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!