WAIT

I must say, it is kind of nice to drink water out of the faucet.

As of yesterday, I am unpacked now. I have redecorated my room in the process with pictures and stuff from Peru. I still have a lot of laundry to do, but... there's no hurry there. These days have been nice and slow. I've been able to take my time unpacking and relaxing. I think I've caught up on sleep, and I have been able to spend time with family and friends, and they have been quite lovely!

Like this wonderful woman who spent the day with me on Sunday, all the way from Grand Rapids! Ann Webster... you rock! (Also, please not how tan I am! Look at what that Peruvian sunshine did!!!)

Adjusting to being back in the States is difficult. I'm still thinking in Spanish, and today while I was walking, I told someone "Buenos dias!" instead of "hello!". I find myself thinking about Arequipa a lot, and I miss it so much! It has truly been great to spend time with family and friends--I don't mean to undervalue them at all. I just wish that being in one place didn't mean that I can't be in other place. But my family and friends have been so very wonderful and supportive as I work through emotions. I think my body is still quite confused about the concept of "home". I don't quite feel home in Lansing at the moment. Arequipa feels like home, but right now, it can't be.

It amazes me how attached I became to a city and to the people there in just four months. There is so much that I miss about Arequipa right now, but the top of that list is the wonderful friends that I have there. I miss them so much! Not being there is so hard!

So many changes are happening right now. And, really, changes are always happening!! Life is about changes. I don't know what's ahead, and that's a pretty good place to be, I think. I would LIKE to know what's ahead. But, it's okay that I don't. God has a plan. And He keeps telling me to wait and trust Him.

GOD! WHAT ARE YOU DOING? I DON'T LIKE THIS! 

Wait, Hannah. Wait on Me.

But... I miss my friends! Am I ever going to see them again? Will our friendships last over this distance?

Wait, My daughter. Trust Me.

Will I ever go back to Arequipa? How? It seems so impossible! When? I WANT TO KNOW!!!

Child, you have to wait. Wait with Me, Hannita. I won't leave you.

 

THANK YOU, GOD!

Instead of spending time wrestling with my computer (which is working beautifully now, thanks to my brilliant father!!) during my last few weeks in Arequipa, I decided to just enjoy my time there. So I didn't load any pictures of the last few weeks on to my computer, but I assure you that I DID take many pictures. Here are some of the pictures that I took during the past few weeks.

 

These pictures I took of the lovely streets of Arequipa as I was walking to play FUTBOL!!!!




And the following pictures I took as I was walking to Colegio Claretiano. 

It's Christmas in Arequipa!!!!

This next picture, as I was walking to Colegio Claretiano, is of Parque del Avion (Airplane Park). It's called that.... because there's a big fake airplane there!

Almost to Colegio Claretiano!!!

And this is the backyard at the university!!! I spent many hours sitting here reading, napping, and laughing with friends!

OH! This picture is of my and my friends from Didcatica de las Matematicas!!! It's Leyda, Medaly, Dahil, me, Gracce, and Miss Helena!!! Oh man, they are so great!!!

Here we are at Pura Fruta playing cards during the middle of finals week!!! Yay for no studying!!!!

And this is when I got to learn how to play fronton with Anthony and Scott!!!

And this is Anthony!!! He is an awesome awesome guy and a fantastic conversation partner!! I loved talking with him! Miss you, Anthony!!!

Oh hey! This is on my birthday! Tita gave me TWO cakes to share with my friends!!!

And this is the evening of my birthday at Pura Fruta with Jorge, Carlos, Kemil, Ana, Anthony, Alonso, Amy, and Sydney!!! That was such a fun fun fun night with great people!!

And here I am with Alonso after our farewell program at the university. All of you who don't know this fellow... you're all missing out. He's great!! I have been so blessed to get to know him!!

And these wonderful ladies... you three are awesome.

Here I am with mi familia!! This is my host sister Andrea and her boyfriend, Kike!

And this is a picture of my and Tita! This woman is amazing. I can't believe that I got to live with her for four months--it was awesome!!!

 

And this is the Christmas tree at our house in Arequipa!!

 

And, of course, one final picture of everyone's favorite volcano, El Misti. I climbed that. And I took that picture from my house. Oh man. I never got tired of waking up to that.

