Hello! How are you? I am very happy because it is the weekend, and I finished my Spanish classes! Right now I am eating popcorn and watching a movie in my room. As of now, I do not know a lot of Spanish words, but I am trying to learn much. When I arrived in Peru in February, I could only speak a few words... for example: "Hello" and "one, two, three.." :) Now, I can speak with other people in Spanish and I understand a lot!
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That is just a little taste of how much I have learned in three months! I am truly blessed and surprised at myself, but excited as well. Sorry for my lack of existence in this blog over the last two weeks. It has been crazy here with finishing up classes, studying for finals, preparing to move. GOOD NEWS-- I passed Spanish :) Well, honestly, everyone passed because it is impossible to fail, with the way classes are designed. BUT, I must say that I am extremely proud of myself, as well as all my brothers and sisters here at how far we have come. This past week I had three final exams: written, oral and listening. All went fairly well, and I am pleased with the level I am at. Friday afternoon our group had a graduation ceremony. Carmen, the woman that runs the school, passed out certificates to each of us. There was torta (cake), of course! It was so nice to have a group celebration.
Yesterday we had a youth service at one of the local churches. Every Saturday we switch where the service is located, to give everyone a chance to visit all of the Naz churches and it is also a good way to get every single community involved. Last night, at Ramiro, I had the chance to help lead worship!! IN SPANISH :) For those of you that know me, I LOVE to sing. And I have truly missed being on a worship team! Even though I know God can use me in many different ways :) Nonetheless, I was very grateful for that chance.
This weekend, I am sick LOL. Go figure. My immune system is not the best, since I have been sick three times in the three months I have been in Peru. However, I am very thankful that this time it is only a head cold. Side note-- if anyone would decide to send me a bunch of tissues, it would probably be a wise investment! :) I am still pushing strong, but also taking today to relax, in order to hopefully get all my strength back and let my body take a break from all the rushing around.
This Monday, Tuesday and Wednesdays are "free days" for us 40/40's. There are no classes, and we are all going to enjoy these few days of relaxation before taking the next big leap in this journey. What is that next leap? Well-- glad you asked :) This coming Thursday we are getting our 40/40 Peruvian partners!! We all have been praying for our partners for quite some time now... hoping our Spanish is understandable so we all can communicate, praying over any difference that we might encounter (which we will) and also praying for our ministries together. My Peruvian partner, who I know nothing about except that she is a girl, is going to be with me from this coming Thursday through April 2012! I am SO excited to see how God is going to use this relationship and our ministry to reach the people of Peru :)
Right now, all of the 40/40's live in different host family homes with one other 40/40. But when Thursday comes, EVERYONE (Peruvians and non) will move into one living space inside a local church here in Arequipa. Zamacola is the church's name, and here is where we all will live, eat, studying the Bible and hang out. We will still attend our separate churches we have been assigned to in Arequipa, because it is very important to keep building those relationships and letting the people of those communities know that we are committed to being here. But it will definitely be a change from our current living situations. We are very excited, but also a bit nervous and just praying for God to be in every bit of this! Please pray with us :)
That is all I have for now. I am praying for all of you! If you have any specific prayer requests you would like to share, please feel free to email me at Jaclyn_Finn@hotmail.com. Can't wait to hear from you! Take care, and God bless :)
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