Hosea

"Therefore, I am now going to allure her; I will lead her into the desert & speak tenderly to her. I will betroth you to me forever, I will betroth you in righteousness & justice, in love & compassion. I will betroth you in faithfulness & YOU WILL ACKNOWLEDGE THE LORD" Hosea 2:14,19

"There’s an open road ahead of me. An empty sea beside me. Waiting on the sunshine to make me happy, or the rain to let me brake down and cry out to you and I wonder.

(Chorus) Why do I ever leave you and turn the other way. You call me out from the desert come home its not to late, its not to late.

Wondering why I’d ever leave you. Chasing other lovers that don’t compare to you. By the time I say I’m sorry so you’ve forgotten my mistakes. And I wonder

(Chorus) Why do I ever leave you and turn the other way. You call me out from the desert come home its not to late, its not to late late lately I’ve been wondering where I’m going I’m gone yea. Late lately I’ve been a listening to your voice so fierce. Take me out to the desert and speak to me tenderly, take me out to the desert speak to me tenderly. Why do I ever leave you. You call me out from the desert come home. Its not to late yea its not to late." -Hosea by Jillian Edwards

This is the story of my semester. The Lord is so faithful. He continues to speak to me and encourage me through his word. I have never been so in love with who he is! A friend of mine before I left said that this is going to be the beginning of my love story with Jesus, and she was SO RIGHT! When you delight yourself in the Lord and his truth, he stirs in your heart and inspires you to love and serve him!

This morning Emily and I sat at the creperia and had the coolest conversation about what God is doing in our hearts. I am really going back and fourth about being an RA next year and trying to seek God's wisdom in the whole process. We were talking this morning and God put this on my heart. What if I, instead of RA, {which means resident assistant for those of you who don't know, cough grandparents cough ;) } started a bible study/mentor group for freshman girls, or whoever God brings into my life? I have a GIGANTIC passion for freshman women and lately God has confirmed this by causing me to become increasingly excited about the possibility of mentoring them when I return to school in the spring. I think it would be SO awesome to be a safe place for girls to come and share what they are going through, struggling with, rejoicing in!!! So, all that to say, I need prayer that God would reveal to me what his plan is for me when I get back! I know it probably seems super early but the Lord has blessed me with a TON of time to be in his word and listen to his still small voice, and this is what I seem to be hearing/wrestling with! I just wanted to fill you all in because you are faithful in reading this and praying for me, which is A HUGE ENCOURAGEMENT!

Lord thank you for what you are doing in my heart. I pray that I would NOT come back the same. Shape my heart and show me how I need to align my heart with you purpose for me! 

Comida

Today was so great! I woke up this morning, went to Italian Coffee and worked on homework/journaled/read my bible for about four hours. Emily and I were talking about how we feel a little stagnant in our spanish and frustrated because we're not sure how to learn more and grow in our speaking abilities. It feels like we are both interacting with our senora's when we are around them, which is a great time to practice, but we want something deeper than that!

When I got home, my sweet señora had a friend over from the D.F. (Mexico City, Districto Federal). I thought she was just coming over in the morning but she ended up staying and eating comida with us!!! While mama Rosi was preparing the food, I got to talk to Irene about my time here and a few other things. Rosi must have told her that I did yoga the other morning, because she kept wanting to talk about yoga and how relaxing it is! She proceeded to ask me how long I have been speaking spanish, because she thought I spoke very well and had great pronunciation. WHICH was so encouraging!!!!! She was so fun and we talked about pretty much everything under the sun once Rosi and Roberto came outside to eat.

Once again, God shows his provision and answers my prayers right when I need to be encouraged.

