Work Hard, Play Harder

So it's been a while since I wrote last. But I wanted to catch you guys up on what's been going on. After Oregon left, we had a group of 35 people from Bainbridge, Washington. Then this past week we had a group of 56 people from New Jersey. The groups have mostly high school students but some college students.

The group of 56 was pretty nuts! I think the hardest things about it was that we never had a chance to be together as a group. We could not all eat in the same room, work on the same projects or drive in the same vehicle. It made communication this week difficult. But they did some great work. They built two houses and a church (Reynario's church)! Most groups build one house in a week. They were not able to completely finish the church but over the summer that will be completed. They also did two VBS's and had a party for the kids in Reynario's community. And they did two English lessons in Ensenada.

I really enjoyed the English lessons we did with some of the students this past week. On Tuesday and Thursday we took a group of 10 students to Ruben's church which is in a middle-class area in Ensenada. We spent a few hours at the park teaching basic Spanish to people Ruben had invited from the community. There were about 10 people who showed up to learn English each day. It was neat to look around and see groups of three and four sitting in the shade of the trees in the park learning together and helping one another.

This past week we also had two more interns join us. They are so freaking fun. It makes ministry much easier and enjoyable with them here. Because I know they can be depended on for things and we have bonded as a group really quickly. Their names are Dan and Paige. We had a lot of fun yesterday on the Fourth of July. We worked in the morning. The group left around 3:30pm. Then came party time. We went down to the beach to ride horses first. Ten bucks for an hour! It was so fun. But my butt really hurts today from bouncing up and down on the saddle. I felt like I was going to fall off the horse when he started to run but I did pretty good! Then we went to get pizza at Thrifty's ice cream. After that we went down to the beach just to hang out and there were fireworks everywhere. I was really surprised because I didn't think there would be any but people were shooting them off all over the place. They were the really good ones too that would be really really expensive in the States. I don't know how much they are here. Fireworks are supposedly illegal here but there was police on the beach and they didn't do anything so I guess it's not a big deal. After the fireworks we went back to Rick and Tammie's and hung out with them for a bit and then went home.

So I'm thinking about getting my Master's. Crazy! It's just that since I've been here I've felt a lack of preparedness spiritually. I would really like to get my Master's at a Christian college in Biblical Studies or Intercultural Studies. So far I've been looking into Simpson University which is in Redding, CA or Biola which is in LA, CA. I just can't get out of school. I think I'm just too scared to get into the real world. And I have no idea what I'm doing when I go home. Crazy crazy.

We don't have too much planned for today. The Romano's and Dan drove to the States to get the next group. Paige and I have to go grocery shopping today and do laundry. And I think we might go get Poblano's tacos. But one of the pastors has the truck and he said he would drop it off at 1pm. I don't really know when he'll show up because this is Mexico. Yesterday the Romano's went to a wedding. It was supposed to start at 3pm. They called at 4pm to see how things were going with the group so I thought the wedding must have been over but it hadn't even started! Yes, this is Mexico. So the truck probably won't show up until 2ish. At least that's what I'm expecting.

Please continue to pray for me. Pray that I would be able to focus on the now. I'm only half way through this and I'm already thinking a lot about what to do when I get home. And I don't want to stress too much about it becuase as long as I'm walking along with God and loving Him and loving others it doesn't really matter what I'm doing. I want to put all my energy into this place and not have any regrets when I go home.

I love you guys. And I miss miss miss you.

Sarah