Good Times...

Well, there are not enough words to express what has happened these last couple of weeks...and if there are I am definitly not going to write that much...there is just too much so I will give you an abrigded version.

My time in Mexico City was awesome and it was really encouraging to see some of my classmates! We got to share some of our experiences on the field and just hang out together. I really miss them a lot and feel really blessed that I got to see some of them!

I also got a very big surprise from my mom...She came to Mexico City!! Not very many things surprise me, but this pretty much did it for me. And now she is with me back in Leon for a week! It has been cool to show her my home and friends here in Leon.

Besides all this I got to spend some time with our new team!! There are 4 girls and 2 guys coming to Leon this May! Omar and Tana came for a day and we had our first team meeting with the new team. It was cool because there were three generations of Leon AIMers (LAIMers) there. Two of my teammates from the 05' class are now assistants and were able to go on the trip. The new LAIMers seem really cool and I'm excited to begin working with them.


I hope God is doing amazing things through each of you!!
~Annie

Elvira and more

Yesterday I started studying with a woman named Elvira. My teammate, Heather, from the 05' class studied with her for a long time before she left. She is really sweet and is teaching me how to cross-stitch. Right now we are studying English through the Bible using LST curriculum. Please pray for God to soften her heart to the gospel and to have a desire to learn more about Him and not just English.

Also, this morning we got a REALLY big surprise!! Two of our classmates from a team in Peru decided to come and visit! They arrived last night and surprised the rest of us this morning. I'm excited to spend time with them and talk about our different experiences. It is soo cool to hear what God is doing in other people's lives!

In a week we will all be traveling to Mexico City to meet the new AIM class and work with them there!! Every year the new class from AIM travels to Mexico City to experience a different culture and help the missionaries out there. I'm very excited to see the new Leon Team and see some people from Lubbock that I miss very much! Please pray for their safe travel in Mexico. It's going to be a very long bus ride for them...

I love you all so much and thank you for the prayers!!! God Bless!

Annie

update

My dad's surgery went well and he is now recovering at home. The surgery is called a laminectomy. During the surgery bone is removed from the spine to relieve pressure on the nerves and/or spinal cord due to spinal stenosis. If you want to know more go to http://www.spine-health.com/dir/laminectomy.html to read up on it or watch an interactive video. He will probably be at home for 3 weeks getting better. Thanks for the prayers!

I LOVE my Daddy!!!

Please pray for my dad because he is having back-surgery today.

Being Sick

I have learned some things from being sick here in Mexico. Everyone you meet who distinguishes that you are sick, immediately diagnoses you. All the sudden everyone is an expert on what you have and they all have their own types of cures, remedies, or medical advice. The most popular advice for the "gripe" (pronounced gree-pay) or cold/flu seems to be:

• hot tea (preferably chamomile) with honey and lime before bed. Someone actually invited me in their house and fixed it for me yesterday. It wasn't bad. I fixed it once.
• staying inside at night to avoid cold air. I have been told by several people that I shouldn't go out at night for anything.
• not drinking or eating anything cold. the cold is something to avoid here if you are sick.

None of this advice is necessarily bad and I have followed a lot of it myself. I just thought it was kind of interesting.

Here you are able to buy your own shots with medicine and inject them yourself. I don't think that's legal in the U. S. A. I have taken 6 shots. Three were of eucalyptus. The other three were some kind of medicine that is supposed to kill the bacteria of my cold. But don't worry, I didn't inject them myself. The well-trusted pharmacist who has been there for 40 years did. It wasn't all that bad. She also gave me jarabe (cough syrup) and pastillas (pills) to take.

It's probably a good thing I have so many people here telling me to how to take care of myself. I have been taking my medicine faithfully and hopefully I'll be completely healed soon! God is taking care of me here!!

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