So, as school has definitely already started back home, I am missing Crusade like woah! BUT it´s definitely a growing experience being away and I wouldn´t ask for it any other way. Plus, as I mentioned before, Vida has already made a place in my heart!
But, just to stay in the loop, Dan updated me a little bit on how things are working this fall in Cru and I´m pumped for everyone! I want to be praying for the movement and the people involved, so I started with the ¨lifegroups¨this morning as I walked to the university. And as I was praying for all of the leaders a great feeling bubbled up inside of me. Joy I think. And confidence that they (we) are going to make a huge impact on campus this year for Christ. These were my prayers so that you can either join me in praying, or let me know what I´m missing...what else needs prayer. And please tell me!
Em and Sam- I pray that they have the time and energy to focus on the study and the girls involved. With Em being a senior and Sam involved in theatre.. I know it´ll be hard. But at the same time I think they will do an amazing job. I pray that Sam will be able to use all she learned on her summer project, because i know it must have been a ton. I pray that Em can use her quiet spirit to draw people in. She has more spiritual wisdom than she realizes...I´ve already benefited from it here!
Kyle, Joe G, and Ron- I pray with confidence that these guys are going to do great things this year together. I can already imagine how their humor will draw people in. I pray that they can also demonstrate how to be men of God through their actions and words.
Josh and Shannon- Two people I´ve yet to meet, yet I´ve heard great things about. I pray that they have knowledge of how to lead our campus in the best way possible and that they have a great time doing it.
Dave and Steve- I pray that you give these guys confidence to lead their group. Help Steve not get too overwhelmed with helping with two studies, but give him never-ending energy. They too are men of God that I pray can be learning more and more every step of the way teaching.
Laycee, Elizabeth, and Jess- What a great group of girls! I pray that they can learn how to work together and enjoy every minute of it! Laycee has such a fun spirit, I don´t know how anyone can not want to hug her. Elizabeth has such a welcoming and friendly spirit that I pray works to draw people in. And Jess has such great knowledge of the Bible and wisdom about how to live a life pleasing to God. I pray that this trio works to impact lives for Christ!
Nat and Sara- :-) I pray that these two work together well. I have a feeling that they will compliment each other wonderfully. Natalie is a natural evangelist and Sara is great at asking important questions that get people thinking. I pray that they have wisdom and courage to lead the new girls with love and joy!
Lord, guide these leaders...make them more like you. Make them listen to your voice and help them to make an impact at CMU that is neverending.
AMEN!
If you don´t know these people...GET TO KNOW THEM!! They are amazing.
Friday, August 29, 2008
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
Long update
Hola a todos!
So, despite having only two days of classes, last week I managed to keep rather busy. Thursday I volunteered in a place called “Ciudad Oculta” which means “Hidden city.” It was quite a poor area but all around you could see little kids running around playing, happy as can be. They were also really lacking in volunteers, as many of them have moved on to other countries or returned home, being close to the beginning of the school year. Where I was there were only me and another girl from France, who is quiet, but nice. I helped kids with math and colored for a couple of hours, and then headed home. That night Abby, Katie (another girl from the university), and I decided that we wanted to go out to dinner. That was fun. I don’t eat out for dinner much here because Vicky cooks every night, but I always like to try it. It was interesting…we didn’t get a table until after 10pm and didn’t start eating until probably 11 at least. And there were people still waiting for tables after we got ours. That just shows you one major culture difference!
Friday during the day I didn’t do a whole lot. But it was very pretty outside so I grabbed a few empanadas and walked to the park that is nearby to enjoy the sun. When I’m alone with nothing really to do is the prime time for the enemy to do his work, so I made sure to keep my thoughts on God and busted out a book to read called “The Ragamuffin Gospel.” I’m about halfway through it and that day it really got my thoughts going. It was a good afternoon. Then I returned home to get ready to go to Vida, the Crusade group here. I had a little bit of time before I had to go and just happened to look at my little shelf where a picture of my sister and me sits. I suddenly really missed her and wanted to talk to her, so I called her. Not gonna lie, it was probably a mistake because I could only talk for a couple of minutes and I got crying afterwards, but o’well. I hadn’t talked to either my mom or my sister in such a long time and I really miss them!
