Since moving to Lima I've lived in 3 different places, experienced two different climates and have seen two extremely different lifestyles. I've lived in the city, visited the north and experienced the coast. It's been a whirlwind between moving here, and then constantly traveling.
This past week I've been traveling with Camino De Vida's IDL (ministry/leadership college) experiencing Piura with them for our joined internal missions trip. It's been a lot of hard work from painting, cleaning toilets, putting on kids' programs, to handing out shoes, to giving away wheel chairs, to spending hours in the Piura heat. But every second has been so worth it. Along with serving, I was able to preach Tuesday evening at a women's service to packed house and share how God blesses thankfulness and can make your story whole. With the amazing things that have been happening some quirky, not so great things have happened as well. While in Piura I had a nice little visit to the clinic, which wasn't glamorous by any means, but I was so thankful to get some relief. Blood tests, an IV (that ended up sucking my blood out, instead of putting the fluids in... Shocking? Yeah, I know), and an ultrasound later, all I needed was more water, and not as much gluten. So maybe lay off the genuine Peruvian meals for a while, which is sad, because they're so good! Then when getting back home to Lima Monday, I went to the ATM to withdraw money, and the machine ate my debit card... Can I tell you that if this would have happened back in North America I would have handled the situation with: "I'll see if mom and dad can fix it". Guess what? If you haven't figured it out yet, I'm in Peru on my own - in a completely different country, and it's not as easy as canceling the card and waiting for a new one to come in the mail. No.. This is serious, I can't access my money, let me repeat... I can not access my money. But that's not what I was thinking in that split moment. In that heartbeat of a second of witnessing my card, yes MY CARD being ripped from my tiny little fingers grip, and sucked back into the ATM's eternal black hole, thrown into the abyss of all the rest of the (I'm sure many) Peruvian cards. My immediate reaction was "okay, let's figure this thing out" (PRAISE) it was a shift in my mindset and thinking - it was an adult reaction. Immediately someone behind me asked if I needed help, and he spoke English (such a God moment) immediately I said yes, realizing that I would probably never get my card back, but I wanted to let the bank teller know. By the way, getting your card eaten after withdrawing money here is common, and happens more often than it should. Luckily I have a back up plan for such a time as this. But growing up... Man, it is so exhilarating, like it's such a disaster, but also hilarious and at the same time, so sweet. Here I am documenting my "adult" moments, and I'm experiencing them in Peru, of all places! Like how crazy messy, beautiful is this? I have such a thankful heart, and it's almost weird, well, no, it is weird, really weird. Naturally, I should be crying right now, but I have peace and I have confidence in God to do what He does best, and that's to guide me. I know He will never let me go without the things I need most. I'm all set. Yeah, getting my card back would be really, really nice, but either way I have a plan, and thankfully I can access my money from that account and switch it over to another account of course connected to a another card I have here. Either way, God is still God. I'm so glad he is molding me and changing my perspective. I'm just overflowing with a thankful heart.
Although this has been a time of constant change and adaptation. Continually over processing everything, while seeing so much, and trying to think through even the simple fact that I'm here - brings me to a point of realization. I'm not who I was. Thank you Lord. I love how the old me would of had the option to quit, I would have easily tapped out, and given up - letting someone else deal with the hardship. But my mindset has changed, and I don't have the desire to stop now. When we've been pushed to the brink as a team and pushed past exhaustion and dehydration, I've realized that - I'm not even close to giving up. There's so much more left in me to press on. There's something I've yet to discover about myself, and God that I desire to see come to pass. I'm just not willing to let the circumstances limit me. I don't think the devil knows who He's messing with. I'm just getting started, let's do this thing - we're in it for the win.
Ps. I swam with giant sea turtles, and went whale watching - pretty cool, right?
