What a wonderful week this was!!

An Amazing Praise

The friend of mine who I had mentioned was hit by a car, only suffered a few broken ribs, and will be coming home on Wednesday! But the real miracle in this whole series of unfortunate events is the bridge that was built between the non saved family members, through the interaction that was had at the hospital. One of the uncle's ( who made it clear He wasn't interested in Religion) ended up wanting to meet with Mr. Hagerty to learn more about Christianity by the end of  6 hours of sitting and talking while in the waiting room! Praise God from whom all blessings flow! He truly works in mysterious ways, and in this family...we are seeing His hand pursuing each and every one! The older brothers have been attending church with us now for 3 consistent weeks!
Another Praise- Doug come home from the hospital! Thank you guys back home for praying, your awesome!


A Word of Encouragement :

I've become close with one of the high school missionary daughters, and her name is Joy. Its interesting because of all the conversations we have had, the one that meant the most to me was one we had just recently. She told me how she liked seeing my desire to be a part of this culture and "genuinely being glad your here". What she went on to tell me however, saddened me. She mentioned a lot of the short term missionaries have not seemed to desire to really get involved outside of the school and the American Bubble that is easy to seclude yourself in. I have to admit that honestly took me by surprise. I guess its because I couldn't imagine being here and not wanting to get out and meet people/make friends/witness, embrace the sights and sounds, and all the other "different" experiences that I know will not be offered anywhere else.
That conversation has stirred me on to pray that the Lord would use me in every way He wants to while I am here.  And that I would not allow myself to not genuinely be thankful that the Lord brought me here. I don't want to let one friendship or opportunity pass me by. Talking with someone who has seen short timers come and go her whole life, made me realize my time spent here will be impacting either positively or negatively the missionary kid's lives. Her telling me she was glad to see I wasn't "bitter towards God for bringing me here" really hit home.

An Adorable Interpretation:

We were driving one morning, myself and a family who has a young girl who is very inquisitive and apparently a sharp listener. Well we ( myself and the parents) began talking about numerous things, and it came up that if you have a baby here you must request circumcision. O.K..haha I will also add that it was a brief mention, non the less her ears had picked it up and had been pondering its meaning for some time. Well, at a pause in the conversation she piped up and said very quizzically " So, since the umbilical cord was wrapped around my neck when I was born...did I have to be circumcised?!" ......
Oh...how we all tried so very hard to stifle our laughter at her adorable interpretation of what she thought circumcision must of been.


A funny moment in the classroom: 

It came while talking to my little ones about colors and asking them what color various things were. When I asked them what color my hair was I hadn't realized that that might be a difficult "color" to describe, and thus I became interested in seeing what they would say...
Their Answer
Bi- Black
David-White
Juliana-Yellow
Tomas-Brown
Cristina- Blue....is my mirror lying to me?

I then asked them to use their colors and draw me ( the best they could of course :))....well the girl who said I had blue hair,  I thought perhaps she had meant brown but said blue?! Nope, she gave me bright blue hair! Maybe she's trying to tell me something.....should I go blue?! :)


A Gift from My students:
SO upon learning of Lucas being in the hospital I knew I wanted my little ones to make a Poster sized card for him that incorporated prayer, and the Lord in it. We painted their little hands and put hand prints all over it, and of course they loved the paint. It was a challenge getting them to the bathroom afterwards, because they found it a much better idea to touch things like, each other the walls, my clothes, you get the idea :) I can't say I blame them though! The card on the inside said " We are sorry you got hurt, but are thankful you are O.K. We are all praying for you!" And each child wrote at least one of the words...which you could imagine caused the one sentence to be all different kids of sizes, shapes, and colors! I was so proud of their handwriting as well as their excitement  over making a card for my "sick friend". Lucas told me himself when I visited on Saturday that He loved it, and he must of because he had it sitting up right on a table by his bed! 


An accidental Road trip
I can now officially say I have seen even more parts of this huge, vastly contrasting and beautiful city...thanks to dinner and movie night with the Hagerty's! So as in most cities, the one way streets and sudden stops and turns, driving around this city tends to be very fast paste and an adventure...every time! This night not being the exception! We all loaded into the car to head out to a Chinese restaurant that " Was the best!" Well 2 1/2 hours later still driving around... decided on eating at the TGI Friday's at the closest mall! haha....
You know that funny 1/2 uncomfortable 1/2 tingly feeling in your legs when you stand up after sitting for a long time.....
I do love my evenings in my new home away from home. Such a blessing


A nightly Visitor-ers!
 Well I guess when they say the Holy spirit intercedes when there are no words, well i've found that to be absolutely true! I had mentioned that on one of my first nights with the Hagerty's some young girls from the neighborhood stopped by and ended up helping me wash my car. Well those same girls come by the house now just about every night...and ring the door bell asking for "Candy". IF they don't ring the bell, their riding around just outside our gate so as to easily be seen. :)
SIDE NOTE: About the "Candy" nickname. I decided to allow the people to call me Candy simply because Candace got way too many wide eyed...bewildered expressions. Much more difficult for them to say. However, if you speak English...it will never slide!
Back to the neighborhood girls....so we usually ride bikes together, go to the park, or sit down whenever there is a free patch of grass and have "Dance Competitions". Music and dancing is very big here, so because I can't dance ( :)) I am the judge! I am praying for ways to witness to them, and am thinking about getting some Spanish Christian Cd's for them....if you have any idea's of good ones let me know! It has been a huge blessing to me to see the Lord build friendship and break the HUGE barrier of language with not only these 4 girls, but where ever I go. Even though i've spoken maybe 2 sentences with them, they continue to come back. That is completely the Lord.

A-Tutoring I go!
SO it has begun! And I feel so blessed to be able to be tutored by a wonderful Godly Chilean woman, right there at the school! She teaches some Spanish classes at the SCA, and we get along really well...as in, I don't feel like an idiot when she has to repeat repeat repeat! I was worried the first time we met because she only speaks in Spanish...however after meeting with her again I feel confident that that is the best way for me to really learn. Something about knowing she will expect to speak to me in Spanish only and same from me, is a bit scary, but a welcomed kick in the toosh! :)

A knitting of souls.
Was so excited to be able to skype with two of my very dearest friends. Suzie and Caitlyn. Knowing they both also served and are still serving overseas, lends its self to  some very full, and very refreshing conversations. I was reading 1 Samuel 18 where it says " As soon as he had finished speaking to Saul, the soul of Jonathon was knit to the soul of David, and Jonathon loved him as his own soul." What a perfect example of what I believe true friendship looks like, and how thankful I am to have my soul knit together with some of the most wonderful people I know.


A farewell for now!
I sincerely hope this is another wonderful week to be had by all:)
And thank you again for all of your prayers for me while I am here!