Week One in Mazatlan



View to the left


It has been a whole week already and yet it feels like I have been here a lot longer than that.

Life in Mexico is so different.  I know I have been here before but then I knew I was just visiting....it has been hard to wrap my mind around the fact that I will be living here for the next 6 months....wow... 6 months.

Even though I came feeling like the old lady of the group....most people here thought that I was 20 so I guess in that regard I fit right in hahaha

Mornings start everyday at 630am with breakfast at 7am.  Classes start at 9am.  I am looking forward to class and all the topics that will be learning about.  It will definitely be challenging, but awesome.
My Spanish is coming along really slow, but I am hoping that I catch on sooner than later.
My room is on the 3rd floor and the view is pretty sweet...I am hoping to attach some pictures of what I get to wake up to everyday....which does make a little easier when I am missing everyone....which happens a lot...
But despite the cockroaches, Mazatlan is a pretty amazing city!



View to the right



Mexico City

Last night I arrived in Mexico City! The trip here was an adventure all its own. My flight out of Moncton was  delayed an hour and a half and I started to get nervous that I would miss my connection. But then my tired brain realized that Toronto was an hour behind and my nerves calmed down a little. I learned an important lesson on my flight- cabin pressure + a water bottle with a lid that flips up that is connected to a straw = a water fountain that  shoots straight up in the air and showers the person below! Luckily the only person that got wet was me!
I arrived in Mexico City at night and the sea of lights went on forever. so beautiful!
The staff and students here at YWAM Centro are so welcoming. I am starting to realize now that Mexico will be home for the next 6 months and I am getting really excited about that!

3 more days!

Just 3 more days now and I am boarding my first flight to Mexico City!  I have never been there before so I am quite excited to experience one of the largest cities in the world!  Then on Saturday I will continue on to Mazatlan where I will spend the next 3 months studying about all kinds of amazing things!

 

This past weekend was a busy fundraising weekend.  On Friday I did a color and a perm (felt a little out of practice, but they both turned about beautiful :)  On Saturday, we had another yard sale - not quite as profitable as the last one, but was happy to get rid of more stuff :)  But Sunday was the most amazing day and experience!  A dear friend of mine had a desire to shave her head - something that she had always wanted to do - and she decided to turn it into a fundraiser and sacrificial offering to support me.  She turned it into a bidding war where people had to vote YES or NO with their money and whichever pot had the most in it, is what would happen.  As you probably guessed - the yes pot won the day! So after our church service on Sunday everyone gathered around to watch the head shaving extravaganza!  It was a pretty exciting expereince and she looks absolutely gorgeous!  It was a powerful experience for me knowing that she would do that because she loves and supports me - it still brings tears to my eyes when I think about it.

 

Financially, this weekend paid off (no pun intended)  as I now have enough to pay my tuition for the Lecture Phase of my DTS in full!  THANK YOU SO MUCH to everyone who has given and made this journey possible!

 

There are also other fundrasing ideas in the works for the Outreach portion of my DTS, so I will keep you posted as to how that is going.

 

I cannot thank you all enough for everything you have done to help make this dream a reality! It has been such an amazing experience already and I haven't even left yet :) 

9 days and counting

So, I have decided to create this blog to help us stay connected during my travels. 
In just 9 days, I will be boarding a plane for the first leg of my adventure.  I will spend a night catching up with some friends in Mexico City - although this will be my first time in Mexico City and I am very excited about my short visit. 
Then the next day I am headed to Mazatlan, where I will spend the next 3 months learning about the heart of God and come to better understand my role in the amazing story that He has been writing since the beginning.
After the classroom work is done, we will be heading out to places currently unknown to us - to take all that we have learned and all the we are, to love and serve the people of another nation.  Oh the anticipation of it all!
So for the next 6 months, I will be having the adventure of a life time.  The thought of it exhilarates, overwhelms, terrifies and excites me!  I am so grateful to be given the opportunity to do this and to all of you who have been supporting me through this entire process - whether that was through prayer, giving of money or time or all of the above.  I could not be doing this without you as a part of it.  Your love has helped me keep moving forward and has encouraged me to keep believing God for the impossible.

So THANK YOU from the bottom of my heart!  And get ready to join me as we change this world together!