So anyways, I met Andrea and one of her friends at the subte and we headed to Vida. Apparently they do different things each week and this week was mainly focused on watching the Argentine vs. Nigeria soccer game in the Olympics. So we played a few games and had a short message until the game started at 1am. Yes, that’s right 1am!! And I managed to stay awake for the whole thing and enjoyed it! So that was another late night, until about 4am.
Saturday I ate lunch in Chinatown again…mmmm….with Abby and Katie, and killed time until the evening. In the evening Krista and I went to a concert thing that featured a couple guys who played Tango music. It was cool because they had done a project in a mental institute to create some new songs. A couple of the guys from the institute were there and got a ton of applause after the songs were performed. I was glad I went, but getting home was a bit more difficult than I thought. We were having a hard time finding what bus Krista should take, so she said she would walk home because she really wasn’t that far. I got on my bus and halfway home she texted me that four teenagers had attempted to mug her! I felt so bad for having left her, but she assured me that she was fine and they didn’t get anything…she just had to push them off and yell a bit. Eek, I wouldn’t have liked to be in that situation!
Sunday all four of us, Katie, Abby, Krista, and I went to a real Argentine “futbol” game… or soccer as we call it. We were a little nervous because we know that games can sometimes be dangerous and we were four girls without male escorts, but it all worked out just fine. No one got hurt or robbed, so all is well. :-) haha..
AND Sat. night I got to talk to Nat and Sara via skype, so that was a good night as well.
Yesterday I had classes like normal and then went to Bible study with the STINTers and a couple of Argentine girls. We did it all in Spanish this time, so that was interesting for sure. In a good way though…but I realized that there is a lot of “spiritual vocabulary” that I don’t quite know in Spanish. I’ll get there! It was nice though, I felt like it was a piece of Cru from home. They were talking about using the solarium and stuff, which is sweet because I brought mine with me! Knowing that school is starting up back home is a weird sensation, knowing I’m not there to be a part of it! Such is life.
Love you all!
So, despite having only two days of classes, last week I managed to keep rather busy. Thursday I volunteered in a place called “Ciudad Oculta” which means “Hidden city.” It was quite a poor area but all around you could see little kids running around playing, happy as can be. They were also really lacking in volunteers, as many of them have moved on to other countries or returned home, being close to the beginning of the school year. Where I was there were only me and another girl from France, who is quiet, but nice. I helped kids with math and colored for a couple of hours, and then headed home. That night Abby, Katie (another girl from the university), and I decided that we wanted to go out to dinner. That was fun. I don’t eat out for dinner much here because Vicky cooks every night, but I always like to try it. It was interesting…we didn’t get a table until after 10pm and didn’t start eating until probably 11 at least. And there were people still waiting for tables after we got ours. That just shows you one major culture difference!
Friday during the day I didn’t do a whole lot. But it was very pretty outside so I grabbed a few empanadas and walked to the park that is nearby to enjoy the sun. When I’m alone with nothing really to do is the prime time for the enemy to do his work, so I made sure to keep my thoughts on God and busted out a book to read called “The Ragamuffin Gospel.” I’m about halfway through it and that day it really got my thoughts going. It was a good afternoon. Then I returned home to get ready to go to Vida, the Crusade group here. I had a little bit of time before I had to go and just happened to look at my little shelf where a picture of my sister and me sits. I suddenly really missed her and wanted to talk to her, so I called her. Not gonna lie, it was probably a mistake because I could only talk for a couple of minutes and I got crying afterwards, but o’well. I hadn’t talked to either my mom or my sister in such a long time and I really miss them!
So anyways, I met Andrea and one of her friends at the subte and we headed to Vida. Apparently they do different things each week and this week was mainly focused on watching the Argentine vs. Nigeria soccer game in the Olympics. So we played a few games and had a short message until the game started at 1am. Yes, that’s right 1am!! And I managed to stay awake for the whole thing and enjoyed it! So that was another late night, until about 4am.
Saturday I ate lunch in Chinatown again…mmmm….with Abby and Katie, and killed time until the evening. In the evening Krista and I went to a concert thing that featured a couple guys who played Tango music. It was cool because they had done a project in a mental institute to create some new songs. A couple of the guys from the institute were there and got a ton of applause after the songs were performed. I was glad I went, but getting home was a bit more difficult than I thought. We were having a hard time finding what bus Krista should take, so she said she would walk home because she really wasn’t that far. I got on my bus and halfway home she texted me that four teenagers had attempted to mug her! I felt so bad for having left her, but she assured me that she was fine and they didn’t get anything…she just had to push them off and yell a bit. Eek, I wouldn’t have liked to be in that situation!
