06-02-07

I'm too tired to write much today... We were darn busy that's all I gotta say. Everyday we have to wake up before dawn to get ready and clean the house and eat if we want to, then we have to walk about 15 blocks to the house where our 2-hour morning devotional is held with all the young people (and some not-so-young) from the school. Yesterday it was gimnasio day. Josh, one of the pastor's kids, is IN SHAPE. He took us for an intro run about 30 blocks from the mission complex to a futbol field. We ran most of the way there, then did sprints once we arrived, then ran around the field a few laps, then did push-ups the hard way (I thought), then we did some abdominal/leg thing that left us all heaving for the air that smelled like poopy dust. Mmmmmm... poopy dust...

Anyway, just like every week we will have physical training we will also have spiritual training: a weekly fast, which I understood to be a denial of breakfast and lunch, but today they said why not skip supper too!? So, I'm hungry, exhausted, sore and HUNGRY for more!

God has already showed me so many things that I can hardly keep them straight. And then when one thing he shows me collides with another the next day, my heart does a little skip and a beat and I have but to praise Him... if only I had the energy. It was really hard to concentrate on things today. My spanish was worse than ever and I got more than one giggle out of people for my gringo slip-ups, but hey! I say it's all part of the trial. By the end of this mission I'll be fit as a fiddle, looking for God-work, and speaking spanish like a native poblana, tijuanense, tabasquena vera cruzena, and who-knows-where else-ana. These kids come from all over the country! I'm the only outsider, but I really think, with God's help and with His will in accordance, that I could do a lot to help advance the ministry. I hear lots of people think the same thing, they get involved and then find out there is too much red tape or a hierarchy that doesn't easily allow big change in the routine.

Aside from all that, I love being here. I love the people... by the way, Nancy, I got your message! I'm doing great! :)