What a week. It was so fun! Within the last week, I went to Madrid, got 2 pictures with scary mascots, welcomed a new baby nephew who now shares a birthday with Rusty, turned 21, had a surprise party, got serenaded then it got cut off by my tired old lady neighbor above us, took my first two finals, finished my first term, rearranged somethings for my trip to Italy, enjoyed my coffees at "il duomo caffe", ran multiple times, saw a woman walking a ferret, had great one on one time with my best friend and sister (Beth), facetimed my family with new baby Jase, bought lots of groceries, got to hang out with my new friends, Brenna and Lindsay, looked at tickets for traveling, wrote some post-cards, got my first ones from family and friends, facetimed my roomies, had some good Pakistani food, finally figured out what passage in the Bible I am going to memorize, did lots of laundry, spoke a full conversation is spanish with Beth and Hayley and just smiled a lot. God is soo good.
Well enough of my run-on sentence. I can't believe we are already a quarter of the way through our time here. It has literally flown by. I'm stinkin' going to Italy in 5 DAYS!! BAHHH!! I'm soooooooo pumped. Literally words cannot express my excitement. I took my first finals this week. Crazy. We're already done with one set of classes. It was cool, when I went to the market today and then to get coffee (of course) I actually felt confident enough to ask what I wanted and carryon a small conversation. I'm slowly, but surely picking up on the language. That has probably been one of the hardest parts being here. A lot of it is just learning vocabulary and there's a LOT of it. My classes were easy though. They were just review and the tests were a breeze, praise the Lord. My friends are great at helping too, they let me ask questions and are very slow with me, but hey I like it when they push me-it helps me learn. But they are also very patient and give me a little slack since I'm a little behind them haha.
It was soooo good to talk with my family this week. I got to talk to all of them, but Cole :( I saw Jase for the first time. As hard as it was and is not to be there with him and my sister, it's so amazing that I am in Spain, half way across the world, and I get to see him after he's born. I may not get to hold him, but I still get to experience his birth and new life with my family. It's great. They are all wonderful too. My sister is definitely trying to stay in contact and let me see her and him. Ugh she has no idea how much I love and miss her. She literally made me cry when I read her post for me on my birthday. God is sooo good to have blessed me with her as my sister. I think what makes it even better is the fact that when we were younger we fought so much, I was such a punk, but as we have grown the Lord has brought us so close. She is one of my best friends-I love going home to see her and talk with her. I think it was just a hard to not be there for her when Jase was born as it was to actually miss being there to see him, if not harder. I've realized what a blessing she is in my life and I would do anything for her.
The Lord is good. He is so faithful and ever-present. I have learned so much from this experience already. I'm understanding my purpose more everyday. I don't think I've ever understood how important it is to think of my every word and deed. Every time I speak or every time I act the Lord constantly reminds me if what I'm about to do is going to bring Him glory or not. Now, that doesn't mean I have not slipped and fallen, I fail a lot. But I am so much more aware of what I'm doing and it's the desire of my heart that I'm glorifying Him through all that I do. It makes me especially sensitive when I'm around non-believers. I understand more that everything I say and do can either help my witness or hurt it and I do NOT want it to hurt it. I'm also understanding that I have to be flexible and be willing to let go of my expectations. I came here thinking that everything would happen a certain way and it did not. The Lord put me in places I wasn't expecting, but they turned out so well. It was better than I ever could have expected, but definitely different and that's okay!
It's been a great week. Exhausting. The whole Spanish stay-up late and my issues with getting up early don't mix well, but I just can't express how good the Lord has been to me. I love Ouachita and I miss so many of my friends, but I am so happy to be here. To be honest, I feel this opportunity would have been crazy to pass up. I may some people, but I don't really miss being in the normal routine. I have a whole year left at OBU and I don't feel like I'm really missing out being here. I can still talk to the people I love and they'll all be there when I come back, but THIS opportunity is once in a lifetime and I'm so glad the Lord did not let me pass it up. It's going to be life changing. Heck, it's already life-changing.
Thank you all for your love. I love all the people messaging me and keeping up with everything! :) I miss you all. Keep praying the Lord will work in and through us and that He is our number one focus and our lives are centered around Him. Pray for opportunities to share our faith. And pray that people see Him in us. Pray they see the difference of Him, they don't see me, but Christ living in me. Pray for my family, especially my sister, Jeremie, Cole and new baby Jase. Pray for patience-sometimes I like my breathers. Pray for strength, courage, discipline, love, grace and more.
"Just one thing: Live your life in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ..." Philippians 1:27a
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