To-Do Lists and Social Engagements

Well I feel like I need to apologize once again for not having updated anything in the past two weeks. August (like so many other months) has been busy with a lot of abnormal activity. After our week hosting interns, we packed up to head back to Lima for a while. I had a college friend coming to visit, and the timing matched up with an intensive course at the ADIEL Institute as well as our inevitable move from our hazardous apartment in San Felipe. Our lease ended this month, and instead of offering us another lease to sign, our troublesome landlords decided they wanted to move back into the apartment. So we have been spending the past month trying to figure out where we could move to, and when we could actually make the move. Ely, our 5th roommate that is only in Lima 10 days out of the month (she works in Cuzco) decided to buy an apartment. But the problem was that it is in a newly constructed building that won’t be finished until late October. So having to move out in August and not being able to move in until October was presenting an obvious problem for us, especially since we can’t keep going back and forth between Tarma and Lima for moving purposes. Finally a solution presented itself a during our week with the interns: a missionary family that has a house close to our apartment in Lima went back to the States to raise support, so we were able to move all of our stuff into their garage as a sort of storage unit until Ely’s apartment is finished and we are able to move in. Moving in Peru is a complicated process as there are no U-Hauls, or moving services. It is also difficult because you have to keep an eye on the driver of whatever privately owned truck you’ve been able to rent to make sure he doesn’t take off with some of your stuff! Needless to say we were all very thankful to get everything safely moved from the apartment into the garage and be done with it . . . at least for now.
During the process of finding places to live and making plans, I realized that I really no longer needed an apartment in Lima since I won’t have a reason to go back until I’m passing through on my way home. So I was then able to pack up the two plastic boxes of items I had in the Lima apartment and store them at one of our ReachGlobal missionary’s house for the next few months in place of paying rent for an apartment I will not use. So in a sense, packing up the Lima apartment was nicely timed.
Anyway, all that to say that we were crazy busy in the days we were in Lima. Meredith and I got back to Tarma this past Monday, and since being back I’ve been full up with to-do lists and spontaneous social engagements. It always takes me a few days to re-wrap my head around all I have to do after a trip, so I was thrown back into my responsibilities here in Tarma with little time to readjust. Teaching classes, having team meetings and trying to organize a new Bible study that we hope to start next week has been all I’ve been able to handle. Fortunately things are getting done in between all of the random birthday parties that we’ve been invited to at the last min. Peru is a very “in-the-now” country, and most social outings/parties/invites tend to be organized the-minute-of, which is hard for a personality like mine who likes a schedule and advanced notice when I’m going to have to go to a birthday party that starts at 10:30pm and ends at 2:00 :)
But I am back and should be in my rhythm again come Monday – hopefully with more regular blog posts again. I’ll just end this one saying that I am very thankful to be back in Tarma with no plans to travel to Lima for a while. I’m looking forward to being able to put my all into the work here and see how God continues to move this ministry along.