Catching up from a busy month!

Since it has been over a month since I gave an update, I have lots to share, but the first bit of news is that Eden, Amanda, and I did finally name our kitty! Her name is Espie, short for esperanza ("hope"). We are also really excited because God answered our prayers about finding a place to live next year. Since we are currently living in the house of a missionary family who is just on furlough in the States, they will be returning in June so we need to move out. But one of the families from our school is going back to the States this upcoming year, so we will be moving into their house. It is such a blessing because it's a great house and they are a wonderful family to be working with. We will also be temporarily adopting their pets! We've decided to keep their boxer and their fish while they're gone, so I think we can officially consider each other family now that we will have 3 pets in our house :)

Other things that have been going on this past month... I (and the students) survived science fair! It was pretty stressful leading up to the event, but the day was actually pretty fun and went really smoothly. The kids did a great job and all went well, so I would say it was a success! Here are some pictures of the day and a few of their projects, some of which were really impressive... I loved it, being the science nerd that I am. 

Jens and I looking all official before Science Fair!

It has been a pretty busy month overall, and we just started our last quarter of the year, which is crazy. The time is flying now and there really is very little time left until I come home for a month break at the end of June. The Lord also blessed me with providing a fairly cheap ticket home for a brief weekend trip to see one of my closest friends, Joy, get married. Joy and I have been really close since my freshman year at Penn State, and her and Andrew have been dating for over 4 years now, so it is such a blessing to be able to go and be apart of her big day! It will be a crazy weekend.. getting in Friday May 15th and leaving Tuesday to come back, with a trip to Virginia for the wedding in between, but it will be worth it. I can't wait!

Several weeks ago at school it was Spiritual Emphasis Week. This was an entire week where we only had classes in the morning and the afternoon was a special time to specifically focus on teaching our students more about the Lord and giving them chances to discuss and interact more with what they were being taught. Our entire staff was incredibly blessed to have a whole team from Tennessee come to minister to us by running that week. They had a ton of stuff planned... chapels with worship and a lesson, activities, discussion groups, and special seminars during the evenings for staff and parents. It was such an amazing week for everyone involved. I must say, it is absolutely true that Southerners are some of the most warm-hearted people you can ever meet. I just pray that some of the bonds that were formed that week between the team members and our students would be used in the hearts of our students, especially those who don't know the Lord or understand what it means to be a Christian. I was also personally blessed by one of the men who came... Oscar, or "Big O" as he liked to be called. He used to be a science teacher for 12 years and so he sat in on a lot of my classes and was able to help me, encourage me, and give me really helpful feedback. He even dissected a frog with me! He was seriously such a blessing to me because one thing I really miss here is not having an experienced science teacher to go to when I have questions. So God was so faithful in bringing "Big O" to Peru for that week. Here he is and then some of the other team members.

I think this picture calls for a bit of an explanation... It was "Twin Day" and although you cannot see my twins here, you just have to trust me that they were also dressed like they didn't make it out of the 80's! And Amanda was twins with another teacher Jessica, and they dressed up in the students' uniforms... clearly our love for our students is shown in how ridiculous we allow ourselves to look. 

I also just got back this afternoon from visiting Hannah's Hope, the orphanage down in Pucusana (hour south of Lima), with several other teachers for the day just to help out with painting and other things they needed done. It was a great day and it was really fun to be back there. I am currently planning another service / outreach trip for our 7-12th grade students for May 14th to go back to Hannah's to serve in any way they need us to. We finally got the date on the calendar, and now it is time to start planning, so please pray for me as I seek the Lord with what we should do for this trip.

Meet ... our No-Name Kitty :)

Our precious new addition to our lovely home in Peru :) Could there be a more perfect time to use my token phrase (that my roommates just love so much)?? 

She is soo stinkin' cute! 

Last Sunday Eden, Amanda, and I got our adorable kitten, who still has yet to have an official name.. for now, kitty, or gatita (little cat). We have come up with quite a few but are struggling to settle on a specific one. Any suggestions are welcomed. We have been trying to give her a spanish name, which we had for a few days until one of our Peruvian students revealed that we didn't actually want to call our adorable kitten by that name based on its meaning here in Peru, haha. Yes, the joys of living overseas and not knowing the meanings of everything we say :) Humbling, as always! But she is soo cute and has brought so much fun to our house. However, I will admit that being woken up at 4am the first few mornings because she was ready to pounce on my bed and play got a little bit old. 

