This year's mission trip was unique and wonderful!

Hello Everybody!

As most of you already know, I just arrived home from my 3rd summer mission trip to San Miguel de Allende in Mexico! It was AWESOME, as always! Everything we did this year was so different from the previous trips and every day was a new adventure. We lived at the top of the mountain this year instead of the bottom, which is good when you want to go to the Jardin (the garden in the center of town) because you walk down the hill. Unfortunately, you have to walk up the hill to get home :P But it was okay, we just got a little extra exercise!

The Pool family is adopting a 14 year old girl (Eliza) from the orphanage that we volunteer at and she was living with us while we were there. She is an amazing girl and I really loved gettting to know her for the 2 weeks that we were there! Because the Pools were doing their "bonding time" with their new daughter, I was actually the only one officially on a mission trip while we were there. It was different, but ended up being awesome! I went to the orphanage by myself a few times and got to spend some relaxing, casual, but good, one and one, up close and personal time with the girls! I can't believe that they are all growing up. It has been cool getting to watch them change over the past 3 summers! Melissa and I also had the opportunity to work at the school again this year, but instead of working with the girls from the orphanage (because they were on vacation from school) we got to meet some new little kids and got to help with the children's bilingual class! It was really cool! The Spanish School is a place where we have met friends, have been able to share our faith, and where we can be used every time we go to San Miguel. God has really provided a wonderful opening there for us. We also went to the animal shelter again to volunteer and actually fostered a couple of kittens and brought them back from the dead...really! One was adopted out before we left!

We also got to have some fun while we were there and submerged ourselves in the culture, which is always one of my favorite parts! During our 2 last nights there we all made sandwiches and went to the Centro and gave them to the old people who are always on the streets begging. It was awesome to see their faces when we asked them if they were hungry and if they wanted a sandwich! They were very blessed by it and we were also blessed by the ability to feed them :) To whom much is given, much is expected...that's what my dad always says.

So, that was my trip! Thanks again everyone for all of your prayers! You have made this possible for me over and over and I am very grateful for it!! I hope to spend a lot of my summer next year helping at the orphanage and volunteering at the school again.

Leyna

Hola everyone! We are back in the USA!

Sorry it has been so many days since my last post. We were doing so good! Leyna has been busy on her Facebook, and with pictures, and I fell down on the blog. But, the last few days in San Miguel were a whirlwind, with many wonderful things coming to a head, and we just got behind. Each of the last few days were spent in school during the mornings. We were very tired of thinking in Spanish, but we finished strong. I got sick on Tuesday night and could not get out of bed on Wednesday due to a high fever, but we did go and say goodbye to everyone at the school on Thursday. (I am still pretty sick, so please pray for me.) We delivered gifts and hugs. On Monday night we went to a bible study and met a lot of Americans in San Miguel that prayed for us. We had a potluck. I made ghiradelli cookies and a cold shrimp salad. It was wonderful to have that fellowship and a wonderful variety of homecooked food! The girls were thrilled. Interestingly enough, the people that owned the house knew my husband's family in Fairhope, Alabama. Another divine appointment! Amazing what a small world it is. Sara from http://www.forgottenchild.org/ is who invited us to the study, so we had, and made, lots of friends there. We also delivered all of the craft pieces that we made for her VBS camp they are having this week in one of the small communities in the countryside around San Miguel...Jalpa. On Tuesday morning, in class, I had the opportunity to share about my relationship with Jesus Christ with my teacher and one of the other students, Alex. It was an amazing opportunity. My teacher, Lily, seemed very touched by what I had to say, and Alex seemed challenged, but both appreciated me telling them and they were asking me questions. The door was opened, and God was good. Keep praying for both of them! The way it all came about was a miracle in itself. On Tuesday afternoon, on the way to work on the website for http://www.giftofenglish.com/ I left my purse, with all my cash and credit cards in it, in the taxi. It was a confusing cab ride, and circumstances led to the cab driver turning around the cab and me forgetting I had something in the back seat...he was waiting for me to be sure I was at the right place. He had convinced me that we were NOT in the right place. At any rate, not sure what the end result was, but someone got ALOT of money, so I hope that it blesses SOMEONE. That was the beginning of a long string of negatives, that the Lord will turn into positives. It reminds me of what Granddaddy Earl used to say, "No good deed goes unpunished," which, I know, sounds very negative, but it reminds me that you always have to be on guard when you are putting yourself out there for whatever it is that God has called you to do. He is my provider. The girls tutored English lessons on Tuesday at the school and we had Tom and Lou over to our house for a farewell dinner and some games of spoons! It was fun. We wanted to thank them for everything that they helped us with while we were there.

