3MMM's for Mexican Sweet Bread!

This weekend started out kinda slow you could say. I didn't have any real plans...Friday a friend was supposed to text me to do something late, but they never did....soooo I spent the night reading up various books and ended it watching a favorite movie: The Sandlot. It was really a nice relaxing, quiet time to myself.

On Saturday I cleaned my WHOLE house!! From top to bottom, I picked up stuff, re-arranged furniture in the bedrooms upstairs, swept and mop'd all the floors! I also gave Lola a bath on the roof! (That is where the washing machine is, and a sink with a hose:)

Saturday night I went to the young adults service in my church. It was pretty good. There were about 15 of us there. When the young adults pastor started talking I was trying to focus hard on what he was saying. I thought I was doing pretty good, but apparently I was missing the jist of it, cuz from across the circle my friend Pavel was motioning to me asking if I wanted him to come over and help me. I was a little confused cuz he never has translated a service for me before so I shook my head no at him. Well as it turned out the pastor was asking if people had anything to share about what God was doing in their lives. Pavel tried to get me to say something like three times, and finally at the end he was like, "I know you have something to say!" But I didn't say anything, mostly because I really didn't think of anything until it was too late because I was busy trying to understand what everyone else was sharing.

After the service was over, Pavel and I waited for our friend Oly to get done with a meeting so that we could go and do something with her too. We decided to go get burritos from a great little place called Nachos. It's literally a cart on the street. But it's well known in Durango. They have the best burritos! One is 20pesos and it is sufficient to fill you up!
Hanging with Pavel and Oly is always an interesting time. They are a bit young, especially Oly, so sometimes I feel like I'm hanging with some kids from the youth group, but I like to be around them because they challenge me to practice my Spanish and help me learn new words and phrases.....of course the help comes often with much teasing and poking fun at me, but oh well, that's what happens when you learn a new language!! They are great friends and I am so blessed to have them.

Today I have church, and after church who knows! I know for sure there is a surprise birthday party for a co-worker at some point, but the planners of this event have mastered the art of planning like a Mexican, and told me they'd text me with the time later :-P. I love it. Like yesterday, I got a text that the young adults meeting would start at 6, but that was at five. I wasn't able to get there until 6:30, but that was ok, cuz they hadn't started yet! :D

I was re-reading an email I just sent to my mom, and I laughed at myself. My English was horrible!! Y'all will have to help me preserve my English!! Comment me, email me or call mee!!! And speak well, and properly tooo meee!!! hahahaa (I'm sure there's at least one or two of you who will be at least correcting everything mentally that I just said :p)

Hope everyone there in the great land of the USofA is going good. Miss you guys. You are always welcome to come and visit me!!

Sorry It's been so Long!!

Well, it's Monday night. Today was my first day to meet my students...all 42 of them (2 classes of 21--and actually I had two not show up--one from each). I am really excited about teaching here. And I can definately see myself staying here longer than my two year contract....but we'll just have to wait and see about that :p

I have been wanting to post but my internet connection has been less than reliable. :(

There has been soooo many cool things I've been experiencing since moving here two weeks ago!

I'll try to hit the highlights.

First, my mom drove down here with me and stayed for the first week. It was such a huge blessing to have her here!!

Second, my apartment!! WOW. If you haven't seen pics, they are posted on myspace. I was totally blown away at how blessed I was to get such an aaaammmmaaazzzing apartment! I've recently seen other places that some of the teachers have...and I really got blessed with a great place!

Third, my chruch. It's been an extra blessing having a church here and people here I already know and am familar with. I hope to be more involved at church in the coming weeks, but since my spanish is still limited it's hard.

Fourth, (why am I numbering again?) I live in the historic part of downtown. Every weekend at night there's some kind of live music playing in one of the many plazas located near my house, and I can hear the music wafting through my windows. Because of my location practically everythying is within walking distance. I even walk the three blocks to work everyday! I only need my car when I want to drive to church which is on the other side of town (like 15-20min tops---and that's considered FAR for here! ha) or if I want to drive to the mall/walmart (which is only 10min depending on traffic).

