Moving day

Morning prayer and meeting time.  We have had several days full of packing and preparing for our move.  Yesterday we did the majority of our packing, because the moving truck came today at 11AM.  We are all tired.  Despite the weariness that comes with all that a move entails, our team has been wonderful.  Great attitudes, hard working and willing to do whatever needs to be done.  I love these people!

We had lunch with several of our team members and our Spanish teachers, Julissa and Manolo.  Julissa had been doing classes with Chad for several weeks before Christmas.  We ate at our favorite neighborhood restaurant.

The moving truck.

We bought several of these HUGE bags to use for packing.  They are great!  Definitely on my "make sure to take back home when we are finished in Peru" list!

We had dinner with all the Extreme staff here in Arequipa.  We ate at a food court in a new shopping complex.  McDonald's recently opened, and they got alot of business from us tonight!  It was a great last meal to have in Arequipa. Puno is much smaller with no shopping complexes or food courts.

Thomas and Miss Trish with the dragon she bought him. Can you tell that he is making the dragon sound? :)  We have been with Trish and her husband Lindy from the beginning.  They are staying in Arequipa and are now Cluster Support for the 40/40's here.

So, we say goodbye to Arequipa and close the door on the second phase (missionary training) of our time here in Peru and head into the work phase.  We head to Puno with much anticipation!  There are so many unknowns, right down to where we are going to be living!  None of us have seen it.  Although we have been told it will be ready, we know from experience that we may arrive tomorrow morning at 8 to find a different scenario.  What a relief to know that God ALREADY knows what is ahead, and is guiding our path!

We wanted to be in Puno first thing in the morning so that we would have a full day to unpack and settle.  So, we are getting on a bus at 2AM, and will arrive tomorrow morning at 8.  Because we loaded up EVERYTHING today we needed a place to spend the afternoon and evening, so the Linnells (another couple that works with Extreme) have opened their home to us this evening, so we have a place to sit, relax and maybe even get a few hours of sleep before heading to the bus station!  We put the kids in the guest bed in their cozy new jammies and blankies.  Chad went into check on them about an hour and a half ago, and we haven't seen him since!  He has been doing an incredible job of organizing, direction and coordinating this move.  

Playing Nerts while we wait to go to the bus station.

I am going to find a piece of floor and a sleeping bag, and try to get a little sleep too.  It is going to be a BIG day tomorrow!