#2 Frist week of classes completed!

I have been in Cuzco for 6 days now and it feels like home away from home. My family is absolutely amazing and it keeps growing! Whittany’s cousin is coming to visit tomorrow so it will be mama, papi, Jossy, Whinnie, Renato, Abbe, whit’s cuz Kindsey, and myself all in one house! Cristes is always over with Renato; especially at night when we have coca de leche (similar to hot chocolate!) Martha(mama) never repeats any food and so far, I have loved every single thing! Usually for breakfast, we have a glass of fresh juiced fruit juice a long with tea and eggs or la ensalada de fruitas, or toast with jam (mermalada). Wow, it is so hard for me to type in English right now since I am usually thinking in spanish :p. I have only been here for 5 days and I feel like my Spanish is improving already! Awesome!!!

Classes started on Monday and the way that it works is that I take one class every three weeks for three credits each. The class I will be taking for the first three weeks is Hispanic cultura y civilizacion. There is only one other student, Kelsey, in my class with me. I love it so much because it’s like private tutoring!

Entonces….. it is amazing what happens when one asks God for opportunities in the morning before the day starts. ;) yesterday(Tuesday) for our 4^th and final hour of class for the day our professora asked us if we wanted to keep studying or work on conversational Spanish. Kels and I both responded with conversational! Yaya! For the next hour, we were able to talk about Christianity and faith and hope in Jesus Christ with our professor…. En Espanol!!!! :D! It was amazing and since yesterday I found my first Christian friend down hereJ we are going to look for a church to go to these next couple weeks!:) then today kels was sick so for the second session it was just the professor and myself. For an hour in a half today we just talked in Spanish and it was amazing! We talked about each other’s family, home, relationships, culture differences between Peru and the U.S., and…. Jesus! Yet again, God was able to use me with a language I am just starting to really understand and speakJ Praise the Lord.

Volunteering starts this next Monday-Friday 4pm-6pm. I will be volunteering for a program called “las madrinas”. Las Madrinas most closely translated stands for “the mothers”. During my volunteer I will be working with orphaned and abandoned ninas from the ages of 5-17. Fortunately enough the academic and volunteer programs partner with each other so students can get the most out of their experience while here in Cuzco. For the next two weeks I will have classes in the morning from 8:30-10:30 and 11-1,then home for lunch with the family, then off to San Pedro church to be with the kids from 4-6 everyday. No puedo esperar!(I can’t wait!!!) I am hoping to find a cheap guitar so I can play and sing with the kids; I have been told its one of their favorite activitiesJ mostly I will be helping with homework and teaching basic and fundamental skills concerning self health and honestly, just loving these ninetas!

A few nights ago I taught my family how to play the card game “spoons”…. We play it every night now! Haha its so much fun! I’m so glad it’s the weekend, I can finally catch up on reading, sleep, and devo time!!!:D!!! yayy Jesus!!! I know that tonight a bunch of us are going to go out and listen to some bands play and tomorrow…. My first disco! I think… we will see if we end up going ;) my family LOVES to dance, and well…. I mean come on… so do I! yahoo!!! Sunday I am going white water rafting con mi escuela down one of the biggest rios in Peru! It will be a bit chilly, but I am pumped! :p