Una Visión

We went to Puno to find a house this weekend.  And we had a task at hand, for sure.  We searched for a day and got nothing, then another and still nothing promising.  Seven people left, but some of us stayed to look some more.  On the third day of looking, we were able to make a deal and get a house.  I don’t actually have a picture of it though…oh and did I mention we didn’t actually see inside where we’d be living.  It’s kind of a long story, but after a lot of faith in the pastor and just an overall sense of peace, we made a deal.  We made a deal to rent a house of 2 floors for 3 months.  That way we’d have somewhere to land in Puno.  We also only signed for three months to give us the option to find somewhere else, if this place doesn’t work.

 

That’s all well and good, buuuut more interestingly, I had a revelation or however you call, it this weekend.

 

So on the way to Puno, we pass through the city of Juliaca.  Now Juliaca is bigger than Puno and even has it’s own airport and it’s about an hour from Puno.  It’s actually a really ugly city.  It’s in the middle of nowhere and it looks like no one finishes any building.  It’s just dirty overall, but it is home to the factory of the world's best coffee. I had been thinking about Juliaca earlier in the week, and even looked up on Extreme’s website if it was going to be a district.  I watched the video online about Juliaca, and well just set it aside.

On our way up, we passed through Juliaca and I had this burning feeling for the city of Juliaca.  Almost a burden for the city, but impossible to explain.

Cool.  Well, later that night my partner Geremías comes up to me and says, “Hey you know I was talking to this lady today and she was from Juliaca.  She was a really nice woman and I was just wondering if anyone will be working there in Juliaca.”  I said, “Waaait, have you been thinking about Juliaca today?”  He said that he had been, and I explained to him the story I just shared above.  Crazy?  We decided that we’d pray about it and ask for direction.

It keeps going.  The four who stayed, went back on Wednesday morning.  On our way back, I had a vision.  The first one in my life, that I can recall.  I didn’t really know what to call it, or that it was a vision until I was explaining to Chad what had happened.  Then he was like, “So you had a vision.”  Anyways, we were on our way back, about thirty minutes outside the city going through this district called Paucarcolla.  A tiny mud hut town of about, my guess of, 1000 farmers of cows and alpacas and stuff (more animals than people.)  Well, we were going through it and I saw myself living there.  Whaaaat? Living there?  I saw my partner and I building a mud brick house, with tin roof.  And living there, with the people.  100% immersed, 100% showing them what it is to be a Christian through actions, not just words.

One of my friends here was telling me a story about how he was working with people, showing them what it is to serve.  He said, “If we’re just simply telling people about the gospel, not showing them and loving them into a relationship with God, we’re nothing more than the Mormons or Jehovah’s witnesses.”  Very true, I had known this before but not really put it into words.

It’s all an answer to prayer, because in reality, I have been stressing which districts would be for best…which should I choose?  Well it only makes sense that they would choose me, isn’t that the best way anyways?  More prayer, fasting, and I’m sure I’ll be confirmed about these districts.

On a side note, we were actually able to experience weather in Puno.  99% here in Arequipa has been the same.  While we were there it rained, it poured, and it hailed, too.

Psalms 91 --- Click It!

So Thankful

The important thing here is that to be thankful shouldn’t be limited to today. But everyday.  It seems impossible, but one day a year also should seem impossible.

Being down here has given light to many things and has made me more thankful than ever.  That is no understatement, I have never more thankful for the things I have than now.  I have compiled a list of things in which I am thankful.  The majority of these things I don’t have, and that is why I am so thankful for them.

Family.  The importance of family is revealed to me everyday.  I have realized this upon building a new family, and being away from my own.

Cars.  More specifically, my own car.  The complete luxury it is to be able to hop in your own, and go exactly where you want.

Silence.  Is golden.  And I would like a day of silence for my birthday.

Alone time.  Always being with someone is not good.  It makes someone who normally sleeps in get up an hour before everyone else.

My own space.  I once had a Garren space, and I didn’t realize how awesome it was (not because I was in it) because it was my own.  It didn’t smell bad, it smelt Garren.  It was always just the way I liked it.

Not cars.  I’ve lived without the constant sound, smell of cars for my entire life.  The roar and odor of 3rd world country cars has made me wish for the country.

The weather.  More specifically, the changing weather.  Rain. Snow.  Cold. Hot. Humid.  It’s nice to throw a little bit of variety in there.  (Oh what I’d do for a thunderstorm.)

The weather.  More specifically, the constant, perfect weather.  I’m so thankful for a 75 and sunny type of climate.  I never knew I would love it that much.

Friends.  I’m thankful they come in all shapes and sizes, and that has helped me a lot.  Since being down here I’m thankful that God has shown me who my real friends are, who I consider my real friends, and how much I truly love them (those in the States, and here.)

Money.  I am so thankful for money, and the fact that I have it.  Being reduced to the monthly allowance has really tried me and forced me to adjust.

The Bible.  Got so much to rely on with this one, and so much to be thankful for.  I wouldn’t be here without it.

Food.  Who ate food before? Not me.  But now I am thankful for every type and the time/hard work it takes to put it all together.

Being able to communicate.  Without having to think.  Being able to talk to the clerk or the neighbor without hesitance.  Being able to express your absolute true feelings and thoughts.  That doesn’t come easy when you have to start from the bottom up.

Cardboard.  Moreover, the stuff I get in the 6 sides of cardboard.  Always so thankful for the stuff you send and the care you have.

Fall.  Autumn.  Otoño.  Without it, everything is…the same.

Computers.  I can’t imagine doing the work I do without being able to stay connected with my family and friends back home.

The Fridge.  Countless times I used to walk over to the fridge, open it up, look up and down.  Then 50% I would close it, and the other 50% I’d get something out.  That is soooo luxurious.

Wal-Mart.  Being able to go there.  Being able to go there, have everything you need, and not having to talk to anyone.  Them having the lowest prices, where here the equivalent of Wal-Mart (I use equivalent lightly), have the higher prices as compared to the markets (which smell great, bppppt.)

The Ol’ Any Time Shower.  Or not having to have the sun to be out to get a shower, a warm shower at least.  Cold ones are always available.

Dishwasher.  Put the plate in, done.

Music.  Music. Music.  Being able to play it loud in my car.  Being able to play it.

Carpet.  Soft, fluffy, warm.  My feet long for the feel of carpet.

Grass. To go along with carpet, but outside.

Much more.  The small stuff.  The stuff I never used to think about.  That’s what gets me.

I am so blessed to be here.  This is an amazing opportunity, and all those little things that I miss that I mentioned above don’t add up to be even close to the job I get to do on a daily basis.  I ran into some missionaries from South Afrika.  They said we have “greatest job in the world.”  Without a doubt.  I can’t be more thankful than this opportunity I have.  It truly is the greatest blessing.