Sunday all four of us, Katie, Abby, Krista, and I went to a real Argentine “futbol” game… or soccer as we call it. We were a little nervous because we know that games can sometimes be dangerous and we were four girls without male escorts, but it all worked out just fine. No one got hurt or robbed, so all is well. :-) haha..
AND Sat. night I got to talk to Nat and Sara via skype, so that was a good night as well.
Yesterday I had classes like normal and then went to Bible study with the STINTers and a couple of Argentine girls. We did it all in Spanish this time, so that was interesting for sure. In a good way though…but I realized that there is a lot of “spiritual vocabulary” that I don’t quite know in Spanish. I’ll get there! It was nice though, I felt like it was a piece of Cru from home. They were talking about using the solarium and stuff, which is sweet because I brought mine with me! Knowing that school is starting up back home is a weird sensation, knowing I’m not there to be a part of it! Such is life.
Love you all!
Friday, August 22, 2008
A Lesson on Patience
Okay, in my last blog I mentioned that my first day of my trip to Salta did not exactly go as planned, but I got a lot out of it. This is what happened:
I was alone for my first day but it was okay because I had a ticket to go on this sweet train ride called ¨Train to the clouds¨ that lasted 15 hours and I heard was beautiful. You go all the way to the Andes mountains and up over 4,000 meters. Being such a long trip, we had to be there at the crack of dawn. I took a taxi while it was still dark and drug myself into the train station. We had to be there 50 minutes before the train departed, so of course we ended up standing around for awhile. Well, by the time we actually were able to board, I wanted to shout at the top of my lungs, ¨Un poco paciencia nunca mató a nadie!!¨ I don´t know if that´s an expression that they even have, but to me it translates into ¨A little patience never killed anyone!!¨ I want that morning to be a personal reminder about the importance of patience.
I witnessed impatience turn beautiful and kind people into something ugly and rude. It was awful! I also now realize what patience does to me when I allow it to overtake me. There really is no use for it, because many times when you become impatient, there is nothing you can do about the situation anyways. So after we boarded the train, I thought that I had learned a great lesson. However, God decided that I hadn´t had enough of a lesson.
We began our journey on the train. I ended up sitting next to a Danish man named Thor. Haha, I got a laugh out of that. He was even tall and had long blonde hair, like a viking king. We went for about 30 minutes and then the train stopped to make a ¨routine stop¨ for mechanical reasons. Well, after about an hour they told us that we were getting ready to leave. Of course people were getting impatient once again and just imagine people´s anger when we were told that we unfortunately wouldn´t be able to make the trip! They told us that they would be refunding all of our money (because it was quite an expensive trip) when we got back to the station. People were in an uproar. When we got back to the station there were news cameras, which fueled the fire for people. That´s another thing I learned...impatience breeds impatience. Then, the best thing happened to me.
A older man walked up to me and, apparently spotting that I was a foreigner (maybe by my flipflops...I´m not sure how else he would´ve known) said to me, ¨Te pido disculpas como Argentino¨ This translates to ¨I beg your pardon as an Argentine.¨ It was the most refreshing thing I heard all day.
I´m sure God intended this day to teach me a lesson on patience. And I am very glad that I was there to learn it. I pray that i can take something away from that day and apply it to my life daily.
I was alone for my first day but it was okay because I had a ticket to go on this sweet train ride called ¨Train to the clouds¨ that lasted 15 hours and I heard was beautiful. You go all the way to the Andes mountains and up over 4,000 meters. Being such a long trip, we had to be there at the crack of dawn. I took a taxi while it was still dark and drug myself into the train station. We had to be there 50 minutes before the train departed, so of course we ended up standing around for awhile. Well, by the time we actually were able to board, I wanted to shout at the top of my lungs, ¨Un poco paciencia nunca mató a nadie!!¨ I don´t know if that´s an expression that they even have, but to me it translates into ¨A little patience never killed anyone!!¨ I want that morning to be a personal reminder about the importance of patience.