Hopefully Noel back in PA won't see these pictures and get jealous!

Assisting me in my lesson planning...

Other than our new kitty, the past two weeks or so have been pretty busy here, and quite honestly this past week was pretty tough for me, in my motivation and ability to teach and also in my own spiritual and emotional life. I am thankful for the weekends to have a chance to rest, be refreshed, and be filled up by the Lord so that I can be ready for another week. This might sound ridiculous, but I am a little nervous for this next month because, by default, I am in charge of science fair this year, which is in 2 weeks. Now, in order to understand my anxiety and stress over this event you need to understand that over the past several years this has become a huge deal for about 4th through 11th grade. Thankfully, I have 1 other teacher who was willing to help me out this year, but this has been something that everyone stressed out over each year, including students, teachers, and parents. So this lovely job has now been passed on to me, whether I like it or not, and even though I have never myself had to completely my own science fair project :) So I am doing everything I possibly can to tone it down a bit this year so everyone involved doesn't lose sleep over it, but it is still a rather large task I've been given. Needless to say, my blogging this month might be lacking a bit as I try to juggle some additional responsibilities.. so please be patient with me and just pray for my level of peace this month!

Well, I have been wanting to show pictures of what I had the chance to do last weekend. We had a long weekend specifically for the high school retreat, so a bunch of 9th-12th grade students and quite a few teachers traveled about 2 hours south of Lima for the weekend to Kuwai, which is the 1st place I really traveled in my first month here. If you remember my pictures, it was the beach where we hiked up the big cliff. So we went there from Thursday to Saturday afternoon for this retreat. I always remembered loving youth group retreats when I was younger, but it was a little odd to realize I was on the other side of it this time. (Am I really old enough for that??) But regardless, it was great. Any chance I get to be with my students outside of the classroom is such a blessing, because that's when I really get to know them and they really get to know me, and relationships grow. It was nice and hot for those few days and we had both the ocean and a pool right there, so free time usually involved some sort of swimming, getting thrown in the pool, or just having buckets of water dumped on you :) We had several sessions with the kids for worship and a speaker, and some small groups for them to go to learn more about different topics, like prayer, relationships, or how to know God's will for your life. I think this was really good for them honestly. Even though we have Bible class at our school, those deeper conversations tend not to happen as much in the classroom. 

About halfway through the weekend, I began to realize just how the Lord is working through our school to plant seeds in our students who we know don't know Christ. Since the retreat was optional, most of our students who came are believers, but there were a few there who are not. We were able to see them really asking important questions about God and Christianity and it just reminded me how right in our small little school, there is a spiritual battle over the souls of these teenagers. God is absolutely working in their hearts and causing them to think and ask questions, which is awesome. So it really was a reminder to me that I need to be praying every single day for those students who don't know Christ. We never know how long our students will be at our school since they come and go so frequently, so it is so important to be planting those seeds and showing them the love of Christ every day.

Well, here are some pictures of the weekend, mostly of the games we played with the kids. 

Everyone on their tiny little carpet... having to flip the entire sheet over without stepping off.. quite entertaining I must say 

Notice them stacked 2 high...

but don't be fooled... it wasn't without pain

Love the beautiful sunsets on the beach...

On Friday night, we tortured the kids by making them perform their own little "American Idol" or something of the sort. One of the benefits of being a teacher :) They complained the whole time until it came to actually performing their songs, which was hilarious and I think even they would admit was pretty fun. This is definitely when we get to see their true personalities come out!

Probably one of the best parts of this was the teacher "judges", which included Eden. For any of you who read herblog, you are quite familiar with her witty comments. One of her classics, "it was so hip, my grandmother broke it" was a pretty big hit with all of us, especially the kids... oh Eden.

And the night wouldn't be complete without the teachers embarrassing themselves, of course

Our history teacher Kyle and I with 1 of our 10th graders Angela (left) and 1 of our 9th graders Laura... both of these girls never cease to amaze me. I can't wait to see what the Lord will do with their gifts and their hearts for Him.

