Oh lordie here we go...

Hello all :)

What a day I have had today...

I feel I must continue to be honest with you... this being my first real entire in all :) and admit to all of you that I failed to get vaccinated for Peru until today, exactly twenty-four hours before I leave for Peru actually. Which apparently was a very bad life choice because antibodies take awhile to develop or something so I might be S.O.L if I get sick in Peru... (just kidding mom... I'll be fine) or for the fact that yellow fever, is what they call a live vaccine, and hey guess what... can give you yellow fever!!! Doesn’t that seem counter-productive to anyone?
It seems mighty counter-productive to me... Any who after a long lecture about the dangers of procrastinating, I received the vaccines for Hep A, Typhoid, and Yellow Fever... Oh and a prescription for anti-malarias that has, to quote the doctor, neurological side effects like hallucinating in your dreams :) oh yay!!! Peru going to be so medically stimulating... I'm pumped!!! Stayed tuned to see if I hallucinate in my dreams or who knows what else, no in all seriousness I’ll be fine (promise Mom), Peru is very safe and I’m going to have a great time lol

But other than the needles in my arm today was pretty good :) I bonded with my little sister… We went to the mall for some last minute Peru necessities like power outlet converts and chap-stick :0 those are real necessities now people… Without them I would have chapped lips and I wouldn’t be able to blog… but after all the final prep and the last ceremonial packing of the suitcase, which hasn’t ended yet because the bag is still opened over in the corner of my room …

All I have left to do is to go to bed and sleep if I can get any… hallucinating dreams and all , just kidding, in all honesty I think I’m too wound up to sleep, I just can't believe I'm leaving for Miami in the morning, and then onto Lima in the afternoon.
I’ve been planning this trip now for several months but the idea that it starts tomorrow seems a little surreal… I just finished spending a little time with my dad at the beach ;) boating and enjoying the Florida sun for the last time in seven weeks. I've packed, well to be honest I've packed and repacked about a hundred times now and I have a sneaky feeling that I have both under and over packed if that’s even possible. I mean how does someone really pack for something like this anyway… And now all I have left to do is sit and wait... wait for tomorrow... wait to be there... oh lordie here we go!!!

"God Grant me the Serenity to accept the things I can not change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference" Amen (hopefully the serenity will help me sleep)

But all this prep and all the shots are totally worth it because this experience will give me the opportunity to take some time in Peru to do amazing service, help others, which will allowing me to hopefully make a positive change in someones life and in turn my own. My inspiration for today is something I saw with my mom a couple weeks ago... (every entry I'm going to show you something that inspired me...)

thoughts and prayer greatly appreciated :)

Why I'm going to Iquitos Peru :)

Hello all :)

My name is Natalie Padron and I'm a twenty year old Wofford College student majoring in History and education but in all honest I have not a clue what I'm doing with my life or where I might be headed so I'm adventuring to Peru this summer to find myself and well because I have the most amazing internship ... and I'm blogging about it to all of you...
ok so I confess I am not a blogger, I don't know how someone begins to blog, to be honest I wouldn't have even thought to do this if it weren't for a dear friend of mine, a sister really, Victoria who blogged while she was studying aboard, she convinced me it would be a good way to document my trip and clam my parents nerves so here it goes... I'm blogging...

I feel its best to be honest when starting a relationship, even a ritual one, so I most admit to all of you out there that I'm dyslexic and besides that I'm not very good at spelling, so please keep that in mind :) But I do consider myself to be moderately funny and fairly descriptive so I hope you find my blog fun to read :) and I promise to try not to use too many smilely faces or even worse winky faces but i'm not making any promises

I figured the best place to start would be to tell all of you why it is I'm going to Peru :)

so here it goes... I will be in Peru all of June and most of July working for Amazon Mission Fellowship, which is a Christian Mission Organization working in the Amazon Region to promote the good will of Jesus Christ, I will be working for them as one of two interns whose job it is to facilitate and translate for various American Mission Teams. Who volunteer with the organization for a week at a time during the summer months. We will be living in Iquitos Peru, and working in the surrounding areas.

"AMF is a U.S., non-denominational organization dedicated to establishing and fostering sister relationships between U.S. and Peruvian churches, beginning with, but not limited to, the churches in Iquitos, Santo Tomas, Santa Maria, Santa Clara, Quistacocha, Tamshiyacu, Gallito, Nuevo Valentin and Nauta, originally constructed in the Peruvian Amazon by mission teams working with Medical Missions, Inc. Our purpose is to establish and oversee U.S. and Peruvian church partnerships and be consistently committed to their growth and evangelical mission."
- Pam McAbee McCraw President AMF

I hope to gain a great deal from this experience... I plan on growing in my faith, challenging myself emotional, physically and spiritually which will surely occur because I will be living in a foreign country working outside in the Amazon River Basin in temperatures around 80 degrees, dealing with various people working along side fellow intern Ben Green, who I don't think would mind me saying, has a sharp sense of humor and a need to poke fun at people, so that should keep me on my toes :) oh plus did I mention me and Ben were sharing a bathroom... enough said lol but despite all the details which I'm sure will make the reading of this blog far more interesting or at least funny, this experience will broad my horizons and show me a part of the world that I can barely imagine. I think I'm most excited about all the amazing people I will get to know and meet through this experience especially Pam McAbee McCraw, the president of AMF and my live-in Boss while in Iquitos, she is one of the most amazing people I have ever met and I plan to learn a great deal from her this summer!!! then of course there is my fellow intern Ben, who I know will be a blog favorite for you all as he will be the comic relief of my trip I'm sure because he appears to be quite hilarious and genuinely kind and open-hearted, these two will hopefully become very dear to me and help to shape this amazing experience!!! Plus there are all those missionaries to meet, and I have to confess to all of you the concept of a missionary kind off, not wait absolutely fascinates me!!!


All this plus the amazing region of the Amazon River Basin will be explored so stay tuned :)

So please stay tuned for the crazy goofy amazing anecdotes that I'm sure are bond to occur while I'm in Peru... I hope you keep reading and keep me in your prayers :)