Vignettes

Here are some glimpses into specific aspects of life in Lima:

Traffic. I was expecting it to be worse here than it actually is. Still, the drivers mostly ignore stop signs and lane barriers. Horns are used plentifully. The smell of exhaust can be overwhelming when riding with the windows down; I’m not sure why. Taxis are dirty, and sometimes the gasoline is stored in the back in a large yellow container; this is the gasoline the car actually runs from. I learned about that only today. I’ve taken public transportation once as well. It’s like a small, crowded, dirty bus. What’s funniest about it is that it hardly stops. To get on, you have to yell and wave and run on, and to get off, you have to rush up before your stop, pay as quickly as possible, and hop off.

Food. It’s a well-known fact that America is the most overfed and corpulent society on the face of the earth! Peruvians, too, love to eat, but in a much more sociable manner. Most of the public eating I’ve seen has been in restaurants. Vending machines are scarce. Restaurant portions are fairly large, and while greasy food and sweets are popular here too, fruit and vegetables are much more popular than they are in the States. If a Peruvian is eating between meals, it is usually an apple, from my observation.

Shopping. I’ve done almost no shopping since I’ve been here, but a couple of the other girls have bought stuff at the “mall” and at the Indian market. I plan to shop at the market during our last week here. At the market, you can barter with the clerks in order to get them to lower the price. Most places take American dollars because Lima does have a fair amount of tourism.

Beggars. I’ve been begged from by a kid twice now, and it breaks my heart. We’re not supposed to give them money. But last night a little boy begged from me on our way to dinner, so I took half of my sandwich and on the way back I prayed the whole time we would meet him again, but we didn’t. Teenagers and kids do tricks at the stoplights and beg for money when they are done, and mothers with babies beg at stoplights as well. It’s so sad.

Peruvian vs. American. Peruvians are friendlier. They are more family-oriented. They are not so task-oriented, but they are very hard workers. Some of the people I have seen are sad, but I have yet to meet a grumpy Peruvian. They are either sad or happy. They do not seem to get frustrated or worked up as much as we Americans do. They are quieter, more formal, and more welcoming. For instance, all the doors to shops, hotels, and everything are usually open, and there is almost always someone standing outside to greet you or to beckon you in.

Those are a few tidbits from life here in Peru. Week 1 is almost complete. It’s been a difficult week, I have to admit. Today was very good, and I feel extremely optimistic about the rest of my time here. It is so good to get past the sickness and emotional trauma of the first week, and move on to enjoying my last three weeks. Tomorrow we are going back to the same home we went to today, to play with babies in the morning and do another program with the mothers in the afternoon.

Ciao!
Anna

 

Complete With Pictures! :)

I can’t thank all of you enough for your prayers. Here’s my update! Yesterday we found out that our leader is leaving Peru and going home for her own reasons. That caused a lot of drama, but not in the sense of direct conflict or anything. It also gave me a chance to talk to our missions coordinator in Dallas about my homesickness, physical sickness, and travel plans. I was also able to speak to my dad afterwards. After lots of prayer and those conversations, I feel much more settled in my plan to remain here the entire month. Today I also feel much more peaceful and optimistic about the trip.

We are taking this day to “start over,” so to speak, because of our leader’s leaving and sickness and everything else that has befallen us so far this week. We visited a new girls’ home this morning for a little while to introduce ourselves. We also did a little sightseeing and went to an Indian market. We are having a couple of quiet hours now while Julie goes to two meetings, and then we are going to eat dinner and do something fun. We have two more days left at this particular home, and next week we will be working with a short-term team from Texas.

I’m doing so much better, as I said. I feel comforted and excited about remaining in Peru. Talking to my dad made such a big difference. I covet your prayers that my emotions would remain stable and would follow what my mind and heart know are true.

I’ll end with some pictures. The first ones are from our last day at the first home we visited yesterday. The girls and babies are so sweet. It was very difficult to leave them after I was only able to spend two days with them. I will have to write sometime about the friendship I formed with one of the girls, Doylith, when I was there. It was so hard to leave her.

