Home

Hey folks...

well I guess you have all heard about the crazy swine flu thing going on.  Well, I wont go into too much detail about it, but long story short, me and a couple of my other teammates flew home early.  I arrived back home from Mexico yesterday about about 5:30 pm.  

Right now, I am on an incubation mode where I am not supposed to be around too many people just incase I contracted the illness on the plane.  It is crazy.

I definitely had a tough decision to make, but I know that I definitely made the right decision.  The way things were escalating, as well as the rules that were being placed on the students at the students definitely showed me that it was time to leave.

Last I heard, you have to ask permission to leave the dorm for more than 2 hrs, and you have to be back by midnight.  That is insane!  Let's just say I am glad I got home before it turned into that.  It is crazy.

Pray for those who have this illness, as well as those coming home from Mexico that they do not get it.  Keep all of this situation in your prayers as it is really intense!

Final Two Weeks???

Hey everyone!

So...It is quickly dawning on me that I only have TWO weeks left here in Mexico.  I have so many mixed feelings about this, and honestly I don't even know what to think about it all.

On the one hand, I could not be anymore excited about coming home!  I have really missed everyone, and I am very excited to see everyone again, and to hug everyone and get back into the normal swing of things in my normal life.  However, on the other hand, it really saddens me to know that this entire experience is coming to an end so soon.  It makes me sad and anxious to know that I will probably not ever see most of the people I have met here ever again.  It really depends on the day what I feel like.  

I am very nervous as to what it is going to be like when I get back.  What is it going to be like when I get home and see everyone again?  How will I be able to handle everything back home knowing that I have changed so much here, but at the same time, everyone back home has been changing just as much.  Only, we have not been changing together.

I ask that you please pray for my transition when I get back home.  Please pray that I am able to readjust quickly, and that it is not something that leaves a bitter taste in my mouth.  

I have had the greatest experience of my life this semester!  I am so grateful that I have been able to come here, and have the experiences I have been having.  Sometimes, I don't even understand how I am so lucky to have had this experience.  Thank you God!

Here's To The WORST Blogger EVER!

Ok everyone...first of all I just want to apologize for how bad of a blogger I am.  I know there are no excuses, so I am very sorry for not keeping all of you updated fully.  I have been back from Spring Break for over a week now, and am just now blogging about it.  THATS how bad of a blogger I am! 

Speaking of Spring Break...all I can really say about it is that it was easily the best vacation I have EVER been on in my entire LIFE!  It was a little pricey, yes, but the amount of things I was able to do, and the things I was able to see and experience made it completely worth it!  Plus, I had saved and budgeted for this trip, and am SO glad to have had the opportunity to go on it!

We left Puebla at about 5:30am on Saturday morning to head to Chiappas.  We arrived at our first destination at about 1:30 pm and went on a boat ride through an INCREDIBLE canyon.  The scenery was astounding and literally breath taking.  And to realize that God created what we were riding through was unbelievably surreal.

We then went to look at some Myan Ruins in Palenque the next day.  I don't think I have ever experienced heat like that.  There are not words to describe how hot it was.  However, the ruins were incredible, and to know that a civilization used to live there made it all the more fascinating!

Our next stop was Belize.  This was easily the worst stop on the trip.  We literally spent about 20 minutes in the country of Belize, and then booked it back to Mexico.  It is a long story that I would be glad to share when I get back!

Finally, we arrived at Playa Del Carmen.  I honestly didn't even know it was possible for a beach to be so blue and beautiful!  We stayed in a condo right on the beach and it was INCREDIBLE!  We basically did all of the beachy things that people do when they go to the beach and had a blast doing it.  We ate a lot of great seafood, swam in the beach and pool, etc.

While at Playa Del Carmen, we went to a place called Xel-Ha where we got to snorkel in a natural lagoon like place where the Myans believed the gods created water.  We also got to eat all day at their amazing all you can eat buffets!  Sometimes...life is just rough! UGH!

On the way back to Puebla, we stopped by a place called Chichen Itza to look at more Myan Ruins.  Apparently, if you look at certain "wonders of the world" lists, Chichen Itza is actually listed.  So, I have officially seen a world wonder!!!

