i love it more and more the longer im here...

Okay so once again I have a boat load to catch yall up on. Okay so where to begin? Okay well ive been doing pretty well overall. God has been good about keeping me healthy and not missing home too much. Sure there are times when someone will say something and itll make me think of something at home but other than that ive been okay. so ministry has been absolutely amazing even tho my group leaves before most other people are even up and it involves soccer which are both things I struggle with (early mornings and soccer) I am soo in love with the kids there. Sylvia (the girl giving me a piggy back ride in my profile picture) and I have a lot of fun every Saturday. This past week we were being cheerleaders and doing the Macarena together when our teams weren’t playing and we like to joke around together. I scored my first goal this past week as well haha it was pretty shocking to be quite honest. I don’t think anybody expected it haha. I love hanging out there I could go on and on but im just going to move on. So I don’t remember if I talked about this in my last post and im being to lazy to go check so ill just talk about it anyways. So I have a second ministry immediately after soccer. I go with two other guys from my church to los guidos and hang out at the youth group one of the men from church has there. that’s been a lot of fun too, however it makes for a super lone day. This past week I was away from the villa for 11 ½ hours before I got back. So youre prayers for energy would be amazing if you ever are thinking of me for whatever reason on Saturdays.

 

Bible was really good this past week. We had a guest speaker, micah carter. Such a great guy. Very wise. He spoke on some very challenging topics. Definitely got me thinking deeper and on a different level than I have before. One of the topics was election and I was so mad at God about it for a few day until I got a chance to talk through it and figure things out with help from bekah. Im still struggling with comprehending everything, but im not angry at God if anything im more in love with him.

 

A few weekends ago I went to sarchi with a small group of students and we were split up and put into tico homes for the night. At first I was so homesick. I don’t know if ive been as homesick since ive been here. I wasn’t really home homesick,  I homesick for the villa. I guess this is really home now. I realized it when I caught myself calling it home a few weeks ago. But anyways … sarchi ended up being one of my favorite things so far. I was speaking more Spanish than I even knew I knew. I can’t wait to go back.

 

The rain hasn’t been too bad I guesss last year there were a few weeks were they didn’t see the sun at all. It hasn’t been close to that at all. It usually rains every afternoon but that’s not always the case. The weather has been kinda chilly to me but I guess its better than being home. I just wish I had more wardrobe options haha. I can’t wait to go to target when I get home. I literally miss that store more than my bed sometimes.

 

Oh I suppose ill tell you about my birthday. It turned out to be a great day I was so afraid I was going to be homesick the whole time but it was the complete opposite. It was probably one of my best birthdays. I got lots of food for presents which were all happily accepted. It kind of started Sunday night, im always the last girl in my room and like usual I was and I walk into a pitch black room and next thing I know there is a super bright flash in my face and the another and another. The the lights went on and a lot of the girls were all gathered in my room and were yelling happy birthday and they had covered my bed in happy birthday notes. After all that died down we all went to bed. Monday is our free day so it was a super nice day to hve a birthday. I just hung out around the villa all morning then for dinner the ppl in my ministry group took me out to dinner it was a lot of fun. I felt very loved. I was supposed to sye my family but I didn’t get back in time so that didn’t work out… oops… (I was able to skype mama, Kristin and holly the next day tho)

 

I have so much trouble writing these because I feel like everything is always the same here. But I hope you enjoy it as poorly and jumbled as it is.

heres an update

Okay so I have been a huge slacker and I have been really bad about keepin yall updated. So I have a lot to cover now. 

CLASSES:

There have been 2 weeks of classes so far. They have been pretty good for the most part.

Spanish:  I feel like Spanish has just been a lot of review and what not but its helped me to remember more Spanish. I am still by no means good but I can have a basic conversation with super bad grammar. I prolly sound like a three yr old but I guess that’s a start. How the classes work is we start homeroom at 8:15 and then from there we break up into our Spanish classes. My “classroom” is new this year. Its really just in the hall in front of all the guys bedrooms. But, it works. There are 9 students in my class and so far its been going really well. We have an hr of class and then everybody has a break for  10 minutes then we have another hour of class then a break. Then we switch teachers and have an hour of class then a 10 min break then one last hour of class then its lunch. After lunch we have time to relax until its time for bible at 2.