ALSO, this morning I had a crazy God moment. I texted a verse to a few of my friends (one of which happened to be sitting accross the table from me at IC) via Whatsapp because I really wanted to encourage them on this tuesday morning. I wrote, "Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable his judgments, and his paths beyond tracing out! Who has known the mind of the LORD? Or who has been his counselor? Who has ever given to God, that God should repay him? For from him and through him and to him are ALL THINGS. To him be the GLORY FOREVER! Amen." Romans 11:33-36
When Emily read the text she freaked out and said, "ARE YOU KIDDING ME?! I JUST POSTED THAT EXACT PASSAGE TO MY BLOG!?!?!"
Needless to say, it was a super cool God thing that we would both read the same verse, find it encouraging, and post/write about it. So cool.

You could be praying that I would heal, because I have a cold and nasty cough and I'm super over it haha. I'm ready to be WELL! So please pray for quick healing, especially because we have an excursion this weekend!

long awaited fotos

 Las chicas en el centro para el grito

 La gente!

El gobernador y su familia

 Corrida de toros

 Nuestra torero favorito

 Birthday lunch for my sweet mama mexicana

 1 kilo of lamb

 1 kilo of lamb in our bellies

partido de fútbol! Ganaron los GALLOS!

temprano

you know it's monday when you wake up at the time you are supposed to be leaving your house...

I woke up at 7:30 this morning, which is when I am supposed to leave and meet the group to take to bus to school! So I literally got ready to leave in 5 minutes and rolled out. It was great though because the group I meet is always late, so I was actually perfectly on time! We went to a park for class this morning. Our teacher is amazing. He is incredibly inteligent and knows SO much about Mexican politics. I never thought I would take a class on American politics (sorry David), and especially not one on Mexican politics! It is truely amazing that I can understand what he is talking about the whole time, simply because it is all in spanish! I'm amazed at how quickly my comprehension has increased since being here. According to my counter, I have been here for 45 days now... which seems absolutely insane.

This past weekend we went to a fair in this tiny little town called Boye. They specialize in barbacoa, which let me tell you is TREMENDOUSLY different than American BBQ. You let me know the next time you see a giant oven in the ground covered in dirt and leaves, that magically produces the most amazingly flavorful meat in the States! Trust me, it doesn't happen. It was SO delicious! We ordered a kilo of meat for four of us girls, which was a bit lofty but we conquered it, surprisingly. Then after that adventure, we hung out at a cafe in the centro for a hour. Once we had all reunited, we hopped on the bus H and headed for the soccer stadium! The night before we went on a wild goose chase trying to find tickets. It was such a Mexican moment. One of the guys in our group's parents told him that we could buy tickets at this restaurant in the centro called la Mariposa, and so we headed there! On the way we asked in a few stores where we could find them and no one seemed to give us a difinitive answer. When I asked the lady behind the counter of the restaurant, she looked at me as if I just asked her to lend me a million dollars. APPARENTLY, they don't sell tickets there. My brother said that we could buy them at any pharmacy, but again (3 pharmacies later) NO LUCK! Finally someone told us that they sold tickets at a little booth in the mall 10 minutes from our house. So needless to say, we wandered for 3 hours in the centro when what we were looking for was in fact extremely close to our house. It was an adventure, but proved to be SO worth it when we finally got to the game! We sat in general admission, which I am finding I like A LOT. It's where all the crazies sit and they are so hilarious. After half time the sun was blasting in our faces, and so the guys behind us ripped their HUGE beer cups and made shades for us. It was a pretty priceless moment. The team was so fun to watch. I love soccer because it's a bunch of adult men running around and then dramatically throwing themselves down because they got tripped. I find it incredibly entertaining. They ended up winning 2-1 against Monterrey with two awesome goals! The crowd went WILD and of course the announcer shouted GOOOOOAAAALLLLLLLLLL for about 5 minutes. It was quite an experience!

