Birthday in Peru!

This past weekend we celebrated Evan's birthday with a special Peruvian meal. Yes, our life does seem to revolve around food at this point! It was fun to try bifsteak, pureed papas amarilla (yellow potatoes), and palta (avocado) ensalada. For dessert we had Marie Elena's famous brownies. She even made a gluten-free version for me. They were incredible!!! I think Evan had a good first Peruvian birthday. And to all of you who know the Bible College tradition - no, he did not get egged.

On Saturday, our dueña (landlady) took us to Chosica to spend the day at "El Bosque", a private club, 1 hour from Lima. We had a lovely day playing at the park, swimming in the pool, boating on the lake and playing boche on real boche courts. The photos of the children are from that special day. It was a blessing to spend time our dueña and her daughter. A beautiful friendship is growing between our two families.

Thanks to all of you who have been praying for us. Adjusting to life in a foreign country is a challenge. Last week we really felt the language and culture stress. I find it difficult when I don't know what is expected of me in a given situation. One example of the challenges of adusting to life happened when our dueña's father passed away. We wanted to to be culturally sensitive in our show of care for her during this difficult time. Even something as simple as buying appropriate flowers and the expectations of us during this time were drastically different from Canada. We don't always know what the appropriate response is for a given situation and because of the language barrier, we can't always ask for help. That is stressful for us.

I also find our time of preparation to be difficult because I am not being "productive". I want to be useful here and to show that we are "doing something". I know in my mind that our time spent in language studies and learning how to live in Peru is not time wasted, but I think the problem lies much deeper. I know in my heart that I need to make my focus more about my relationship with Jesus and less about "doing".

It is frightening in some ways to be here going through a process of working, learning and growing that is much less defined and ordered than anything we have done in the past. Being content in the transition without a clear picture of what lies ahead is a test of my trust in HIM. Can I (as a North American who measures my days by my level of production) rest in the knowledge that my God has us here for a reason and in His time He will show us the next step. My worth comes from the fact that I am His child and not from what I do; that is the real heart issue. Do I love HIM and do I trust HIM to do what He wants in and through us?