who stole the sun??!!

So am now safely in wet, cold and cloudy Cusco after what has been an eventful week!!…The Latin Link conference was in the most amazing surroundings in the mountains just outside Lima!.. It was an old convent and just so peaceful and stunning!..although not peaceful at 11.50pm on Monday night when we experienced an earth tremor!…We had been told that day what to do should an earthquake occur, and one of the key things is to NOT PANIC!!…i decided against this advice and felt panicking was exactly what was  necessary!…it is actually an area i am very gifted in, particularly at the moment, so i thought i should put my gift to use!!!!..Anyway, all was ok, and all the long termers seemed quite unfazed by it so thatwas good enough for me!

After the conference, Jenny, Roland and the boys and me had a few days in sunny, hot Lima, before heading torainy, cold Cusco! This was great as i got to spend a bit more time with one of the other new ‘striders’ who is going to be based in Lima and visit one of the projects she is going to be involved in. It was in a kidsbible club in a shanty town, near Liam airport. the kids were great, so friendly and enthusiastic in hearing and learning about God!..when they did worship they had no musical instruments, but they did not need them cos they sung and clapped with such enthusiasm and volume..it was amazing to see..and the living conditions were so basic!…I forgot to mention that the night before this visit, we had a hariy moment on a motorway, when the tyre on the car i was travelling in, burst, forcing us to have to pull over on the slip road ( they do not seem to have hard shoulders)..and decide whether it would be safer to wait in the car, where cars could head straight into the back of us or wait outside the car, thus allowing the cars to hit us straight on!!!….of course, this gave me another opportunity  to put my gift of  panicking into practice!..what a special gift!!….we opted to sit in the car and pray…and within minutes our prayers were answered, as a very nice man in a van ( i guess a bit like an AA man but nicer, cos we did not even have to call him, he just appeared!) showed up with some reassuring flashing lights so we could be clearly seen and therefore minimise the chances of getting squashed by a reckless Peruvian driver ( from my observations so far, all Peruvian drivers are reckless!!), and he changed the tyre and we were on our way!!

So Saturday afternoon, after our time at the shanty town,  I felt it only right that i head to Pink Berry with Anna (the other strider),to enjoy a frozen yoghurt with cheesecake bites one last time before i left Lima, but sadly, this was not meant to be!…We did make it to Pink Berry but as we did I  got the feeling that i was not going to be well!..and that feeling was spot on!..I shall spare you the details, but lets just say frozen yoghurt would not have been a good idea!!!!….but fortunatly i made it to Cusco yesterday, despite feeling uber pants and today i have been able to eat normally again!

The next few days for me will be just getting used to the altitude and orientated to Cusco and then language school starts on Monday..which I am looking forward to!

I always knew that I would have to depend on God a lot more here, but I had no idea it would be this quick and with this much intensity!..as i said in my last blog, I have been challenged like never before, but now the fears and anxieties are less ( although still very much with me!), I am able to see and feel that God is with me and that He will see me through this, with many blessings on the way!! I give God all the glory for getting me through the last couple of weeks and so thankful to Him for providing me with amazing friends both here in Peru and at home…thankyou guys!!..you know who you are!! 🙂

So prayers for peace and a continued reduction in fear would be great!…and for nice weather!! :-)…but i guess you people reading this in the UK will have little sympathy for my bad weather situation, given what i have been hearing about over there!..it is just i  kinda got used to 25 degrees +  and lovely sunshine, being in Lima for 2 weeks!!

my first week!

Well, I have completed my first week of my adventure!!…I have to confess that this time last week, i did not think i would still be in Peru now!..i had made some pretty definate decisions that this was not for me and was working out what i was gonna be doing for the next 8 months in the UK with no job or place to live ( altho i could have put a tent up in my garden,  i am sure Monica would have let me use the bathroom every now and then!!)…BUT God is good and He has seen me through!! and I am still here!…It has been an incredibly tough week, and one I never want to relive, but I think and pray that i am beginning to come out the other side!…and have had some really fun times!!

The week has been filled with  country orientation from our team leaders Ruth and Paul!…we have had sessions on how to avoid being killed in a bus crash, how to avoid being mugged at knifepoint and how to increase your chances of surviving an earthquake!…so i feel very equipped now!! :-)…I have just decided to never leave the flat again!!…that is one way of keeping me here i suppose!!..No serioulsly, there were plenty of other sessions which were far less dramatic….like what to do when diahrea ( how is that spelt!) strikes!! We have also had some fun times too….going to Pinkberry, which is the most amazing frozen yoghurt place with the best toppings ever! We also went to a water park one evening, where they have amazing laser show though water ( that is really badly explained, but do not know how else to explain it!!)…just take my word for it…it was good!! – Lima is a really lovely city and Peruvians are such lovely people ( except the ones who mug you at knifepoint!!!)…yesterday i went down to the seafront at about 7.30 and got chatting ( term used loosely as he did not speak english so it was down to my very broken spanish!!) to a jogger…he was just so friendly and patient with my rubbish spanish!!

Anyway…tomorrow i will be joining Jenny and Roland and the boys as all Latin Linkers head of to an old convent for the annual Latin Link Peru confernce, then off to Cusco on Thursday!!…hope to not be affected by the altitude!!!

please, if you get a chance, pray for peace of mind for me..although i feel better today, i am still ‘fragile’ and get extremely homesick at times…but I have always known this was going to be a challenge, where I would really have to call on God, and boy, am i having to do that!!

But I am thanking God for great new friendships, fun times and frozen yoghurt!!!

hasta luego amigos!!!

ps..sorry no photos yet, due to general lack of motivation to take any, but promise to rectify that!!

the adventure begins!!

Well, here I am!…day 5 in Peru!….the journey was pretty non eventful…although there was a tense time when we were unsure whether we were gonna get our connecting flight in Madrid due to our flight from Heathrow leaving over an hour late!…but all good!…and even all our luggae made it too!..which is never a given when flying to Peru!!…so Praise God for that!!

The hostel we are staying in is lovely!…initially we had a horrible, cramped dark room, and due to jet lag and general tiredness, i lay on the bed and cried whilst my roomies slept, as i could not bear the thought of staying in this room for a week, but then 5 minutes later, there came a knock at the door and we were asked if we wanted to swap to a bigger room!!..praise God!..i cannot tell you how much better that made me feel…a small but incredibly significant thing..and it just reminded me that God really is with me!

anyway,  this was just a brief entry to say i am here and physically doing well!!….emotionally…well, that is a bit of a struggle..to be expected i guess. I am having to depend on God like never before, so that can only be a good thing!….prayers appreciated if you get a chance!!

by the way…to all you facebookers…if you could keep references to this blog very general on my ‘wall’ ( or not at all would be even better!!)as i have not given everyone my blog adress and i am not advertising the fact that i am struggling to everyone….not to be dishonest…just a self preservation thing i guess!!

muchos gracias amigos!! xxx