Then yesterday morning I went to a coffee shop with my girls to work on our essay that is due today. I wasn't feeling great so I ordered mint tea which was DELICIOUS, and we chatted for a while, because none of us could focus... typical. I finally made an executive decision that in the grand scheme of my life, that one paper was not the biggest deal, so I did my best but chose not to be a perfectionist about it. Our teacher picks apart our arguments if they aren't in line with her thinking, so I figured I'd write my thoughts and call it a day. After I got skyped into the India training meeting (for those of you who don't know, my family and I are departing on the India missions trip with our church at the end of December, 20 days after I get home to be exact, so you can be praying for that!). It was incredibly encouraging to hear the director of missions at RockHarbor encourage us in pursuing the spiritual disciplines and praying about which one we need to cultivate in this time to align our hearts with God's purpose. He was explaining how when we step out to serve the Lord, resistance automatically follows. And what do you know, right after he said that I was disconnected. It was SUPER emotionally draining for me and I bawled the whole way home from the cafe. Sometimes it is just necessary to cry, and yesterday was one of those times. I went home and journaled about my frustration and then my mom contacted me and said that they wanted to skype me in again and pray for me. Being prayed for by the team was the MOST encouraging thing that could have happened yesterday. Just when I feel like I am alone in my struggles, God reminds me that there is a WHOLE body of believers who would love to encourage and pray for me. I am so blessed to have this support system, especially while I am away. Then I went on a run and listened to the Reality podcast from last weekend about our identity in Christ. I felt so encouraged and spurred on after listening to Brit talk about how through Jesus we are HOLY! What a crazy concept?

Alicia, my group shepherd on the India team sent me the most encouraging scripture from Romans. It says, "May the God of hope fill you with all JOY and PEACE as you trust in him, so that you may OVERFLOW with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit." Rom. 15:13

Yes Lord, this is my prayer this week!
Thank you for reading friends and family, los quiero MUCHISIMO!

mondays

So today was super awesome. Well, it was actually pretty normal but I am learning to appreciate each day even for the little things. We had class at 8:30 this morning, which would be NO big deal if we were at the Mont, where you can roll out of bed 10 minutes before your class starts and rock the pj's to class... Considering that we have become apart of the wonderful public transportation system, that little factor adds an hour to the whole adventure. So I left my house at 7:30, walked to meet the others on the corner and then we all walked to the parada (bus stop). On the bus we were talking about how a few of us feel frustrated that the television is ALWAYS on at our houses, which makes communicating super hard, especially when we are eating comida. We want to practice speaking and learning more about our families, but it seems that their attention is completely captured by the news or the ever popular Telenovelas. Our group is such a blessing! We share what God is up to in our hearts and other things that we are struggling with. It is SO amazing to have such a solid support system, that often times is going through the same things!

Class was interesting as usual! We listened to a song by this Guatemalan (?) guy about pop culture in America. He was basically just hatin'. It was super funny and SUPER old. Talking about Cindy Crawford, I mean she's practically ancient! (just kidding mom and dad, I love you, you're young... you're SO young;)! After class Carly and I went to Italian Coffee to work on a project that we had to present today, on Iconography in Colonial Art. What a topic, let me tell ya. Either we were sleep deprived from waking up at the crack of dawn this morning or the interent is a terribly unreliable source, but we had a terrible time finding good information. So we threw some stuff together the best that we could and called it a day. Then I went home and decided that it was time for a run. Now it was 12:00pm at this point, the peak of heat during the day here. But regardless of the calor, I went. It was SO cleansing to run and to be alone. You all know how much I love people, but it was so great to spend time listening to Hillsong, praising my Jesus and exercising! Many of you may also know that I pretty much despise math... The two tracks that are right by my house in the center of the road behind my neighborhood are obviously in meters and both are different lengths... Therefore, I have no idea how far I ran, but it so didn't matter to me. It felt amazing to be out.

