Where in the world is Meghan Large?

When I woke up this morning, I had no idea where I was. It took me a full minute... was in Slovakia? Charlotte? Cary? Ohio? Asheville? And then, I remembered, "Oh yeah, I live in Peru now."

The city in which I am staying is Arequipa, in southern Peru. You can see it on this map.



Arequipa has about a million inhabitants - so it is the size of Charlotte. In fact, Charlotte and Arequipa are sister cities. Who knew?

In Arequipa, I live with a host family - a host mother (Mama Charito), and two host sisters (Pia who lives with us and another sister I haven't met yet because she studies at university in Lima, the captial of Peru). My host sister, Pia, is the same age as my own sister, Lauren. Pia speaks wonderful English - but after today, she and I are only going to talk to Spanish. My host mother speaks no English, and our conversations at the breakfast table are fabulous.

My work is in Alto Cayma, which is a suburb of sorts of Arequipa. I have just begun to get to know the people and the settlements of Alto Cayma. I am hoping to sit down this week and share with you pictures and descriptions of my first impression of this place. Stay tuned for much, much more.

"A ship in the harbor is safe, but that's not what ships are built for."

In three days, I am hopping on another plane and travelling across the world - again. This time, however, I will be heading southward instead of eastward. This is particularly exciting for me because it means that I am in the same time zone as my friends and family. Life --- particularly skype calls home ---- just got that much easier!

In the last three weeks, I have felt like I have been going round and round in a revolving door. I have visited New York City; Toledo, Ohio; and Cary, Taylorsville, Hickory and Asheville, NC. I have preached at two different churches, and I have had more lunch and dinner dates than I have ever had in my life. I have so enjoyed my time at home. It has been a blessing to see the faces of family and friends that I have missed over the last year. Time with you all is good for my soul : ). These last few weeks have been a whirlwind, but I wouldn't trade a second of them.

I am going to continue blogging about my adventures in Peru. The blog rules are still the same: what you read here is for your eyes only. Whatever you do, Shh! Don't tell mom.

Time to Get Goin'

I have two days until I am stateside and five days until I am home. My travel plans are as follows:

I leave for Bratislava on Saturday afternoon and arrive in the evening. I wake up with Heidi and Eric on Sunday morning and together we catch a bus from Bratislava to the Vienna airport. The three of us are on three different flights but we all leave between ten and eleven o’clock. My personal flight has me going further east to Warsaw before I finally head west. I arrive in NYC at 4pm on the 4th of July. I’m going to spend three days with Meredith, one of my best friends in the whole world. Then, finally, I fly from NYC to CLT on Wednesday, July 7th. I touchdown at 3pm and will be home by 4. I can’t wait to see you guys. Thank you so much for all the ways you have loved and cared for and supported me while I have been so far away. Your prayers and thoughts have meant the world to me.

Beginnings and Completions

The school year at EGT begins and ends with a church service. I remember the worship service at the beginning of the year. Everyone was in formal dress and met in front of Tisovec church. Students and parents were everywhere. I walked through this sea of faces, not recognizing one of them, and made my way down the aisle of this huge, cold church to sit in the designated “teacher” pew. I sat through a church service in a language that was as foreign to me as gibberish. And I was welcomed as a teacher-missionary into this school community with no idea of what the year would hold.

Our closing worship was on Wednesday. Again, everyone was in formal and met in front of Tisovec church. Students were everywhere, but this time as I walked through the crowd, I realized that I knew every student’s face. Not only could I call them by name, but I could ask them questions about the things that were going on in their lives and the things they had planned for summer holiday. I talked with so many students that it took me a while to find my way to the font set of pews. Just as in August, I sat through a church service in a language that I still don’t know. Yet as I was sitting, I watched my students and I was struck by the way these worship services bookend my school year and time in Slovakia. It seemed that nothing had really changed, and yet so much had. I have grown in confidence and in experience. And I have formed relationships with my neighbors and friends in Slovakia. While this year has certainly not been a walk in the park, I am thankful for both our first worship – where I knew nothing and no one , our last worship – where I realized that I had a place in this Tisovec community, and most of all, I am thankful for all the time in between.