Trabajadora del Campo

And the beat goes on...

Ah!  Another year has come and gone and I am another year older.  I shall not dwell on it too much as it happens the the best of us.  Actually this year's birthday was more "tranquilo" than others, but treasured none the less.  For one, I was not sick.  Secondly, I felt incredibly loved by the bombardment of birthday greetings and well wishes from all of you.  Thirdly I had 2 Birthday cakes (one of them chocolate even) and fourthly I had the joy of spending time with friends here in Pucallpa.    I don't have a copy of the pictures from my birthday, so I will leave you a recent one from Machu Picchu (many more pictures from my vacation will be coming soon...hopefully this week).  Here's to my last year of being 20 something!

A Poem

No Coward Soul is Mine
By Emily Bronte

No coward soul is mine,
No trembler in the world's storm-troubled sphere:
I see Heaven's glories shine,
And Faith shines equal, arming me from Fear.

O God within my breast,
Almighty, ever-present Deity!
Life, that in me has rest,
As I, undying Life, have power in Thee!.

Vain are the thousand creeds
That move men's hearts: unutterably vain;
Worthless as withered weeds,
Or idlest froth amid the boundless main,

To waken doubt in one
Holding so fast by Thy infinity,
So surely anchored on
The steadfast rock of Immortality.

With wide-embracing love
Thy Spirit animates eternal years,
Pervades and broods above,
Changes, sustains, dissolves, creates, and rears.

Though earth and moon were gone,
And suns and universes ceased to be,
And Thou wert left alone,
Every existence would exist in Thee.

There is not room for Death,
Nor atom that his might could render void:
Thou -Thou art Being and Breath,
And what Thou art may never be destroyed.

Family

My family is, well, my family.  We are not super in your face close, but we know that each of us is there for the other.  So when one departs, for a short time or forever, it leaves a hole.  Last night my dear grandma Dorothy died.  The Cohen Clan now holds one member less, than before.  I have to say that it sucks to be so far from "home" and unable to be there for my family.  So I am trying, instead of focusing on her not being here on earth, to focus on the fact she is now pain free,  free of sickness and  in a new body that Jesus has given her.  Below is the Cohen Clan (plus 3 of my grandma's sisters) at my going away to Peru party my family had over a year ago.  I will miss her.

(My grandma is the cute white haired woman on the right sitting behind me).

You know you are in Peru when

while traveling and listening to the radio you hear Creedence Clearwater Revival's song Bad Moon Rising as an instrumental with pan pipes.
¡Viva Perú!

Rain drops keep falling on my head...

Nope, crying not for me.  Actually I am quite pleased it is raining.  I think I must be one of those rare people that gets depressed if there is too much sun.  I relish the dark clouds that roll in and cover the sky, blocking out that golden orb.  The gentle rain to the pounding and rumbling of a thunder storm bring relief to my soul.  Today is such a day.  On the way to work, I hitched a ride with a friend on the back of a moto.  Within a kilometer of my house we stopped to cover ourselves with ponchos and rain jackets.  Although they helped, it did not take long for the rain to soak the bottom halves of our legs on our 3 kilometer trip to the office.  For the next 2 hours the rain fell heavily and the thunder grumbled, and I wished I was at home curled up with a book and a cup of coffee.  sigh Así es la vida aquí.
Alas I could not be home during this particular rainstorm, yet I have had the pleasure of others.  Instead I finished my newsletter!!  You can now read it, hot off the press!  Just look to the right hand side bar and click on February/March 2008. 
For now I leave you with this:

 

FH changes their logo

FH is in the midst of streamlining their vision internationally.  A part of this process was to pick out a new logo and "TaDa" here it is.  I am not sure is I love it, but it defiantly is more modern and sleek looking, which is cool.  I kinda wanted them to choose something without the fish and wheat symbol since most of our work in in development and not necessarily handing out food, which many assume from our organization's name and symbol.  But hey, I'm up for change and the possibilities it can hold.

On the prowl

Well I finally got around to taking some recent pics of my cat Persea a.k.a. "Percy."  She continues to idolize me (by my side at all times when I am home) and cannot seem to understand that her meowing does not gain her any points (she meows/cries constantly, unless she can find a spot in your lap or has fresh food in her bowl).  Several of the children in my neighborhood have taken a fancy with her and she plays along with them.  Here favorite game being "Run away."  We while away the time together, either watching a movie together or I chase her through the house in an attempt to diminish her energy.   Lately she has created a new game where she hides and then pops out of no-where to attack my feet or legs.  Not so bad if I am wearing pants, awful when I am wearing shorts.  Thankfully she usually takes that into consideration.
Here are a few shots of her outside my house:

Changes in my home church: Covenant Presbyterian Church, Fort Myers, Florida

Several of you have heard that my church is in the midst of some big changes and transitions.  Because I am in Peru, I do not have immediate contact with all the going ons.  My wonderful friends and fellow members of the church have been keeping me updated on the proceedings.  As of yesterday the congregation had a vote of 76% in favor of leaving PC(USA).  What this means exactly now in terms of how the church proceeds is still unclear to me. 

Some friends of mine have a blog in which they have been posting updated information on occasion (this has been really helpful to me to understand the events so far).  Please feel free to check it out since, as you can tell from my post, I do not have a lot of information to pass on besides the vote count.

I thank you all for your prayers and words of support.  Continue to pray that God's wisdom will superceed all and that in all ways we seek Him.

What do you have with...

a burning scarecrow made from your worn-out, old clothes (called a muñeco)
bright yellow undergarments
yellow balloons
yellow flowers (yeah, basically everything is yellow, signifying good luck)
12 grapes (eaten 5 minutes before midnight;  each one  representing a wish for the new year)
homemade fireworks (as well as your common roman candles and other assortment of noise and light makers)
champagne
and full dinner at midnight
___________________________________________

A New Year in Pucallpa, Peru

¡FELIZ AÑO NUEVO A TODOS!

A Bird's Eye View

December 23, 2007
Para sailing off the cliffs of Lima.  Not much more I need to say than, "¡Increíble!"