Some of the pictures are from this guy who dresses up as a monk and jumps off the cliff into the ocean and then asks you for money. You’ll see what I mean! Es loco!

This is Doylith:

And these are from today:

Here’s the monk! He’s the guy with his hands raised:

This is just a little house I saw while we were sightseeing:

I’m going to end with some lyrics from a Bethany Dillon song, “You Are On Our Side,” that I’ve been listening to. I’m thinking about how much Jesus loves these people I’m working with, who some may consider the dredges of society. And how much He loves me. This is the love I want to have. I could just have stayed home. I could just go home. I want to stay for these reasons. His love through me, weak empty unqualified me.

Anna

The orphan clings to Your hand
Singing the song of how he was found
The widow rejoices
For her oppressors are silenced now

And You sit at the table with the wounded and the poor
And You laugh and share stories with the thief and the whore
And when You could just be silent and leave us here to die
Still You sent Your Son for us
You are on our side

The runaway falls at Your feet
You are what he has searched for
And the rich man is broken
When he stands beneath a sky full of stars

And You sit at the table with the wounded and the poor
And You laugh and share stories with the thief and the whore
And when You could just be silent and leave us here to die
Still You sent Your Son for us
You are on our side

 

Oh my goodness…

Okay, this is totally not related to Peru at all, but I’m up late trying to lull myself to sleep after a good talk with my roomie, and I saw this picture on another blog. It’s a chihuahua that was born with a heart-shaped mark! Isn’t that the most adorable thing you’ve ever seen? And I’m not even much of an animal person.

And now, back to your regularly scheduled programming…

 

Thoughts

Thank you for reading my last entry and encouraging me. It was humbling for me to share my struggles and know that many people would have reacted better than I did. But hearing from others here, on Facebook, and through instant messenger really helped me. I felt like I hadn’t really been in contact with anyone, but yesterday afternoon I was able to talk to quite a few people, including my family, and that helped me a lot emotionally.

As far as my physical health goes, I’m doing much better. I went out with the girls last night to a restaurant and the grocery store, and found I couldn’t handle it very well. But I’ve spent all day here resting, and I was able to eat a little. I’m planning on going back to the home tomorrow. Right now I don’t feel sick; just very weary. But that’s to be expected, and that I can work through. Nausea just knocks a person out. Most other things can be handled.

This is something I’ve wanted to do for what seems like forever, so it’s disconcerting for me to arrive and become almost immediately sick and demoralized. I’m not obsessed with spiritual warfare, but sometimes I wonder if it does play a role in situations like this. I’m prone to depression even when I’m at home, and being in a foreign country surrounded by people I barely now and very few Americans is not helpful, especially when I’ve had to spent the past couple days in the hotel room.

But things are looking up in that regard. I’m going to make an effort to get out as much as possible, while still getting the rest I need. Tomorrow I will be back in ministry again, and as exhausting as my first day was, I think it was mostly because I didn’t feel good and I was getting sick. I think the days will start going more quickly. Next week there is a short-term missions team coming, and we get to work with them the whole time. I’m really looking forward to that. The week after that we go to Cuzco (depending on our health) and work with another team for a week. Then we have a few days more in Lima, and then we fly home. I know it will go quickly once I start getting into the swing of things. Right now I just feel like I’m in a time warp because of the weird effect of traveling and flying and sickness and being away from everyone I know.

I’ve been reading the first few chapters of Nehemiah, and I opened to it just now to see if anything I’ve been reading would be applicable to this entry. Instead, I noticed the titles of the different sections I’ve read: “Opposition to the Work,” “The Work Resumes,” “Nehemiah Stops Oppression of the Poor,” “Nehemiah’s Generosity,” and “Conspiracy Against Nehemiah.” Meanwhile, I’m listening to worship music over my headphones, and the song that’s on happens to be talking about going to feed the hungry, being led into action, and most of all going. I am being reminded of why I am really here, of the opposition so many others have faced, and most of all, of how important and how unimportant this trip really is. It is unimportant because I am only one person, I cannot save the world, I have much more to learn from others than they do from me, and no matter what happens, God will work it out for good. But it is important because I am doing it in obedience, it will produce perseverance, and most of all, it will benefit others and glorify Christ.

