Vacation Begins in Trujillo

        I am in Trujillo for 3 weeks on vacation from language school. You are probably thinking that is a little excessive and why do I need 3 weeks of vacation? That is what I thought as well but God worked it out perfectly for me to have some rest, fellowship, and reminder of why I am spending the time in language school to learn Spanish for 3 months. 

       

       Peru's Independence Day is July 28 and all the schools here get an automatic 2 weeks off of school. I didn't know this until a few weeks ago but when I found out I thought I would take advantage and make a trip to Trujillo to be with my team. I then found out my church in Greenville, SC would be coming to Trujillo the week after my vacation ended so I worked it out with my school to stay a week longer in Trujillo and stay a week longer in Arequipa in September. 

        

        My first week in Trujillo was an awesome week but a whirlwind of activity! I got the privilege of working the whole week with a medical team from Trinity Pres in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. We had 4 days of clinics in different neighborhoods that have limited to no medical care. There were 4 doctors,1 peruvian nurse from our clinic here, me, and the rest of the team who handled the waiting kids, pharmacy, and organization of people. 

Dr Lovely, Brooke, Maggie, and Andrew running the pharmacy

       It was a great time for me to put my Spanish to work as a Peruvian nurse and I a were the only ones to do triage for the patients. I definitely had moments where I didn't know words and needed some help but God helped me through. It was encouraging to be able to put some scrubs on again and do some medical work again as well! 

Me, Dennys, and Meliza 

     The week ended with a relaxing day of olympics on Saturday and then church on Sunday with a missionary hymn sing and prayer time Sunday night. :-)

     

     This week is half work/ half play. I took over the lease of an apartment the girl interns used to live in here in Trujillo. It has been vacant for a month or 2 and has gather some dust so I'm working on cleaning it up some this week. I also am doing some normal everyday stuff this week too like paying bills, team meetings, doing my homework for school, and catching up on blogging. I am also getting to spend one on one time with fellow missionary families and friends here in Trujillo. 

      

     So thankful that God know's exactly what I need (like a vacation to rejuvenate me to finish school) even when I didn't know! 

      Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Matthew 11:28

The whole team with the Mayor in the village of Magdalena de Cao 

      

Not Accustomed to Customs

      I have been waiting on a package for a couple of weeks now. Mail from the USA can take a couple weeks to get here but I was starting to wonder where the package was. Finally last week on Wednesday, my Peruvian dad had gone to the post office and delivered the goods to us afterwards. A package and a letter for my housemates and I got....a piece of paper from customs saying my package had been randomly selected to be checked. Seriously??? My housemates had gotten several packages that made it through no problem but mine was not so lucky haha.
       So the next day I went into town early around 1030 to pick up my package. I talked to the lady in my limited Spanish and found out that I came too late and would either have to come back at 2pm when the line started over or come back another day. A little bummed out, I left and decided to try another day.
      Monday morning: I get up early and try to leave my house by 8, but let's just face it....I am not a morning person so I left at 8:30 :-). I got to the post office by 9 (only 30 minutes after it opened) and presented my customs paper to the lady at the desk. She said I needed 2 copies of my passport, not just one and to go make copies and come back. "Donde?" I said, not knowing where a copy machine was around here. "al frente blah blah blah la libreria blah blah blah." ok she didn't really say blah blah blah but that's what I heard in my head because she talked so fast. I pretended I understood and headed back out to the street. I see a libreria(bookstore) across the street so I head there. No success. I asked the lady there and her response was "blah blah siguiente blah blah." hmmm ok "Gracias!" So maybe she said the next block down? not sure so I just walked some more and after a few minutes found a big sign in a doorway that said "Copias." Sweet! So I got my 2 copies of my passport and headed back.
     Upon my arrival back to the post office I presented my 2 copies to the lady at the desk. She said something really fast to me and all I understood was "catorce..." "hmmm 14?" So now I am wondering why she said 14...surely I am not the 14th person in line because the office has only been open for 45 minutes and there are only 4 people standing outside the office. She took me back outside the office and told me to fill out this form (in spanish). So there I stood with my translator application on my phone and went to work. "Am I the declarant or exportantante?" I finally asked another guy in line who's name I put where and finished filling out the form.
     I stand at the desk with the forms and show the lady the forms as she walks by. She says "blah necesita esparar has blah blah catorce blah blah." "Hmmmm I must wait longer and there is that number 14 again....I must really be the 14th person in line!"
     So I sit...and sit...check my Facebook on my phone, text a friend from the states, and sit some more.
People come and go and get called back into the office. 2 hours go by....it's almost time for me to leave for school and then I hear it.... "Catorce!" WOOOOHOOO! That's me. :-) I go in and fill out another form and open my package of candy and notecards from my mom and after 10 minutes, I leave with package in hand!

      An experience in Peru that was probably not my favorite but I can now say I have done it! :-)