Spanish

So I thought I would share my latest Spanish mistake...someone in the church was asking me about my hometown and other stuff and I started telling them about Sunset. Then I started telling them that there was a preaching school there too..."Hay una escuela de pecadores"... and I said that which means: There is a sinner's school. I meant to say this: "Hay una escuela de predicadores". There is a school for preachers. They knew what I meant, but it was a little embarrassing. I still laughed at myself though! Well, I hope you are all having a wonderful weekend. Tomorrow we are having a big annual women's day in the church's building. A lot of christian women are coming from different parts of Mexico. So you can pray for that to go well. Buenos Noches a todos!! Goodnight to all!!
Serving in Mexico,
Annie

Chosen and Blessed by God

wow...I haven't posted in forever! Sorry! Happy Late Thanksgiving and I hope all of you are able to see how much God has blessed you!! I know I can. My Thanksgiving was good and different. Because we can't get all the food here for a "traditional" Thanksgiving meal, some of the missionaries bought stuff the last time they went to the U. S. for our Thanksgiving celebration here. All of us were assigned to make or bring something and I got to make pumpkin pies!!! We don't have canned pumpkin so I got a stashed away can from the States. They turned out really well, thanks to Megan (my teammate), who taught me how to make really good crust, my mom, for the recipe, and my other teammates, Heather and Carl. The night before Thanksgiving everyone was in a frenzy making a lot of pie and other stuff; therefore our oven was on for forever. Entonces (for that reason) , it got really tired and decided not to heat up anymore. So Heather volunteered to bake the pies at our guys house, about 2 blocks away, because my team still has a curfew. Then Heather and Carl began carrying my two pies carefully down the street, going about the pace of a turtle, so as not to spill them! I have to say that it was really funny watching two gringos carrying pies down the street in Mexico at 11:30 at night walking really slow. You probably would have had to of been there to think its that funny...
Anyway, a lot has happened since my last post....let's see...,oh, I'm now 2o years old (kinda weird) and I had a really good Birthday!! I finally got to open a package from my parents and my family here made it really special!

Just recently we had a "Gratis Lentes" campaign (free glasses). On Thanksgiving Day 3 supporters of a missionary friend of ours,who lives in Guanajuato, came down to give away free glasses and see Raciel and his family. One of them is an eye doctor and their church in North Carolina had been gathering glasses for the campaign. The campaign went really well and from 9 am to 7pm at night over 250 people came to get glasses!! We all had different jobs; some to greet and talk about God, some for registration, some for eye testing, and others (my group) to fit people with glasses. It was very interesting and fun, because I got to talk to the people and I learned a lot about glasses! I also got to translate for people!! This is amazing because I know how much God has blessed me with my Spanish! In fact, I actually learned words just translating! Sometimes I catch myself thinking in Spanish and not even realizing it for a while. In the end, the campaign was a real success thanks to our awesome God!!! And a lot of people are intersted in studying the Bible!
A lot of people here don't know the Truth because they have never read the bible. It is really cool to be able to read the bible with someone for their first time ever! One verse that has caught my eye lately is Col. 3:12. "Therefore, as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience". I find this hard to do sometimes and then I remember the first part, "as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved". God has blessed us all so much!! We really are chosen, holy (by Christ), and dearly loved!!
Well, this is really long and I have to go!! I love you, my friends and family!!!! God Bless,
Annie

the end of the route...

This is a picture of Masha and I a couple months ago. On Thursdays, my teammate, Masha, and I go to visit a family from the church. We usually bring food and we have a bible study with whoever is there. Masha does the study, while I listen and help with the discussion whenever I can since I'm still studying Spanish (Masha knows fluent Spanish). Pretty soon, I hope to start leading the study every once in a while.We study with Lupe (the mom), Rosa (the grandmother), maybe Letty, Emelda, or Juana (other relatives) , and of course all their children. Just recently Lupe's

husband, Martin, left her, their kids, and the church for a better job in another state, so it's been really rough for her.
They live in a poor area on the outskirts of Leon. Actually, the area is called Leon #2, because it's so far out. By bus it takes from 45 minutes to an hour to get there. I really enjoy going out there, because they want to study God's word and know more about him. All the Christians in their household are very young in the faith. They were baptized not long before we arrived in Leon in May. So it's really cool to study the bible with them, because a lot of the stuff we read and talk about is new to them.
Anyway, so we took a bus out there, # 10, and since we were on there for a while we watched people come and go until finally we were the only ones left on the bus. We were pretty much out in the middle of nowhere when suddenly we noticed the bus came up to some really big gates with other buses parked inside this lot thing. We both looked at each other and knew something was wrong. We knew this bus went right by the apartments that Lupe and her family lived in, but we hadn't passed them yet.
So then, the doors on the bus slide open and the bus driver tells us we have to get off and that he's going on his lunch break. He also tells us we might can catch another bus coming out. So then, we step off the bus. Here we are, in the middle of nowhere, kind of bewildered and we started laughing at our situation. We had literally come to the end of the bus route...or at least the place where bus drivers take their lunch break. Right as my teammate Masha decides, since there are no taxies in this area, we should try and just catch a ride from someone (people hitchhike a lot in Mexico), we see a bus #10 emerging from the "break spot". We were just in time to catch it and were at the apartment complex in 5 minutes. It was truly a bizzarr experience.
After we arrived we had a study in 2 Corinthians and 1 John. Here is something from 1 John I thought was pretty awesome...
" How great is the love the father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him."
-1 John 3:1
And..." No one who is born of God will continue to sin, because God's seed remains in him; he cannot go on sinning, because he has been born of God. This is how we know who the children of God are and who the children of the devil are: Anyone who does not do what is right is not a child of God; nor is anyone who does not love his brother. This is the message you heard from the beginning: We should love one another."
-1 John 3:9-11

WOW!! God's word is powerful and awesome!!! We are children of God!!.....I think one of the things God is telling us is to love, because we are children of the source of love.

well, I hope ya'll have a wonderful week and keep digging in God's word!!

