This really has been an awesome semester.

Other possible titles include, but are not limited to: Honesty. Ya know, I don't know if I actually am ready to return to the USA. God is faithful. Oh how He loves.

Anyway, I was thinking about the fact that I have to / get to return how in just a few short days. There have been times this semester when that is the only thing that I've wanted to do and could just not wait for the end to be here so I could go home. I thought I was ready. I've been looking forward to the end for so long. and not just the end of the semester, also the fact that it is the end of my undergrad academic career. Wait, what?! I'm done with college. forever. tomorrow. That came fast...

There are so many things to look forward to: carpet. heating. Christmas and everything that goes along with the holiday season. Peppermint mochas. having it be normal to carry around a water bottle or a travel coffee mug. friends. family. hugs. my cellphone. reliable internet. different food.

There is also so much that I will miss terribly: Triana bridge. Spanish. the history and architecture here. Cathedral. Cheap flights to all of Europe. new friends. tons of cafes. siesta. relaxed time schedule. Acento. my church. Encuentro.

This semester has been probably the second hardest semester I have ever had, and that doesn't really mean academically. There are a lot of other factors here, like homesickness, being in a serious relationship and hardly having good communication with Aaron or people from home, culture shock and finding it incredibly hard to get to know Spaniards, not always wanting to try and make connections with people because it just means more hurt later on, not having a great homestay, being disappointed in how much English there is which leads to not as much improvement in Spanish, etc. (If you want more details, just ask... we can get coffee sometime.)

BUT - through all the hard, God has been faithful. I have been incredibly blessed here through attending a large, very diverse church with an awesome, on-fire youth leader, through Encuentro (Wednesday night worship), through new friendships, through my prayer group, and most importantly, through the hardships. Yes, the hardships. That can be difficult to admit and to really mean, that we are thankful for the hardships, but that is what God calls us to. He doesn't promise that this life is going to be easy, he actually says the opposite, that we will have trials, but these trials bring us closer to him. It's through being broken that we can grow. And no matter how much I fight it, I am broken, and I need to continue to be broken to be made whole in Him. He is my strength. He is what gets me through day to day. He is my love, my life, my all.

So yes. This has been an awesome semester. I've learned SO much, been stretched in many ways, grown-up, dealt with trials, had a few highs, and am coming home changed.

This also scares me. Coming home. Yes, I get to go home to my wonderful family and all their support, but lets face it, the transition is going to be tough - reverse culture shock always is. They didn't share this experience with me. They've changed while I've been away. Also, I don't get to go back to school, to my amazing friends there, many of whom have spent semesters or summers learning to live in another culture. I don't get to go back to the routine of classes and chapel and tests and late nights. That is going to be a weird and crazy adjustment.

So through this time of transition I ask for your prayers. Prayers that the travels go well this weekend, that I'm able to adjust back to the time zone well, for health, that I will be able to take with me what I've learned from this semester and learn to apply it to life at home, that I will cling to God through the lows and the highs, that He will be my love and my refuge, that I'll look for ways to use my Spanish and not just forget it all.

Thank-you for reading my updates, for your prayers, and for you interest in what God is doing in His world.

Que Dios les bendiga.

Ministry opportunities in Spain

God is working here in Spain. Here's a glimpse into a few of the opportunities He's given me:

Thursday's at the convent - On Thursday afternoons another girl from the program and I make the 1/2 hour walk to a convent where we "teach" english to some of the kids there. We're there for 2 hours each time and help 2-3 students. Sometimes they have exercises from their classes that they need help with, but these usually don't take up the whole time. Sometimes we'll play a little game with them or work on some random vocab or english pronunciation, depending on their level of english. Part of our goal with this is to just show the kids love, whether or not we help a lot with their english. God's given me the patience to work with these kids as a lot of them come from pretty rough backgrounds. They are all precious in their own way though.

Tuesday lunches at the University - I haven't been able to go to this one in a few weeks now, but the idea is to either bring a lunch or buy a lunch there, pair up with another student from our program, and go meet university students to build relationships which could lead to sharing the gospel.

At the school - The professors are not Christians, but we can freely talk about our faith in class, and often Christianity gets brought up during class time.

Worship experiences:

Wednesday night Encuentro - Every Wednesday night we meet together as students and other friends to worship. There's usually a speaker who shares a short message with us and we sing quite a few songs and pray. This is such a refreshing time of the week for me :) especially because it follows my Prayer Group time. My prayer group consists of 4 other girls (students from the program) and I. We meet each Wednesday at a cafe, share what's going on in our lives, read a devotional or passage from the Bible and discuss it, share prayer requests and, of course, pray. :)

Saturday Night Youth Group - My roommate found a Baptist church online this summer that we've been attending, and they have a youth group that meets on Saturday nights. This is similar to Encuentro, but it is all in Spanish whereas Encuentro is in both English and Spanish. This has helped us to form friendships with some of the young people here.