Then, I came home for comida, and showered really fast before at the request of my senora!!! I went downstairs and she ushered me outside to the patio... WHERE WE ATE COMIDA TODAY! Sometimes I laugh because God is SO incredibly faithful and provides even in the simplest ways. I had just talked about my frustration and He blessed me with a comida sin el tele (without the tv). My senora and I had a great conversation about a million and one things, and it was such a great time for me to practice speaking. Just when I start to feel frustrated or that I don't know Spanish well at all, I sit down and am capable of carrying on a fluid conversation with a woman who speaks no english. SO COOL! I can't really believe it, but it is the best feeling in the world when you can explain what you want to say and the other person understands, WITHOUT having to ask you, "WHAT?". It was amazing. Then I sat on my bed for an hour and a half and read Passion & Purity, and wrote some amazingly encouraging verses in my journal. I am in love with the time that I have to be in scripture. It is AMAZING to me the amount of down time I have here. And almost more amazing that I have not once been bored or felt uncomfortable with the free time. I am SO thankful for it and realize every day how HUGE of a blessing it is. I can honestly say that everyday I am falling deeper and deeper in love with who Jesus is and the truth of his word. I skyped with my daddy last night and it was SO neat to share with him everything that God is doing in my heart and to hear his wisdom for me. Someone recently told him that they have this overwhelming feeling that this semester is going to be foundational for my faith, that in this season God is going to reveal to me SO many things about himself, and that I am going to fall more in love with who he is. And that is absolutely what is happening. I feel SO BLESSED!

Tonight after class we went to the train tracks and sang. I am so thankful that we have the opportunity to come together and worship our Lord and Savior... WHEREVER and WHENEVER we want. It is truely remarkable. Thank you Jesus for this experience!

Bendiciones mis queridas amigas!!!
(Blessings my dear friends)

¡Viva Mexico!

Okay, I can't even believe how amazing this weekend has been. First of all, I want all of you to know that I finally feel at home here. It took a month but I can now say that I am settled in and absolutely IN LOVE with this city! So yesterday was indepence day, well actually it is the 16th. But they celebrate it kinda like new years, it starts at 12am! So, we went into plaza de armas (where the city hall building is) and hung out for a while. Then people started to gather, in anxious anticipation of the Governor's speech and the VIVA MEXICO chant! We got there at around 6:30, wandered around for a bit, then ate a delicious sandwich while waiting. We stood infront of the building for a good four hours! There was a concert going on of a mariachi band and a few different AMAZING singers! So we sang a ton and just listened/observed the craziness going on around us. At one point in the night a group of runners came through the plaza with a torch that they were carrying through the country. They were on their way to San Miguel de Allende which is a good hour away in a car. These guys weren't messin around.

Then, the moment we had all been waiting for... The governor came out and addressed the crowd by shouting all of these VIVA statements, to which the croud responded... VIVA! haha. This went back and forth for about 5 mintues. And then out of NO WHERE came the craziest firework show I have ever seen! They were shooting of from all of the buildings around us, and were insync with the song that was playing. It was CRAZY! And, gotta love Mexico, they were so low that the ashes were falling on us hahah. Then at the end after the finale of craziness happened it started raining CONFETTI!!! Of course! What's a party without that shiny stuff! It was surreal. Basically no words can do that experience justice, but I tried :)

