A Celebration and The Park

Well, this past two weeks have been great! Honestly, I ask myself three or four times a week if it can get any better and, to my surprise, it always does. God is good and is showing me how to love more and how to keep the joy of my redemtion in all situations. God has taught and shown me many leasons that will last with me for the rest of my life, and I thank God for everything that He gives me each day.

Firs off, let me say that I'm writing this as I await our amazing trip to Tarma, a mountain city that is about 4 hours northeast of Lima. I can't tell you how excited I am to be going, I know this trip is going to be such a good break and renewal for me. This week is the independence week for Peru, which means parties and celebrations up to the 28, the day of their independence. Next week I should post some new pics of the city and the jungle, along with all the other amazing things we've been doing down here. If you haven't already done so, you should really check out my Picasa photo site at http://picasaweb.google.com/PBrysonC.

This past friday was Amber's birthday, and we made it one to remember. We took her down to the beach for lunch and fun, and then that night had a surprise party at the neighbors, (a family with three daughters around our age, who we're trying to build closer relationships with) where we had Aji de Guina, which is quite possibly the greatese thing I've ever eaten. The next day we had another surprise party at one of the memebers homes, where we listened to music, ate cake, and had a great time "communicating" and spending time with the youth. Overall, I think that we basically set up an unreachable expectation for birhtdays, and with mine coming up, we'll see if we can get anywhere close to that bar.

Language has been steadily getting better and better, so much so, that I've been having dreams about speaking spanish and understanding spanish, which has been strange (and a little scary). If you've ever really learned a new language, then you can understand how it feels to steadily improve in you understanding and communication with that language. It's been so strange to go from one week where I didn't understand anything, to the next week where a understood a little bit, to the next week where I can almost catch what they're talking about. What a thrill it is to understand something that sounded like 100 mph jiberish a week ago! Please continue to pray for me and my entire team as we continue to learn spanish and improve with our communication with the Peruvians.

This past sunday we had church in a park near Paul and Amy's house. I can't describe to you the joy and unity that we felt as we reunited the three different churches for a day long celebration. There was more than 13o people there, and with that many people, anything we try and do is going to be a chore. Paul got a good deal on food and plates so we helped with drinks and the rest. We had a cookout after church and ate and talked together for a long time. We then had a huge soccer game with the youth and some of the other men from the church. There was even a man named Sanir who looks pretty old at first with his short salt & pepper hair, but after he gets into his "playing" clothes he's a completely different guy. I played goalie, because I'm horribile (for now) at soccer and everthing involved with it, so I tried to use my long arms as a weapon against the opposite teams attacks. Unfortunatley, I forgot that everyone in South America is an expert at soccer, so my height didn't help me at all. To say the very least, the day was a ton of fun and good for the memebers to be reunited together after we mulitiplyed out into three churches.

Well, thats all for now, I'll hopefully have some amazing storries and pictures after we get back from the jungle, until then take care.

God Bless,
- Bryson