Serving Him

Hey!

2009-10-11T21:15:00.000-07:00

So... it's been a while. I was unaware anyone actually read this until someone reminded me that I hadn't written in a while. I have been back in the U.S.A since December 18th 2008. Since then a lot of things have happened and my life is so very different!! I like to blog with pictures because it's more fun, so until I compile some recent one's I won't expand. I'm still serving God here in Lubbock, TX just in different ways.

God is Good

Coming ...Home?

2008-11-19T13:11:00.001-08:00

Yesterday marked one month before I return to Lubbock. It's a very weird feeling knowing that in less than a month I will be back to where it all started and not just for a visit. Today we had our last meeting with our coordinators about Re-Entry. They have been preparing us for leaving here and going home. I have really liked these times and know I will benefit from them. Please pray for our team to finish strong here and to lean on God.

~Annie

My Birthday and a New Sister in Christ

2008-11-08T22:25:00.000-08:00

My birthday was pretty much awesome and I felt really spoiled! The girls made a special breakfast of cinnamon rolls and a breakfast pie. Afterward Megan curled my hair and took me to get my first pedicure! While we were out everyone was arriving at our apartment for a surprise party! I had no idea and it turned out to be really fun! The best part was being surrounded by my family and friends here. I will definitely remember this as one of my most favorite birthday's. The girls even borrowed my phone and (without my knowledge) found the numbers of some of my friends here and invited them too. They were pretty sneaky, but I didn't even suspect a thing. I also got to talk to my family over Skype and one of my good friends who is an AIMer in South Africa waited up to give me a special birthday call (the time difference between here and there is 8 hours).

My Birthday Breakfast

Getting my pedicure!

Chillin' at the party

Present time!

Megan, me, and J'Lae

My cake! (Thanks J'Lae)

Mordida! There is a Mexican tradition where you are supposed to take a bite of your cake. Usually the people surrounding the poor birthday victim try to push their head into their cake covering their face with frosting as they go in for the "bite". Luckily the frosting on my cake was coolwhip so it was easy to clean off. Clearly the culprit's arm in this picture is that of my teammate Donovan...good times.

Afterward...yes, it was up my nose.

Missionary kids: Maddie and Maicah

Lety,me, and Andrea

And now for some Good News!

A girl named Itzel decided to be baptized into Christ after studying the bible with Roberto(one of the preachers and missionaries here). She has been staying in Leon with relatives who are a part of the church here. She is 15 years old and is from Mexico City. She is now the only Christian in her family. Please pray for her in her new walk.

My teammate Donovan and I have been studying with a girl named Montse. Today we studied about the temptations of Jesus and other passages about how he has been tempted in all ways we have been and is now able to understand us. We read about how Jesus is our High Priest and intercessor in Heaven. Please pray for Montse to be open to recieve the gospel.

Also...Today marks our year and a half anniversary for us being here in Leon (18 months)!!!

Thank you for your support and prayers!!

September and October

2008-10-27T20:43:00.000-07:00

September

Me, Megan, and J'Lae at a free concert for Julieta Venegas! She is a famous music artist here in Mexico.

Independence Day Party -September15

Roberto and I wearing sombreros!

Nadia's Birthday is also on Independence day!

Estrellita and I!

Shawn...

J'Lae and I at the Independence Party

Kids lined up to hit the pinata!

Bill wearing what was left of the pinata!

Here are some things that have been happening in October!!

Some of the women of the church wanted to learn how to make a dessert so we had them over for lunch and made the dessert together!

Me, Megan, Alondra, and Carmen

Working at the children's home with a group from the states:

I got to know a little girl named America! We hung out a lot and she wanted me to teach her a lot of words in English!

We made lunch for the kids!

About 20 women from the church in Leon went about 5 hours away to the city of Toluca to be a part of a women's reunion at the church there. It was very encouraging to see all of our other sisters and mothers in Christ at the reunion. In total we were about 400 women!!

Me, Lupita, Megan, Alondra, Andrea, and Fabi in Toluca!

All of us seated in the auditorium!

Girls night out!
After our weekly girl's study at our apartment we hung out at a cool restaurant and played jenga!

As you can see it was an intense game!

Right after the tower fell...

We have really been blessed with this group of girls! Some of the main goals we made for the group a while back were:

to encourage them and answer important and relavant questions about life from the bible
for the girls to grow more united in Christ and closer to each other
to encourage them to grow and eventually be able to lead the group on their own

This is the second week so far that the girls themselves have been leading the group!!

