Lima Peru

Hola! Love and Greetings to one and all!!!

Lima has been relaxing and fun.

I think its so funny when you are out of your "normal life" the things that seem like an accomplishment or extra exhilarating. Yesterday was Thanksgiving. I took a walk by myself in the late morning to a park near my house. It was scary and exciting all at the same time. I walked a couple blocks to a park and wrote in my journal about all the things I was Thankful for. I have sooooooo many!!!! I could have stayed there all day. :)

Last night I went out with some friends from here. We went to see the Principle Square (Which includes the Presidential Palace) after that we took a taxi to the coast, had a Peruvian chicken dinner, then took a beautiful walk. :) It was a lot of fun and before we knew it the evening turned into morning. I fell into my bed exhausted around 2:30!!! :)

The language barrier is getting easier. I'm understanding more and more as the days pass by. Now I need to work on speaking more. :)

I'm going to a museum tonight and tomorrow the Lima zoo!!! :) Next week I will be spending time in Cusco volunteering at an orphanage and hopefully trekking up to Machu Picchu! :) I can't wait! :)

I'm posting a few pics from my days so far in Lima. :) Enjoy! :)

PERU

Hola Everybody!!!

I arrived safely in Peru yesterday. I will be able to get this blog up to date soon. Love ya! Cindy

Leaving on a Jet Plane

The long awaited day has arrived! I depart from LAX tomorrow night!

OH MY GOODNESS!!!!

I'm ready to go and I don't totally feel prepared. I will probably repack my bags again tonight! :)

This last 12 days has been awesome. I've had an amazing time visiting friends, resting, and checking off the last of my duties on my to do list. Tomorrow I go to the Brazilian consulate to pick up my passport and visa. I'm hoping and praying that everything goes smoothly.

Well that's about all the news for now....my next post will be from the country of Colombia! :)

Love you all!!!!

Cindy Lu
.

If only we could capture smells

Do you have an all time favorite smell? For me there are many but one that I'm not sure you can top is the way the air smells at Hume Lake. I arrived up here Monday evening, stepped out of the car and the very first thing on my list of things to do is get a great big sniff of this FANTASTIC mountain air. Oh it was amazing. A couple days later I took a walk around the lake. It may have been my longest time on record for completing the almost 3 mile trail. I would walk a while, catch a whiff, stop and draw in a long breath through my nose, take in the sights and then begin my walk again. The whole time I kept thinking how you can capture sounds and images but not smells. People have done their best to recreate smells and have come very close on a lot of fragrances. But they've never come close to the smell of the Hume Lake air. I love it! :)

Hume has been so relaxing. I've slept about 10 hours every night. I've checked some of my administrative to do's off my list and had some refreshing fellowship with some friends. I've also really enjoyed my study of the Word.

As I studied today I was reading about David when he was preparing to fight Goliath. He was suited up with armor and sword. The armor was not a good fit for him and was not able to even walk. So he removed the armor, picked up 5 stones and went out to defeat the giant.

I felt like the Lord revealed to me that we've all been equipped with our "sling shots".... our talents and we need to be using those gifts to do battle. First we need to embrace out gifts and use them how God desires us to use them. I can't fight a sling shot battle with a sword!!!

We need to put our talents to practice to better the world around us! The thing is David didn't wake up that morning with the bright idea that maybe a sling shot was the best weapon to fight Goliath. He knew he could use that tool to fight because he had practiced almost everyday of his life. We need to be exercising our gifts constantly so that when the time comes we can be ready to serve the Lord to the best of our ability.

Well.... that's where my heart and my brain have been today.... :) Here's a pic of the beautiful sunset this evening! I wish you could smell it too!!! :)

Greetings

Greetings from the road! :) Currently I am on an Amtrak train traveling from Los Angeles to Fresno.

These last few weeks have been a bit chaotic. Good but chaotic. :) I have to say on Sunday Nov. 2nd I had a milestone moment. :) After two all nighters in a row, packing, and saying goodbye I took an inner island flight to Oahu (BTW... I took a 6:30am inner island flight and the sunrise was outstanding!!! What a great way to start an adventure!). I sat down at my gate in Honolulu and realized that I couldn't remember a moment in my life where I felt more exhausted.... EVER!!!! (Leeann your card in that moment was PERFECT!!!) All I wanted to do was lay down on the floor of the airport and sleep... who cares.... they can put me on another flight! Thank goodness my wait time was short or I might still be there sleeping! :)

After arriving in LA a friend picked me up and brought me to her house. She was having a party at her house. The tables were decorated with orchids and they were serving Ox Tail soup and a few other Filipino dishes. I had to laugh. It felt like I had never left Maui. :)

Today I woke up and wanted to sleep for another 10 hours but NO CAN! I needed to apply for a Visa to enter Brazil so I was off to the bus station. My friend Edna was so sweet to escort me down to the Brazilian Consulate. We took city buses around LA to get there! :) It was so much fun. Growing up in Eastern Oregon the only city bus I had experienced was on TV. This experience did not disappoint!!! The unusual people and the city zipping by.... oh man I could hang out there all day!

For now I've dropped off my application and passport. The only thing left is to wait. So my current prayer request is that everyone would pray that there are no hang ups with my visa. I am supposed to pick up my passport on Nov. 13th by noon and I need to be at the airport that night around 9pm. There is no room for any craziness! :)

Well I love you all and I'm having lots of fun so far. :) I will do my best to update as often as possible! :)

Aloha!