challenge #1

So far life is still normal – by that I mean the world still revolves around the axis and there is still a hole in the ozone layer that worries everyone till they get the trots – La vina is really something else, and they haven't even started in on us yet. Apparently the whole point of coming here was to learn not only about the Bible and learning how to preach and minister, but to scrub toilets, floors and get many many bouts of gas and diarrhea. No really, that hasn't happened to me so far, but they tell me that I will have to clean toilets and wash nasties all week long and that's enough to make my stomach lurch.... I've pretty much gotten used to eating practically out of garbage cans since last spring, so getting sick really doesn't enter my mind as a full-on worry-worthy thing.

Apart from the work, there are rules. LOTS of rules. I mean 3 pages full of 10-font 1. 2. 3. rules. And at the end of many of them it says, “if you can't adhere to the rule, we reserve the right to kick your butt out on the street and take all your money.” Well, maybe that's a bad translation (everything here, remember, is in spanish), but all the same, it was pretty heavy duty.
At this moment I have a little piece of paper above my bunk that says “I will always help you.” They didn't really explain what it meant, it's kind of a game I think that they play with the newbies. We are simply to pray about whatever our little papers say (everyone's is different) and know that God wants to tell us something through the short phrase found there... I read the paper three times, I still have yet to pray about it, right now I'm on my way to bed to do just that... I'm excited to write again and let you know what the result was. Apparently we're doing some sort of activity all together afterward.

I should say that everyone that I have been “stuck with” so far has been nothing short of a blessing. All the girls in the house are A) super nice B) super varied – we have a 19 year-old and a 32 year-old and one of them even has a 2 year-old waiting for her at home! And for some reason everyone gets along... so far.

I just want to mention my first challenge of the day. They told us before service (as it is Sunday today) that they didn't want us to form clicks and sit all together during service, but we are supposed to make ourselves part of the congregation and that means meeting everyone you possibly can. Since Spanish is my second language I have a complex that sometimes makes me shy (this adjective may as well also be known as the antithesis of Emily). At first the safest thing to do was sit down with one of my favorite little munchkins and after small talk with a 6 year-old I looked up and saw a family with three girls just about my age ... maybe a little younger ... so I said to the munchkin that I would sit with her but I wanted to say hello to those people “over there.”

I said hello, I think the mother's name was Rosalinda or something... but I met a girl named Sharon and her sisters (the second of which was Ruth) and talked to all of them, the whole family, for about 15 minutes, which is a friggin' long time when you're shy, but I have to say that I simply loved – yes loved – every one of them. They are loving, smiling, welcoming... and they turned me instantly into a loving, smiling, welcoming person. A little hurdle but one that I really needed to clear.