Time for another update, dear friends and family :).
Many things to recount for you. On Friday, at 7:25 we finished up our last class before Semana Santa, a two-week break celebrating the Resurrection. My last class was quite the adventure, since we only had 25 minutes to complete our lesson. My students in that class love to laugh and joke and many arrive late...so I don't think much was accomplished it seemed as though there was a knock on the door every other minute. And two of my students in the earlier class decided to knock and pretend to come in and sit down for class. The running joke here is that I would definitely be unable to teach all of them at the same time, because we would never stop laughing!!!
At 7:25 we loaded up the van to venture to our campsite/water-park. Once we arrived we set up the campsite and went over rules, and then we went to grab dinner. Burritos de bistec! So good :). After that we went back to the campsite, the boys sang and dance on the way back; and then Hugo gave the message about the importance of knowing God today, rather than waiting for tomorrow. And then...we played games in the dark. First we had to search for Yael, and our group miserably failed at finding him. Then we played ultimate frisbee, but I just walked around and watched :). Finally, we played Capture the Flag and I was in charge of guarding the flag. I got so caught up in the game that Nadia, a teammate of mine, and I ran right into each other-her head met my chin...full force. Capture the Flag turned out to be my favorite game of the night. We returned back to the campsite to sit by the fire, play mafia and have smores. My sister and I a few others got next to no amount of sleep, because we just stayed by the fire.
The next morning we woke up and went down to the pool and watched the boys play football and chicken. We were bundled in our blankets :). Then we had breakfast and Ryan gave the message of the importance of knowing what this break really means, and acknowledging the importance of it all year round. After that we watched the guys play soccer, and then most of us ventured down to the pool and played games for a few hours. We returned for my favorite meal, tacos de carne asada and spent the rest of the afternoon playing games and chatting over coffee and taking many, many pictures. All in all, it was a beautiful time, so much fun.
The next morning Montse and I went to church and met up with Nadia. The message was centered upon hospitality, and I have seen the truest of hospitality since being here in Morelia. We then came home and ate carnitas and rested for a time, and went to the Ranch to visit her family. This time I was much more comfortable with everyone and I was able to practice a lot with my Spanish! It felt so good to be able to hold a steady conversation without much trouble. We had a lot of laughs while we were there reminiscing some of what happened while camping and then making new memories while we were there.
And yesterday, we cleaned around the house and then went to Bible Study where I gave the message...I was extremely nervous, but thankfully God spoke through me. I was able to share part of my story and what brought me here and leave them with the thought that God hears them, He sees them, He loves them and that He fights for them.
Again these are my rambling strings of thoughts, and I write with over-brimming joy upon my heart, because God is blessing me so much. I feel that these dear students, family, friends of mine are doing more for me, than I for them. I am just four days away from my month anniversary of being here in Morelia, and each day my love for these people and this place continues to grow all the more.