Thank you for your prayers! There will be another picture update following this one shortly! God is awesome!

WE ARE CHOSEN BY GOD

2008-08-25T19:31:00.000-07:00

Hello! I hope everyone is having a great week!! God has blessed me very much and I just wanted to share!

First, every Monday night we have a bible study for girls in our apartment. Megan, J'Lae, Jasmin (a college age girl), and I all switch off teaching or leading the group. Some hopes and purposes for the group are to 1)unite the girls from the church, 2)answer questions/ teach things they want and need to know, 3)bring in new people, 4)and have fun! We usually have about 10 people that come and sometimes more! Just this last Monday I got to lead the group. Us "leaders" had just decided to teach about different women of the bible. There are a lot of admirable women in the bible that are good examples! I chose Lydia in Acts 16:11-15. Even though there is so little about her, we can still learn a lot from God in her story! One thing from the story that stood out to me is in verse 14, "The Lord opened her heart to respond to Paul's message". (NIV) Just like God chose Lydia in the story, God has chosen us!! In Romans 9 Paul talks about God's election, "Not only that, but Rebekah's children had one and the same father, our father Isaac. Yet, before the twins were born or had done anything good or bad–in order that God's purpose in election might stand: not by works but by him who calls–she was told, “The older will serve the younger.”Just as it is written: “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.” What then shall we say? Is God unjust? Not at all!For he says to Moses,“I will have mercy on whom I have mercy,and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.” It does not, therefore, depend on man's desire or effort, but on God's mercy.For the Scripture says to Pharaoh: “I raised you up for this very purpose, that I might display my power in you and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.” Therefore God has mercy on whom he wants to have mercy, and he hardens whom he wants to harden. One of you will say to me: “Then why does God still blame us? For who resists his will?”
But who are you, O man, to talk back to God? “Shall what is formed say to him who formed it, ‘Why did you make me like this?’ ” Does not the potter have the right to make out of the same lump of clay some pottery for noble purposes and some for common use?What if God, choosing to show his wrath and make his power known, bore with great patience the objects of his wrath–prepared for destruction?What if he did this to make the riches of his glory known to the objects of his mercy, whom he prepared in advance for glory–even us, whom he also called, not only from the Jews but also from the Gentiles?" ( http://blueletterbible.org/ )

So, God decided to show mercy and compassion to you and me!! We have purpose and we are chosen!! The gospel really is Good News!

Here are some admirable qualities I see in Lydia:

hard worker
worshiper of God
hospitable
good listener
she was chosen by God!

I also thought it was cool in the story of Lydia how the disciples (Paul, Luke, Silas, and Timothy) preaching the good news were used by God! "On the Sabbath we went outside the city gate to the river, where we expected to find a place of prayer. We sat down and began to speak to the women who had gathered there". (v. 13-14) They weren't even looking for people, but were seeking to spend time with God in prayer. When we are seeking God he will use us!

Second, we were invited to go to a river an hour outside of Leon by a family in the church. It was a good time to fellowship and enjoy God's beauty!

J'Lae, Megan, and I

Alondra and J'Lae

Carmen and her girls (Pau and Abby) along with their cousin Jorge

Jorge and Pau eating some delicious watermelon!

the river and rock walls. it was gorgeous!!

And finally, the breakfast we had with our guys.
Monday morning the guy's apartment was being fumigated. So they bought some food and came over!! It was a fun morning. Bill made chocolate-chip pancakes, I cooked bacon, and J'Lae made scrambled eggs! We enjoy hanging out together as a team!

Megan, Bill (with juice), Tyler, Ben (with syrup), and J'Lae.

Bill and his smiley plate of food!

Ben and his smiley chocolate-chip pancake.

Us, minus J'Lae (taking the picture).

Our teammate, Ben, will be the first to leave on September the 8th. Please pray for him as he will be saying goodbye to family here and returning to Alaska to work with his church there. We love Ben!

Please continue to pray for the work here in Leon and the spiritual growth of the church!! God is continually adding to it's number here in Leon!

PS. Thanks to Omar for his class on Romans!

