So it begins...

"Happy Day 5," my dear house mate Lynda said as we sat squished together in the back of a taxi this morning.  Is it really only the fifth day that I'm here.  Absolutely crazy!  With everything that has happened during the time that I have been here, and with the level of exhaustion that I have hit, it feels more like I have been here for a month.  I didn't expect that, having been here once before, but this time is different, this time I am re-learning how to live.  I'm not being given a week's itinerary and mentally preparing for a grueling 2 weeks of mission work.  I am being presented with my life for the next 9 months and having to prepare for adjusting my entire life.  It's incredible!

First of all, my mind has been on a perpetual treadmill on the highest speed setting, trying to keep up with the language while taking in everything new in my environment.  I absolutely love being daily pushed in my Spanish!  Coming in, I was so nervous about speaking, but it's so natural to throw myself out there even when I am completely mutilating what I am trying to say.  I have laughed more, talked about more interesting and ridiculous topics, and fallen more in love with this beautiful language than ever before.  This week we started having our lovely Spanish teacher come to our house.  It's been fun working on the language in a classroom setting again, but honestly, I have been growing more around our kitchen table, talking with the maids - Rosa and Patricia - and the Abuela (Grandma) - Made.  We over exaggerate words, frequently give each other confused looks, and after much work and laughter we eventually understand what is trying to be said.  So fun!

The two other girls that I am living with and interning with are Carly and Lynda.  I am absolutely honored to be working with two of the most incredible women I have ever met.  Both of them are from Alaska.  I did 2nd year with Lynda where we met on a ministry trip and later got to know each other while on our missions trip to Ecuador in the spring.  Carly did BSSM a year before me and was in LA this past year, working with Jenn Toledo and her ministry in the States.  She also was on the trip in the spring.  It has been so good having these ladies with me!  Even in the short amount of time that I have been here, it has been such a relief to have people to process with especially being introduced to so many new things.

As far as the internship goes, this week has been a crash-course, introducing us to many of the things we will be involved in.  Most of the work that we will be doing as interns will be done alongside our official 3rd year mentor, Sabri and her sister, Mela.  Again, I could not ask for two more incredible women to work under and learn from.  It is so beautiful to see the hearts these women have for what they do.  The love that they have for the nation of Ecuador is absolutely contagious.  I listen to them talk to us and I can feel my heart just expanding with love, vision, passion, hope, etc...  I cannot wait to work with these women!  Mela will be working full time on "Casa Mis Sueños," the safe house they are opening for girls who have been sexually abused and/or trafficked.  (I will write in detail about the vision and the work we are doing there when I have more time.)  So we will be working alongside Mela with anything that has to do with the house.  And then we will be working with Sabri in most everything else we are doing... youth prisons, feeding center, church home groups, etc...  As far as right now, we don't exactly know what we will be doing on a regular basis, but I think it's going to be one of those things that will worked out with time.

And finally, we will be working at a small Christian immersion school as English teachers.  We went on Wednesday for our first day - my experience... Ay ay ay!!!  Talk about culture shock.  We were completely thrown in without any explanation on how things work, training on how to teach, or forewarning as far as what was expected of us.  I have been assigned to a 5th grade class, which is students ages 8-9, and I will be with them all day.  There is a head teacher, but she would sporadically come up to me, hand me the text book, and say, "OK you teach this to them in English."  This is an immersion school, so they teach all their classes partially in English, but most of the kids in my class only know a few basic sentences.  The fact that she wanted me to teach science, math, social studies, etc... simply because I speak English, was simply overwhelming.  The first couple of times she did this to me, I just stared back at her having no idea what she wanted me to do.  In my mind - "This is literally being thrown into something where I have NO qualifications, but OK."  I did my best and hoped that was what the teacher was wanting me to do.  I still have no idea!  And then there were a few times where they put me into a "speaking" class, without any other teacher, and just told me to "speak."  "Ummm... OK."  Lord Jesus give me grace!  But the kids are wonderful!  They are completely precious and so loving.  Every single one of them stole my heart, and it is a privilege to speak into their lives.  We've been told that the school directors want us to be sowing into the spiritual atmosphere as well, so it will be interesting seeing what the Lord does there.  I'm sure I will have PLENTY of stories through this entire experience.

There is so much more I could share, but at this point my brain is having a hard enough time with everything else to be really able to write everything in my heart.  I have posted new prayer requests on my prayer page at the top, so check it out!
Blessings!