The best week (so far!)

Things I’ve learned so far:

– Frisbees are great toad catching tools to get them out
of girls’ rooms.

– Water bottles are great for catching
crickets/grasshoppers also to get them out of girls’ rooms.

– Shampoo makes a great detergent!

– Even if you don’t know Spanish it is still possible to
communicate with children especially when you know the phrase “Como se dice”
and point (What is this?)

My time here so far has been good! For those of you that
have been worried about my safety, really don’t. Our base is in the middle of
nowhere surrounded by a peaceful environment as our morning jogs have revealed.
The neighborhood kids are beautiful and neighborhood dogs bark and run with
us…really don’t worry, we are safe. The first full day we had here we went into
a time of silence and solitude. Breakfast was served in the main room and lunch
and dinner were brought to us in our rooms by our leaders. We weren’t to talk
to or touch our teammates and only if we truly needed something could we talk
to our leaders. Other than that we were to read our bible (any part), journal
everything, and read three chapters of a book that we will be discussing at a
later date. The rest was up to God and us. I spent a lot of the time listening
to The Shack on my iPod and journaling and sleeping. I listened to worship
music and at one point sobbed as I thought about Joe and missing him. It was at
this point that I felt the Lord the most. I had been struggling with wondering
why we were doing solitude at the beginning of the trip knowing I would feel a
lot of homesickness at the start. God
showed me I that he can provide comfort in a way that no person is capable. He
came beside me and comforted me while I cried and once again taught me that I have
to rely on him first. I love being back
around my teammates, my immediate family and extended (as we have begun to call
our small and large teams). Now we are getting into the swing of things, into
full time ministry with a local family and teachings each day that challenge us
to look at the world in a new light. We are learning to minister together and
that nothing can be done without prayer.

Speaking of prayer here are some things we need prayer
for: our group has been struggling with issues with insects since training in
Georgia, mosquitoes, gnats, ants and lots of other little bugs are making us
itch and not want to be outside; we need prayers for focusing as a large group
and not irritating our leaders through that; it feels like South East Texas
here with the humidity and many of my teammates are not used to it, even I’m
not used to not being able to go into air conditioning so pray that we would
acclimate quickly to our surroundings; many ladies are having bad dreams and
others (myself included) bad headaches/migraines so please be praying for
protection from those things.

Today we went to a Children’s home and played with the
kids for a few hours. A little six year old boy, Emmanuel, absolutely stole my
heart. He was quite shy but grabbed my hand and held on while jabbering on to
me in Spanish. He quickly learned that I knew very little but would teach me
words when I asked and when my friend Tana, who’s Spanish is much better than
mine, would translate a little for me. We played for awhile with the kids and
then had to leave but we’ve been promised that we will go back often in these
eight weeks.

That’s all for now but I love you all and miss you! Hola
from Mexico and have a blessed and wonderful day!