Yesterday afternoon we had our first and very successful neighborhood parillada (BBQ)! We have a great group of neighbors and definitely enjoyed their company. In attendance were two other American SAM missionaries, an IMB missionary family from Rock Hill of all places, a German couple, a German/Chilean couple and their precious twins, and a German/Peruvian couple with their two cuties. I love hearing all these kids speak German!

We're hoping that this is the first of others. In addition to good company, the pot luck sides were tasty! We've always wanted to be able to share more of our lives with the people living closest to us, and I think gatherings like this will definitely open doors. Tim and one of our German neighbors are getting together to play chess this afternoon.

By the way, it's kind of interesting how much affinity we feel with some of these neighbors. I think there's something about all being foreigners in a world that isn't our own. And in all fairness, part of it might come from having a similar education and being from wealthier circles (pretty much any foreigner is wealthy in Peru). As far as shared experiences go, Tim ended up talking to one guy yesterday about walking the Camino de Santiago in Spain. We did just a few days years ago, but this neighbor has walked the whole thing.