One of my
teammates (Lila) posted a blog of awesome things we do because we are
missionaries. You can read the story behind it and her list at http://liladillon.myadventures.org . I
decided to follow suit and make my own list of the awesome things we are
experiencing.

-         
Nightly impromptu jam sessions are our
entertainment (complete with guitars, a snare drum, a harmonica, a flute, a
tambourine, a saxophone, and sometimes a mandolin)

-         
Tie Dye Fri-day is a weekly occurrence.

-         
No-shave November is in full effect for
most...it's just not worth the time.

-         
Sharing is caring. Clothes, food, random
stuff and of course the common colds are all passed around.

-         
Team exercise at 7 AM really looks an
awful lot like elementary school PE class. Red rover, tag, kickball, dodge
ball, ultimate Frisbee, volleyball, soccer, etc. If you know any good ones let
me know, we are always looking for something to switch it up.

-         
(Unused) Toilet plungers are our washing
machines.

-         
It's completely appropriate to wear the
same outfit for multiple days in a row. Clothes have to be exceptionally dirty
before they are deemed no longer wearable until washed (like we just mixed
concrete in them or something). We avoid doing laundry at all costs is what it
really boils down to.

-         
It is possible to have a tan line or two,
even me, who knew that could happen??

-         
Showering is overrated and completely
optional...well as long as you get in one every three days.

-         
Dreads, purple or blue hair, and
nose/eyebrow studs and rings have become common. Don't worry the two most
important people in my life would kill me if I did any of these things...except
maybe the dreads, hmm there's an idea, j/k ;)

-         
Spiders, mosquitoes, scorpions, gnats,
ants, cockroaches, bees and wasps are everywhere. I'm sure all of us have eaten
at least an average of one gnat a day as they swarm our plates at dinner.

-         
Chacos, tevas, keens, and an assortment
of flip-flops are our shoes. The only time tennis shoes come out is when we are
doing construction.

-         
You can immediately tell if someone has
showered by smelling their breeze as they walk by you, and you sit next to them
secretly hoping that their clean scent will rub off on you.

-         
Friday night is taco night at Nena's (the
little café of sort's right next to the base in our Ejido) and if you are
looking for someone they are probably here.

-         
I'm old enough to know better but too
young to care that when we go to Peter Piper Pizza we all become 5 again.

-         
A trip into town means special treats all
around. If you bring back any food expect it to be shared with all and gone in
2 minutes or less.

-         
Sunsets take our breaths away and that
time of day is often the only time of day I'm guaranteed to have my camera out.

-         
A joke told to me the other day was that
if a new missionary finds an ant in his/her cup of coffee, he/she dumps it out.
One that has been on the field longer fishes the ant out and continues to drink
it, a long term missionary fishes the ant out and says yells, "Spit it out,
spit it out!" while shaking the ant.

For
those you wanting to know what to pray about, pray that Christ would increase
and our thoughts and agendas would decrease. As always please pray for safety
and team unity. On Saturday we are off with the South Africa team, to do our
outreach on some barrier islands outside Matamoros (each team with the Lord's
direction chose their individual location). As a result, I will be out of touch
all week because there is no internet access on the islands and I'm leaving my
computer here in a secure location so that it won't get damaged by the sand and
salt. Please pray for the South Africa team's translator (Eleazar) and Jon and
Lila as they will probably be doing a lot of translating for us throughout the
week.  Thanks everyone! Love y'all!