As Promised

These are some of the flowers that I'm growing right now. The ones on the black stand are in my room. The rest are on my back patio. Love them! Bring color and joy to my days!

Renewed Ambition

Well hello blogging world. I doubt any of my original followers remain after my nearly 3 years of absence from the blogging world. Fine with me. In many ways I do not even feel like the same person who started this blog five years ago. Two years in a foreign country, a Seminary education, and two dating relationships with unexpected endings will cause changes in a person. Hopefully, I have changed, grown, and matured into a better more God honoring person, but sometimes I wonder.

I'll start slow with this first new post. Maybe with a list of my favorite things and a list of some things I've discovered about myself.

Favorite Things:

1. Flowers (as indicated by this blog). I've really grown to love "gardening". Although the only edible thing I grow is tomatoes. Everything else is just really pretty flowers. My flowers this year are the prettiest I think I've ever grown. I don't have any great pictures of them (I'll post some later), but I'll show you a pic of some of the first verbena I ever grew.


2. Sea Turtles. I have always been a big fan of turtles and especially sea turtles. I'm a collector and I've been collecting turtle figurines since I was 7 or 8. Recently I asked my friend Lindsay Core to paint me a picture of a Sea Turtle. She did an amazing job!! See for yourself.

3. Gus. However, if you know me you already knew this!

Now for things I'm learning:

1. I'm not a "follow through" kind of person. I hate this. So, I have started a project for myself. I bought a journal yesterday. . . it is now 1 of about 5 sitting unfinished in my room. But I promise that this one is going to be different. This one I am going to write in everyday for at least this entire summer. That is the goal anyways. I'm off to a great start with entries from yesterday and today! :) Plus it's a really cute journal--
the actual reason I bought it!

2. I'm a planner. I plan way too much and much of it never happens, but this has never stopped me from making lists, buying planners, and keeping electronic sticky notes on my computer desktop. I just can't help it. Go ahead. Call me OCD.

3. I really do love the Lord Jesus Christ with my whole being. I want to honor, serve, and please Him so badly that it hurts sometimes. My prayer today comes from Isaiah 1 (Which is where I started for my summer of journaling in my new journal!)
Isaiah 1:16-17 Wash yourselves; make yourselves clean; remove the evil of your deeds from before my eyes; cease to do evil, learn to do good; seek justice, correct oppression; bring justice to the fatherless, plead the widow's cause.
So, today I am praying for forgiveness from my sins of arrogance, vain worship, pride, and self-righteousness and I'm pleading that God will teach me to do good.
And along the same vein-- I will be going to help the fatherless in about a week and a half in Shell, Ecuador at an orphanage. www.lacasadefe.org.

4th of July

Here's an update on my American Life. Chris arrived in Jackson on Monday June 30th. We spent the week helping him find his way around Jackson and just spending quality time together. This past weeked for the 4th we were able to see lots of friends and family.

The weekend started on Thursday night when Chris and I met up with several of my High School friends. We went to Mugshots and had a fun time visiting and eating a dang good hamburger (well everybody else ate a hamburger... i had a grilled chicken sandwich).

Friday we spent the day with the Varners-- a family that Chris worked with in Turkey. We had a great time eating good food, fishing at the pond, and shooting fireworks.

Saturday night we spent the time at my sister's house where we cooked out again. My daddy joined us and we all had a good time.

Then on Sunday after going to church at Pinelake we headed down to Brookhaven to meet all the family. Mama cooked a huge lunch: ribs, baked beans, twice-baked potatoes, bread, and homemade peach icecream. She made me a special little meal with Chicken and other things my belly can tolerate a little better. (i have the best mama in the world!).

After lunch, Chris, my sister, her husband, and I headed down to the creek behind mama's house.

Our dogs (Allie and Gus) loved it and I'll have to say I had a pretty good time myself!

It was a great weekend with lots of fun memories. I'm so glad Chris is here and we can start making these memories together!

