Plague of Egyptian Proportions!!!!

            It’s hard to believe that I have already been here a month, time really flies when you’re having fun! For those of you who have been on me about finding a guy while I am here, well it has happened (and quickly at that!). We met at a get together for missionaries and volunteers in the area and he is the son of a missionary couple from South Africa. I know it’s fast but he already wants to marry me and is super sweet, I have decided though to take it slow so we shall see (the age and height might be a problem in the long run). I received my first ‘teacher’s apple’ (ok so in reality it was an orange and I couldn’t eat because it came from the market and needed to be cleaned first, but hey I got a fruit from a student, cool beans! And bunny trail with that, since the water is not clean and obviously the fruits and vegetables, we have to put everything including dishes in bleach water. I am pretty sure that by now my insides are nice and sparkly white)

            Crickets, who knew they were so big, there are so many and that they can fly! Cricket killing battles have become a nightly ritual for me, a part of my nightly routine. Kill  a couple crickets, wash my face, kill some more crickets, brush my teeth, kill some more, read my Bible, kill a boat load more, turn off the light, kill more and then go to bed and hope I killed enough (otherwise they play tag all night, flying around the room, in my bed and they must be blind or something because they run into everything, including me! Good thing I brought earplugs so I am able to block them out, because those little guys are loud). And they smell terrible when you smash them (don’t ask how I know that, trust me, you don’t want to know!) Then tonight I came in to find a full out Egyptian plague taking place in my room, they were everywhere! I spent five or ten minutes smashing and sweeping them up (filling up a whole dustpan) before I came back armed with tape and plastic bags to try and patch the holes in my ceiling that they are coming in through (right now I am really praying that they aren’t able to eat through plastic!) Needless to say I have opened my one bag of Reese’s peanut butter cups I brought with me….

            God has been teaching me a lot during my time here. Since coming here there have been things that have happened back home (for example when I found out my mom was in the hospital I was about ready to be on a plane back home) and I have felt like crap from being sick the whole time (I really take good health for granted until I no longer have it, it’s so nice to be able to breath out of my nose again and be able to make it through the day without falling exhausted into bed every couple of hours) and surprisingly I have not experienced any homesickness yet (although I do miss pumpkin spice coffee and lattes, thanks y’all for reminding me every day what I am missing out on with your daily facebook posts, I appreciate it! Haha just kidding but I do miss country music like crazy! And you better believe that what country I have on computer is blasted as I clean my room or work on lessons plans and worksheets) but I am enjoying my time here immensely and wouldn’t want to be anywhere else right now. I know that this is where God wants me and He has given me a peace and assurance of being here. I started reading I Corinthians on Monday and I found it interesting how it follows the pattern of what God has been teaching me the past couple of weeks, 26) “For consider your calling, brothers, not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many of you were powerful, not many of you were of noble birth. 27) But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong. 28) God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are. 29) So that no human being might boast in the presence of God. 30)And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption, so that, as it is written, ‘Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord!’” Never before has this truth been more real to me than it is now. Every day I am faced with situations and circumstances that I am not equipped to handle, yet every time I know how to handle it or what to do. This is God working through me and is nothing I am doing in my own strength. Though it is not always easy, it is inspiring (and yes, sometimes tiring) to experience Him working through my life. And is important for me to daily be reminded that this is God’s hand in my life and not anything I am doing in myself, and I believe David said it best when he said, “I say to the Lord, you are my Lord; I have no good apart from you.” [Psalm 16:2] For a long time I have been on a sort of quest that I will likely be on for the rest of my earthly life, figuring what it means to find my identity in Christ alone. Perhaps that is it, everything in me that is good, that is worth living for is Christ. Oh well, I still have a long way to go, God’s sure got His work cut out for Him with me!

            News from the compound, Strong Tower (the school) is gearing up for our Spring Picnic on Saturday! Please pray for this time of outreach to the parents and families of the students. Daniel’s parents (and little sister) arrived yesterday and will be leaving on Monday (Peru requires that all adopting families stay six days in the area with the child before leaving for good). Also, another of the children will (Lord willing) be adopted at the end of the month as well so prayers would be much appreciated for this process and the child as this progresses (and the cool thing is that somehow they know that they will be leaving even though they have not been told. They act different and just tonight they were writing sweet little letters for myself as well as the house parent). Thank you for your prayers, they are much appreciated and felt, hope y’all are starting to enjoy a little bit of fall (that is if we actually had a fall!)