My little English conversation group is growing! We meet every Thursday at 6 at Cocofruit, which is probably on my top 10 places I'll miss in Pucallpa. They serve amazing fresh juices and smoothies. This week I had a passion fruit/ pineapple smoothie. Yum! My other favorites are guanabana juice and cantaloupe juice.
The two new SAM Academy teachers came along, and we met my friends Evelyn and Elvira there. The third woman, Yvette, is gone on vacation, but we had two new people show interest this week. One is a niece of a friend of mine, who wants to get a job as a flight attendant and needs to practice her English more. Another is the owner of Cocofruit! We invited her to come sit down and chat with us next week.
I've started attending the Mil Palmeras (my church) women's breakfast on Thursday mornings. There are maybe 15-20 women who attend, some regular members and others dropping in to check it out. One person gives a small lesson from the Bible and we share a time of food and fellowship. I'm hoping to invite my (Chilean) neighbor next week. She's not a church-goer, but I think it could be a good way for her to connect with other women in Pucallpa.
Yesterday Amy, Olga and I got together to start the Beth Moore Esther study. I'm pretty excited about Esther but probably more excited to walk through the book with these friends every Friday morning. I think I could really get the hang of this stay-at-home-mom thing. Too bad I don't have kids yet and am about to move back into the 9 to 5 in Charlotte!
Even though it was a week and a half ago, I want to mention what a sweet get-together the SAM (and other) missionary women had at our women's prayer meeting. We got to hear from the four newest women about how they ended up here, and I for one was hugely encouraged by their stories. There's something about sharing our lives that spurs me on to pursue God more. It was definitely a reminder to me that even if I think I like holing up as a hermit, I have to push myself to get out there and drink in the riches of relationship.
