- Amanda McKinney
Back to Peru I Go!
The last month has been a whirlwind of activity and planning!
First, I was blessed to be able to meet up and have dinner on Jan 4 with two team members from my Peru trip last July, one of which was our director, and obtained some great insight from her. Then, that following week, I created spreadsheets with all the pricing for my plane tickets, the different Spanish schools I was looking at, etc. While doing that, I decided on a school in Lima, Peru, that I was definitely leaning towards, but I wanted to keep my options open and share all my information with church. On January 11, we had an Outreach Committee meeting at church, of which I’m a member; but I am also an agenda item. During the meeting, when we came to the agenda item of me and of the Lord directing me back to Peru, I shared the costs I had compiled to have a rough draft of what my next trip would cost. After a rough total was figured out, the committee as a whole (aside from myself who sat there dumbstruck) decided that they would like to pay for the overhead cost of this next trip.
Now I knew that God would take care of/provide the finances for whenever I was supposed to go back to Peru, but I wasn’t expecting Him to do it all at one time! Nor was I at all expecting my church to pay for any of the next trip. I almost cried during the meeting as I sat there in awe of God and His provision.
After that meeting, things continued to escalate. Now that the overhead funding for the trip was taken care of, I could start looking at actual dates. I had either March or May stuck in my head as the time when I should leave, but while driving home from work on Jan 17 and praying about it, God confirmed May as the time when I should leave. Also, amidst all of that, I decided on going to Peruwayna Spanish School in Lima for a month; so now I had the total time figured out for my trip!
After talking with my pastor the following week, I got the go-ahead to purchase my plane tickets; so on Saturday, January 25, I purchased my plane ticket to Lima, Peru! Then on Tuesday, January 28, I purchased the plane ticket from Lima to Pucallpa, Peru!
I leave Thursday, May 8, 2014, to head to Peru and won’t be back until Tuesday, July 8!
God is soo amazing! As I now prepare for this soon-approaching trip, so much is going on in my head and I am trying to stay calm in the midst of the day-to-day stuff. But I’m sooo excited!!!!
PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE pray for me as I continue to get everything in order to be able to leave for two months, as well as for while I’m there. This is a “training/confirmation” trip and I will be seeking the Lord’s confirmation during the 2nd month I’m there in Pucallpa at the Refuge of Hope that ROH is indeed where He wants me. Assuming He confirms that, I will also be looking for possible housing options, etc., for my eventual move there.
When I returned from the Peru trip last July, I knew I would be going back, but I didn’t really think it would be so soon. God is so gracious and merciful and continually shows us that He is the one in charge of timeframes, details, finances, etc. All praise and glory be to my Wondrous God!