Both Extremes

Not much going on lately.  We’ve been in school and just recently have had a break from it.  Tomorrow we’re going to Lima to get the process started of getting our residency cards (holla!) which is going to be really exciting.  I’ll be bonafide Peruvian coming up here before the years end.

 

The main entry of this blog comes from two stories that I think you might find interesting.  These stories spawn from almost opposite ends of the spectrum, so including them in one blog post makes perfect sense.

 

So a little over a week ago Roy, Nelson (the Peruvian partner of Micah), and I were sick of being in the house, so we took off downtown to get some ice cream and music.  We were walking by the main plaza and turned a corner.  We were in a very touristy section of town, with a fair amount of people.  About 100 feet after we turned the corner, this huge hairy man came running at us screaming.  He was babbling, screaming, and spitting nonsense right at our face.  It’s not like anything I can explain, but much easier to show.  He wasn’t babbling Spanish, he wasn’t screaming English, but now (afterwards) I realize that it was demon. 

So this guy picks us out, out of all of these people.  At the time, I thought it was because we were gringos and didn’t think too much about why us.  I looked at him, and was like what the heck and continued my pace.  But then he followed us.  Oh no, now it gets to the point: what do I do?  Nelson veered off to the right to go into a store and I kept pace, still.  A couple steps later I didn’t here him anymore.  I looked behind me and saw Roy walking back to me.  Roy was like, “Duuude, that guy was all up in my face spitting and everything and I started to quote Bible verses and say ‘Jesus, Jesus I rebuke you’ and the dude took off running.”  We had just had an encounter with a possessed dude.  As soon as I saw Roy coming back to me and he had that look on his face, I knew that this guy had demons.  I mean, I can’t explain that even 50% correct.  It was like nothing I’ve never encountered.  And I’m so glad it happened early on in the process because now I know how to handle it.  But man, after that, Nelson, Roy, and I had some good laughs about what we’ll do if we meet him again.

So the other story is quite different as I said, and as you’ll see.  Our support family told our group that we should do a group fast today and use our lunch money to help somebody somehow.  My Peruvian partner and I decided that we wanted to go to a place that we had never been before on a bus that we had never been on.  And that we did.  And we ended up in the middle of nowhere.  I wish I would've brought my camera.  It was like the desert, with these stone walls that were people’s houses.  My partner wanted to get off at a market if possible, but there was none.  No market.  Which is saying a lot, because these people live in markets.  So we got off on a dust road and my partner says, “What are we going to do here??”  Well I had no idea, but he didn’t need to know that. 

We saw a person off in the distance and headed that way, towards humanity.  This lady we saw, stared us down up until the point in which we asked her if there was a market around.  She said no, then wanted to know what we were looking for and said that there are small stores.  She asked what our business was here and I told her what we were here for and what we were doing.  My partner went off saying what we believe and stuff (which annoyed me to a point.)  I told her we just wanted to know if there was anything we could to help her.  She didn’t understand what we meant by that.  I mean who helps other people?  She took us to the little store, which was a little odd because she could’ve just told us where it was.  I kept asking her if she needed anything, and even threw in some suggestions.  She wanted something, I could tell, but she didn’t want to say.  It wasn’t too hard to arrive to the conclusion that she, Sovina was her name, wanted oil.  So we bought her some vegetable oil and some evaporated milk.  Ooooh, she smiled and grabbed the food and took us to her home to meet her husband (after all, I was from the great United States and we just bought her some groceries.)  We went back, met her husband and got to talking with them.  They said that they wanted to come to church to visit us.  It was so good to make a contact for the other missionaries in this town, although I still don’t know who would take over in this place.

We took off after that, and walked around a bit more.  The idea came to me to collect plastic bottles for Sovina, because that was her job.  She goes around and collects plastic bottles and sells them back to the recycling plant.  That’s her living.  So instead of throwing mine away, I’ll definitely be collecting them within our house and stuff.  They also told us to come visit them again.  I’m going to Lima but after that we’re going to go visit them, bring them some bottles and possibly a Bible.

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All Moved In

I hope you like the new creepy Halloween theme of the blog.  No worries, I'll change it after.


So we moved into our new house on Saturday, and it was quite a chore.  The beds we were using were metal triple bunks, and they couldn’t fit in to our new rooms.  So we had to disassemble them first.  Then bring them down 2 floors to cut, weld, and reassemble them.  Then from there, we brought them 2 blocks down the road to our new apartment.  Re-disassemble them to get them through the bedroom doors, then re-reassemble them inside the rooms.  Ay ay ay, that was the worst part.  While we were doing that we also were bringing (by foot, and pickup truck) loads of our stuff.  It was an all day thing, I went from 6:45 in the morning to about 5:30 at night. 
One bonus, I got to drive the truck!  And it was stick, which was even greater of a bonus.  I was super nervous because I haven’t driven in 5 months, let alone stick in like a year.

I’ll explain the pictures above:
Top left: The second floor dining and hang out area, which is the girls floor.
Top right: Our view from the second floor, where they are constructing a mega complex with a pool and everything.
Middle left: They guys hang out area, now complete with entertainment system.
Middle right:  My bed that I like to be covered, because it blocks a lot of stuff out when I’m sleeping.
Bottom left:  Our armoires in our room, my whole life fits in one.
Bottom right:  Our laundry room, go DragonBall Z Towel!

Our spirits are up, you must know that.  To be in a building that is like a home, and not like a dorm setting inside of a church gives me a feeling of comfort.  To be part of a community and not locked away inside our own little world.  We have our own little pad, own kitchen, and I only share a room with three other guys.  It’s too bad we’ll only be here for a month and a half though, because we’ll be graduating soon from school also.

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You Got Change?

One of the hardest concepts to wrap my head around comes from Romans 13: Submission to authorities.  Ughhh baarff.  I had talked about this to Roy about two months ago.  We had a good conversation and Roy told me that what the passage says is what it means to say, no way around it and I wasn’t taking it in wrong.  Paul explains that any authority is God-given and we must obey it.  It’s impossible to comprehend when the person in authority doesn’t do things that you agree with.  It’s a lot easier said than done.  Why am I saying this?

I will be frank, this week Extreme sent home a 40/40 in another cohort based on various things and I do not agree with that decision that was made.  I wanted to revolt, I wanted to pull an “A Bug’s Life” move like on the grasshoppers, I wanted to stand up for myself and what I believed to be right.  It made me mad, and it kept on bringing me back to Romans 13.  So I ripped that chapter out and now it doesn’t count. Joke.  Submit, submit, submit.  I didn’t want to, I didn’t agree with that decision but the best thing that I could do was to do what was plainly in front of me.  One of the ways I study the Bible is going through a bunch of steps that I have made every time I read.  You know what the last step says?  LIVE IT.  And I then noted that to be the most important step.  Nooooo, I trapped myself.  While I still don’t agree with the decision nor the way they handled it, I take into account many things including that I don’t know the whole story.  And it gives me a peace to arrive at this decision.  Though throwing fists might give me peace equally as much.

