Life in Arequipa

So I am still trying to figure out the picture posting thing without much success but here is my feeble attempt at showing y'all some pictures of happenings in Peru. Last post I mentioned my travels and I thought I would show y'all some pictures to make you feel like you are more involved. :-) The 1st picture is the scene you walk into as soon as you exit customs in Lima. I actually really like this part because you walk into the mob of people waiting and saying "taxi!!" and trying to help you. It makes me feel kind of important or something. :-) 

This next picture is all the luggage I took. :-) 2 huge suitcases, 1 huge backpack, 1 small backpack, and one small carryon! Thankfully, I found one of these little carts in Lima when I had to push my bags around all night until I could recheck them. I must also give a shout out to my mom for helping me pack those 2-3 days before I left. Thanks to her my bags came in under the 50 lb limit with one being 50 lb, one being 49lb, and one being 47 lb! All the hard work paid off!

This Is Julio's car. He came to pick me up from the airport and I didn't know it at the time but he ended up being my host dad and I live with his family now. The main reason I took this picture though was because the car was so packed that Julio and I could barely get in. Fun times :-)

 The next few pictures are pictures of El Misti and surrounding volcanos that are in Arequipa. El Misti is an active volcano and apparently has put off steam and ash in the last 10-15 years but most of the time it looks like this - beautiful and snow capped.

Now what have I been doing my first week you ask? Well I met new friends, mostly German missionaries , who are also studying here and went to church with my host family. Then all last week I went to class from 8-12 and studied in the afternoons and evenings. I found out last night that my class schedule changed for this week and now I would be going to school from 12-4 each day. That is totally fine but that meant that I would have to take the bus to and from school by myself! This made me quite anxious because I every day I rode to school with my host dad and back to the house with my house mate Katya.
So I got directions from one of the German girls in the house who speaks excellent English and away I went. Thanks to her good directions and all your prayers, I made it safely there and back and really didn't get lost! God is good. :-)
    Other happenings that made me excited this week:
         1. Got my phone chip so I can now make in country phone calls!
         2. Got to talk to many good friends on Skype and FaceTime - If anybody is ever bored I love phone calls from home at night!
         3. Learned some Spanish (hopefully this continues haha :-) )
         4. Bought a blanket for when I'm studying in the living room so I don't freeze during these cold nights in Arequipa.
         5. Have had time to read God's word and pray like I didn't in the US.

Thats just a little bit of whats happening. I am happy to talk to anybody who wants more details! Email me @ Lizej31@gmail.com, leave comments, text me (its free to my old number cuz its a google voice number now), or Skype me!