Happenings of late

2008-08-12T08:02:00.000-07:00

So I would like to share some of what has been going on . From the 21st to 28th of July I took a week-long trip to the states to see two of my friends get married. My long-time good friend, Lauren (Sanders) Johnston, from school got married Sat. the 26th! It was a blast to be a part of her wedding because she is so much fun! She is always smiling and really sweet and because of that she has a ton of friends. I was blessed to be her Maid of Honor and really enjoyed sharing in her special day! The other friend, Kielle (Holt) Smith, I have known for a while, but we really didn't become friends until a few years back. Her wedding was the following day on Sun. the 27th. She is really sweet and has a desire to please God! Her wedding was beautiful and I'm glad I was able to be there! While I was there I also got to see some of my grandparents, a lot of good friends from high school, visit my home-church, and visit some of my supporters and friends. I really enjoyed my week there even though is was so short.

On the 28th of July my dad traveled back with me to Leon to visit where I live and work serving God with my team in Leon, GTO, MX. He had nearly two weeks here and it was cool for him to see and experience for himself this part of the world. And now for the pictures!

My grandparents who live in Seminole, TX. Elvoy and Peggy Thomason.

Lauren and I right before the wedding!

Kielle and her husband, Chris Smith, right after the ceremony!

Yes, I know this is gross, but it's an authentic part of the experience of a market in Mexico!

Hahaha!

My dad helping little kids at a VBS we had at the church. It was a really good turnout and a lot of kids from the children's home we work with got to come too! It was cool seeing my dad help out even though the language barrier is there!

Some kids at the VBS!

My dad and I near some campgrounds outside of Leon.

My dad and I when our team went bowling with Omar and Tana!

I hope y'all are having a great week!

2008-07-10T10:02:00.001-07:00

So I thought I would update picture style again! My brother, Zeke, came to visit and here are some things we did together and events that happened while he was here.

He got to be there on a Sunday see the building we use and meet people from the church!

We ate some good Mexican food!

We went to visit Guanajuato, a turist city about an hour away.

We rode some buses! This is Tyler, Baron (who also came to visit), Donovan, and Zeke!

Gabi, Fernanda, and Jorge decided to put on Christ through baptism!!

Gabi about to go under!

Zeke, Roberto Rubio, David, and J'Lae at a small group

I actually didn't realize my brother would be here for the fourth of July until after he arrived! We went to a waterpark outside of Leon called "Splash" to celebrate, swim, and grill!

grillin' and eatin'

chillin'

Kason swimmin'

Maicah going down the slide!

Shawn and Barb!

Me and J'Lae

And my brother at the end of the day...I think he was a little worn out!
Well, I hope you enjoy the pictures!

Love your sister in Christ,
Annie

2008-06-13T16:31:00.000-07:00

So here is some of what has been going on around here from May and June:

We went ice-skating with some of the youth!

Fabiola's Birthday! She is 21! We had a surprise party for her!

Fabiola, Alondra, and Ivan

Having fun playing "duck, duck, goose" at the chilren's home!

We celebrated Tana's Birthday on the 12th of June!

One Year!!!

2008-05-09T06:37:00.001-07:00

Yesterday was our one year anniversary for my team. A year ago yesterday we walked off a plane into a place called "Leon", not knowing very much Spanish and having no idea what we were getting ourselves into! And now, here we are working and growing! Praise God for a good/crazy/fun/hard/unforgettable year!!

the welcome sign they made for us!!

us three girls at liberty! me, Megan, J'Lae

Ladies Day and more...

2008-04-26T21:31:00.000-07:00

Every two months we have a Lady's Day in the Church Building. A speaker comes and encourages us on a certain topic. Our speaker this time was Ilse. Ilse and her husband Raciel live in Guanajauto (the capitol of the state of Guanajauto) as missionaries. Last October some of my teammates and I went to Guanajauto (only 45 min. away) for a week to help and work with them. They are really awesome people and they also have an eight-year-old daughter named, Annie!!! On Saturday, the 26th, Ilse talked about having faith! It was really encouraging and challenging. It seems like lately we have been learning a lot about faith. Jazmin (a university student in the church here)taught in our new girls group about faith. After the Ilse spoke, we had a surprise baby-shower for her. She and her husband have been trying to have another baby for about 7 years and God is faithful and so good!!