Anyway (deep breath)… you must be a very patient person if you read all of that. I’m going to go now and finish watching this episode of 24. This evening the girls were talking about going to a restaurant and some shops. I’m going to try to participate in all of that. Again, thank you so much for your encouragement, and most of all, your prayers. My recovery was much quicker than I expected and I’m sure that all of the prayer made a difference. You’ll hear from me again soon!

Anna

 

No Bueno

I was sick all last night, really sick. Finally Katy convinced me to call Sarah next door and tell her. Sarah called a 24-hour doctor because she didn’t want to take any chances. I got a shot. I felt better. Now I am lying in bed still feeling pretty weak and lousy, but nowhere near as bad as last night. Katy doesn’t feel good either because she couldn’t sleep last night until after 4:00, partly because of all my tossing and turning, so I think Klista is the only one who was able to go to the home today.

These are my honest feelings right now: I’m homesick. Really homesick. I want to go back to my house and lie on the couch until I feel better. I feel all those things that I was afraid I’d feel when I first got here – disoriented, scared, and exhausted. I haven’t eaten since lunch yesterday, besides a few little things that came right back up, and I’m really dehydrated but drinking upsets my stomach. I can’t be excited and adventurous about this trip until I get to feeling better. And I can’t believe it’s only our third full day here and we still have almost a month to go. A month of feeling like this does not seem good. I miss my family.

Okay, that’s my rant for the morning. If you want to read good stuff about the trip, go back and read my last two entries. And I’d so appreciate prayer for my health. Getting sick was one of my biggest fears about coming, and I don’t want to be so terribly homesick either. Please pray that I will feel all better soon (although I don’t think that’s going to happen, you never know).

Thank you!
Anna

 

Dia Dos

Wow. What a day. I’m so excited to share it with y’all (that is such a convenient word, really), but it seems really challenging to try to somehow summarize the day and the dozens of pictures that I took in one entry. This may be pretty long, just to warn you!

This morning we went with Julie to her church, La Vina del Senor. It was an amazing experience. I was surprised with how much I was able to follow along with the sermon notes and the songs in Spanish. There were a few Americans in the congregation, but it was mostly Peruvians, and Peruvians led the whole thing except for the sermon itself. Having the sermon preached by a native English speaker did help me with understanding it. Julie was surprised that I understood some of the things!

It was so joyful and exciting for me to be able to worship along with a fellow EFree church and to feel the love they had for each other. This is one of the churches our Peru missionaries planted, for those of you who are part of Grace at home.

After church, we ate our boxed lunches upstairs with Julie and our driver for the day – he’s Sylvia’s husband. Sylvia coordinates the travel and transportation arrangements for our organization, and she is in Cuzco right now. Anyway, after that we headed to our first visit to a home. This one is for teen mothers and their babies. It was a wonderful and exhausting experience. We stayed there for about three-and-a-half hours. First we painted nails, then Katy (my roommate) gave a short testimony. Then Sarah and Klista did a little lesson and activity while Katy and I helped with the babies. Afterward, we all sat around and tried to talk with the girls. I got into a pretty long conversation with one of them. We communicated fairly well for awhile, but eventually we had to call Julie over and the girl (I feel so bad; I can’t remember her name right now!) told us her story of how she came to be at the home. It was sad. We prayed for her and then we had to leave.

This is Savannah (I think? I couldn’t quite understand how she said it). She is so precious. She attached herself to me and even said my name! She loved my camera, just like they all did.

