Orienting Myself

Ok I think I’ve procrastinated blogging for long enough. I hope this is not a sign of the year to come. I promise, I will be better!

Alright so, where to begin? So much has happened in the few weeks since I left my home and said my goodbyes to everyone. On August 24th I left bright and early in the morning to head to the YAV orientation at the Stony Point Center in Stony Point, New York. I was there for a week, learning about safety and logistical issues while living abroad, how to take care of myself when I get stressed and are without the comforts of home, praying, worshipping, eating, and being in fellowship with the other YAVs. It was a really great week for me, and just the perfect way to not only bond with the other YAVs, but to get me in the mind set of service and mission. I enjoyed being around so many like-minded people and people who have the same passions as I do. We created a very fun and unique community that week.

Some of my favorite times during the week were at worship. It was just such a joyful and truly spirit-filled experience for all of us. We sang songs from all around the world and even broke down into four part harmonies for some of them and it gave me goose bumps when we sang for our Lord and Creator. My other favorite part was a presentation that Rick Upford-Chase, former moderator for the Presbyterian Church (USA) General Assembly, who is the director at Stony Point gave us. He presented us an interactive skit that illustrated the history of financial decisions that contributed to the economic downfall of my many countries around the world. Rick’s background is in working with Latin American countries, particularly Mexico along the border with the mission he started called Borderlinks, so our imaginary country was called Paniagua in the skit. I wish I could do a better job at describing the skit and relaying all the information he gave us about world-wide economics, but I can’t because I still don’t understand it all. But I came away from the presentation with my mind just completely blown. I didn’t know about half the things he was talking about and to be faced with my own ignorance was a little intimidating. I now know a little more though and that is what part of this year in Peru is about, facing my ignorance and educating myself on the economics of the world.

On Saturday, after much discerning, praying, salsa lessons, self-care, roaring like a lion, small group discussions, etc. I was finally ready to go and actually be in Peru. My group left New York just before noon and during our layover in Atlanta I indulged in the last vestiges of American cuisine; Arbys. Then the six of us; Sarah Terpstra, Anna Gray, Joe Tobiason, Ginna Irby, and myself, kicked off our YAV year with toasts and our last sips of American beer. We boarded our plane and from there, there was no turning back.

We arrived in Lima around 11 at night but after standing in line at Immigration and Customs for over two hours it was past one in the morning before we were greeted by Debbie Horne, our site coordinator, and our new Peruvian friends. We were all so tired we could barely speak English much less Spanish, but we made it to the home of the Barrera family where we would stay for the next 12 days as we oriented ourselves in Lima.