A few weeks ago I left my house a little after 8 to go meet a girl I had met to help her with her English. We were to meet at 8:30 at the park to read through some children’s books I had brought and work on conversation. At 9:15 she still hadn’t shown up, so I left.
While waiting on her at that park, children showed up for their PE class from the school next door. Their class consisted of learning some of the traditional Peruvian dances and I texted Jeremy, “I can’t wait for Adileen to learn these dances!”
We have been in Peru for 2 years now! The past 2 years have flown by! It really seems like time moves faster here. Two years ago we said goodbye to family and friends, got on an airplane and moved to Arequipa as a family of 2. It took months for me to learn the language, figure out where was the best place to go grocery shopping, where to go for certain imported products, to make friends, meet neighbors, and I think it has taken the whole two years to make it feel like home.
But you know what, it feels like home now. And after two years there is another Daggett in the world, we have true friendships, we know our neighbors, we love our neighborhood, our church family here has become family, we have become regulars at several restaurants and juice stands where they know our order before we order, and we enjoy life here.
Some days life is very enjoyable and I am so happy to be where I am and happy to be raising Adileen here so she can one day do a Peruvian dance. Some days we get to spend all day with our neighbors and feel like we are really a part of this community. Some days people come right out and ask us why we are here and we get to share how Jesus died for us and his kingdom is breaking through right now and because we believe this we have moved away from family and friends to be a part of it here in Arequipa.
Other days I am left at a park waiting for someone to show up and when she doesn’t it feels like a wasted morning. Other days I feel like all I do is change diapers. Other days it takes 3 hours to go grocery shopping because we use public transportation and Adileen makes everything a little bit harder to get done. But that’s all part of life here. We’re learning how to use the time left waiting in the park to pray for Blanca, the girl that was supposed to meet me there. And to recognize that even changing diapers is a part of the Kingdom. And that we use public transportation because that’s what the majority of Peruvians use and by doing so we can relate to them.
God was present here in Arequipa way before we got here and he is constantly showing us that and showing us how we can join him in his mission during out time here in Arequipa.
