Que Dificil

Things have been going well recently, in MY life. So that's nice. However, it seems like a lot of not so good stuff, ok, just bad stuff, is happening in the lives of friends and other acquaintances.

There are two main things that I just don't understand. A couple weeks ago, my friend Harper (works at International Teams and used to be part of the Querétaro team) emailed and said that one of her friends, who also used to be part of the Querétaro team, was missing. It sounded like she'd been abducted or something. Well, as it turned out, she took her own life (the friend, not Harper). It was so sudden, and it sounds like no one saw it coming. She met with her fiancee earlier in that day, and everything seemed normal. I never met this girl, but I have heard so much about her through Harper and another friend. I know that she was very involved in various ministries, and had been a great addition to the Querétaro team while she was there. It's just something that I don't understand, and I know that it was so unexpected and devastating.

Another thing that blows my mind is that one of my Honduran friends, who is 27 and not married, is now pregnant. I don't know all the situation behind this, but I'm so shocked. I talked with this friend's sister on the phone last night, and I didn't know how much I could ask about this without being totally offensive, so I didn't ask much or find out much. But I know that this will be a big change for the family, this friend is still living with her parents, sister, and brother. I know that this will also change the course of her life - probably keep her from graduating from college, and taking her from her job. I know that my friend isn't the only Christian girl who has gotten pregnant outside of marriage, but this just hit me harder than anytime else. Also, the dad and brother in this family are not Christians, and I do pray that this situation will not further turn them off toward Christianity.

So, those are two things that have been weighing on me lately. I guess anything can happen to anyone, even Christian young ladies. It just saddens me.

Dibujo Lindo

My friend Carolina in El Salvador drew this picture for me. It's good to have friends in other countries!!

Frisbi Macizo

This week has been such awesome weather! It's been about 70 degrees (22) every day this week. I've gotten to enjoy it a lot. Last night I went to play Ultimate Frisbee with people from work at Riverfront. We didn't even start until about 6pm, but it was light enough. Well, we had a frisbee with a light in it too. It was really nice to get some good exercise, I now know how out of shape I am - I woke up sore this morning just from an hour of ultimate frisbee (for those of you who don't know that game, it's like football, but with a frisbee and you can't run with the frisbee). Michelle (my missionry friend in Honduras) told me that when she was a youth pastor in the States, they used to play ultimate frisbee with like a rotten banana or some other weird thing like that. Sounds cool. Anyhow, it was nice to hang out with people my own age outside of work. Sometimes I feel like I don't do enough with people in my own age group. Pretty much everyone I hung out with before I went off to college either doesn't live here anymore, or has moved on in some way. But I think that God is teaching me to be content in any and all circumstances. I would rather be in Mexico - or any latin american country for that matter - and being here is not really easy, especially when you add support raising to it. But I am learning to be content with being here. To get involved and to get out and DO stuff with other people! It's not that I'm not a social person, but for the past year, I never really wanted to get involved in anything because I'm leaving soon for Mexico, right? Well, now I'm facing the possibility that I may never end up going, or if I do it may still be many months before I go. So I want to not only "make the best of" being here living with my parents, but to ENJOY it!

Yessica la Giganta

One day weekends are fun. I slept for a long time yesterday afternoon, and it was so nice and sunny and warm out. Bummer. I hate it when I do that on a nice day! So today I think I will go for a nice walk. Maybe a LONG walk, or a JOG. Yesterday, I pulled out a skirt that I hadn't worn since September, and I put it on to wear for church, and it was too tight. I've been noticing that lately. One of my favorite shirts, I put on, and it looked icky on me. I'm wearing that same shirt in a photo of me up on El Picacho in Tegucigalpa, and I enlarged that picture for my parents for Christmas, and I look good in that shirt then! So I think working at Great Harvest is catching up with me. That's bad. I guess weight gain happens to the best of us... I'll try to stave it off, as I really don't want to buy an all new wardrobe in larger sizes before going to Mexico. You know, I was told by a girl who used to live in Queretaro who is about my height, that pants and shoes for people over 5'4'' and wear shoes bigger than size 7 are basically non-existent. Good to know before I leave. I already have hard enough time trying to find long enough pants here! Haha! Maybe I'll find a good Mexican friend who is as big as me, like I found Luisa in Honduras! (As BIG as me, you ask? Well, although I'm not tall of large particularly here, pretty much females aren' taller than 5'4'' in Mexico/Central America. Luisa is about 5'5'', and built about like me, so I don't feel like such a giant around her. We even share clothes!) Anyhow, I guess I shouldn't be self-concious about my height/size. I can't do anything to pretend I'm really a latina! And I can always remember going to the Marubo tribe in Brasil with my friend Joann - she's 6' tall, and has bright red hair and really white skin! She stands out here in the States, so going to a tribe where everyone has dark skin & hair and the tallest man is shorter than me was really interesting! Fun times!


Here is me with Luisa and Omar in Honduras. I'm really not THAT much taller than Luisa, I'm wearing tall sandals that day!

Tiempo MIO

Yesterday at Bible study, the topic was totally on giving, and how many Christians don't give muvh, give cheerfully, or even give tithe! It surprised me at some people in group saying that they should start tithing. I guess I didn't realize how many people don't thithe. Anyhow, I think with me, it's not as difficult to give money (strange that I don't feel like that's changed even though I'm now trying to raise support). But it is difficult for me to give TIME. In Sunday school the other day, Diane, a missionary to Romania who's needed to come back to the States permanently for family reasons, said that she needed to find someone with a truck to help clean out the garage of the house she is living in with her niece (who she's now the guardian of). Well, I had monday and tuesday off, and we have a truck, so I blurted out "Oh, I can help!" Then monday, I didn't want to go because I wanted to relax more, and to work on a paper for post-training for I.T. But I went to help today, and I'm really glad I did. Was it a pleasant job? No. But I enjoyed it because it was nice to socialize with some church people who I don't normally spend time with. I enjoyed it because I knew it was helping Diane, and she was VERY appreciative. So I think maybe I can be less stingy with my time. If I go with a cheerful attitude, things usually turn out good. And God expects us to help others, evn if we're kind of busy doing things to please ourselves! ha! Anyhow, I am in the process of learning lessons about many things, including giving of my time!!