Day 11? I really have no idea now

(This picture is me telling the Bible story to the 1st grade class)

I guess it is a good thing that I don't know how many days I have been here. It is going to feel very strange and sad to leave. But enough thinking about that.


Guess what I did today!!??!! I was a substitute teacher!! I was really excited. I taught 5th grade math. Lesson plans and all. Well I didn't really do the lesson plans, but I followed them. :o) I am really excited. But after today I have confirmed that I do not want to teach the 5th grade. It was hard because they wouldn't stop talking and pay attention. But I still like it. I know that I want to teach. Soon hopefully. So that was the highlight of my day.


(La Molina Christian School - where I have been spending my days here in Peru)

Yesterday we were able to get a tour of a Christian Deaf School. It was really neat. The Lord has really blessed thier ministry. I think that they are going to be building a bigger auditorium soon to fit all the people who attend on Sundays. It was great to see that ministry.

Hmmm let's see what else can I say. Tonight I learned to wrap presents the Peruvian way. That was pretty cool. And umm I really have nothing else to say tonight except for... good night. :o)

Day 9

Ok first of all I totally forgot to say last night that 2 kids accepted Christ at Alta Ruta!!! PRAISE THE LORD!!! It was very exciting. I got to talk to the person who talked with one of the girls and she said that the girl really understood! God is good.

Today we went downtown in Lima. We saw a ton of things. It was a very touristy day for us. But we had a fun time. We saw the presidential palace and the changing of the guards, which consisted of a marching band (!) playing at the gates, we actually didn't even see the guards switch because we were watching the band. We went to an old church or monestary that is now a musium and got a tour which included the catacombs. yuck, I didn't like that part. I decided I would make a terrible Indiana Jones. But the cool parts of the tour were the library and the choir loft for the chapel. (surprise surprise) They were both beautiful and it was interesting to see the technology they used for lighting and sharing music. The music was printed on HUGE books and then they were placed on a rotating stand in the choir loft so that everyone could see it. Interesting. I really liked it. (I'm such a choir nerd)
Then we went on a bus tour which was really cheep. We went in a small bus up a very, very, very steep mountain on a one way street. :o/ At one point we had to stop and wait for a big truck to back inot another street so we could keep going. Fun times. I was nervous. The whole time a woman was talking in Spanish and I honestly didn't understand a word of it. But once we reached the top we could see all of Lima. It was really cool, except for the haze which covered most of Lima. :o)

Over all it was a fun time, but we are all worn out.
Tomorrow we are going to a different church. So I'm sure that will be fun.
Have a great Sunday!!

still day 8

I thought I would write more since the last one was this morning before anything happened today.

We spent all day at the school today. School went well. Naomi taught the 3rd grade bible story and we all lead music. It was fun, but that class is a handful. After school tutoring went really well. I am really starting to like working with the 6th graders. We have a fun time, but I still don't think I could ever handle teaching that age all day long. That would be such a stretch for me, and they make me laugh so I have a hard time being serious. But tutoring them is fun. They really like to study science so that helps too.

Tonight we had Alta Ruta, which means some thing like the high road. It is for 6th grade to 8th grade. It was so much fun! They had set up a volleyball net so we were playing with a beach ball. (The only kind of volleyball I can play :o) It started out with hardly anyone playing, then these two older girls came in and were standing around so I went and pulled them over to play with us, they were reluctant, but I think they had fun. We played for a while. I really feel like I connected well with the girls. Even though my spanish isn't very good. I sat with them in the devotional time and at the end of the evening one of them came to find me to say goodbye. I am really excited about them. I really hope to see them next week.

There is another group here working at the school, they are from Iowa I think. They are doing some different work than we are, but we are seeing them at different ministries. The pastor who is with them spoke at Alta Ruta tonight. I totally had flashbacks of Mexico!! He had to be translated by the director of the school and it reminded me of Kevin and Ernesto. I sure do miss that time there. I know that the 7 years I went to Mexico prepared me for the time I am here and who knows what my time here is preparing me for. [Kevin if you are reading this you should send a group to Peru and I'll go too :o) ]

Tomorrow we are going to downtown Lima. I think that we are going to see some big buildings or something and some ruins. I really don't know and I am starting to get tired. So on that note I am going to hit that hay.
Good night one and all.

