Carrots carrots and more beets

Dante and me, I promise he smiled later!

Franklin and Pierro!

This is Segundo one of the newer kids...he always asks me to play with him

Everything has been going pretty well so far and I was thinking that things weren't going to get tough. HA! What was I thinking. I mean I am here to serve the Lord so of course satan is going to attack me all over the place.

Yesterday was a tough day. It was cold and I wasn't able to communicate much with anyone. Spanish just didn't make sense to me at all. I knew that I shouldn't have been getting frustrated because I have only been here for one week, but I was. Everyone I talked or tried to talk to in spanish would just make me tired.

This morning I was listening to a sermon of Chip's (my pastor in Jackson) and he was talking about how God wants us to be faithful to Him when the going gets tough. Satan is going to try and make us turn against God but we have to stand firm in what we believe. God will bless us like He did Job and he will give us more than we ever could have asked for. I have been thinking about this and so I looked at today with a new perspective. Today is a blank page that I can start over on and make up my own story, and satan is going to try and be the main character in that story but I cannot let him. Christ is the only main character in my life. Without Him I am nothing. Nada.

As I went to work today in the kitchen I went with a new attitude. I went in there not thinking about the laguage barrier but how can we work together to serve the Lord. Luce was the olny cook that was there today and we sat down and made spaghetti and grated carrots and beets for 3 hours! And we talked. We talked about our families and what I went to school for and so much more. She was such an encouragment to me today and she tols me that by the time I leave here my spanish will be perfect! I doubt it will be perfect, especially since the cooks talk alot of slang, so much more than I do at this moment. Thank goodness!

This afternoon I spent my time in the garden with the girls from the Chispa house and it was good. We had to dig up all the plants in their section and start to till the land...by hand shoveling and raking. Alex one of my bosses said it should take a few weeks to get the soil ready. I have never really gardened before and will be doing the majority of it here, it should be good though!

After my duties were done I went out to play with Segundo who was too busy playing with Dante for me, so I went to hangout with Arnold and the other boys who were playing with their "trompo's" or spinning tops. Jhonathan (11), who is a punk kid, always calls me Tia Mala, for no reason might I add. He was being himself, being tough, and I grabbed him up in my arms and told him I loved him and I felt his body loosen up and go almost limp. He loves me too :) I love moments like those. Those moments when you can take a kid in your arms and show them love that they never saw as a small child and let them be loved and they want it so bad but are so bad at letting people know it sometimes. When I told him I would be here for a year his eyes lit up too! And when Pierro asked if I would be there for his birthday in December and I said yes, he smiled the biggest smile and jumped into my arms like a little boy of 5 would. I loved and cherished that moment. There is so much love that needs to be given to each child specifically and there isn't enough time each day to get to every child one on one to give it to them.

Pray that God would allow more of those tender moments where we can show them love like Christ loves us. And Pray that those who can be adopted would get the chance to be adopted before it is too late ( Josue, Kevin, Yuliana, I know there are more too) and that for those older kids that they will get the attention from us that they need and the guidance. Pray that God would comfort those kids who are homesick and new to us. Pray pray pray! I have to remind myself of this daily. Love to you all!