We're a part of the Family......

This is a picture of J'Lae, me, and Isabel earlier this year at Isabel's house. Tonight, my teammates, Ben, J'Lae, and I went to visit a family in the church. The mom, Isabel, is divorced and trying to raise two kids with a full time job. On Saturday day night she became very ill and had to go to the emergency room and wait all night to be treated. Her two children are: David, who is 16, and Maribel, who is 11. Usually when we go we just hang out and eat with them. We went to try to encourage Isabel because part of her sickness is stress-related. It ended up being really good. While Ben and David went outside to hangout; J'Lae and I read and talking about the bible with Isabel. I had been kind of sad earlier, but just being there to encourage someone and talk about God really made me realize just how awesome He is and it also encouraged me. It was interesting because I read this passage out loud in Spanish and I had to be corrected a little bit by Isabel(just a little humbling). The whole study also made me see just how much God is growing me...I actually had a bible study in Spanish(even though it was a little garbled)!...And it made me realize just how important it is that I need to really practice and know the language here better. During our talk I talked about just how awesome it is that we have brothers and sisters around the world praying for us...a huge family! She told me that even though she didn't have a lot of family here in this world, she was encouraged because she has a huge family in Christ!! Please keep Isabel and her family in your prayers.

And now for a funny story....

On our way home we always take bus 36, because it's the fastest. Well, when we got on we all sat in the back of the bus. This isn't always a good idea, because the back is the bumpiest part. Then a random guy got on and sat on my side(it was one long bench in the back). During the ride we were just talking and we had only hit one really big bump. I let go of the rail for about 5 seconds(a VERY bad idea) and the bus lurched very hard to the right sending me sailing to the left right on the random Mexican guy sitting down from me on the bench. I would have to say it was one of my most embarrassing and awkward moments here. I apologized and we all laughed really hard. The End!

I was journaling one day, actually August 22, because it was my brother's birthday and I thought I would share it...

Random things I’m so thankful for:

• Nature displaying God’s power, and glory-Leon is sooo beautiful!!!
• Supporters that have supported me for a whole year!!!
• Computers and webcams-
  

Today I got to talk to my family over webcam because it was my brothers birthday. It was cool because they put the cake in front of the computer and lit the candles. We all sang “Happy Birthday” to him and then he blew out the candles. ..all over a webcam. God is soooooo amazing. I still get to share special moments with my family even though I’m not physically there. It was funny cause’ my dad cut a piece of cake to eat and then held up a bite in front of the camara as if I would just eat it…then the fork disappeared and reappeared with nothing on it and my dad said, “ now it’s traveling over the waves to you”. It was great.
My brother, Zeke, turned 16 and got his driver’s license…and he drove my truck.... Another amazing thing is that even though I do miss my truck God has given me a desire to really like it here, and public transportation that even though sometimes I miss driving I really just like it here….

BLESSED BY A GIVER

Last Sunday during worship, I was sitting next to this very sweet grandmother, whose family lives right beside the building we worship in on Sunday's. Her name is Elena and we first came in contact with her because of some families that came down to teach LST (the Let's Start Talking program: designed to teach English using the bible and bring people to Christ.). She is always giving to the church and even to us AIMers, because she sees us walking to Spanish class everyday on our way to the church. Well anyway, she started telling me how she wanted to give us a "queso"(cheese) to make quesadillas with...and something with the number 3 (I couldn't figure out that part). Then she got up and left to get the "queso"(her house is right next-door to the church). When she came back she handed me a small black sack with something very heavy in it. I looked inside....and behold, there was a big ball of cheese from the store. It was probably 6 inches or more in diameter. So there I was, sitting in worship, with a huge ball of cold cheese in my lap thinking.....well, first of all just how funny it was...it is kinda funny....and then just how God is teaching me everyday through random gifts of love (even cheese) how to be a giver. And how to love people with whatever gifts I have from Him. I found out from someone that she meant she wanted to give it to all three girls on my team. The first time she gave to the church, she made a huge pot of Mole (chicken with a chocolate based gravy....it does not taste like chocolate). So after our time of fellowship that night she randomly brought over the food and everyone in the church ate. It was grand. Please pray for her and her family to be touched by the gospel.... And we did make quesadillas with the cheese and it was buenisimo(really good).
God Bless, Annie

God is Awesome!

So I thought I would really blog something....ok,I was reading Psalms 139 to prepare for an upcoming study and God is soooo awesome....sometimes I forget just how awesome He is. Just looking around me everyday I see his beautiful creation and I'm reminded of his awesome power. He is working in us, through us, and even despite of us.

YAY!!!!

i finally got a blog!