I love it here. The last I remember being this content to be in a place was when I was in college more than 6years ago! God has really blessed me and given me sooo many of the desires of my heart. It's incredibly overwhelming to think about. If you've been asking God for something, or you wonder if a life circumstance will ever change, hang in there. God is faithful. He hears you. Keep reminding him of his promises to you, and ALWAYS thank him for what he has done and will do!!

Some things you can pray about for me, if you'd like are:
-I need to find a good christian sister to share daily struggles with and to pray with....
-For Lola, my dog. She's really scared of all the city noises. She has been having a hard time adjusting.
- For me to be a light in the work place. For the first time I find myself not working in a christian environment and it's different, a bit of an adjustment for me. I want to share my faith with people, but at the same time I dont want to come across wrong, ya know?

That's all for now:)
I'll try to not take so long for my next post!

Back in Monterrey

Hola Todos!
Como estas!!
Estoy aqui en Monterrey otra vez! jajaja

Every year my parents and I take a vacation down to Guadalajara to visit my grandpa. This year my parents decided to drive down instead of flying...SOOOOOo I had them drop me off here in Monterrey so I could spend some time with my friend Dina :)

When I first got here, it was Saturday night. My parents and I had a bit of an adventure to find where Dina lives, but we made it. After they left me it was fine, but on Sunday I had a bit of culture shock, I think. Dina had to go to work so I went to church with her dad. This is the same church that I attended when I was here for my DTS>so nothing new really> but I started feeling like "WHAT AM I DOING HERE!!" "No ONE Understands WHAT I am SAYING!!" "HOW IN THE WORLD AM I GOING TO LIVEEEE IN MEXICO" hahaha.....

You know you can want something, and hope for something and know that it's really what you want, but there is that moment when you are like...are you sure this is what you want?! I had that moment on Sunnday....

In the midst of my sudden realization of the hugeness of my decision to move to Mexico, the peace of God came to me and reminded me of promises I had previously found in his word. I know coming far away from my home, from my comfort zone, from my family will be something difficult. BUT I also know this is my next step in life. And the rewards of being here will far out weigh those if I stay home in my comfortable environment. :)


Sooooo I've been having a little bit of fun here. Dina has been working every day except Monday....I have had a lot of time to do nothing.....but it hasn't been all bad. I've got to hang out with Dina's sisters. And I get to see Dina on her lunch breaks and at night, aaannnnddd I get to sleep next to herrrr!! hahaha

Right now I'm sitting at the mall where Dina works....just waiting for her to get done.....

I think on Saturday I will take the bus down to Guadalajara to join my parents who are already there.

New and Improved?

In case you didn't notice...I've changed things up a bit!!

I like my new background, do you? You'll probably have to look at it more than me!

Haha.

Well, my trip to Seattle Washington was very nice. We did a TON of sight seeing and took a bunch of photos...I added a slide show at the very top of this page...you've probably already looked at all the pics or are currently looking :-p

Seattle was beautiful. Loads of fresh beautiful flowers in bloom. We went downtown a bunch, went to scenic lookouts, took a Elliot Bay harbor tour, took a ferry to Bainbridge Island, stayed up in the Space Needle til the sunset, visited the original Starbucks, toured a very informational Flight Museum, saw a couple of octopuses at the Seattle aquarium, experienced a butterfly habitat at the science museum, shopped at the tourist trap call Pike Place Market, OH and went to my friend's wedding :)

It was a very full and busy time there, but I enjoyed it. I was, however, ready to come home.

The school year has come to an end. That means its time for me to look for another temporary job!! I have the rest of this week, next week and a week and a half at the end of July....anybody have any suggestions? I'm thinking I'll look into a temp agency tomorrow...

:)

Leaving, on a jet plane....

Well, it certainly has been a while since I've posted anything, but that's only because there hasn't really been anything new or exciting to bore you all with!

And there still isn't.

I've just been staying busy substitute teaching 5 days a week in lots of different schools, meeting lots of different people! Each day is somethin else!

Tonight I'm starting out on a bit of adventure...I'm flying with my parents to Seattle, Washington. A good friend of the family is getting married on Saturday out there in Seattle. I've never been up to the Washington area before, and I'm very much looking forward to it!

Blessed

Hey y'all.

