Durango, me pone feliz

(Translation: Durango, it makes me happy)

Durango was great! It was such a blessing to be there and I know that God planned for us to go there it wasn't just by chance. We made such good friends there in the church. It is amazing how close you can get to people in just 12 days when you are with them almost everyday.

Now for the highlights:

Friday we had a free day. We started out playing volleyball with the youth group! Yay! Volleyball made me happy :) Then we went downtown and explored a little bit. It was great to relax and deepen friendships.

We also went to a park in the city twice. This park was special because it is SUPER decorated for Christmas. There are so many lights and they have lots of different Christmas Bible scenes. It was really fun to go have our fill of Christmas spirit of sorts.

For Christmas Eve we went to Isai's grandma's house to have dinner and then we went to Sanbourn's, a restaurant, for dessert. In Mexico they celebrate Christmas like we do New Years in the States, waiting until midnight to celebrate. So we stayed up until about one enjoying each others company.

Christmas: We went to VIPS for breakfast, a sort of IHOP type restaurant so we didn't have to cook for ourselves. Then we went to Edgar's (one of the guys from youth group) house for lunch and were surprised with all of our youth friends there. After lunch we went downtown to evangelize by telling the true meaning of Christmas and praying with the people in the main plaza. Then we just hung out with our friends from Durango. It was a strange Christmas, but still filled with friends and happiness.

Overall, we loved our time there, made great friends, and will miss them a lot. I hope you all had a very blessed Christmas and have a great new year. I leave tomorrow for Cordoba, Argentina until the 25th I think. So, for about the next 4 weeks I will be using internet cafes again. I will keep you as updated as I can.

Durango Part 1

We arrived in Durango Saturday afternoon and then had lunch at Isai's house. Then we went to youth group for the night. Sunday we went to a town about 1 hour away to do a church service in Isai's uncle's church. We did dramas and Dina preached. Then we went to a youth group party in the night. During the week we have gotten up at about 8, had breakfast and team time, and then at about 10 we would start cleaning classrooms at the church school. Then we would have lunch at 2 and have free time until 4 when we would have a time to teach dramas to the youth group and then go somewhere and present them. We usually get back to the church at about 8, have dinner, go home, and sleep.
We have been staying at a camp about 20 minutes from the church where we are working. It is basically a bathroom with a bunch of bunkbeds. It also has windows without glass. Which means that when the night gets down to the 40's it is that cold in our room. So we sleep close to each other, with as many blankets as we have, in our sleeping bags and are pretty warm.
All in all we have been having a great time here and see God blessing our work here. Everyone we have met have been very friendly and the ones we have gotten to know are very fun to be around.

Now, just in case we don't have a chance to get online before Christmas... MERRY CHRISTMAS

Last Week

Last week was busy. For the teaching we talked about world missions. Our teacher for most of it was Martha Palomares who works with our base and Frontier Missions for the region. It was very fun to hear her stories. We also talked about other major world religions.

Something else we did was raised $2000 for outreach so that everyone can have an outreach wether in Argentina or Mexico. We still need $2000 more for Dina and Heather to be able to go with us to Argentina.

On Friday night we had a Christmas party. We had a nice dinner, funny "awards" for the students, and a gift exchange. It was a fun last night to be all together for the last time.

Heading out

I am leaving tomorrow at 5 am, and we only have a few minute until we have to go to sleep, so I am only writing a little.
I will only be able to use the internet through internet cafes for the next 6 weeks, so I don't think I can be as consistent in posts. I will do my best though.
Pray for us as we leave for outreach tomorrow! Thanks for all your support.

Just a normal week

This past week was pretty normal. Our speaker was Juanny Galarza who is our base director. We talked about world vision and things of that sort. For me it wasn't the most interesting week, but that is ok. For class on Friday we went to a big Catholic cathedral to observe their world view. It was pretty interesting because on the 12th they celebrate the Day of the Virgin Guadelupe, so there were lots of mini parades with dancers and things. It was strange to see how devoted they are to non-biblical practices.
On Wednesday, for small groups, we made cookie dough for peanut better cookies, and sugar cookies. We made a mess, but it was fun. Then on Friday night we all cut out the cookies, by hand since we had no cookie cutters. Then baked and decorated them. That was also really messy. It was really fun to just have time to be with each other. It has been very strange to do all sorts of Christmasy things while in short-sleeves, in 80 degree weather, without snow. It doesn't quite seem like Christmas without those things. But we will have Christmas anyway.