Sunday morning Sunday school and service - Sunday school meets first, and then everyone gathers together and we have the service. Both of these are great times of worship as well, although the pastor who leads the youth stuff is easier to understand than the pastor who usually preaches at the service. I have loved learning more Spanish songs though and worshipping with my brothers and sisters in Christ here in Spain.

Personal devotions - I've been reading through a few chapters of the Bible. Also, earlier this semester I read Don't Waste your Life by John Piper, and another book that I borrowed from the school. A couple days ago I began rereading God Wants to Save the Christians by Rob Bell. All have been interesting reads.

Traveling Encounters - When my parents and I were in Paris, we met a family the first mornings at the metro/RER train station. They're Americans living and working in Germany for a few years. We were on the same train, and getting off at the same stop (about 1/2 hour or 45 minutes from where we got on...) so we talked to them for a while. As my dad was talking about our family, it came up that a lot of us are interested in missions. Turns out, this family was Christian as well! We had a nice talk with them for that ride! I also met a bunch of other Americans, one of them was a student from the "other Northwestern."

We stayed at a bed and breakfast next to my mom's cousin in the Netherlands. The couple that runs it is a very nice elderly Christian couple. The guy use to do a lot of mission stuff so we heard good stories about that!

Fall Break :)

Over fall break (we had a week off of classes) I was able to travel to a few more European countries and see many many new sites.

First stop: Heidelburg, Germany to meet up with my parents and spend a couple days with my fiance. Germany is a beautiful country, I would love to go back someday! :) We visited a few ruins by the city, drove to another town and saw a waterfall and a castle, and drove down to the southern part and saw 2 castles. It was all very beautiful and really neat to see.

Second stop: Netherlands. We visited my mom's cousin and stayed at a bed and breakfast next door to his family. He was able to show us around on Wednesday. It was nice to be there and see all of the dutch things!

Third stop: Paris. Did a bunch of touristy things and saw the places that you would expect to see in 2 days in a huge city.

Favorite: probably Germany. I would not mind moving there for a couple years.

Ok. So that is a really brief update on the break...

I have about 5 1/2 weeks left here and then I will be back home and graduated. That is a crazy thought! I am very excited to be done, but it will be weird to not be a student anymore. Next spring I am hoping to work and maybe take an online class for interpreting and maybe travel the US a bit to see friends.

I'll try to write a more meaningful update soon on what I'm learning and experiencing while abroad.

Que Dios les bendiga mucho!

So it's been awhile...

I figured this would happen. I fail at updating things on a regular basis. A lot has happened since the last update so I will just give you an overview.

I've been on a couple more trips. I went to Lagos, Portugal with a couple girls. There are a bunch of beautiful caves and beaches there, and we were able to go on a boat tour of a bunch of the caves and swim in the ocean! It was interesting being in a country where we couldn't understand the main language. I also went to Huelva with the school group. This is where Columbus set off from so it was interesting to see replicas of the boats they sailed on and see the places where he stayed. Just this past weekend I was blessed with a trip to Madrid to see my grandparents! They had done a tour of Spain and ended there so my roommate and I went up to spend a couple days with them! Madrid was a lot different than Sevilla - so big! The first day we were there it rained a lot so we were pretty miserable, but it helped us to appreciate the beautiful weather we've been having!

Last week Aaron came and visited me for a couple days because he was on break! :) He flew in on Tuesday night and left again on Thursday afternoon. The most exciting part of the trip was Tuesday night when we went down by the river and got engaged!!!! :)

My other big news is that I decided not to accept my spot on the Word Made Flesh Bolivia Team. I decided it would be too busy and stressful and that I wouldn't be able to really enjoy my time here, or my time there, because I would always be longing for the next step and not able to fully live and be where I'm at at the moment.

Also - I would really appreciate some prayers right now! The last couple days I have been missing home a lot - people and places and activities. I guess this is all part of culture shock, which I think I've experienced more on this trip than ever before. I'm not really sure why that it, but it might have to do with reality being different than expectations, or the fact that I'm studying here and so it is similar to being away at college where as before I've always done more mission type trips and they've been so different than life at home.

Dios les bendiga

Bolivia?!

Yes, I am still in Spain. It's pretty great, for the most part.

Went to Cordoba with the group on Friday and saw the Mezquita :) (pics on facebook)

Cultural fact that many of you may already know: Spain is a "Catholic" culture, but that means that people celebrate the festivals and maybe go to a church every once in a while. As soon as people here the word "iglesia" they just want to forget the conversation. I do have an awesome opportunity here to be part of a great church where I can fellowship with other believers; however, just as important as that, I have opportunities here to serve and to get out of my comfort zone to share God's love. Today, a group of us went to the University here to have lunch, and we're going to continue this each week. Today was more to just show us around and introduce us to what's going on there, and in the future, we'll be going up to people and asking if we can eat and talk with them. Pretty scary for someone like me, but I'm excited as well. Hopefully we'll have some good conversations through that, and bring someone closer to accepting Christ. My other opportunity to serve is through hanging out with some kids each Thursday afternoon and just loving on them. We are visiting there the first time this Thursday, so I will know more about this after that. mmm God is good!