I witnessed impatience turn beautiful and kind people into something ugly and rude. It was awful! I also now realize what patience does to me when I allow it to overtake me. There really is no use for it, because many times when you become impatient, there is nothing you can do about the situation anyways. So after we boarded the train, I thought that I had learned a great lesson. However, God decided that I hadn´t had enough of a lesson.
We began our journey on the train. I ended up sitting next to a Danish man named Thor. Haha, I got a laugh out of that. He was even tall and had long blonde hair, like a viking king. We went for about 30 minutes and then the train stopped to make a ¨routine stop¨ for mechanical reasons. Well, after about an hour they told us that we were getting ready to leave. Of course people were getting impatient once again and just imagine people´s anger when we were told that we unfortunately wouldn´t be able to make the trip! They told us that they would be refunding all of our money (because it was quite an expensive trip) when we got back to the station. People were in an uproar. When we got back to the station there were news cameras, which fueled the fire for people. That´s another thing I learned...impatience breeds impatience. Then, the best thing happened to me.
A older man walked up to me and, apparently spotting that I was a foreigner (maybe by my flipflops...I´m not sure how else he would´ve known) said to me, ¨Te pido disculpas como Argentino¨ This translates to ¨I beg your pardon as an Argentine.¨ It was the most refreshing thing I heard all day.
I´m sure God intended this day to teach me a lesson on patience. And I am very glad that I was there to learn it. I pray that i can take something away from that day and apply it to my life daily.
Wednesday, August 20, 2008
Salta La Linda
(This is me trying coca leaves)
I just got back from my beautiful trip to the northwest of Argentina! We went to a place called Salta and also Juyuy. They were very beautiful places and I have never seen mountains so big! We didn't quite make it to the Andes, but the Oriental range instead, which are a few hundreds of years older than the Andes.
I started out my trip alone. I was a little nervous but didn't want to tell my mother for fear that she would worry. :-) But luckily I managed just fine to get on the bus and travel the 20 hours to my destination alone. I arrived at our cute little hostel, called "nuestro sueno" (our dream), pleasantly surprised by its cozyness. The woman at the desk was also very nice and helpful, telling me how to get to the center of the city to explore. I went out and walked along a long street that had different artesans selling some cool stuff. However, because I was alone, I appeared to be a great target for a few guys selling jewelry. I stopped to look at one guy's stuff and he quickly asked me if I would go back to his room with him! Wow, talk about moving quickly. I got out of there and continued on. On my way back another guy stopped me and tied a string bracelet to my wrist and also asked me if I would go out with him later. Flattering, but not exactly enticing. I do still have the bracelet though, and it's cute! haha.
The next morning my day got all messed up, but I will make a different post about that later. I ended up meeting Abby and Katie when they arrived in the late afternoon and we also went out and explored the city for a little while. We found a restaraunt to eat at and enjoyed the service of our friendly waiter, Max. The next day we began our adventures into the mountains. We were accompanied by our lovely guide, Viviana, and another traveler from Germany, Martina. They were both very nice and we had a great time together! I can't even go through all of the small places we stopped because I will never remember them! But some did include the salt flats, a few small towns, arquelogical cites, and the jungle! The salt flats were sweet because it is just white for miles. We stopped for the night at Puramamarca, a small town nestled in between the mountains. Katie and I got up early the next morning to take a trail around the mountains and apparently see a cool view of the mountains. Well, on our way to the trail a random dog suddenly jumped out of nowhere and attacked me! Not anything horrible, but he was jumping on me and trying to bite my ankles! We eventually got him under control and he followed us the entire way around the trail. We even eventually affectionately named him "psycho dog." It was quite interesting.
The salt flats!
The last day we were back in the city of Salta and had a city tour that we thought was private, with just us three. Well, little did we know, we were to be joined by about 15 others who only spoke Spanish. Good practice, but not quite what we were expecting! I had to go around noon to get back in time the next day for my class. But I did manage to snap a few good pictures!
Overall it was a great trip!
Monday, August 11, 2008
Ta-da!!
An eventful past few days! I’ll begin with the dinner I cooked on Friday. Well, it ended up that I mainly just de-boned the chicken and that was all, but that’s okay. Vicky was so excited about everything that she made the stuffing for the chicken and everything else. She wants me to do it again next week. Ha…I have a feeling that I am going to be eating a lot of stuffed chicken while I’m here.
A few of God´s gifts to this earth!
