The new year has arrived and we dove right in. We’ve been busy with prepping things for teams and working with them as they get here. Our first team this month was a big one, which gave us lots of practice with food prep, but honestly the group as a whole was so helpful with everything it wasn’t nearly as stressful as I prepared myself for. Christian has started driving, so we’ve been able to take on a few more things, like going to the grocery store on our own. We’re learning how things work, how to meal plan and shop both for ourselves personally and for the teams that come in. I have even more lists and reminders, and I find myself counting things a lot, definitely a lot of food math and guessing how much people will eat. The notes app on my phone is filled up with notes about everything you could possibly think of, spanish vocab, what food gets made on different days, schedules, grocery lists, to do lists, and more. Though as we work with more teams and repeat the same routines, I’m starting to need the lists a little less.
Some highlights from this month:
- New Years eve service and hanging out with friends afterward
- Going to a salsa class
- Making chai
- Catching some pretty sunrises
- Getting our hair cut
- Enjoying our nights off by spending time together apart from work
- I finished my year-long Bible reading plan!
Feliz Año Nuevo!
On New Years eve we went to church for a special service and got to worship God with the community. This was the first time I’ve celebrated the New year by singing worship songs as midnight arrived on New Years day, but I would recommend that to anyone. The service itself reminded me a bit more of a Christmas eve service, we even sang a couple of Christmas songs, which normally I’m tired of by that point but this year I really enjoyed hearing them. I really loved seeing so many people together, it was special in a way I don’t know how to explain. I got emotional during the most happy, upbeat song they played, not because I was homesick or anything like that, but I was really in awe of the Lord and everything he’s done. I looked around at all these people worshiping together, the little girls dressed in the cutest dresses and bows, the woman who was dancing her heart out, the lady clapping off beat, the faces of pure joy, the man signing off key, the harmony of families signing together, and it was the most beautiful sight and the most precious sound. I have asked the Lord to allow me to see people they way he does, and there are moments where I think I really do. I’m not talking about having the knowledge that everyone is a child of God and a sinner in need of a savior, yes, that is true all the time and as Christian’s we should all know this, but I felt something different, a type of joy that comes from the holy spirit working in me. It has nothing to do with the specific culture we’re in or the language the songs are being sung in, it was the heart of the people coming together to praise our good God; it was a glimpse of heaven.
Salsa Time!
Katelyn invited us to go to a dance class so we learned to dance for over two hours! We learned so many different salsa moves (I may have already forgotten most of them by the end but that doesn’t matter); I am in no way coordinated enough to be good at dancing of any kind, but we had so much fun and I didn’t really care that I wasn’t amazing at it. I think everyone had a great time and I hope to go to another one if it ever happens again.
Chai- A taste from home
For Christian’s birthday – which was also on January 1st- I gave him a box of ingredients from home to make chai, one of his favorite beverages, with a promise to make some for him. Chai is something I spent a good bit of time learning how to make, figuring out exactly how sweet and spicy I like it, which spices to add and how much, figuring out which tea is good quality, and I think I can say I have perfected my recipe for Chai concentrate. I make a few cups of it at a time and use it to make lattes, so I have now done that here at the guesthouse, and Christian gets to enjoy a birthday present that doesn’t really end.
A beautiful sunrise
A positive of waking up so early for this work is that sometimes I get to catch the sunrise and appreciate its beauty. I think the best one I saw this month was on a Sunday morning before church, as we were checking guestrooms and making sure everything was ready for the team that would be arriving that afternoon.
A much needed trim
Our first group of the month consisted of three teams, one of which was from Archbold, Ohio, which is very close to our hometown. I didn’t already know anyone on the team but they still felt familiar, and like a little taste from home. Everyone in the group was so generous and helpful, always lending a helping hand, one even offering to give us haircuts. It’s been a couple of months since I’ve had my hair cut, and I try to keep up on it to keep it healthy, but it was so nice not having to do it myself and then messing it up. Christian was also in great need of one, he likes to keep his hair short, especially here where it’s hot, so we both felt refreshed afterwards, and thankful for new friends.
Nights off
We’ve had a night off every week, so we’ve made it our goal to use that time to get out of the guesthouse and spend time together, it is becoming our weekly date night, where we go out to dinner, then come back to either play a game together or watch our show (Percy Jackson and the Olympians) and enjoy a break. We think we’ve also found a regular spot that we’ll be hitting up on these nights… while I was checking google maps for a place I had seen before, I stumbled upon a little churro place that happened to be a few minutes away from where we were on our way home after dinner one night. I said out loud that it looked good and we should stop sometime, Christian said we should go right then, so we did, because honestly, when is a spontaneous churro run not a good idea? We had some of the best churros I’ve ever had and discussed how dangerously close to the guesthouse this place was. It’s quickly becoming a weekly tradition to get churros for dessert, and the occasional empanada.
The Old Testament in a Year
In January of last year I started a reading plan that took me through the entire Old Testament in one year, and I finished it this year only two days after the date I started it. I’m terrible at long term reading plans to be perfectly honest, I usually get bored at some point and go to a different part of the Bible and study something else or I lose track of it when life gets busy and then just start a new one instead of picking back up on the one I already started. Lately, however, I have been feeling the importance of taking the time to read and study the entire Bible in order to have a really solid understanding of the whole story. Before starting each book, I watched The Bible Project’s summary video over the book, to get an overview of it and understand some context, even though I have done in depth studies of the Old Testament in the past, I still learned so much new about God and noticed new ways the Old Testament points to Jesus. Over the past year I have also developed the most consistent quiet time routine I think I’ve ever had, which is a huge blessing from God (no, I’m not saying my routine was perfect all year, but it was a lot better for a much longer period of time than it’s been before). I often struggle with keeping consistent routines, so for a long time my quiet time looked very random and didn’t have a system, which there’s not anything wrong with, but I personally get way more out of it when I do have a good routine in place. I have now started a two year long reading plan, to go through the entire Bible in chronological order, which is something I’ve actually wanted to do for a long time, though two years is quite the commitment (I haven’t even been married for two years, I don’t know if I’ve ever done anything consistently for two years). I really do look forward to my quiet time with Jesus, and as I get older I understand the importance of it even more.
God’s been so good to us, teaching us so much. We have many moments where we are confused or don’t feel equipped for what we’re doing, but the Lord continues to affirm that we are where we’re meant to be, and encourages us in many ways. We’ve experienced so much of the Lord’s grace and kindness lately. Thank you to every single person who has encouraged us in some way, every email, comment, text message, donation, kind word or hug means more than you could possibly know.
One thing I’ve really struggled with this month is missing my cats, and normally I don’t talk about it because I’ve found a lot of people don’t like cats and don’t see why I would be so attached to them, but I am, and it’s hard being away. They are well taken care of by family and are doing fine, I just miss them. After being here for over month, there are some people I miss in addition to my cats, but I honestly haven’t gotten homesick in general, I just have moments at night when I really miss my cat snuggling up to be and falling asleep in my arms, I will see them again, but not for a while yet.
Some people have asked about Christian’s health since we went to the clinic in October, Christian had a follow up appointment this month and had more tests done, all which came back very good. Praise the Lord for that! He will have another follow up in a few more months but he is doing quite well right now, thank you to everyone who has prayed for that.
Prayer Requests:
- Trusting God fully
- Physical and mental health
- Patience for both us and those who work with us as we learn
- Coping with being away from our cats, and that God would provide a way for us to bring them back next time we travel back from visiting the US.
Some more photos 🙂
(swipe to view)
