Cacahuate

So...in less than one week, I will be getting on a plane to live in Morelia, Mexico with two wonderful ACU students for 9 weeks...of our lives...

I would just like to say one thing— HOLY COW...Or should I say Vaca Santa?

Here's the deal: I have never been out of the country for more than a few days, and I have never been away from my family or from anything that is somewhat familiar for very long at all.

This will be something different.

I would like to sit here and tell you- my family and friends- what I expect and what I hope will happen, but the truth is, I have no idea. But rest assured mom and dad, it will be good— I promise.

Even if I am a little timid within this foreign culture, I hope to gain at least an understanding of the Mexican people and how much I can learn from them. I want to experience God's presence and plans in Morelia. I want to create lasting relationships with members of the church. I want to create lasting relationships with my c0-interns (because we will have shared this WONDERFUL experience together).

Selfishly, I want to come back confident in my Spanish-speaking abilities- I mean, I'd be okay if I became bilingual, not timid about my many mistakes in the BEAUTIFUL Spanish language. I'd also be okay if I learned how to make real, legit Mexican food (I accidentally wrote 'foot' instead of 'food' and then couldn't stop laughing... thought you should know).

You might be wondering about the title of this post. Cacahuate. This word means 'peanut' in Spanish. I find it to be one of the more fun Spanish words. It's great. It's got the 'caca' (which you KNOW is funny) and then the unexpected, yet elegant 'huate' (who-ah-tay) to finish it off.

I discovered this word in one of my Spanish high school classes. One boy would repeat this word until people would laugh, unfortunately for me, I would always be laughing.

It was around this time of my life that I discovered my love for everything Spanish. For some reason, this word (among other wonderfully hysterical Spanish words) reminds me of the beauty in the words we use while reminding me that though all humanity cannot all speak and understand everyone, we can communicate with each other, even in ways we do not intend.

Here's the part where I tell you that I have never had a blog before and so I don't really know what I'm doing. But I really appreciate your interest in my travels and in my life and I thank you for embarking on this journey with me.

My teammates are named Marisa and Beth and the missionary in Mexico that we will be working with is named Sara. We would all appreciate your prayers.

More to come in about a week or so. Thanks again!

¡Hasta luego!