Man.
As I sit here writing this I feel so many emotions. Guilt. Sadness. Excitement. Contentment. Guilt because it's been over a month since I wrote a blog post and I promised to write one every week. Sadness because I will only be in Trujillo for a week and a half more before returning home. Excitement for the same reason--I will be able to see friends and family that I haven't in a while, tell to others all that the Lord has done this summer, and because I will be seeing college friends shortly after returning home. Contentment looking back at how the Lord has strengthened me in Him this summer, knowing that what I have done this summer is in His will, and that so many prayers have been answered one-hundred times over.
So, GUILT... I haven't written one of these here blog things in over a month. Why? Busyness, illness, laziness, travel. The first week after my last blog post--seems like so long ago--several missionaries from Trujillo travelled to Cajamarca, Perú for a week-long assistance of translating for a VBS/Medical Missions group that came from Jackson, MS. Josh, Liz, and I were in that number. So we had to suffer through a week of mountain views, working with people from Mississippi, sharing the Gospel with beautiful Peruvian kids. It really was a test of patience and endurance.... NOT. That week was amazing. I was able to talk with Pastor Alonzo Ramirez (Peruvian pastor, founding-father of Perú Mission) about what Perú Mission is doing in Cajamarca and he was able to answer a lot of questions in my head about working with children and doing missions in the future. It really was a blessing for my soul to be back in the mountains, working with children in schools, and to talk with Pastor Alonzo and Steve Hill about the Lord's work in Cajamarca.
That was one week. Then the next week I started feeling terrible. Runny nose and sore throat feelings during the day and fever and cold at night for most of the week. It was rough. Honestly, not too much went on that week. I went to the orphanage several days, got some local herbs to make tea that supposedly helps cure the "gripe" as it's called here, went to Las Ponas a few times, and just slept, ate crackers, and tried to rest the cold away for the remainder of the week.
Then, honestly, the third week was just kind of a hang out when not working and conserving energy to keep the cold away. I was able to go the Hogar San Jose and Las Ponas the regular amount of times and have a regular amount of energy, but outside of that I tried to conserve energy. And we all know that sitting down, moving nothing but your fingers to type, and thinking about what to say in order to create a blog takes up too much energy to be healthy. So that's my excuse for that week..... Yeah.
AND THEN TRAVEL. This past week (from July 15 to July 22) I was in Cusco, Perú. I went to go see one of the seven Wonders of the World--Machu Picchu! Goodness gracious, that trip was amazing. Being able to travel a little more by myself, see other parts of Perú, meet some very interesting people at the hostal and along the way was a glorious thing. Being able to see how the Lord answered so many prayers in that trip, provide opportunities to continue to do His work in the midst of travel, and just see more of His amazing creation and results of that same creative spirit within the ancient Incan civilization proved to be a major blessing.
Enough for guilt... Now onto SADNESS. Another cheerful, positive note. No, seriously though. This summer has been the biggest blessing in my life and has revealed so much about the Lord and myself, but all along the end has been this foreign time that was a ways away... But now that August 5th is less than two weeks away, that distant sadness is slowly becoming more and more real.
After having spent two-and-a-half months here, relationships have been formed and are continually growing, doors for talking with the boys at Hogar San Jose about Jesus have been opened, I've grown to love and care for those guys, God has revealed much sin, independence within myself, grace in spite of my actions, and a calling to do missions long-term in this time. It has just been a very growing, fruitful period of time that I am really not looking forward to leaving behind. But have been reminded that it is not ultimately leaving behind, for those who believe in Christ. Whether or not I see these brothers and sisters again in this life, I will in the next.
Which kind of ties into EXCITEMENT. Upon returning home, I will be able to see family members, brothers and sisters, and college friends that I haven't in what seems like ages. Though being here in Perú has absolutely flown by in every sense of the word, leaving friends and family has felt like years of separation. I guess that's just how it works. I will be in Vicksburg for a week and a half visiting friends, telling about my time here, thanking everyone, resting, and relaxing. It will be glorious. Absolutely fantastic. Then, I will go to Jasper, AL for a few days to see one of my best friends before he goes back to school. Time with Asa Porter is always cherished and fruitful, it goes by extremely too fast, and takes way too long to see him again. Shortly after, I will be in the Appalachian Mountains backpacking with a few of my roommates for a week and then go relax at Rock Island State Park for a few days before starting school. I've gone backpacking with them several times before and those times alone in the woods have been my favorite memories of college. That gets me more excited than... Well, literally anything in the world.
And continuing that positive note of excitement comes CONTENTMENT. This summer has been filled with reminders of contentment from the Lord. At every step along this path, the Lord has showered His presence of contentment before me--whether I am content in Him or He is showing me how contentment has been utterly lacking. Looking at the day I came here and all that the Lord has accomplished through me, in spite of me, since then overflows my heart with contentment. Thinking that He loves me enough to allow me to share His amazing story, that what has been accomplished or not accomplished is all part of His will, and how He really has strengthened me in Him through humbling me of myself is the most satisfying and contenting feeling of all history.
As I sit on the brink of an amazing summer, so many thoughts, feelings, memories flood my mind. It's hard to convey through words how I truly feel, but I think the jumbled words and random thoughts work well together to show that it's a hodgepodge of everything. Yes, I just used the word 'hodgepodge.'
With a week and half left, I encourage you to continue to keep me in your prayers. That I would not see my work as done, that I would remain faithful in following the Lord these coming days, that the Lord would put His hedge of protection around me, that I may be humbled over and over, and that the Lord's perfect will would be done.
Friend. You haven't a clue how much you're missed and loved.
Peace and love,
Daniel