I am soooooooOOOooOOOO incredibly blessed. God is SO good. My lame words don't hardly do him justice. When I take a moment to reflect on his goodness to me it's overwhelming. Really, my believing friends, take a moment think about how good God has been to you!

PRAISE HIM.

I really need to work on a newsletter to send out to everyone I know about what I've been up to and what I'm doing next. hmm...maybe I should make that a priority this weekend....

I love teaching. Yesterday I was in a first grade class. Apparently, they are an unruley bunch...I didn't so much experience that. About half way through the day another teacher asked me how it was going and when I responded with a good, great, they were shocked and told me that usually by then the regular teacher was pulling her hair out. Thank you Lord for giving me wisdom in classroom management! WOOo. It was an ok day yesterday! (I definately don't think I want to teach that age for an extended amount of time, but the day itself wasn't bad.)

TODAY, right away when I walked into the 6th grade classroom, there was chaos alll over the teacher's desk. The first thing I found was a note from yesterday's sub...it started out like this "Where to begin. your classes, both of them were horribly behaved...I have never seen it this bad out of all the schools I've taught in...." Not a good sign.

However, I LOVE THESE KIDS!! They are sooooo much fun!! I honestly have not had trouble with these guys. (haven't had the second batch yet) They like to talk A LOT, and I did have to re-arrange some desks, but there's nothing HORRIBLY wrong with their behavior....God has blessed me!! Thank you, Lord, again!! My help, my advisor! My EVERYTHING! WOOOOO!!!


HAHAHAAA
jajajajaaa

Oh, and I love it when I tell the hispanic students I understand what they are saying...and they don't believe me until they something in Spanish and I repsond back .... the look of shock is priceless... MWAHAHAHA

'round, 'round, get around, I get around

>>Greetings earthlings.

>>Today I hail from Hauke High School. An alternative school. Meaning, this is were they send all the "bad" kids. WOooOoo.

>>Actually today has been really pretty good, and easy. Class sizes are about half of what they would be in a regular school, and the kids are surprisingly respectful. I think I wouldn't mind subbing here again!

>>This past weekend was district fine arts competition for the kids at church. I went down into Houston with them to volunteer in a room and just cheer them on. It was a lot of fun. I love doing youth event things!!!!

>>Sunday I was singing "It's a Small World After ALL" when after church I was approached by two young girls that looked strangely familar. Apprently I had subbed in their class the previous week!! YeStErDAy, at yet a different school I hadn't been in before, a student told me I looked really familiar...I said, I'm not surprised!! I think by August I'll know everyone in Conroe, Woodlands, Spring area and be ready for a new city in a new country!

>>That is all. Take me to your leader.

Fun times @ Mitchell Intermediate

Yay! For day two in the sixth grade class at Mitchell Intermediate!

I love working with these older kids. They are big enough to know what to do, and they actually do it (if you keep up on them), but still young to still care about doing a good job (unlike many of the Jr. Highers I've encountered).

Had some fun with period three class yesterday...they were wanting an easier name to call me... one that has stuck, and I even heard to today was Miss J-dawg. :D I told them as long as they put Miss in front of it, it was fine with me :-p (of course within reason).

I started taking some cough syrup last night before church. It's a prescreption kind from like a year ago. I've never felt the side affects of this syrup, that I can remember, but I also didn't take very much of it, which is why I still have it. HOWEVER, this morning I took a third dose....and yeah, I'm feeling it now. Got the drowsiness and dizziness thing going on. I think if I just keep moving, maybe that'll help me from dropping my head to the desk like a rock in a pond.
It's going to be an interesting day with this feeling of my head being slightly detatched and my eyes slightly crossed....bring on the sixth graders!

Librarian for a Day

Yesterday, I had the unique opportunity to be a library aid. I say unique because Aid positions pay less than teaching ones, so I don't take Aid positions. This one, however, was put in the system as a regular teaching job, by accident. It's too bad librarians don't get paid more....I really enjoyed myself...checking in books, checking out books, putting books away. Hardly a dull moment with kids coming and going, and going and coming. :)

Today, I'm at an intermediate school...5th and 6th graders. :) The day is just starting, and already they have me filling in other classes while the class I'm supposed to be with is at their P.E./fine arts specials. No nice morning break for me today, but it's all good. These fifth graders are really quite studious.

