¡Que emocionado!

Wow, I am a horrible blogger. And I was doing so well there for a few days...But I made up for it with tons of links for you to enjoy throughout my post!
This site is one of three places where I am keeping track of what I'm doing here (my journal and diario for Spanish tutoring are the other two), and I blame this for why I don't post very often; I feel like I've already written everything down.

It's also a lot easier to post when I don't have anything else to do. Since I've been here, I've had two hours of class everyday (besides reading and writing outside of class), and I've also been working on creating name tag badges for a research team that's coming soon from Harding to help with ICDU's community projects. It was really exciting to see ICDU make it's first no-interest loan to help Willy, the son of the lady who helps both the McKenzie family and the Smith family around the house, buy a taxi to stay employed. It was truly the beginning of a great relationship with the rest of this family, and I loved seeing how willing people back home were to loan Willy money so he could keep his job.

In other news, Ben, Wes, and I have signed the lease and sent in the security deposit for our house next fall in the Stevenson neighborhood of Abilene. This "intentional community" is going to be so much more than a house. We will be living together, not just rooming together. Our use/adaptation of a New Monastic model for community will no doubt be the next adventure worth blogging about!

I've posted some pictures from the last two weeks on Facebook. Even if you're not on Facebook, you can see the pictures here.
The team also had me post a short bio on their website. If you'd like to see that, and the rest of their site, click here.

Lessons!

One of the men here that works closely with the team and the ICDU, used to work for a language school, and his name is Alfredo, which is apparently a pretty common name here. Besides working with ICDU, Alfredo also works with Megan and her Spanish, and he might work with others; I'm not sure.

Before coming down here, the team mentioned that he would be a possibility for language classes for these two months. Well I talked to him this morning after his lesson with Megan, and we agreed to start Monday! ¡Que emocionado! We're going to work for two hours every day after lunch, and I can't wait to get started.

I went out with Greg today to a part of town that sells a lot of furniture and used appliances. He's in the market for a few things because they just got to move into the other half of their apartment right before I arrived. He explained a lot about how the shopping works there, and how he would look in different stores for the same furniture in order to find the best prices. He also mentioned how interesting/strange/frustrating it is to be the subject of some form of racism. None of the stores had marked prices, so sometimes the vendors would expect him to pay more just because he's white.

This is a picture of the volcano that overlooks the city of Arequipa. It's awfully handy in orienting myself when I don't really know where I am. As long as I can see that mountain, I can at least know the general direction of home.

Isn't it beautiful?

La Hospitalidad de Los McKinzie y Lecciones de Marcos 9

Well the internship has officially begun with TeamArequipa and their Instituto Cristiano de Desarrollo Urbano (Christian Institute for Urban Development). Greg and Megan have put me up in a great room with a warm bed--and my own baño!

Being in a high altitude desert, the weather changes drastically from warm and sunny to cold when the sun goes down. I find myself layering up often.

Tonight, I went with the team to a Bible study they've been attending. I don't think they're usually in a leadership role in the discussions, but Greg filled in tonight for the regular missionaries who are currently on furlough. The study was amazing! For one thing, I understood way more than I thought I would. But more than that, I was able to stop thinking about praticing my Spanish and really let the message affirm me and shape me spiritually.

We talked about the words of the dad of the demon-possessed boy in Mark 9, basically, "I believe, but help me to believe more." Later in the text when the disciplines ask Jesus why they weren't able to drive out the demon, He tells them that that kind of demon can only be driven out by prayer. That phrase is incredible in my Spanish Bible because it calls it "la fuerza de oración," the force of prayer. What an awesome reminder of the power that comes with prayer through the name of Jesus! I pray that the rest of time here is filled with things to learn like this!

I Lived to Travel Another Day

Well I'm pretty sure that everyone reading this already knows that I am back from Uruguay...Once we got back from our free travel time in Tierra del Fuego, things really picked up pace, like getting homework and projects turned in before we came back home.

And everyone knows how Christmas goes. Especially in our family, there is absolutely no time for blogging with all the present-swapping and game-playing. Speaking of which, I'm sure I'll have a hankerin for chickenfoot come August.

This last Spring semester was even more transformational than the Fall in Uruguay, if you can image that. I met some incredible people at ACU, people who are helping me to grow and to know God and His quirks :-) It's amazing how drastically your view on things changes when make a real effort to actively show love to people...I highly recommend it, even though it may come at a high price.

During the Spring, I took a class called Intro to Ministry and Missions, which is the pre-internship class for Bible majors. Well the time has come to do that internship, and where else to do it but South America?

TeamAREQUIPA has been gracious and accommodating in setting everything up for me to spend the next two months with them in Arequipa, Peru. Peru is going to very different from Uruguay and Argentina. For starters, their Spanish will sound different. In the Southern Cone, they pronounce the double-L and Y letters with a soft 'j' sound that almost sounds like a "sh." In Peru, the double-L and Y are both pronounced like English Ys. For example, the word for chicken, "pollo," sounds like "po-jsho" in Uruguay, but "po-yo" in Peru.

Another difference between the two South American countries is that I am going to stand out a lot more in Peru. In Uruguay, most everyone was caucasian, but in Peru, the general skin-tone is darker.

I have also been told that mountainous regions like Arequipa tend to be more traditional in their culture and mindset than coastal cities, like Montevideo, Uruguay, where the culture is much more open to change. This would be mostly due to the amount of seclusion in the mountains versus the constant visits from other cultures in a harbor town.

I'm excited to learn the small conversational phrases used in Arequipa. Not everyone uses "¿Como estas?" and "Adios." In fact, in Montevideo, it was mostly "¿Como andas?" and "Chao."

Well my plane for my first stop on the way to Peru is boarding soon. Check back for updates and pictures, and don't be afraid to leave comments!