On Wednesday we had to say goodbye to the girls at Casa Hogar. We brought some gifts and we played and played with them until a storm came in and we decided we better leave. It was a long tearful goodbye, but we had good quality time with them while we were there, and we hope to see them again next year...which is a hard thing to say because ideally they would NOT be there next year and would be adopted out to some wonderful family that would love them the way Jesus wants us to love one another. It was tough. Go out in the next few days and click on the pictures on the blog and you will see lots of pics from our last day. We wrote them love letters before we left in English so that they can work on their English. Josephina will help them. It was a wonderful goodbye. We were all pretty somber that night, came home and packed, and tried to rest so that we were prepared for the long trip home. Sarah Beth and Melissa were feeling bad, along with me, during the trip, but we made it! We are grateful to be home and live in the greatest country on the face of the earth!!! Thank you, God!

We have done everything that we could do in San Miguel. God showed us who to minister to, who to love on, who to help, who to befriend, who to stay in contact with, and who to pray for. We accomplished all of our goals, and we all worked so hard. We are exhausted and tired, but in the best way possible. There is so much more to do, so please continue to pray for the orphanage, for the two organizations that I told you about here, and for all of the people that continue to push those two groups along. We have been blessed, once again, by this experience, and we appreciate you all who have prayed and have sent us. We will be working on a letter, but know that it would be impossible to tell you everything wonderful that happened.

Oh, and we adopted two cats from the animal shelter where the girls volunteered. One is for the Hymans, so don't freak out! Our little "Plata" is so sweet...she is greyish silver and very, very fluffy. We will try to post a pic. She is our sweet reminder of how God used us in Mexico.

Love y'all,

Leyna and Pam

Yesterday

Yesterday we had a little bit of time to rest. I got up early and talked to Dennis about a website that he wants me to help him with that works to sponsor girls for English lessons at the school we are attending. The website's address is http://www.giftofenglish.com/ It is no where near finished, but I am preparing lots of information to give to the webmaster so that we can upload all of the information to the website. It is a huge job, but Leyna and Melissa are helping me get the information organized and we are trying our best to get lots of good information about the girls so that we can make the website as robust as possible. Anyone can go out and look at the girls that need sponsors and decide if they want to sponsor them. It is only $35 a month for English lessons. Josephina at the school does it for as cheap as she can. She is a blessing. The girls that have sponsors will be able to write letters and chat with their sponsors through the website also, so it's a pretty cool thing! Pray that by Tuesday afternoon Paco and I make some major headway and that I am able to help him a lot with this project. The girls went to the market to get a few gifts for friends and family yesterday and then we all met at Tom and Lou's house and walked to dinner. Tom bought us dinner and we bought dessert! We are going to have them for a nice dinner at our house on Tuesday and we are going to work together to make it special for them. They are awesome friends! Tom does so much for the orphanage and for Patronados por Ninos in the city of San Miguel. He has also been the one to help us work with Feed the Hungry, which helped us make contact with Forgotten Children, which is a great contact for Dennis, so everyone is involved in God's purpose here. It's pretty amazing. Lou is the one who got the girls signed up as volunteers at the animal shelter too. God has really blessed us through them.

We do not have much time to spend with the ninas, and I know that Leyna is already struggling with leaving them. I'm sure that the other girls are too. Scheduling is difficult, and you are left feeling like you could do more. It's sort of frustrating. But God has given us so many opportuities here to learn, make friends, and serve. I just don't think that they girls will realize the impact until they are home. We have clothes to give, crafts to finish for bible camp, a bible study to attend, a special dinner to prepare for Tom and Lou, English lessons to tutor, and another play day with the ninas. We have much to do, and we have accomplished much.

We are going to "do church" here this morning as soon as the rest of the girls wake up! I have prepared some things, and we are going to sing. God has been so good to us. Thank you for all of the prayers. We have not been sick, we are unified, we are strong in our faith...praise the Lord!