This week also, we say goodbye to Cohort 3.  Or say a half-goodbye.  They finish school this week and head off to be full time.  Congratulations to them!  A part of them go to Cuzco and the other part gets to stay here with me (hence “half-goodbye.”)  So we’re going to have more room around here, more room for all of our tons of stuff.  I am seriously excited to see what they do while we’re still in school.  They will be working full time and I am excited to see what they sow.

With the departure of Cuzco, we are moving to the other apartment.  Pics will be posted once we move in.  To be honest, I am so-so about the move.  I’d just rather stay here and tough it out for 2 more months before leaving for Puno.  But it doesn’t matter because we’ll be moving and it’ll be just fine, probably better.

One final note, I am climbing this lady:

Volcan Misti.  The wife of Chachani.  Around Thanksgiving I will be summiting, and not submiting to this volcano (inactive.)  That’s a blog post I’m super excited about writing.  I’ve been running to get my lungs in shape to make this easier.  Just a thought to look forward to.

Click here.  Haz clic aqui.

House and Hearts Hunting

We recently went to Puno to check out houses/apartments for us to live.  Above is the manner in which they advertise: boards and boards full of advertisements.  They have a deal here in Peru called anticresis.  What it means is, for example, we would pay $10,000 to a renter to live in a house for two years.  At the end of the two years we get our money back and the renter would get his land back.  A win-win situation because the renter gets a non interest loan and we would get a place to live, with only the loss of interest, for two years.


So this is the first one that we checked out with the anticresis deal, so you can see what kind of business we’re in.  This was actually in a pretty run down ghetto area but right in the center of town.  And we all know that location, location, location are the three most important things.  It was too small and still not finished, so it was easy to turn down.
Other than that, we couldn’t find any other anticresis deals that would be suitable for fourteen people.  We went to check for rentals, letting the pastor know that he has to keep his eyes out in Puno for an anticresis.

The leading candidate for apartment is the one pictured below.  It was two separate apartments behind the same gate.  One with two floors and the other with five.  I have various pictures of what would be the guys’ apartment.


























Well that’s the business side of things.  We actually had a great experience while we were down here.  It reads as follows on the Extreme website…

“We have a praise from the city of Puno!  We recently traveled out to Puno to look for some prospective living places and to get to know the city better.  During some of our free time, we decided to explore the city.  From our explorations, we discovered the most authentic “Punonian” souvenir shop!  Garren and Roy initially discovered it, and then Kristen, Francisca and I met them there.  By the time we had gotten there, Garren, in an attempt to get a discount on a hat, had told the store owner that we were missionaries working in Puno to plant churches.
The store owner, Hector, showed immediate interest and started asking more questions about what we were doing there.  Francisca, being our only native Spanish speaker there, took the opportunity to share more about who we are and what we believe.  Then, she asked him if he was ready to make a decision to give his life to Christ.  There was no hesitation. He immediately said yes as he wiped away tears.  We gathered around him, and Francisca led him through the sinner’s prayer.  Afterward, we were joyful and shared more with him about our Christian walk and tried to feed him spiritually as much as we could in the short time we were there.
I think one of the most amazing things is how he shared how he had been looking for the truth in other religions.  He had gone to Seventh Day Adventist, Mormon, and Living Water churches, but he didn’t find what his heart we looking for there.  He told us that he could feel God’s presence with us.  Then, I think the most amazing thing is that he told us he never has his shop open in the mornings… and that he knew that that day he needed to open his shop.  I told him God had a plan and wanted him to come to him that day!
We gave him the address to the local Nazarene church in Puno, took down his information, and gave it to the Pastor.  Pastor Herman said he would be in contact with him!
We are all blown away with this blessing.  Not only was it awesome to see this man come to Christ, but also to see how God is preparing Puno for us before we are even there!  His hand is working, cultivating the hearts of these people. It is so encouraging to see the evidence.  Praise the Lord!  He is so GOOD!  Keep praying!  The Lord is listening!”

…what was crazy was how much God it was.  It was nuts because the shop wasn’t supposed to be open, and that for some reason I picked that shop.  I told Roy I wanted to go buy a hat, so we headed on our way to the touristy area of town.  He had a few suggestions for stores but I kept saying no, and told him I wanted to go around the corner and down a little ways to see the shops there.  I don’t know why I turned down those shops at the time, but obviously now I know.  It was also God that everybody else showed up right at the time I was talking to the store owner about missions.  Fransisca told me that she noted his interest in the subject and she took over the conversation. Crazy!

Quick note: They’re obsessed with slides in Puno, and I’m chillin with some kids who only know one word: Hola.
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The New Normal

Normality, how……boring.  Well I can’t say that a day here is boring.  By no means am I bored, because I know what to do with my free time.  I’m easily always doing something, and when I have nothing to do…I further my studies in the Bible, to get to know my Boss better.  The saying here at Zamacola is:

“Either you’re overwhelmed or you’re bored. There is no middle.”

That can be true, but I’m in South America for only two years.  I can’t let that happen.

Normality, how……intriguing.  The new normal me is a completely different normal. I’ve changed so much since being here.  These are only the things that I am self aware of, who knows the things that others observe:

What legalism I had, is gone.  Having seen what legalism does to people made me self aware of what I thought.  Now in comparison, the amount I had and the amount I see on a daily basis are worlds apart.

A dedicated time of devotion.  Before, I would not have a set schedule but I would get my daily readings in.  Now, first thing in the morning is my devoted time.  A day without it is literally hell because of the spiritual warfare.

I wake up sooo early.  Some days I am the first up.  You get so much more done.

I like eggs.  Vegetables. Meat. Sauce.  It all.  There are some things I don’t mind and wouldn’t choose, but I will eat.  Before, I used to think how in the world would anyone put an egg in their mouth.  Now, I make two huevos fritos for myself daily.

I would say I was on the more cold side of things before coming here.  Now I feel so much love for others.  Before stuff was just a fact of life, now it’s how can I help this or that person.

My Spanish, of course.  I am picking it up so well.  I truly think it is an answer to my daily prayers, I can only give the credit where it is due.  I understand about 90% of what the professor says in class and my tongue is improving every day.  I talk with confidence most of the time and am not afraid to start a conversation with someone on the street.  I always secretly hope that people will talk with me on combis and stuff so I can tell them who I am.