Tonight we had the crazy opportunity of going to a bull fight (corrida de toros). We ran into the centro this morning (actually for exercise) to buy our tickets from this taco stand who happens to sell them. And as we ran into the centro we found out that there was an independence day parade going on... OF COURSE! So we basically drew a ridiculous amount of attention to ourselves (it was Me, Sara, Emily, Justin and Zach... our five man wolf pack). We laughed pretty hard at how american we looked at that moment. Running the morning that everyone else in the country is sleeping and exhausted from partying the night before haha. So we bought our tickets, Sol especial (in the sun), for 100 pesos. Which, we were SO excited about when we found out that it started at 6 so every seat would be in the sun, even the 160 peso tickets that others in our group bought. Stoked on our frugal choice. So, we took a taxi the Juriquilla, a suburb outside of Queretaro and arrived at around 5:45.  I can't believe that we actually signed up for that! So we showed up and it was this little stadium in the middle of this super nice neighborhood. confusing. Our seats were the equivilant to the nose bleeds, but it didn't matter because the stadium was tiny anyways. For those of you who don't know, in a bull fight there are 3 toreros (bull fighters) and 6 bulls. What. In the very beginning all of the toreros, the two guys on armed horses, and the other matador's in training come out into the ring and the musicians play a song. It is super hard to explain how the process works so I will try my best. There are the three main toreros and then there are about 6 other guys who have pink and yellow cloaks. Those 6 are the ones who taunt the bull initially, to  get him all riled up for the actual matador to fight. Then after he has been sufficiently taunted by the others, the men on armed horses come out and give him a stab in the top of his back/neck. It is not a deep wound, just enough to weaken the bull. And then comes the show. Each matador had a very distinct way about his fighting. I was surprised at how young they all looked! When the first torero came out and was fighting the bull it was such a surreal experience. He fought him for about 15 minutes and then killed him, which was insane. Our favorite was the third torero. He was SUCH a showman. It was insane how close the bull got to him, each time he went under the cloak it seemed like he could ram into him any second! After he killed it, the crowd went wild! The way in which he fought it made it seem like so much more of an art/sport than just the killing the poor animal. When we entered they gave us this white square piece of fabric and none of us knew what it was for. Maybe it's for sweat cause we're sitting in the sun? No. When the thrid matador was finished everyone started waving their white squares! They are a sign of approval/favoritism toward the torero! So cool. He was pretty much on cloud nine. The final bull of the night which he fought was crazy, and at one point in the fight someone threw their hat into the ring. The torero knelt down infront of the bull, picked up the hat, and put it on the bull's head. Again, the crowd went wild! That absolutely MADE the whole night. He was amazing. It was such an insane experience. At first I wasn't sure how I felt about it, especially the fact that people come every year and watch it as if it were a sport. But after experiencing it, I can completely see how it IS an art! And, for those of you who are having a hard time with this, you'll be happy to know that they give the meat of the bull to the poor people in the area, which is actually very loving and seems pretty practical to me. Anyways, it was quite a cultural experience!

Tomorrow we are going to Tequisquiapan, which is a little pueblo with a water park and a basket weaving museam and some other cool stuff. Adventure is out there!

Thanks for reading! Sorry that this was kinda scattered, I just wanted to write about it tonight before all of the details escaped my brain!

We finally found a church

Today was so great! Our friends Rafa y Alejandra (who we met at a comida last weekend, Rafa's mom used to teach spanish at Westmont but they now life here in Queretaro!), took us to Unidas Cristianas, which people from last years trip told us was AMAZING!!! It came up randomly in conversation last weekend and so we finally got to go. And let me tell you, it was a way overdue. It felt SO amazing to worship with a body of believers! We have had countless conversations among our group about what God is doing in our hearts, shared scripture with each other, and prayed together. But we haven't had many opportunities to worship together. So it felt amazing to sing today. First of all, I believe that worshiping in Spanish is the most amazing experience. Every time I am singing, I am in awe of that fact that the God that I serve and speak to in english ALSO loves people in Spanish. It seems rather simple, but it has been something that has come to mean a lot to me. When you worship the Lord in another language it gives you a sneak peak into heaven. FOREVER in eternity we will worship with every tribe and nation, the Lord of all creation! I am so excited for that day, but until then I love the times I get to experience worship in Spanish.

Also, praise the Lord, this language is finally clicking! Yesterday I went to a comida with one of the guys from this trip (it was a birthday party for his mexican brother). I met a few girls there and got to practice my spanish with them. They asked me what I was doing here and I told them I'm studying spanish. To which they replied, why are you studying it? You already speak so well! Those compliments are always incredibly encouraging. I am finally understanding it. And I have to say, I'm rather obsessed with it. I am definitely teaching my kids spanish before their language part of their brains separate! So much easier that way!! haha

 The sweet girls I met at the fiesta de cumpleanos

 Church... Of course I'm going here, it's a warehouse just like Rock Harbor and REALITY!!! Just like home.

