Last Wed, August 10, was my 6 month anniversary of being in Peru…It simultaneously seems much longer and much shorter!

It seems much longer because I feel like I haven’t seen my family in FOREVER! Also because sooo much has happened in these last 6 months! Arriving to Peru, dealing with customs for a month to get the container of stuff cleared, being delayed an additional 2 weeks coming to Pucallpa because of a strike, arriving to Pucallpa and getting settled in my house, dealing with Bob, my mouse/rat companion for the first 1.5 months I was here in Pucallpa, being given a kitten, started teaching the deaf kids, started teaching English, started translating for the Deaf Teacher, seeing improvement in the students, having 4 teams of Americans come for short term missions trips, Refugio finally becoming members with CONEP, returning to Lima to start my part of the process to get my residence card, going to a Peruvian friend’s 25 anniversary renewal of vows, figuring out how to maneuver the mototaxis here, grocery shopping, figuring out proper haggling skills and costs for things, meeting and slowly building relationships with the other missionaries here, adjusting to the jungle weather, encountering large spiders in my bathroom and my first tarantula, and finally making my first pitcher of Sweet Tea this past Monday. It is delicious and I’ve missed it….. :-)

How did all of that happen in 6 months????

And I think because of the aforementioned busyness, the time seems to have flown by as well! I have definitely had my moments of quiet, reflection, loneliness, crying, brain-deadness, etc., but it hardly seems like I’ve been here long enough to even experience those! One thing I have definitely felt though is the lack of a close church family and deep Christian fellowship.

But God has done and continues to do soo much! My Spanish has improved tremendously! All of the Deaf kids are slowly improving with their language acquisition. I have friends and am now very comfortable haggling and arguing in Spanish. The Lord worked awesomeness and got all of my paperwork filed/presented before my tourist visa expired August 10. I am finally integrating more into the missionary community here. And I learn something new every day!

I am kind of in awe of everything that has happened now that I am thinking of it all. It has been soo encouraging to know that all of ya’ll have been praying for me, encouraging me, and supporting me. I still miss my family, but I am also positive that this is indeed where God wants me. I am excited to see what the Lord does in the next 6 months!!!

#provision #Peru #missions #spanish