I have such a grateful heart.  I am thankful for things that you cannot realize you have unless they are take away.  I see materials in a completely different aspect, including money.  For example. Imagine you need to go somewhere across the city.  Let’s say 15 minutes away by car.  You don’t just walk out to your car and hop in it.  You go to the end of your driveway.  Wait there while a ton of buses buzz by with names of districts on the front of them.  You pick the one that you need and hop on it as fast as you can because about 20 other people are thinking the same thing you are.  You’re in.  You’re packed in.  You didn’t get to be the lucky one and you standing, squished.  Of course this bus doesn’t take the direct route to your destination.  In fact it doesn’t go exactly there at all.  It goes relatively there and you have to walk there.  This takes and hour, and you’re standing.  More people are getting on, and actually hanging out because it’s so packed.

I didn’t mind it at first, for the first couple of months.  But now it’s such a pain.  It makes me wish that Carlos was down here with me.  If you just want to go to the grocery store, you have to go through this hassle (well it doesn’t take an hour, but it’s also only 4 or 5 minutes by car.)

The new normal, for me, is actually the new awesome.  You thought I was awesome before, well you were being deceived by my awesomeness.  Now I am truly awesome, and will only excrete more awesomeness to others.

Be in prayer for me, as they always help.  My awesomeness took a hit this week as I really felt the spiritually warfare.  Somebody doesn’t want me to be here, and I felt like I went into a slight depression.  It’s tough, but it’s also good to know.  It means I’m doing the right things.

Taking Puno by Iron Puño

If posts were hills this one might be a mountain.  There are a lot of pictures so remember that you can make them pretty huge if you click on them, just saying.

The opportunity to go to Puno was absolutely incredible.  We were able to be tourists with nothing holding us back, and oh boy did we go at it.  We went to be able to get to know the city and just experience where we’ll be living for almost two years.  I almost pee my pants when I say that.  This city is absolutely it’s own culture and to be able to have the chance to live in it just blows my mind.  Everyone needs to see this city, probably.

We came by bus, which only cost 15 soles for a 6 hour journey.  The trip there in itself was awesome.  Down below in the photographs you can see a herd of wild alpaca.  That’s neat-o.  We came around a turn and boom there was this city on the side of the mountains.  We arrived at night, so where the lights in the city ended is where the lake started.  The city seemed to be positioned next to the lake with a mountain right in the middle of the city.  When you’re in any given area of the city, there’s more you can’t see because it has a mountain right in the middle.  You have to remember how big Lake Titicaca is though.  We can only see about 1/15 of it because Puno is located on a bay.  But this lake is massive.  Its an all day boat ride just to get across it.

We met the pastor of the Naz church there, ate dinner at his house around 9, and then stayed at a gangster hotel.  I got up the next morning to look out the window to a mountainous landscape that is significantly greener than Arequipa.  It does look a tad Mediterranean.  From there, after breakfast we went to the floating islands in Lake Titicaca.

Now this is insane.  These people build up reeds and live there with their families on them.  Most of them go home at night after the tourism is over but some of the actually live there.  It was probably top 10 coolest things I’ve ever seen in my life.  Down at the bottom, I’ve placed a panoramic of one of the islands that we visited.  We got a little lecture of how they build them.  On the “capital” island (as the owner of the “supermarket” calls it,) I bought an alpaca sweater/hoodie thing in order to satisfy my tourist needs.  I found out later that I overpaid a little, but heck, I bought it on a floating island.

The pictures down below:

Upper left: Wild alpaca.

Upper right: A field in the lake with a little calf.

Bottom left: One of the floating islands that we passed.

Bottom right:  The squishy ground of the island.

So that was our day Saturday, except for a pretty energetic teen service a the church, and the hilarious presentation by our Peruvians.  On Sunday, Roy, Trevor, and I headed out to hit the town to see what’s up.  We found a cute little market with the sweetest old ladies ever.  Roy had them going, and we told them that he is single.  We decided to go up to the condor (TO THE CONDOR!) which over looks the city.  On the way, we ran into Chad and he came with also.  It’s quite the hike trust me.  Remember that Puno is at 12,000 feet above sea level, and we had to climb 600 something steps.  Those steps you see in the picture are about 1/3 of what’s actually there.  The other 2/3’s are behind us.  We stopped about every 100 steps and talked about the “most hillbilly things we’ve ever done.”  Roy won that conversation.  Well it was super hard but super worth it.  Now remember, this is my tourist weekend so if you’re thinking that this sounds kind of “fun,” you’d be right.  It was a blast.  Down below you can see a the condor overlooking the city.  When we arrived at the top, it was kind of surreal.  There was one of those old ladies selling candy.  I named here Athena, because she was at her temple at the top of the city.  Of course we all bought something from her.

So, I bought an alpaca sweater, and two hats.  The classic, originally made in Puno hat, and just my first Peru sag hat.  They’re pretty balling.  The weather’s not bad at all in Puno.  It gets real chilly at night but other than that it was nice.  The black and white pic is of the catholic church downtown, which was not too far from our hotel.

Well that is about as touristy as I get, I kind of felt annoying being a tourist.  I’m really glad it’s out of the way and I’m super excited to call this place home for two years.  Hope you enjoy the update, even though it was pretty small.

 

Me he mudado y me mudare otra vez

So, I have moved into Zamacola (the Church/Dorm/School) and according to the title of this post, I’ll be moving again soon in a month.  More about that later.

I arrived here at Zamacola on Friday before graduation.  At graduation, we had to do a skit, which I believe was a major hit.  Right away, my body didn’t like adjusting to this environment and it went crazy.  So far I’ve been sick since I got here, with some kind of allergy.  So, I’ve been taking a lot of Benadryl and fall asleep at random times which is exciting.  School has started, but I haven’t had classes yet because our professor failed to arrive on time.  So this afternoon I’m going to have classes, in all out Spanish.

My partner arrived on Saturday and his name is Jeremias Something Something (they have like 100 names.)  He’s pretty chill and super nice and generous.  He’s kind of quiet and conservative but we’ll fix that all in good time.  Can’t really describe much about him until I get to know him better.

 

A little about Zamacola: It’s kind of cramped.  Hot showers are found between 11 and 1 because that’s when the sun is heating up the water.  It’s so cold all the time.  The food is so-so.  But we’re all together so it makes up for it (awwww.)  The picture above is the view from on top of the building in Zamacola.  No big deal.  The building to the left is Zamacola in all it’s glory.  It’s actually a pretty gangster looking building.

Zamacola is about a 15 minute combi ride from my old house.  It’s not a central location, but the pollution is a lot less here compared to my old house.

This is our classroom.  We’re all getting ready and it’s about 8:30 only to be told that the professor won’t be showing up until the afternoon. Que pena, pues eso es Peru.

