Week Numero Uno!

Hola!!

For those of you who don't know.. that means "Hello" in Spanish! That is pretty much the extent of my Spanish for right now! haha! Well I am writing to give everyone an update on how my first week has been! My goal is to get an update out every week! That way its not an overwhelming amount of information! The girls here say it will be tough.. but I guess it is worth a shot!

Today marks one week since I left New Jersey, and to be honest, God has really held onto me tight! I have yet to be hit with home-sickness! I am in shock that I haven't been tempted to jump on a plane and call it a summer! haha. God has really given me awesome people here to distract me from thinking about how amazing my friends and family in New Jersey are!

I guess you guys are interested to hear what in the world I have been doing down here! Well the first 5 days I was here were considered "training days." Anybody who is interning with the C&MA(my church denomination) this summer came to Ensenada on Thursday. We did things like team building games, started building a retaining wall, and tried all kinds of new foods. It is almost like they were testing us to see if we could make it!

One night we ate "Menudo" for dinner. For those of you who don't know.. Menudo is a Mexican soup that is served for special occasions, so it would be very rude to not eat it all. It is typically made with a ton of spices, cow brain, heart, stomach, or intestine(at least that is what it said online, who knows what I ate!). It was an experience to say the least... but I made it through! Hopefully that experience only comes around once!

After 2 days in Ensenada we traveled up to L.A. for the rest of our training. We ate a little better there. :) We had amazing times of worship and also great lessons on how to keep ourselves spiritually fed this summer! Also, I experienced my first earthquake there! It was pretty crazy! It was only a 5 out of 10.. so the building didn't fall on top of me or anything crazy like that! I also got to see Santa Monica Pier! It was nice (but didn't compare to Clemonton Park :) lol) That was really the only parts of California that I got to see.. but it was beautiful to drive through!

Now, since Monday, I have been living in Ensenada! I really like it here! The weather is amazing! I would guess somewhere around 80 during the day and 70 at night. Absolutely perfect! I have been meeting all the pastors and their wives who live down here. They are all so friendly! My lack of Spanish is really making things tough, but they are being very patient with me! The other 3 girls living here are fluent in Spanish, so that is both helpful and intimidating at the same time!

On Tuesday I went to visit a boys home that was set up by the C&MA. It was probably my favorite thing we did so far! It is a home set up for teenage boys who are either from a bad family situation or boys who are sent there because of discipline issues. We just went and hung out with the 2 boys who were there. We played 3 on 3 basketball, boys vs. girls, girls kicked butt! haha I know.. I was shocked too! I really can't wait to go back!

Besides that I have just been helping clean up and get ready for the group this Saturday. It seems to be the calm before the storm! It is nice to have a little down time just to get to know everyone! Again, thank you for all your prayers! I definately feel them!

I guess for this week if you could just pray for the language barrior and that I continue to feel at home here. I am really trying to pick up as much as possible... I am definately better at listening then speaking the language. But thanks so much for all the love! Can't wait to tell you guys more!

Love,
Steph

And here is a slideshow from my first week here!