However, I became a little frustrated as the day went on for a few different reasons. One reason was that people were complaining that the were bored and that there were no balls to play with, etc. Well, I was working at the games and at the beginning of the day we had tons of balls. Halfway through the day the children had taken off with all of them, so we had no more to give. Then, after the gifts had been passed out there were several children that I saw that wanted to change their gift because they didn’t like the one that they had received. Didn’t they realize how hard we had worked and just what they were receiving?
Having said this, I now realize how the world must look at me, and all who are privileged enough to live in nice houses, have nice things, and have a chance at a good future. What reason do I have to ever complain?? None. Yes, there are and always will be people who have “more” than I do. More money, more opportunity, more ability. What does that matter? I have everything that I will ever need, thanks to my Lord and Savior. “‘For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.’” I need to stop taking my life for granted and appreciate what I have been given!
This baby doesn´t have bones!!! Before and after.
Me with my yummy creation!
Then on Saturday I got up at the crack of dawn (actually before dawn) to volunteer at the “dia del nino” party thrown by the organization. Seriously, I got up at 5:45 because it takes me about an hour to get to the office. I think the day was an overall success. There were over 1000 people and by the end of the day all of the kids received a present. There were games, such as basketball, soccer, jump rope, etc. They had face painting and an area for them to color. They also had lunch, hamburgers and salad, and then later had a snack and chocolate milk. I would say it was quite the day for them…all for free!
Then on Saturday I got up at the crack of dawn (actually before dawn) to volunteer at the “dia del nino” party thrown by the organization. Seriously, I got up at 5:45 because it takes me about an hour to get to the office. I think the day was an overall success. There were over 1000 people and by the end of the day all of the kids received a present. There were games, such as basketball, soccer, jump rope, etc. They had face painting and an area for them to color. They also had lunch, hamburgers and salad, and then later had a snack and chocolate milk. I would say it was quite the day for them…all for free!
A few of God´s gifts to this earth!
However, I became a little frustrated as the day went on for a few different reasons. One reason was that people were complaining that the were bored and that there were no balls to play with, etc. Well, I was working at the games and at the beginning of the day we had tons of balls. Halfway through the day the children had taken off with all of them, so we had no more to give. Then, after the gifts had been passed out there were several children that I saw that wanted to change their gift because they didn’t like the one that they had received. Didn’t they realize how hard we had worked and just what they were receiving?
Having said this, I now realize how the world must look at me, and all who are privileged enough to live in nice houses, have nice things, and have a chance at a good future. What reason do I have to ever complain?? None. Yes, there are and always will be people who have “more” than I do. More money, more opportunity, more ability. What does that matter? I have everything that I will ever need, thanks to my Lord and Savior. “‘For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.’” I need to stop taking my life for granted and appreciate what I have been given!
Friday, August 8, 2008
Filling in the gaps
This week has been pretty busy for me, despite only having classes on Monday and Tuesday. That´s good news for me...I hope that each week will continue to be busy! Let´s see..on Wednesday I went to see Celeste, who is the travel agent that I work with to plan our vacations. She is so sweet and quite the miracle worker. We are planning on traveling to Salta next week, a province in the northwest of AR. I am really looking forward to it, I hear it´s beautiful. I´ll tell more about the trip later.
Yesterday was quite the day. I got up at 6am (eek!) because I had to go to the office of migration in order to take the final step to get my visa. The office opened at 7:30 and so I wanted to be there right away because I heard the process took awhile. Well, I left about 45 minutes early and didn´t end up getting there until shortly after 8. So I´ll know next time to leave at least an hour early! (Because we have to go back in 45 days). Well, it definitely took 5 hours in the office. Bah...so much waiting and reading and talking and waiting. I felt like it was so unorganized, but I really don´t know anything about how the process works. We had to wait in line #1 to just get our paperwork organized, sign stuff, and pay. Then they sent us to another room where we were combined with a ton more people to wait for our name to be called. This is where I waited probably 3 of the 5 hours. Luckily a girl from one of my classes was sitting next to me, so we were able to chat a little and find comfort in the fact that neither of our names had been called yet. I started to get nervous when the crowd started to thin and they still hadn´t called my name, but finally they did!
