Day 4!!!

Hey y'all! So today was a good day. Good meaning that it was productive! However, I've got a God story that absolutely needs to be told.

  So yesterday I said that we went out for tacos. What I didn't say was that after that we went to the ATM to withdraw some money for the team expenses. Well, the ATM ate the card and wouldn't spit it out. We prayed that God would work a miracle then proceeded to make a game plan. John and Kim stayed at the ATM machine to wait and try to figure something out while Max and I went back to the hotel to ask our host what to do. We found out that we had to wait til morning to do anything since the bank was closed. We decided that the girls would have their lessons first while the guys went to the bank. In our lesson, while talking to our teacher, we learned that it would be impossible to get the card back. It was lost. However, we found out once the guys got back that our host knew someone at the bank and low and behold they had the card waiting for them when they got there!! We couldn't believe it!! We've been praising God all day for His kindnesses to us!!

   In our lessons today I was actually able to keep up! Which is saying something because normally it takes me awhile to comprehend ANYTHING. :P It was also really great because first: I wasn't sick. Second: We were actually talking in Spanish. Third: I was understanding it ALL!! :) I then proceeded to spend 30 minutes at a coffee shop going over verbs... until I got a text saying I needed to come back to go to the store with our host.

  Let me tell y'all one thing. Our hosts are amazing. Truly. Steven Curry and his wife Grace are wonderful and Gabby is such a great friend! For at least 3 hours we were out at the store having a grand old time with me trying to talk in Spanish and Gabby laughing at my "funny moments". :P OH! One thing that I got SO excited over was the mangos!! I. Adore. Mangos. Sadly I learned I'll have to wait for a bit to get them... but it's worth the wait so I'm good with that. :P Anyways, I spent the rest of the day engraining Spanish verbs and their conjugations in my head. With Steven and Gabby there to help me how could I go wrong with such wonderful, understanding teachers?!

  Funny moment. After I made dinner and we were all sitting around the table talking about the day, Kim turned to me and said something in English... but in my mind I tried to translate it into Spanish... and it made NO sense! Lol!! I finally realized my mistake a few moments later and we had a good laugh over that. Another funny moment. We were doing dishes and Max said "How do you say por favor?" We couldn't get over that one for quite some time!

  So as you can tell we are getting Spanish in our heads one way or another! Pray that it gets into our hearts as well. Pray that God continues to give us His love for these people. Pray for the Curry's and the Hotel, that God would bless them.

 

Our beautiful Mexican sunset

We tried to bond over playing footsies under the table...
didn't really work out too well but we got some good laughs!

A day wouldn't be complete without Devos. <3

Day 2 and 3

I'm super exhausted but remembered my brilliant plan to keep everyone updated... did I really say that? :P
  Well we all got started in on our lessons which was a bit harder than I anticipated. Learning verb conjugations is hard in English let along Spanish. Just sayin'. Anyways, We got to see the town a bit, which reminds me a ton on Colombia, and went shopping for our food. Can't wait to try this coffee shop called Oh La La. I've heard it's famous for it's pastries.

  Today, Wednesday, we basically did everything over again, devos, classes, studying, then went to church. It was completely different than what I was expecting. In Ecuador its not unusual for people to clap their hands or even dance. Here it was actually very orderly. It wasn't what I expected but good just the same. After church we went to this taco place that was... wow. Words escape me. For all y'all who think Taco Bell is good... yeah. You ain't seen nothing yet.

  God has really been pulling at my heart these 2 days already. Trying to keep me humble in my Spanish and let me tell you... it's working. It's only by His strength that I'm going to be able to do this. But that's the point isn't it? To learn Spanish so I can become a better vessel for Him to use. Granted God doesn't need me to do anything because He's that powerful He gets things done on His own. It's by His grace that He wants to use us.

  I won't be surprised if any of this doesn't make sense. I AM kinda tired. But I really wanted to let y'all know whats going on. Please continue to pray for us. We really need it!

  Ash- Bash

I'm going to be coming here quite often. <3

The roomie and I!

These stairs were just calling my name... another day perhaps :P

First official team selfie!! Even if it is blurry,

I couldn't take my eyes off this guy! He would cut the pork,
cut the pineapple and place it on the taco. Soo cool!

Language School Day 1

Hello mine people!

  I thought that it may be a good idea to start up my blog again for those of you who are even remotely interested in my life. :P For those of you that know me you know that I often say things with the full intention of fulfilling them... and then a year later. Meaning this blog. It may or may not continue after this grand adventure. I can only promise that while I'm here in Mexico I will do my utmost to keep you all informed. With that being said, lets jump right in!

