Buenos... Dia.

Hey all!!
  I'm still trying to figure out how to address you all... Oh well. By the time this trip is over I'll have it figured out. :P

  Today was a really good day. I finally had my first lesson all to myself! Remember in my last post how I was talking about how discouraged I was feeling? And listening to the lies of the enemy? Well today really cleared that up for me. I was really worried because I was trying to learn verbs I didn't know as well as getting new things everyday and really trying to learn. This was... difficult to say the least. Breaking point difficult. Anyways, today our teacher, Yasmina, went over verbs with me and was very excited and encouraged to see that I knew almost all of them! I was super encouraged by how excited she was over my progress! :)

  I actually feel like I'm on a level playing field now. That I can learn at the pace I need and not be drinking information from a water hydrant. It reminded me of God's faithfulness in the midst of hard times. He always knows what we need and is merciful and gracious to provide us with what we need at  just the right time. It's so easy to forget that in the midst of hard times! But our Father always gives good gifts to His children. The team was talking about things and a parable that Jesus told came up. When He said "Who among you would give your child a snake when he asks for a loaf of bread? So your heavenly Father only gives good gifts to His children." So. So encouraging.

   After my lesson I walked to my cafe and had a wonderful time with Jesus and then talking with my family. Just so that you all know, google plus works sooo much better than Facetime in a foreign country! I then walked back to the hotel to catch up with the team on our plans. Us girls were going to get together with a missionaries kids and the boys were going to play basketball with the guys from the church. I know I know. I should've went with the guys to really show them what was up... but I didn't want to humiliate them. :P

 We had a great time out with the girls! Some downtime girly time was just we the girls needed and we needed to get the feel of what it's like to be a missionaries kid here in Mexico. It reminded me to pray even harder for Gods love to be shown here. It's not easy for them. Its very different here than in the US. You can go to jail for very little things that aren't even your fault. No health insurance... yeah. I'm more thankful of how God has blessed my family and I. We aren't well off to say the least but God has always provided. Funny how that happens. :P

   We had a grand ol homemade meal made by your's truly and let me tell you... I thought it was pretty good. Max and I teamed up in the kitchen and for the entire time tried to be nice to each other. ;) By the end of the night we were congratulating ourselves on getting along so splendidly. ;) Anyways, a great meal of parmesan noodles, chicken, green beans, carrots, and of course Arizona tea. We actually all set our phones on an opposite table and pretended that we were a family and had a no phones at the table rule. Lol!! It was pretty fabulous just relaxing and chatting with each other.

   Each day I can feel the team getting closer. Praise God for His kindnesses to us. Pray that our team would unite and be of one heart. Pray for health. I know I say this everytime but esta es muy importante! Tomorrow we go to a place with no wifi til Sunday so I probably won't be able to post again til then. Luv you all. To God be the glory!

Ash-Bash

Just the team having a team meeting... without me. ;)

These lovely girls!

My lil broskies. These guys aren't really lil guys. They're
real men of God.

Christ in me

So I missed another day. I'm laxing off. :P However I have a good excuse and I promise I'll make this one really good!

  So the yesterday was interesting... not really in the good way. It started out ok. The normal. Just breakfast, devos, studying, then classes... then everything went downhill. I'm right in the middle of all the classes so not a beginner but not advanced. So I've been struggling to understand a ton and memorize all this stuff that the others know already. Needless to say I got very discouraged and started believing the lies that being here in Mexico is pointless and that I won't ever be able to communicate with anyone in Spanish.

  When I get discouraged I either need to be with people that I really know and can talk to or be by myself. So I went to my little cafe and tried to google plus my mom not really expecting it to work. Surprise surprise it worked!! Sadly my computer only had 15% left so I only got to talk for a little bit... but thats all it took. Even though my mom encouraged me it only made me miss home beyond belief. Then throughout lunch everyone kept asking me if I was ok, which of course I wasn't, and making it harder for me not to cry. Our host and my friend Gabby saw that I was about to lose it and took me out to this really great pastry place called Oh La La. It was great to talk to someone older and wiser than me and I got revived by her and the words God spoke to her for me.