Day 8

Ok so now I have totally lost track of how many days I have been here. I haven't had time to get on the computer lately.

Things have been going well. We are continuing to go about the same schedule. So there isn't much new.
Please be praying though, a few of us have been feeling sick to out stomachs. :o/ Not too fun.

The other night 3 men came over and we had a focus group. :o) We got to taste test a new cereal they were making and want to market in the US. It was fun and the cereal was good, but if I told you what it was I'd have to kill you. ;o) Lets just say it was purple which made me a little nervous at first, but it wasn't too bad. I'd buy it. Then we tried some peanut butter that tasted ... nasty! Peruvians don't eat too much peanut butter, they don't really like it. So the guy that made it didn't really have a good perspective while he was working on it. But it was really fun talking to them and giving them ideas of what Americans would like. We did a lot of laughing.

Well, I have to keep getting ready for the day. Have a good one!

Day 6

Today was a good day, except for all of us woke up really late so we were rushing around trying to be ready to leave on time. It wasn't the best way to start a day off. But in the end we were just fine.

School was good. I think the best part was tutoring the 6th graders after school. They were responding really well to what we were teaching them. I think that they are getting used to us and the way we are teaching them. Although personally spiders aren't my favorite topic. Oh well. I'll survive.

I think that tonight is going to be a quiet evening which is really nice. But the rest of the week will be busy, but I'm sure you will hear all about it. :o)

Have a good one!!

Day...5 I think :o)

So Yeah, I've lost track of days. It is going well here. I am really tired tonight though.

Please be praying for:
more sleep (or enough sleep)
Naomi wasn't feeling good today; so that we will all stay well
Joy for the tedious tasks we are asked to do
and the salvation of the unsaved students.

Lets see what happened today. We are continuing to work with the 1st grade. They are so cute and are still shy with us at times. Some more than others. But they are darling. We taught them the wordless book song today and made bracelets with them. It was really neat. They learned the song pretty well and understood what we talked about. We tryed to encourage them to tell thier friends and hopefully those who don't know Christ as thier Savior will take it to heart as well.
During recess we played jump rope with them. WOW they loved it! There was such a long line of kids waiting for a turn.

After school I tutored the same 6th graders in science. I am learning so much about bugs. (yuck!) But the kids seem to be understanding it. So hey that works for me.

Oh yeah I forgot that I didn't write anything yesterday.
Church was great. Once again it wasn't what I expected. Their worship was pretty contemporary, something that I wasn't expecting because of my experience in Mexico, but it was great. (I use the word great a lot don't I?) It was really nice because for the service they had someone translating in the back so I hear english in a little radio thing ( I don't know what it was called). After church we went out to lunch with tthe missionaries who are in charge of teh school. We got to try some Peruvian food which was really good. I was a chicken though...I didn't try the intestines that they served there. It just didn't sound appetising to me. :o/ After all our bellies were full we came home and took a long nap until the evening service. It was a great day. (once again 'great')

Well, I'm going to head to bed. G'night sleep tight, don't let the bed bugs bite (I have 2 bites and it isn't fun)

Day 3 in Peru

Today has been the most tiring, but it was great at the same time. We did A LOT of walking today. We started out the day going to what is called the Indian Market. It is pretty much a place where you find cheap souvenirs. It was a lot of fun. And I found some really cool things. Then we walked to the beach which was pretty close. We just looked at the water from up by the road, but it was nice and cool there. (yeah sounds like a great mission trip huh?)

After we got back from there we walked to one of the teacher's church. Then I had by first experience on a Peruvian bus. :o) It was interesting. They are small and they drive kinda crazy. We took it to a smaller village which looked a lot more like what I had expected coming into Peru. It reminded me a lot of where I used to go in Mexico. Very small homes that seem like they are hardly held together. It is sad, but the people seem to be getting on well.
We helped out with a Bible club. The kids were excited to be there and participated really well. When I say that I helped really all I did was hold the song sheets for the kids to see, but hey someone has to do it. :o) We hung out for a while and talked with some little boys. They enjoyed asking us how to say some things in English and laughing at the names. We didn't leave there till after dark and by the time we got back to the house we were pretty tired. I think it will be an early night for all of us.