Love to all,

Leyna and Pam

Our last Friday

Well folks, yesterday was an amazing, but exhausting day. We were very busy. After school we ran to the animal shelter. We are trying to adopt one of the cats for a friend, and we needed to get a good picture of her. So we ran over there, a 2 mile round trip, and then came back to pick up the rest of the girls so that we could go visit Sollano, another orphanage in town that houses older girls. We have heard that one of the madres there is not very nice, which makes Tom mad, so we needed to go with him so that we could get in. Our girls know some of those girls from English lessons at the school, and also from time they spent at Santa Julia last year. Some of them are really speaking a lot of English. There was a group from the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, and they were doing some songs and games and such with the girls, so I got to speak to a lot of them. (Pam) But our girls were with Tom and of course, all the girls love Tomas! So they had some time to visit with some of the older girls, which was really nice. After we left there we grabbed something to drink and then headed to the buses so that we could get to Santa Julia and play. It was around 4:45pm when we got there...so you see how long everything takes in San Miguel! We had an awesome time at Santa Julia. We sang songs and taught them some sign language to "Jesus loves me." Hannah played the keyboard music. I think some of the older girls already knew it. Then we did the hokey pokey and "Head, shoulders, knees, and toes." Trying to teach them songs in English that are fun is very important. They sort of knew some of those...but not sure they did it faster, and faster, and faster, like we did! It was funny! Then, we played "Sally Walker." It was a total blast. They had never played it, or anything like it before. So, it got them laughing, dancing, running, and wild! Oh my gosh! They continued when they were done having a great time. Leyna showed some of the girls "the pretzel," which is a dance move, I guess, and all the girls were doing it! I took some video of them and they were so excited to see themselves dancing! We were absolutely exhausted by the time we left, but it was an amazing day. They all want to finish watching The Sound of Music before we leave, but we don't really just want to sit in front of the TV when we have so little time! We will tutor them on Tuesday at school, and then we spend the afternoon there on Wednesday. We are working on our project for Forgotten Children International today, but other than that, WE HAVE TO REST. We are all beyond tired. I will try to attach some pics of yesterday to this blog. It is really going to be hard to say goodbye to the girls next week. Love you all, thanks for the comments. Leyna and Pam

Jueves, Thursday in San Miguel

It was a beautiful day here. We got up early and went to Spanish lessons. We stayed after and played scrabble with Alex from Boston. Luis, the office manager, was making a pinata. I love Luis, he is sweet. He introduced me today as his mother. I have insisted that he call me Pamalita. He is very sweet to our girls and so helpful. We want to have lunch with him before we leave. We baked cookies last night for the ninas at the orphanage, and made a batch for the school too, so everyone enjoyed them! I brought ghiradelli chocolate with me! I have one bag left. We made a batch for Tom and Lou also, which blessed them. I want to bless one more person with cookies, I will see who that ends up being! ;-) Some of the girls got to help with English lessons at the school today. They heard that the little girls from the orphange were so excited about the movie we watched with them yesterday. Did we tell you that we bought The Sound of Music and brought it with us from home for them? They loved it! It's sort of cool too because it is the story of a nun who leaves the convent to take care of children. Sort of ironic. Anyway, they sang the songs in Spanish that they knew from music lessons, and we sang right along with them in English. So, they loved it! We also brought them Monsters, Inc. in Spanish and another story about a boy and his burro! Burros are big here. The lady I met at Feed the Hungry puts on a big burro show that she says is like the British dog shows on TV! They dress the burros up here and show them off...cool, huh? You can go out and see what her ministry is all about at www.forgottenchild.org

Tomorrow we have our last Spanish lesson for the week, then go to the orphanage in the afternoon. Tom may also come and get us after school and take us to visit another orphanage where some of the girls that are being tutored at the school live. We hope to visit another orphanage this weekend where all the girls are going to become nuns. That should be interesting. I met two of the nuns yesterday at the school, and they invited us to come. They were VERY sweet ladies.

What else....hmmmm...life is good. We ate migas, eggs with cheese and tortilla chips and hot sauce for dinner tonight with smoothies. We ate pancakes last night, so there is a trend developing. I think we are all ready for some american food, but we are eating well and even trying some of the food in the markets. No one has gotten sick yet, thank God!

We hope to have an opportunity to share with Alex before we leave. Sara Beth and I are just sitting here talking about it. Please pray for an open door. We are ready if the Lord asks us to share. We are thinking of ways to approach it and we have some good ideas.

We have been invited to a bible study on Monday night, which is going to be fun. We think it might be at the house next to Dennis' brother's house. We also have crafts to do for the organization I mentioned earlier. We need to do that tonight while we are watching a movie...we rented some at Tom and Lou's private movie rental service!!! ;-) 300 movies...no joke!