I'm excited to be working with kids this age as I look forward to teaching 5th graders this fall.
Now if I could just get rid of this congestion in my head/throat/chest I have going on........

life in the fast lane

It always amazes me when I'm in a new classroom (which is everyday being I am a substitute) how the kids respond to me. I can put on my mean face and get on their cases a million times, and by the end of the day I have a stack of pictures they've drawn for me. They don't know me, I make them behave, and they love me for it!

This past week I had one student write me a poem that read: Roses are red, violets are blue, and I think you're pretty too. :)

Crazzzzy Kids. I love 'em.

-----

Congrats to my best friend Jamie!!
She's now a MRS!!!!
Wooo!!
Her wedding was lovely, and I had a great time! I had fun catching up with old friends and making new ones.
God truely blessed me with people whom I could share the weekend.

Here is the beauuuuutiful bride!

BIG NEWS!!

Hey Everybody!

So I have waited to post anything until I knew for sure what I will be doing this fall...

It is both exciting, and scary to say that this fall I will be teaching in Mexico!!!! I have found a bilingual in Durango, Mexico. I have been offered a fifth grade teaching position. Besides being paid, they provide housing, medical insurance, and language classes!

I am super excited and can hardly believe the adventure I'm about to make. I am happy to have my parents support on this decision, as well. It all seems a bit surreal, and I think I might be crazy :-p

Here is a map of Mexico so you can see where it is I'm going!

If you click on the map you can see it bigger!

Here We Go Loop-D-Lou

I have nothing exactly important to post about....

Life has started to get back into some-sort of normal swing.

Started subbing for Conroe Independent School District.

It's been good.

Checking out some exciting possibilities for this fall, I'll let you know if anything solidifies.

And I have my car! :)

Chicken & Biscuits

Today I substituted in the public school today for the first time. Woo. It went well. I took a P.E. class. And it turned out better than I could have imagined because there was an aid there, who knew what was supposed to happen. I just had be the law and make sure they behaved. The only thing I didn't like about today was we had to make the kids run outside this morning, and it was SUPER cold. bleh.

I also went shopping today :)
I don't like shopping.
I can never find something I like.
It is always more than I want to spend.

Today, however, was different.
Found some good goooood deals. woo.
Now if shopping could always be like that, I would love to shop...jaja


Oh and I have a new-to-me car!! woo

Here's a picture!



What a nice car :-p

Now I just have to think of a name for him.

Blind Leading the Blind

A Blind Stick Up


This morning as I was reading in the book of Matthew one little part of a sentence stuck out to me and has made me laugh all day long.

It says, "As Jesus went out from there, two blind men followed him,".

I don't know about you, but to picture two blind guys FOLLOWING someone, is pretty darn funny. I don't know how they followed him, but apparently they eventually tracked him down, and were healed.

And that got me to thinking too. We are all spiritually blind, until, by the grace of God our eyes are opened. What a blessing it is to have sight!

God is so good.

:)

Flying through the days!

Its almost been two weeks since I have been home. And, boy, I have done alot! jaja

Two days after I was back I was working again in the day care at my church.

One week after I was back, I wrecked my car!! :(
The insurance company totaled it.
I got a nice sum for it, but now I have to find a nice new-to-me car....sigh....

Last week I also applied to substitute for Conroe Independent School District, next week I will begin doing that :) :)

And that is all for now. As soon as I can get the pics off my phone, I'll post some of my crashed car :'(

It's over, It's over, It's all over now.....

Well DTS is completely over, and I am home now..... so sad....

I really need to catch you, who read this, up to date with the end of my out-reach phase!!

Well, like I think I said in a previous post, Dina and I didn't have enough money to go to Argentina with our whole team. They made a special out-reach for us around Monterrey. For the first 12 days we were in a small mountain village called Mimbres. They had electricity there, and running water, kinda....

I guess I should start at the beginning of this second part...But I'm gonna make it short sweet and to the point...cuz sooo much has happend since I need to post mooorrreeee!!



