Finally... in Abancay!!

The last 4 days in Lima have been really fun. Here's a photo of some of the friends I hang out with in Lima - Yelly, Fiorella and their mum Mariana. I lived with the family and used to go to church and cell group with the girls, so it's been fun to spend time with them.

It feels like it's been quite an easy transition into Peru, it all feels quite normal...catching combis, getting squished, being very security conscious, getting lost, people staring, not flushing toilet paper down the toilet and eating Peruvian food (no guinea pig or purple corn just yet).

On Wednesday, I went to Interpol... to get fingerprints taken and have a dental check. I think this is all so that I can get a Peruvian residency and an ID card.

Then on Thursday afternoon, I caught the bus to Abancay and arrived this morning with my 2 rather heavy bags and a backpack. It ended up being a 15 hour trip (not 18 as I had thought) and I didn't feel sick until the last 2 hours of winding up and down the mountains. So now I'm here!! I'm staying with Jeff and Stacey until I move in with the Peruvian family, they came to pick me up and I had a shower and then we went to the Abancay team meeting where I got to meet everyone. That was cool. It's a bit surreal...I can't believe I'm here!!! I thought you'd like a photo, so I just went out to the balcony and took this.

I'm living in the Andes... how awesome is that?!

Pray that I will settle into life in Abancay. I will move to live with a Peruvian family just after Easter and start Spanish with some language helpers soon too.

In Peru!!!

I've now been in Lima for 2 days and it's been AWESOME!! I arrived on Saturday night and by the time I got out of immigration and custome - it was Sunday. The Porters (Aussie family with SIM) came to pick me up and I'm staying with them until I leave for Abancay, which is really cool! Some of my friends also came to see me at the airport and we arranged to meet at church. I met Fiorella, Marc and Yelly at the Alianza Church in Lince and because I was running late... I ended up catching a taxi. Lucky I did, cos I didn't recognise the church when I got there. The service was really good - I loved being able to sing in Spanish and tried to follow the message - though that was pretty hard. We then went back to their place, had lunch and hung around catching up, mucking around, speaking Spanglish, looking at photos and watching videos of the weddings I had missed. It was heaps of fun, and just like old times when I used to live with the Arrieta family and hang out there on Sundays, even after I moved out.

Then today I went to the SIM Lima prayer meeting and met some of the new missos and caught up with some of the old ones. I've been oriented to the finance system and then I got to spend some time with Julie (short-termer from Oz here for 2 years) and that was really fun. My big achievement for the day was buying a new sim card for my mobile. YAY - I am now connected to the world again!

Praise God for:
- safe travels (for me and luggage!)
- renewed relationships

Pray for:
- my travels to Abancay by bus on Thursday
- great time catching up with missionaries and friends in Abancay

And just in case you didn't quite get it... I'M LOVING IT

Almost there... in Chile!

So what do you when you're in transit for 10 hours in Chile? You go to the LAN Mistral... comfy lounges, drinks, food, showers, wireless... pretty good!

My first two flights were pretty good, slept a bit, watched The Queen and The Departed, feeling a bit tired but it's day time here, so going to try and stay awake until I arrive in Peru tonight.

It's funny that my webpages have now switched to Spanish... pretty smart that it knows I've arrived in Spanish-speaking South America... though not so smart cos I'm not always sure what it says!

1 more sleep!

I just got back from picking up the visa in the city. YAY!

Now just have to pack...!

I think I'm procrastinating from packing... the plan was to be packed by Thursday night... hmmm...

Praise God for:
- visa!

Pray for:
- packing, good time with family, some sleep tonight, smooth check-in, good good-byes and safe travelling

2 more sleeps!!

It's quite funny that I still don't have my visa and I leave on Saturday. Though it has been a cool reminder that God is totally in control.

The plan was to go to pick up the visa on Monday, when I was told that my passport would have to be sent to Canberra for a signature - AND that it would take a week! My response: "Ummmm - but... I'm leaving on Saturday!" So the plan was then that they would send it straight away and I should get it by the end of the week.

So today, I called the embassy in Canberra and in trying to find out where my passport was, I found out that normally the Sydney office would issue the visa but from the beginning of this year, the person has left and the new guy doesn't come until the 28th March. If I was to pick up my visa a week later - it would have been fine!

Eventually, it was all sorted out - my passport had been signed and it has just been confirmed that it is waiting for me in Sydney. So it's all good. I wasn't really worried about it until about an hour ago when I thought - I really should call the embassy again!

So the plan is... I'll pick it up tomorrow morning! And in 2 more sleeps and lots of time in the air and in transit - I'll be in PERU!!

Uno, dos, tres... days not weeks!

With 3 days to go... it is almost here!!

Quick recap of last few days... (just in case you're wondering what an 'almost misso' does in their last days of being at home!)

Monday 12th - Friday 16th - in Gerroa on family holiday, was really relaxing and fun... quality time in between the hecticness of preparing to leave

Saturday 17th - my commissioning at CBC - was a really encouraging and memorable day and it was cool to be sent off to Abancay with the prayers and support of my church and so many other friends

Sunday 18th March - last Sunday Service at church - feels weird and a bit surreal that I won't be back for 3 years

Monday 19th - went to "pick up" my visa... but nope - apparently it doesn't work like that and my passport has to go down to Canberra for a signature

Tuesday 20th - spent most of the day at SIM, had my exit interview, sorted out stuff, wrote a will

Wednesday 21st - spent the day at SMBC (I wanted to go to one last Principal's Hour... and it was awesome!), caught up with people and said goodbye

Most nights we have had people over for dinner... so that has been really good too... and now I'm sitting here writing emails and updating my blog.

Praise God for:

- family and friends

Pray for:

- my passport, that it will have a safe trip to Canberra and back with the required signature

2 wks 2 go

With less than 2 weeks to go, I can hardly believe that I will be in Peru so soon. I left Lima in October 2004 and now after 2.5 years, it's finally happening!! It's hard to describe how I feel because it's almost like I am too busy to even think about it.

It's been exciting to hear from the missos in Peru and to hear that they have found a potential Peruvian family for me to live with! AND my visa is almost ready! YAY!

This past week I managed to catch up with some friends, share about Peru at Meriden and speak at a youth group . It still feels like there is a lot to do in terms of packing and organising (i.e. I haven't started packing...!), but I'm sure it will all somehow get done...

I'll spend this week (Monday - Friday) on the South Coast and will be back on Saturday for my commissioning.

Praise God for:
- opportunities to share about Peru and mission
- a potential Peruvian family to live with

Pray for:
- quality time with God
- a great week with my family

Uno, dos, tres...

3 weeks to go...
3 planes to board...
3 years in Peru...

This last week has involved a lot of traveling... Newcastle, Bowral and Canberra to visit SIM prayer groups, catch up with Dene, Rachel and Eliott, go to Jody and Eugene's wedding and to visit Tracey (otherwise known as Jellyfish). It's been cool and encouraging to see college friends again.

In between all the traveling, I also had to hand in the re-write of my project. It's been a good process of trusting God with the unexpected (more like unwanted!!) And it's all out of my hands now.

It's hard to say how I feel about leaving in 3 weeks - excited and scared at the same time, a bit emotionally drained, ready to leave but wanting to spend time with family and friends, so much to do and not a lot of time...

Praise God:
- for his faithfulness and provision
- that I handed in the re-write for my project
- time spent with friends, supporters and pray-ers over the last week

Pray for:
- quality time with God, family and friends
- visa (waiting for SIM Peru to let me know it's all sorted so I can go to the Peruvian consulate in Sydney to get my passport stamped)