Last Monday, or Cinco de Mayo, I got to lead our new girls study!! It was challenging and exciting that I finally got to share God's word with them! I talked about having Spiritual Disciplines and that in our personal relationship with God it is very important to grow!! We are so blessed that God provided the way for us to have a relationship with Him. At the beginning of the study I brought in a vase of Gerber Daisy flowers. Then I had all the girls pass them around and look at them. I asked them what flowers (or plants) needed to grow. Their answers were: water, dirt, sunlight, and care or attention. We are like blooming flowers before God!! Growing into what He wants us to be. But, relationships take work. Among many things; for a relationship to work we need good communication, listening, pursuing, and loving. It is the same with our relationship with God. Some ways we grow closer to Him are through prayer, reading and thinking on His word, loving: serving, dying to self, even fasting (setting aside things to focus on God. Ex: TV, Food, coffee)!

Why is it important that we are growing in our relationship with God? Because if we are not growing, then we are dying and not useful. God wants us to be useful and flavorful like salt, and holy and different like light; so that everyone can see God through us and praise Him!! God is our Father and wanted that relationship so much he sacrificed Jesus so that we can be with Him.

Looking at the life of Jesus, we also see he was spiritually disciplined! Ex: Luke 5:16, Mark 1:35, Luke 2:46, John 13:14-17. And ultimately in Matthew 26:39-42 we see Him dying to himself and his desires to follow God's will; which is always the best, but usually not the easiest way.

This week has been especially busy because Megan's and Ben's families are here visiting!!! It is so cool when your family gets to actually see, touch, and experience what you do! We are blessed to have Megan's parents, and Ben's sister and mom (his dad is staying with the guys...yikes!)staying with us in our house. It is very big and perfect for guests.

Speaking of our house...we are moving!!! Since we are not getting a new AIM team this year, we are moving into a smaller apartment about two blocks away. It is kind of sad because we have already lived in our house for a year now and we have a lot of memories here. But it is too big for just us three and while living in our new apartment we will be able to save a lot of money to go towards other things. We are staying positive and thinking of it as just another Adventure in Missions among many!

Good things about our apartment:
it's only two blocks away in the same neighborhood!!!!!!!
we each get our own bedroom!
there are 2 1/2 bathrooms
dining room
living room
really roomy

downsides:
the kitchen!!!! We cook a lot, so this will be hard. The kitchen contains: a sink and pantry. no cabinets, shelves, counters tops, or STOVE AND OVEN. Seeing this as a big problem in the future we have searched and looked into buying a mini stove/oven. The cost for one is actually less than what we will be saving on rent every month compared to the rent before. God will provide and He is soo good to us.

I have to say that God is soooo incredibly good and that I'm having the time of my life growing, learning, and serving Him here in Leon! Thank you for helping me spiritually, emotionally, and financially! It's going a long ways and it is definitely worth it! Much love in Christ, Annie

The Pole

2008-04-09T21:23:00.000-07:00

A couple of days ago I was walking to a bus stop with some of my teammates. I noticed some shattered glass on the sidewalk and while trying so hard to avoid stepping on the glass I failed to notice a pole thing and I ran smack into the pole! Although all I suffered was a small scratch on my forehead and some embarrassment, it makes me compare it to our spiritual lives. How many times do we focus on one point or struggle in our lives, and while not paying attention something bigger hits us right in the face?! We need to be ready and alert for Satan and his attacks! Just like Peter warns in his first letter, "Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour". When we are disciplined and on the look-out, it won't be as easy for the devil to attack. And the next verse is really encouraging! I know that I'm not alone and there are others in this fight too! "Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that your brothers throughout the world are undergoing the same kind of sufferings". -1 Peter 5:8-9 So be on the look-out for your pole!

Here are some more pictures of when I went back home.

These are some of the graduates!! and some of my former teammates in Leon! woohoo for the AIM class of 05'!!

This is Bill from my Area Church in Lockney! He is really sweet! Please keep him in your prayers as his wife, Meese (Mary) passed away not even a month ago. He is such an encouragement to me!!

Here are some AIMers serving!! This team is going to a delagation(region) in Mexico City called Tlalpan. They're pretty cool!

This is right after my brother was baptized. He is hugging my dad!

Christian, me, and Alison. They are some really special kids. Their family lived in Leon and worked as missionaries to help establish the church here. I was really blessed to see them in Lubbock!

All the 06' AIMers that were there for Graduation and Camp Adventure! Plus Chris Johnson (my former coordinator) and Eli Hooper, the coordinator of the Grass Valley, California Team.

Two cool people! Jo (from my class) and Andrea (from the 07' class).

And lovely Barb!!!

