No Title.

Last night I played cards and practiced English with Milagros, who is essentially a mini-me; she dances like a mad-woman, makes ridiculous faces, sings opera songs, loves reading and often speaks in funny accents. Milagros decided that she was going to practice counting (in English), and started jumping up and down while she said each number. As she was doing this, I found myself crying (not something I do very often) because it hit me that in nine days I will be leaving these beautiful children who completely stole my heart. Even as I write this, I am holding back tears.  

I suppose this post is just a recap of my whole entire trip: things and people I will miss, along with what God has taught me about Himself, His Word, and myself.

Things/ people I will miss:

1.       1. Peruvian food.

 Even though I found myself dreading rice with every meal, I will truly miss Peruvian cuisine. Causa, Ceviche, beans, the delicious little salad that we have sometimes at the home,  Estofado de Pollo, Aji, Inca Kola...the list goes on and on.

2. The weather.

 It doesn’t rain here (there are little sprinkles of “rain” every once in a while), but besides that, the weather is always perfect. I have experienced both Winter & Summer here, and I still love it.

3. Every single child in the hogar.
Especially: Kelly Kriz, Lizandra, Milagros, Jefferson, Emerson, Maythe and Isabella.

Like I said before, these children have had such a huge impact on me. It hasn’t always been easy, and sometimes I was unsure as to why I was even here. However, the more time I spent with them I realized that the biggest thing I could do was to love them, and spend time with them. They are such amazing children, and they have so much to offer this world. They have shown me unconditional love, and have given me an even greater desire to work with children and to do missions.   

4. The IDL people!! Once I started working at the church, I met eight wonderful people in the IDL program. They are all so friendly, and try their hardest to speak to me in English (Joanna and Maka speak English really well). Despite the language barrier, we have become good friends, and they have blessed me so very much- more than they probably even know.

And finally, what has God been showing me throughout this whole trip?
Like I’ve said in the past, the biggest thing is trust.

I came here wanting to find answers.

Answers to questions like:
- What am I doing with my life?
- Am I supposed to do missions long term?

As I am leaving Peru, I seem to have more questions than before.

I can honestly say I feel called to missions. I have such a strong desire to serve and to help hurting people. I love interacting with new people and experiencing new cultures and ways of life.

However, I am leaving Peru not knowing what I am going to do about school; not knowing if I am supposed to come back to Peru right away.

Do I continue at Elmira College and finish my degree?

Do I go to Bible school instead?

Am I supposed to go to China with Campus Target?

I don’t know, and I hate the feeling of the unknown. I like spontaneity, but lately I have felt completely aimless.

Sometimes I think that I have the answer. Sometimes I feel like coming back to Peru to work with Camino de Vida is the right thing to do. The thought of moving to a new country and working with these precious people full-time excites me! It would be quite the adventure.

Then I sit back and feel completely unequipped to accomplish this task. There are so many things in the Bible that I am unsure of!! I don’t feel like one semester of Bible school is enough preparation for full time missions.

I have received emails from different people I’ve met along the way, telling me about various internships and opportunities. It doesn’t help that all of them are absolutely amazing.  

Internship at Hillsong Church in AUSTRALIA!?!?! Awesome!!!

Internship at the Healing Place Church in Baton Rouge, LA??? Fantastic!!!

Spending a year in China?!?!?!? Sign me up now!!!

For a person as indecisive as I am, this is a huge problem. I have so many opportunities to choose from, and all of them (at least I feel) would provide me with preparation for future ministry opportunities.I get so excited about so many things all at once. I hear about one internship and I’m ready to pack my bags and go...then I hear about another, and I try and find a way to fit that into my jam-packed life. My biggest fear is making a decision based solely on how I am feeling. 

Why am I rambling on and on about the choices I have to make? I’m not really sure.

I don’t even know how many of you will take the time to read this whole spiel...

But, the other day I read:

“I am still confident of this: I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord.” (Psalm 27:13-14)

This is what God has been telling me lately, and throughout the course of this trip.