I got out of there and headed to LIFE for one of the volunteer activities. It was interesting, but I enjoyed it. First when I got there I just chatted with the other volunteers/interns, who are from all over the world! They are from the states, France, Australia, England, and probably more. Very cool...but no one from Argentina, which was kind of a bummer because everyone just spoke English. Then we headed to our volunteer sites. Mine was I guess the furthest, because it took quite awhile to get there. The commute was probably as long as the time we spent there. Apparently this week was a little different from usual because the kids are on vacation and don´t have homework. Usually we help with homework and then color or play with them. This week was just kind of a free for all...the kids were a little crazy. But it was good nonetheless. I think I needed to see a poorer side of BsAs just to be reminded that not everyone lives as we live. We are SO blessed beyond what we could ever imagine, and yet take it for granted all the time. I mean, these kids were thrilled to have coloring pages...something that many of us probably had books and books of when we were little. I hope I can help to impact their lives...it´s just so hard to imagine how I would have any chance of doing that right now. We´ll see!
Tomorrow is Dia de los niños, and I am helping out with a huge party they are throwing for kids. I guess they are expecting over 1000 kids and, as I told Dan, I just might die. haha. No, but it should be fun and I am hopefully going to bring my camera to capture the fun!! I´ll make sure to post how it goes! Tonight is me making that stuffed chicken for the fam...I hope it goes well! Otherwise i just may be kicked out. haha.
Anyways, love you all...you´re still in my prayers!! **Besos!**
Yesterday was quite the day. I got up at 6am (eek!) because I had to go to the office of migration in order to take the final step to get my visa. The office opened at 7:30 and so I wanted to be there right away because I heard the process took awhile. Well, I left about 45 minutes early and didn´t end up getting there until shortly after 8. So I´ll know next time to leave at least an hour early! (Because we have to go back in 45 days). Well, it definitely took 5 hours in the office. Bah...so much waiting and reading and talking and waiting. I felt like it was so unorganized, but I really don´t know anything about how the process works. We had to wait in line #1 to just get our paperwork organized, sign stuff, and pay. Then they sent us to another room where we were combined with a ton more people to wait for our name to be called. This is where I waited probably 3 of the 5 hours. Luckily a girl from one of my classes was sitting next to me, so we were able to chat a little and find comfort in the fact that neither of our names had been called yet. I started to get nervous when the crowd started to thin and they still hadn´t called my name, but finally they did!
I got out of there and headed to LIFE for one of the volunteer activities. It was interesting, but I enjoyed it. First when I got there I just chatted with the other volunteers/interns, who are from all over the world! They are from the states, France, Australia, England, and probably more. Very cool...but no one from Argentina, which was kind of a bummer because everyone just spoke English. Then we headed to our volunteer sites. Mine was I guess the furthest, because it took quite awhile to get there. The commute was probably as long as the time we spent there. Apparently this week was a little different from usual because the kids are on vacation and don´t have homework. Usually we help with homework and then color or play with them. This week was just kind of a free for all...the kids were a little crazy. But it was good nonetheless. I think I needed to see a poorer side of BsAs just to be reminded that not everyone lives as we live. We are SO blessed beyond what we could ever imagine, and yet take it for granted all the time. I mean, these kids were thrilled to have coloring pages...something that many of us probably had books and books of when we were little. I hope I can help to impact their lives...it´s just so hard to imagine how I would have any chance of doing that right now. We´ll see!
Tomorrow is Dia de los niños, and I am helping out with a huge party they are throwing for kids. I guess they are expecting over 1000 kids and, as I told Dan, I just might die. haha. No, but it should be fun and I am hopefully going to bring my camera to capture the fun!! I´ll make sure to post how it goes! Tonight is me making that stuffed chicken for the fam...I hope it goes well! Otherwise i just may be kicked out. haha.
