The Beauty of the Body

"No hay nadie como tú, sólo Cristo. Moriste por mi en la cruz. Viviré para alabar..."
"There is no one like you, Christ alone. You died for me on the cross. I will live to praise you."

Church today was marvelous. The people have such a passion for Christ and for being living examples of his love in the world today. They are unbelievable welcoming to us as international students even though we are only here for four months. They constantly say that we are is the town of God, the church of God, the people of God regardless of where we are from. They have people from all over the world in this church. This is the way heaven will be! I want to stay longer than just four months! :)

We went out to lunch at a Chinese restaurant with the youth. It was terrific! We got to practice Spanish for hours upon hours! My brain hurt so badly afterwards though. It is really difficult to try to think in another language. It wears me out! :)

Things are going quite well here. God is so faithful. I spent time in prayer prior to Friday's class, just trying to refocus on what is important. That class was by far the best one yet. I started off the class by telling the teacher that I didn't understand one of the grammatical topics; she, of course, explained it, and it went spendidly from there. :)

Yesterday, we visited the Alhambra which was so beautiful. It is a Moorish castle built by the Muslims hundreds of years ago. Despite its age, it is in beautiful condition, and it unbelievably detailed with beautiful tile walls and ceilings. Check out my pictures on Facebook if you want to take a peek at this historical masterpiece. (Sounds convincing, doesn't it?) Here's one pic just to wet your appetite:

Thanks for the prayers! He is faithful when we believe! Love and miss you all!

Culture Shock?

Shocking, isn't it? Unfortunate as it is, I think I have experienced a little culture shock these last few days. I think it was really a culmination of things: getting laughed at when I used Spanish incorrectly, getting scolded for going out for chocolate and churros after a big dinner, not having a community of believers here, missing my family, etc. All of these events escalated to the point of tears at the lunch table yesterday.

Originally, when I got here, I knew my Spanish wasn't perfect, but I thought I could use it well enough to communicate. However, once I got here and used my Spanish in class and learned what was correct and incorrect, my perfectionist side kicked in. I hate making mistakes. (I know, I know...major issue...need to get over it...gonna make them my whole life...haha). Suddenly, after having been laughed at for saying I had my throat taken out instead of my tonsils...oops!...I realized just how much I was butchering the language, and I didn't want to use it anymore! Besides, it was much easier to use English. You don't have to think so hard!

Additionally, my señora got really upset with me the other night because I told her that I was going for chocalate and churros after I had eaten a huge dinner. I found out that that is not the way it works in Spain. She explained to me for ten minutes or so in a raised tone and at a faster pace than usual that you eat that instead of dinner because it is so heavy. She said I should have told her I was doing that, and then I shouldn't have made dinner. Oops. I am a people pleaser, and I get really shaken up when I feel like I have disappointed someone especially authority. I wanted to cry.

Because I haven't had the Internet at my house, it has been very difficult to stay in contact with my family back home. We have been emailing somewhat, but they are short and definitely don't convey all that I want to tell them. To see lots of our other friends getting on Skype freely with their friends and family has been hard. I miss you mom and dad! :)

Again because of the Internet situation, I had a really hard time getting a hold of Cortney and Miguel, the missionaries here. However, we did randomly end up at the right church on Sunday due to its location near our house, and it was great to be a part of a community again. I really really want to get plugged in there soon. So far, they said that students are really returning until October, so it doesn't look like things will start until then. I need to be a part of a body here desperately.

All of these crazy circumstances culminated to the point of tears yesterday at lunch when my señora gave me two huge porkchops and half a plate full of green beans, and I couldn't finish eating it all. I told her I was full, and she said it was because I had gone out for chocolate and churros the night before. She said I had eaten way too much and that is why I still wasn't hungry. I proceeded to tell her that I thought it was because there was so much food on my plate. I told her that until that point I had been eating everything on plate because I thought it was rude not too. But, I said I was leaving every meal feeling sick because I had eaten so much. Of course, this was when the tears started to flow. She told me to stop crying because I look ugly when I cry (she was laughing when she said this...but, the Spaniards are blunt...haha). She said that I should have said something before that because she thought I just ate alot! :) She said she would start giving me less food. Yay! I said I was sorry, and she said it was okay because we just didn't know one another's customs. She gave me a hug, and then I went back to my room and slept. :)

Since the tears flowed yesterday, things seem to have gotten better. I still have a hard time talking in Spanish with people and in class because I don't want to make mistakes. I also still really want to get involved in our church. Please continue to pray for these things. I have been blown away in these past few weeks with how God answers prayer. We have such power when we have faith that He is able to supply our needs. Keep praying. I love and miss you all!