 

 

 

 

This is what it looks like when I enter Zamacola.  To the upper left is where my dorm is and to the upper right is the sanctuary.  To the bottom right is where we have school.

So I don’t think that anyone actually likes to live here in Zamacola because the conditions aren’t great, but in truth, I have no problem with them.  But, according to the title we are going to move again! In a month we’ll be moving to the red building pictured below.  It’s going to be great.  My cluster support parents, Chad and Amanda, will be getting the third floor, the girls will be getting the second floor, and us men will have the first floor.  Each floor has there own kitchen and bathroom.  I’m excited, and its only a two minute walk to school, which will remain in Zamacola.

Random: Went to a parade, accidentally.  The difference here, at parades they throw vegetables instead of candy.  Wow, that’s awesome.

One last thing, this weekend we’re all going to be going to Puno to visit the city!  I’m so pumped.  I’ve been told by so many that it’s different but it has its own culture.  I'ma get my tourist game face on.  I’ma get that outta the way so I don’t be touristy when I return again.  I’ma wear some cargo pants, a button up shirt, a belt that’s too long, a hat to protect me from the sun and some socks that go halfway up my shins.  That’ll fill my tourist fiche.

Nos Mudaremos a Zamacola

To the convenience of most who read this, I will not be writing in Spanish.  In advance, I had a long stay at the Plaza de Armas (the main plaza) so I took a bunch of random pictures of stuff, and they’re on this blog.  But am in need of throwing out and update, so here’s what's going on in the forthcoming days.

The truth is that I am a week short of completing language school!  Give a little shout for that one.  I graduate on Friday the 13th!  There should be a nice little ceremony and what not but I'm not exactly sure as to what's going to happen.  Because I graduate, that means I move out of my host family's house and move into Zamacola.  Zamacola is the academy/church/dorm where I'll be living and taking classes.  I will post pics of Zamacola and my living quarters and all that juicy stuff and a new blog after all this goes down but it’s nice to know stuff in advance.  This Saturday, too, I get my Peruvian partner that will be with me for the next 2 years.  That’s pretty important, so please keep it in your prayers, thanks!  We’ve got 2 days of meetings with a psychologist from Lima preparing us to be able to work as a team.  Yeah, don’t really know what that’s all about.

Other than that, there is not much going on but things are about to change quickly this next week.  Right now I have hot showers and very good food (all as compared to the rest of Peru.) BUT, in Zamacola we’ve got cold showers and frightening food.  Not much to complain about especially when you think that we’ll all be together, awwwww.  My Spanish is going to improve dramatically after speaking for hours and hours daily to my partner.  Well that is all for now except for the update on the mustache: It’s looking hot.

Cómo Vine Acá

Amigos y Familia,

Este es el cuento como vine a Peru. 

Todas las cosas empezaron cuando yo tenía dieciséis años. Tuve la oportunidad asistir al colegio y segundaria al mismo tiempo. Decidí asistir a los dos y cuando me gradué de la segundaria, yo estaba casi dos años más adelante que mis compañeros de clase. Después de segundaria, yo decidí asistir la universidad nazarena cerca de Chicago para ser ingeniero mecánico. Después de un semestre, yo cambié mi área principal de estudio a matemáticas financieras. Durante el primer semestre, me concentraba en cosas pocos importantes. Un día, yo tuve una conversación con uno de mis amigos. Le dije que yo quería seguir a Jesús y ser diferente que mis compañeros. Cuando yo reté a Dios, mi vida empezó a cambiar. Yo tenía los mejores amigos del mundo aun yo tenía una enamorada por primera vez se llama Amy.

Un día, Amy me invitó a su iglesia. Fuimos a un culto especial con Christian Sarmiento quien fue a predicar. La iglesia fue a ofrecer un cheque a Haití para ayudarlos. Durante su sermón, él Señor Sarmiento mencionó algo acerca de unos viajes para misioneros. Sentí algo sobre mi corazón y le dije a Amy que había algo sobre mi corazón. Esa noche, visité el sitio web de Extreme Nazarene. Les di mi información incluyendo mi nombre, número de teléfono, y el correo electrónico. Al día siguiente, Brent Deakins me llamó durante una de mis clases. Salí la clase y caminé por el gimnasio mientras yo hablaba con Brent. No conocía a Brent, pero esa conversación fue increíble. La conversación estuvo llena del espíritu santo. Brent me explicó información acerca de Extreme y que tipo de persona él estaba buscando. Yo era la persona perfecta para la misión. La misión era en Perú e íbamos a salvar la gente de sur Perú. No creí lo que yo estaba haciendo. No estaba buscando unas misiones. Mi vida era perfecta, no quería salir ahora. Cuando yo quería salir fue mi decisión, no la fue de Dios. Pues, muchas cosas estaban teniendo lógica como yo estaba dos años adelantado en escuela y yo era la persona perfecta para esa misión y más. Me sentía bien y yo sabía que tenía hacerlo.

Entonces, yo tenía que decir mi familia, iglesia, amigos, y enamorada. Esta parte fue la más difícil que todas las partes de mi cuento. Fue muy difícil explicar a mis padres iba a salir de Los Estados por dos años o más. Cuando les llamé a mis padres y mi pastor mi voz estaba tembloroso porque fue difícil decir a mis seres queridos que iba a salir por tan cantidad de tiempo. Necesitaba una recomendación de mi pastor y mis padres y las recibí pronto. Solicité el puesto rápidamente y entonces tuve que fijar una hora para la entrevista. Fijamos una hora dos meses más adelante en Ohio que es cinco horas a carro lejos de donde yo estaba. Durante estos meses, empezaba a dudar del llamado que Dios me dio. Hacía pequeñas cosas de fe como compré una pelota de futbol durante este tiempo. Fui a Florida con mis amigos pero no estaba bien porque yo tenía un sentimiento de nerviosismo. Por fin, la entrevista ocurrió. Me levanté a las tres y cuarenta y cinco de la mañana y Amy y yo fuimos a Westerville, Ohio para la entrevista. Mis padres nos encontraron en Ohio también para mostrar apoyo para lo que iba a hacer. La entrevista fue muy difícil y los ayudantes de Extreme Mobile me hicieron unas preguntas que no me había preguntado nunca en mi vida. Aprobé la primera entrevista y entonces tuve que entrevistarme con Brian Tibbs, el director de Extreme. Tres días después, Brian me entrevistó y me preguntó con preguntas más difíciles que las otras. También, la aprobé y les dije todos de mis amigos y familia. En ese momento, fue oficial que iba a Perú. Estaba emocionado pero al mismo tiempo tenía un poco miedo para que lo iba a venir.