 Pancitas llenas, corazones contentos

(Full little bellies, happy hearts)

Sista love (Sara, Emily, me and Shannon)

Tonight we had a comida at our director's house, because her husband is in town. We had an all american feast ironically! Hamburgers, hot dogs, chips, chocolate chip cookies. The works. It was TAN RIQUISIMO!!!!!! And it made us feel at home, and reminded us to pray for those who are still suffering the impacts of the attacks of 9/11. I can't believe that that was TEN years ago. So much has happened between now and then, it blew our minds to think about it tonight. Also, it was so fun to just spend time together in a house. We were all deeply deprived of cuddle time, so the girls all ended up scratching eachother's backs/arms/heads and just spent time being loving. It was so necessary!!! haha. We decided that colectively, our love language is touch, and considering that our loving mommies aren't here with us, someone had to do it! The boys pretty much laid on the floor in food comas from the hamburgers and hotdogs we gorged ourselves on. Basically, I adore this team with my whole heart.

God is so good. Today I got to skype into the India training meeting, which was bitter sweet to be honest. I wanted SO BADLY to be apart of the bonding and team interaction that was taking place, but it was neat to see that God is already fostering a spirit of unity among the team members. For that I am abundantly grateful. It seems like I will have no problem showing up 20 days before we leave and joining them! God is going to do BIG THINGS in India this December.

Thank you for your prayers! Please be praying for this week, we had a schedule change and now I have class a 8:30 monday and wednesday mornings and 9:30 tuesday and friday. Which is a little bit of a bummer considering that before we had tuesday and thursday mornings free to catch up on sleep, work on homework, workout, and spend time in scripture by ourselves and often times in a group. So, hopefully we can reacclimate to this new change, or they can change the tuesday class back to monday morning. Pray that communication with our teachers would be clear and easy, because considering that we are in an society where indirect communication is the ONLY way to go, getting our points accross proves to be a dificult task often times. Thank you for loving me and supporting me in this adventure!!

our God is so good

Okay, I'm not going to lie. Yesterday was one of the hardest days of my mexican adventure thus far. I am not quite sure what set it off, but I was feeling super sad and missing family and friends from home. After skyping with Wes, I was SOOO emotional and as I walked to school cried the whole way there. It was actually quite liberating feeling... no one knows me, I didn't have to justify why I was crying to anyone, I just felt... the whole way to school ahha. I had the opportunity to talk with a few of the girls here and they just gave me huge hugs and encouraged me SO much. I am so thankful for them! I am in the middle of reading Passion & Purity by Elizabeth Elliot (a story of her relationship with Jim Elliot, and their experiences before he was killed). Each time I read it God speaks to me in profound ways. Yesterday the chapter was "What to Do With Loneliness". Perfect, exactly what I needed to hear. She recounts a letter sent to her by a school teacher who is struggling with the absence of her husband because of his job situation, and encourages her with a few pieces of advice. The first was... BE STILL AND KNOW THAT HE IS GOD. "Use the stillness to quiet your heart before God. Get to know Him. If He is God, He is still in charge." This was so extremely pertinent to me because I had been struggling with the idea of sitting quietly before the Lord. As you all know, I love to talk. And talk. And talk. THEREFORE, silence is not something that feels or comes naturally to me. I love processing my feelings outloud with people, journaling about them, or using music to process them. None of these things involve sitting quietly. So, I have resolved to try it. Today I came home from class and no one was home. So I took my journal, Jesus te llama, and my bible outside to the patio. For the first few minutes, I sat quietly and let my mind focus on the first thing that popped into it, which of course was a song, Forever Reign to be exact. I let the lyrics flow freely through my head and tried to meditate on their meaning for me right now. "You are Lord, you are Lord, all creation will proclaim, YOU ARE HERE, YOU ARE HERE, in your presence I'm MADE WHOLE, you are God, you are God, of all else I'M LETTING GO. And Oh, I'm running to your arms, I'm running to your arms, the riches of your love, will always be enough, nothing compares to your embrace, light of the world FOREVER REIGN."

