Back to Peru

As I stood waiting for the taxi to leave that would take me across the Peruvian border to Chile so I could renew my visa in two days on my return to Peru. I looked down at the little white paper with the Peruvian stamp and 183 days written on it. This paper represented the time I had spent in Peru, but as I looked at it, moments and memories began to flash before my eyes. Like the moment when Anita our little two year old at the girls home who was found alone on a street corner in the middle of the night learned to say my name. When Milagros fell asleep in my arms her first day at the home while I combed lice from her hair. Of one of our teenagers sobbing her heart out against my shoulder and smearing mascara all over my shirt. When I asked Gaby what she was singing and she said, “my own song, don’t you have your own song?” Of my Peruvian church and being able to worship with them in Spanish and the friends that I had made there. Of praying for patients on medical campaigns and seeing them respond to God’s love. That little piece of paper represented my days here, but it would never capture, the days that stretched me, the days I laughed hysterically with my friends, the days I cried from loneliness and the frustration of not being able to express myself in a foreign language. The moments that changed me, made me stronger, made me come alive, made me realize that I wasn’t yet ready to leave. That God had something more for me here. Since July I have spent time praying and speaking with a few people about what to do next and I am now planning on returning to the states for Thanksgiving and Christmas and then return to Peru the first week of Jan for at least 6 months. I would ask you to prayerfully consider partnering with me in this. I would continue assisting with medical projects as well as at the girls home. Also I am going to hopefully be visiting on a regular basis some of the girls that recently left from our home and be ministering to their family in whatever way I can. I’m getting more involved with my church here as well and am giving English classes to two young ladies. Which is a lot of fun but can be stretching as it’s harder to teach your own language than you might think. I have been helping translate as well, I helped with some of the translation for the MMI-Peru website http://medicalmissionsperu.org/en/ if you are interested in reading more about that ministry. I also helped translate four applications for scholarships for some of the youth from our church. It was challenging but I enjoyed the experience. My days are getting fuller here and my time is getting busier but the truth is every day I wake up with this feeling inside me like this is what I was born to do! There is really no other way to describe it. I am so blessed, I am doing what I love, in a place I love, with people I love, serving a God I love and for now there is no other life I would choose. Thank you for your continued prayers and support.