Christmas Party!

Today was the last day of the semester! We had a party to celebrate and the kids dressed up in Christmas costumes. :)

All of the "presents" under the "tree" :)

The cutest Christmas tree I've ever seen! :)

That's a candy cane if you can't tell :)

Sooo cute :)

Yaneli :)

This is a note that I recieved from one of my students :) It translates like this : I love you Miss Frank! I like your class and I like that you teach me English and Art. I really like how you decorated your classroom and I like your clothes :) :)

We cut out snowflakes yesterday and I hung them up in my classroom :) Most of my students have never seen snow before.

E Coli...It's what's for dinner.

I believe that it is safe to assume that I have vomited more in the last four months than I have in my entire life collectively. :) However, I suppose that if you live in Mexico, you will inevitably experiance some degree of gastrointestinal distress on a regular basis! ;) Almost everyone here was sick last friday from ingesting some suspicious looking mole and rice. Never. again.

Mexicans don't really celebrate Thanksgiving unfortunately. None the less, we put on a huge dinner here at CVE. During the week, I decided to expose my English students to some American culture :) I even had them churn butter one day! :) It was super fun! :)

Our homeade bread and butter :)

I filled a mason jar with heavy cream and we all took turns shaking it until it turned into butter.

oops :)

Our trip in the Mayflower :)

How can you restist that face??? :)

Belinda and I :)

Update

Hello everyone! It's been a while since I have posted anything so I thought I would give a brief update. We have had a very difficult five weeks or so here. As I have come to expect from my God, my life has been turned inside out and all of "me" has been shaken out and replaced by a need for my savior like never before. I was thinking a few days ago about all of the upheaval in my life and I couldn't help but reach the conclusion that I am thankful. So incredibly thankful. Sometimes, in this life, we have to walk through the wilderness. I'm in the wilderness right now. It's a time when we know that we can not take one more step, breathe one more breath, without Jesus.

I am doing a Beth Moore bible study right now called El Discipulo Amado. In her book, she talks about not being afraid to be alone with God. When I think about all of the situations that we have had here, I am grateful to have been surrounded with such an incredible group of believers. However, I stand alone before my God. And I shouldn't be afraid of that. I should be so far out on a limb with my God that if I even try to walk by sight and not by faith, I'm dead.

I also wanted to thank my church family in Tremont for being so supportive! I have recieved so many encouraging cards and letters! :) Thank you! You are all such a blessing to me! I know that so many of you are praying already but please continue to pray for us here as we fight for these precious children.

"Bendito sea Jehova mi roca, quien adiestra mis manos para la batalla y mis dedos para la guerra." Salmo 144:1-2

"Whoever receives one little child like this in My name receives me." Mathew 18:5

Recent Happenings :)

Angel being adorable :)

Kali and I :)

Saturday baseball fans :)

All of the girls :)

Five girls and a donkey named "Phil"

I currently live in a house with five lovely teenage girls. I never expected to love them this much :) The Lord has placed such a burden on my heart to encourage, mentor, and intercede for these girls in prayer.

Meet Karla: She is 15 years old and her favorite color is yellow. She is also a talented artist and enjoys drawing and painting. She also can sew very well. She likes to sing and plays the piano and guitar. She likes to read in her spare time. She is also Tanya's sister. :)

Meet Tanya: She is 13 years old and her favorite color is blue. She is in the seventh grade :) She has a beautiful smile and she laughs all the time. I love when she tells jokes! Although, she is probably the most timid of the girls :) She also loves to read. Her favorite author is Karen Kingsbury.

Meet Lupita: She is 15 years old. She likes to play baseball and water the plants :) . She also likes to read. She is super friendly and has been very welcoming to the new students that we have recently gained at school. Her favorite color is blue.

Meet Yaneli: Yaneli is 12 years old. She is one of my students in the primaria. She is in 6th grade:) Her favorite teacher is Miss Frank :) Her favorite color is pink. Her mom's name is Reina which means queen in spanish. She has the most adorable freckles I have ever seen! She shares a room with Tanya and she loves to hang out with her roommate. She loves to play volleyball and watch High School Musical. Her best friend is Lupita. Her favorite foods are hot dogs, macaroni and cheese, and she has recently discovered a love for meatloaf. Her favorite animals are dolphins, dogs, and cats. She is also a very talented dancer and singer :) She is currently taking piano lessons from Kali. :)

Meet Jaqueline: Jaqui is my roommate. :) She is 15 years old and the eldest of the girls. She is probably the sweetest girl I know. She is sooo special! :) She is intelligent, talented, and cares deeply about others. She likes to read and have late night chats with Sarah :) She is really good at playing basketball and soccer and likes to work out. Her favorite colors are blue and green. She enjoys worshiping the Lord through music. Her teachers are Todd, Geo, and Daniela (her older sister). She really likes learning new things at school. Her favorite movies are "A Walk To Remember" and "Pride and Prejudice." In the future, she would like to return to CVE and help children and teens that are stuggling with the same issues that she has struggled through by showing them the love of Jesus Christ.