Las semanas ultimas estaban muy bien. Tenía diversión casi todos los días pero no fue fácil porque había muchos sufrimientos. Teníamos buen tiempos y malos tiempos pero sabíamos que iba a hacer lo correcto y que iba a regresar. Los últimos días pasaron rápidamente, demasiado rápido para mí. Durante esos días, tenía que pensar y decidir acerca de cosas importantes. ¿Que iba a hacer después de la misión o que iba a hacer con mis cosas o mi dinero? Tuve que decidir en cuales cosas traer conmigo y cual necesité comprar. Estaba ocupado todos los días.

Fue la mañana de diecisiete de mayo cuando tuve que salir y no regresar hasta julio de 2012. Fue difícil pero yo sabía que estaba bien. No fue fácil despedirme de mi familia pero tenía un sentimiento de paz cuando me subí al avión.

Ahora, estoy estudiando español y la biblia y aprendiendo la cultura de Perú. En enero, yo voy a Puno donde voy a empezar más que tres iglesias. Espero que sea un triunfador pues solo lo puedo con Dios. He encontrado una familia nueva en mis amigos peruanos y americanos, mis anfitriones, y mis grupo de apoyo. He visto ya muchas cosas increíbles y estoy emocionado para lo que va a venir.

Gracias y Dios Te Bendiga,

Garren Moore, Perú

Mollendo

I wanted to update somehow, something that is besides “language school blah blahh…” so here's what I did this weekend at Mollendo, a little coastal town.

About 3 hours by bus between the two cities.

The bus ride was absolutely amazing, the pictures I took could not do it justice.  We were going from 7,800 feet to sea level through the Andes mountains.  The scapes were crazy.  We arrived at about 1 on Saturday and I got checked in to my hotel.  I was the only one in my room, so that was ballin.  Micah tried to talk me out of it but I saw his jealousy of my own-room-status.  The room was pretty cool and had an awesome (for Peru) shower.  I went and got lunch at the club, and proceeded to get some guys together to play futbol.  We ended up ballin for about 5 hours on a little basketball court with goals and a little turf field.  We had a tourney, and that was pretty cool.  I didn't really relax on Saturday.  We went to dinner and then walked around the town for an hour searching for a coffee shop that didn't exist.  I went back to the hotel and went to bed after that extremely successful run to the coffee shop.

Sunday I woke up and ate breakfast with the Linnell's at the hotel.  I went out and took a bunch of pictures because if I didn't take them then, I wouldn't take them at all.  I went to the beach with Trevor to read my Bible but one of the short termers that works for Extreme was in the water.  So I had to be in the water too.  The swells were so big, and the undertow was so strong; I could have easily died.  Once you got to your waste you start to panic because the ocean does whatever it wants with you.  I've never seen the Pacific before but this left a whole lot better impression than the Atlantic or the Gulf.  The sur was so much more active than the Gulf or Atlantic.  After that, I went and showered for the second time that day and it was only 11 in the morning.  I went and bought 15 pieces of bread, a bag of "lady fingers" (which are like ricotta shaped things with a sweet layer on the outside), and a 2.25 liter of Inca Kola, and I watched the Tour de France in English.  That was pretty relaxing, so much so that I couldn't resist taking a nap.  I dined out with Trevor, Micah, the Duerre's, and the Smith's to Patrick's Bar & Grill which was pretty good.  We then had a bonfire and roasted hot dogs on the beach to celebrate the Day of Independence.  It was pretty fly.

Monday, I don't really remember what I did so it must not have been that important.  Well this blog post might have been a bit dry, but I wanted to share my weekend and first experience doing something.

Mr. Profesor

A pretty neat story that has unfolded since I got here.
I have two profs for Spanish school.  Julissa and Johan, the first of which I prefer over the other (but that is beside the point.)  I knew Johan was not a Christian and I had set a goal of changing him before I finished language school.  So I prayed once for his heart.
He came to the mega-event, I think because he felt mandated to.  Afterwards I was just working by myself, trying to get some sheets for this lady that was freaking out about her sheets.  Johan came up to me and thanked me for being his student and that he can really feel my happiness.  He said the event was really great.  I really didn't pay much attention, because #1: I was busy and #2: He was speaking in English, and you can tell that someone doesn't have meaning behind their words when they aren't fluent.  I kind of didn't really think of that conversation after that.
We had a Spiritual Retreat for Peruvians that wanted to grow more.  Turns out that Johan went to that retreat and accepted Jesus and got baptized.  He said that he wanted the joy that we have.  He could see our happiness, and wanted to know more about how he could have it.
Kristen, Trevor, and I are always laughing in that class.  We're always smiling and making fun of each other and you really can feel the love.  Johan saw that and wanted in on it.  It really expresses how valuable your actions are and how that can be your biggest witness.  All I did was pray once and be myself in class.  That was enough for Johan to want to know more about our joy.  My job here is accomplished, anything else I do down here is extra and there is going to be a lot of extra.

Swang of Thangs

I’ve been in Peru for well over a month now, and the mega event Love Extreme is coming to a close.  The short termers are close to leaving.  Cohort 3 just got super busy with consolidations of the new converts.  They are going to houses and talking with the Peruvians who were at the mega event.  That’s the best part in my opinion.

I don’t think that I have blogged about this yet, but we lost one of our own in our Cohort.  She couldn’t handle the call and returned stateside.  This isn’t an easy call, but no one ever said it was going to be easy.  Say what you will, but we’ve been blessed in return.  A short termer answered the call and is going to be joining our Cohort July 10th.  We’ve been blessed with a replacement, but I will not view her as a replacement.  She’s an absolutely new gift to us, and she doesn’t have to fill anyone’s shoes.

So this week most of us are going to be getting back in to the swing of things (o my look at the title!)  Language school is going to be starting up on Monday.  I’m excited to get back into it.  I’ve actually learned more, and gotten better at Spanish in these two weeks without school than I have in school.  In school, we would speak Spanish for a couple hours then go and speak English for the rest of the day.  Since Trevor moved in, we’re going solo Español in the house.  This is going to frustrate me so much but it will improve my Spanish drastically.

Just a short little update, everything is going great.  It’s not easy but it’s going well.  I’d love to have a bowl of crispix right now, sit in my basement or michaels, pet stupid, and speak english to everyone I see.  But for now, and for 26 more months I will not and that’s just fine.  PS that’s Mister Ostrich and he changed my life forever.

Post Love

Nick Vujicic, the main speaker, called the audience of 8,000 to change their lives.  He called them to stand up if they wanted to make the change.  They stood up in unison as one.  He thought that maybe they misunderstood what he was saying.  He repeated that it was for only people who wanted Jesus to come into their lives for the first time.  They stood up again.  One more time, maybe the message was lost in translation.  And one more time the crowd stood up.  Nick told this to Brian Tibbs after the event that normally only 10 to 20 percent stand up when he calls them to.  He thought that it was possible that maybe they didn't understand, so he repeated it 2 more times.  He said about 60 to 80 percent stood up each time.  He told Brian that the only way that this was possible is if this event was bathed in prayer.  If you have prayed at home, know that you have done a good work.  It is a vital foundation of what we believe here at Extreme and it was extremely powerful this weekend.