On Saturday we had a youth group Christmas party. It was really fun, but very different. Then church on Sunday and then dinner with the youth group to eat the leftover tamales. Sunday night the girls going to Argentina and I went downtown to try to raise some money for outreach. We raised about $57, so that was fun. It gave me a very different perspective on the people that have to do that for a living. What a blessing I don't have to that to live.

Outreach Update

I realized today that changes have been made for my outreach, and I needed to share them with you. So, here it is. Due to the price of plane tickets going up for the holidays to go to Argentina for the full six weeks would have been about $1800 which was more than we were willing to pay. So, we made the decision to go to Durango, Mexico for 12 days first. From the 15th of Dec. until the 27th. And then after that, on the 29th we will be flying to Cordoba, Argentina to be there until about the 25th, I think. In Durango we will be working with the uncle of Isai, one of the staff going with us on outreach. This is the plan as of now for outreach. I will be sure to keep you updated.

Here comes Christmas!

This past week we all talked about relationships; family, friends, and romantic. Our speaker was Larry Ballard from Madison, Wisconsin. It was fun to learn more about how best to relate to people and good guidelines to have for relationships.
On Thursday we all raised a fund from staff and students to buy a real, live Christmas tree. So a few of us went to pick one out. It was funny because we made sure that it smelled good and we laughed at for sticking our noses in all the trees. Once we got it in the room though the rest of our group admitted that it smelled good. So, it worked out.
Then Friday my parents came to town. I took them to tacos for dinner with most of the students. Then a few of us went back to my parents hotel and played in the freezing pool. Then on Saturday we went downtown to a river walk called Santa Lucia, then went to the governor's palace and went through a museum there, it was all in Spanish though so they didn't really understand most of it. Then we went to the shopping district and wandered around looking for Christmas presents. We had a relaxing evening with a typical Mexican dinner and hanging out.
Sunday I went to church while my parents listened to a podcast sermon from back home. Then Amber came with us to the old neighborhood, where on Sundays there is an artisan market. Then we went to the flagpole-lookout. That evening we celebrated Christmas.
Monday morning they joined us for worship and then went to the airport to go back to Houston.

Pictures

Sorry that last post was so long.

If you want to see any pictures I suggest going to Dan and Carey's pictures. They are other students here with me, and my camera broke, so I couldn't take any myself. There is a link to their photos on this page to the left.

Nayarit Out of Control

We left for Tepic, Nayarit at about 5am on Saturday the 10th. It was dark when we left and dark when we arrived in Tepic, it took about 14 hours to get there. As usual there was all sorts of craziness in the vans on the way. After being together, confined that long you get really comfortable with each other and things that aren't usually funny are. Anyway the drive wasn't really to bad, and it was really fun to see lots of Mexico that we otherwise wouldn't have.

We got to Tepic just in time to have worship with La Fuente Church's youth group. Then we went to the houses we were going to be staying in and got settled for the night, went for tacos, and hit the sack.

Sunday we went to a smaller town outside of Tepic named Pugo. There we went door to door inviting people to our program and then performed some of our dances. After one of the pastors from la Fuente preached. That afternoon we all went to the service at la Fuente which is the main service for that church. We all really enjoyed that service.

Monday thru Thursday morning we studied with a school that is part of la Fuente. It is pretty similar to ours, but longer and a little bit more work. The director of this school, Vangaurdia, is Clemente who was our fifth teacher. It was really fun to get to know his family and the students in the school.