Everyday Life

First of all, I apologize for those of you who have been trying to follow what I am doing here in Spain through my blog. I don't have the Internet in my house. I have to pay to use the wi-fi at cafes which makes blogging somewhat difficult because it takes so much time. Anyway, I think I found a place with free wi-fi now, so hopefully it will be much easier!

Life in Spain is delightful. I was actually having a somewhat difficult time at first though. Most of my trips to other countries have been somehow tied to missions; however, this trip is obviously quite different. I told many of you that I had gotten in contact with some missionaries over here who said that they could hook me up with their church. Well, because of conflicts with schedules and general difficulty with using different modes of communication (i.e. not the Internet), I could not get a hold of them for the first week that I was here. I was really really missing my family and community back home. I felt very disconnected and spiritually like I was waning here. Luckily, two of the girls in my group live on a street where there is a church, so on Saturday we decided to just go there Sunday morning since we hadn't heard from the missionaries. So, we went. Lo and behold, it was the missionaries' church! Hooray! It was amazing! I have never been so filled with joy to be in the presence of other believers all worshiping Jehovah Jireh, the God Who Provides. :) We met the missionaries afterward, and they introduced us to Jota who is in charge of the youth activities. He told us he would get our emails and keep us informed about what is going on. He also said that they have about 140 students involved. They have services Saturday nights and Sunday morning and they eat meals together every week after both. Hallelujah! That is what I call communion. :) What a tremendous blessing this Sunday was for us. Before, I was feeling like these four months were
going to be long, but now I am sad that I am leaving in December! God is faithful. :)

General everyday life is great as well. We started classes last week. We are only in the intensive language course right now. This will last through the last week of September. It hasn't been to bad thus far. There are some things that are different grammatically here. They use the preterite perfect a heck of a lot more than we are used to in Latin American Spanish. They actually use it more than the indefinite preterite. That is taking some adjustment, but I'll figure it out at some point. I have actually been surprised with how much Spanish I have been able to understand. I still have a hard time producing language quickly though. I get caught up on the verb conjugations. :) Anyway, after this language intensive course, we have a week off during which we are going to Italy and France! So excited! We just booked our 5 flights yesterday, and it totalled under $180!!! Ridiculous! I can't wait...clearly. Anyway, I will be taking 5 Spanish classes after we get back from our trip. It shouldn't be too bad.

Home life is super fun. Our señora is so sweet and is such a wonderful cook! :) We do eat ALOT. But, I have tried to run at least a few times a week. We also walk miles a day to and from school, so hopefully it won't be too terrible. :) The Spanish schedule is the college student's dream. Spaniards don't wake up until 9, 10, or 11. They eat maybe some bread for breakfast, but have lunch around 2:30 (on the early side). They then take a siesta for about 2 hours partially because they are so stinkin' full and partially because it is so stinkin' hot! It is over or close to it 100 almost every day. It doesn't feel too bad; you just sweat alot. haha. Then they have dinner around 8:30 (again, on the early side), and perhaps they go out afterward. It's really a beautiful thing. Although I do feel like they days slip by, but all I did was eat and sleep. I need to figure out how to fix that! :)

Well, classes are going to start soon, so I have to get going. Thanks for reading and thinking of me while I am away. I really miss you all so much!

Un Día Perfecto

Today was a perfect day. This morning we caught the bus by our house to head to the bus station. From there we bought our tickets for Salobreña. After about an hour long bus ride, we arrived. Oh, where, did you ask? Oh, just the Mediterranean! Indescribable! I spent my day basking in the rays of the beautiful Mediterranean sun and swimming in its crystal clear waters. Our señora packed us some bocadillos and fruit for lunch. I couldn’t have asked for a better way to spend my first Saturday here. There were a few cultural differences (like the fact that many of the women were topless!), but it was certainly not enough to inhibit our wonderful day at the beach. Terrific. As we sat on the beach, we thought about how guilty we felt that our friends were back home doing homework. No good. L I also sat on the beach thinking about just how much of God’s creation I have never even seen. Today was just one small check on the list of the millions of places he has handcrafted. Brilliant. Today was a perfect day.