Getting things rolling again

Praise God for a new to enjoy His dear presence! Getting back to Trujillo was in some ways less of an adjustment than I thought and in other ways more of an adjustment. I missed my family a lot as soon as I got here. Adjusting to life here was like normal though and it was good to catch up with friends and roommates! Sweet Linda has arrived! She is our new roommate and will be here until June. She is such a blessing to each one of us in her eagerness to jump in and learn new things as well as her attitude of service.

I am almost done my survey of the Spanish Bible study which has 10 lessons. I was encouraged to talk with three lady musicians at the Conservatory two of which I will be teaching during their summer vacations. God has been so good to provide opportunities and students for me! I now have a violin student named Maria Eunice in the Wichanzou Church and Dorothy and Kati in the Arevelo Church. I am excited to get started although teaching in Spanish is doubly exhausting! It is cool to see God open up doors for people who have been wanting to take violin and now they have the opportunity! One thing I really enjoy about teaching in the churches is the chance to get more out into the community and out of the office.

Two weeks ago I went and did interviews. My goal was to test their musical ear and find out their reason for wanting to take violin and their goals. I had to tell someone for the first time that they couldn't take violin because they didn't have good pitch. Every day there is something new to learn. That is the hard thing with violin. So far, God has provided 9 violin students. Here, even the beginners take for one hour. So, not only is my brain dead but I am exhausted after violin classes :) However, when I think about teaching violin in another language, I give thanks to God for that gift. As my brain adjusts, it will be less exhausting. Coming up next issue is pictures!!!

Paseo

The last Saturday before I left, I went on a paseo with my English class. A paseo is a short day trip usually to a place outside the city. We went to a beach about an hour and a half north of Trujillo. There were 10 of us total. We had decided to bring the ingredients to make ceviche on the beach. For those of you who have not yet had this palatable delight, it is a speciality fish platter of Peru. Most Peruvians I have asked have said that this is their favorite dish. It is pieces of fish soaked in lemon juice and salt, covered with onions, and served with yuca and sweet potato. I was afraid to eat it at first because the fish looks raw, however, the lemon juice 'cooks' it. The picture on the left is us enjoying fresh ceviche on the beach.

I was surprised that everyone who said they were coming actually came and brought food. We played volleyball, soccer, braved the water for a bit, and took naps :) It was a good time of bonding and getting to know them better. Some of the people in my class were from other churches in the area which was good fellowship.

It is good to be back in Trujillo! It is summer here now so we are all in short-sleeved shirts and talking about the beach! We started work in Monday. This week it is my goal to get violin lessons started up in the churches and start giving violin lessons to students on summer vacation. It was good to be home for 3 weeks and to visit with my family and church family. God bless you!

Happenings

This month has been really fun as a lot of opportunities have popped up for musical involvement in the community. I'm grateful to God for these opportunities! This week was the annual 72 hour Prayer Marathon in Trujillo. For 72 hours straight people from different churches come to pray in the Plaza de Armas (the center square of the city). For 42 hours there was Scripture reading as well. Thursday morning I went with some friends from the Cristo Rey Church to pray. It was a great way to start Thanksgiving Day! One of the pastors asked me to play at the closing ceremony.

I was very honored. My pianist friend who was also my English student played piano for me. It was an interesting three days! Today, we arrived to play and we couldn't find our contact person. We found out that the rest of the musicians had come earlier in the day to try out the sound equipment. I also found out that the song I was planning on playing with music was going to have to be played from memory because I didn't have a stand and they didn't either. We were told we would probably play at 8:30. At almost 8:40 we still hadn't started. At this point I had almost ran away several times! It was definitely the Holy Spirit that kept me there.

There was a folk instrument band that played which is what is in the video. I am slowly learning songs in Spanish. I was quite thrilled to know two songs tonight!