Thursday afternoon we left Tepic to go to Bucerias, which is about 20 minutes from Puerto Vallarta. Through people knowing people we got to stay in a very nice vacation home right on the beach. So, we slept with the windows open, listening to the sound of the surf. It was great! We went there with the students from Vangaurdia and the some if the church's youth group, there were about 40 of us in all. Then we met up with a doctor group from the States and did a program with children from the school in both the morning and the afternoon. Some other people did cleaning/painting, and some did evangelism.

Then Saturday we returned to Tepic to work with another church, called la Cristiana Vida (the Christian Life). That night we did a youth service and got to meet some of the people we would be working with for the next week.

Sunday we went to church in the morning and in the evening we went back to Pugo, but a different place, since we were with a different church. I worked with the kids, and man, did they give me a run for my money. What energetic kids!

Monday we had a free day which was really nice. We went to a beach called las Islitas (Little Islands) and had fun relaxing, playing in the ocean, and enjoying each other's company for the day.

Tuesday we worked around the church and had one class with the school that Roberto Wilmer, our third teacher, has at his church.

Early Wednesday we left to go into the mountains to work with the Huichole Indians. Some people from Roberto's school/church came with us. It took about 5 hours to get there including all the stops we had to take for the vehicles. It was very fun. Most of them speak Spanish, so communication was not a problem. What was hard was the lack of any running water in the town, no electricity, cooking over a fire, and sleeping on concrete. But in spite of that we had a really good time playing with kids, doing some dramas, and showing 2 movies with a generator.

We left the mountains on Friday morning, spent the afternoon resting, and then in the evening went to pray for Tepic. We went to sleep early so that we could leave at 4:30 Saturday to return to Monterrey. Another about 15 hour car ride and we were back.

We are now living at the base and it feels good to be here. Thank you for all your prayers, I appreciate them all.

Crazy Busy Week

This week our speaker was the founder of YWAM Monterrey, where I am. His name is Roger Audorff. He and his wife Debbie came down for the week. The left the base to work as missionaries with Assemblies of God about 2 years ago. It was really fun to hear all their stories about people and events from here. He taught about team building and how we should build each other up and encourage each others gifts rather than be jealous of them.

This week we were also getting ready for Tepic, leaving tomorrow at 4am. We have had drama and skit practices every night except Monday this week. And we had to pack everything that we have here at the Quinta to move it all to the base so that we can live there when we get back from Tepic. It was super busy.

On Thursday we went to a couple of poor neighborhoods in Monterrey to pass out blankets and New Testaments. We prayed for them and were able to encourage the local pastors. It was really cool, but made us have even less time.

All in all it was a good, but busy week. We leave for Tepic tomorrow morning and I am not sure when we will have internet, so I will keep you as updated as possible.

An Embrace from God

This past week was a great week. We had a teacher from Indiana. His name is Brian White and he talked about the father heart of God. We basically talked all about how much God loves us and how He want the best for us. It was a great time of just relaxing in the presence of God and feeling His love and embrace.

Otherwise it was just a normal week as far a I can remember. Some Spanish class, some work duties, some intercession, one small group time, lots of class full of stories, and the week was over.

Oh, yeah, and on Thursday we had a foot-washing service. It was really nice. I don't think I've ever been to a foot-washing service before. This one, at least, was neat. Pastor Brian and Edgar both did it. One washed, the other dried, and while doing this they both prayed for us and shared what they felt God was telling them about us. It was really cool.

Then this weekend I went to the border again because the base needed me to put a vehicle permit in my name, since they don't have enough Americans for all the American vans they have. That was alright, not probably first on my list for weekend plans, but still good. Carey and Amber came with as well as two staff. We had two 15 passenger vans with us to register, and one of the staff is Mexican, so he couldn't drive it in the US. That means that I drove through McAllen in one of the big vans. It reminded me of our big blue van.

Anyway, that is all that is going on in my life as of now. I have a busy week ahead, since we are leaving on Saturday at 4 AM to go to Tepic, Mexico for two weeks. Beside that I hope you are all doing well and I love hearing from all of you.

