Almost half way!

Is it bad that I am looking forward to the halfway point?  Hope not!  We are almost done with the first minimester of classes and will have finals on Thursday.  We have Friday through Monday off with classes starting back up on Tuesday.  We are planning to go to Lake Chapala and make some day trips to various places throughout the weekend.  I am excited that I am almost halfway done, but also am a little sad that the girls I have gotten to know are leaving this weekend and a whole new group will be coming in.  Its seems like I have just now gotten comfortable with people and they are leaving!  There are a couple of girls with CEA that are staying for the entire 10 weeks, which is a little comforting.  Please pray for the people coming in and that I would be anticipating all that God will do in the upcoming 5 weeks based on how sweet He was these last 5 weeks. Through my grumbling and complaining, He provided companionship.  This past weekend, I went to the Centro (the Center of town) and then back to Tonala as well as a great little town called Tlaquepaque.  Please also pray for my last week with these classes.  I am getting so frustrated and the more I learn, the more frustrated I seem to become.  Again, there is so much and the more we learn, the more we realize how much we have to learn!  Mi mama mexicana continues to tell everyone who walks in our door that when I got here, I knew no spanish and now I am understanding so much (well, I think that is what she is saying!) but I just don't feel that way!  It is all jiberish!  I miss ya'll and love you like crazy!  

En "El Centro" at a little cafe where we stopped for cafe!  These are my friends from class, Socorro and Laura.

The view from the cafe.

This is what I like to call a "bowl of heaven."  We stopped and ate at a cute little restaurant in Tonala after shopping!

Tlaquepaque had the cutest streets and we stopped to take a picture with this nice man!

Tlaquepaque had the most beautiful churches.  

Tequila

We went to the town of Tequila and to the Jose Cuervo plant to see the process of making Tequila from start to finish.  It was so interesting and I wish I could have taken more pictures inside the actual distillery but they wouldn't let us.  I only have 3 more days of class and then our finals are on Thursday.  We don't start up the next minimester until the next Tuesday, so the girls in my group that are staying 10 weeks are taking a trip to a place called Lake Chapala.  I have heard it is beautiful and very relaxing, which is what I need right now!  I hope everyone is doing well!

There were thousands and thousands of the Tequila Cacti!  

The town is actually called "Tequila."

 El hombre es muy, muy viejo!  

Pictures from the weekend

Here are the pictures from this past weekend.  We are headed to Tequila tomorrow to see how Tequila is made...we actually are going into the fields and watching the process from start to finish!  Should be interesting!  Miss ya'll!  

View from our balcony

Our walk to the beach..so pretty!

Our hotel

Everywhere you looked, there were mountains!

Where we ate breakfast every morning..right on the beach.  

La Fin De Semana!

I had such a great weekend!  We went to a beach called Guayabitos (might be mispelled!) and it was such fun!  It was an all inclusive resort and there were so many activities included.  We went kayaking, "bananaboating", bike riding and just got to relax on the beach.  Well, I don't know if relax is the right word with all the vendors in your face every 5 minutes trying to sell you something.  I forgot to download my pictures, but will do that tomorrow, so you can see the mexican beach!  It was so great to have air conditioning (please don't take that for granted!), hot water to shower in and it was incredible to take a shower that wasn't just water "dripping."  It was a great break and a great vacation.  But, it also made me realize how much I take for granted.  As we were walking downtown, I looked around and saw small boys and girls working for every penny, sweating in the hot sun and thought about the fact that they don't get to go back to an air conditioned home or a great shower.  I pray I will always appreciate these little things when I return!  

On Saturday, I was reading through Ecclesiastes, and really got excited about what I read. Ecclesiastes 3:14-15 says "And I know that whatever God does is final.  Nothing can be added to it or taken from it.  God's purpose in this is that people should fear Him.  Whatever exists today and whatever will exist in the future has already existed in the past.  For God calls each event back in its turn."  I looked up this passage in commentaries and found this:  We have the world so much in our hearts, are so taken up with thoughts and cares of worldly things that we have neither time nor spirit to see God's hand in them.  Wow!  How much we should realize how fleeting our lives really are.  We are meant to spend eternity with Him and are simply visitors on this earth.  We focus so much on the trivial and meaningless junk of life, all the while, we are called to fix our eyes on the author and perfecter of our faith.  I pray that my eyes are fixed on Him during this time.  Ecclesiastes 6:10 says, "  Everything has already been decided.  It was known long ago what each person would be.  So there's no use arguing with God about your destiny."  There are so many days I want to argue with God!  But, how much should I revere and fear Him knowing that He knew all of this long before I was even here.  The commentary on this passage says, "Our life upon this earth is fleeting and uncertain.  Let us return to God, trust in His mercy through Jesus Christ and submit to His will.  Let our sight rest on God and not dwell on present things."  This was so timely for me, because I am so homesick right now.  I am so ready to come home, but know I need to focus my sights on Him and His purposes for me here.  He is not done yet!  I want to be, but He is not!  Sorry this is such a book today, I just really wanted to share what He taught me this weekend!  I miss ya'll like crazy, am praying for you and loving you!  

