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.