Un Mes - One Month

Yup, that's how long we've been in Lima as of today.  It has been such a great experience so far!  I've been trying to take pictures of all the things that we do so that you can see what you're reading about each week.  Hope this post helps you actually see the things that we do daily.

One of the first things we did when we got to Lima was Noche de Jovenes (Youth Night).  Youth in this case is anyone from the later years of high school to college to post graduate age.  These people have turned out to be some of the ones that we hang out with the most and who are really connected to the mission team and the church that is growing as a result of their work.  They have made a point to come over or take us out to show us more of Lima and to make us feel as comfortable here as we can.  We've become great friends over the past month and I am excited to see where these friendships are headed during the next five months.

Our first Noche de Jovenes

The first full week we started language school.  We went for four hours Monday through Friday for three weeks and we learned a ton.  It worked out that we could take this week off to rest and really jump into the work that the team does.  I'm missing all the people at school a little bit and hope to see them again soon if we start more classes.

A few of our new friends from language school: Kristine from Iceland, Shaun from Korea, Ariana from Brazil, and our teacher Irene

Probably as a group one of our favorite times of the week is Sunday mornings at Villa Maria.  Since we've been here, the team has started having a kids reunión (meeting or get-together) in Fortaleza, a barrio (neighborhood) in the Villa Maria area.  We sing songs, play games, pray, and act out Bible stories.  The kids love that we're there just to hang out with them.  It's so great to see how happy they are to have "cool older people" who come specifically to see them.  

A small part of Villa Maria

Kyle G. and his new friend from Fortaleza

Last week we had a truly cultural experience... a fútbol game in Peru!  Alianza Lima is one of the city's two major teams and we got to see them play a team from Mexico.  People kept staring at us since there were 13 very tall gringos (the average Peruvian is about 5'2") at a soccer game between two Latin American teams.  But we had a blast yelling, jumping, watching the fireworks (yes, shot from people in the stands!), and cheering for Alianza.

Kyle G., Taylor, Kyle W., and Mark before the game started



Go Alianza!

Sometimes we get a chance to be tourists and see all kinds of new (or really old) things.  We've gone to the beach several times with the team families and by ourselves.  It's great to be having summer weather in February.  We also love that there are beaches within walking distance from home and school.  The water is pretty cold, but if we're surfing or playing with the kids it's worth it.  Last week we took a photo tour with a guide from our language school.  We walked all through Miraflores and took pictures of it's parks and cool buildings and even a lighthouse.  One of the parks was the Parque de Amor where there is a huge continuous bench covered in broken tiles made into all kinds of pictures.  Each section of the bench has a quote about love so it is a very popular park for couples to visit.  Just yesterday we finally had time to go to the center of Lima, basically the historical downtown.  We walked throught the Plaza de Armas just in time to see the changing of the guard at the Presidential Palace.  After that we went to the Iglesia de San Francisco and took the tour through the monastery and catacombs.  But don't ask us anything about it... we took the tour in Spanish and definitely haven't learned many historic monastery terms so you wouldn't get a very good explanation.  :)

Beach in Miraflores



Parque de Amor in Miraflores



Band playing after the changing of the guard at the Presidential Palace

Our days wouldn't be complete without at least part of the mission team.  About two weeks ago, the Thompsons got to come back to Lima after four months of being in the U.S.  I think they were pretty surprised to see a mariachi band among their welcoming party at the airport.  We had a blast and definitely caused a scene while we embraced our loud, obnoxious American stereotype for the night.  The team as a whole has 10 kids, all five years old and younger.  This is great since the four of us love kids and don't mind entertaining them.  Just one of the many times we get to act like kids ourselves is at the beach with the families.  We build sand castles, run from the waves, and get sand all over ourselves.  We're so blessed to be surrounded by such great people!

Excited to welcome the Thompsons back to Lima

 

Kyle W. building sand castles with Derek and Liam

Now that you've seen a lot of the things we get to do, I hope you have some creative ideas for prayer.  We depend on your prayers and can't thank you enough for them.  One more thing I want to add to your list is Kyle W.  He broke his collar bone just after the picture above was taken, had surgery here, and will return to the U.S. Thursday to continue treatment and do physical therapy at home in Dallas.  After that, he can return to Lima and finish the internship with the rest of us.  This is a tough surprise for our team and we would love prayers that are specific to the situation.  Thanks again!
Chau -JLD