12 hour days at church

Hey all, hope all is well on the home front. I appreciate your continued prayers and encouragements, it really means a lot to know that you are supporting me. On saturday I gave a morning devotional at a youth missions conference which was really cool. I spoke about the need to make decisions and not excuses and that following Jesus is something we do or not do and not something we can do half way. I thought it went well and I am finding myself more and more comfortable speaking in front of groups in Spanish. I have continued to visit churches and families that we will be working with for the summer. Yesterday I went to a church that was really far away and leaving my house at 7:30am didn't leave the church till like 6pm and didn't get home till 7:30. The church while incredibly long was really cool, their music was amazing and while the long service was a bit annoying to my get it done US sensibilities, i really enjoyed just the freedom that the service had, allowing people to share testimonies and have longer periods of silent and corporate prayer and then even an intermission before the sermon. Stephanie (my summer co-leader) and I introduced ourselves in front of the church and then I gave a short little message about being one church and one body in spite of different languages and countries and that we are all one Church and one body together in Christ. Then we were invited to share the message at the youth group after church and I ended up talking for I think around a half an hour and answering questions that the people in the group had about being a missionary and living in a different country. It was a cool time and I think its so amazing how in just one day (albeit a really long day) such strong bonds could be forged between the church and stephanie and I. Continue to keep me in your prayers as we make our final church, family and pastor visits this week. Also on another note on Saturday a bunch of us went to the semifinals of the Mexican Soccer league and Cruz Azul (my second favorite team after Puebla) managed to win and get to the final of the league for the first time in like 11 years or something. I might try to go to the final if I have time and money. Hope all is well, much love and God bless.


Me with my pastor from my first summer and some of the guys I worked with, spearheaders will be working in that church this summer so I went there for a visit last week.