Ahora, quien quiere bailar??

Let's gooooo, new blog post coming at ya!! 

Miércoles: 

I am not sure how to start lol I have lots of things to share so I am all over the place right now 😆 En la mañana we got up a bit later and Sheryl and Mallory made some really good pancakes for everyone! It was a really chill morning and very much needed. After having a day full of many different feelings on Tuesday and many great prayer moments and much needed relief, I was able to spend time with the Lord! This time it didn´t feel hard like I mentioned before, it felt very lighthearted and filled with a bit of peace. None of the other feelings went away, but I was able to sit and actually journal my thoughts and just talk to the Lord more than I have in a long time. So, that feels like an answered prayer! Thank you all who have been praying! One thing I was reflecting on that morning was the comfort that God gives us and the feeling of love. Lately I have been feeling a lot of love for so many people around me, it is very strong and I just get very happy thinking about those around me. I was also thinking about and appreciating the ability that we each have to love one another and care for each other so deeply. But just think about how much more God is able to love us??? Like what!! That is sooo cool and absolutely incredible! My morning was a great start to the rest of the day that we had. 

Once everyone was ready we started calling some Ubers to head to campus to help with the food and stuff for Hangout. Then Ana sent us on a mission to go buy hielo for the té frio. We got back and then I pretty immediately got to see Esther and catch up with her for a bit, she is now back from the states! We then all at perros calientes and you know hung out for a while. Last week one of the staff members from Camp Penuel saw Sam and asked about me, but I was at the CDI that day so he told her about Hangout and invited her for this week. She had also texted me so I was excited to see her because she wasn´t at the camp when I was there in January so it has been a year since I saw her. Anyways, she showed up and it was such a sweet reunion, btw her name is Maryely! Lucas from the Ohio team then shared some announcements of events for the remainder of the week that they are here. He then asked all of us gringos to come up to the front, I had no idea what was going on because I heard we were playing a game. The game was actually us getting paired up together and then being in a group with 4-5 students to share our testimony and the gospel, jajaja what a move! I panicked, only slightly because I wasn´t mentally prepared but then was more than fine. Sheryl and I paired up and were with Daisy, Saul, and 2 other students (I do not remember their names though 😭) and Carlos joined us. I shared my testimony in English and Carlos translated for me. I think it went pretty well, a few of them seemed very receptive to it and engaged with it. It was interested trying to shorten sentences and make sure to say the main points so that it could be translated effectively to Spanish. Sheryl then got to share the gospel with them and it also seemed to be carried over okay, some weren´t too into the whole thing but there were some that were. While we were with our group Monse and Alexis paired up and had Maryely, Daniel and a couple others in their group. I was really excited for Maryely to be a part of it and stay for the whole time. When my group had finished I joined their group to jump into their conversation. Turns out Marely had been feeling distant from God and that she felt extremely encouraged by what Monse and Alexis had shared with her. It was sweet to hear that she felt like her heart was just relit to become closer to God again. Next week, since the Ohio team will not be here we are going to continue hosting the bible studies for those that want to come, so I invited Maryely to join us! She told me she was also invited to be a part of the camp staff again in July, I think the same week that I go not sure though. That would be really cool if I got to spend more time with her leading up to camp. 

Left to right: Aubry, Monse, Alexis, me, and Maryely!

Maryely y yo 😊

Just like Sam has said recently, something just feels different with Hangout. You can really feel the spirit of God moving within the hearts of those around us. God is doing such amazing things right now and it is so sweet to get to see everything he is doing. 

We all talked the rest of the time then Esther, Ana, Alexis, Aubry and I walked over to some tents that had some games going on to win snacks. We played giant jenga, but the game was going on for so long we ended up stopping (I still wonder who would have won 😏). It then started raining!! For the first time since we got here! The one week team was definitely wanting to see the rain and wow did they receive it. It poured down so much we all ended up under the deck near the big tree and played games, some people danced, some just talked, a lot of things were going on for a few more hours. 

Ohh I forgot to mention that since this Wednesday was the last one for the month of May we celebrated all the month of May birthdays! The cake was soooo good! 

Daniel, Soho, and Arelly have birthdays in May! 

Waited for the rain to settle down and then we called a few ubers home to get dinner and get ready for the dance party that was happening a Casa flores (otro gringo casa). The 5 of us that came home and wanted to go for food decided to go Oxígeno and very large mall not too far from us to eat at the food court so we could have more options. 4 of us ended up finding a Mexican food restaurant and bought tacos to share! It was lovely, we love tacos a lot. 

Sooo good! 

Eventually headed back to our house and got ready for dance party. Just Sheryl, Mallory, Ben, Evan and I went to Casa flores for the party. Lots of friends showed up and it was super fun! Dancing, dancing, singing and dancing! So here is a bunch of fun pictures from the party!

Taught them all Copperhead road (well eventually we got there) 😂

Mallory!! She can dance!!

Sera tu sonrisa! Had to dance to this song! 😁

We ended up doing some Just Dance! Can you guess what song Monse and I were dancing to together?? 

I was so tired after all of that, but definitely enjoyed it so much! Who doesn´t love to dance 😆

The next day we had to get up pretty early to see our one week team off to the airport. So I called our Ubers and then we headed home. 

This morning we all woke up at about 5:30ish to get the Uber called by 6:15. Getting an Uber to the airport can sometimes be tricky due to drivers not wanting to go to the airport to either get in trouble or fined. We planned accordingly, the first couple of Ubers canceled on us, but the one really cheerful guy picked our friends up and off they went. It was bittersweet to see them go, wish they could have stayed a bit longer! 

Bright and early team selfie 😊 

Now we are down to 4, Matthew, Sam, Sheryl and I. We each went to our rooms for a little bit more sleep and then get up again to head to the CDI. Thankfully today we were also celebrating all the May birthdays with the kids which means it was play all day! Today we didn´t need to do a devotional or any kind of lessons, it was just a long party day. We were all super grateful because of how tired we were. It was a pretty fun day spending time with the kids, played monopoly, uno, go fish, did more dancing and singing and ate some really really good cake! Not a whole lot to say about the CDI except that it was super sweet and super fun! Enjoy the next few pictures from today! 

Aren´t they so cute! I just love them so much! Love the chaotic energy in this pic lol

That is my trying to understand Spanish face and what questions can I ask in order for myself and them to figure out what they were in the game "Guess Who?" 

After a long but very fun day we walked to our bus stop to try and use the bus system this time. It ended up not coming within a reasonable time so we just called an Uber and came home. The ride home was fun because our Uber driver was very talkative and enjoyed getting to know us. I was able to track with most of the conversation and was even asked a few questions by her so that was fun to get to respond and practice Spanish some more and get over my insecurity or fear of speaking more in front of those that know more than me aka everyone else on my team. We arrived home and everyone did their own thing with getting food and relaxing. 

Tomorrow, Casa flores is having a time for those that want to get baptized can come over and get baptized there. We are going to join them and be there to support all those that are getting baptized! I am looking forward to and curious about how the transition is going to go from the Ohio team to us as we continue the things they have started. I am excited that we have the ability to start doing more things with them in Spanish like worship, praying, and reading the bible together in Spanish. I think it is going to be really really good. I will keep you all updated, in the meantime keep praying! God is doing some amazing things here! 

Prayer Requests:

• Baptisms tomorrow! They get to proclaim their faith in Jesus publicly! 
• The transition from the Ohio team to us
• Lots of rest
• Continued growth, joy, peace, and love!