It's official

New Year's Eve marked the day that I met my 80% goal. We now have $12,072. After realizing that delaying my trip from the beginning of January to the end meant less money needed, we looked over my budget again. I then only needed $14,812 rather than the original $15,900. What a blessing that we had $1,100 less to raise. Only $2,740 left to raise now. Still a lot but when you look at how much we've raised already, it doesn't seem as scary. We have faith that God will provide one way or another. Reaching 80% means that I can officially buy my plane ticket so my mom and I were ecstatic. Dave and Stacy, who have been helping me along with this process at EMM are now looking for a flight leaving January 21st and arriving in Lima, Peru on January 22nd, along with my future roommate and co-worker, Bethany Geib. There we'll be staying in the capital until the afternoon of the 24th with my other future roommate/co-worker, Carrie Kleinschmidt, who has been living in Cusco for a year now. From there, we'll fly to Cusco, the main city of where we'll be living.

It's finally becoming more real to me and I'm starting to make to-do lists, packing lists, and Spanish word lists. I found an Iglesia Menonita (Mennonite church) just down the road from me and I decided to check it out this past Sunday. It's a small church and very welcoming. They had a bible study for the youth that I joined in before church and I met 4 'jovenes' (youths) ranging from 17 to 27 in age. The church service was all in Spanish but one of the 'jovenes' translated for me. They invited me to the church's New Year's Eve party and I gladly obliged. They were excited to see me actually show up and they were so hospitable. In fact, they asked me if I wanted something, I'd say "No gracias" and they'd give it to me anyway. It happened many times and so I'm assuming this is how it will be in Peru. It's been really nice to get a sneak peak of the culture and what it's like to sit in a room where everyone speaks a different language than you. I just sit there and smile half of the time. The other half they're translating for me. I've also been forcing as much Spanish in my head as possible from Rosetta Stone, words my new friends teach me, as well as words from a Spanish devotional the pastor blessed me with. It's becoming a bit easier to soak in the words or to spit them out as I'm having a Spanish conversation with myself.

There's a going away party on Sunday the 20th if you're free to come. Invitations were sent out through email by my mom so if you didn't get an invitation and you're reading this, you're still invited. My mom just didn't have your address. Give me a call and I'll give you directions. It's an open house that starts at 2pm.

Praises
My budget became $1,100 less.
I reached 80%.
I've had a lot of time and an open mind to learn a lot of Spanish in the past week.
I met some really awesome people at the Iglesia Menonita who have helped me see what it's like to be surrounded by Spanish speakers.
I've had some really good time with family and friends before I leave in less than 3 weeks

Prayers
God would continue to loosen my tongue and keep my brain absorbent to learn Spanish
I would grow closer to God and learn to rely on Him for this next year
I'd have motivation to exercise because it will make acclimation easier
Good time with family and friends before I leave
Resiliency- that I can deal with transitions well