Here are some pictures that I took from the trip.  Unfortunately, this website would only let me put a few pictures on here...so Ill make another post completely devoted to more pictures so you guys can see them!  

This is the view from the inside of our condo to the porch.  Look how beautiful the ocean is!

The pier!

Me snorkeling at Xel-Ha!  I saw a TON of incredible fish!

The boat ride through the canyon!  Look how magnificent the scenery is!

Chiappas is basically a big jungle...it was really cool.

It's Been WAY Too Long!

So since the last time I have updated my blog...a lot has actually happened!  

First of all, El Pozo went on our annual Beach Retreat.  This year we went to Acapulco, and I got to see/swim in the Pacific Ocean for the first time in my life!  It was INCREDIBLE!  The water was really clear, and it was the first time I have ever actually been in an ocean where I could see my feet on the bottom...as well as go under water and see out into the ocean.  Now, granted, I am absolutely PETRIFIED of the ocean, so when I swim in it, I only go so far out...usually chest level deep haha.

The waves were VERY strong.  They were somewhere around 8 feet high, and whenever they would crash, they would literally throw us around.  We spent a lot of time trying to ride them...which was a blast.  A lot of times, we got the wave perfectly and rode it all the way to the shore.  However, a lot of the time, we would be too high up on the wave, and literally fall from the top to the bottom as the wave crashed on top of us.  We had to take a HUGE breath before riding it incase that happened because the wave would literally hold us under the water for a bit.  At the end of the day, Chris and I both tweaked our backs, and Nathan (the leader of El Pozo) hit his face on the bottom of the ocean and busted his nose.  Its pretty safe to say that the Pacific kicked our butts!

Also, at the retreat, there were two baptisms!  It was an awesome experience to witness baptisms in Mexico...completely in Spanish.  It was a very neat experience, and I am so glad to have been able to witness it.  It is so cool to see how El Pozo is working on the college campus here, and how it is truly changing peoples lives.  I am so lucky to be a part of it for these four months.

The week before the Acapulco retreat, me and a big group of people went to see...yes...the Backstreet Boys in concert hahahaha.  They came to Puebla as the final stop on their Latin American Tour, and a lot of people from El Pozo wanted to go.  So, why not?  Believe it or not...it was actually a lot of fun.  I mean, hey, you are at a Backstreet Boys concert...may as well have as much fun as you can!  We went crazy and danced to everything and screamed the words to the songs.  It was so funny, and so much fun.  Don't knock it...you know you would have gone in a second!

It's so weird for me to realize that I only have five weeks left here in Mexico.  This experience truly has flown by, and I will be home before I even realize.  Next week is our EPIC Spring Break adventure.  Words cannot describe how awesome that is going to be.  There will definitely be posts and pics up from that.  

For now...I ask that you guys pray for me in my last 5 weeks here.  That I can remain focused on my mission, and that I will not stay focused on the excitement I feel about seeing everyone very soon.  I ask that you pray for God to continue to work in this experience, and that me and my teammates leave here with NO regrets.

I love you guys...and here are some pictures from Acapulco.

Me and my Globalscope Teammates doing a pose that Darius and Rachel made us do!

One of the baptisms that took place over the weekend!  It was incredible!

Nate and I in front of the ocean.  Nate is the leader of El Pozo and an awesome guy!

Jon and I about to take on the Pacific Ocean for the first time!

This picture was taken from far away...and while the wave doesn't look too big...in reality it is about 8 feet tall!

Semana Santa

Hello everyone!

So...while all of you were out enjoying your spring break...I was in class waiting to go on mine :-( hahaha.   I hope all of you had an excellent spring break, and I hope everyone was safe as well.  

Well, our spring break is not until Easter week in April...aka Semana Santa.  Me and a group of people got together to discuss what our plans were for the week...and they are looking incredible at this point.  

If all goes according to planned, we will be leaving Puebla at around 5am the first Saturday of spring break, and driving about 10 hours to Chiappas to see the ancient Myan ruins.  We will spend a couple of days there, and then, since we are at the very bottom of Mexico, we will be driving into Belize to spend a night there.  That will be really cool because I will be able to go to another country...while in another country hahaha.  After we spend a night in Belize, we will be driving up to Playa del Carmen...about an hour or so away from Cancun.  There we hope to do every beach activity possible...including snorkeling, swimming with dolphins, etc.  We will stay there until Saturday and then venture back to Puebla to finish out the semester.  

