Long Road to Peru

We are finally off on the road to Peru! Actually, it has been a year since this endeavor began. It's hard to believe that it was just a year ago that we were in Georgia at The Mission Society offices hoping to be accepted as career missionaries. This summer has been a whirlwind of training and travel... 2 weeks of training in Brazil in June, then 2 weeks at home in Texas to pack up our things and move out of our home, then several days of traveling to visit family on our way to Colorado. We are now at Mission Training International in Colorado for 5 weeks of training (see photo at left). Then we will RAPIDLY drive home to catch our flight in Houston for language school in Costa Rica. AAAAHHHHH!!!! It has been a wild ride this summer! We are tired, stressed, and our heads are about to explode with new information. The kids are hanging in there, but they are just as stressed and tired as we are.

We began our PILAT course today. PILAT is a 2 week intensive training in language acquisition techniques. Really, intensive isn't a strong enough word for it. After about 1 hour of liguistics and pronounciation practice this morning, I was ready to cry. Evidently, I don't know how to breathe... funny, I've managed to stay alive for 41 years, but one of the teachers this morning says that there isn't any air coming out of my mouth. Billy would disagree - he says there is PLENTY of air coming out of my mouth! HA! Anyway, this is a tough course already and this is just the first day!

We had a good time getting up here over the last few days, visiting relatives and sightseeing along the way. See photos of time spent with Drum family (3 pics), Miles with Memaw Maxwell and dessert, and Drum kids in New Mexico...