We had a goal of 10,000 people to show up to the event.  12,000 came, and there were 2,000 there in line before it opened.  We handed out 96,000 flyers and put up 30,000 posters (and some of us got a little ride with the po po.)  We have an elite team here at extreme, and I love my amigos here.  Felix Vargas spoke at the mens conference, and if you don't know who he is, you should research him.  Ex-drug cartel leader and trained killer turned Christian and overall great guy.  Lonna Vopat spoke at the womans conference, which I have no idea how it went (mainly because I'm not a woman.)  And the main event, Nick Vujicic, the man with no arms or legs spoke as the main event.  There were also concerts going on and such.  The location was at Cerro Juli, which is very much a fairground type of campus.  After Nick spoke, it was around 9 when they had the concert for teens.  This was time to go crazy.  There was probably only a hundred of us but it was the most fun I've had in a long time.  I ended up dancing, tacking, running in to people, making Peruvians get out of their comfort zone, getting stepped on, wrestling, and just going crazy that I puked during prayer afterwards.
On Sunday, we had a celebration day and we also announced the where Extreme is going next.  You can get the details on the Extreme Nazarene website.
First, Extreme Paraguay.  Paraguay is a country that hasn't been reached in 30 years.  Every missionary that has gone there has failed, left, or died.  Through a series of events, Felix Vargas (look him up for sure) has been appointed to be in charge of Paraguay.  We're sending 5 pairs of 40/40's down there to work along side him to open 15 churches of at least 1000 each.  Crazy.
Second, Extreme Columbia.  Home of the largest Nazarene church in the world (and I had the pleasure of meeting the pastor.)  They have 6 services of 2000+ people every Sunday, along with multiple services throughout the week.  Extreme has partnered up with this church, and they are going to build a 7,000 seat coliseum.  And they still want to have 6 services every Sunday. Nuts.
Finally, Extreme Peru 2.  To reach the city of Lima.  There are only 14 Nazarene churches in Lima, which is a city of 8 million.  It's a different approach to what I am doing now, but a very well thought out and Divine plan.
I want to urge each and every one of you reading this to get involved with extreme somehow.  We're looking for 100 mobilization officers to recruit and send out short termers and long termers.  You can be a full time volunteer or just a weekend a month.  You can sign up to be on the 365.24.7 prayer team and if you read above you know how important that is.  I encourage you to sign up to be a cluster support or a 40/40.  Don't say that its not for you or that it's not feasible because I thought that and this is easily the best decision I've ever made.  Donate two years of your life and your reward will be paid in full.  You have no idea how happy I'd be, and others would be, if one of my friends or relatives from the states come down here for Peru 2, Paraguay, or Columbia.  Do not hesitate to set up a skype date, or message me on FB, or email me to learn more and to talk with me about how I feel.

What I've been doing throughout this whole event is just about everything.  I've been running around like a crazy man getting stuff done.  I haven't been to any impact events, besides the actual megaevent, but I've been doing everything that needs to be done.  I had a day of 4 airport pick ups which was absolutely insane.  I had to do security all night after the event.  We have guinea pig mascot costumes in which Trevor and I slept in that night.  It would have been entertaining for someone to wake us up and see us in them.  Other than that, I just want to remind people that they can message me with questions and prayer doesn't hurt at all either.

Arrested Development

Title by Chad.  So today, quite the circumstance came up.
My friend, a missionary from Costa Rica, was with me today hanging up posters promoting the mega-event Love Extreme.  We had already hung up 45 posters or more and we decided to go down a really busy road, that eventually leads to the main square.  We went into the median of the busy road to put posters on the poles of the billboards.  We were on our third pole on this highway when these two policemen showed up next to us.  I can understand a fair amount of Spanish, but luckily Scott is fluent.  I knew that once they got out and opened the back door of their truck, they wanted us to get in.  Apparently, the violation was that we were hanging up signs on public property and they take that very seriously.  They were on their way to taking us to their main station when we (and when I say "we" I mean I just listened to Scott) were working on convincing them otherwise.  We found out that they were on their way to write up a "denuncia," which would force us out of Peru, back to our home countries.  Right then, Scott became very apologetic and took the blame for everything.  He said that they do it differently in Costa Rica and that I had only been down here a month.  This is the best thing to do, just agree with them and bathe yourself in blame.  The conversation started to change, and Scott used the words, "Tengo mucha peina," a lot.  These words mean to feel so bad about what has happened.  While they were grilling us from the front seat in their truck, the driver was popping a zit in the rearview mirror.  It was the most odd situation ever.  Eventually they let us go on the premise that we tell the director of the event to only hang the signs up on private property.  But the story doesn't stop there.  Had we not been picked up by the police, then we wouldn't have gotten a taxi to go back home (because the officers drove for a bit.)  Had we not gotten in the taxi to let us go home, we wouldn't have been able to invite that driver to the event.  We invited him and talked with him the whole ride back home.  He said he was going to bring his family and then we even got to pray with him.  After we got out of the taxi, I was telling Scott how we had gone to both extremes inside of twenty minutes.  And a couple hours later, Scott asked me if I saw the guy popping his zit in the mirror and we had a couple of laughs at that.

Pre Love

So the mega-event begins.  Extreme Love. It's the huge event here with concerts and speakers to try to reach the people of Arequipa.  First is promo, then impact, then consolidation. It's quite huge, we're expecting 10,000 people to show up.  It's the biggest event we've ever done.  With big events comes big responsibilities.  I have a numerous amount of them.  Throughout the three weeks in which this entire event takes place, we have around 380 short term volunteers coming to help out.  One of my jobs on a given day is to take them to a festival for kids, or play soccer at a boys home on another day.  On the day of the event, Trevor, Micah, and I are in charge of some short termers and the three guinea pig mascots we have (as you know guinea pigs are a delicacy.)  Two other days, I am in charge of hosting the "gathering" with all the short termers.  In the church at Umacollo, all of us are going to discuss what happened during that day and just share our thoughts, and I get to lead it.  It should be fun, or I will make it fun. Muahaha.  So now it's Pre Love.  There probably won't be a During Love, because I will be mega busy.  I'll definitely get back to you with a Post Love.  So that's what I'll be doing for the next three weeks.
Some other stuff.  The most intense 3 minutes of my life, are in the shower.  Freezing cold and I am moving fast.  That is enough said there.
One of the hardest things I've had to deal with is how much money I can spend a day.  I live on a $1.20 allowance per day.  Think about that.  That's crazy.  Although, my meals are all made by mi madre, so I can go a day without spending any money.  I walk almost everywhere so I don't spend money on transportation.  It has made me come to the conclusion that spending money is truly an addiction.  It's crazy in America.  We spend money on stuff we don't need for satisfaction, and I used to do the same stuff.  It's very very hard not to spend money anymore.  It's one of the most difficult things I've had adjust to so far.  I encourage you to check and see how much you spend and how much you don't need.  Review all the stuff you buy.  Then change it.  Simple as that.

