RachelsAdventure.com

Merry Christmas and Feliz Navidad.

Blogging in the midst of a whirlwind tour at home has not been very sucessful (as you can tell by the lack of posts, it's like a ghost town here!).  BUT I did want to wish you all a Merry Christmas and catch you up a bit. 

It feels so good to be back in Oregon.  I think I have put enough miles on my mom's car (thanks mom) to almost make up for the 4 months that I didn't drive in Mexico.  haha.  So many people to catch up with (and STILL so many to catch up with).

Now that I'm officially in the last half of my trip I do have brief moments of sadness when I realize that this will all be over soon.  As I have said before, I love being in Mexico and I love the people I work with down there...but I have pretty amazing friends and family up here.  Part of this trip to Oregon will be another (hopefully shorter) time of adjustment (translation: tears.  haha) when I get back to Mexico. 

That quote from Tennyson keeps popping into my head...

"tis better to have loved and lost
than never to have loved at all."

I agree with Tennyson on this.  So, when a little sadness washes over me it just makes me realize how much I truly love the people around me and I thank God that I have so many people that I miss when I am away (and now I have people I miss in Mexico, too!).

Well, I hope that you all have a very Merry Christmas.  I get to spend the whole day with my family and am excited to start reading one of my Christmas gifts...the Lonely Planet guide to Mexico.  Woo hoo.

If you know me/have read my blog for any amount of time you know I LOVE kids (or, as I affectionately and accurately call them: monkeys). 

I just had to share this picture from English Club this week. This is Lupe.  Don't you just want to squeeze her?! :)

The last time I did a count down  on my blog, I was counting down the days till I moved to Mexico and SOMEHOW I am now counting down the days till my Portland Christmas visit.  How did this happen?  Did I really just spend the last 4 months living in Mexico?  I honestly don't know where the time went.

There were times that it seemed to drag on and on (trust me...there were a couple crying-in-my-apartment-wondering-why-I'm-even-here nights that I'm glad are in the past)...but overall I cannot believe that a trip to Portland is so close.

Here's my schedule for the next week:
Monday: School, Spanish tutor, make cookies for teachers and board members
Tuesday: School, grade papers
Wednesday: School, Spanish tutor, packing
Thursday: School, English Club, finish packing
Friday: 1/2 day of School (yay!  Party Day!), 3:45 flight, in Portland by 11:20 (assuming it does NOT snow!)
Saturday: Correction: Starbucks with Mom and Anna (my first non-fat vanilla latte in 4 months!), speaking at Abundant Life Women's Brunch.

Phew!  I'm tired already.

You'd think that being a missionary the whole "church thing" wouldn't be taken care of (I mean, I'm down here on a church planting team!) but it's really not.  I spend most of my Sunday's in a service that I can barely understand (I do lots of smiling and nodding!).  So, now I have global church.  I go to my Las Aguilas church on Sunday, enjoy being a joven and practice my Spanish...then I listen to podcasts during the week from churches across the US (I LOVE podcasts).

Last week I was listening to a message from the Village Church.  The Lead Pastor there is Matt Chandler, I heard him a year ago at a conference and have been listening to his podcast ever since.  I love how he teaches the Word of God with such unabashed passion.  When you listen to him you know that he loves God and God's Word and he wants others to, also!

On Thanksgiving Matt, who is a 35 year old husband and father of three, had a seizure...which lead to the doctor's discovering a tumor on the right frontal lobe of this brain.  Last Friday, the 4th of December, Matt had surgery to remove the tumor and sometime this week they will know whether or not it is cancerous.

Bam!  Just like that his world has flipped upside down.  I'm am sharing this with you for a couple reasons:
1) So that you can pray for Pastor Matt and his family and 2) So that you can watch this video that was posted before his surgery.  I admire this man's faith.  I have been fearful at certain times over the past 6 months...but when I watch his video it challenges me to live a life of faith...to continue to trust God (not just in the good/easy times).
3) Also, just to be transparent, I hope that someday I have a husband who can say this about me  (see #5).  Wow.