So our two weeks in Mimbres....To start of the trip there we packed a Ford Explorer with SIX people and the luggage and supplies for TWO WEEKS....and I had to sit in the back....It wasn't fun sitting back there, up in the mountains, things sliding all over me!!! I think I was car sick for the whole two weeks we were there...or at least when ever we drove...I didn't have to always sit back there, but the roads were sooo horrible!!
While we were there it was super cold. SUPER. Keep in mind that they don't have nicely insulated houses. Even when I was inside, I was cold. Unless I was by the fire, especially at night, I was freeezing. There towards the end of our time there, it was getting warmer...at least during the days!! jajaja!


Here, our first night, Dina and I were breaking out all the blankets so that we could sleep warmly. During our time in Mimbres our main mode of ministry was just visiting people. And since I am not fluent in Spanish, I mostly sat there and tried to follow...but my mind could only take that for so long. We also preached in three of the local churches. Dina and I took turns preaching. To begin with she was way better than I, but with more experience I got better. Besides visiting and preaching, Dina and I got play with some of the kids the last couple of days! Those were the best times up in the mountains!!


After the mountains we headed to SALTILLO!!! wooo. We were there for two weeks also. The first week there, we worked with a Nazarene church. It was a different kind of experience working with the people there. I loved the pastor and his family...There was a lot of drama going on in the church though. Our biggest ministry here was cleaning. We cleaned the house we stayed in. We cleaned the pastor's house. We cleaned the church...ALL of the church. Just me, Dina, and Esther!! Clean clean clean.
Dina and I also took turns preaching in this church too. I think we both preached/taught two times each while at this church. We also tried to teach a drama to the youth, but they were really not into it which made teaching them extra difficult. But we managed.


After that week, we entered our final week of out-reach!! I couldn't have asked to be in a better church either. Even though we only had one week there, we had the pleasure of working with the youth everyday of the week. They were a great group of kids to work with. The first night there we meet with the youth group and started teaching them dramas and skits right away. The next day we started on the two day project of painting Tony's bed room. Tony is the son of the pastor of the church we were working with. Tony's best friend was there helping us paint to. Those guys were lots of fun to work with. In the picture to the left it is Tony, Nacho, Me, and Dina. :) We got a little crazy with the paint there at the end...we did an executive paint job though...complete with a nice light blue stripe around the top...The room was blue because that is Tony's FAVORITE color.


While there we did A LOT of different things. After spending two evenings teaching the youth dramas and skits, the third night we went to a little neighborhood where the church we were working with planted a new church. The kids were great! So into being leaders and ministering to the people! I also spent a lot of time driving the youth everywhere!! At least that's what if felt like...whenever we wanted to do a street service or program we all piled into that little red truck and went...sometimes the pastor didn't even come with us and I had to rely on the youth leader Luis, or Tony tell me where to go...IN SPANISH!! Lets just say I learned my left, right, straight real quick!!

All in all out-reach phase turned out to be pretty good. Tough in a lot of moments, but I wouldn't trade them for the world!


Last week of DTS was difficult and stressed. It was super cool and super weird to be back with everyone, minus the Graffs. We had a TON of free time and we spent most of it playing a card game called Phase 10! I was so blessed to know these guys!!! They have impacted my life and I will never be the same. I miss them sooooooo much! Especially my Dina! DTS was an incredible time growing. I have so many great experiences that I couldn't even begin to tell them all!! But if you want, just ask! :)

Nuestra Cruzad-eichon

Me and Dina...twin-kies...this picture was taken in Durango at Parque Guadiana.

Due to lack of fund-age, Dina and I are on our own special little "Out-reach" phase. Our team left us yesterday to go to Argentina to complete their "Out-reach" phase. We got to go to the airport to see Chloe, Amber, Katelyn, and Oby off...it wasn't too bad saying bye to them. It was when Isai came to say goodbye to us that the water works more or less started.....we were supposed to be traveling with Isai....later when we had a meeting with our team leader Esther ....there was a flood of water works.....we were pretty pathetic. To top it off we had to go downtown after our cry fest and try to talk to people one on one. Later that evening, we had free time. We decided to go to Starbucks, so we headed to the one in the mall.... it snowed!! Fake snow, but it was snowing in the mall! If you look really close you can see it in the picture!! The best part of the evening what when Pavel and Poncho started texting us, then called us. :) We also ran into a friend of Dina's that she had been wanting to see since before we got went to Durango...So the night turned out pretty good despite how pathetically miserable we were.

