It will be a week tomorrow. It feels like I have known the other missionaries for longer than a week. I have never laughed more than I have here. One of the staff members at the mission center, Graham, is hilarious... he is literally a 9 year old in a 20 year old's body. I already have way too many stories just about him.. haha.

But anyway i got my assigned center at the beginning of this week. There are 3 different centers within the whole program. I've been assigned to JOY. The group of girls that are going to be at Joy are amazing. I also received the age group I will be teaching for the summer, 9 and 10 year olds. I am really happy about it because I was ready to work with the older kids seeing how I usually end up with the babies.. which isn't a bad thing but it was time for a change.

We had our block parties this week to kick off the summer. All three turned out great! The Gano center had the most people show up. It was more hectic than Fletcher and Joy but, none the less, they were all successful. I think Gano had 270+ people. Fletcher had about 50 people and Joy had a little over 50 people. But Joy only allowed the children to come and Gano was for everyone.

Today was really cool because we got to go to a Spanish Church, that supports the Mission Centers of Houston, and it was obviously all in spanish. And I have to say I was kinda wondering how that was going to turn out just because I don't speak or understand hardly any spanish. haha. But I just prayed that God would calm my thoughts because the last thing I wanted to do was disrespect the people at the church by not participating in any of the songs or comments made through out the sermon. And having the God that I have, He did just that and more.. when the worship leaders started singing they sung some songs in spanish but then they did serveral songs in English. Then when the pastor got up to preach, He looked at the crowd and begin to explain that in the bible, Paul insists that if there is a person in the crowd that can not understand the language then there should be a translator. Because the word of God should be spoken so that everyone can understand. And when he said that I just smiled because I had just prayed that God would take care of such an awkward situation and He did! A girl from the missions center, Gano, actually was the one to translate. The people at the church were probably the most authenitc, friendliest group of people I have ever met. They made me feel at home despite the fact of how much I looked and felt out of place.

I'm falling more and more in love with the people and culture of Spanish Houston.

Houston.

So yesterday I had quite an experience getting through the airport... to start the day off i had to be the one who had an expired license.. haha.. so needless to say it took me a few extra mins. to get through sercurity/baggage check in. My mom was not happy when she found out but fortunately my hunter's licenses was my only saving grace.. good thing I am a country girl :)

When i finally got on the plane everything went A LOT smoother! Houston is different than i expected but i love it! It's got the most amazing Sky line.. which will lead to A LOT of cool pictures ;)

The people are great. The leaders are amazing. And the living quarters are pretty much like home, which is always good.

I won't start working with the kids until next week because this week is mainly orientation so just keep me in your prayers and i will definitely keep you updated! :)

Fears erased here.

I just found this on some website and thought how cool that was. But then when I thought about how many people can write their fears on a board and think they will go away ... but can't even give the fears, worries, struggles, and confusion to God and trust that He will take care of them or maybe even erase them. It caught me off guard.


I know I am probably digging deeper than I should but really aren't we all guilty of this. We are so eager to give ourselves, thoughts, and fears to the world but when it comes to God we want to act like he isn't capable of taking care of them.

In Matthew 6:25-34, it talks a lot about the cure for anxiety. It says don't worry about what you wear, what you eat or what you will drink because the Lord will provide for you. It goes so far to say that the Lord provides for the birds and even the wildflowers so what makes you think He will not provide for you?! But like always we must "Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be provided for you. "

i've decided to start a blog...

So I'm not sure how this is going to go because I often find myself forgetting to write in things like these.. but lately I've had a lot on my mind so I figured i needed somewhere I could go to put all those thoughts down. : )