surrendering

Means leaving everything behind



My life has never been this clear

Now I know the reason why I'm here

You never know why You're alive

Until you know what you would die for

I would die for You



And I know I don't have much to give

But I promise You I will give You all there is

Can I possibly do less

When through Your own death I live?



No greater love is found

Than of those who lay their own lives down

As sure as I live and breathe

Now I know what it means to be free
 
 
Heres the comment:
 
¨this song was written entirely from BJ Higgins journals. he was a 14 year old boy who went to Peru on a mission trip with Awestar ministries and picked up a deadly virus. when told he was going to die, BJ replied "tell me one downside to that!" amazing attitude! he journeyed back to Peru once more before dying just a few days shy of his 16th birthday. his parents wrote a book called I would die for you. check out BJs story and awestar ministries it will change your life!! god really used this boy! :]¨

Update

Well, the last three days have been pretty interesting. Wednesday night, I ate the infamous hambourgesa pollo (desculpa, mi amigos peruana...my spelling is terrible) and things were not the same after that. After three shots in the butt, blood tests, and a ton of pills, things are a little better. I woke up Thursday morning with body aches, and pretty bad stomach and headaches. And the ever so lovely diareaa and throwing up came too. I am so thankful for a clinic on the campus of the community. Its scary sometimes, because I dont know what is going on, but everything they have done so far has worked. My biggest prayer request is that God will let my body adjust and stop getting sick. This has been the biggest frusteration for me, and it has been the biggest setback. Please pray that God will grant me strength to do what He has ordained beforehand that I should do, and that He will help me to walk in the grace and love of His presence.

So many opportunities are being opened up here to talk with the kids about Jesus and what He did for them on the cross. It is really overwhelming. We can hardly go anywhere without someone coming up and asking Lauren to explain something to them. I am still learning the language, so its not happening to me much yet. It is realy overwhelming, and Lauren and I are praying that God will send more strong Christians here to help. The scripture that says ¨The harvest is pleantiful but the workers are few¨could not be more true. So one of my deepest prayers is that you pray for God to send more people to Ventanilla, Peru. And if you are reading this, and you know God is calling you here, PLEASE COME.

Another story

So one of the girls shared her story with me, and I wanted to post it on here to let you know the kinds of emotional and physcial things these kids are dealing with. I wont mention her name, but I do want to tell you her story.

She is one of eight children, but she told me that two of her siblings died as babies. Shes probably about 13 or so, and she´s the only girl in her family. She and all of her brothers have different dads. She told me that only one of her brothers lives at home, and hes twenty four. I think she said that she lives in the Community with two of her other brothers.  I was sitting on the side of the basketball court after my evening English class, and she came down and sat next to me. She could speak a little English, so we started talking, some in English and some in Spanish. She told me that she wanted some practice with English so we started up a conversation. As we talked, I asked her what she thought about God and if she had a relationship with Him. She told me about an experience last Saturday that she had with God, and then the converstation quickly turned to Spanish as she began to open up heart and tell me about her homelife. She told me that her mom hits her when she goes home, and that the man her mom lives with now abuses her mom. He, or one of the other 8 guys her mom had been with, also had been cutting one of her brothers with a knife. Like cutting his arms. She told me that none of her brothers stand up for her when her mom starts hitting her. She also told me that it is very hard for her to see her mom when her mom comes and visits her at the Community. I can't imagine. She told me that there are many other children with stories like hers that live in this Community.

This girl stayed through half of dinner to tell me her story. She just opened up and was very honest with me, and she told me everything without even shedding a tear. This was just her life.

This is the magnitude of the problems these kids are dealing with. Please pray for them that God will give them the grace to love their families and forgive them as they recover from their hurts. Lauren and I are able to meet many of their parents when they come and visit their kids on Sunday so maybe you should also pray that we won't want to smack them upside the head when we learn about how they've treated these precious kids.

So I just wanted to write a little about what has been going on lately. There is SOO much to tell, but here are a few highlights. Karina and Luis Felipe came to visit for a little while a couple two weekends ago, and it was so much fun. We went to the market down the street, and that was an experience. Seriously. They just have everything right out there for you to see and buy. The chickens are fresh. And you know what I mean by fresh. Ha. And there are about 5 million flies and they come with the food…for free if you want them!! Haha. So yeah but it was fine cause you just wash everything off really good and hope you don’t get sick from the water. So far, no problems. Well, maybe a few, but its okay ;). Okay yeah but in all seriousness, we had a blast. We made Agina de Gallina and I basically don’t know how to spell it, but it was so great. Muy Rico!!!

Luis Felipe, Me, and Karina

Milagros...shes so amazing. Shes lived in Ventanilla her whole life and actually lived at the community and now shes back as a volunteer. We are makin some sweet stuff here. YUMMMMM

Sweet Karina with some of the girls.

This is probably one of my favorite pictures of Lauren. He was just hugging her and hugging her with this huge grin on his face.

Last week, there was a huge fire behind the Community and it burned down two houses. I am so thankful for that it did not come down the hill and burn down the Community. Please keep the families whose houses burned in your prayers.

I have the best job ever...I get to have 730 children that I never birthed and that I dont have to pay for their college. I get to take their pictures and give them hugs and listen to their stories. I love it. These boys are from ABC and they have the responsibility of feeding the alpacas every day. They were SOO funny.

So yeah. Things have been going really really well. There are days that are harder than others, but I absolutely love being here and I am so thankful that the Lord has given me this opportunity. I have been thinking lately about how thankful I am for the other people who made it possible for me to be here, and who have helped me out while I have been here. I do not understand why God is so good to me and why He has blessed me with so many things. I do not deserve it. But thats the most incredible thing about grace and a second chance. I am so thankful for both of those things.

What I am most thankful for is a God who cares enough about me to have a personal relationship with me. I honestly do not how I would do live without Him. I was thinking the other about how life would be without Him and I honestly couldnt imagine it. I am so thankful for His sacrifice on the cross to cover my sins and that He paid the price. I am thankful that He is willing to meet me where I am and that I do not have to work my way into heaven or work my way into his presence. I am so thankful for grace, and that He sustains me, with all my quirks and weirdness. I am so glad He understands me and that He has given me friends who also understand me. I am sooooo blessed.