Here are a few of the other precious children:

On the way back to the hotel, I started feeling sick. I’ve pretty much been sick off and on since then (it’s almost 10:00 right now). Grossness alert, stop reading here if you don’t want to know. I finally threw up a little bit ago and I feel much better. I was able to get back to this entry and I’m hoping and praying that that was the end of it and that I didn’t pick up a bug or anything. My stomach still hurts a little but it’s not nauseated. So far, so good.

I don’t know what I’ll feel like tomorrow, but if all goes as planned we’re going back to the same home in the morning and for the next two days after tomorrow. Pray for our health. My roommate has mono, so she’s not feeling very good either. It’s so hard to minister to others when you’re feeling lousy yourself. It drains you even more than normal. One of my biggest fears about this trip has been sickness, and I just don’t want to get a stomach bug. I’d take almost anything over that.

Anyway, enough about me. I was so glad to be able to touch the girls’ lives today, but I feel so inadequate. I’ve never experienced anything like what they’ve experienced, and I want to be able to relate to them and show them that despite the outward American trappings, I have internal struggles and sin in my life as well. Pray for connection. Pray that we would have humble hearts and that the girls would be able to sense that and connect with us in friendship on an equal level. Pray for God to be glorified through our meager efforts.

Love,
Anna

 

Day 1 in PERU!

Thank you all for reading and praying and commenting! I have great Internet access here so e-mails and comments are much appreciated. I am actually the “official blogger” for our trip, too, so I will have lots of writing to do (no surprise there).

I don’t even know how to summarize this day. I could write for hours. No surprise again, I am in love with this country. I think I want to stay here forever. Throughout the day, of course, I had fleeting thoughts of homesickness and longing for familiar and an unusual love for the sight of the McDonald’s arches, but overall I have absolutely loved being here.

As I wrote earlier, we were allowed to sleep in late today, which was so nice. At 12:30, we met our organization’s Peruvian staff – Rosa, Julie, and Claudia. We had a brief introductory meeting and then left to eat lunch. The ladies are so nice and so dedicated. Rosa doesn’t speak English and had to leave immediately after our meeting. Claudia was a lawyer for the government and she spent part of the day with us. Julie spent all day with us and I was amazed to find out that she knows the missionaries our church supports! She goes to one of their church plants, not the one our church is currently partnering with, but another EFree church down here. We get to go to her church tomorrow! I am so excited and I hope that at some point before the month is up we can visit the other church, the one mine is partnering with. It’s a small world, even here!

Before lunch, we took a taxi down to the ocean and saw this beautiful sight. It’s only a few blocks from our hotel. We ate lunch at a traditional Peruvian restaurant. The food was pretty good. It isn’t as good as Ethiopian food in my opinion, but it definitely wasn’t bad, although I avoided the cow’s heart! I also didn’t like the purple corn juice. But I did like two or three other dishes.

After lunch, we went to the mall so a couple of the other girls on the trip could get some warmer clothes. They’re from Texas, so they weren’t really prepared for the colder weather. Then we went back to the hotel with Julie, and she told us the lesson plan for the first home we’re visiting. We’re visiting a teen mom’s home for the next four days. I can’t wait. I’m giving my testimony on Tuesday, so please pray for that. Speaking is not my gift, but I know God can still work through me.

Julie told us some amazing stories. One in particular really touched my heart, about a girl at the mom’s home saying to a team that they had opened her heart to Jesus. She became a Christian. And Julie herself touched my heart as well. She works extremely long days, almost 7 days a week, and she has nothing but smiles, and she says it’s all worth it because she loves what she’s doing. She’s doing it for the gospel. She was trying to decide whether to take the job two months ago and she read the verse in James about true religion being caring for widows and orphans, so that was her final motivation. I can’t help but think of all the times I’ve complained about “long” work hours or the incoveniences of my daily life. It sounds like a cliche to say that I complain about little things, but meeting such a faithful woman face to face, and seeing her hard work and the effort and love she gives, made me think about how great her reward is going to be in heaven. That’s how not to waste your life.