So overall, it was a weekend full of blessings and growth. I am really thankful for those opportunities we have here at our school. It definitely puts things in perspective and reminds me of why I am here... to minister, love, teach, and encourage these teenagers. God definitely does bless us when we follow His will.

And lastly, I thought you might enjoy seeing my students in action... and embarrassing themselves... so you can get a taste of the fun I have with them!

Retreat Video 1 from Lauren McNally on Vimeo.

Back in the swing of things..

I know it appears as though I disappeared when Erin and my parents left Lima, but I am still here and finally getting settled back into my routine with school, church, and my friends here. It has been a pretty uneventful few weeks since my family left, but the first 2 weeks of school have gone pretty well, even though it has actually felt much longer than that. I am finding that this semester is going much better than the last.. it's amazing how just a few months of experience have made me so much more comfortable with my students and in my classes. But my prayer for this semester is just that my focus would be aligned with the Lord's and that I would be led by the Spirit as I get up in front of each class each day. I pray that I wouldn't miss any opportunities He places in front of me to minister or to spread His light and His joy to those kids. I am finding that the more time that goes by here, the more I realize that He did not call me here because I am some great science teacher, haha.. yea, it definitely can't be that. His calling is much greater than that and as I allow Him to change my heart and my way of thinking, I begin to see that the academic part of my teaching is such a small part of why I am here. I just pray that I can live up that calling! The Lord is so gracious though to remind me that all I need to do is humble myself, remain in Him, and seek His face, and He will do the work through me. 

Well, I love to take advantage of any opportunity I have to snap some pictures of my students just to give you a glimpse of the precious faces I get to see every day. So last Friday, Amanda, Eden and I had some of the junior and senior girls over just to bake cookies, watch TV, and hang out. It was such a blessing just to be with these girls outside of the classroom because that is really where the relationships can grow, although I can't imagine why not in chemistry ;) 

Apparently we have a glass with a hole in the bottom.. who knew?

And I thought I would save this for last so that I wouldn't scare away any of my readers...

another cucaracha that Amanda and I had the pleasure of killing about 2 weeks ago. This was a nasty persistent one... about half a can of Raid wouldn't do it, so we eventually had to resort to dropping the Yellow Pages on him (you know, so we wouldn't have to ruin the bottom of our shoes), which are now the designated cockroach yellow pages :) But I am happy to say we have not had any cockroach sightings since!

McNally's in Peru Part 2

So the second half of their visit was wonderful... definitely exciting and interesting to say the least! But then again, that tends to be the life of a foreigner in Peru. We left Tuesday afternoon to head down south a few hours on a bus to Pisco, which I didn't realize was heavily impacted by the earthquake in 2007. Much of the town was still destroyed, with rubble all over the street and houses that clearly had not been restored even a year and a half later. We were able to stay in a nice little hostal, where we met Ademir, who turned out to be our amazing tour guide that we got to know pretty well. He set up a tour for us for Wednesday morning to go to Paracas, where we got a ferry that gave us a tour of the Ballestas Islands.

Erin, me, and Ademir

This is a mototaxi, which aren't as common in Lima because you just might die in one in the city, but they are really common in the smaller towns in Peru. This was actually my first ride in one in the 6 months I've been here, so I was pretty excited to take a ride for 2 soles (66 cents) everywhere we went in Pisco. It lived up to all of my expectations.

In the mototaxi... I can't remember the last time I sat on my dad's lap! 

Hostal San Isidro, which we loved!

This is the Candelabro (meaning "Chandelier"), which we saw from the ferry on our way to the Ballestas Islands. It's this big mystery how it got there because it looks like it is just etched in sand, but there are actually only a few centimeters of sand on top of solid rock. There are some theories about how it got there, but no one knows!

This is one of the Ballestas Islands. It was really beautiful and very interesting to learn about the wildlife that thrives there, including lots of birds and pelicans, penguins, and tons of sea lions. This view is of an entire colony of sea lions on the island. Aside from being really loud, they didn't seem real nice because we saw a fight between 2 male lions (below). They were doing this for a little while but we didn't get to see if one would surrender or not because our boat eventually left, but it typically wouldn't end until one surrendered or died.