Please Pray

Hey Everyone,

I have a prayer request for all of you. A young man by the name of Greg Gomez died in an automobile accident in Peru on July 5th. He just graduated from Ole Miss in May with an engineering degree. He was serving as a Summer Missionary with the Reap South team. He was on the Research Team going to different remote villages finding people groups so that those groups can later be reached by Missionaries. He was on a combi (van-public transportation) when the van hit the side of mountain. He died of head injuries. Several others were injured. Two other young ladies were with him from the ReapSouth team--one of whom (Claudia) was my roommate in Peru. As far as I know the girls are doing fine, but they did have some injuries. This is all I know at this time.

Here is a news article about the accident: http://www.ksdk.com/news/local/story.aspx?storyid=149530

and for those of you who read spanish: http://www.correoperu.com.pe/correosur/cusco/nota.php?id=23716

Please keep the Reap South team and all of our summer missionaries in your prayers.

UPDATE:

I just spoke with Arnold (one of the Missionaries on the Reap South team). He says that because public transportation strikes are starting tomorrow they are having trouble getting Greg's body back to the U.S. Also, there is just tons of paperwork that has to be done in order to get him back. Please continue to pray for the team and the missionaries.

Thank you!

America-- original I know

Well now that it's been a good 3 months since I've even looked at this thing I figured it was time to get everyone updated. After writing this blog I plan to send one final Newsletter. I have by no means arrived home and been able to process everything in the last 3 months. I would say this is more like the beginning of the process, this blog may be my first real step to start embracing and understanding what has transpired in the last 2 years and how to move forward with what happened and changed in my life.

I guess I should go ahead and mention that when I arrived in the U.S. I freaked out in every possible way. Those of us who have lived in foreign countries for long know that American food can be pretty constant on our homesick minds. However, when you arrive in the U.S. you hit this sensory overload especially in the area of food. Just the idea that you could go to Arby's, Chic-fil-a, Quiznos, Atlanta Bread, Starbucks, and Wendy's makes your stomach and head swim... and that's before you ever leave your terminal much less the airport! There is a whole world of food out there, and if you are in my situation (where your stomach is a mess) you want to eat it all and are afraid to take a single bite. So, needless to say I dealt with that insanity for at least 2 weeks. Meanwhile, I was trying to get into the Doctor's office, get out of my mother's house, and find a job so that I could afford the outrageous gas that has gone up at least 80 cents from my arrival until today.

My first Sunday home just happened to be Easter Sunday. Great I think... the best Sunday of the entire year. I'm not only going to see every person that does and doesn't go to church I'm also going to get some good ole "Special Music" in the mix. Again, sensory overload. Before church was over I looked at my mother and asked her to drive me home. I pray the Lord has forgiven me for walking out on such a special Sunday.

I'm not one to sit still for long, so my mother's permission (more like longing) for me to stay in her back room until the day I die was a bit overwhelming. Needless to say I only stayed there for a grand total of 3 weeks. By week 2 I had completely exhausted every semi-exciting thing you can do in Brookhaven, MS. Going from 8 million neighbors to neighbors who consisted of my extended family was a bit claustrophobic.

I moved into an apartment in Jackson with no source of income by April 5th (I think--it's all a little fuzzy). The Lord blessed me with a job on my birthday (April 28th) so that I could pay my bills and keep my sanity. This job is a true blessing. The people I work with are wonderful and the pay is great for Mississippi. (Especially when people tended to continue asking me "and what kind of job experience do you have?"-- oh I don't know how about living as a single girl in a foreign country and culture doing everything that YOU do on a daily basis only IN ANOTHER LANGUAGE!-- excuse me, that was a tangent).

So, by May I had settled into this job and lifestyle and have been really enjoying myself for the most part. I attend church on Sundays at a Mississippi sized Mega-Church. Again, quite overwhelming, but now 3 months in I'm almost to the point of being able to concentrate without staring at the sheer number of people and size of the auditorium. I'm a work in progress for sure.

Lastly, but possibly most importantly, I was able to see Chris this past week. He just arrived back in the U.S. on May 31st. After a 10 day camping trip with his best friends he arrived in VA as did I for our debriefing conference. It was so great to see him and finally be in America face-to-face. I enjoyed my time at the conference and you can say that this blog entry is a result of me seeing my need to process what I've been through these past 2 years.