So. Today is a special day. It's the 21st today. Which means Aaron and I have been dating for 6 months! yay!

Anyway, back to the title of this blog. Bolivia.

Some of you may know/remember that this past spring I was looking into a trip to Bolivia through Word Made Flesh for this coming spring. They didn't have any of their short term trips going out, so I inquired about an internship. After not hearing from them for a couple months I thought it just wasn't going to happen. So the other day, Thursday, when I opened my email and saw that I had an email from them I was pretty shocked, to say the least. Turns out, they've added a trip to Bolivia for this coming spring, and I could still apply if I wanted to, but I only had the weekend to get my application in. After initially saying no, and then praying about it A LOT, I felt like God was calling me to send in my application, and at least be willing to still go, even though it would mean giving up the time I thought I would have at home to work and figure out the next stage of my life. So, with that being said, my application is sent in, and the references are on their way (I hope!). A little more about the trip... I would be in El Alto, which is like the slum part of La Paz, the capital. The Word Made Flesh missionaries do a lot, including street evangelism, in a red light district and they have a Casa de Esperanza (house of hope) outreach. I am really excited about this opportunity! If God is calling me to go, I pray that He will continue to make that very clear, and if not, I pray that He will close the doors. I know either way that He has amazing things planned for my life, and that I can be used at home as well as abroad to bring glory to His name. Will you pray about this situation, and that God's will will be made clear?

Sometimes I forget I'm in Europe

Yes. It's true. It's actually quite easy to forget.

Well, except for lots of Spanish speaking people. Living in an apartment with Spanish speaking hosts. Different food. Totally different style city than I'm use to. Different styles of clothes. etc.

But in other news.

I went to a Spanish church this past weekend with my roommate. It was so nice to fellowship with other believers again in Spanish, I've missed that.

Week 2 of classes is done! Cordoba tomorrow with the group :)

I'm sitting in the computer room at the school and everyone is talking in English. It's supposed to be Spanish only.. hmm...

Culture shock is not fun :/ well. there are some good things too. I think this is the most frustrated I've ever been on a trip before though.

Bolivia is back in the picture. maybe. I need to make a decision about that asap.

I really don't have a lot to say right now, I just thought I'd give a super quick update a minute.

oh life, how interesting you are...

It's (only) been a week (already)?!

Culture/Life Abroad 101

*Be prepared for HOT weather! It's been in the 90's or warmer most days and today is in the upper 80's. With the breeze it feels great but it's going to warm up again this weekend.

*Everyone smokes. Even in the houses, so if you hate the smell learn to deal with it.

*Bluntness is the norm. If you don't like something, just say it. You don't have to pretend to really like the food or anything, they won't be that offended. They would rather make something else you'll like better, especially if it means you'll eat more.

*Be prepared to eat at different times. Breakfast is when we get up in the morning, lunch anywhere from 2-3, supper around 10 usually.

*Siestas are wonderful... even if you don't like to take naps :) Siesta time lasts from after lunch til 5 or 6. Almost all the stores are closed during this time, and it is great to get out of the heat of the day and relax inside.

*Cold showers. If you want to take a hot shower make sure its quick, the hot water tanks are small. Angeline and I have been taking mostly cold showers, and then we can take longer ones. If our host is there when we shower we ask her to turn on the hot water though so that we don't freeze. With as hot as it is the cold water feels pretty nice though.

*Night Life. Yes, people stay out VERY late here. More so on the weekends, but even during the week I hear a lot of people outside our window. It's too hot to be out during the daytime hours, so that makes sense.

*The people are really nice. We did a photo scavenger hunt around the city on Saturday and had to ask people where different things are. The people were really helpful, and even if they didn't know exactly, they were still nice about it. This is not the same in stores and restaurants, however. Don't expect to be treated very well until you're a regular and they can tell you're not passing through for a one time things. The people in Sevilla grew up here there whole lives, it's not like in the states where people move around a lot.

Ok, that's enough random cultural things for now.

In other news, my chacos broke already :( :( This is very sad because I wear them all time and besides them I just have a pair of sandals here, flats, and tennis shoes. and the sandals make my feet hurt. I guess it's time to replace them, but I haven't found anywhere to buy something like that.

I think the siesta makes it seem like we've been here for longer than a week.

A bunch of us from the program went to a Corrida de Torros (bull fight) the other night. It was interesting. I'll get around to posting pics on facebook at somepoint.

Classes started yesterday. They're pretty good so far. :)

mmk that's all for now, I'll update again in a week or two!

Dios les bendiga!