That's it. I'm conviced...

Everyone should learn to speak a second language.  Such an amazing challenge for the mind and soul.  I've been acquiring quite the backbone.  Not only does one have to memorize a bunch of new words, but the order in which the words go in just to construct a simple sentence is just, loco!  If you haven't tried, I highly recommend it. It'll change your life.
Being a mute can cause one to be freakishly reflective.  As I am constantly wracking my brain, trying to form sentences these days, I begin to wonder if the thing I was going to say is even worth communicating.  (And then of course there's the fact that the conversation has already taken three turns and is now in a completely different neighborhood from when I started to form this now useless contribution.)  It's also a bit difficult to listen and learn while thinking so hard.  Even in English, I have this great habit of only hearing about half of what is said and then remembering only about a third of that.  You know how mothers do when children say "mom! mom! mom! mom!"  They've subconsciously trained their ears to completely ignore it.  Well that's exactly what I do with incomprehensible jargon.  Really not an option when you're trying to learn an entire language in just three months.  It's painfully challenging to maintain attention to conversations that only kind of make sense, some of the time.  However, I do have to admit how flattering it is when the taxistas here tell me "Usted habla Español muy bien!" 
       Needless to say,  I have a whole new respect for the bilingual population.  We always gave my father (who didn't learn English until moving to the US from Lebanon at age 30 or so) a hard time and would have no patience for him when he didn't understand as I would mumble something rapidly, with my back to him, or better yet from another room.  Sorry dad.  And is it odd to hate your own accent?  Can't role an 'r' to save my life without feeling like a huge dork.  I have a darling nephew with the cutest speech impediment.  He too would often rather just not speak much of the time.  I feel you kiddo.

Goodbye Hello Goodbye Hello

My time here is flying by.  I've already said goodbye to dozens of missionaries who have finished their Spanish classes here and are now off working in far away places.  Here's a group shot of one of the many going away parties we've had.

It's truly amazing to be able to spark up an immediate friendship with people from completely different cultures and backgrounds simply based on our common ground that we love and honor the Lord Jesus.  I just fared well to a gal from Germany yesterday who I only knew for a week, but it honestly felt like we went back at least a few months.  It is a bit sad to see people go who I probably won't ever see again in this present life, but we do anticipate a great reunion in the life to come and therefore remain cheerful.  And while it's hard when they leave, there are always new people coming that I get the pleasure of getting to know which makes life here that much richer.  Soon, I'll get to meet a whole new crop of people in Trujillo, where the community will be a tad more stable, I think.  Check out Peru Mission's news letter if you like.  It includes a little tid bit about the clinic I will be working in.