Anyways, love you all...you´re still in my prayers!! **Besos!**
Wednesday, August 6, 2008
Learning the art of cooking
So! After a week and a half of classes, I have finally decided my final schedule. Yes, we get time to try out classes here (about 2 weeks) and change around if we want. My first class is a Latin American history class, which is a bit difficult to understand at times. The professor seems nice enough though…it’s just the material that I find slightly dry. Latin America’s history is complicated stuff with tons of dates and conquerors, etc. Putting the whole thing in Spanish just makes it harder, ha. My next class is Latin American Literature from the 19th and 20th centuries. The professor is hilarious! He is also much easier to understand. He goes more slowly and takes time to make sure that we understand. He even says a few words in English occasionally, which is funny to hear. I thought lit. would be the worst, but I think I will like it. Thirdly, I have my Tango class. It is divided into two parts…Tango dance and Tango theory. The theory part is awesome! We are learning about the history, the music, art, and culture of Tango. Who knew it was so complex! The professor is interesting and also fairly easy to understand. We also spend a good 20-30 minutes of our 2-hour class listening to music, which I really enjoy. The dance class is fun too, of course. It helps having gone to the other tango class, but we learn some different stuff too. Finally, I have my class with Argentine students. I first tried two different psychology classes, which turned out to be way over my head. They were classes that followed another class, and so they talked about a bunch of things I had no idea anything about. On top of that, there was a lot of discussion that I could not participate in. As much as I hope I am improving in my Spanish, I am still lacking in a lot of areas. So, when I dropped those classes I picked up a few more to try out, including a cooking class!
Yes, that’s right. I have always wanted to take a cooking class, and what better place than Argentina! I was worried that it would be hard like the other ones, but it helped because there were two other “international” students in the class. It’s really weird to be labeled as that by the way. The professor is quite nice and I had a lot of fun! It is going to be work outside of the classroom as well, but I’m hoping that I will be able to handle it. Today we made stuffed chickens. Whole chickens, and we took out the bones ourselves without cutting the skin. Picture that. I think it’s pretty darn impressive, and tasted quite delicious. I am actually going to practice it and make it for my family on Friday. I’ll have to take pictures and post them. I wish I had had my camera at class today. I guess next week we’re learning different soups. Woohoo, I’m going to come back to the states a cooking pro (I hope).
The thing is, now that I have chosen my final schedule, I find my self in a situation that any university student would love, but I find myself worrying slightly about. I only have classes on Monday and Tuesday!! I can’t believe it. The week has just begun, yet I am completely done with classes. It’s wonderful in the sense that I can travel anywhere and have 5 free days free to do so. However, everyone else I know has classes at least one or two more days than me. I did find something that I think will help me occupy my time slightly though. It’s a volunteer organization called LIFE. It works with children in poor areas of town. Apparently every week there are different activities everyday. Some include playing soccer, tutoring, teaching English, and throwing birthday parties. I am super excited to start. It seems like a great organization. This weekend on Saturday it is “dia de los ninos” (kids day) and so apparently there is something big going on with the organization. I think I will help with that. I’m hoping it helps to keep me busy!
Yes, that’s right. I have always wanted to take a cooking class, and what better place than Argentina! I was worried that it would be hard like the other ones, but it helped because there were two other “international” students in the class. It’s really weird to be labeled as that by the way. The professor is quite nice and I had a lot of fun! It is going to be work outside of the classroom as well, but I’m hoping that I will be able to handle it. Today we made stuffed chickens. Whole chickens, and we took out the bones ourselves without cutting the skin. Picture that. I think it’s pretty darn impressive, and tasted quite delicious. I am actually going to practice it and make it for my family on Friday. I’ll have to take pictures and post them. I wish I had had my camera at class today. I guess next week we’re learning different soups. Woohoo, I’m going to come back to the states a cooking pro (I hope).
The thing is, now that I have chosen my final schedule, I find my self in a situation that any university student would love, but I find myself worrying slightly about. I only have classes on Monday and Tuesday!! I can’t believe it. The week has just begun, yet I am completely done with classes. It’s wonderful in the sense that I can travel anywhere and have 5 free days free to do so. However, everyone else I know has classes at least one or two more days than me. I did find something that I think will help me occupy my time slightly though. It’s a volunteer organization called LIFE. It works with children in poor areas of town. Apparently every week there are different activities everyday. Some include playing soccer, tutoring, teaching English, and throwing birthday parties. I am super excited to start. It seems like a great organization. This weekend on Saturday it is “dia de los ninos” (kids day) and so apparently there is something big going on with the organization. I think I will help with that. I’m hoping it helps to keep me busy!
Saturday, August 2, 2008
A well-needed reminder
I know that I haven´t written much about my faith and new revelations, except a sentence here or there...so now is the time. This morning was a little bit difficult for me because I tried to call my mom, but she wasn´t getting a good signal and the calls kept getting cut off, so I couldn´t really talk to her. For some reason it really upset me and I resorted to what I do best...crying. :-) I am doing better now, but I think there will always be hard moments when I realize that I can´t just make a simple phone call to the people I love most.