   We returned to the hotel and I talked to her sister Grace for awhile too before returning to my room. I then noticed that I was beyond tired. Like, super exhausted. Then I realized I was cold... and hot... and couldn't get warm. I took my temp and found out yes I had a fever. I NEVER GET FEVERS! I was like... What. The. Heck. For real God. What's going on?!! Now looking at it I know it was spiritual warfare. I told the team to pray for me and went to bed.

  Today, was better. We had good devo's and I went into lessons knowing that I only had to last today then tomorrow I would get my own class and be ok. I then had to go to the store to pick up a few things for the team cause I mean I may be a hard person but I don't want them to starve. ;) Anyways, got back went to lunch with the team, came back... and had a stomache from the food. By that point I was like "Fine. Whatever. Guys, pray for me." Which is exactly what they did. After that and some peppermint oil I felt much better.

  Before going into this next part let me tell you something. There's always something that go own. It's just how it is with living with people for 5 weeks. Anyways, the team comes back from church and my roommate Kim comes in wanting to talk to me. Well God really blessed the whole conversation and I believe that we got things squared away and now we know how to communicate. My heart felt so much at peace because I hate confrontations and miscommunications and want everyone to be happy and so on and so forth. I truly believe now we are going to get along soooo much better! This was so great as then the team had a great time of sharing and communicating and getting into the Word of God even more. We talked about how we can show the love of Jesus to these people. What would Jesus do? How can we learn from His example? It was... encouraging to say the least.

  We all talked after that for awhile and now I'm pleased to say we have a theme song!! Thanks John, Sarah, and Gabby for the inspiration! I will post it here for your listening pleasure. :P

  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HrjoMelwIIA

 Please keep praying for health. For me especially. And rest for the team. I know some of us are really getting tired and we have 3 1/2 weeks left. Pray that we will be challenged on so many levels and God would give us strength. Luv you all!

  Ash-Bash

 

Week 2 has started!!!

Hola mine peoples!!
  So you may have noticed I didn't write yesterday... it was because I was so tired and exhausted from all our studying and... non studying... and people time. :P There really isn't that much to tell but I'll fill you in on a bit.

  Sooo... Sunday! We slept in a bit (me longer because my alarm didn't go off), then went to church. THAT was very interesting! It was difficult to listen to the sermon because we only knew words and they were talking pretty fast. Anyways, afterwords I found out that I would be teaching 7 people how to play violin... in spanish. You could say that was a bit of an adventure! Afterwords we went out to lunch at this Thai place that had Mora!!! The best with yogurt!! Then we all rolled back to the hotel to study and rest before night church. After night church we went out with a few people from the church and had a grand ol time trying to talk to them in spanish. Then somehow I got wrangled into playing something... on my violin... in the middle of the restaurant. Yeah. How do these things always happen to me?

   Now Today! It was a great day! We restarted lessons today and everything started clicking! I mean everything has kinda been clicking for awhile but now it's really clicking! For everyone I'm pretty sure. I think because everyone has been talking to the people and everything it's been really helping alot in understanding the language. I'm so proud of everyone! It's been a real adventure this first week... and we have four more to go! God has been with us every step of the way. We could not do this without His help. God is so good!

   We had pizza for lunch and then I grabbed my violin and went out to play for a bit. Kim and Max came along to pass out tracks and talk to the people. We went to about three spots and while I drew a bit of a crowd with my playing Kim and Max were able to talk to people! It was truly God working! I believe that we are going to do it again sometime soon. Meanwhile, I'll have to think of more songs. They really like upbeat ones so if you all have any suggestions.... yeah.

   Now we're back at the hotel and studying and such. I'm really excited to see what else God does. These people have welcomed us with opened arms. I was scared of using my spanish because I was afraid they were going to get impatient. But they totally understand and are very gracious and patient with us. That has helped tremendously. Keep praying for us! God is so good... but it's very saddening to see all the people who don't know Christ's love and forgiveness. Pray that God would show Himself to us and these people. Pray that we continue to show God's love to these people and love them with God's love.

  Ash-Bash

Entonces

Hola Vatos! :P

So for you're amusement this evening I'm going to first give you my favorite slang sayings.

Hola vato = Hey dude

Voy hacer lo que quiera = I do what I want

Que onda vato = What's up dude

Dubete a un arbol y madura = Climb up a tree and ripen

Pintate un mapa y pierdete = Draw a map and get lost

Yo llego cuando quiero! Bruh! = I arrive when I want

Lo que sea = Whatever

Wakala = Gross


That's only a few to say the least! Gabby and Steven have been very generous teaching me all these Spanish slang sayings. :P Ok. Now for todays events!