Chris and I in Wal-Mart (his first time there since arriving to the U.S)

The good memories are starting to come back and the stomach aches aren't at the foreground any more. I'm remembering why I left to live among the "nations" in the first place and how ready I am to go back. I do believe that I would eat only bread for the rest of my life if that was the only way for me to live overseas....then again, I've been labeled as dramatic! However, I do know that I am willing to go to great lengths to be on the field and I do pray that God gives me another chance in any country... just so long as He's doing the leading.

I guess I should also mention here that my stomach is returning to normal (whatever that is). After seeing a GI specialist and having a colonoscopy and endoscopy all the tests came back "normal". Once again I have been given the diagnosis of IBS--- meaning my stomach hurts when I eat. Thankfully I have found a couple really good books on the subject and I'm learning to control the pain with diet. I do not like how boring the new diet is (it pretty much takes away every Southern dish I've ever enjoyed), but I've learned to like it simply because I no longer have stomach pain.

Now, I will not apologize for the length of this entry because it's more for me than all of you anyways. But if you are still reading at this point I hope you enjoyed walking through the first months in America with me.

Thank you to every one of you who has read and prayed along with me over the past 2 years. It is possible that I will continue to write on here again in the future-- possibly just changing the blog title..... however, it's just hard to imagine that filling up my F150 at $4.00 a gallon can be as exciting as flying over the Amazon in a Cessna, hiking in the Andes to reach a some no-name village, or doing disaster relief in the Desert. The truth is though, the Lord has me here for now and I pray that I am just as willing and obedient to share His truth in my office as I am to hike through mud and muck to share that same truth.

Thanks again for your prayers. Leave some comments... if you like!

I love ya'll!!!!!!!!!

Last Sunset and the Strangeness of America

This was what the Lord gave me the night before I left Peru. Thanks to Bobby Lane for stopping and letting Kristen and I take photos!

Now here are a few things that have seemed strange to me since I've gotten home:

1. I can order things with lettuce because it is okay to eat lettuce in the U.S. (however, i've yet to do so because there is still something in me that says, "don't eat the lettuce!")

2. I don't have to completely dry my glass after rinsing it with sink water...I can just put ice directly into it with no fear of Bacterias from either the water or the ice.

3. Those ice machines at Subway allow you to get as much ice as you could possibly want without having to ask the lady for more (and i don't have to have this conversation with the lady behind the counter: yes, i'm serious i would like more ice than that...yes, that is what i said MORE)

4. People don't expect you to greet them with Good Morning, Good Afternoon, and Good Evening. In fact when you do so you are looked at strangely.

5. And finally, you can spend U.S. dollar bills that don't look perfect and the cashier will not hand it back and say that she wants a different one. However, I did feel like I had pulled a "fast-one" when the guy at Subway took my $5 that had an ink stain on it!

Last Class

Today I had the privilege of facilitating an English Conversation Class. The class took place at a local English Institute called ICPNA. We had a great time discussing controversial subjects which required lots of thought and lots of speaking English. At the end of the class I asked the students if they had any questions for me. They proceeded to ask me the normal questions: Where are you from?, What do you do?, Do you like Peru?, etc. Then I had one student ask me: "How would you share with us the love of God?"! Whoa! I was so shocked. I proceeded to share the gospel with the class thinking, what a neat opportunity. After class I ran into the guy who had asked me that question and he told me that he was a believer and he just wanted to give me the opportunity to share in class! I was so thankful! God works in the neatest ways, and when we are least expecting it.

Now the reason I named this entry "Last Class" is because that Conversation Class was the last class I will be teaching in Peru. I have made the decision this week to return to the U.S. because of continuing medical problems. I feel a perfect peace from the Lord about this decision and I know that He is guiding me. I would appreciate your prayers as I will be returning "home" on Monday (March 17).

And here's one more picture for your viewing pleasure. This is my Bible Storying Class that I have been teaching on Sundays, Mondays, and Wednesdays. I was able to find a Dr. Pepper and let them each taste the goodness. They think it tastes like medicine!

Not an Author

I'm pretty sure I need to scratch the idea of writing a book because some days I can't even think of a decent blog entry. I mean it's not that I don't have the material for a good entry I just can't seem to put all of it into an interesting format.

