Alright, it's been a little while since my last blog so this will be a little update on what I'm up to now! We have now moved to San Cristobal, Mexico and are staying at a YWAM base for the week, but first a little recap on the rest of our time at Casa Hogar Alegre. We had an amazing last few weeks with the kids, just getting to love on them and see them open up more and more. We finished out our class time with them and to end our time together we had Fiesta Day, basically a little carnival/school fair type day where we set up game booths, face painting, bounce houses, a prize table, and had lots of food/treats, and we had them do their dances they ahd been working on in music classes. It was such a fun day and even though it definitely took a lot to plan, it was so worth it to see the joy on their faces and hear the laughter all throughout the day. On our last day we gave our coffee capstone project presentations to our whole group, plus some students from Valley Christian school, plus a team from Canada, and my group (me, Macy, and Lydia) ended up winning the competition we didn't even know was happening! After that we dedicated the garden and had to say our goodbyes which was honetsly so heartbreaking. The kids were all crying, we were all crying, and it was just so sad leaving after pouring out so much into these kids but also recieving so much from them too. One of the special thing we got to do befire leaving though was pray. During our team time and morning devos my team led us in active prayer over the orphanage and the kids. We went to each of their spaces, bedrooms, kitchen, classrooms, playground, and prayed out loud over the spaces and the kids and it was so powerful to walk in the authority that God has given us to intercede for those kids. It has definetly been an eye-opening past couple weeks of me trying to lean in to all God has, not wanting to miss the opportunities like that that He has given us. We have a short time in each place we stay and I want to make as much of an impact as possible.

We had a connection with a local church through then Jaime and Merarri who run the orphanage and throughout the time we were in Tuxtla we were able to lead worship with them a couple times which was such an amazing opportunity and a cool reminder that God can use our gifts wherever we are. It was so sad saying goodbye to them, but we had an amazing time getting to worship and laugh and lead with them!

On another note, since we got here to San Cris, almost the whole squad has been sick. Like pretty bad which has definitely put a damper on our time here especially since we only have one week to serve and stay here, but thankfully, I have been fully healthy the entire time, praise God. Our time here is going by quickly, but it has been a fun switch up in ministry.

For ministry here we've been able to do some street evangelism on Monday (which was a stretching thing for me as someone who doesn't love talking to strangers especially in another language), on Tuesday we were able to lead some kids ministry in the city with indigenous people and in one of the tent markets set up. It was so incredible getting to worship and dance with these kids and to share some Bible stories with them. At the market we were all huddled in a little gazebo in the middle of the tent market and we were just able to spread some joy to so many kids as we danced and sang and acted out the story of David and Goliath. That was probably the highlight of my week, in the middle of being surrounded by sickness at the house and feeling the weight of that, I was able to experience so much joy through these little kids smiles and share the love of God with them. On Wednesday we went to an indigenous church about an hour away and were able to participate in there church service and also run the kids ministry that night. I stayed in service and listened to one of our hosts here at the YWAM base preach, and then at the end the pastor asked our host if we could play some worship songs for them to close out service. Now we didn't have anything prepared but said yes anyway and were handed a microphone. Thankfully Macy had her guitar so I sang and she played, then they wanted another song so I played and she sang, and then the pastor asked for yet another song, so she played and I sang again, but it was just such a fun expericence getting thrown into last minute but also seeing the joy on the people's faces through us singing songs in English they couldn't even understand. After church we had coffee with the pastor and most of the congregation and then headed out for a late night back home. Yesterday, Thursday, we walked to a hospital and got to minister to the people who had family inside the hopsital. Esentially it is too expensive to travel back and forth from the hospital nonstop while family members are getting treated so the people just live outside on the sidewalk and wait for as long as it takes for their people to be treated. It is a crazy concept and honestly heartbreaking to see them living with nothing but having such hope that their family members will be treated and healthy enough to go home soon. We did some worship with a guitar and then went to talk with the people and pray for them, which was such a blessing to be able to bless them through prayer. After that we handed out pastries and coffee and did I helped lead a little more worship. Again it was just a blessing to be able to offer them what we had and to give them a little more hope. We will be doing hopsital ministry again today just at a different location. It has been actually a really cool opportunity to have different ministries every day and to work with the people on the YWAM base, just to pour out what we can in the little time we are here.

On Sunday we are off to Guatemala for a week of debrief for our time here in Mexico and then we'll be off to Antigua for ministry after that. It's crazy how quickly time is passing, it honestly feels like I've only been gone for a few weeks but it's almost been two months. God has been moving a lot and growing me so much more than I could've imagined. I will say thsi trip hasn't been quite what I was expecting, but it has been so so good. God has been teaching me so much personally and growing my individual faith so much more than I thought He would and that jsut goes to show that God is so much bigger than I even know or remember. He's been teaching me and my team a lot about prayer and the power of praying out loud, He's been teaching me about having my identity firmly grounded in Him, He's been showing me that He is Jehovah Jireh, my provider, He's been showing me that He wants to be a part of it all, every aspect of my life and all I have to do is let Him, as I seek him more and more I am finding Him more and more.

So there's my update and I can't wait to see all that God does on the next half of our trip as we leave for Guatemala in a few days!

Here are some pics!!