Oh my God, my God... thank You so much. This semester was unbelievable. I am so blessed, Jesus!! Saying "Thank You!" doesn't begin to express how I feel and how much You have blessed me! Oh God, I know that these blessings of this semester have come from You! And I don't know WHY You choose to make this semester so incredible, but God I thank You and I pray that the things that happened this semester would work to make Your kingdom come here on Earth. Oh Jesus, thank You thank You thank You for this semester. Everytime I think of my time in Peru, I am just amazed and full of gratitude!! God, my heart still hurts being here and not there, but I know that You have an amazing plan. You have taught me that during my time in Peru, and I trust You! I know You are not done with me yet, Oh Lord! Help me to adjust to being in the States and to follow You, to glorify You, to learn from my time in Arequipa, and to seek You, Jesus! I would love to go back to Arequipa, in Your perfect timing, guide me, God. For now, I'll take it day by day and trust You and seek You and thank You for what You did in Arequipa this semester! Oh God, You are so good!!!!!

what we did in Lima

To end our semester in Peru, you all know that we had a little vacation in Lima! A bus came to pick each of us up at our homes around 5:00 on Monday. I must say that it was quite a tearful departure adn a very tearful bus ride to the airport for all of us in my bus. Eventually we got to the airport in Arequipa and checked in. Jorge, Kemil, and Anthony also came to the airport to see us off. It was great to spend our last moments in Arequipa with them. Entering security at the airport was one of the hardest things I've done. Oh man. That was not fun. I stayed with Sydney as we waited to get on our plane. We boarded, and Sydney and I were next to each other on the short flight to Lima. We held hand and sobbed as we took off.

Honestly, the week in Lima was hard. There were DEFINITELY some great moments, but it during those days it was hard to not be in Arequipa. But it was nice to relax a bit. We relaxed quite a lot  in Lima.

On Tuesday we had a free day. So.... Sydney, Fuller, Lauren, Sarah and I headed to the beach. We walked about 20 minutes from our hotel, and found the ocean!! Horray!!! We spend the day sitting by the water and singing. For hours. It was great. And yes, we did go swimming, too. It was my first time swimming in the ocean. The ocean is pretty intense!!!



Here's our "we-just-went-swimming-in-the-ocean-in-Peru!!!!!" picture!!!

After spending the day at the beach, we all went to a fancy restaurante for dinner. We dressed up and walked to dinner, and at dinner we had a little awards show... the ArequipAwards!!! A big thanks goes out to Alex and Scott for making this night great! Really, it was super fun!!! Alex gave a personal award to everyone, and then everyone got a second award, something that we had all voted on last week. My wonderful classmates voted to give me the Contagious Personality award!! And, from Alex, I received the "Famosa" award. Oh man. He gave me this because I was, according to him, so "popular with the Pervians". Basically, what that means is that my friends are the only ones who ever came to our soccer games, and all of the Peruvians that Alex met were the friends that I brought to soccer. So, the only reason he actually has friends... is because me. He is quite grateful.

You know, speaking of my friends... I know I have mentioned many times that my conversation friends are awesome. And, really, that cannot be over-emphasized. Ever. They are amazing and I miss them all so much!!!!!!! I had such a great time talking with them and getting to know them! And through them I met other awesome people, like Jorge and Kemil and Anthony! Oh man!!! Seriously, these amazing people made such a huge differece in  my life!!

I love these ladies!!!!

On Wednesdsay, we took the day to explore Lima. We went to a cool museum, and then we took a walking tour of el centro, and at night we went to a pretty water fountain park!

On Thursday, we did something kind of crazy. We went to the ocean, got on a yaht, boated out into the wild waters of the Pacific Ocean to some islands that were overflowing with sea lions, and we put on life jackets and jumped into the FREEZING COLD WATER and SWAM WITH THE SEA LIONS!!!!! Yes. I'm telling the truth. It was crazy. They touched my feet with their whiskers. I was terrified. And quite cold. But it was cool.

When we got back from swimming with sea lions, I went to a restaurant to eat with Lauren, Fuller, and Sydney. I ordered four cheese lasagna. I was expecting something with meat, pasta, tomato sauce, and cheese. But what I got was... a bowl full of cheese. Just cheese. It was crazy! There was a tiny layer of pasta... but I couldn't taste it with all of the cheese. Some of you know that I absolutely LOVE cheese, but.... I couldn't even eat all of this. IT WAS SO CHEESY!!!!

On Thurdsay evening, I went the the airport with Fuller, Lauren, and Sydney because Sydney's flight left a day earlier than the rest of us. We waited there for a few hours with her, and our dear friend Ana Flavia came!!! Her family lives in Lima, so we got to see her one more time before leaving the country!!! It was great to see her! We sat around and played card games for a while.

On Friday morning, we packed up our stuff and eventually made our way to the airport to begin our journey home. As we were walking around Lima on Friday, ordering some food at restaurants and getting some snacks to eat at the airport, I once again realized how easy and natural it was to be speaking in Spanish. I easily ordered with out thinking, and I remembered how, at the beginning of my time in Peru, that would have been slightly terrifying! When I first arrived, it was scary to have to talk without being able to first prepare what I was going to say. But now...  I realized that I wasn't really thinking at all! The words just came. It was cool to see how much we have improved over four short months.