Notice the difference in color on the rocks... the rock is naturally the reddish color at the bottom, but the islands appear to be almost completely white. Why? Because of poop. It is completely covered in poop. The real name for this is guano and it is a huge industry here because it goes several meters deep and is mined to be used as fertilizer. So I guess if this whole teacher thing doesn't work out, I could always go digging for poop!

Humboldt Penguins! (also known as the Peruvian Penguin)

So I'll keep my science lesson brief, but our guide explained that there is a cold current, called the Humboldt Current, off the west coast of South America that comes from Antarctica. These penguins are adapted to the temperature and minerals that exist off these islands due to the Humboldt current.. hence their name :) 

Another fun ride in the back of the bus.. I think my family was starting to get used to this by the end of the week. After seeing the Ballestas Islands in the morning we went back to the port (El Chaco) and went on an afternoon tour of the Paracas National Reserve, which was really beautiful along the water. Lots of sand, rock, and cliffs :)

La Playa Roja... The Red Beach, which is red because of the minerals in the water coming from a nearby island.

This rock formation is called La Catedral and was partially destroyed during the 8.0 earthquake in 2007. See the before picture below.. notice the bridge between the 2 rocks completely collapsed. There were also crazy cracks in all the rocks from the earthquake, where the formation is likely to be destroyed again whenever there is another big earthquake.

The man said there was salt in the rocks, but we felt it necessary to be sure :)

After our tour of Paracas, we went back to our hostal in Pisco, where we got to go into the town with our friend Ademir. That is another story in itself and an awesome testimony of God's faithfulness and sovereignty because He so clearly opened the door for the name of Christ to be lifted up and shared with someone who is absolutely searching for truth. 

Thursday morning we got on another bus to go one hour further south to Ica, where we got an exciting tour of the sand dunes! We rode on dune buggies and tried sand-boarding down the steep dunes. The dune buggy was basically like a natural roller coaster in the sand, which was awesome. By the end, Erin was of course the only one who could have stayed on for another 3 hours.

A view of Haucachina, which is specifically the tourist spot outside the town of Ica 

Us with our dune buggy and guide/instructor.. plus a guy from Tokyo

We did our best to capture the real experience...

This was an oasis in the middle of the desert because apparently there is water about 3 meters under the surface

So this is sandboarding, which is basically snowboarding, just on sand. We clearly didn't look experienced enough to go down the dune standing up on the board, so we did the tourist thing and rode on our stomachs.. yes, all 4 of us because my parents are amazing! And at this point at the top of the steep dune I was petrified, and attempting to tell him so in spanish, but he pushed me anyway :)

Erin flying down the dune

Proof that my mom was brave enough 

So we left Ica to come back to Lima on Thursday afternoon, stopping at the orphanage for dinner on the way. It was great for them to see it and get the official tour from Dave. We spent the next two days around Lima going back to the Inca Market to do some more shopping, the open-air market, a jazz club in Miraflores, and taking a long walk down by the ocean. Saturday afternoon we walked to Larco Mar, which is a nice outside mall down by the ocean, where my mom and Erin were very excited to buy their Lima Starbucks mugs :) Yes, we have Starbucks in Peru.

Buying coffee at the open-air market.. a few rows down from the hanging pigs and beef carcasses :)

Inca Kola! Peru's national soda.. a cross between cream soda and bubble gum flavor (interesting, but good)

At Larco mar

The Love Park (Parque de Amor), hence the famous statute :)

This was one of our last nights, when we went into Miraflores (nice part of Lima) and went to a jazz club, literally "The Jazz Zone."

So overall, it was an awesome week and such a blessing to have them here and experiencing Peru. Now it's back to reality.. blogging as I take a break from lesson planning, once again! It's a little hard anticipating going back and having the crazy schedule once again, but I'm also coming back incredibly refreshed with a new perspective of what the Lord has me here for... to spread His light, His love, and His joy. I'm excited for what God has in store and what He is going to teach me through it all, and I just need to remember that I can do NOTHING apart from Him. It's all done by Him and for Him.

McNally's Meet Peru

Well we're here! We arrived late Saturday night and I have been giving my family the tour of Magdalena and Miraflores so far, but we're getting ready to leave in the next hour to head down a few hours south of Lima to Pisco and Nasca, where we will take a tour of the Islas Ballestas in Paracas and then head down on Thursday to see the Nasca Lines. 

