Thursday, Jan 15 – Reaching out

8:43 pm

Today was markedly different from the others.  First of all, the cheerleaders left this morning at 5:00 am.  Now, we all liked them a lot, but it got old having a continuously dirty living and eating space because of eight girls who could not and would not clean up after themselves.  I cleaned the place like crazy today and it finally looks healthy inside!  In the afternoon, we had a pleasant change from daily bench-making and instead went to the city, Magdalena, where we'll be having a block party, this time complete with snow cones!, on Saturday.  We walked around the square inviting people to come, witnessing to some, and praying over the various aspects of what the block party entails.  It was fan-tast-ic.  We spent about two hours out there and I got to know some of the older kids here at Casa since we broke off into smaller groups of three or four.  One Gringo per group.  (Gringo, by the way, is a norteamericano or someone from the US).  I was with Erick1 (that's how they differentiate between different kids here with the same name) and his girlfriend.  Oh, and everyone here has a girlfriend.  I guess there's nothing else to do all day!  I cooked both lunch and dinner.  Reheated taco soup for lunch (but I did have to cook the rice--not instant) and Rotel Chicken for dinner.  Both were Mrs. Shain's recipes and both were great!  I'm so excited about the days to come, but you'll just have to wait to hear about them until they happen!

11:50 pm

So we just had the most intense and confusing and amazing and horrible discussion on John 15:1-8 evuh.  Wow coming to realize to a new degree just how much I cannot understand all that is God.  He is soooo much bigger than me and everyone else in our group and the world.  How dare I even try to put limits and barriers on Him!  My God is the God of Abraham, Jacob, and Paul.  He created the universe from galaxies in their complexity to a grain of sand on a beach in Greece to the point of a dangly watermelon hanging  on a tree just to prove Himself in it all.  My God loves me?  Yes, my God loves me! YES, GOD!!!  PRAISE YOUR BEAUTIFUL NAME!!!!