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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!

One Month Later

It is SO hard to believe that we have now been in Mexico for one month!  On some level, this month has FLOWN by, however, sometimes it feels like it drags on and on.  I have learned a lot this month, and it is incredible for me to look back and realize just how much I have been able to learn and grow in just one month of living abroad.

This past weekend, we had our Viaje de Muchachos, or basically a mens trip, with El Pozo.  We went on a camping trip, and ultimately had a great time.  It was cool meeting some new people, and forming new friendships.  It was also a nice way to get out of Puebla for a little bit.  Nothing against Puebla at all, but we have been here solely since day one, so it was nice to get out there and explore a little.  

After the camping trip, one of my friends, Moi, invited Chris and I to visit his house and spend the night in Mexico City.  We accepted the invitation, and got to spend the night with his family.  They are SOOO nice and they made us feel so welcome in their home.  It was a great time.  It is really cool to travel around Mexico City.  It is honestly the biggest city I have ever seen.  It is unbelievable just how big that city is.  Very eye opening.

I pray that I can continue to have the strength I need to make it these next three months.  As much fun as I am having, and as much as I am learning, it is a difficult experience being away from home; from everyone I know and love so much for such a long time.  I continue to pray for the ministry of El Pozo, as well as the rest of my teammates.  We are all in this together, and there is not a doubt in my mind that God is going to do great things and we are going to be a witness of them!  

Oh yea...for those of you I am friends with on Facebook...I posted two photo albums of pictures from Mexico.  Enjoy!

Sickly Saturday

Hey everyone!

Things in Mexico have been going very well.  My roommates are awesome, and I have been learning a TON of spanish!  I miss everyone back home, and I think about you guys a lot...but I am having a great experience here.  I have decided that I am going to make photo albums once a month on facebook.  So the first album should come out sometime next week.  I have taken a lot of pictures...and its almost time to share them with the world!

So, Friday we went to the grand opening of a club in Cholula called Roka.  It was my first time ever going to the grand opening of a club.  It was INSANE, yet an absolute blast.  We actually managed to get in free and not pay the 50 peso cover charge.  One of our friends we went with, Moi, is friends with a lot of the people who work there, and he managed to get us all free passes.  So that made it all the better.

We had a blast on Friday, however, somewhere along that Friday, I ate something that apparently did not sit well with me.  I woke up Saturday morning and felt very sick.  I basically spent much of the day in the bathroom.  I was not vomiting, but I was...well, you can imagine.  I spent my Saturday night just kind of hanging out...very low key.  I felt it was in my best interest to stay near a bathroom hahahaha.

Things are going very well at El Pozo.  I am having a blast going to the events, and meeting a lot of people.  It gives me a great opportunity to practice spanish, and to form relationships with new people.  This coming up weekend, the men's ministry from El Pozo are actually going camping!  That should be a great time.  I am looking forward to going to a new place in Mexico and experiencing something else.  I have been in the same place for almost a month now...so it will be cool to get out there and see something new.

Anywho...love you guys and ill continue to update as time permits!!!  Please continue to pray for my time here, and that God will use the ministry of El Pozo to reach as many students as possible!

Update From Mexico!

Hola Amigos!

I really wish I knew how to do the upside-down question marks and exclamation points!  Anywho...im bringing you an update on things that have been going on recently while I have been in Mexico.  First of all...let me just say that I have INCREDIBLE roommates.  My living situation was something that I was extremely worried about, and I spent countless days praying about.  Well, God has blessed me with some great roommates.  They are all very friendly, as well as helpful as I am trying to learn Spanish.  They help me out a lot, and they are able to tell when I am getting annoyed by it, and they immediately switch over to English for me.  They are very caring and I am very blessed to have them as roommates.

Lately, things have really been looking up in Mexico.  I have been meeting a TON of people, and things have FINALLY kicked off at El Pozo, and it has been great being there and meeting even more people.  It is very interesting to see a campus ministry in another country, and then being able to compare it to CCF from in the states.  There are so many similarities as well as differences.  I love it!

Lately, I have been praying a lot about why I am here, and for God to reveal what He has me here to do.  In the past few days, I have finally started to understand why I am here.  I have been having conversations with people that help me to understand what my purpose here is.  I am trying my best to be a light for the students at UDLA, and I really am working towards showing them true love through my actions and my attitude.  Sometimes it is VERY hard, but during those times I know I need prayer...and God continues to provide the strength I need.  It is not easy to show love and to be Jesus for the students here...especially when you are not great at the language.  I dont know how much of a difference I am making yet, but I pray that somehow, way, shape, form or fashion, I show the people I encounter something that they are not used to.  I hope that I somehow show them Christ.

We had our first En Vivo tonight at El Pozo.  En Vivo is basically our weekly Bible study.  We provide a free meal, and then have a worship service.  It looked at first like there was not going to be a big crowd.  However, as the Mexican students tend to do, a ton of people showed up late.  (for those who dont know...the Mexican students have a different idea of time than we do in the states.  If you say "meet me at 5", you might be lucky for them to meet you at 5:30).  The room ended up being packed with people, and I was able to meet a ton of people and practice my spanish even more!