To stop talking and complaining and asking for advice from other people, and instead wait and listen. 
I’ve realized that I need to let God do the talking sometimes. 

Welp, I believe that is all for now.
Servolucion starts on Saturday (the church goes out into the community to serve) so I'll probably have a few tales to tell. :)

Adios Amigos.

-Kelly 

The end is near..

In just a few short weeks I will be coming home.

Goodbye Fochi's Bars.

Goodbye Inca Kola.

Goodbye weird fish/meat/grey matter that I often consume. 

Hello little town of Horseheads. ("O Little Town of Bethlehem" just started playing in my head)
Hello speaking English 24/7.
Hello Americans.

Going home also means:
No more rice and beans.
No more conversations with Kelly Kriz via Google Translator.
No more cold showers and brushing my teeth with bottled water.

Am I happy about this? Not exactly...
Right now, every time I think about leaving Lima, Peru I become extremely sad.
I love it here; the people, the food (minus rice), the church, ministry. Everything.
I feel like time is playing huge tricks on my mind...did I really come here...at the beginning of February?!?
And it is now APRIL!? Whatttt?? Shouldn't I be staying here one more month?!



But, I am in fact coming back to the States in about 2 weeks! TWO weeks. Bah!

Thank you all once again for your prayers and your support!

-Kelly

PPK

 

Pedro. Pablo. Kuczynski. (PPK) 

I have never pretended to care about politics. I have obtained most of my political knowledge from watching mock debates on SNL and of course the Thursday Weekend Update. Sad, I know. 

So, why this sudden interest in the politics of Peru, you ask.                                                                                     

I'm not entirely sure.                                                                                                                                

Maybe it's because I think it's amusing that there are life-size cutouts of the representatives on every street corner, or that I am now the proud owner of three PPK bracelets. 

Anyway, on Saturday I went to the church in the wee hours of the morning (it was actually 7 a.m.), and was able to hear PPK speak! Very exciting. Although he spoke in Spanish, and I have no idea as to what was said, it was still a cool experience to have :) 

On Friday I built wheelchairs, took crazy pictures with Jhoselin and Estefanie, and afterwards went to a really small church about 30 minutes away from CDV for a missions conference. Martin spoke about Alcance, and showed a really sad video about children who work and live on the streets. I almost cried. 

Well, that is all for now! 

-Kelly

p.s. I COME HOME SOON! Let the celebration begin! :)       

"Keep. Moving. Forward."

For this post I do not have exciting tales to tell about the kids, although something happened yesterday that some might call exciting; it could also be considered fairly embarrassing. I was building wheelchairs with my friends Jan Carlos and Jhoselin (they are also IDL interns), and one of the little screws for the wheelchair fell out of my hand and rolled away to an unknown corner of the room. I decided to go on a quest to find this little screw and somehow (I really don't know how this happened), a mountain of chairs fell on top of me and I was stuck and utterly helpless. Thankfully I was saved, and I am perfectly fine. This whole fiasco, however, justified my purchase of an Inca Kola and a cookie from the church cafe.  

Any who, I felt like sharing two verses that I read recently, and in my mind somehow connect to each other. 

1) "You have made known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand." (Psalm 16:11)  

(I also must mention that my lovely mother showed me this verse.)

2) "Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the desert and streams in the wasteland." (Isaiah 43:18-19)

The first verse is so incredibly wonderful because I am always asking God for a life map. I like spontaneity but at the same time I desire definite plans. Yet, here in this verse it is clearly saying "God does not want to keep us in the dark." He wants us to trust and rely on Him, but at the same time, He is willing to make known to us "the path of life." I don't have to go through life constantly wondering. If I am faithful to seek Him and actually ask what His opinion is on things, I will know exactly what I need to do. 

Now how do these two verses fit together in my mind? 

The verse in Isaiah says that God is doing a new thing for us; for me. 

But in order to obtain everything that God has for us, to have complete joy in His presence, and to accept the "path of life" God provides us with, we must forget the former things and stop dwelling on the past. He wants us to move forward in life, and to accomplish things that we cannot even imagine. 