Bible: bible has been good but I am having trouble figuring out how to take stuff away from it. I have never really had bible classes and I don’t know how to learn from them. the easiest way I can come up with to explain this is i feel like being preached the bible and taught the bible are 2 different things and I am having trouble with this way of learning. Like john preaches on Sunday nights at the English church and I absolutely love it, the man is a bible genius. But in class its just been going way over my head and I cant seem to figure out what im supposed to be getting out of it. But overall the teaching has been solid and I cant wait to be able to really understand everything.

 

SATURDAY MINISTRY:

I love the ministry I have been put in. I was a little apprehensive since its based round soccer but I love everything about it. Well maybe not everything, we leave at like 7.30. so that kinda sucks haha but its so much fun and the kids are great. I feel like I am already building relationships even tho. The kids range from 7ish to 15ish. So it’s a pretty big age group. They haven’t been the exact same kids but for the most part they are. We are in a semi sketchy part of town but we haven’t had too many problems yet.  Although, this past week the van was broken into and a backpack stolen but Jairo and all the kids chased after him and they got it back. That’s the only trouble we’ve had. The first week was a little scary because all these neighbors come out and watch the kids play but im pretty sure that’s just because its some of the most excitement they get all week. I was just recently asked to do a second ministry immediately following my morning ministry. Im not entirely sure what all ill be doing but Ben, Matt and I will bbe going to another impoverished area to hang out with teens. Im really excited to see how it goes.

CHURCH:

            el lugar: Sunday morning church has been going okay so far. Its pretty boring because I cant tell what they are saying. I cant wait to be able to learn the Spanish language well enough to be able to follow it. i don’t think ive made it through one service yet without catching myself dozing off. I try to keep myself awake by reading my bible but it doesn’t always help haha. 

          guadalupe gathering: English church has been really good so far I absolutely love it. a few weeks ago John talked about hypocrisy and it was rather convicting and I just felt like I needed Mrs. Cooper so badly and I got kind of homesick but I was able to manage without her.

SMALL GROUPS:

My small group is on Thursdays so I have free time on Tuesdays which is nice. For s,all groups everyone is going through the book of john. Ik I said a different book last time but that’s cuz I was informed incorrectly apparently. So we just started that and im not too sure how I feel about it. ive never really done a directly from the bible bible study and so this is something new and I have to get used to it. I feel like my group doesn’t really have the trust we should have yet so thats kinda holding us back too I think.  

ODDS AND ENDS 

Okay so I feel like ive been here so much longer than 3 ½ weeks, its crazy how fast time has been going. I still absolutely love the staff, probably more so now than I did 2 weeks ago. It has been hard letting myself confide and letting myself be okay opening up to them. I felt like I was almost breaking a bond with my mentors back home in a way and it has been so hard not having them here. Not having Mrs. Cooper here who knows more about me and my thoughts than most people in this world. That’s been one of the hardest things and in all honesty it has brought me to tears a few times. Its been hard to be real with somebody I don’t really know. Yes Sonya is absolutely amazing and I love her dearly but she doesn’t know my history and hasn’t seen me in my highs and my lows (yet). But I have concluded that finding mentors wherever I am is going to be something im going to have to do the rest of my life. Im not always going to have the same person available to me and ive also realized that one person cannot give me everything I need spiritually.

PRAYER REQUESTS:

Okay so im not going to get too detailed on here but message me if you want more details and ill let ya know whats up.
Okay so…
1)      Trust in my small group
2)      I am able to figure out how to learn in bible class
3)      My pride
4)      Distractions
5)      That im not a distraction
6)      My prayer life
7)      Self-discipline
8)      Ability to learn Spanish
9)      Friendships/patience
10)   (even though im scared to put it) opportunities for spiritual growth and that I see the opportunity and act on it.