I guess I'll start with what I know. I've been teaching my advanced English class every Sunday, Monday, and Wednesday. By "advanced" I mean conversational. I'm not so good with the English grammar; therefore, we've been doing quite the opposite-- learning Southern slang. I like to hear "ya'll" and "ain't" come out of my students' mouths. I know you won't hear that from your average English teacher, but I've never claimed to be average.

We have been reading the "Southern Journal" articles from the last page of Southern Living magazines. The students seem to really be enjoying the classes. I decided that since most of the missionary volunteers that come to Peru are from the South it is important for our translators, a.k.a. my students, to be aware of Southern culture and idioms.

We are doing this because I decided I needed to regroup on my Bible Storying lessons. I was having trouble helping my students understand the need for Storying. They were doing a great job memorizing the stories for themselves, but I'm not sure I was expressing the importance of learning this as a method of sharing the gospel with others. So, this week I found several articles online from the IMB which explain the reasons and methods of Bible Storying. Next week we will begin again. I hope that as a teacher I am able to help them understand the concept.

On to other news. . .

Yesterday, Sandi and I were able to go with one of our students, Mijail, to his church. We went there because he is teaching English to a small group. He came up with the idea of teaching English in order to encourage people to come to his church. He invited us to come because he wanted them to be able to hear "real live English speakers" first hand. The whole trip was quite the adventure and we had a great time! Mijail came from his home to get us at our office at 4:30 p.m. We rode with him by bus back to his home/church. The trip took an hour and 15 minutes. We taught for about an hour and a half maybe. I can't really remember because the time flew by. We had so much fun. The group consisted of Mijail's brother, Father, and 3 other students. They all had great attitudes and came prepared with the questions they had been learning. We left and went with him to catch a bus back to our home after class. We stood on the street for quite a while waiting for the right bus, but it never came. So after about 20 minutes, at least, we decided we would have to take 2 different buses. Mijail rode with us on the first bus in order to help us catch the second one. Again, the bus we needed never came, but we found an alternate that actually took us very close to our neighborhood. I know you probably think it is crazy that I have lived in Lima for so long and can't even catch a bus by myself, but just come here and you will understand. On any given day the drivers don't even know which route they will be taking! So, we finally arrived home about 9:45 p.m. I'm so glad I was able to go! It was such a great experience to be able to go with a student to his neighborhood and to also see him teaching others what he has learned from us.

A sign at Mijail's church. It says, "The Bible: light for our district"

Mijail's father (his name is Pastor, but he's not a pastor, he's actually a communist!), Sandi, Priscila, Mijail's brother(sorry I forgot his name), Roger, and Mijail

Our second bus on the way home. The most comfortable, and by far the most empty. The others had been standing room only and no cushioned seats.

The rest of the pictures are from today:

I ran into the Extreme Team in town (a rare ocassion). They were passing through and they HAD to enjoy a good meal at Chili's. I enjoyed sitting and getting to know the girls.

The guys also enjoying a break from rice and sugar (the meal they have eaten everyday for a month!)

Thanks for suffering through the post.

I love ya'll!

Llama Tails

I went to the Lima Zoo yesterday with a friend and his brother who is in Peru visiting. When I was invited my first question was "will there be llamas?" for you see I've missed these creatures something aweful. My buddy says, "I don't know we'll just have to see". So, as we are entering the gate my first question to the lady taking tickets was "Where are the llamas?". Well they were in the Sierra section of the zoo, of course. I was thoroughly excited when I saw a small field filled with llamas and alpacas and a few other breeds of similar animals. As we were passing by LJ, my friend, asks me, "Do you know how to tell the difference between a llama and an alpaca?". I reply with, well, the natives have tried to explain it to me, but I think they are just making it up. I mean some of them tell me that llamas are the big ones and some tell me that alpacas are the big ones. Some tell me one has more hair than the other (what about when you shave them.. how do you tell?) LJ, though, tells me that it's all in the tail. He says that "they" (the natives) told him Alpacas' tails are always up and Llamas' tails are always down! Now, go figure! Well, we are clearly not experts, but I sure did have a great time seeing my animal friends again. I've missed them since I had to leave the mountains. Too, I thought it was only fair that I dedicate a little blog space to my furry friends since, afterall, they were the inspiration for the blog title!