Backtrack to this weekend

Friday night we had a costume party. We were all supposed to dress up as a character from a movie, but it expanded a little bit. It was very interesting to see how far people would go for a party and who people decide to be. I think it sheds some light on people's personality. There are pictures of this, it is pretty funny. Then early Saturday morning the Graf family and Katelyn and I left for the States. We got across the border in about four hours and proceeded to spend the rest of the day until about 7 shopping for things that are more easily found in the States. Then that night I stayed with the kids while Dan and Carey went out on a date. It was very nice to have carpet and an oven (ours at the Quinta is broken). So, I made some cookies and a frozen pizza for dinner. It was a great night of relaxing. Then on Sunday morning we all went to Palm Valley Church in McAllen, TX. It was nice to have sermon in English after many in Spanish. Then we did some more shopping and headed back home. It was nice to be in the States for awhile, but Monterrey has definitely become home, and where I live, not the US, at least for now. It was great to realize that this is home now.

Spanish or English

This week we talked about spiritual warfare and intercession. Our teacher was named Clemente Duran and he is from Tepic. He and our teacher from the teaching about righteousness, Roberto, are going to be working with us in two weeks when we are going to be in Tepic. It was a very good week. On Thursday morning we went to the mall about five minutes from our house to practice evangelism. I was in a group with Dina, Levi, and Heather. We walked around and through a series of events that God had to have orchestrated we had the chance to talk to a man named Eusebio. We talked to him for a long time and through this time he came to accept Jesus as his Savior. It was an amazing experience.
This week during our workshops we learned many dramas to music that we will be doing during our outreaches. They are fun to do, and will be very effective in street ministry. One of them is about the Good Samaritan, another is about how with God we need to be real and not wear a mask. They will be fun to do.
We also heard about what we are going to do in Tepic a little bit. We are planning to do street ministry and also help some visiting doctors. We are also planning to do preaching and teaching in the churches. They also told us that they are going to need all of us that are bilingual to translate and help the only English-speaking doctors translate. So, this week my Spanish class began to practice translating as much as we can. We are now trying to speak in Spanish as much as we can, so we can become more and more fluent. It is cool to see how God can use this.

An incredible week once again

This week was a great week. Our speaker was David Holmbeck, a YWAM base director from Weyerhaeuser, WI. He was a great teacher and really fun to have around. He really wanted to get to know all of us, so he spent a lot more time at our house around us than any of our other speakers yet. We spent the week talking about the Holy Spirit and many other topics that this led us to like baptism. Since I mentioned it now, I'll tell you. I was baptized on Friday with one of the other girls, Katelyn. I was baptized as an infant, but wanted to be re-baptized when I personally, fully realized that I was a new creation in Christ. I wanted to follow biblical precedent and be baptized to physically demonstrate that. There are pictures of it online, too, if you want to see. Other things we learned about were the gifts of the Spirit. It was really good to learn about the Holy Spirit, there was so much I didn't know, or maybe I knew, but didn't understand or remember. I do now, so that is good. It still feels like there is so much to learn, and I am excited to absorb more. Other things that happened this week.... We had to say goodbye to Mirjam on Wed., she was only here to volunteer for a month and now she is traveling around Mexico with her best friend. We all miss her, but were glad we had this time with her.
Oh, and last weekend we took Mirjam to the flagpole since she hadn't been there yet. We then walked around downtown some. They have some cool fountains there. I have pictures of that, too. It is just generally a nice place to walk around. I think that is all for now. Goodnight!

Lots of learning

This week has been good, too. A little bit harder because it was so much information. Our teacher, Roberto Wilmer, directs and teaches at a Bible school in Tepic, Mexico near Puerto Vallarta. He taught us about grace, justice, and righteousness. He usually teaches this class in 6 weeks, and taught almost all of it to us in 5 days. Needless to say there was a lot of information and it was hard to absorb and process all of it. But, it was really good information. This week we also had workshops. We have them two nights a week, Tuesday and Thursday. They are all about the arts. Last week we had drawing and this week both were about dance. We are learning a choreographed dance to a song in Spanish that we can use as an evangelism tool during outreach. It is hard, but will be fun to do once we get it down. Speaking of outreach, we have decided where we are going to go. Half of us will stay in Mexico and the other half, me included, are going to be in Mexico for two weeks and then in Argentina for 4 weeks. There are going to be five single girls in this group as well as one male and one female staff. We are all really excited about going. I am so glad that all of you are interested in what I am doing and praying for me. I wish that I could personally talk with all of you, but I can't. Just know that I am so blessed to have all of you supporting and loving me. Thanks!