One thing that I learned today from my Spanish teacher was about Puno.  Puno is the city in which I am headed in January.  She, my teacher, was born in Arequipa, moved to Puno, and then moved back here.  She said that they have a festival every year for a month.  Within that festival, Puno drinks more beer in that month than the rest of the country drinks for a year.  They cover the streets in alcohol because they believe that they need to give alcohol to the "holy earth."  That's pretty insane, if you ask me.  But, it is also coming from the mouth of an Arequipan, who aren't too fond of the people of Puno.
The pictures I put up are from a girls home that of which Micah introduced me to.  It's pretty neat, they take to you really quickly.
Well, I'll try to update again on the fore coming events.

Routinely Unroutine

So. We've been here over a week now.
Escuela Extremo (language school) has been a review so far, thanks to Dr. Marcos at Lakeland.  Although, it's pretty neat to have school outside, in the winter.  When we're not learning Spanish, Trevor teaches us his vast amount of mathematical knowledge.  Here he is teaching us integrals in calculus.  Except not.  The picture towards the bottom is mis companeros de la escuela de espanol.  We have a grand old time.

We had our first Sunday morning service.  After the service, one of the guys, Scott, asked us, "Was that torture for you?" Yes it was.  Scott has been here over a year and he says it's still hard to get the gist of the message from our pastor, which is my host-father, because he is hard to understand.  I appreciate some native speakers more than others because I can understand them, and their dictation makes a world of difference.  I was sick over the weekend, felt terrible in church, and had to pay super-attention just to pick up a few words here and there.  So it was torture.
Today we start our group Bible study, out of Joshua.  I read ahead in the first chapter and it spoke magnificently.   "No tengas miedo ni te desanimes.  Porque el Senor tu Dios acompanara dondequiera que vayas." - Josue 1:9.

Tambien hoy, Micah y yo vamos a preparar la comida para nuestra familia.  (Also today, Micah and I, are preparing dinner for our family.)  We are making pizza the American way.  We bought some pizza crust, a block of mozzarella, some meat close to pepperoni, y some salsa de pizza.  It should be interesting to see them eat our food.  Speaking of food, I think my fellow cohortians are witnessing a miracle.  I found out that I like eggs more than potatoes, pero comi mis papas y verduras (but I ate my potatoes and vegetables) the last two dinners.  And when I say "like" I mean, "don't hate as much."  A true miracle, as those who know me can concur.  I am acquiring new tastes, I think.
We visited Zamacola, where I'll be staying for 5 months.  Hello college dorm life all over again.  Not a bad dealio though because the facilities are of the elite.
One last thing, we lost internet in our house.  That makes it literally impossible to get on after 5 in the evening. This makes it impossible to skype people.  It's possible for the next three months I won't be able to keep in contact very much with everybody back home.  Lo siento.  We'll work things out, but for now no hay internet en mi casa.

Llegamos a Peru

We have arrived. I am writing this on the second night that I am here, and I'm going to try to put up some observations that you all might be interested in. It has been an amazing 1.9 days here in Peru, and I know everything will not be as well as it has been so far.  Entonces, while I am feeling up, I shall describe some things that I have noticed.
First off, yes Peru is a third world country if you were wondering.  You can get real picky and say that it is not but en realidad, it is.  The picture on the left is the view from atop the house where I am staying. Down a flight a stairs is the courtyard and sunday school classrooms along with the entrance to the house.  Down another flight of stairs is the Nazarene church, in which my host parents is the pastor of (20 years now and running.)
My host parents are the sweetest, nicest, most considerate couple I have ever met.  Within 10 minutes of being in their house, they said that Micah (my American partner) and I were their "hijos nuevos" or new children.   Their daughter and son moved out and started their own life.  Genaro y Susana are the names of our host parents.  They have so little, but love so much. When they saw that Micah and I had a computer their eyes lit up.  They asked if they could check their correo electronico, or e-mail.  David y Susana, my house parents' daughter and son-in-law, stopped by.  We actually talked to them for about 3 hours.  They were trying to sharpen up their English, which was about as good as our Spanish, so they would talk to us in English and we would respond in Spanish.  They are very interesting people also.
In Peru, if you're making 1000 soles a week, you're doing very well.  There are about 3 soles to every 1 American dollar.  Arequipa looks like the slums, I guess that's the best way to put it.  You can get a tiny taste of what it looks like in the photo above.  The traffic is absolutely insane.  Rarely is there a stop sign or even rarer a stop light.  You just go into an intersection and use experience and knowledge to maneuver around cars and people.  It's even worse trying not to get hit by a car when you are trying to cross the street.  It pretty much smells like gasoline, oil, or diesel fuel whenever you're not in a building or sometimes when you're in a building.  Yes, the water in the toilets does spin the other way.  Enough said there.
With the food, I was humbled right away.  I've talked about eggs en Los Estados Unidos (U.S.) and how I don't like them at all.  How I will be okay with everything but eggs.  Well for my first meal in Peru, desayuno, guess what I got to have.  You are correct if you guessed eggs.  Other than that, I've had platefuls of rice, chicken, no soup yet, and potatoes.  I did well on everything but the potato today at lunch.  They have "Inca Cola" here in Peru.  It's a soda made by Coca Cola but it has the flavor of bubble gum and it is yellow.  It's interesting, and I like it a lot.

I think besides Trevor, my American friend, I am the tallest in Peru.  The people are very short here, but obviously I'm exaggerating a little.  I find how people react to the weather a little humorous.  Every Peruvian is wearing a coat and pants right now because it is winter.  I'm out in shorts and a tee.  The weather varies by about 5 degrees Fahrenheit between summer and winter.  It was the nicest day out but people were wearing coats and pants.  They asked us in our prayer meeting if we were cold, and we joked and said hace calor, or it is hot.
We also walked around with our professors of the language school.  I am attending a brand new language school started by the organization I came here with.  They want to immerse us in the culture and language. So instead of sitting in a classroom all the time, we are going to go out and they teach us life on the streets or el mercado or with our families.
I'm super excited to continue on and hopefully master the language.  Please pray that I embrace this culture fully and grasp the language greatly.  I presented a lot of information in this one, hope you enjoyed it. Gracias!