  Today was a very relaxing and fun day! This morning we got to sleep in for an extra 30 minutes!!! <3 So. SO nice. The previous night we had decided to go to "El Canyon" to be tourists for the day. We saw Crocodiles and Monkeys!!! CURIOUS GEORGE!!!!! I. Was. So. EXCITED!!!!!! I almost tipped over the boat!! If y'all know me you know how much I'm a kid at heart and absolutely adore Curious George. So that was the highlight of my day! Yeah the views were pretty cool too. I guess. :P

 After some much needed chill time we went to church for the Valentines Party the church was hosting for the youth. More like a cool chill hangout time! Funny story. I was helping set up and get food out and stuff. Well, by the time I was done everyone was already sitting down and the only seat was next to my teammate Max. As I walked over to the table everyone became quiet... So, being me, I just said "Hola Amigos! Como esta?!" In a really loud voice and smacked my plate on the table. Everyone bursted out laughing and then, for the rest of the night, Max and I ran the table with our Spanish and the cup game. :P

  Anyways, now the team has been hanging out just chilling after Devos,,, and I'm pretty exhausted. So sorry this is so short but I promise others will be longer. Luv you all! Keep praying!

This Bridge looks like something out of Narnia or something!

 WE SAW CROCODILES!!!

Teaching these lovely chicas the cup game!

I saved my person favorite for the end... CURIOUS GEORGE!!!!! <3 <3 <3

Day 5... Exploring and Learning More!

Buenos Noches!!!

So here we are again. Lasted another day. :P I make it sound so bad! It's actually really great! Wasn't too sure towards the beginning but now that I'm immersed in the culture and language (starting to dream in Spanish) I'm having more peace about it. Now. About today.

  This morning I decided to take on the adventure of finding a famous coffee shop that our hosts said was the best. Well, with map in hand, backpack on, and sunglasses, I set off.... 45 minutes later I'm wandering the streets just trying to find any cafe with internet. I finally found one that had a delicious mango chai. So. Good. Just sayin'. I then had a few precious minutes to finish my homework and try to skype my family before going back to the hotel for classes.

  Speaking of classes it went so well today! It just keeps getting better and better praise the Lord! I mean as we jumped right in on Tuesday I really wasn't feeling it because I was really slow in picking everything back up. But God was gracious enough to give me the memory and wisdom to pick these new things up. So thank you everyone so SO much for your prayers in that regard. We then spent the rest of the day studying and then left for dinner and church.

  Before I continue there's something you need to understand. We were hoping to go to an orphanage today to put on a program and play with the little kiddos. Well... for some reason that is unknown to me the teachers in the area were protesting something... and proceeded to block all the roads today from 9-5. So we couldn't go. Sad day. But God used that situation to give us all more time to study which I was extremely grateful for. So He is sovereign in everything!

  After dinner we took a taxi to the house where the Bible study was at. That was fun! We all tried to converse with the driver in Spanish which he actually loved! One little thing. The drivers here have got nothing on the drivers in Ecuador or Colombia. Just sayin'. :P Then began our little adventure after we got dropped off. The number to the house was 24 but once the driver dropped us off we couldn't find it. We asked one person who pointed us in one direction... then another one... then another one... until we got back to where we started. We were actually in the right spot all along. But hey! We were going off Mexican time were everyone is later in getting started with events. :P It was actually a Bible study for 20+ but whatever. It was interesting trying to listen and decipher words from Spanish to English. Afterwords, while everyone was eating and visiting, we chatted with people and then I taught one of the musicians how to play violin... a bit. :P Just the bow but that's the first lesson really. We decided to keep the adventure going and walk home which is about a 20 minute walk. Really fun at night. :P

   So now I'm on my bed writing to you all and wondering what I'm going to dream in Spanish tonight. :P Luv you all so much! I can't stress enough how much I need your prayers. Me and the team actually. Just for wisdom, discernment, and grace with each other and ourselves. Steven Curry keeps reminding me that learning a new language doesn't happen over night but it's hard to remember that. I'm encouraged to know that I'm not in this alone. God has my back and always has.

Ash-Bash