Nueva Creacion

Well, this has been an amazing week so far! I don´t really even know where to start..Sunday, after we went to Family of God church and everyone headed out, I took some time to recharge at the house we had stayed at, then headed over to spend some time with the Diaz family....They are a family of 4 kids...Karen is 24, Fernando 22, Alex 11, and Taylor 7....Their parents died in a car accident a few years ago and they´ve been through a lot, but they are stronger for it and they are such a neat family...I met them through an American pastor named Tab when I was down here in March....So, Tab and his wife Ellen were out of town and they were all staying at Tab´s house this weekend while he was gone, so I got to go over to hang out with them and spent the night at the house there...It started out as a pretty eventful night...Taylor came running in to the living room and was like ¨Hurry come here, there´s a fire¨ which of course scared me half to death because I never have to put out fires, but it ended up being outside of the house...Someone had set some rubber stuff on fire inside of a dumpster type thing, but the fire was growing and it was getting close to a light post, so we had to call the firefighters who surprisingly arrived pretty fast and put it out...Taylor loved the excitement because he wants to be a firefighter!

Monday, I got to spend the whole day with Taylor and Alex while their older brother and sister were working at the store they own here in town....We got to play football on the beach (Tab and Ellen´s house is right on the beach...I love it!)...and played cards and watched Happy Feet in English which the kids loved and was also good practice for them because they need to learn more English and I was able to translate a lot of it for them....The rest of the afternoon we were out and about running errands...I loved having them at the grocery store with me because they act like their my kids and people look at me funny because I´m so white with these adorable Mexican kids...it cracks me up! When we got home, Taylor and I went out and found shells together on the beach..He is precious...he kept finding them and giving them to me, telling me ¨This is a gift for you¨...it was precious....We all ate dinner together and as I was leaving to head to the women´s center (which is where I´m staying for the rest of the week), Alex said ¨Thank you so much for such a fun day¨...it was so sweet and then it hit me that they don´t normally have someone to just love on them and give them attention on a regular basis...their older brother and sister love them, but they´re busy with their store and other things and the kids don´t frequently have someone to take them places and do stuff with them...not that it was any sacrifice on my part...I loved spending the day with them...it was just as fun for me if not more fun...It was really neat to spend that time with them though...

Things at the women´s center have been great...Maria and Gregorio (the couple who run the center) are such an inspiration to me...they have such great hearts and are constantly praying and sharing about the Lord...Every morning they pray and someone preaches...so it has been great being a part of that this week and hearing Maria and Gregorio preach...God´s love really shines through them...Gregorio is always praying and fasting too...he was telling me yesterday ¨It´s not about what I say or preach...it´s all because of prayer and fasting...that´s my work here.¨He went on to tell me, ¨Yeah, I fasted yesterday and I probably will tomorrow too¨..it´s just such a normal part of his life...it´s so awesome...and he is always taking breaks to pray..that really challenged me...Maria also is amazing...she was telling me the other day when we had to take Reyna to the hospital (she´s the lady who just had the baby and we had to take the baby in for a vaccination), she was telling me how important it is to always be joyful and showing the love of Christ through your face and in the way you interact with people...and it´s so true...she doesn´t just say it, she really lives it...

Well, it´s been awesome this week too getting to know the ladies at the center more...They all have awesome stories and it´s just neat to see what God is doing in their lives and how they have changed because of His work in their lives...Wednesday, a new lady came to the center...she smelled like alcohol and was a mess...she told us she hadn´t eaten for a month because she had been afraid...she was in really bad shape and it was really sad, but we prayed for her and then Gregorio took her to the hospital later because she had multiple health things going on that she needed treatment for...

Well, one thing that I have come to learn over the years is that God has a plan in everything and that his timing is perfect...Maria´s sister and her kids are visiting right now and her nephew Daniel was recently diagnosed with childhood diabetes...but, he and his mom never really received much diabetes education and they still are feeling pretty unsure about some things and just needing some instruction....so, it was perfect because I used to teach new diabetics about diabetes at Phoenix Childrens...so, I´ve been helping them learn more about it this week...Sylvia, (Daniel´s mom) was crying the first night I stayed at the center because she was so frustrated over all the problems she´s had with Daniel this past month...but, throughout this week, we´ve been able to talk a lot about his insulin and his diet and she seems to be getting more comfortable with everything...one of my friends also picked up a diabetes handbook in spanish from my work for me so I can give it to them and go over it with them this weekend (she´ll be coming down tonight)...So, that was a total blessing and I know it was God´s timing...I let Daniel give me a saline injection in my leg today because he´s still afraid to do the injections himself..he did great with mine but was still afraid to give himself the injection after that..so, he´s taking baby steps, but it´s still gonna be awhile before he gets it all down...

Yesterday we got to take Maria´s family and some of the kids from the center, along with some of the ladies to the beach...it was a great day...the kids loved it and it was fun for me because they kept coming up to me and asking me how to swim...so, we had some little swimming lessons at the beach...even one of the ladies from the center asked me to teach her to swim...so, my 2 years on swim team came in handy after all! :) It´s been cool too because Maria´s daughter is here visiting this week too and isn´t really living her life all for God right now, so i´ve been able to hang out with her a lot and talk to her about different things and try to be a good influence on her...

Of course, I´ve been loving being at the women´s center too because I´m close with some of the little girls that live there...it has been a lot of fun this week playing with them and taking pictures with them (which they are always begging me to do lol)...they like to follow me out to the trailor that I´m staying in and wait there whenever I go in for something...then if I don´t come out right away, they start knocking on the door and calling my name...it´s precious....I have a handful of little puppie dogs following me around!

Well, I know I´ve said a lot despite the fact that a lot more has happened that would take way too long to write here...there´s one more thing I want to share though..Last month when we were down passing out bags of food, I met these four ladies Mati, Lupe, Rosario, and Elsa and got to share the gospel with them...they all prayed to receive Christ and we gave them Bibles...so, I invited them to the ladies´Bible study that we had on Wednesday night which they weren´t able to come to, but then we had a service at the church Maria and Gregorio attend last night and Lupe and Rosario were both able to come with me! It was so neat to be there with them...all of us were first timers to the church, so I wasn´t really sure what to expect, but the service was good and we all especially loved the worship songs...It was really neat too because I got to help them find different passages in their new Bibles during the service...that was really special for me...I was really excited that they were able to meet one of my friends from the ladies´Bible study and she came over and talked to them for awhile....so, hopefully they can get plugged in and continue to grow...I´m gonna try to bring them with me to the women´s Bible study and to church again next week!

Anyway, I am really loving everything down here...Before the group left last week, one of the girls asked me if I thought it would be hard being here all week alone before the next group came....But, I told her that I feel so at home in this place and in this culture...it´s like a second home to me...I´ve realized that even more this week...I feel so blessed to be here...God has definitely been speaking to me too and it has just been an awesome experience so far!