  Yesterday I was up at o'dark thirty to get to the airport only to see 6 inches of snow on the ground and hear that my plane had been delayed 35 minutes. Now, I'm a pretty calm person... sometimes. I have learned in these situations to pray. Hard. Which is what I did. God was gracious enough to get me up in the air and make it to my connecting flight in Atlanta. I met up with our team leader, John Shoemaker, and found out that one of our teammates was stuck because of the snow and we would see him the next day. We then proceeded to board our 4 1/2 hour flight to Mexico City. With two kids watching Frozen in front of me I was bound to get a little airsick. :P I mean really?! Even going out of the Country I can't escape it. Figures. Anyways, we got to Mexico City just fine, minus our Frozen encounter, met up with the 3rd team mate, Kim Krause, and... here's where it gets interesting.

   I have always been conscientious about being on time. Call it what you will. Maybe coming from a big family I grew a bit tired of being late to things. :P But I mean especially with International flights (Thanks Daniel Cavanaugh and Liz Fox) I know enough that we need to be at our gate pronto. Well, we get to our gate and are wondering which line we should get into. Keep in mind that only one of us can speak Spanish well. We then learn that we're late to our flight and if we want to make it then we'd better run. So. That's what we did. Through the airport to the bus terminal where no one wants to talk to us or help us. Finally, a very nice, friendly, young man decides that we poor Americans need some help. He then proceeds to talk to an official, tell us the plane was actually late not us and, when it was time to go, helped us get on the right bus. Talk about relief!!

   We made it to our final destination without any further interruptions and sat waiting for our host to pick us up. I had brought my violin along and, not one to waste and opportunity to perform, decided to warm up a bit. How it turned into the airport people and taxi drivers all calling out songs, getting out their phones to record me, I've no idea. :P I've gotta say it was pretty fun though!

   So that makes it to today. My roommate Kim is pretty fabulous and I think we will get along perfectly! We are now waiting for our Spanish evaluation to see what class we should be placed in. Which is why I have time to write my first post! :) Please be praying for us. I covet your prayers greatly especially for peace, wisdom, strength, and health. God is going to do an amazing work here! I know that because He already has! I luv you all so much... for reading this. ;)

  Ash-Bash

St. Louis... Meh.

Mountains Gandalf!!

First selfie in Mexico!

        Why do people like Titanic so much???

Graduation!!!!!

Hey people!!
  So before the whole world faints from shock at seeing me on here let me tell you one thing... I'M A COLLEGE GRADUATE!!!!!! WHOOOOHHHOOOOO!!!!!!!!! You have no idea how excited I was after I did my very last task, which was another senior recital. The day after that I walked and received my diploma complete with Honors. What a great feeling it was too! Also I had a TON of family there to see me which was pretty awesome. I told everyone who was walking with me that they would know my family because they were the loudest ones. :P After all the formalities we took sooo soooo many pictures! The thing was is that I had to hop on a plan at 3 and we got out at 12... and I hadn't packed yet... and it was really hot... and now I'm just complaining. Stopping... NOW.
       We had such fun with everyone! After my recital we saw the new Star Trek, which was ok, and then after graduation had a little family party. It was soooooooooo great! I think just being with family was the biggest thing. I hadn't seen many of my extended family in over two years and I was especially thrilled that my 3 first cousins were there. Anyways, I just wanted to give you all a quick synopsis on what has gone on the last couple weeks. According to the stats I haven't written anything since December. Ouch. Yeah. that really hurts. See I always have this idea that I'm going to get better at updating... and it totally doesn't work. I'm going to say that since now I'm at Summit and will have more time, in a way, I'll be able to keep everyone more updated. However, I really think you all should get facebook or instagram that way I won't have to update this. But this is fun too so I guess whatever. :P Luv you guys and gals!
  Ash

Studying

Hey all.
  It's currently... 1 am and I'm studying for my music history final tomorrow morning at 10. Should be exciting times. To be completely honest lots has been going on and I could've written about it buuuuut..... like I said, much has been going on. I'm actually just taking a break to let you know that I'm still here alive and kicking... not sure after tomorrow though. If you all could be praying for me I would greatly appreciate it. Little late I know. :P What can I say. I'll give you more information on life when... tomorrow is over how about? Ok good. :) See you on the other side... maybe. :P
  Ash

#P4C12 Part 1

This past week I had the great privilege of being able to go to the Passion 4 Christ conference in Perrysville Ohio. I wasn't sure if I was going to be able to go or not because of funds but God wanted me to go so He provided. :)
     
    Let me tell you... it was... beyond incredible. Exactly what I needed. Even now I don't know how to put into words what I experienced while I was there. All I can say is that I believe I have never ever experienced Christ in the way that I did while I was there. He used every aspect of the conference to reach into the deepest corners of my heart. There are a few moments that stuck out to me in particular. 