I'm looking forward to a time of worship tomorrow. God has been so gracious to us.

oh yeah and we are finding out how kind the people in Peru are...we were whistled at so many times today. At one point we walked past a basketball court where there were a lot of guys probably all ages. It was really hard not to laugh at it. It is really funny. Other than that the people here are really nice. They greet with a kiss on the cheek instead of a handshake, which has taken some getting used to but it is fine now.

It is hard to believe that this trip isn't almost over. I'm so used to going on week long trips. But I am excited to see how the Lord will continue to work through the time we have here. Thanks for your prayers.

Day 2 in Peru

Today was a big day. It was our first day working at the school. We are at La Molina Christian School. It is a really neat school. Kristi, Naomi, Jenn and I worked with the first grade today. They are so cute and shy. I loved it. I taught the Bible lesson! And the kids were getting it! I am so excited. It makes me more eager to teach in my own classroom, but I need to wait for the Lord's timing.
We also spent a lot of time in their library. They are changing thier system to the Dewy Decimal System. It is a lot of work, but once we got going it wasn't too hard. I don't think it will take too much longer to do. Thier library isn't super big. But I did start sneezing because of the dust. Typical of me. :o)
Tonight we went to a youth event they had on the school campus. It was a lot of fun. They were having a game night and I was in charge of one of the game tables. We played Nervous. It is like slap jack, but there is a little more to it. I lost both times, but it was so much fun. I was totally the minority because we had to say numbers in Spanish. I know the numbers, but it takes me a second to connect the number i see to the Spanish word for it (if that makes sense). But it was really fun.
Tonight one of the teachers is babysitting 2 girls from the school and they are watching Narnia. It is a lot of fun here. The teachers are children are really sweet.
I'm not sure what we are going to do tomorrow, but I'm sure I'll tell you all about it soon. :o)

quote for the day: "Did she turn into a head of lettuce?" (yeah I'm not even sure how that one came about, but it was really funny at the time)

God Bless - please keep us in your prayers!!

--Jamie

Day 1 in Peru

Well, I'm here in Peru!
Our trip went really well. It was a long day and we didn't get to the house here until 1 am. But the Lord was so gracious. We were able to sleep in a little and didn't have a lot to do today.
Tomorrow we start working in the classroom. I will be teaching 1st grade bible (well just telling them a story, but that is something). And I will be tutoring 6th grade science. I never really knew much about bugs, but that is what I get to teach on. :o) We'll see how that goes. I am so excited to be here. The other teachers are really great! We had dinner with them tonight. What a group! I really like it here. I know that this trip is going to fly by.

Please be praying for...
salvation of students (many of them aren't saved)
good health
rest, sleep, however you want to put it.

Thanks for your prayers.

quote for the day: "don't step on the machette" said by me (funny story, but for another day)

getting ready for Peru

Well, this is the pretty impressive group that is going to Peru in a week (oh my a week!!). I am so excited to be able to do work for the Lord in this way.

God has totally blessed me with many chances to go to Mexico of week-long trips. And preparing for Peru has really made me miss going to Mexico.

I went for 7 years! Not 7 full years, but 7 times for spring break. What a blessing. I really miss the people there. I was able to make some great friends and watch kids grow up. It breaks my heart though to not know if i will ever see them again. I especially think of Marisabel. She was the little girl i looked forward to seeing every year. And every year it was hard to say goodbye to her. I really miss her. I pray that she is walking with the Lord. I think she might be in high school now or almost there. I have seen so many kids from that village walk down the wrong path when they got into high school, and it just breaks my heart.

I pray that the Lord will continue to work through the students who travel to that village every year. And I pray that the Lord will work through me as I go to Peru in a week.

Praise the Lord I am done with my finals!!!
( just a random side note)
:o)

My first blog

Well, This is the first blog I have done. Who really knows if I will keep up with it, but I hope to keep people up to date on what is going on in my life over the summer.
I am really excited to see how the Lord is going to work this summer. I will be leaving for Peru in a little over a week and upon returning I will be working at His Image Summer Day Camp for the entire summer. God is so good to provide me with a job and opportunity to minister over seas and in my own backyard. Thank you Father!