Más de México :)

Hola amigos! Hermanos! Padres! Familia! Well, I've been in Guanajuato for 5 days now, and already SO MUCH has happened. It's been overwhelmingly wonderful. :) I am absolutely in love with my host family--mis padres (my host parents), Pilar and el Jefe :), have four kids and four dogs. Pilar is the best cook this world has ever seen (or maybe it's just the fact that they have all kinds of lovely fruits and veggies and coffee stuff here) and we've been playing Mario Kart Wii here at the house. My host brother, Mickey, is constantly yelling English obscenities, which makes for an interesting time. :)

(mi familia anfitriona)

I don't know where to start!! Here are a few highlights/blessings I've been met with since being here (besides the wonderful food):

1) Mi compañero de casa (the other student living here), Stephen, is from West Virginia, and has been helping me a lot to understand what my host family is saying, what people on the street are saying, where I need to go, etc.

2) We live on top of a huuuuuuge mountain, so the view is absolutely incredible.

3) On Friday morning, when I arrived at the host home of my buddy Rebecca, there was a meeting going on between about 6 women--and I soon realized they were studying the Bible. I listened in for a moment and they asked me to join them. I definitely didn't understand everything, but it was sooo awesome to experience a Bible study in another language. We were in Luke and Philippians, talking about enduring hardships because Christ endured them. And about keeping our eyes on Him no matter what our circumstances--whether in the desert or the harvest. The leader of the study didn't look Mexican to me, but she spoke so fluently that I didn't know any better, until she addressed me with an American accent. :) Her name is Amanda, she is from Oregon, and she's a missionary to Guanajuato! She's been here 4 years running a children's home with her sister. I felt so blessed meeting her, like it was absolutely where I was supposed to be. She told me she knew how hard it was being in a new place with people who don't speak the same language, away from the support system you know. They prayed over me. I love how He speaks every language, and is the same among so many different cultures. :)

4) Guanajuato is full of rich history--so far, I've been to el Callejón de Beso (the street of kiss), which holds a Romeo and Julietesque story, and to a lot of the buildings are from the 1700s. :)


5) I went to church on Sunday with Rebecca, Lisa, and their host family (Mari Cruz and her two daughters, Pamela and Fernanda). It was soooo sooo wonderful--it definitely lasted 3 hours, but I didn't notice, except a little in the bladder and the sore butt from sitting so long. :) We prayed for a while as people came in (no one is on time in México), then sang for a whole hour. It was my favorite part-- the small worship band played songs like "Hosanna", "Sing, Sing, Sing", "How Great is Our God", and "His Love Endures Forever," so I sang along in English. Then the pastor spoke for about an hour about how love is the excellence of God. He talked about how nothing matters without it and how it gives both us and God enjoyment. He also spoke on trials "pruebas" and how they make for a stronger fortress. We sang for another half hour, and then attended a fiesta for a bebé who had just been "introduced" to the church. It was incredible! We ate really traditional Mexican food and told chistes (jokes).
(the baby!)

6) Las otras estudiantes de otros países! The other students from other countries (and some from the U.S.)!! Today and yesterday have been our orientation days to the school, so I've met a ton of great people from Oregon, Montana, Canada, Norway, Sweden, France, Spain, and others from different parts of Mexico. We are all in the same boat, so it's been cool to hang out with them and get to know them---sooo weird that we'll all be here together for 5 months! Ahh!! We're going to a party tonight at a café/club called "Zilch." :)

7) The sounds. I am becoming quite accustomed to dogs barking all through the night, roosters crowing at 1 am, and the gas guy driving his singing/yelling truck around in the morning.


8) I am learning a whole, whole lot of Spanish. I can honestly say that I have picked up more in the past 5 days than in the past year of classes! It's so exciting to feel like I'm on my way to fluency! the equivalents to saying "That's sweet!" or "That's sick!" in Mexico are "Que padre!" and "Que chido!"--and a way of saying "What's up?" is "Que onda?" which literally means "What's the wave?" :) Buenisimo.

9) The people here are soo, so great. Really happy, really sweet.

10) Hmmm...I don't know...10 is just a good place to stop.