I most definitely struggle with the idea of not dwelling on former things. I tend to "reminisce"...too much at times, and not necessarily about happy things in my life.

Because I tend to relate things in my life to movies (don't judge me), I immediately thought of "Meet the Robinsons" after reading the verse in Isaiah. Hence, the title of this post. If you have never seen this movie, and have no idea what I'm talking about, please fix this immediately and rent "Meet the Robinsons" from your local movie rental place (but not Family Video). 

These are just some of the thoughts I've had lately...and I truly hope that what I'm saying makes sense. I hope that I'm not rambling on about things that have no correlation to one another.

I believe that is all for now. :) 

-Kelly 

La Dama Juana

Hola mis amigos :)

Friday was a pretty eventful day. As usual, I went to the church in the morning (insignificant detail: I stopped at a little cafe on the way and had the most delicious ham sandwich with aji), and then had a little road trip with Adam, Rebecca, Lupe, Jan Carlos, and one of the Operation Blessing (OB) volunteers (I don't remember his name). We went to the Operation Blessing warehouse about 20 minutes away from the church, and sorted through boxes of TOMS and Chinese Laundry (http://www.chineselaundry.com/) shoes that had been donated to OB.
Friday night, Pastor Christian and his wife Alicia took me to La Dama Juana, which is a buffet-style restaurant in Miraflores. There are no words to describe how delicious the food was (I had 6 plates), and I now have an undying love for:
1) Ceviche (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ceviche)
2) Causa (http://southamericanfood.about.com/od/fusionfare/r/causa.htm)
and
3) Chicha Morada ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicha_morada)

At La Dama Juana, there was a special show featuring authentic Peruvian dances. It was absolutely fantastic and I wanted so badly to jump on stage and dance around. Sadly, I did not go up on stage, but I WAS able to take pictures with some of the dancers.
Overall, it was a great day.

This morning Pastor Robert's son Taylor spoke about "Our Hope That Remains." He touched on 1 John 2:15-16 and Matthew 7:21. His message was about how we need to place our hope in God and not in things of the world. The things of God cannot be destroyed, but the things of the world pass away. It was such an awesome message because:
1) It's a simple thought, but is something I always need to be reminded of.
2) I decided to memorize one verse a week (last week was my first week doing this), and the verse for this past week was Psalm 143:8 "Let the morning bring me word of your unfailing love, for I have put my trust in you. Show me the way I should go, for to you I lift up my soul."


This whole trip has been such a growing experience for me, and for that I am grateful. I've learned a lot about myself, and honestly cannot believe it is almost time for me to go home!! I cannot wait to come home and see my friends and family, but at the same time I want to stay here muchhh longer. Ah, I'm torn.

Any who, I believe that is all for now. :)

-Kelly

Comparisons

I know what everyone is thinking, "So many posts. All at once!"
I might be a leetle excited about this new blog (just a leetle bit).

Lately I have become obsessed with blogs. Blogs written by my friends, blogs written by people I do not know, blogs about how to format blogs, blogs with free blog designs, blogs, blogs, blogs.
However, the blogs I have been reading the most are blogs written by full-time missionaries; stories of men and women who willingly leave the comforts of home for the frightening unknown.
As I was reading one blog in particular last night, I realized something about myself: I compare.

I compare my own personal missions experience to others. My blog to other blogs. My testimony to other testimonies.
The problem with this is that I begin to doubt.
Is my blog "eloquent" enough? Do I include enough Bible verses? Am I too funny? (I know everyone loves my witty humor)
I am not teaching English, working with jungle children, building houses or wells. I am not serving in a high-risk area of the world or adopting children, and I have yet to start a non-profit organization.