So anyways, I sat down to read my Bible. I have been following a reading plan to read the Bible in a year and I´ve been keeping up fairly well. My main problem is getting something out of it everyday. But I figure if I am faithful in my commitment to read the Word every day, God will eventually reveal something to me when the time is right. Today I got a reminder that I needed. I was in 2 Kings and 2 Chronicles reading about the different Kings that ruled and how some where faithful to the Lord, and some were not. It goes back and forth constantly. In a sense this made me feel more ¨normal¨ I guess you could say. At times I am much closer to God than others. I always want to be improving my relationship and growing in my faith but, let´s face it, it doesn´t always happen like that. What I need to then focus on is not how far away I am getting, but instead how to draw closer. I need to always focus on renewing my strength in Him and my commitment to Him. God will reward me for that.
It´s normal to go through these cycles...I´m reminded of that. What is important is how I respond to the times where I feel farther away. Will Christ capture my heart again?? I hope and pray that I never give it away to a lesser cause.
Second, I flipped to Jeremiah and read something that challenged me in a huge way.
Jeremiah 1:4-10
The word of the Lord came to me:
I chose you before I formed you in the womb;
I set you apart before you were born.
I appointed you a prophet to the nations.
But I protested, ¨Oh no, Lord God! Look, I don´t know how to speak since I am only a youth.
Then the Lord said to me:
Do not say: I am only a youth, for you will go to everyone I send you to and speak whatever I tell you. Do not be afraid of anyone, for I will be with you to deliver you. This is the Lord´s declaration.
Then the Lord reached out His hand, touched my mouth, and told me:
Look, I have filled your moth with my words.
See, today I have set you over nations and kingdoms
to uproot and tear down,
to destroy and demolish,
to build and plant.
Wow! If that doesn´t get rid of any and all excuses that I have to not follow the Lord´s will for my life! I feel, and have felt for awhile now, very strongly called to missions, yet my fear holds me back. And I have a lot of fears, which in turn conjure up excuses. My prayer now is that God will reveal to me my fears and show me how to battle them. I don´t want fear to rule my life...I want the will of God to rule it! Can you help me in this prayer?
So anyways, I sat down to read my Bible. I have been following a reading plan to read the Bible in a year and I´ve been keeping up fairly well. My main problem is getting something out of it everyday. But I figure if I am faithful in my commitment to read the Word every day, God will eventually reveal something to me when the time is right. Today I got a reminder that I needed. I was in 2 Kings and 2 Chronicles reading about the different Kings that ruled and how some where faithful to the Lord, and some were not. It goes back and forth constantly. In a sense this made me feel more ¨normal¨ I guess you could say. At times I am much closer to God than others. I always want to be improving my relationship and growing in my faith but, let´s face it, it doesn´t always happen like that. What I need to then focus on is not how far away I am getting, but instead how to draw closer. I need to always focus on renewing my strength in Him and my commitment to Him. God will reward me for that.
It´s normal to go through these cycles...I´m reminded of that. What is important is how I respond to the times where I feel farther away. Will Christ capture my heart again?? I hope and pray that I never give it away to a lesser cause.
Second, I flipped to Jeremiah and read something that challenged me in a huge way.
Jeremiah 1:4-10
The word of the Lord came to me:
I chose you before I formed you in the womb;
I set you apart before you were born.
I appointed you a prophet to the nations.
But I protested, ¨Oh no, Lord God! Look, I don´t know how to speak since I am only a youth.
Then the Lord said to me:
Do not say: I am only a youth, for you will go to everyone I send you to and speak whatever I tell you. Do not be afraid of anyone, for I will be with you to deliver you. This is the Lord´s declaration.
Then the Lord reached out His hand, touched my mouth, and told me:
Look, I have filled your moth with my words.
See, today I have set you over nations and kingdoms
to uproot and tear down,
to destroy and demolish,
to build and plant.
Wow! If that doesn´t get rid of any and all excuses that I have to not follow the Lord´s will for my life! I feel, and have felt for awhile now, very strongly called to missions, yet my fear holds me back. And I have a lot of fears, which in turn conjure up excuses. My prayer now is that God will reveal to me my fears and show me how to battle them. I don´t want fear to rule my life...I want the will of God to rule it! Can you help me in this prayer?
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