My Brother

2008-03-22T13:19:00.000-07:00

On the 18th my brother decided to put on Christ in baptism!!! and I got to be there! Please pray for him to take his decision seriously and make good choices!!

Fun in Leon!

2008-03-10T16:24:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone!!

Last Wednesday our coordinators surprised us and took us bowling as a team!! It was a lot of fun spending time with everyone doing something fun! We all had a good laugh sharpening up our bowling skills. (I hadn't bowled for over a year!) And recently a family from the church invited us girls over for dinner and games! We played Chinese checkers afterward and it was a blast! (although I look kinda tired from the picture below!)

This morning Donovan and I met with a girl named, Montse. We are going to be studying English with her. She is 22 and works on the Leon Tour buses giving tours of Leon!

Things have been good here as I am filling up my schedule with more and more things. I am still studying with Lucy (our guys neighbor) and Elvira. It feels good to be busy!

The next two weeks will be pretty dead here in Leon as many people go on vacation during Semana Santa and Pascua (Holy Week and Easter Holiday). It is traditional to go to the beach with your family at this time. Lent also started here, which means people eat only fish on Fridays and maybe give up other things. Many restaurants close on Fridays altogether because their main foods are meat! example: taco stands.

It's still strange to me sometimes to live in a country so rooted on one religion. Almost everyone claims they are Catholic, and especially around the part of Mexico where I live. The population around Leon has the strongest percentage of Catholicism. Here it is strange if you are not Catholic.

A couple of weeks ago, when I was in Mexico City with the new class of AIMers, we all visited the Basilica. It is like the Vatican of Mexico. While I was in one of the temples, I saw a statue of Jesus. He was on a cross. His face was forever stuck in a grimace of pain and agony as blood flowed from his wounds. I noticed a Mexican girl standing next to me in the temple. She looked about my age and was crying. I don't know why she was crying or what exactly had impacted her, but I told her that Jesus is our King. I wish I had said more now, but at the moment I was kind of at a loss for words. I do know that that experience certainly had an impact on me. Many people in Mexico have this view of Jesus. Helpless, on the cross, and in pain. I am so glad that he is alive today and gives me strength!! He is my hope and my salvation! He is not helpless or in pain, but has conquered death and made a way for us to be a part of the Kingdom of God!

Besides all this, I am coming to the U. S. A.!! Tyler, Donovan, Ben, and I leave very early Thursday morning to go to Texas! I'm very excited to see my friends and family in person after 10 months! I will be staying a week and I hope to see you while I'm there!

Good Times...

2008-02-19T16:37:00.000-08:00

Well, there are not enough words to express what has happened these last couple of weeks...and if there are I am definitly not going to write that much...there is just too much so I will give you an abrigded version.

My time in Mexico City was awesome and it was really encouraging to see some of my classmates! We got to share some of our experiences on the field and just hang out together. I really miss them a lot and feel really blessed that I got to see some of them!

I also got a very big surprise from my mom...She came to Mexico City!! Not very many things surprise me, but this pretty much did it for me. And now she is with me back in Leon for a week! It has been cool to show her my home and friends here in Leon.

Besides all this I got to spend some time with our new team!! There are 4 girls and 2 guys coming to Leon this May! Omar and Tana came for a day and we had our first team meeting with the new team. It was cool because there were three generations of Leon AIMers (LAIMers) there. Two of my teammates from the 05' class are now assistants and were able to go on the trip. The new LAIMers seem really cool and I'm excited to begin working with them.

I hope God is doing amazing things through each of you!!
~Annie

Elvira and more

2008-02-01T14:38:00.001-08:00

Yesterday I started studying with a woman named Elvira. My teammate, Heather, from the 05' class studied with her for a long time before she left. She is really sweet and is teaching me how to cross-stitch. Right now we are studying English through the Bible using LST curriculum. Please pray for God to soften her heart to the gospel and to have a desire to learn more about Him and not just English.

Also, this morning we got a REALLY big surprise!! Two of our classmates from a team in Peru decided to come and visit! They arrived last night and surprised the rest of us this morning. I'm excited to spend time with them and talk about our different experiences. It is soo cool to hear what God is doing in other people's lives!

In a week we will all be traveling to Mexico City to meet the new AIM class and work with them there!! Every year the new class from AIM travels to Mexico City to experience a different culture and help the missionaries out there. I'm very excited to see the new Leon Team and see some people from Lubbock that I miss very much! Please pray for their safe travel in Mexico. It's going to be a very long bus ride for them...