I really hope that all works out because it is definitely shaping up to be the most incredible Spring break ever!  I will definitely keep everyone posted on this!!!

Hope all of you guys are well.  I love you all and will continue to pray for you all!

Veracruz and Mexican Food Poisoning

Hey all!

Sorry it has been so long since my last post...I suck, I know.  Things here have been very very busy...and its been hard to find the time.  However, things here have been awesome.  As you can see from the title of this post, I went to Veracruz with some friends for the weekend to experience Carnaval...which is the Mexican equivalent of Mardi Gras.  It was an absolute blast.  The four of us shared a hotel room that was right on the beach, and I finally got to play in the ocean for the first time in 6 years!  The ocean is one of my biggest fears, but I braved it and had a blast!  Here is a picture of the beach from our hotel room, as well as the four of us in the room:

I also have a clip of me running into the ocean for the first time, but this website won't let me load it...so maybe ill try it on facebook.  The rest of the weekend was awesome.  We went to the parade, and had an absolute blast.  There were a ton of floats, and it was just really cool to see everyone dancing and celebrating.  We were fortunate enough to be able to eat a lot of great seafood.  The first night, we went to a great place, and I ordered what I thought would be a piece of fish stuffed with seafood stuffing...but turned out to be a soup with about every kind of seafood imaginable in it...including octopus tentacles!  THAT was an experience.  

Here are some pictures of the parade (more will come later on my facebook albums):

This is my favorite picture from the weekend.  No it's not of the parade, but it's even better.  The word "caca" is basically espanol for poop...and to make the picture better, the illustration!  We saw it and lost it...so we HAD to get a picture with it! 

So after a wonderful weekend...we had to return to reality.  And to make reality suck...was when I got some form of food poisoning.  I woke up very early Tuesday morning and felt TERRIBLE.  I spent most of the day vomiting in the bathroom, and feeling awful.  I do not know what it is from...but I have deduced it to a few possibilities:

1) I accidently swallowed some of the water in the ocean

2) Something I ate in Veracruz...maybe some badly cooked seafood?

3) Some of the tomatoes I had at a sketchy restaurant Monday night

Which the reason...it sucked.  I feel a lot better today, but will probably go to the clinic tomorrow to make sure I don't have some form of parasite.  I really hope I don't, because even though they are very easy to treat (you just take one pill), the thought of a worm living in my stomach freaks me out.

Anywho...I hope you all enjoy my post and I promise I will be much more frequent in the coming weeks.  I love you all very much and will constantly pray for all of you!

Weekly Update!

Hola folks!

here is yet another update from Mexico.  Ill try to keep this one short and sweet.  Sorry I only update about once a week...I either forget or am too busy.

Things here are going very well.  Mexico is so stunningly beautiful, and it is an honor to be here and learning everything that I have been learning.  Sometimes, I find myself missing people from back home, and wondering what is going on in Athens, but I am quick to stop and pray and refocus on being here.  I ask that you continue to pray for me to keep my focus on being here, as well as for me in the moments of nostalgia.  

I am very lucky to have been making the friends I have been making here.  I am happy to be accepted by these people, and to become a part of their lives.  I am finally comfortable enough to pour myself into them, and allow God to work fully.  

At the end of this week, 3 of the staff members are going to be returning to their homes, and leaving us forever at El Pozo :-(.  Matt and Angie Stryker have been here in Puebla for about 4 years now, and their time was originally supposed to end in May, but Matt was offered a job that starts this month, so they are leaving a couple of months early.  I am going to miss them a lot, but I will constantly pray for them.

Frizz is another staff member who is leaving.  He previously worked at the Globalscope program in Chile (where he is from), but committed to come to Mexico for a year, and unfortunately that year ends this month.  He will return to Chile and continue to minister to the students at the University there.  

All three of these staff members will be missed, but God has got great things in store for them in the future.  I ask for you to pray for their futures, as well as the future of El Pozo without these assets around.  

I love all of you guys, and thank God for every one of you.  Thanks for your continued support and love for me.  My next update, im going to try to throw more pictures on and maybe even a video!