First, I have to say thanks to everyone who has been praying for me faithfully--specifically in regards to my concern over finding an apartment. I bought a Sunday copy of the newspaper, and I shopped around. Being new to Lima, it was somewhat stressful to find my way around the city to look at different apartments and trying to negotiate a price with the owners. After my first day of searching, I thought that I had found a suitable place. It was a little bit bigger than I needed (2 bedrooms), but the price was very good...at least I thought. When I came back the next day to sign the contract, however, the owner included a bunch of extra fees that she had not talked about the day before. So, it was back to the drawing board. I spent one more full day looking all over for another place to live, but I had little luck. Eventually I ran out of contacts to call from the classified ads, so I resorted to just knocking on doors of apartment buildings and asking if there was anything available for rent. Needless to say that accomplished very little. I was about ready to call it a day and head back to Paul and Marty's house, when I realized that I had one more landlord's contact information in my pocket. Praise God, the apartment was exactly what I was looking for. There is not much to the apartment itself, but it has everything that I will need. It is in a secure location in a part of the city that I am already quite familiar with, it came pre-furnished--even dishes and pans included--and they are letting me rent the place on a month to month basis without signing any long term contracts. I have been living here for about a week now, and having a place to call my own is a huge blessing. Praise God that his hand was in this long before I even started looking.
Another big praise is that I think I have found a church that I can plug into. It is a fairly large congregation, but coming from Ward Church in Michigan, a large congregation is what I am used to. I went this weekend with a friend who works in the schools program with me at Scripture Union. I really do desire to make friends and fellowship with other believers during my time here, and before my first day there was over I had already been invited to participate in a service project taking place next week. The youth/young adult group that I attended was also very encouraging. There were probably about 300-400 people there between the ages of 17 and 30. I am excited to go back next week and to begin to learn more about the specific beliefs and doctrines that they hold. God is so good, and I know that he is answering prayer.
The work here is going well too. As I mentioned, I am working in the schools right now in Lima. Peru's school year just began in March, so right now our work involves a lot of administration and organization. Before we actually enter the classrooms, we have to visit each different school and talk with the director to coordinate what hours and what classrooms we will be entering. I am feeling a little bit restless because I really want to get in and do ministry with the kids, but this has been a good time to get to know the people on staff. Traveling to all of the different schools in a relatively short period of time also means that I am rapidly learning my way around the city. There are approximately 9 million people living in this city, and it is roughly 2,900 square miles (slightly less than the state of Rhode Island). I welcome any chance to learn how to navigate through the streets.
In other news, I did have a chance for some fun on Sunday evening. I attended my first big Peruvian soccer game! It was a world cup qualifying game between Peru and Chile. Tensions were high, and the police were out in full force, but for the most part my friends and I had a good time. Sadly, Peru lost the game 3-1. I have posted a few pictures below.
Hanging Out Before the Game
Johnny and I at the Game
Fútbol!
Underneath the Peruvian Flag
At the GameWell, if you made it this far down this long blog post, then you must really have an interest in my life, or care about the ministry here with Scripture Union. I will leave you with a few prayer requests.
--Pray for me as it is slowly sinking in that I am here for a long term. As you have read in my blog, things are going really well, but there is naturally at least a little bit of homesickness that comes with living so far away. Sometimes it is difficult to know that I can't just call up friends back in the States to hang out for an evening, or see family as often as I have become accustomed to.
--Pray for the process of changing from a tourist visa to a resident visa. So far everything is going very smoothly. I went to Interpol this morning to get fingerprinted and to establish a dental record. Now we are at the point where all of the necessary paperwork has been filled out and turned in, but everything has to move through all of the proper channels within the Peruvian government as well as through the FBI back home. If everything goes as planned, then I should have my resident alien card within the next 30 or 40 days.
--Pray for Scripture Union--specifically in Lima. They have decided to sell the land that the offices and boys' home is currently sitting on in downtown Lima and relocate. Pray that God would provide all of the parties involved with wisdom as they begin to plan the relocation process. Pray that God would provide a great environment for the new boys' home to be located, and pray that a good location will be found for the main offices.
Thanks you so much for all of your prayers. Please let me know if there is ever anything in your life that I can pray for! I will try to get back into the habit of blogging at least once a week.