Our wonderful Wednesday

Well, today was a great day! We went to school and when we were leaving Leyna invited a teenager that has been taking classes with us to come to the animal shelter with us. He is 17 from Boston. We invited him to go to the orphanage the first day that we met him, but he wasn't quite sure what to think, and turned us down. We met him on Monday. Tuesday we weren't in class because we were delivering food to the countryside, so today when we asked him, I think he thought, "Hmmm...what could be next?" He might think we are crazy. He asked us if we were trying to save people. We sort of said, "well, yeah..." I'm not sure what he thinks of us, but we are loving on him. He seems to be happy to hang out with us but tentative in some ways. His name is Alex. We just want to be a good example and hope for an opportunity to share our faith with him. He is in my class, so I may get that chance. I have been talking to him for a few days and asking him lots of questions about his life, so I feel like God is softening his heart. I did not get the impression that he was open to spiritual things when I first met him. At the animal shelter we introduced him to one of our other friends that volunteers there also...Lou. She walked home with us and then came by to see the house we are renting. We had a conversation also about faith, life, politics...it was all very interesting. I do not know for sure what her "faith" consists of, but she knows that we are Christians. She is a wonderful lady, and her husband Tom is such a blessing to the orphanages here and to us! After Lou and Alex left our house, we baked ghiradelli chocolate chip cookies for las ninas...in altitude...hello!?! They came out great! Wow! God is with us. Then we headed up to the orphanage with cookies, popcorn, and candy. We brought them The Sound of Music and we all sat and watched about 2 hours of it together. They have learned the songs to the movie in Spanish, so we sang in English, they did in Spanish and in English, so it worked out so well! It was amazing. All of us had girls on our laps, on top of us, kissing us and hugging us all the time. I even got puked on! But it was all fun...even cleaning up the puke...and all a blessing from the Lord. We are privileged to be able to spend time with them. Tomorrow we meet the older girls at the school and help them with their English. They really look forward to the English lessons, and time away where they can be a little seperate and feel special...I think. My girls really love helping at the school too, especially the older girls who are so eager to learn. We came home and made pancakes for dinner and we are tired after our long day. Please pray that we all get rest and stay healthy. The altitude is sort of bothering me, I'm borderline tired most of the time. Everyone gets tired, but we try to take naps and stay rested. Thanks for all of the support you've given us via email and facebook...it's been awesome. Comment on the blog if you get a chance. We'd love to hear from you. We only have 8 more days here and we are already getting sad that we have to leave.

Tuesday, Helping with Feed the Hungry

The girls and I, in 3 different cars with 3 different volunteers, went into the country today at the foothills of the mountains to several campos, areas where there are many families living together in a community. There are about 300 campos around San Miguel. Some are better off than others, but what is happening in Guanajuato is that a majority of the men have left to find better lives and many of them are in the U.S. illegally. Some of them send money home, but many of them are not caring for their families at all, the wives are left with kids to manage alone, and many of them are not managing at all. Sometimes the moms are turning to drugs and alcohol, and the kids end up in orphanages like Santa Julia where we are volunteering. Many live in the campos with their mothers but have no male role models. The school is the only good thing going on, and Feed the Hungry sends food to the schools to make sure that the kids get good, hot meals during the week in the summer months. I (Pam) went with a lady today who heads an organization that helps build the kitchens where the food is prepared. The other thing they do is build libraries on the school "campuses" and provide books and reading support for English. They have also helped build real bathrooms, clean water holding tanks, and they also do bible clubs and summer youth camps (Christian) in the areas where they have already helped. I got to see first hand what the food is being used for, where it goes, and what Feed the Hungry and this organization do. I spent the morning with Sarah, the director, and we talked about what we may be able to do with them next year if and when we all come back to San Miguel. It as awesome! Definitely a divine appointment, as Christians are sort of hard to find here in SMA. I had a wonderful morning and got to meet some of the kids from the countryside, as well as a man that helps administrate the schools in the campos. It was a wonderful day. We are going to work on a project for them this week that they will use in their bible camp next week. We are helping with organizing a craft.

It is raining now. We are heading up to the orphanage this afternoon. Looking forward to it, as always.