p.s. keep reading (below) to find out what else i did yesterday

Sellin' Shoes and Studyin' the Word

This week I've had the awesome opportunity to hang out with some new friends at their place of business. I introduced my friend Tania to ya'll in the last blog entry. She is one of the students that comes to our English classes during the week. When I met her a few weeks ago I was really touched by her sweet spirit. I felt the Lord telling me that she would be a good person to invest my life into. So, last week I asked for her email address and asked if we could hang out sometime. She quickly agreed that that would be a great idea and so began a new friendship. I am very thankful that she invited me to spend time with her at the shoe store that she and her mom run. It is one thing to meet my friends at a restuarant or some other mutual meeting place, but it is something entirely different to spend time with them in their homes or, in this case, business. Thankfully, Tania lives and works within a short commute of my house. (This is usually not the case with our students. Many times they travel an hour or two on a bus to be able to attend our classes.)

So, I say all that to say... on Monday and Tuesday, I went with Tania to her store. I met her mom and friend, Noemi. Noemi works across the isle in another shoe store and also lives in the same building as Tania and her mom. On Monday we worked on Tania's English, ate lunch together, and the four of us studied the Bible. Tuesday I had less time to spend with them, but I was still able to eat and read a passage of scripture with Noemi. Noemi actually brought her Bible in anticipation of me coming to read with her! Not to mention, Tania sold a pair of shoes! For me that was one of the most exciting things about being with the girls. Peruvians work so hard to acquire a business. They spend all of their waking minutes working at that place and yet many times the economy just doesn't cooperate with their need to earn money. So, I was thrilled to be present when she sold a pair of 120 sole (about $40) shoes.

I will be going with the girls to Noemi's church on Sunday. She attends an evangelical church. Tania is not a member of a church, but we invited her to go with us on Sunday.

Tania and her mom working

Left to Right: Noemi, Me, Tania eating lunch in the store

Tania going upstairs to get shoes (the store is so small they don't have a back room to store things in, but instead store everything in the ceiling)

This is the neighboring store owner's child. Notice the blue string that keeps her from rolling too far!

Please pray for these relationships. Pray that we will have time each day I go to study the Bible and talk more about what it really means to follow Christ.

Valentine's Party con los estudiantes

C-love, your wish is my command. Blog entry number 2 in the same weekend!

Last night we had our monthly English Fellowship Party. We always have about a bijillion more people come to parties than come to class. Okay so maybe only 50, but 50 is a lot! I asked them why everybody comes to the parties and not to class and they (the students) quickly told me that it's because Peruvians love a party! Well, that makes sense. I guess everybody would rather eat and make Valentine's cards than study.

Anyways, we did have probably about 50 students come. We talked to them some about what we do for Valentine's in the U.S. Susie wanted someone to tell a story about a good Valentine gift they had received and after plenty of awkward silence I spoke up and told them how Chris wooed me last Valentine's day. I really wish I had brought his card with me to the party since we were making Valentine's cards, but I just told them about it instead. Telling them that story served two purposes. Killing the awkward silence AND making sure all the guys knew I was taken. We made it very clear that the cards they made could not be given to Sandi or I. One pretty persistent guy wanted to know why he couldn't give me his card. I told him, "I already have a Valentine". First, I had to explain the whole idea of what a Valentine is as a person and then I happily explained who mine is!

This is the card that Chris made and sent to me last year for Valentine's Day. The rest is history!

My new friend, Tania. She was allowed to make me a Valentine card.

This is the card that Tania made for me. How sweet!

My table making their cards. I'm not quite sure what kind of pose I'm striking!

Some of the students. These guys were too cool to make cards.

Sandi and I actually went recruiting (for more advanced English students) on Thursday at one of the local English Institutes and the four guys above are some of the students we talked to.

This is one that I thought was really good! I told Javier that he is an artist. He was really humble about his creation.

A few of our students waiting patiently in the food line.

