Hello! So it seems easier for me to post every two days or so. I hope you guys don’t mind too much. In between being sick with something new every other day (I now have pink eye, or, “conjunctivitis,” since down here, “ojo rosa” isn’t a thing, and a sore throat – unsure if it’s anything serious) and a crazy schedule, I’m finding it difficult to keep you all updated, unfortunately.

Speaking of a crazy schedule, here’s what has been taking up a majority of my time down here:

They start the calendar week on Lunes (Monday), so I’ll start there, too. This is our “down” day. They encourage us to rest and have fun and do whatever it is we want to do. Because it’s literally our only day off, I try to sleep in, usually until eight, maybe nine o’clock. Then, I take time for prayer (usually around an hour) before I make myself some breakfast (usually some pancakes, because I love pancakes). Every two weeks, we go shopping for food, and my roommates are some pretty proactive women, so we go relatively early in the day – so far, it’s been around eight or nine (so I don’t get to sleep in as much as I would like too, but I rest easy knowing we have food for the next two weeks). When we get home, we put the food away and start our chores. The assigned chores are rotated weekly and Monday is the switch-off day in our house. There are four different chores, each with their own set of tasks, and when you are assigned to a chore, those tasks are expected to be fulfilled every day. So basically, we are tasked with keeping a clean home. I also use my day off to catch up on my assignments and go over the notes and recordings I take during class. This day is also used by some of the students to get together outside of church and school every once and a while. It’s nice, because this is the day we evangelise downtown (this week, nine people gave their lives to Christ, as well as a group of kids we ran into at Parque del Madre).

Tuesday is the beginning of the school week. I’m the first to wake up so I can turn on the water heater, which keeps us from having to take cold showers. Every Tuesday, we are required to attend the prayer that is held at the main church. This starts at 8:30 am until nine, and then the Vanguard students make their way next door to the Vanguard building, which also doubles as the kid’s church during La Fuente’s services. The morning class is held from 9 am to 12 pm, sometimes ending a little earlier, other times a little later. Then, we have a break till 4 pm. During this time, we study at the “library” (which is just another Vanguard house similar to the one I’m staying in, only occupied by the guys), cook and eat, and get ready for the evening class. Also – siestas. They aren’t a myth. Of all the things I’ve decided to bring back home with me, it’s the concept of siestas that looks to be the most important. It must work down here – they get a lot done, and everyone seems a lot happier and willing to do more than we do in the States. Is there a correlation? I think so. After my siesta, I get ready for my 4 o’clock class at Vanguard. I have yet to attend a class I don’t enjoy – despite the language barrier and the fact that I haven’t been able to catch everything even with a translator, I still have been able to gain plenty from the different teachings and devotionals, something I’m extremely grateful for. When class ends, we go to the church for A18 – one of the two weekly youth groups of La Fuente that Vanguard students are required to attend (we have to go to at least one, and this is the one I’ve chosen). They do worship, a short message, and then some food. Part of me wants to refer to it as a “mini-Redefined,” but I don’t for my own sake.

We don’t have to be at school till 9:00 am on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday, which is nice, cause I can sleep in a little. Every school day is basically the same: morning class from 9 to 12, break from 12 to 4 pm, evening class from 4 to 6:30/7. It’s what we do after class that distinguishes each day. On Wednesdays, La Fuente holds an evening service at 7 pm (so we get out of class at 6 on this day). There’s nothing on Thursdays, but a small group (including myself) has been trying to go running or attend a Crossfit class throughout the week, and Thursday is the easiest day for us to go out after school. Fridays is another youth group, called “Anormal” (Abnormal), but it’s much more populated and is louder than A18, so I usually choose to opt out of this gathering.

Saturday is a mission day, meaning we go to our assigned churches (mine is in a town called Puga) to get ready for service the next day by cleaning, inviting people to the services and evangelising, and otherwise getting everything set up. There’s no real set time for how long we stay, but it usually doesn’t last too long (though I have heard of people staying till 5 pm, which is a long time if you consider we usually head out by 7 am). Because of my less than ideal health, I honestly haven’t been able to make it to these since I was reassigned to Puga (I used to be assigned to Compostela, but was moved so I could help relieve Puga’s pastor, Toño, of his duties on the worship team), but I fully plan on going next week. This is also the day I clean my room and touch up around the house to avoid having to deal with a bigger mess on Monday. I also use this day to practice for worship on Sunday. I’m not singing just yet, but that’s mostly because I’ve been sick. So stay tuned for news on that.

Sundays… oh Sundays. My team is scheduled to leave for Puga at 7:15 am (closer to 7:25 – 7:30, though, ’cause Mexico). We stuff a bunch of people and things in a sheltered truck bed and pick a few people up on the way to the church. We usually arrive at around 8:30, giving us an hour to really get everything done – mostly cleaning, because it’s pretty dusty in this part of Mexico, so things get dirty easily. It’s a fairly new building pastored by a younger couple, who are both really amazing (side note: if you guys can pray for them and the church, that would be awesome – provision, attendance, and anything thing else God puts on your hearts would be greatly appreciated). After the message, we stay to converse with the people, or in my case, to stand around awkwardly and say “hola” and “Dios te bendiga” and “gracias.” Baby steps. Then we head back to the main church, where we are given the option to go home and rest before having to attend the last two services. So I go home and try to rest and eat before going back to the church at 4 pm for the 5 o’clock service (Vanguard students have to be there an hour before service starts). Because there are now two services at night, we stay until the end of the 7 o’clock service, which means we don’t get to leave until nearly 9 pm. Which is totally fine with me; I usually stay and try my hand at socialisation with people who know at least a little bit of English, and sometimes I can go out for dinner, or I just hang out. Either way, I go home happy, knowing I can probably sleep in the next day.

I answered both the questions I received from my last post in this one. Again, if you have any questions, please feel free to ask! I love you all and of course, would like to thank you so much for your love, support, and prayers. Until next time, Dios te bendiga!