    I had no idea that so many of my friends would be there which turned into a nice surprise. I remember getting to know people even better than I knew them before and completely opened up my heart to them and they did the same. We had sweet fellowship with each other and many times simply sat and excitedly told each other what Christ had been revealing to us or expressed our desire to understand hard questions that we had been struggling with. I was inspired by these people because I could see that they wanted Christ to be the forefront of their lives. It was so encouraging to be with these like-minded people for several days gleaning from their experiences and sharing and encouraging them as well. 

   Worship. Ohhhhh how I look at the word completely different now! In one session we defined what worship exactly and instead of making this post longer than it already is I'm going to save that for another time. But before every session we had a sweet time singing praises to the Lord of Heaven. Many I have heard before but there were two that I hadn't heard that had me on my knees before Christ. I'll post the link but wanted to write the words so you can see how powerful it is. 
     Oh Great God of Highest Heaven
     Occupy my lowly heart
     Own it all and reign Supreme
     Conquer every rebel power
     Let no vice or sin remain
     That resists Your holy war
     You have loved and purchased me
     Make me Yours forever more

     I was blinded by my sin
     Had no ears to hear Your voice
     Did not know Your love within
     Had not taste for heavens joy
     Then Your Spirit gave me life
     Opened up Your Word to me
     Through the Gospel of Your Son
     Gave me endless hope and peace

     Help me now to live a life
     That's dependent on Your grace
     Keep my heart and guard my soul
     From the evils that I face
     You are worthy to be praised
     With my every thought and deed
     Oh Great God of Highest Heaven
     Glorify Your name through me

This song is... overwhelming. It says all that is in my heart. We sang this song maybe three times and I was astounded by the simplicity of the words but how powerful they were. This is my prayer every day.Oh Great God of Highest Heaven
           
   One of the greatest eye opening moments was my "Lunch with Jesus". A two and a half hour time with just you and Jesus. Soooooo revealing! Jesus spoke to me! It was such an amazing moment! I was sitting outside going over my notes from the previous sessions about becoming immersed with the gifts of Christ in us. I decided to list all of the gifts I could see that Christ had given me. There I was listing them when all of a sudden, as I was reading a certain verse, I felt a lightning bolt of revelation. Philippians 4:19 says "And my God shall supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus." So, if Christ is in me and Christ has every gift... then that means that the gifts that are in me aren't even mine but Christs! Which means that I have a piece of Christ in me!! My gifts are His!! I got sooo excited in this revelation and still am!! It was just such an out of body experience!
  
   I have soooo much more to say over my time but sadly not enough time right now. But no worries. I will write again soon!

A challenge to keep up

I must say I have been very lax in my efforts to keep up on this blog. I deeply apologize. Sometimes I think my life must be very uninteresting to the average reader soooo... I don't bother writing. Other times I use business as my excuse. All in all though I should be better than I am now at writing. I promise to make a valiant effort to write at least once a week. This is actually therapy for me so I shouldn't be too hard to keep up. :P Now to catch up on life here's whats gone on this week.
  
   School, work, sleep, school, work, maybe sleep, school, work, no sleep then school. Weeeellll... actually it's not all that bad. The highlight of my week was seeing the Broadway play of Les Miserables with my mom. I had obtained some tickets for her birthday and the showing ended up being sooner than I thought. :P But it was absolutely AMAZING! If I wasn't addicted to it already then I am now.
  
   The play did remind me of something though. For the first part of the play I was disappointed because of a scene that was very descriptive. I found myself actually asking my mom if she wanted to leave. She said that it was only for this one scene and the rest would be better but I was still very uneasy and uncomfortable throughout the scene. I was troubled that no one else seemed bothered by it. This is the society we live in today. No one cares whats honoring to God. They only care about being entertained which is... extremely sad to say the least. Thankfully the rest of the play was incredible and I was able to enjoy myself and bask in the singers voices, the set, the orchestra, and the costumes. 
   

   This story reminded me of how we are called by Christ to die to ourselves. Take up our crosses and follow Him. Jean Val'Jeans life was not easy in the least and yet He put everything aside once he saw the Christ had redeemed him and followed after Him. This was very encouraging to me because it showed me that everything is worth it in the long run because once we get to a certain point the only thing that we see is Christ. That's how life should be. Or I should say how we should live it.