Well, I guess that's it. I had another really fun English class tonight and I forgot to take a picture of them again! But three of the people in the above picture are in my class. Hope this pleases some of you blog stalker types or just interested boyfriend types.

Doin' What They Do and King Cake

I know it is now Saturday and I said last Friday that I would be doing a better job of keeping up with my blog. I mean, really, who wants to know more frequently than every week what I'm doing? But anyways, here is the next post whether some think it is late or others believe it to be right on time.

I really wanted to wait until I had a picture of my English class before I posted again, but I keep forgetting to take their picture. I guess I need to pencil that into my lesson plans. Even without a picture I can tell you that my class is going GREAT! I love my students and they tell me I'm a good teacher. Of course, they could be lying, but we have a great time anyways!

Even though I didn't get pictures of my class, I did manage to take several pictures of Peruvians at work this week. I was actually killing some time at a local park and started taking pictures of what people were doing around me. As I was leaving I walked about two blocks to my destination and realized that there were so many people working. I don't think I've ever really noticed how many people are working in the length of two blocks. There are the construction workers who whistle at me on a daily basis (maybe that's why I don't notice them, I have chosen to ignore them). But there are others, like the lady who works at a little corner fruit stand, men washing cars, guard for apartment buildings, and of course taxi drivers. So, I started taking pictures of these things just so I can remember the "normal" people of Peru. Then, I went to the Inca Market (the souvenir place) yesterday and saw a few of the vendors working on their goods. So, I asked some ladies if I could take their picture. Maybe it's me thinking ahead to the fact that I will be leaving soon and I just wanted pictures of the people or maybe it was sheer boredom. Either way, I hope ya'll enjoy some of the many jobs of Peru.
These guys were taking a break (it was siesta time). I think they are the park maintainace men.

This is an Ice Cream cart. They are on almost every block in Lima. They have a funny little whistle they blow to let you know that Ice Cream is close by.

This is a typical fruit cart that you find on lots of corners in Peru. You also see these carts filled with candy, cookies, and other junk food.

A man washing a car. Some apartment guards wash the cars of their tenants and sometimes random people just offer their car washing services. Either way you can get a very thorough car wash for about 15 soles ($5).

Construction worker. He appeared to be digging up the sidewalk and putting it in that dump truck. Not sure why.

This was one of the ladies in the market. She was working on her painting. I really wanted a candid, but when I asked to take her picture she posed (she was pretty shy about it too).

This lady is carving a gord. These things require sooo much time and talent. There are tiny little pictures carved all over. They are one of the more expensive things in the market because of the amount of time it requires to make them. This is one of the few things you can't talk them down on in price.

Another "normal" thing in Peru that I do not think will ever seem normal to me is the fact that people drink all drinks warm -- even soda drinks. I know this is not a shocker to all you people living overseas. I've read on many of your blogs that the locals in your country do the same thing. Maybe it's us Americans that are so different, heck, maybe all that ice does make us sick... who knows!! Anyways, I was in Burger King with some friends and there was a lady sitting next to us with two children. I looked over and noticed that she was pouring a steaming hot cup of water into the girl's Pepsi. I said, "Man, I wish I had a picture of that." Well, as I'm saying that she is telling the girl to go get a refill of hot water so that she can pour it into their other two drinks. So, as the girl goes for the refill I get my camera ready. After about 3 failed attempts I got a pretty good picture of the actual pouring action -- steamy hot water from a styrofoam cup into the Pepsi. Ah, Peru!
And lastly our King Cake Party. The Austins (http://hands-n-feet.blogspot.com/) are a good ole Louisianna family and they enjoy lots of the traditions that go with that state. (Including that purple and gold team so hated on my beloved Ole Miss campus) So, when Susie's friend, Kim, came all the way from Baton Rouge this past weekend with a King Cake mix in hand there was no doubt that they would be eating it on the day of Mardi Gras. They graciously invited over several of us single types (that never have food, much less cake in our homes) and it turned into a regular Austin Party. So here are a few photos from the night of Mardi Gras. It wasn't quite what you think of when you think "French Quater" and "Bourbon Street", but we did have beads!

Susie found the baby!!!