Barranca y Tonala

Saturday, one of my roommates and I decided to go "hiking" with Ricky, the son living in our house.  Oh my gosh!  This was not hiking like I have hiked before.  The pictures do not do it justice..it was by far the hardest thing I have ever done.  After nearly spraining my ankles on the way down (the path was nothing but pebbles), we finally go to the bottom of the mountain to find a beautiful river.  The peaceful feeling lasted about 5 minutes due to the fact that we had to hike, or should I say crawl up an abandoned railroad to reach the top.  There were literally points in the path that in order to move forward and not tumble down the mountain, it was necessary to get on all fours!  We opted out when we got halfway up the mountain to exit onto the pebbles and weave our way back to the top.  It was a great workout, but extremely hard. My goal is to go back once a week so that I can one day tolerate going up the whole way on the railroad tracks. 

View from the top of the mountain

Random horses on the trail

On the way up...this pic does not do it justice!!

Sunday, I went to Tonala, which is a huge market about 45 minutes outside of downtown.  It was crazy, but I got lots of souvenirs.  I have one midterm on Wednesday and the other is on Thursday.  I have been a little frustrated in class because I feel like by the time I grasp something, we move on to something more complicated.  Then, I walk out on the street and have no idea what people are saying!  It is so frustrating, but I know I have to be patient in this. We are going to La Puerta Vallarta this weekend, which is a beach about 5-6 hours away.  I am excited, but also anxious in that I am traveling with a group I do not interact with much here. While I do desire companionship here, I also know that the Lord is continuing to teach me to fill myself with Him alone.  I cannot tell yall how much your encouraging emails and phone calls mean to me!  I miss ya'll so much and am praying for you too!  

My Safe Haven...

Starbucks is only about 5 blocks from my house!

This is definitely my safe haven and I am so thankful we found it.  It is the place I can come and communicate with all of you and it brings a sense of peace to my day!  It is so cute and best of all, has great internet service!  Well, I am almost done with week 2!  I have to say that week 2 week by pretty fast.  Thank you so much for your continued prayers and encouragement.  I know I have said this before, but they truly do keep me going and lift my spirits!  I love hearing from ya'll!  So my roommates are from Nebraska and I already have one of them saying ya'll!  I love it!  Yesterday, my group went to Zapopan, which is about 15 minutes from where our school is.  It was beautiful and of course when I took out my camera, it was dead!  I am going to back though on my own so I can take pictures.  The people here in Guadalajara are extremely proud and protective of their country and bring everything to the feet of their "virgin" asking for help in defending their country.  We went into a church yesterday where we walked into the entry way and their were pictures of babies, thank you cards, etc thanking the virgin for protection and healing.  But then you turn the corner and their is Jesus in the tomb.  It is obviously a very Catholic centered country and everyone is extremely religious.  But they also like to have a good time!  On the other side of my bedroom wall is a bar.  I am accustomed to going to sleep every night to people screaming, singing and whatever they are doing over there! After our tour in Zapopan, we went to dinner at a little quaint Mexican restaurant and it was delicious.  Surprisingly, the food here is not as weird as I thought it would be.  It looks weird but it tastes fabulous!  After dinner, a few people went over the a Karaoke bar and sang Shakirah.  It was so funny, because the crowd (which consisted of about 10 other people) stared at us until she started singing in Spanish, then they would join along.  It was fun, but I am not into the night scene here.  I would rather come to Starbucks and chat with ya'll!  Sorry this entry is so random!  Lots of thoughts!  Ok, well again, I love ya'll and miss you!

Inside the starbucks...so cute!

La Luche Libre

Hey!  So, last night, we went to "La Lucha Libre" which basically means to me, "very very bad WWF."  Oh goodness.  Because of all the hype here over this event, I had so much anticipation all day awaiting our arrival to the arena.  Basically, EVERYONE in town comes out for this and is an excuse for everyone to drink, cuss and scream at each other as these 110lb. mexican men "fight" in costumes that we dressed up in when we were 12.  The most exciting part of this was seeing what type of outfits the men had chosen and what songs they had chosen for their amazing entrance into the "fighting" ring.  Then came the worst acting I have ever seen in my life.  Worse than "Days of our Lives" I promise!  It makes me laugh just thinking about it!  

Anyways, we are headed to a museum tomorrow which should be pretty neat and then I am going to a Salsa club to apply what I have learned in class!  Really I am just going to watch because it blows me away how good people can dance here.  We have our midterm exams next week, so please pray that I would retain some information!  I did learn to say "Que Miran!!"  to all the mexican men that do nothing but stare at gringas when they walk by.  I don't know what is so amusing about seeing someone from the U.S. walk down the street, but apparently it is.  I miss ya'll and hope ya'll are doing well.  Oh!  I found a Starbucks about 5 blocks from my house that has free internet, so what a great excuse to go to Starbucks a couple of times a week!  

Some of my roommates, Adrianne and Kendra