Pride Rating: 0

This year, in the process of getting to Peru and then finally arriving and working here, I have taken a big hit to my pride.  As you may recall, my original plan was to come for two years to teach abstinence to teenagers out in the city.  But, as you have probably noticed, I'm not actually doing a whole lot of that.  Not to mention that my current commitment is fourteen months shorter than I had hoped it would be.  At first this was really difficult stuff for me to take in.  It didn't seem good enough for me to come for ten months and teach MKs (missionary kids) in English in the gated, secure base.  It wasn't adventerous enough to be a "real" missionary job.  But, as I've come to find over the seven weeks that I've been here, it is not only a real ministry, it is a much needed one, and I feel like it was no mistake that this is where God has placed me for now. 

It's amazing how I'm not only acting as a teacher for these kids, but as a discipler and friend.  As soon as that bell rings at the end of the schoolday I go from "Miss Ashley" and "Ma'am" to "Hey Ash!"  It's the same for the other young single missionaries here, too (Patricia, Halie, and Micah).  The kids love us!  It's great when I'm sitting in my room, planning lessons or working on some project, and I here a little tapping on my door, open it up, and find a few middle school and elementary girls standing there with puppy dog eyes, saying, "Ashley, we're bored.  Will you come play with us?" or, "We need help with a prank!"  Some of the ministries we do with the MK's other than school are Wednesday night youth group, afternoon and weekend activities (Ultimate Frisbee, Dodge Ball, Capture the Flag, you name it...), and sleep-overs and outings.  Below are some pictures of me with the girls.

I've been having a ton of fun and accomplishing a lot of work, but, unfortunately, because of the non-stop action, my personal spiritual growth had kind of taken the back-burner for a while.  But I'm so excited that I am finally seeking out the tools I need to continue to grow in my relationship with the Lord.  The single missionaries have just started a Bible study together, going through the book of Joshua.  I've also found a website that can send a daily devotion directly to my e-mail inbox!  http://www.crosswalk.com/ has a TON of different daily and weekly devotions and sermons as well as podcasts that you can subscribe to.  Also, this week I'm gonig to seek out a prayer/accountability partner in the missions community to meet with me weekly.  Please pray that I'll be disciplined in doing that.  One of the things that I think will help me most in my walk is that I have finally found a church to plug into.  Mil Palmeras is the church on the missions base and the pastor, Julio Chiang, a missionary with SAM, but also a born-and-raised Peruvian, is an awesome speaker!  There are also small group Bible studies I can go to in the Sunday school hour before the service begins, where I am beginning to build friendships with Peruvian women.  I'm also building friendships with others close to my age in the youth group at the church (youth group here is ages 18-23).  Below is a picture of a group of us (including Micah and Patricia) last week when we had dinner at the youth pastor's house.

There are a lot more things I could talk about, but they are all still developing ministries, so I will wait until they're officially taking off to share about them.  But just so you can know what to pray for, the ministries that I am beginning to get involved in include the children and teen ministry at TEC (another mission agency outside of Pucallpa) and the crisis pregnancy center, and I will be personally taking on a hospitality ministry.

Thanks so much for reading.  Have a blessed week!