Here she is again

One of my good friend's sisters demanded that I post more pictures of Reina. So these are for you, Amanda! =) I guess sitting in a frisbee and chewing on a bottle lid are fun things to do. Soon I'll have to post a picture of her with Rufus, the dog I am dog-sitting for a month. Reina likes to try to bite Rufus's "beard", and everytime they've been playing, Reina's entire face is soaking wet. I'm not exactly sure what Rufus is doing to her. But they have fun, and she hasn't gotten hurt yet!

Traveling back and forth between the Shearers' house and my house every day has made me a pro-combi rider. I've been taking this crowded, van like public transportation twice a day for a week. When I say to someone "I'm going to the Shearers house now" it doesn't mean I'm just going to hop in a car and be there in a few minutes. What it really means is that I will walk 8 mintues to the street I need to get a combi. Then I wait for the right combi to come along. If I'm not sure about one, I ask, then I jump in and it takes off before both of my feet are even in the vehicle it seems. There are lots of stops to let people off and new people on, so after about 25-30 minutes of riding it is time to tell the guy who stands by the door and collects money, "baja" Then I cross a busy street and have about an 8 minute walk through construction (sometimes leaping over huge holes in the ground), staring people, stray dogs, and begging people.

A couple of days ago Allison and I talked about how us single girls go all over Lima by ourselves. Married people probably don't think a thing about it b/c so much of the time they have a spouse or kid to go places. They have not experienced learning everything alone (unless they happened to spend 2 years overseas before getting married). It's so much easier to try things when someone else is with you. What one person is weak in, another is sometimes strong. My problem in going all over the place by myself is that I am terrible with directions! My family and some friends know that if I say to go left, they better go right.
But then I admitted to Allison that if I did have someone else with me all the time- a husband or whatever, I think I would rely on him, whereas now I am forced to rely on God in everything. I have opportunities to learn so much more about God and about independence by being a young, single missionary than any married person who hasn't experienced this alone could ever learn. For that I am thankful.

1 John 5:14 This is the confidence which we have before Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us.