Christmas In Peru

Christmas in Peru is absolutely wonderful! The traditions here are much different than

the traditions in the United States. The main focus of Jesus Birthday still gets lost,

but Peruvians are much better about remembering and celebrating the true meaning of Christmas! I love it!

Basically everything happens on Christmas Eve in Peru. Yesterday we wrapped presents ALL day! The kids at New Hope decorate their houses for Christmas for a competition. Kristy, Gef and I got to be the judges! They were all SO amazing! I wish I could post pictures of all of them. But there were live nativities and mulch involved! After the announcement of the winners we went into town with all the kids and walked around in the Plaza, bought fire works, and came back around 11pm. We shot off all the little fireworks for awhile and then time for presents, panetone (fruit cake like bread), and hot chocolate at midnight! After presents a turkey and potato dinner! Yeah you read right, dinner at about 1am! Then off to bed!

Christmas here is wonderful and the best celebration of joy and love ever! There is Christmas cheer everywhere. It is not a question if it is politically correct to say Merry Christmas. Merry Christmas is not being replaced by Happy Holidays! It is Feliz Navidad all around and in every part of every community in Peru!

Check out the photos in the blog below this one!

Love much! Love Often!

Christmas In Peru -- Photos

...Long Pause

...I haven't blogged in awhile. But decided that just because I am in the states does not mean I can't update my life publicly for all (kind and creepers) to read.

Since I have been home I have been hugely blessed! I have a great family, wonderful friends, the greatest job, and just absolute true joy. Times have been hard being away from Peru, but even those times I feel ok about where I am and what my life is doing.

My dad had open heart surgery and is recovering great! I am finally getting past my sick that started 6 months ago. My church/pastor is wonderful and I am being opened up to new things that I have never learned AKA the not knowns. My relationships with friends and family are finally starting to feel normal again. I get to spend time once a week (ish) with some of the greatest middle school and high school ladies! My great friends Geff and Tiffany gave me an awesome job where I am learning an art that I have always loved: Photography. I have discovered that concerts are probably my favorite way to spend an evening. Basically my life is complaint free.

I am heading back to Peru in December for Christmas. If you are interested in finding out how you can support a child for Christmas please contact me! Or if you would like to support a child monthly for every day needs you can visit www.peruhope.org

Love Much! Love Often!

Esther

This morning in church I got to teach Sunday School for the 14-20's girls class. We talked about Esther. Esther has been my favorite story in the Bible for a really long time, but when preparing this morning for the class I realized for the first time how much girls at New Hope have in common with Esther. She was orphaned as a child and was a poor Jew. She overcame her life and became Queen.

While speaking about Esther I could absolutely feel the Lord working in my heart and the hearts of the girls in my class. Generally when I teach or anyone teaches there is a lot of nothing going on in their faces. Today they were looking at me and nodding their heads and responding to questions. I really feel like somehow they connected with the story. It is such a great feeling to have the Holy Spirit move and to be able to see it happening in a group of girls that you love and have such great hopes for. At the end of the story I encouraged them that they can be an Esther for their home, their town, and their country. They just have to be willing to be used by God. And I think that goes for all of us.

Love Much! Love Often!

New Shoes

Great story, I hope I do it justice in telling it:

(they really are sweet girls)

Early on Tuesday morning I was half asleep and I hear the wailing tears of Sandra. Sandra is 1/2 of a set of twins, she is 9 years old, and an absolute gem! I have barely seen her upset, but this Tuesday morning she was distraught to tears over something 10 feet outside of my door. Laura and I decide to go out and see what is going on. All the other kids have already left on the bus and Sandra, sitting in her school uniform, hair in pig tails, continues to cry sitting on the arm of an overstuffed green chair. I sit next to her and ask what is going on. But in her state of despair she can't breathe let alone say words. So the other girls tell me that she doesn't like her shoes, they are boys shoes. I don't know about everyone else, but when I was a 9 year old girl having to go to school in boys shoes might as well have been going to school with a shaved head. That is basically the worst form of torture. I guess the day before the school said that the heel on her school shoes were too high and she couldn't wear them again. I kneel down next to Sandra and convince her to go to school and after school we will go into town and buy new shoes for school that are made just for girls! She begins to cry even harder, which confuses me. She says that the bus has already left, so me in my pajamas, unbrushed hair and teeth, barely awake self grab her book bags and run with, a crying Sandra, about 1/3 of a mile up a mountain to hail a taxi. On the way to school the tears cease and she appears to be ok. We pull up to the school and she freezes! Absolutely freezes, she asks if I will accompany her. So me in my pajamas, unbrushed hair and teeth, barely awake self walk into a school filled with students and teachers to take Sandra all the way to her classroom. After school I ask how school went and of course all was well. She was back to good ole all smiles Sandra. So Sandra, Carolina, and I go shoe shopping. We find delicately fabulous shoes for school for the both of the girls, have a little ice cream date, and head home. All is well in the world of the New Hope Twins.

I wanted to tell this story because this shoe shopping venture wouldn't have been possible without all the people who support me here in Peru both in prayers and with money. So thank you! Thank you for giving, praying, and loving these kids along with me for the past 9 months.

Love Much! Love Often!

Caballo vs. Cabello

To start this blog a bit of a spanish lesson: caballo is horse and cabello is hair. Don't confuse the 2 or these girls will seriously rag on you for your whole life.

On Sunday after church I got to take all the girls horseback riding in the countryside of Arequipa. We all had so much fun. We took a bus to Saga (the mall, if you can call it that) to eat in the food court and then 3 taxi's about 30 minutes out of town to the horse ranch. There were 17 of us and we had the best time! I will let the pictures speak for themselves.

Sandra eating her fries with mayonnaise. Yum?

All the girls eating in the food court. Most of them got KFC, but a few got chinese.

Magali and her horse, he always took her through the water as she said "oh no, oh no, ahhhh..."

Some of the girls eagerly waiting to get started.

Me and my horse whose name I couldn't remember so I called her "Chica".

Some of the girls

Carolina trying to make her horse go faster!

Sybil and Laura's horses did not like each other!

My horse.

The whole group after our ride!

Love Much! Love Often!

Win or Lose

This weekend I got to spend a lot of time with the kids outside of the home. On Saturday I got to go with the little boys and older girls to a sports complex just outside of our community of Pachacutec. There our kids got to play soccer and volleyball against other kids from other children's homes in the city. Our little boys played soccer and man were they cute. It was basically David v. Goliath though. These other kids were so big. However, our kids totally dominated in over time! Our mixed volleyball team also won, but our all girls volleyball team sorta got crushed.

Being at this event really opened up my eyes on the amount of children in Peru who live in homes. Just at this one event for this one part of the city there were hundreds and hundreds of kids. In a city of 1,000,000 people the percent of street kids and dislocated kids is somewhere around 40%. Peru, Arequipa, Pachacutec, and New Hope need our prayers and support in efforts to lower this percentage. If you are interested in supporting a child or learning more about New Hope please visit www.peruhope.org. Or you can contact me through e-mail and I would be happy to give you any information you need at amsemore@gmail.com

Love Much! Love Often!