What's going on this week . . .

Any routine I had in mind shall not be in place for the next two weeks; I am taking Spanish class at the Seminary with Kristie, a young lady from the Lovealls' sending church who is staying with them for six months. The class does not teach you Spanish; it is like Northland’s freshman English class – grammar. The whole class is taught in Spanish and Uncle Ken thought it would be good for us to take it. The class is from 8 to 12:30 for the next two weeks. My Spanish is being stretched, but I understand the teacher except for a few words here and there. I am not sure how my real school will fit in the schedule, but today’s Spanish class was so helpful I don’t mind risking a lower grade for better Spanish. 

A little bit more about life here: 

                                                                

Traffic: it is normal to almost kill someone several times a day while driving. They don’t seem to mind being almost killed. As long as you make it through an intersection mostly untouched, why worry that you survived by only a few inches? I’m not usually the one in danger – the Lovealls' vehicle (the “Burro”) would always win. Safety is of the Lord, si?

Cows: I don’t particularly like them. The other day, Marcos and I were riding bikes to the Lovealls' house and I got cut off in traffic by a scary bull with long horns. What do you do when a bull cuts you off in traffic and you’re on an unprotected bicycle? Instead of going into the ditch, I opted to brake into an awkward stop and pass on the right. 

Devotions: I am not a missionary. I do not have six kids (neither am I married). I am not taking a full load of school – yet my first week here, finding time for God was a huge struggle.  What must it be like for missionaries who, unlike me, do actually have many responsibilities?

Making friends: hard to do when I am only half-literate in Castellano. I don’t know enough to start a conversation very well at all, and being friendly to me often takes too much patience for them to keep up with it long. That is one reason I am so glad to take the Spanish class.

A smaller, but still real struggle: what do you do when you have memorized all your Scripture from the KJV and suddenly you have to re-memorize verses in the NKJV for a test? Stink. It’s worse than memorizing something you’ve never seen before. 

Missionaries: lots of people come through the seminary. Randy Chovan taught here a couple weeks ago. Another missionary is teaching here these two weeks – a Northland grad from Andawuaylas, Peru. More are coming on Wednesday. A retired couple from Iowa comes here several months out of the year to teach. I love talking to these people.