This morning we were totally blessed to get to go to church in Dina's home church. I feel totally at home with these people and it was nice to be in a familiar place...This morning they had an extra special service for the end of the year. It started off with about an hour of praise and worship, then an hour of preaching, then an hour of special presentations....by then I thought they were going point to the back and say "HEY YOU! In the back! Yeah, YOU. You look like you want to say something, how bout you come up here and sing or dance or clap or something...."

In this pic some of the youth came up to sing a special....that's Azael on the drums...and Dina's dad grooving to the music in the back.This evening we were supposed to do a service at a different church, but that got canceled.



We did, however, have a bit of fun already....Esther got locked out of her room and we had to break in....Apparently Esther didn't know her door was locked when she exited. First we tried to climb over in the bathroom....exciting times.


Now Dina and I are being complete internet junkies. We had fun talking to Pavel on SKYPE while he looked through our pictures from Durango (online). We also called my grandpa and Dina talked to him in Spanish.

On January 2 we leave for Galeana. So for now we are enjoying our last few moments on the internet before we head to do massive amounts of teaching, preaching and freezing up in the mountains, where we won't have any internet for two weeks....I know what will we do?!? Actually its not so bad, not being connected. Lots of fun things happen, always. After we get back done from Galeana, I am not sure what we are doing, but we are going some where else for two weeks.

And thus has been the second part of our out-reach so far. You are thrilled, I know.

At Home In Durango

Its incredible how you can become so attached to a group of people in a very little amount of time. The past 12 days in Durango have been, not without its challenges, but a time I will forever and always remember and cherish.

When I first signed up for this five-month-YWAM-thing I knew I would not be spending the holidays at home. I did not, however, count on it being sooo HARD to be away from home during the Christmas season.


As soon as I got to Durango, I was immediately blessed to see the city extravagantly decorated for Christmas. There was a park downtown that was all decked out with Christmas lights. We had the pleasure of walking around there and enjoying the season, twice!

As Christmas was was quickly approaching, we were beginning to build long lasting friendships with some of the youth of the church. We began teaching them some of our dramas, and they helped us with our street programs.

On our third day there, instead of going out and doing a program, Isai took us (the YWAM team and some of the youth) up the side of a mountain to a church that overlooked the city. Up there we separated and individually began to ask God about the city: how we could pray for it, how we could bless the people...

As I found a place and began to look over the city I thought it was strange to see several groups of birds circling in different areas of the city. Thinking about it, I thought that these kinds of birds only fly like that when there is something dead they want to eat. Almost immediately I the story of Ezekiel speaking to the dry bones in the desert came to my mind. I got my Bible and searched for the story and found it in Ez. 37. Shortly there after we all came back together as group to share what God was speaking to us about the city.


At first I was hesitant to say anything, I didn't want to say there was a lot of death in the city because I saw some birds and thought of a scripture... However, when prompted, I did share and after I spoke, Isai confirmed what I had heard God telling me by saying that the city has the most suicides. We also heard about several fatal car accidents before and during our stay in Durango....

As Christmas was coming I was really not looking forward to it. It was REALLY hard to not be with my family for Christmas...BUT it turned out to be WAY better than I thought it would.

Christmas Eve we had the pleasure of joining Isai's family for dinner. Afterward we found an open restaurant downtown to get a coffee treat. I think we were there for at least an hour....it was midnight before we left! Everyone was very tired...you can imagine the silly things that were going on because of the late hour....

On Christmas day they told us we would be heading to the church to make our breakfast (like usual) and then we would clean the bathrooms....To say the least we weren't thrilled with this idea...it was CHRISTMAS!! When we were pulling away from the camp grounds, I made a flippant comment about going to an IHOP or Vips (which is very similar to IHOP). Of course, all the gringas liked that idea, the Mexicans...not so much. After some negotiating we were on our way to Vips for Christmas breakfast!! It was a nice treat, something out of the ordinary. After eating we stayed longer talking. We took turns going around the table and encouraging one another. It was a good time. By the time we left it was after 1pm!! We had to rush to Walmart to get somethings before heading over to Edgar's house (kid from the youth that invited us over for Christmas dinner). When we got there I was very excited and surprised to see our other friends Pavel, Poncho, and Aohli. Having them made a big difference! ~totally made the day~ After we ate we did our little gift exchange ( we did a secret santa).


