My friend Kayla sent me a package… I think I mentioned this in the past post too. Well, she sent me coffee and I forgot that my friend Ashley had given me a Starbucks personal French Press. This was the whole reason Kayla sent me coffee too! Well, I’ve been using it like no one’s business. Here’s a glimpse of my ecstasy:
It’s beautiful I know… I weep every time.
On with the serious news though! We are in the middle of a new class called… Transcultural Relationships and Communication. We’ve been talking about communication and what it means and also how God communicates with us and why it’s important to communicate transculturally. So far, class has been interesting… but today really touched my heart in a special way.
There are some below the surface things that have happened, but to save you the trouble I’ll get to the point. Cristobal was emphasizing how important it is that we spend a lot of time together with our 40/40 partner… and to be honest, when he was talking I was having an internal battle. I have not been spending enough time with my partner and I’ve been in denial and stuck in Satan’s lies about the whole matter. I have had this looming grudge over him for no reason that I could clearly identify. Towards the end of class I realized how horribly wrong I had been and that I needed to change some of my mindsets. Here are some lies I was trapped in:
- We are from two different cultures… I can’t relate to him.
- My American friends can understand me better
- He’s too legalistic
- He is really awkward
- I JUST CAN’T RELATE WITH HIM!
I didn’t make this list until now, and the truth is I really didn’t even know these were lies that I had circulating in my head, they were more like feelings. Now that I have them in front of me it’s rather ridiculous to think this is where I was. I mean, this is one of the things I was most excited for… learning about other cultures!
After class Cristobal (I failed to mention that he is our professor for the class) told us that we should all talk with our partners. There is always something to resolve, he said… So, after class I told Joel that I wanted to talk. We went to the roof of Zamacola and I opened up to him. I was honest and told him that when Cristobal was saying that we needed to be with our partners more that I didn’t want to hang out with him. I told him that when I was preparing to meet him that I was excited to meet him and have the great friendship, but what I found was a person from a very different culture. From our conversation I realized that I had prejudged him. A lot of these Peruvian guys are very legalistic and because he hung with them I put him in that same slot. I’ll talk about legalism another time.
It was great to talk to him so openly. I feel like we made a step in the right decision. I told him that I want to get to know him more now and that I didn’t want to have to put aside a time specifically to talk… I wanted this relationship to be natural and authentic, nothing superficial.
Now, I’m on the right track again! Kudos for Christ! He loves to work things out. I should have known. Other exciting news? I found measuring spoons aaaaand cups! Can you believe it?! I was utterly shocked and have found a piece of my domestic soul in Peru, finally. We are still not in our new home, we are expecting and hoping to move in by the first of October (a whole two weeks behind schedule).
Also, and I’ll leave you with this, you will note that along the top right hand side of my blog there is a Link that says, “Needs in Peru.” This portion of my blog is where my supporters/readers/family/friends can check out my needs while I’m here in Peru, whether it be clothing or snacks… not that snacks are a “need” but there are things that are hard to find in Peru and well… you should just click on the link there and it will explain further!
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