Things are going very well here.  I def. have my moments where I realize how much I miss home, but it helps to know that I am here for a reason, and that ultimately, God is going to do big things this semester.  I look forward to meeting more people, and to having great experiences.  

Please continue to pray for me about how I am going to minister to the students here, and how I am going to overcome the language barrier.  Please also pray for me as I continue to try my best to learn the language.  It is very difficult, and causes a LOT of frustration.  So pray for me that I can do my best and learn at my own pace.  

I love you guys a lot, and I will continue to update and post pictures randomly!  Thanks you guys!

Some Things I've Learned So Far In Mexico

- The OS handle (Oh S***) comes into VERY good use while riding in a car in Mexico.

- You are going to be asked if you need a Taxi atleast 4 times a day...whether you want one or not.

- Manzana Lift is hands down the GREATEST soda on the planet...I wonder why the USA doesn't get it?

- The Mexican students know how to party........HARD!

- Going to bars is not just a Friday thing, but literally an everyday thing. :-/

- In Mexico, you walk...a lot.

- Chapulini's are NOT a Mexican dessert...(in fact, they are crickets)

-Finally...pedestrians do NOT have the right-of-way.

UDLA

Here are a few pictures (of the many) I have taken so far in Mexico.  Just to wet your taste buds a little.  

This is a picture of the cathedral in Chaloula (spelling???)

   

This is one of the pyramids around, and this pyramid actually has the most volume of any pyramid in the world!

El Pozo!!!!

Mexico City...it is a HUGE city, and this is just one section of it.

Hola Amigos!  I have now been in Mexico for a week.  And what a week it has been.  I have been experiencing many different things, and a lot of culture shock.  However, I have been meeting a lot of people, and it has been awesome.  There are definitely times where I miss everyone back home, but during those times, I take the time to pray for strength and endurance to forget about what is back home, and to focus on why I am here.

A lot of things here in Mexico are BEAUTIFUL!  There are numerous cathedrals with incredible architecture, as well as beautiful mountains surrounding the campus.  My dorm has a balcony that overlooks the lake on campus, as well as the active volcano in Puebla.  

Tonight was a lot of fun.  UDLA hosted a party for international students called Noche de Mexico where we learned how to salsa dance, and eat more mexican food.  After that party, all of the international students went to a club called Unit and had a blast.  It has been great meeting all of the other exchange students, and it has helped me to see that I am not the only foreigner/gringo here hahaha.  

I have been meeting a lot of Mexican students, and practicing my spanish a lot also.  It is SOOO difficult to learn a new language, and it is even more difficult to live in a place where you cannot communicate efficiently.  But I am working on it more and more every day, and my goal is to leave Mexico with a good knowledge of the language.  The two spanish courses I am taking this semester will probably help out a lot as well.  

Please continue to pray for my globalscope team, as well as the students we will be reaching out to this semester.  Also, pray for strength for myself, as well as my teammates to not miss what is back home, but to focus on why God has placed us here.  

Thanks so much everyone!  I love you and God Bless!

So Far In Mexico!

So after a long time of waiting, I have FINALLY made it to Mexico.  I had a few bumps in the road at the airport at 5am in Atlanta, but God provided yet another open door for me, and I arrived to Mexico City safe and sound yesterday.  I spent about 2.5 more hours in the airport waiting for the rest of my team to arrive, as well as the El Pozo staff to come pick us up.  After meeting with them, we took a 2 hour bus ride (more traveling hehe) to Puebla.

We stayed in the campus house last night, and will again tonight since we have not moved into our dorm yet.  As far as I know, we will officially be moving into our dorm rooms tomorrow.  I am pretty excited about that!

Since arriving to Mexico, we have been going NON-STOP!  So many meetings and training activities to get us prepared for the semester.  Today, they split us up into two teams, and we had to take a scavenger hunt around the city of Chaloula (which is the city next to Puebla, that we are actually living in), and Puebla.  We had to do everything on our own...from speaking to the people to ask questions, to paying with pesos for the first time, and to learning the taxi and bus system.  Overall, it was a BLAST, but I am so exhausted from it that I can't even see clearly hahaha.

It was really neat to be on our own in the city, and having my first legit cross-cultural experience.  I learned that there are basically no traffic rules in Mexico...but more like traffic suggestions haha.  It is filled with CRAZY drivers who drive really fast, on the wrong side of the road, pass people in  a one way lane...you name it they do it.  However, its actually a lot of fun riding as a passenger like that! 

I am so excited to see what else is in store, and will continue to update when I get the chance!

No Sleep Tonight!

I am so excited/nervous about the trip, that there is NO way I am going to get any sleep tonight.  I have already accepted that hahahaha.  My dad and I are going to the airport at about 4am...and then I am gone.  Pray for me!