Musicians

Last night I had the privilege of having some fellow musicians in my apartment. There were six guys and myself. The girls only Bible study is definitely not going to work! At first it was kind of awkward as I only really knew two of them. However, the bass guitarist had brought his instrument and amp so he ended up playing quite a few numbers for us including one with Beethoven's V. It was a fusion of classical themes with rock. It was really cool to watch up close. His fingers on both hands moved rapidly!

After listening to the bassist for awhile, the guys opened up and began asking me questions about the music education in the States. It ended up being an interesting exchange of ideas and methods of music education in both nations. They talked about various professors and the difficulties of studying music. In the process I was invited to several concerts in the near future.

I hope to have the opportunity to have more musicians over soon. I'm excited to talk and play with fellow musicians. It is really neat to connect with musicians in a different culture and see their perspective coming from a Peruvian musical background of the music of Peru. Maybe next time more girls will come :) I asked someone if there were more boys in Trujillo than girls as there seems to be more boys around then girls. They responded that they thought it was about the same. However, the three church plants as well as the University ministry, and English classes seem to have an overwhelming majority of guys. This is good for church leadership.

This link is to a slideshow of pictures a professional took while he was here. It will give you a little bit of an idea of what it is like here. http://vimeo.com/15889150

I miss you all a ton! Thank you for your prayers. They are both felt and appreciated!

Moyobamba in Pictures

an awesome mountain view (Lydia, Heidi, and I)

We slept in something similar to this

I think these things are so cool! It's like a picnic table for rainy days!

the roots grow like this because in the rainy season this whole forest is flooded up to about 8-10 feet.

First sleeping experience underneath a mosquito net

Lenin, our faithful guide. :)

The waterfall we were jumping from Ahhhhh......

The view from the combi

the hot baths

My last blog I had so much trouble putting up pictures that I decided to do it this way. I seriously tried to post like 5 times. So, sorry about that!

And the Adventure Continues..........

Last weekend, I went to a jungle city called Moyobamba. Moyobamba is high jungle which means it is only the beginning of the jungle on the edge of the mountains. Most of the interns went as well as Alleen. Lenin was our faithful, energetic guide! The bus ride was a 16 hour night ride. When I look back, I think how crazy we were to be in the car for 32 hours for only three days of Moyobamba. However, it was well worth it.

I don't think most of us had slept when we arrived Friday morning at 7:00 AM. It felt like Thursday had never ended! Lenin wisely chose to start out the day at the hot baths. It was probably the best way to wake up after what we had just been through! The baths were down in the ground in these stone baths. It is warmer in Moyobamba than in Trujillo so I got hot quickly. We laid in the sun after to dry and enjoyed the fresh air and greenery. In Trujillo there is a lot of smog and very little green as it is the desert.

We drove through the countryside to a waterfall outside of Moyobamba. The waterfall is about 25 feet high and perfect for jumping into the water below. I generally don’t like to be involved in these types of adventures but after lots of counseling and therapy I jumped with Tyler and Seth on either side of me holding my hands. I’m glad I did it but it was more stressful than fun. I still cannot believe I jumped. The guys version is much funnier J.This part of the jungle reminded me a lot of Mississippi. It was humid with lots of green. There wasn’t a lot of swampy material but I was told that was because the wet season hadn’t arrived. When it does arrive, the forest is flooded about 8-10 feet. So the trees grow roots like this:

I think we all got the shock of our lives when we found out we were going to spend the night in the middle of the jungle in bungalows! We rode in a boat down the Mayo river (sorry, not the Amazon) and walked about 20 minutes through the jungle to a reserve named Tingana. There was no electricity and no showers! I found out why my cell phone has a flashlight! All of the huts were made of bamboo-like material with some kind of dried leaves for a thatch roof. We ate Tingana pizza with rice which tasted a bit like a fried omelet. I was exhausted and so retired early to bed. We slept under mosquito nets which was a first! It was definitely a good thing because I already provided the dinner for several mosquitoes.