Another piece of advice Elizabeth gave was to Give thanks. "This loneliness itself, which seems a weight, will be FAR OUTWEIGHED BY GLORY!!!" And you will never guess what verse was in Jesus calling today.

Romans 8:18-19
"I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the GLORY THAT WILL BE REVEALED IN US. The creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed."

He also showed me Isaiah 61 (which made me think immediately of my sweet friends David Dry and Sara Reinis). "The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me, because the Lord has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisioners. . . I delight greatly in the LORD; my soul rejoices in my God. For he has clothed me with garments of salvation and arrayed me in a robe of righteousness." (61:1,10)

Basically, God is so good. He continues to encourage me in ways that are SO powerful. Yes, he did call me out on this adventure, and it is by far the hardest, most humbling and challenging thing I have ever done. BUT, he did not send me out alone. He promised to be with me in every second of every day that I am away. Everyday I grow to love him more. What a blessing it is to be redeemed by the creator of the world and to get to devote my life to serving him and his people. What more would be worthy of my attention and sacrifice!?

Thank you for your prayers. They are definitely felt and appreciated! I cannot wait to share more with you!

tercera semana

Well. Today marks my third week aqui in this beautiful city. I honestly cannot believe it. It feels like I just got here, but when I think of how long the first week felt, it seems like years. Yesterday we had the opportunity to go see the northern most pyramid in Mexico, El Cerrito. It was INSANE! The way our art teacher described it to us, I was expecting it to be this mound of rocks, half covered by dirt because it is still in the process of being excavated. However, it was a legit pyramid. I was blown away at the thought that people without advanced technological building equiptment could construct such a MASSIVE monument! It was awesome.

Then we had dance class later that afternoon. Oh my goodness. If there's one thing I will be doing a lot of on this trip, it is LAUGHING! First of all, we are learning this strange dance these miners used to do, which is just kinda funny. And secondly, it started RAINING in the middle of our class (which is outside on a patio!) So, not only did we look ridiculous, but also we were soaked. It is a square dance, so each pair stands on the corner of the square and then proceeds to dance in sync with the other three pairs (or at least that is the goal). Watching half of our group dance this was absolutely hilarious. We all died laughing. After class, we walked home, and it's a good thing my Señora wasn't home because I was DRENCHED and she would have had something to say about that haha.

Today we took a salsa lesson (as in the dance) at 6:30! It was SOOOO FUN!! I'm hooked! They have classes for 10 pesos twice a week! You'll know where to find me on tuesday and thursday evenings!! Watch out! When we left for class it was sunny with a few clouds in the distance. But when we started walking back to meet up with Justin and Sach, it was POURING!! So basically, I showed up at my house two hours later completely drenched! Oops. Love when every item I own to prevent wetness is sitting in my closet in my hour of need.

I am continually blessed by the people on this crazy adventure with me. They are each so unique and SO FUN! Each person has so much to bring to the group, and it is so fun to begin to watch that play out as we spend more and more time together. I miss my family and my Wesley tremendously, but I know that God is working through them at home to bring glory to his kingdom! Keep praying for language development! My comprehension is getting SO much better! I can pretty much listen and understand what is going on, I'd say 70% of the time. And I am speaking A LOT more with my señora, which is SUCH A BLESSING! She is so sweet. I told her that we found this panaderia where we buy the most delicious pan dulce in the WHOLE WORLD, and tonight she brought home a bag with literally 9 pieces in it. Precious.

Sunset from the tracks

 Beautiful Sarita and Shannon 

 Me being an ancient mesoamerican man

 These made me think of my sweet sissy

 Double chin man

 FACT... Laundry hanging out to dry is the coolest

Cena at la mariposa! Milkshakes... mmm