I love you all so much and thank you for the prayers!!! God Bless!

Annie

update

2008-01-23T14:40:00.001-08:00

My dad's surgery went well and he is now recovering at home. The surgery is called a laminectomy. During the surgery bone is removed from the spine to relieve pressure on the nerves and/or spinal cord due to spinal stenosis. If you want to know more go to http://www.spine-health.com/dir/laminectomy.html to read up on it or watch an interactive video. He will probably be at home for 3 weeks getting better. Thanks for the prayers!

I LOVE my Daddy!!!

2008-01-17T08:36:00.001-08:00

Please pray for my dad because he is having back-surgery today.

Being Sick

2008-01-15T06:40:00.001-08:00

I have learned some things from being sick here in Mexico. Everyone you meet who distinguishes that you are sick, immediately diagnoses you. All the sudden everyone is an expert on what you have and they all have their own types of cures, remedies, or medical advice. The most popular advice for the "gripe" (pronounced gree-pay) or cold/flu seems to be:

hot tea (preferably chamomile) with honey and lime before bed. Someone actually invited me in their house and fixed it for me yesterday. It wasn't bad. I fixed it once.
staying inside at night to avoid cold air. I have been told by several people that I shouldn't go out at night for anything.
not drinking or eating anything cold. the cold is something to avoid here if you are sick.

None of this advice is necessarily bad and I have followed a lot of it myself. I just thought it was kind of interesting.

Here you are able to buy your own shots with medicine and inject them yourself. I don't think that's legal in the U. S. A. I have taken 6 shots. Three were of eucalyptus. The other three were some kind of medicine that is supposed to kill the bacteria of my cold. But don't worry, I didn't inject them myself. The well-trusted pharmacist who has been there for 40 years did. It wasn't all that bad. She also gave me jarabe (cough syrup) and pastillas (pills) to take.

It's probably a good thing I have so many people here telling me to how to take care of myself. I have been taking my medicine faithfully and hopefully I'll be completely healed soon! God is taking care of me here!!

Spanish

2007-11-30T21:05:00.000-08:00

So I thought I would share my latest Spanish mistake...someone in the church was asking me about my hometown and other stuff and I started telling them about Sunset. Then I started telling them that there was a preaching school there too..."Hay una escuela de pecadores"... and I said that which means: There is a sinner's school. I meant to say this: "Hay una escuela de predicadores". There is a school for preachers. They knew what I meant, but it was a little embarrassing. I still laughed at myself though! Well, I hope you are all having a wonderful weekend. Tomorrow we are having a big annual women's day in the church's building. A lot of christian women are coming from different parts of Mexico. So you can pray for that to go well. Buenos Noches a todos!! Goodnight to all!!
Serving in Mexico,
Annie

Chosen and Blessed by God

2007-11-26T16:19:00.000-08:00

wow...I haven't posted in forever! Sorry! Happy Late Thanksgiving and I hope all of you are able to see how much God has blessed you!! I know I can. My Thanksgiving was good and different. Because we can't get all the food here for a "traditional" Thanksgiving meal, some of the missionaries bought stuff the last time they went to the U. S. for our Thanksgiving celebration here. All of us were assigned to make or bring something and I got to make pumpkin pies!!! We don't have canned pumpkin so I got a stashed away can from the States. They turned out really well, thanks to Megan (my teammate), who taught me how to make really good crust, my mom, for the recipe, and my other teammates, Heather and Carl. The night before Thanksgiving everyone was in a frenzy making a lot of pie and other stuff; therefore our oven was on for forever. Entonces (for that reason) , it got really tired and decided not to heat up anymore. So Heather volunteered to bake the pies at our guys house, about 2 blocks away, because my team still has a curfew. Then Heather and Carl began carrying my two pies carefully down the street, going about the pace of a turtle, so as not to spill them! I have to say that it was really funny watching two gringos carrying pies down the street in Mexico at 11:30 at night walking really slow. You probably would have had to of been there to think its that funny...
Anyway, a lot has happened since my last post....let's see...,oh, I'm now 2o years old (kinda weird) and I had a really good Birthday!! I finally got to open a package from my parents and my family here made it really special!

