Hello everyone! I hope that each of you has had a wonderful summer and that you are enjoying the transition to fall. I have to be really honest and say that I am deeply going to miss the fall in the states. My home is such a wonderful place in that fall. I am thinking of the bright oranges, reds, and yellows that cover the yard and hills all around my house and the mums and pumpkins everywhere! If you know me then you most likely know that I love anything that has to do with pumpkin. So enjoy some pumpkin carving or pumpkin delights or pumpkin pie for me!
I wanted to catch you up just a little as to what I have been up to the past months and weeks. I spoke in a previous post about how I had been working for the months of June and July with a couple of college students from the states. That was such a blessing to me to be able to travel with them and also to get into doing research. I was able to visit over 20 villages and make friendships with people in hopes that the gospel will be spread in these places in the near future. I continue to think about those people I have met and pray that they will be reached soon. It was a wonderful time of growing. The Lord continues to give me such a love for the people here in Peru and a desire to serve.
After my two research buddies headed back home for a break before they started school again I remained in Lima for a few weeks and was able to reflect on summer and on all I had learned about research and how it works here and how I can improve as a part of the research team. I also got to meet and spend time with my new teammate, Mandy, with whom I will most likely be serving for most of the rest of my term. It was great to get to know here a bit and talk to her about all I had learned here and what she was in for. It was also such a blessing to get to be here, to eat some good food, to take hot showers and to cook. Some of the things that aren't always possible when I am in the village. AND get this... during the month of July I went a total of about 16 days WITHOUT a shower! WOW, I never thought I would see the day as I am normally a pretty clean girl. But it was actually not that bad but I was reeeeaaaal dirty by the end of over two weeks. I am sure that you are all trying to picture that and it was not pretty and you are probably even a little disgusted which is totally fine cause I was too. But I am thinking it will probably happen again and I may even try to exceed the 16 days at some point in the time I have left.
In mid-August Mandy, another brother who has served here for over three years, Steve, and I went to a region of Peru called Puno to finish up some research that my summer team was unable to finish as we had experienced some illness toward the end of July (some of you may have heard about my bout with the flu... it was icky but God is good and I am healthy as a horse). I was eager to get to work with Mandy and "teach her the ropes" and to get to work with Steve who has been her for a lot of time and served in a lot of different capacities. We researched in four villages that were all very far and we had to take buses and truck rides that would last more than 8 hours one way which wasn't always easy. The Lord was so faithful to provide us with food, shelter, transportation and people to talk to as we visited each place. We did a 10-hour hike to one of the villages which I am now referring to as "my new Everest". It was a difficult hike and at high elevation so it was a struggle but we made it and were so thankful for the time outdoors and just enjoying God's creation and thanking him that we made it! Another funny thing that happened was when we had to ride in a cargo truck from one village because there was no other form of transportation coming through for many days. Sooo we hopped in and rode through the evening and some of the night and it got incredibly cold but again God provided and some people in a town that we passed through gave us some blankets to cover up with. I have no doubt that it would have been a pretty miserable trip without having had those blankets. It has been so amazing to have such tangible ways that the Lord has been providing all along the way. I praise God for all that he has done.
Well that catches you up quite a bit on what has been going on with me recently. I am sorry that these posts are often few and far between but I love being able to tell you about what I have been up to and how God has been working. I hope that wherever you are that the Lord is also teaching you and blessing you. I love you all and will try to update you as soon as I can. I should be heading out in the next day or so to do research for a month or so in a region called Apurimac.
MAD LOVE