A couple times, while we were in Lima, we had conference calls with Jorge, Kemil, and Anthony. Those were super super fun!!! We talked a bit and laughed a lot on these 8 to 10 person phone calls. Oh man, they were great!!!


Futbol and friends

Today was my first full day back in the States. And..... I tried to talk with the guy at the ice cream place in Spanish without realizing it. I went out to ice cream TWICE in ONE day! What a day! Thank you Ann and Lauren!!! I've also caught myself starting to give kisses on the cheek as greetings. But, that isn't quite how people greet each other here in the States. I think so far I have managed to stop myself before doing that. But it's only a matter of time before I let it slip accidentally. So, if I kiss you on the cheek as a greeting, just go with it!

Now I'm going to write about last Sunday. That day was awesome awesome!! After church in the morning, I spent some time with Sydney. We were both having a hard time, not wanting to leave Arequipa. We had a really good conversation in the park, prayed a while, and shed some tears. Sydney has been such a blessing. She's awesome. THANK YOU GOD FOR SYDNEY!!! 

Then, in the afternoon, we played soccer. This was the world championship game, our last game. And it was great great great fun! We had 15 people come!

Here, we've got Sydney, Fuller, David, and Alonso!

And Jorge and Alex!

And some new friends, too!!

Playing soccer every week with these great people was one (of the many) awesome things about this semester. I'm going to miss soccer! So... hey, if anyone wants to play, please count me in!!!

After our game, we all went to the park down the street and sat in a circle on the grass. We talked, laughed, played cards, sang songs, and spent time together for hours. It was the best way that I could imagine spending my last night in Arequipa. It was a really special time. I feel so honored to know all of the great guys who were there that night with us, choosing to stay up all night with us because it was our last night in Arequipa. The friendships that we have made with them really blow my mind. Even though they knew that we would be leaving, they did not hold back. They offered friendship to us completely unconditionally, and over the course of a short time, they became like brothers to me.

We all stayed up pretty late, spending time together, singing, and just being together. One thing that has hit me over and over about my friends and family in Peru is that they all seem to be very good at expressing themselves, whether it be through music or through words, they have shared their feelings and been very eloquent and intentional about telling me what our friendship means to them. Their words have meant so much to me and have taught me to value of really being open and vulnerable to other people.

I can't think of a better way to spend my last night in Arequipa. It was amazing.

On Monday, I packed all of my stuff, and I went to the university. On the way, I ran into Alonso!!! That was great! At the university, I got to talk with Anthony for a few minutes, and then I had one last conversation group with David. Those guys have been such a blessing to me this year... I am so glad that I got to spend some time with them on my last day in Arequipa.

God, You have blessed me so much. Every time I think of Arequipa, of my friends and brothers there.... oh man, God I can't do anything but thank You! Seriously, I don't know WHY You chose to bless me with all of those people. But, God, You did, and I thank You and I pray that You would help me to glorify You as I transition here back to life in the States. Help me, God, and I praise You!!!

DANCING!!!!

I think I've mentioned perhaps that the past week was absolutely and amazingly incredible! It was awesome, but I haven't written about it yet

On Saturday morning, I got to help mi familia decorate the Christmas tree!!

It's Andrea and Tita!

And after that, I went with Lauren, Ana, Jorge, Fuller, Adrianna, and Anthony to Kemil's house where Jorge taught us salsa! It was a super fun afternoon filled with dancing and laughing, and then in the evening we went to a discoteca all together. I was slightly reluctant about the whole discoteca thing... I had never been to a discoteca before (it's like a club), but they are very popular in Arequipa and our friends assured us that it would be fun and we would have a great time dancing. Trusting them, I agreed to go, and oh man oh man, I am SO GLAD I went! It was easily one of the best nights of the semester!!

We danced for many hours. We were all sweating profusely! I never would have guessed that we would have so much fun dancing!!! I'm pretty sure that we were laughing almost constantly, and it was super super fun!!

Here's the group! It's Alonso, Anthony, Fuller, Ana, Adriana, Lauren, Sydney, me, Kemil, and Jorge! These people are all great!!! Thank you, guys, for convincing us to go! Oh man, so much fun!!!

Sydney and I dancing!!! SO MUCH FUN!!!!!!

Lauren and Alonso!!!!

Anthony and Fuller!!!!!!!!! Look at how much fun we are having!!!

Adrianna and Kemil!!!!!!

Here I am with Jorge before we started dancing. This fellow is awesome! I'm so thankful for him! Over the past few months, he has become like a brother to me!!

It's Sydney and Ana and Lauren!!!! I love these ladies!! They have blessed me sooooooo much!

And here I am with Alonso, taking a dancing break. This guy is such a good friend!!! ALONSO, I MISS YOU!!!

God, thank You so much for that night!!! It was so much fun! Thank You that we had that experience, Lord. Thank You for fun times with friends. These people are great and I am so blessed to know them!!!!!!!!