Just recently we had a "Gratis Lentes" campaign (free glasses). On Thanksgiving Day 3 supporters of a missionary friend of ours,who lives in Guanajuato, came down to give away free glasses and see Raciel and his family. One of them is an eye doctor and their church in North Carolina had been gathering glasses for the campaign. The campaign went really well and from 9 am to 7pm at night over 250 people came to get glasses!! We all had different jobs; some to greet and talk about God, some for registration, some for eye testing, and others (my group) to fit people with glasses. It was very interesting and fun, because I got to talk to the people and I learned a lot about glasses! I also got to translate for people!! This is amazing because I know how much God has blessed me with my Spanish! In fact, I actually learned words just translating! Sometimes I catch myself thinking in Spanish and not even realizing it for a while. In the end, the campaign was a real success thanks to our awesome God!!! And a lot of people are intersted in studying the Bible!
A lot of people here don't know the Truth because they have never read the bible. It is really cool to be able to read the bible with someone for their first time ever! One verse that has caught my eye lately is Col. 3:12. "Therefore, as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience". I find this hard to do sometimes and then I remember the first part, "as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved". God has blessed us all so much!! We really are chosen, holy (by Christ), and dearly loved!!
Well, this is really long and I have to go!! I love you, my friends and family!!!! God Bless,
Annie

the end of the route...

2007-10-04T20:45:00.000-07:00

This is a picture of Masha and I a couple months ago. On Thursdays, my teammate, Masha, and I go to visit a family from the church. We usually bring food and we have a bible study with whoever is there. Masha does the study, while I listen and help with the discussion whenever I can since I'm still studying Spanish (Masha knows fluent Spanish). Pretty soon, I hope to start leading the study every once in a while.We study with Lupe (the mom), Rosa (the grandmother), maybe Letty, Emelda, or Juana (other relatives) , and of course all their children. Just recently Lupe's

husband, Martin, left her, their kids, and the church for a better job in another state, so it's been really rough for her.
They live in a poor area on the outskirts of Leon. Actually, the area is called Leon #2, because it's so far out. By bus it takes from 45 minutes to an hour to get there. I really enjoy going out there, because they want to study God's word and know more about him. All the Christians in their household are very young in the faith. They were baptized not long before we arrived in Leon in May. So it's really cool to study the bible with them, because a lot of the stuff we read and talk about is new to them.
Anyway, so we took a bus out there, # 10, and since we were on there for a while we watched people come and go until finally we were the only ones left on the bus. We were pretty much out in the middle of nowhere when suddenly we noticed the bus came up to some really big gates with other buses parked inside this lot thing. We both looked at each other and knew something was wrong. We knew this bus went right by the apartments that Lupe and her family lived in, but we hadn't passed them yet.
So then, the doors on the bus slide open and the bus driver tells us we have to get off and that he's going on his lunch break. He also tells us we might can catch another bus coming out. So then, we step off the bus. Here we are, in the middle of nowhere, kind of bewildered and we started laughing at our situation. We had literally come to the end of the bus route...or at least the place where bus drivers take their lunch break. Right as my teammate Masha decides, since there are no taxies in this area, we should try and just catch a ride from someone (people hitchhike a lot in Mexico), we see a bus #10 emerging from the "break spot". We were just in time to catch it and were at the apartment complex in 5 minutes. It was truly a bizzarr experience.
After we arrived we had a study in 2 Corinthians and 1 John. Here is something from 1 John I thought was pretty awesome...
" How great is the love the father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him."
-1 John 3:1
And..." No one who is born of God will continue to sin, because God's seed remains in him; he cannot go on sinning, because he has been born of God. This is how we know who the children of God are and who the children of the devil are: Anyone who does not do what is right is not a child of God; nor is anyone who does not love his brother. This is the message you heard from the beginning: We should love one another."
-1 John 3:9-11

WOW!! God's word is powerful and awesome!!! We are children of God!!.....I think one of the things God is telling us is to love, because we are children of the source of love.

well, I hope ya'll have a wonderful week and keep digging in God's word!!

We're a part of the Family......

