1 month!

My quiet time view

Today marks 1 month of living here in Peru.

What an experience it has been.

This past month has been one of the hardest, most interesting, most challenging, most eye-opening and definitely one of the most adventurous month of my life (so far.)

It has been more difficult than I thought it was going to be.

And I have learned more already than I thought I was going to.
I am not just talking about spanish.

I have learned a lot.

 I know quite a bit of Peruvian slang.

I have learned how to carry my purse in the city so it doesn't get stolen.

I have learned how to flag down a moto (as well as learned how to fit in one, which was even harder)

I have learned how to navigate getting on and off the buses without falling on my face.

I have learned how to make Arroz Con Pollo.

I have learned how to drink Coffee Peruvian style (instant, black, lots of sugar.)

But much more than all those things, I have learned about myself, God, life, the Church, and dependence on the Holy Spirit. 

One of the biggest things I am learning is what it means to have God and God alone be my Comfort.

When the "comforts" of Suburban American life are stripped away, when I am placed in trying and new situations everyday, when everything familiar is gone, when I feel lost or scared or uncomfortable... I have no where to go but to the One who gives all comfort.

What a blessing it is that here, I don't have the temptation to find my comfort in any thing else (like a car, my family, friends, starbucks, or chocolate :) etc.... ) but Him.  

Instead I am learning in a new way what it means to practically experience 2 Corinthians 1:3-5, which says:

"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.   
For as we share abundantly in Christ's sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too."


He will comfort me in all my affliction so that I may be able to comfort those around me who are in affliction. 
Every day I am learning more and more, to rely on his comfort to sustain me
I can't wait to see what God does in the next 2 1/2 months that I have left here.