update

honestly i am just blogging because i have extra time right now, not because i have much to say. life in lima is wrapping up...it's almost november and i don't know how that happened.

things are starting to speed up and there's a lot of stuff we need to do before we leave here. one being our projects that we have to hand in before we leave. each person on our team has a project that demonstrates what we've learned during our time here or something that will help out the community when we leave. megan and i are working on a project that will help the young mothers and their kids better their relationships...it involves a parenting class. i'll give more details later, when i actually know what the project entails.

we're also planning a campamento for our boys. we're taking some of the boys off the streets and to the mountains...where there is silence, peace, and something these kids have NEVER experienced. i am excited to see what the lord teaches all of us while we're out in nature with him.

i'm very content right now, and i can only attribute that to the joy of our lord. in him, i am finding peace and joy in simple things....even when life here doesn't make sense.

washing clothes on the roof

can i just say how much i love doing laundry by hand on a sunny day in lima? because i do. today the sun came out and i went to the roof and washed my clothes while getting a tan...excellent.

well, life in lima is becoming joyous. i'm really learning a lot and loving the life here right now. today marks the half-way point for me...i've been here a full two months and i only have two left. it doesn't seem possible. this time is really flying but i am excited for the upcoming months. god is teaching me a lot and i'm learning to find joy in really small things. like washing my laundry by hand. i love that everything you do here is a process. it's teaching me patience and i'm learning how to slow down for the first time in a long time.

i don't have much to say right now besides things are great. tomorrow we are having movie day with some of the boys from the street. it's a super hero theme so i'll be watching superman and batman and such with these boys that i love oh so much...what a great day.

mejor

thanks for all the prayers. life in lima is improving drastically. i'm 'mejor' (better. for those of you who don't speak spanish). my health is finally improving and my life isn't so sad. ha.

no, but really, things are great. i am learning a lot and the sun is coming out more frequently. oh, and yesterday i saw the ocean! not that i haven't seen it before, but in a dirty city, the shoreline is a beautiful thing. then, today i had a strawberry smoothie...and it was cold! no drinks are ever cold here in lima, or at least right now because it's still cold outside. so, cold drinks are a treat to me.

god is doing some great things in my heart. i'm still learning a lot about finding joy in brokenness and dark places. my spanish is improving and i really feel at home here. god is good. he is faithful. and i'm excited for the rest of my time here. next week it will be at the half-way mark. i've been here for 2 months...crazy!

sunny sundays

it's saturday, but tomorrow is sunny sunday. apparently in the spring, lima only has sunshine on sundays...so i'm clinging to that cuz today is especially cold.

things are really great right now, hard, but great. i've come to grips with it never being easy to live life here in lima. the trick is learning to find joy in small things and find light in dark places. i really feel like god is opening my eyes to a lot right now. he's showing me how to be joyful and still mourn the suffering of this world.

friday night i went out on the streets again. it was an interesting time because we didn't see too many of 'the regulars' but it was very tranquilo and allowed me time to process. it's easy to feel helpless in dark places like the streets of lima. however, i feel like god's saying it's okay to mourn for our friends on the streets. it's okay to be sad. these kids often times go unnoticed and forgotten...it's as if they are invisible. so if my heart wants to mourn their situations, then yes, it's okay to mourn with them because they need that. they need people to care, they need people to listen to their cries, they need people to be excited with them, to cry with them, to laugh with them--they need people to love them and wrap their arms around them...i feel privileged to get to share the love of god with our friends here.

i'm really excited about everything right now. excited about the ministry here and about what god will do with me when i go home. i'm not sure what i'm going to be doing when i get back to the states, but i feel it's been revealed to me that i won't have a normal job...ever. i am content in whatever circumstances i am dealt...even when they're tough. ah, things are great. and they're even better when the sun is shining. thank god for sunny sundays.