Then all of us were off to downtown Plaza de Armas. We had to do about an hour or so of ministry. When we got there practically everyone had to go to the bathroom...so while we waited Pavel (and I think Poncho maybe) treated us with an ice cream cone from McDonalds. Then we split into groups of three and headed out to mingle and talk with the people.

At first it was a bit odd. We weren't sure where to start. We wandered around for a bit. Then I suggested we ask how their (whoever we approached) Christmas was, since it was Christmas DAY. From there we could ask them what the true meaning of Christmas was to them..

My group talked to probably five or six different people. There was one lady, though, that impacted me the most. She opened up and shared with us that a year ago to the day her husband committed suicide, leaving her and their two young daughters behind. Its one thing to know something about the city, to pray for it, but to put a face to it, to know it first hand is something totally different. My heart breaks for Durango.....


After we were done talking to people were just there in the Plaza standing around laughing and dancing to the Christmas music. We were given three hours of free time because it was our 2nd to last night in Durango. We decided to walk to a coffee shop...it was closed, so we decided to walk to an ice cream shop........it too was closed, so we walked....we found a tienda that was open AND had a bathroom so we stopped there for a bit....from there walked to the park were all the lights were-- just outside of it. After hanging around there for awhile...having fun in the fountain and with the water from the fountain....

Chloe was the only one who wanted to brave not only the yucky water, but also the freezing cold by getting in the fountain....I am not sure what she was thinking... Later Amber got Pavel and Poncho really wet by pretending she wanted to show them something in the fountain and then splashing them with the water... here we can see Pavel's Fanta bottle BEFORE he emptied the rest of it to put water in it to get Amber back...


When we were tired of all that fun we decided to walk all the way back to the Plaza de Armas. There we determined that we were hungry, but the gringas didn't have much, if any money on them. Pavel, Poncho, and Edgar decided to buy us all hamburgers. First, however, we had to get Pavel's car out of the parking garage...we then put 9 not so small people into Pavel's not so big car...Poncho rode in the trunk!! It's an experience I won't forget...especially since someone in the back decided to release some gas... It was definitely a Christmas I will always remember!!

We have great friends in Durango...I say I have family there!! I know God is got something incredibly awesome started there, I can't wait to go back!


Here they are...our family in Durango!

This is Pavel, mi hermanito. We broke his car when we were all in it....he's an awesome kid that God's got HUGE plans for. I am totally blessed to call him friend, and brother.




Here are Edgar and Poncho. These two guys were always making us laugh!! They were a riot! These guys, and Pavel are such extraordinary gentlemen!


Here is Mariana and Aohli (I think that's how you spell their names). There girls were sweet. It was hard to say goodbye to them!

Durango

Hey! So we are in the first week of our Outreach phase! And what a crazy journey it was to get here!! I wasnt sure I would make it. The last week in Monterrey was a bit on the stressful side. Money for my out reach just wasnt coming in. I thought I was going to have to go home. And I wasnt the only one lacking the green...a couple other people on my team too! At the end of the week the staff and students took up an offering. With that I am able to come to Durango with my team for twelve days, after that Chloe, Katelyn, Amber, Oby, and Isai will be going to Argentina and Dina and I will be staying in Monterrey. I would really like to go to Argentina with my team, but we lack 2,000. So, unless something happens, this is how it will go.

SOoOOoo, entonces, We have been working hard here in Durango. Already it has been quite the missionary experience :p Complete with FRIGID showers and getting locked out of our dorms...Its been good. We have been blessing the church here by cleaning some rooms, and ministering to the youth and young adults. It was amuzing to me to see that the young adults here do pretty much the same back home. :)

I hope everyone has a very Merry Christmas!!

Loves
Heather :)

Real quick...

I uploaded more pics from this last week. They don't have captions yet, and I am planning on doing another fabulous (or not so fabulous) blog with pics, but right now there is no time.

Things are all up in the air here. Funds haven't come in for my outreach phase so we are discussing different options I have. Reality checks bite the big one.

Anywho...more info to come as I have it!