Another Great Week

We had a really great time this week with our teacher. His name is David Teran and he is originally from around here, but right now he is a youth pastor/ worship leader in Wisconsin. He is good friends with one of our leaders, Edgar, so they joked around a lot. It was fun to feel more comfortable with him and more on equal level. He was also very passionate and excited about what he has learned about worship. The one thing that stuck out the most in his teaching, or maybe more was that we should be extravagant in our worship. The woman who washed Jesus' feet with her hair in Luke 7:36-50 did this and Jesus praised her for it. We should go the extra step for Jesus in our worship too. Another thing was that we can worship in all things it is not just singing and in singing and worship it doesn't matter what others think about you. The only people who matter in your worship is God and you. All in all it was a great teaching and I learned a lot. In other news this week, my Spanish class grew. Heather and Katelyn were moved up to our group from the beginning group. It will be a little bit hard for them, but it is better to be challenged than not learn new things. We have just been hanging out this week. There is still construction going on at the base. It has been quite a few weeks longer than planned, so we are still at the other place, the Quinta. It has been working out fine with the only real complaint being no internet there. I appreciate all your prayers and am doing quite well.

First week of Teaching!

We started having teaching this week, last week was more orientation type stuff. So, we had a guy named Miguel come. He was from Culiacan, was in his 40's and has a wife and 3 kids. He was a great teacher. He had Bible references for each point and had fun stories for many of them. It also felt like he really cared about us and wanted us to understand what he didn't know at our point in life. We also started language classes this week. I am in the advanced Spanish class with Ruth leading it and Amber and Casey as the other two students. We are going to learn more vocabulary words, some "Christian" words, and hopefully practice conversational Spanish. It should be fun. This week we also had a surprise party for one of the girls here. She was turning 12, so we had a piñata and some games. It was fun. The most fun I had this week, though was washing clothes by hand. It really wasn't too bad, but hopefully it won't become a common chore for me. I think that is about all we did this week. I also put more pictures online and I also have a link to my friend Heather's pictures, so you can see more if you want.

Amber and I at a lookout of Monterrey

I'm in Mexico!!!

I'm in Mexico now, and doing great! I got into Monterrey on Saturday afternoon. Going through customs was no problem and meeting up with our group from YWAM was very easy. Right now we are staying at a house in Guadalupe, Mexico a suburb of sorts of Monterrey while the base in the city is under construction. We will hopefully be moving back there next weekend. Meanwhile, however we don't have any internet unless we go to an internet cafe. My time here has been wonderful. Our whole team has really bonded well. There are 10 students and about 6 staff as well as other random people. We have already become good friends and I really feel like this is definitely where God wants me and with the people He wants me to be with. We have explored Monterrey and had praise and worship times every morning. Next week starts the real teaching times where a guest teacher comes and lectures us I guess. This should be fun to see how a normal week will work. The day that we arrived here was Mexico's independence day, so that night we went downtown and saw fireworks. It was really neat to see how similar it was to our 4th of July. Everything has been great with only 2 complaints- mosquitoes and ants, but that in minimal and pretty expected. All in all I am doing great and God is blessing my time here. (Pictures next time, it is time to go today.)

Mexico Awaits

As most of you know I will be heading to Mexico soon. I was officially accepted into the Discipleship Training School (DTS) with Youth With A Mission (YWAM). This program last for 5 months and is divided into 2 parts. The first 3 months are in Monterrey, Mexico and this part is considered the lecture phase. The last 2 months are in an area deemed to be in need. This part is the Outreach phase. I will be leaving Midland on Sept. 10 and visiting with my parents in Houston until the 15th when my mom and I will be heading to Mexico.