Lenin woke us up about 6:00 AM to walk through the jungle. It was really quite ethereal. We saw monkeys and a jungle condor. Our guide hacked through the trail with his machete! All the guides went barefoot even though one of them was missing a toe! After we at breakfast, we left Tingana. Since we all wanted to go spelunking we bought flashlights and climbed through a cave. It was a first experience for me to go into a random cave and it was quite fun. I wish we could have done more! The rest of the day we went to various tourist locations in the Moyobamba area finishing the day watching the sun begin to set from a lookout spot in the mountains.

Sunday we went to church at the biggest Presbyterian Church in Peru. Although it is Presbyterian in theology, the manner of worship was more charismatic. Since it was the pastor’s anniversary at the church, the elders and deacons came and prayed for him. It was so encouraging to see so many godly leaders. It was cool to see what the baby churches in Trujillo could look like in a few years!

Thank you for your continued prayers for my language acquisition. About a week ago, I crossed another milestone. I have begun to think only in Spanish without thinking in English. Before, I could think some in Spanish but I translated a lot in my head. Now, words and conjugations are coming automatically! Of course, this is inconvenient at times because if I don’t know a word in Spanish and I try to switch to English, oftentimes I don’t remember the English word! My English vocabulary has definitely dwindled but I was told that it was part of the language learning process to forget a little of your native language.

Developments......

I’m in Peru! It is 11:00 at night and there is a party next door with really loud music. I communicate with different sounds that communicate the same feelings and actions as in English. Wow! Sometimes I freeze in shock that I’m in a different country. It really is like entering a new world.

So what have I been doing besides thinking? I have continued to make Spanish flashcards as you see! This past week I spent some time at the conservatory. Monday morning I went with an English student who is cousin to the conductor of the Trujillo Orchestra. I talked to the conductor for a bit and discovered in about 3 minutes that yes, I am going to play the Mendelssohn Violin Concerto with the orchestra. In fact as soon as I want! I also spent time conversing with Ronald about music in Trujillo and learning about teaching Branco. The English student who took me has been taking piano lessons for 5 years at the conservatory. We did a little musical exchange in a practice room (he played his music and I played bits and pieces) and I got to meet his pianist friend. Right before lu

nch with Ronald, I was introduced to a violinist in the orchestra and heard him play. He wants violin lessons. I am going to have to get really good at saying no. Right now, since Spanish is my heavy focus, it is fairly easy to see my schedule

and see that there is simply not time for more! Later, once things loosen up it will be much harder. I am grateful for these opportunities for new relationships that God is opening up.

God has blessed me with new friends Albert, Caleb, John Pierre, and Pablo outside of Peru Mission. They are starting a music school in Trujillo with the goal to raise excellent musicians for the Church. As of now, I am unable to work with them but I hope to be able to be affiliated with them and pray and encourage their progress. I have spent a lot of time at their home getting to know them. I love getting to speak non-stop Spanish for several hours and also the time of spiritual encouragement, as well as a chance to get out of the house. Their dad is a pastor of an independent church in Trujillo called El Camino. He really challenged me to get in the Word as much as possible. He told me (in Spanish) “The more you get into the Word, the less satisfaction and pleasure you have with the things of the World.” I really appreciate their hospitality!

We are all now realizing we are here to live. This is longer than a 2 week trip! Things have gotten more frustrating in some ways and encouraging in other ways. I love hearing a word I just made a flashcard for and realizing that I actually know what it means! Communication has gotten better. Please pray for perseverance for all of us here. Please pray for all of us fellows to continue to adjust and for the missionaries as they are short-handed right now. Please pray for me as I start to develop relationships with musicians, that I could love them with the love of Christ. Thank you for your prayers regarding my Spanish. I feel like I understand the majority of what people are saying and can communicate in several different tenses. This month completes my formal study of grammar and we start more conversation and writing. Thank you again for your prayers and support! Dios le bendiga!!!