Tacna, Peru

It has been awhile since I have written but I have a few new adventures as of today. I am now living in Tacna, Peru. A quick geography lesson, Peru as I believe all you know, is in South America. Tacna is in the furthest southern part of Peru about a one hour drive from the top of Chili. This is a desert region which means it is hot during the day and freezing at night.

Why am I here?  I am doing another internship. I say another internship for my new readers because I just returned from a two month internship in Europe. If you would like to know about that trip then you can read my earlier posts. Well I arrived in Tacna a week ago - this is the first of  my weekly updates.

Praying for a lady on the streets.

I am living with the pastor and his wife at one of three churches I will be working at in the area.  They are two of the sweetest people. This week I have only worked at their church. So far it has been amazing. I spent most of my time painting with some of the members of the church. We are getting the children's classrooms ready for the new year.  One of the nights we had someone come and do a class lecture for the church leaders. One afternoon the youth and I went to the central city square and handed out food and prayed for people.  Starting next week I will get my schedule and be working with all three churches.

Those of you who know me may be wondering about the language barrier - yes there is one! My three years of high school Spanish did not prepare me for this.  I am trying my best to learn Spanish as quickly as possible. In my new home Spanish is the language spoken although the family knows a tiny bit of English. I will have to say that the fastest way to learn a language is by not being able to speak yours! I pray my Spanish will become more and more fluent as the time passes. There is another American intern that is working at this church and living close by so I am thankful for her.

This is a small glimpse into my new life for the next three months. I hope you enjoyed having a personal view into the Peruvian culture and the church family that I get to spend my days with.