a breath of Beauty.

Have you ever seen something so beautiful and exhilerating that it makes you want to cry in delight? This week we went with a team from Orange City (yes, it blows my mind that orange citian people find their way out to here, Croc, Mexico!), and we went to Mantecanas... probably the most lovely of lovliest places I have been to. To be honest, I had been tired already the first day (tuesday) the team had arrived. I snuck little naps in before and after VBS, and prayed for the week to go fast. When the group of 8 dutch people from OC announced they were going to go do the river hike up Montecanas, I knew that that would put me over my limit and probably be anything but enjoyable.

I was wrong.

So, this place called montecanas... take a 2 hour drive from Croc all the way through Monterrey, the beautiful city life all around you, and then, as the business slowly dwindles and bumpy roads become bumpier (there are no smooth roads in MX), you start to twist and curve and bump and slide down and up the mountains. A river starts to grow on the side, promising an adventure that is soon to come later on ;) Finally we arive to the base, where we get out and start to hike up the river. This includes rock climbing, skipping around on rocks, and full immersion in the water at times when the paths dissapear. after 2 hours of hiking and swiming and climbing up waterfalls, the rocks dissapear and the river gets deep. It is then swimming up curent and climbing up more waterfalls. 3 hours into it, you come to the most beautiful thing ive seen. A cave; the river running through it and reaching its deepest parts. It's a long cave, so it gets dark and you can't see or touch the bottom. water drips from the top. the temperature drops. I don't think i've ever been so cold in Mexico. and so you make your way through the cave, until you get to another waterfall, climb up it, and then climb up ANOTHEr huge waterfall, and then get to the part where i couldn't get up. Sorry, but my arms can not pull me up this 20 foot waterfall. But it was all so beautiful. Im sure I saw hundreds of butterflies, tadpoles, frogs, and lizards. The water became such a wonderful turquoise the deeper it got on the way up. AHHH... and to think we might return next week because we have the week off :)

So yes, our time spent with the team from the OC was fun and in the end, refreshing. although my body is sore, and i have realized i have muscles that I never knew I had!

And now we get the whole weeek off. I'm very tired, so it's good. We will most likely go up into the mountains, where it is cooler and we can stop sweating for a bit. Sounds energizing already! But really, all has been well. Again, God is steady, and always sends spiritual rain when neeeded. I only have 4 more weeks here, and know i will miss it greatly. My relationships with the locals are becoming so wonderful and beautiful. Not only is my spanish growing, but my love for the people here. I'm seeing that relationships are the main vessels to impact a person. My question to the Holy Spirit is how can I let him lead me more in my conversations and time spent here. I want to bear much fruit.

Thanks for your faithful prayers. They are ever so needed! PLease continue to pray:

~week of rest (i need this so much. we are all pretty tired from the teams, the heat, and energy spent on relationships.)
~ upcoming team of 40 people! that they would be free to "flex and flow" (most famous quote here in Mx)
~ that I would learn what it means to be in FULL comunion with the Holy Spirit, and to let him guide me.

I love you all! I'm expecting to go on coffee dates with all of you after the summer, so make sure to remember all of the amazing and beautiful things of your summer and how God stretched and changed and challenged you :)

Durango!!!

We are finally on outreach! Saturday at 5am, 3 staff and us 5 girl students left for Durango. It has been a crazy start for this outreach phase, but so much fun. We arrived to our home (a sort of camp place/bible school institute out of the town). It´s only been 4 days, but so much has gone on. From shower water that smells like rotten egg, to getting locked out of our dorms, from cleaning windows to fiestas! ... ahh, the life. haha!

Oh, but God has been working big things in my life through just the first part of the trip. I can see already prayers being answered from when we had intercession in lecture phase. In our prayer meetings for outreach, we would always pray for energy, and every day so far I have been energized and renewed through the word of God and just loving people. I´ve been learning that the only way you can enjoy an outreach is by living out Colossians 3 vs. 23 : Whatever you do, do it with ALL of your heart, as working for the LORD, not for men. I´m so used to going into something, just seeing the goal. Get it done. But now my desire is different... To impact people through love. To encourage the faithful, and embrace the lost. It makes so much of a difference, and brings so much joy and satisfaction after each day!

And I am so excited for tonight :) The kids at the christian school that we are working at are doing a christmas program, and are going to sing a bunch of christmas carols in English! They are so cute!

Last week of DTS Lecture Phase!

Ok... I know it's really late to start blogging about my first step into missions, when it's more than half way over, but I think that there is so much more in missions waiting for me, and there will be many times after DTS to blog about other places God calls me :)

This is the last week of the DTS lecture phase, and although it's been extremely good and deep and impacting, most of us are ready to move on to outreach phase. This will be our 12th week of lecture phase, having teachings on many things. We've studied "Hearing the voice of God", "The Holy Spirit", "Worship", "Intercession and Spiritual Warfare"... and this week is "Missions". God has spoken so much to me through these topics and the speakers.

Over all though, most would agree with me that the most learning has been out of class. Trying to say nicely to your room-mate to clean up their dirty socks lying on the floor, or cleaning up dirty dishes that aren't yours. Learning how to be selfless instead of selfish. It's fun to talk about the pretty topics each week, but then God starts testing us on where we really are in our walks. How we react to normal everyday things like relationships.

As of right now, we leave in 4 days to go on outreach. There are 5 girls on the team, and 2 leaders. It adds up to be 6 girls and one sad and lonely guy! For the first 12 days, we will be in Durango, Mexico. This is about 8 hours West of here. We will be helping out with one of our outreach leader's church, and will be doing dramas and street ministry also. After that, we come back to Monterrey, Mexico to fly out to Argentina on December 29th. We will be there for a month, and will return again to Monterrey for one week of review. School ends February 2nd, and I will finally be home February 4th!

I will try to keep you all updated on the outreach. I believe it will be amazing, and that God will use each one of us in sweet ways. God Bless and Merry Christmas!!!!