Also...we have a donkey!!! Our neighbor Isaac (also one of my students) decided the other day that he wanted to ride our poor donkey. Phil was less than pleased :) Isaac, however, was delighted! I heard him yelling, as Phil was charging through our front yard, that he didn't know how to stop! Fortunately, it all ended well! haha :)

Viva Mexico!

Yesterday we celebrated Mexico's independence day! We ate traditional Mexican food and the students performed dances and read poetry. At midnight, we all went into town and listened to the "Grito." Basically, the mayor of each town in Mexico leads the community in shouting "Viva Mexico! Viva Mexico!" It was a pretty cool experiance! I, of course, have no pictures of this because I completely forgot my camera! My apologies! :) But I do have some pictures of the festivities at school!

Chutzpah!

Sometimes, I just sit and wonder at the awesome power of God. It is overwhelming to think about actually. I knew that in coming here to Magdalena I would forever be changed. The Lord never ceases to amaze me with His methods of molding and shaping my heart. I would never have guessed that the Lord would bring me to this dry and thirsty place to show me how much that He loves me.

I was spending some time a few days ago just sitting in the presence of God and a thought occurred to me. I had been reading a book called Toward a Deeper Walk by Marcus Warner. In his book, Warner touches on the concept of "seeking the Lord." I don't know about you, but the idea of seeking the Lord has always been something kind of difficult to grasp. I have always very adamantly believed that I needed to seek the Lord but had no idea what that actually meant and how exactly I was supposed to put that into practice as a believer. Anyway, Warner very simply defined seeking as "asking the Lord questions."

Since discovering this, I have begun to seriously restructure the way that I pray. The results have been incredible! It had never occured to me that God actually wants to answer our prayers! He's not going to ignore us. He will always speak if we are willing to be in tune with the Spirit and wait on His perfect timing.

A few days ago, was reading the story in Genesis 32 when Jacob wrestles the angel and refuses to give up until the angel blesses him. I was reminded of a word that I just recently learned, "Chutzpah." I think it's Yiddish. :) It basically means don't let up, press on, keep fighting! I have never in my life felt like I needed more Chutzpah than right now! For those of you who don't know, I am a missionary serving at an orphanage in Mexico. We deal with a lot of deeply hurting children. Satan, unfortunately, still has an unrelenting grip on some of their lives and he is desperate to keep his legal right to keep them in chains of darkness. As believers in Christ Jesus, our battle is fierce and it is easy to become discouraged. But I have also realized that as Children of God we are seated in the heavenly places with our Lord and by His strength (and His strength alone) evil doesn't stand a chance.

So, I suppose that my point is that "we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places" Ephesians 6:12 "Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour: Whom resist stedfast in the faith, knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your bretheren that are in the world. But the God of all grace, who hath called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that ye have suffered a while, make you perfect, stablish, strengthen, settle you. To him be glory and dominion forever and ever!" 1Peter 5: 8-11

School! :)

Sorry for not being very diligent in my blogging lately! School has started and things have been much busier for me here. I am so thankful to have the opportunity to teach at our school! I already love my students dearly! However,I think that the more I teach the more that I realize I have no idea what I'm doing! But God will always glorify His name in our weakness! And that's the point isn't it?
On the first day of school, we all participated in something called the "Escolta." Basically, all of the students march around with the Mexican flag and then we sing the Mexican national anthem. It's a very big deal here. I can't imagine what my students thought of their new teacher who had no idea what was going on! :) That was certianly a memorable experiance! I am currently attempting to learn the words to the national anthem. :)

My first week was filled with all sorts of memorable experiances actually. On the second day of school, I ingested some sort of bacteria that prompted my body to react by violently puking for about 12 hours. It's a good thing that no one here has heard of sub plans! I don't think I could have written any if I had tried! :) Here are some pictures of my new classroom :)

I also bought a new bedspread and we painted one of the walls in our room pink :)

Trip to Hermosillo! :)

I was blessed to be able to take a day trip with two of our lovely teachers here at CVE. We went to the state capital of Sonora, Hermosillo. Hermosillo is about two hours away from Magdalena. We went to look for teaching materials and things for our classrooms. It was so good just to spend some time with my sisters in Christ. I think that one of the profound things that God has been teaching me is the value of surrounding myself with people who are also dedicated to a deeper walk with Christ. What a blessing to have beautiful hearts like these to surround myself with! :)

Enjoying a few Gorditas :) I think that saying that they were spicy would be an understatement...:)

The purpose of our trip was to look for teaching materials. It was quite a chore to look through this disaster! The books weren't organized at all! Someone just shoved all of the teaching materials into one shelf!

We thought that there would be a bookstore here :( They apparently had recently relocated.... :)

Geo and Carissa enjoying their "Sandys." This was probably the most hilarious part of our trip! The poor person who accidently translated that word wrong! :) He was so close... :)

We really didn't know where we were going... hahah :)

The restraunt. :)

These are three different enchuladas. The brown one is filled with mole. Mole is made with chocolate... kind of weird. :)

Geo and I at Las Chulas.

Carissa and I at "Las Chulas." I am so thankful for Carissa's mentorship. She has so much wisdom! :)

This is Heidi and I during VBS. We were responsible for registering the 12-15 year old boys. They were hilarious :)