"Festival of Life"

Today at our church we had a "Festival of Life" instead of doing something for Halloween. The Christian church does NOT dress up in costumes here. It's considered very wrong because Halloween is of the devil. So instead our church put on a little party for kids. We sang some songs, played a few games, had a skit, ate a ton of food and candy. It went pretty well. Yesterday we went around the neighborhoods passing out flyers inviting people to come and we ended up having a little over 40 kids. AWESOME!
Yesterday the children's pastor asked me and a couple others if we could teach a song to the kids. So today I taught "Who is the King of the Jungle" or "Quien es el Rey de la Selva". A very simple song but it was good practice! I'm comfortable being in front of and teaching kids... but in Spanish was a little different story! It went very well though.

Nearing the End of the Beginning

First of all... I'm sorry that it's been so long since I've posted anything! It seems like I have been very caught up in life lately. But from now on I'll try to be better! That being said...

We're nearing the end of our language school training in the lovely city of Arequipa, Peru. I feel like I'm pretty much a little past a survivor level with my Spanish. Able to get by and get around. I can understand quite a bit, but sometimes get frustrated when I attempt to express myself in a different and new language. I'm a little nervous for when we move to Iquitos in 3 weeks and start taking college level classes IN Spanish. Yikes! We'll also be meeting our Peruvian partners and will only be able to speak in Spanish since it would be rude to speak in English in front of them. Hopefully my Spanish will start to progress much faster at that point!

October was the Month of Miracles in Peru... God of Miracles (el Mes de Milagros... or Senor de los Milagros). Peru is a widely Catholic country and the month is set aside to celebrate the miracles that God has done and will continue to do. I was able to walk in a couple of different processions. It was awesome to see so many people singing and praying and worshipping God. He truly is a God of miracles... and it was cool to have this month to try to focus on that one small aspect of our amazing Father.

I'm continuing to build relationships and friendships with my fellow 40/40 missionaries here in Arequipa. I still absolutely love my Peruvian family and try to talk to them as much as possible, partly to help with Spanish! I absolutely can't WAIT until the next step... moving to the jungle city Iquitos for cultural, biblical, and church planting training. It sounds like we are going to be very busy with studying and helping the local churches in Iquitos. But I'm so excited for it! The only thing I'm NOT super stoked about is the 90 degree heat and 100% humidity (meaning it feels more like 110). Other than that I'm so excited to move.

Ok I don't want to write an overwhelming long... I don't want to read this anymore... blog. So that's all for now... more to come later! I love you all and miss you!