Well a lot has happened and I've not made good on my promise to write weekly. I've just now been in this country for two weeks and the time has flown! I came and Jose picked me up from the airport and took me to meet the family that I have been living with. A sweet Godly family I have been so blessed by their hospitality and patience with my ignorance of their language. It's been a joy to get to know Jose's family and the three days spent in Pucallpa were great but way too short. I so enjoyed meeting his grandparents aunts, uncles, and cousins as well as some of his friends. I started working at the hospital on the thirteenth and have enjoyed learning so much about how the neonatal units work here. I spent four days with the neonates all about 2 kilos or so mostly in incubators. The doctor is a sweet man who sings to the babies and cheers for the moms when they leave with their babies. Bottle-feeding is basically not an option here as they have signs everywhere saying breastfeeding is the best decision ever. There are a lot of things that are different. Friday I was moved to labor and delivery unit. There I learned that the father is only there for MAYBE a few minutes during the labor then is rushed out as to not contaminate the baby. The baby is then immediately given to the mom to feed then is taken to be weighed get shots and everything else. This is WAY different went together than what I saw in the united states. Oh I haven't seen the dads be allowed to be with the mom or baby again until they leave the hospital. This may not be true but they are always in the waiting room and I never see them together. Any way just different ways to do things.
I've enjoyed getting to know the family I'm living with and now that Jose is gone I believe my Spanish might be improving more quickly but probably not. The language is pretty hard for me and I am impatient feeling like I should know a lot more by now. Jose's family and the family I live with have kept me busy the past two days Sunday morning I spent with Jose's dad and we went to church together and hung out until his sister Nerea came and we went to their aunt Patricia's house and had so much food and met that family. Then went for a walk all around the plaza to see some cool parts of Lima (photos on facebook).
It's been a really good thing to work at the hospital and see how things are done here. Also to learn more about the culture. It has been such a pleasure to see different churches and bodies of believers here. To worship the same God in different languages as brothers and sisters is beautiful. Please continue to pray for my language learning as I often don't understand what is being said until much later (especially at the hospital). That's the last two weeks in a nutshell and tons of run-on sentences I'm sure.