Long story short, I felt extremely convicted last night, and remembered the one promise I have been holding onto for the past few weeks:

Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever!    (Ephesians 3:20-21)

Who am I trying to please, and whose strength am I relying on? A few months ago I was reading through Matthew, and throughout the book, Jesus constantly talks about the state of our hearts. Unlike humanity, God does not look at the outward, but only the inward.
Am I putting more energy and focus into this blog, or into completing the work God has provided me with here in Peru? What is the motive behind this? Behind my words, and stories?
Ultimately, what I desire it to be is a place where I can share what God is doing in my life. Where I can show the amazing things that God (*not I*) is accomplishing through me here in Peru. Like Ephesians says, it is HIS power, not mine. When I compare my experience and testimony to others, I am underestimating His power, and His ability to work through my weaknesses. God is always at work, even when the results are not clearly visible to my human eyes.

This is where my heart is right now.

I don't have any stories for you right now, but hopefully I will soon (I'm going to an authentic Peruvian restaurant tonight, which should be interesting).

Thank you for praying, and supporting, and generally being great people.

-Kelly

p.s. AC & UL I almost wrote "bog" instead of "blog."

The Nitty Gritty

If you visited my blog at THIS website ----->  http://aperuvianadventure.sosblog.com/ , my last post was about Antony, how I chipped my tooth, and how I hoped to help with the Medical Campaign on Saturday.

I did in fact go to the Medical Campaign, and it was so amazing to see a different side of Peru. So far, I've been pretty secluded: working at the children's home, going to the church during the day, and going right back to the home at the end of the day.
I haven't participated in many "tourist activities," and it was nice to finally interact with a new group of people.

At the Medical Campaign, we (Martin, Nancy, Kevin, Diego, Odar and myself) handed out Anti-Parasite pills, and Lupe (she is a nurse) discussed the effects and prevention of Intestinal Parasites. There were also four ladies (I cannot seem to remember their names) from Camino de Vida that cut hair and deloused children. We also brought 6 wheelchairs from the Free Wheel Chair Mission, and gave them to families in need.
As I already mentioned, the Campaign took place in Villa El Salvador. There was a basketball court where the Police (they were helping us with the event) set up a tent and played music to attract more people; this is also where we put the wheelchairs. After walking up a small sand hill, there was a daycare center where we gave out the pills and cut hair.
My heart broke for the people that we talked to. There were so many children that I wanted to take with me, and love, and feed, and...pretty much, I want to adopt every needy child. This experience also made me more aware of the fact that we, as humans, cannot change people's hearts. After we handed out the pills, Kevin preached, and while he did a really awesome job, and said some really great things, there were so many distractions in the room, and in reality, we don't know if anyone actually paid attention to what was said. It just taught me (once again), that God is truly in control, and that He can work through any situation. What I can see, and what my point of view is on a situation, means absolutely nothing when compared to what God is doing in the lives of the people we try and reach. The only thing I can do is show His love through service, and through the way I live my life, and then allow God to do the rest.

I then partook in amazing Pardos Chicken. (http://www.pardoschicken.com.pe/)
That, in a nutshell, was my weekend.

Like my post about Antony, today I am going to write a little bit about Kelly Kriz.

Kelly is 15, and came to the children's home in November of 2010. She has two brothers and an Uncle that lives in Lima, but she isn't always able to see them, and is often very lonely. Before living at the home in Chaclacayo, she lived in the Nancy Cole Women’s Home in La Victoria, Peru, which is about 45 minutes away from Camino de Vida. The Nancy Cole Women's Home is a place for young women who come from backgrounds filled with violence, rape and drugs. I don't know exactly what situation Kelly was in, but the fact that she was placed in the women's home makes me want to love and reach out to her even more. Kelly Kriz is most definitely my closest friend at the home. We spend a lot of time together listening to music, making crazy dancing videos and taking ridiculous pictures, along with trying our best to communicate with one another (Google Translate is a definite God-send). She has so much to offer the world, and has dreams of joining the Navy, and working in a place where she is able to be "The Boss." 
Her favorite Bible verse is Psalm 21:10 
“Though my father and mother forsake me, the LORD will receive me.” 
Please remember to keep her in your prayers!! 

Welp, that's all for now! 
I hope that you enjoy the new setup. :)


-Kelly