Saturday, July 27, 2013

We're Going to Peru!

For those of you that don't know, we are a group of students from Calvin College, and we are all spending a semester in Arequipa, Peru! We are a group studying for majors and minors of Spanish, Spanish Education, Business, Kinesiology, Sociology, Fine Arts, Elementary Education, English as a Second Language (ESL) and more! We are excited, nervous, in disbelief,  slightly horrified, thrilled, eager, and ecstatic to be in Peru! Obviously, with such a big experience coming up, we are feeling many different ways as a team, but mostly excited. We fly out on August 9 and we return mid-December. That means we will be in Peru in less than 2 weeks!

While in Arequipa, each of us will be staying with a host family. With our families and friends, we will only talk in Spanish in hopes of becoming more proficient in the language! We will be attending classes at the Universidad Católica San Pablo (Catholic University of San Pablo), so no need to worry; we won't fall behind on our studies.

This semester will most likely be a life-changing experience for all of us, which means we will need prayer for our time abroad. We want to make the most of our experience, but we recognize that we cannot do this from our own strength, so we would like to ask you to pray for us! As a group, we came up with the following things to pray for (although I'm sure more could be added to the list):

~Safe travels
~Assimilating into the culture
~Friends and family who may miss us
~Lasting relationships with our Peruvian host families and friends
~Our separation from family and friends at home
~Learning our way around the city without getting lost
~Good bonding as a team
~That we will have life-changing experiences
~Improvement in speaking Spanish
~Not allowing the language barrier to hold us back from experiences and relationships
~Discover how our growth in Peru will affect our future
~Learning about ourselves, God and the culture
~Quick adjustment to the new culture and living so far from home
~Health (especially altitude sickness when first arriving)
~That we may be aware of God's hand and blessings in Peru, our school, our families and experiences

We thank you so much for keeping up with us and for all your prayers and support!

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