A Day In The Life

Every time I get the opportunity to talk to someone back home I get the "so what is a day like for you?" question. So here it is:

Sunday (Domingo): Church at 10am and 7pm. In between church is lunch and just a real chill day. Just like back home. Just add 40 kids. Ha. Dinner is after church at 8ish-pm

Monday/Wednesday/Friday (Lunes/Miercoles/Viernes): I get to the home around 8am. Head to the middle boys home, they are doing their studies and I do a devotional and study spanish. From 10am-12pm I have Spanish Class with Pili. Right after class is lunch with the boys. After lunch I usually do spanish/english with the tutor (Gladys or Maruja depending on the day). Dinner is at 7pm so sometimes I stay and eat and sometimes I head home about 6pm. Friday night is youth group (which I love) at 7pm and all the youth (from the home and not) come back to the home and play soccer or volleyball or just hang out for awhile.

Tuesday/Thursday (Martes/Jueves): Everything is the same except I don't have spanish class. From 10am-12pm I help the little ninos with their studies. My spanish is about at their level...1st grade. Ha. Thursday nights is church again (prayer meeting) at 7pm and dinner is at 8pm right after. Always eat that dinner.

Saturday (Sabado): I get to the home at 6am and we take a bus with Maruja and one of the boys to the open air market. Maruja buys the food that she needs for her menu for the whole week. I usually pick up some fruit and water. We get back around 8:30 and have breakfast with the boys. Then just depending on the day I can go to my house or stay at the home. It is kinda my day off. I usually try to go into the city and get personal stuff done. Like shopping or just chill at Saga (the mall/movie theatre place).

Any down time I am studying spanish! This will be my schedule until I learn spanish better and until the kids go back to school in March. At that point everything will change! So what I am saying is that my spanish needs to be top notch by MARCH! Be praying!

The picture is of the boys I eat all my meals with. (left to right) The boy taking a drink is Miguel, then Rosmel, Alvaro, Victor, Fredi, and Roberto. We just ate spaghetti so they are all pretty happy!

Love and Joy!

Week With The Finley's

Gef and Kristy are officially home now. They left last night around 9:00. Throughout the week they were here they truly made an impact on the kids. Every day we ate our meals with the middle age boys and they just love Gef and Kristy. Fredy grew attached to Kristy instantly. All the boys were eager to hang out with Gef.

Kristy and I painted the boys hall. And then Kristy with very little help from Gef and I painted a garden mural. As she was painting the little boys would walk by and say "bonita, bonita, bonita Kristy". So precious. And the hall looks great! The before and after pics are above!

About the second day we were here at New Hope Jorge invited Gef to help bake bread in the bakery. I got to tag along and what an amazing experience. Jorge bakes bread for the entire home every other day! We counted and it is approximately 175 rolls every other day! BY HAND!! Incredible kid for sure! Him and Gef have a bond now that I know will be life lasting!

We took each group of kids on a field trip: little boys to the park and for ice cream, middle boys and little girls to lunch, and older boys and girls to see Avatar. It was in Spanish with no subtitles. Thank the Lord I had Gef next to me who had already seen it to be my English subtitles.

This past week has been amazing with the Finley's. I am sad they are gone but I am so excited for the next few months. I will be focusing the majority of my time and energy on learning spanish until about mid March.

From OKC to Cusco to Arequipa

So this last week has been packed full of travel! It has been insane and amazing! Peru is a wonderful country. I am so blessed to get to spend the next year here. So far I have been on 5planes, 9 buses, 6 taxi's, and 2 trains and not a thing has gone wrong! If that isn't a miracle then I am not sure what is. Gef, Kristy and I have toured all of Cusco, Ollanaytambo, Machu Picchu, and Aguas Calientes. So remarkable! This is a picture of me at the Sacred Valley somewhere between Cusco and Ollanaytambo!

In Arequipa now! I am so excited to be here with the kids and to get this year started! First kids I saw were Nelar and Luis! They ran and gave me the best hugs! I am so blessed to be in this place! Please pray for my spanish learning! It is rough right now.

Love Him, Love People!