2007-09-17T20:20:00.000-07:00

This is a picture of J'Lae, me, and Isabel earlier this year at Isabel's house. Tonight, my teammates, Ben, J'Lae, and I went to visit a family in the church. The mom, Isabel, is divorced and trying to raise two kids with a full time job. On Saturday day night she became very ill and had to go to the emergency room and wait all night to be treated. Her two children are: David, who is 16, and Maribel, who is 11. Usually when we go we just hang out and eat with them. We went to try to encourage Isabel because part of her sickness is stress-related. It ended up being really good. While Ben and David went outside to hangout; J'Lae and I read and talking about the bible with Isabel. I had been kind of sad earlier, but just being there to encourage someone and talk about God really made me realize just how awesome He is and it also encouraged me. It was interesting because I read this passage out loud in Spanish and I had to be corrected a little bit by Isabel(just a little humbling). The whole study also made me see just how much God is growing me...I actually had a bible study in Spanish(even though it was a little garbled)!...And it made me realize just how important it is that I need to really practice and know the language here better. During our talk I talked about just how awesome it is that we have brothers and sisters around the world praying for us...a huge family! She told me that even though she didn't have a lot of family here in this world, she was encouraged because she has a huge family in Christ!! Please keep Isabel and her family in your prayers.

And now for a funny story....

On our way home we always take bus 36, because it's the fastest. Well, when we got on we all sat in the back of the bus. This isn't always a good idea, because the back is the bumpiest part. Then a random guy got on and sat on my side(it was one long bench in the back). During the ride we were just talking and we had only hit one really big bump. I let go of the rail for about 5 seconds(a VERY bad idea) and the bus lurched very hard to the right sending me sailing to the left right on the random Mexican guy sitting down from me on the bench. I would have to say it was one of my most embarrassing and awkward moments here. I apologized and we all laughed really hard. The End!

2007-09-07T14:09:00.000-07:00

I was journaling one day, actually August 22, because it was my brother's birthday and I thought I would share it...

Random things I’m so thankful for:

Nature displaying God’s power, and glory-Leon is sooo beautiful!!!
Supporters that have supported me for a whole year!!!
Computers and webcams-

Today I got to talk to my family over webcam because it was my brothers birthday. It was cool because they put the cake in front of the computer and lit the candles. We all sang “Happy Birthday” to him and then he blew out the candles. ..all over a webcam. God is soooooo amazing. I still get to share special moments with my family even though I’m not physically there. It was funny cause’ my dad cut a piece of cake to eat and then held up a bite in front of the camara as if I would just eat it…then the fork disappeared and reappeared with nothing on it and my dad said, “ now it’s traveling over the waves to you”. It was great.
My brother, Zeke, turned 16 and got his driver’s license…and he drove my truck.... Another amazing thing is that even though I do miss my truck God has given me a desire to really like it here, and public transportation that even though sometimes I miss driving I really just like it here….

BLESSED BY A GIVER

2007-08-25T20:27:00.000-07:00

Last Sunday during worship, I was sitting next to this very sweet grandmother, whose family lives right beside the building we worship in on Sunday's. Her name is Elena and we first came in contact with her because of some families that came down to teach LST (the Let's Start Talking program: designed to teach English using the bible and bring people to Christ.). She is always giving to the church and even to us AIMers, because she sees us walking to Spanish class everyday on our way to the church. Well anyway, she started telling me how she wanted to give us a "queso"(cheese) to make quesadillas with...and something with the number 3 (I couldn't figure out that part). Then she got up and left to get the "queso"(her house is right next-door to the church). When she came back she handed me a small black sack with something very heavy in it. I looked inside....and behold, there was a big ball of cheese from the store. It was probably 6 inches or more in diameter. So there I was, sitting in worship, with a huge ball of cold cheese in my lap thinking.....well, first of all just how funny it was...it is kinda funny....and then just how God is teaching me everyday through random gifts of love (even cheese) how to be a giver. And how to love people with whatever gifts I have from Him. I found out from someone that she meant she wanted to give it to all three girls on my team. The first time she gave to the church, she made a huge pot of Mole (chicken with a chocolate based gravy....it does not taste like chocolate). So after our time of fellowship that night she randomly brought over the food and everyone in the church ate. It was grand. Please pray for her and her family to be touched by the gospel.... And we did make quesadillas with the cheese and it was buenisimo(really good).
God Bless, Annie

God is Awesome!

2007-08-24T15:58:00.000-07:00

So I thought I would really blog something....ok,I was reading Psalms 139 to prepare for an upcoming study and God is soooo awesome....sometimes I forget just how awesome He is. Just looking around me everyday I see his beautiful creation and I'm reminded of his awesome power. He is working in us, through us, and even despite of us.

YAY!!!!

2007-08-14T19:22:00.000-07:00

i finally got a blog!