This has gotten really long, so I’ll try to make at least the end brief! This evening, Klista and I went with Julie to Claudia’s house to help sort some shoes that a missions team is going to be handing out. It was great to see the inside of a house in Peru. I love seeing how people live. I don’t feel like I really know someone until I have a taste of their day-to-day life and living situation. So I feel like to know the people of Peru I need to understand how they live, from upper class to lower class. We took public transportation to get there. That was high-paced and crowded and bumpy, but I loved it. We took taxis everywhere the rest of the day, and had a bunch of close calls, especially once on the way back, but I don’t feel scared at all, strangely. It’s like it’s impossible for anything to happen because there are so many close calls! I know, that makes no sense.

I’m rambling now, but I wanted to add that Julie was telling me stories of girls around my age who have come down to live in Peru, with her or someone else, for six months or so and have become fluent in Spanish in that amount of time or less from taking classes and being immersed in the culture. Of course, that made me want to move here. Then at dinner back at the hotel, Sarah and Katy were telling me how much live-in nannies are in demand in Dallas, that you can make up to $45,000 a year, so of course I see my future unfolding before me – living near a big city as a nanny to pay off loans, going to Peru to learn Spanish… there are so many options and I get so excited about all of them.

To finish off tonight we had a little meeting as interns to learn more about each other and what we’re going to be doing. The girls are really nice even though we’re all really different. We have some similar struggles in life so that has helped us relate. I feel very blessed with how this trip is organized. With my difficulty sleeping and my weak immune system and my propensity to get emotionally drained if I don’t have alone time to recharge, I worry about running myself ragged, but everything is well-organized and while we’re going to be spending a lot of time working and serving, everyone wants to make sure we have enough time to rest as well so we can be more effective and not exhausted. I’m very appreciative of that because I want to be able to serve with the best that I can give.

I love this city and I want to keep exploring it. I love being around people who speak Spanish and trying out my halting phrases on them. I’ve been trying all day to pronounce gracias in just the right way. I don’t like how some English-speakers pronounce it… haha. I was going to finish this about two paragraphs ago, so I think I’ll go now. Thank you again for reading. All day I kept thinking, “Oh, I have to remember this so I can write about it later!” I love sharing this experience with you because so many of you have helped me get here, and I want you to be a part of it too! Let me know if you have any questions or are curious about anything!

Hasta luego!
Anna

 

Here I Am!

I’m in a foreign country!

The flight over was kind of turbulent. At one point it was so bad we thought we were going to crash for a split second – some people screamed. I’ve been in pretty bad turbulence before, but I just do not like the feeling of the plane tossing and turning underneath me. It makes me wonder how clouds can be so bumpy, anyway. They look so ethereal from down on the ground.

Our flight was delayed about forty-five minutes because the previous flight had been delayed, so we didn’t get to Peru until about 11:30 local time. Then we had to wait for our baggage, which took at least half an hour, and then we had to go through customs. Thankfully, we all got the green light, which means they didn’t have to go through our things.

There was a mixup with who was picking us up when because the screen said our flight was delayed until 1:30, so we waited around for quite awhile until Mario from the organization we’re working with picked us up. Then we spent about half an hour driving through Lima. I felt like I was trying to drink in all the sights and sounds. It just seemed so amazing that I was finally in Lima after thinking about it for so long. It’s “winter” here, but it is in the fifties and sixties usually. The houses are so tiny. Our hotel is closer to the tourist section and there are quite a few American restaurants and clubs and such.

Our hotel is very nice. It’s not quite like an American hotel, of course, but who needs that? We’re very blessed to have such a comfortable living situation. We were allowed to sleep in today, too, because we didn’t get to sleep until after three last night when all was said and done. One of our hosts is picking us up around 12:30. I don’t think we’re going to an orphanage today yet, but we might be. We’re at least going to see Lima a little bit. I can’t wait to go to the orphanages!

I should probably work on unpacking now. I still have over an hour before we’re getting picked up and I’d like to get things put in order, you know me! I’ll update again soon, maybe with pictures.

Anna