My Summer

Every night I go to bed to the sound of planes flying over the house, dogs fighting in the streets, thoughts in Spanish in my head, and with the hope that there will be running water in the shower in the morning. (I have take bucket showers all week!)
I love being here! It has been an adjustment, but now I know the family and have made friends. I have experienced life changing events. I'm glad I'm here.
It was hard at first-no one spoke English...now I can call a taxi and get around here by myself! :) I love the independence. I was told I spoke better Spanish than a missionary couple that have been here for 8 years. :) That makes me feel good.
The family was an adjustment too. There are 13...and I wasn't used to that. Now I love them! I wouldn't change it for the world. There is always something going on. Last night I rocked my 7 month old "neice" to sleep. The age differences are amazing. :)
The food has also improved! I now eat! :) I actually crave the tortillas...I don't know what I will do without some of the food here...chocobananos especially!
School starts on Wednesday after a 2 week break. I'm excited to get back into the swing of things. Teaching English to 2-5 year olds is a challenge. But I love them all so much. I love them for their energy for life and their energy to learn.
Praise God for his faithfulness through everything! :) I love where I am right now. I am completly and happily content. I have my down days still...but I always know it will get better...I will always have another bucket shower morning. :)
Miss you all!

Love it Here!

I don´t have time to post. But I´m just going to say that I love it here. If I don´t come back to school in the fall this is where I will be. :)

Adjustments

Estoy en Guatemala, and it´s an adjustment. It has been very hard for me. Living alone. I am the only one that speaks English. I know that it will get better, but right now it has been tough.

I love the kids at the school, but even that is different and new. It will take some time for me to become comfortable with it. It´s like a new job...everyone hates being new. :)

Pray for health and for adjustments. I haven´t been feeling well, and I haven´t been eating a lot. Nothing ever sounds good. The food is very different than at home.

I also don´t have a lot of contact with the other girls. I´m hoping as time goes on that will improve. But in the time being it has not been easy.

I keep telling myself it´s a new experience. It gets better day by day.

God is doing great things here. It is amazing to listen to the stories of what He has done.

God is faithful and right now the only friend that truly understands. That is definitely a comfort. I am definitely becoming more dependent on Him. I wouldn´t change that for the world.

Bendiciones! Thanks for your thoughts and prayers.

I hope to come back on the internet soon, but I am very busy. Until then... :)

Me voy

In about 6 1/2 hours I will be on my way to the airport to start my summer in Guatemala.
It will be a summer of new challenges and experiences. It will also be a summer of learning. I can't wait!
Please pray that I will be able to adjust to this new type of summer within the first few weeks. I'm nervous, but I know that once I am there I might never want to come back. :)
I will try to update this as much as possible but I can't guarantee anything.
It also might be in Spanish pretty soon... :)
I can't wait to see what God has in store for me this summer. I know that He will do great things because He is faithful.
Now it's time for bed.

New Information

This morning I found out some new information on where we will all be living and what we will be doing. We were hoping that we would stay all together in one house but it doesn't look like that will be happening. We will all be staying with different families with quite some distance in between. It's good in that we will be able to fully experience living on our own with host families, but we also had all these plans of getting together for devotions and talking about our days each night. We will just have to work extra hard at getting that together.

I will be working with a school and day care called Preciosos Momentos (Precious Moments) :) I will be staying with the principal of that school. The other girls are working with different organizations and living with different families.

We will be together for breakfast on Friday mornings for the ResQ ministry which is for the homeless in Guatemala. Wednesday mornings will also be training mornings with all the other interns.

This will be difficult. I ask for prayers as living on our own will be stretching and as we work with different ministries. It will be a growing experience,and through it all God will be there.

First Day at Calvin

Today was my first day at Calvin. I felt like I was moving in all over again...but not really because I didn't have as many things. My whole life is in a rolling duffel-that is clothes and shoes wise...not people. :)

After we all arrived, we ate dinner. We had chicken tacos and chips and salsa. It was a good meal. We then watched a video on the global church and had a discussion about it. I need to remember this summer that I don't have all the answers. I can learn so much from the people that I will meet. The global church is a body and all the parts are needed. I want to go into this summer with a "posture of learning".

After the video we introduced our team members to the rest of the group. There are 13 of us in all. My team members are wonderful. I can't wait to get to know them better.

After, out team competed against the other teams in a variety of challenges. Unfortunately our team came in last....but it was so much fun!

We then did devotions as a team. We all received that book Taste and See by John Piper. It will be a great way for us to reconnect during the day.

That's all for now. I have to wake up early tomorrow for a day of being orientated. :)