Lost and found
It has been a big weekend! In case you are living under a rock we won the Eurocup last night!!!! WOOT! No hay dos sin tres! It was experience let me tell you. We headed to the same neighborhood as usual to watch the game outside of the bar on the TVs that are conveniently facing the outside for the spectators. The energy was insane, people screaming, painted faces, red and yellow everywhere, and my personal favorites-4 older women on the balcony above coming out and screaming every time Spain scored a goal and eventually scouring the apartment to throw down candies! After our valiant 4-0 victory over Italy the streets were electric with people hanging out the sunroof with Spain flags, chanting and smiles as wide as the Mediterranean. In spite of all the madness I went home and went to bed seeing as I had class at 9am this morning.
Back tracking, Sunday morning I finally made it to church. After waking up late and rushing, and making the 30 minute trek up hill to the church, it was totally worth it. Within the first couple songs I was completely overwhelmed with so many emotions I couldn't even identify them and so I cried ha! I felt so much joy in seeing a community in a place so far from home that at times seems like a dark place where it is almost impossible to see Christ light, then I felt that nag of almost sadness and regret for not going sooner because I also realized that I had been trying to fool myself into thinking that things that are cultural norms here are ok, when they really are not. I honestly still cant identify all of my emotions, but I know that it was a good thing for me. It was a special festival day of sorts, and many of the groups in the church had small performances that included the children singing a song, some teenagers dancing, and the presentation of the graduates of their bible class. The pastor spoke about how we need to be people following Christ in process not just letting things happen. We need to constantly be allowing Christ to change us and mold us into more and more beautiful creations. Unfortunately because of all the performances I had to duck out a bit early to make it home for lunch and did not get to meet a lot of people, but one woman practically chased me out the door to talk to me. It is funny because we always talk about doing this at New Life, and now being on the other side of the relationship I am so grateful that she did it. I can remember my first day at New Life when I didn't know a soul and Steve Hayes (me having no idea he was a pastor) talked to me and made me feel welcome and it changed the course of my life. So moral of the story-15 forever works. (for all you New Lifers out there) I am going to see if they have small groups and stuff because I definitely will be going back.
After practically running home I made it in the door just in time to see Maria serving up paella! What a great day. This is the famous sea food and rice dish that actually originated here in Alicante! It did not disappoint. After of course I had to take a siesta before heading out to the game, which gets you to the beginning of the post.
On to today: Nothing too exciting. We started class today after finishing the previous last week. I like my class a lot, but I think I am going to try and skip up a level or two. On a more exciting note, the July people arrived this weekend, and so we have five newbies to show around. They all seem nice enough, but as I think I have said before, I am not really trying to make American friends here. However there is one guy in the group that after one hour of hanging out we realized that we are the same person. He is a runner, we listen to the same music, and we have similar views on life, so it is nice to have someone that it is so effortless to get along with.
Lastly, Elena and I just made pancakes! We were watching the Simpsons one day, and she asked if I knew how to make them to which I laughed and said "of course!" So I went out and got my supplies: baking soda, baking powder, flour, butter, chocolate, and peanut butter. It was an interesting experience because they don't have measuring cups or spoons, which come in handy while baking, so at my best guess we made some chocolate chip pancakes! I think I had too much baking soda, but they still tasted good. Then we topped them with peanut butter, and to my delight Elana and Maria loved them! My next endeavor is S'MORES! It is quite possibly one of the most delicious and classically American foods around, and I don't think it would be right to continue to allow them to live a life without them. Well besides that I don't think I have much entonces hasta luego.
In awe of how one moment can change the course of a lifetime,
Sigourney
P.S. Please DO NOT just hit reply if you get this by email to leave a comment. You either have to email me or click the actual comment button. That being said, please leave comments, I love them!
Back tracking, Sunday morning I finally made it to church. After waking up late and rushing, and making the 30 minute trek up hill to the church, it was totally worth it. Within the first couple songs I was completely overwhelmed with so many emotions I couldn't even identify them and so I cried ha! I felt so much joy in seeing a community in a place so far from home that at times seems like a dark place where it is almost impossible to see Christ light, then I felt that nag of almost sadness and regret for not going sooner because I also realized that I had been trying to fool myself into thinking that things that are cultural norms here are ok, when they really are not. I honestly still cant identify all of my emotions, but I know that it was a good thing for me. It was a special festival day of sorts, and many of the groups in the church had small performances that included the children singing a song, some teenagers dancing, and the presentation of the graduates of their bible class. The pastor spoke about how we need to be people following Christ in process not just letting things happen. We need to constantly be allowing Christ to change us and mold us into more and more beautiful creations. Unfortunately because of all the performances I had to duck out a bit early to make it home for lunch and did not get to meet a lot of people, but one woman practically chased me out the door to talk to me. It is funny because we always talk about doing this at New Life, and now being on the other side of the relationship I am so grateful that she did it. I can remember my first day at New Life when I didn't know a soul and Steve Hayes (me having no idea he was a pastor) talked to me and made me feel welcome and it changed the course of my life. So moral of the story-15 forever works. (for all you New Lifers out there) I am going to see if they have small groups and stuff because I definitely will be going back.
After practically running home I made it in the door just in time to see Maria serving up paella! What a great day. This is the famous sea food and rice dish that actually originated here in Alicante! It did not disappoint. After of course I had to take a siesta before heading out to the game, which gets you to the beginning of the post.
On to today: Nothing too exciting. We started class today after finishing the previous last week. I like my class a lot, but I think I am going to try and skip up a level or two. On a more exciting note, the July people arrived this weekend, and so we have five newbies to show around. They all seem nice enough, but as I think I have said before, I am not really trying to make American friends here. However there is one guy in the group that after one hour of hanging out we realized that we are the same person. He is a runner, we listen to the same music, and we have similar views on life, so it is nice to have someone that it is so effortless to get along with.
Lastly, Elena and I just made pancakes! We were watching the Simpsons one day, and she asked if I knew how to make them to which I laughed and said "of course!" So I went out and got my supplies: baking soda, baking powder, flour, butter, chocolate, and peanut butter. It was an interesting experience because they don't have measuring cups or spoons, which come in handy while baking, so at my best guess we made some chocolate chip pancakes! I think I had too much baking soda, but they still tasted good. Then we topped them with peanut butter, and to my delight Elana and Maria loved them! My next endeavor is S'MORES! It is quite possibly one of the most delicious and classically American foods around, and I don't think it would be right to continue to allow them to live a life without them. Well besides that I don't think I have much entonces hasta luego.
In awe of how one moment can change the course of a lifetime,
Sigourney
P.S. Please DO NOT just hit reply if you get this by email to leave a comment. You either have to email me or click the actual comment button. That being said, please leave comments, I love them!
That is so awesome, I actually just heard about 15 forever about a week ago. I am definitely going to make a much greater effort to do it from now on!
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