On Sunday they got their first experience on the bus on our way to church, where they were warmly welcomed to Peru :) We spent the day getting settled in, trying the amazing Peruvian cuisine (aji de gallina, palta rellena), and going to the market and grocery store. Yesterday we visited my school, where they thoroughly enjoyed being students once again and playing with all of my classroom toys...

This is the wonderful fire extinguisher that came crashing to the floor from the wall right next to my foot in the middle of class one day.. notice it is still sitting on the floor :) 

Dad wishing he could go back and take chemistry for the third time :)

First taxi ride!

Outside of the Inca Market

This man enjoyed showing dad how to play the cajon, (a Peruvian drum)

and as usual, he was great at it

But probably the highlight of the trip so far has been the initiation Mom and Erin had into Peru last night when we saw our first 2 cockroaches, which are TWICE the size of their cousins in the States. I may live here, but yes, I also freaked out and ran. We were so grossed out that we didn't even think to take a picture, but I'm sure we'll have another chance this week :) And as usual, after killing it we left it for Dad to sweep up this morning, after which he proceeded to serenade us with La Cucaracha (click to see history and lyrics of this lovely song) :)

Home :)

Peruvian bongos... a hit with airport security personnel (in their words, "un buen instrumento"), the family, and even with baby Ella. Looks like she's following in her Pop's footsteps...

Dad's Bongo Skills from Lauren McNally on Vimeo.

Ella's Debut from Lauren McNally on Vimeo.

And yes, the whole family was required to play

So my time back in PA has been great so far, especially getting to see and squeeze baby Ella (when she lets me, that is) and my adorable cousins. Having 3 crazy boys in the house plus the baby creates quite some excitement and is anything but boring.. now I know what Aunt Lisa's life is like every day :) Here are just some pictures from  the last week or so.

Who needs presents when you can have boxes??

Ella's Peruvian "chompa"

Ella might not be smiling with me, but please notice that she is not crying

Now if I remember correctly, Erin and I were often asked if we were twins while growing up, especially when my mom would match our outfits (Erin in pink and me in purple of course). Apparently we both have a subconscious longing to return to our childhood and dress like twins once again. This was us after we realized halfway through church on Sunday that we were dressed identically. Something tells me it's not quite as cute as adults, but we tried.

Possibly looking alike once again, but this time we didn't care. We decided to shop in Wanamakers to kill time on our cold, snowy trip to the city :)

So the countdown until I'm back in Peru begins.. just a few more days until mom, dad, and Erin are flying back with me and I will be wearing flip flops again and getting burnt by the hot Peruvian sun :) I have mixed emotions because God has blessed me in so many ways during this break, but I am excited to get back to see my roommates (in spite of Amanda's horrifying cockroach sighting in our house  this week), see my adorable students, go to my church and worship in spanish, eat some pollo saltado and aji de gallina (two of my favorites), give my family their first Peruvian combi experience (see below), 

and most importantly to fulfill the purpose for which God sent me :) He is filling me with excitement and motivation for this coming semester, not just to teach but most importantly to enjoy HIM and to worship Him in all that I do. He seems to be speaking over and over again to me these last few days that His desire is not for me to grow tired and weary as I strive to succeed by my own standards, but instead for my life and my work to be worship to Him... after all, if it doesn't bring Him glory and praise, what's the point? 

"Unless the Lord builds the house, its builders labor in vain." Psalm 127:1

So that will be my prayer for these next five months, and I will gladly welcome your reminders that glorifying and worshiping HIM is the ultimate purpose to which He has called me.

My amazing roommate

So I know some of my readers have discovered my incredible roommate's blog (I have two incredible roommates of course, but this would be in reference to Eden), but for those of you who have not I would encourage you to check it out.. especially those of you who know me well. It's amusing how Amanda, Eden, and I have now been living together long enough to have picked up on all of each other's quirks and... individuality, to put it nicely :) Amanda and Eden have especially enjoyed picking up on all of my weird sayings. I am beginning to get used to the fact that I say weird things... and pronounce them with my strange Jersey/Philly/NY accent, and apparently they have too. So Eden has recently posted a special little feature of my odd sayings and I encourage you to read it for a little laugh.. The Blog of Eden.