Pamalita

Domingo y Lunes

Well, we thought our Sunday was going to be boring like our Saturday. We were not so much bored as we were tired, so we spent most of Saturday resting. The altitude here is bothering me (Pam), and I think it is bothering the girls also, because they are very tired. But Sunday we woke up and went out and walked around the city, went to the artisans market, and then went to lunch at our friends' house, Tom and Lou. We ate good ol' american cheeseburgers, and they were yummy. Tom spends a lot of time at the orphanage too, so he was happy to take us up there. It was a wonderful afternoon! We spent about 3 hours up there with the girls. We helped the girls on the computers, I washed windows, we all colored with the girls, and wrote notes to them...love notes! One of my favorite little ones, Ana, had spent the day with her parents and came back to the orphanage quite upset. It broke my heart. Her little sister, who is 3 years younger, was not so much upset as she was just melancholy, and she seemed a little quiet. Anyway, we spent some time with them, and loved on them. Carolina and Ana are their names, so pray for them specifically. Their parents are both messed up...not sure if it's drugs, or alcohol, or what, but the madres said that they have the right to have their kids in their home one day a week, so they have to go. It's Mexico...

Anyway, today we had a full day also. We went to school until 12:00pm, and then ran to catch the bus up to the orphanage. We wanted to catch a ride to a violin concert that 10 of the girls were participating in. They were so good! They are so well behaved, and disciplined. The ones taking the violon lessons range in age from about 6 to 17. We were so proud of them! They have done an awesome job. The interesting thing was that we were at a music school out in the country...way out...and there were mostly gringos out there...only saw a few mexicans in the whole place. They are there because this is supposedly a wonderful music school and we heard that it costs $10,000 per year. The kids supposedly live there, although I think I met a girl there that does not live there, but in San Miguel. Anyway, las ninas de Casa Hogar were SO MUCH better than the concert that we sat in after the girls were finished. I think they have been taking lessons for a little longer, but I believe that they are much more interested, and much more appreciative of the opportunity to learn the violin. The school seemed pretty relaxed...and it had no running water!???? Weird, huh? Anyway, we are drowning in culture here! ha! We came home and had to eat because we had been walking and out in the heat and it was 3pm or so and we had not eaten...so we stopped and grabbed some food and went to the school to see if we could help some of the girls with their English. But because of some testing that they are having done at the orphanage, they did not come to their English classes today. We were bummed. We were half way across town and out of energy, so we came home. It's been a wonderful two days, but we are exhausted. Please pray for Madre Petra, who is also exhausted, and a sweet, sweet lady. She is a true servant. We are always asking for ways to help her, and we pray everyday together that the Lord would show us more ways to help and serve. Thank you for reading our blog. Send comments, we love to read them!
Pam y Leyna!

Had to write...

I had to write and say what an amazing day that we had. We had the privilege of riding on the girls' bus from the orphanage to the theater, and sitting with the girls, some of them sprawled out on top of us in 90 degree weather, hugging and kissing us...oh my gosh. I cannot tell you what a blessing it is. Just being on the bus driven by a nun down the world's most narrow alleyway with 35 precious babies and 4 precious teenagers...an experience I will NEVER forget. God is so good. He has given us so many opportunities to hold, hug, kiss, rub, tickle, carry, protect, care. It's amazing! I cannot express how truly awesome it is for a little girl to grab your hand so tight and hold it non-stop for 2 hours...no matter what happens...she never lets go. She looks at you when she needs something, hoping that you will understand and meet her need. Especially with the language barrier, it reminds me how God always knows what we need, and He is just waiting for us to look to Him. We count on Him. And He never lets us down. We are counting on Him to keep showing us where we are to go, who we are to hold, how we are to spend our time. We are dependent on Him. Thanks for checking on us. Pam

It's Friday!(Viernes)

Hola todas personas! It's Friday, and we have had a wonderful day so far, but the best is yet to come. We had our English classes this morning, then came home to eat sandwiches, and then headed up to the animal shelter for an hour or so. It is a little bit of a walk to and from, so it takes us a few hours to go up there. We came home and got coffee and are ready to head to the orphanage to play with our sweeties...Cecilia, Itzel, Carmelita, Chuy, Elena (the stinker!), Elizabeth, Angie (from the other orphanage in town), Lupita, Luz, Maru...oh, I could go on and on about how cute they are. Then we are going to a concert that they are singing tonight at the theater. We can't wait! We have made arrangements to show a movie next week...The Sound of Music...which the girls know all the songs of in Spanish! Yeah! And if and when they get bored, because the movie is in English, we bought Monsters, Inc. in Spanish. I think they are going to be glued to that one! Hope it is as wonderful as we think it's going to be! Senora Josefina at the Spanish School is helping us so much with arrangements at the orphanage. Oh, and I think we will go to the orphanage with Tom tomorrow during the day! Hasta Luego, mis amigos! Keep praying for us. Next week we have some unique things planned with the girls, so we are very excited! Pamalita y Leyna y Hannah http://picasaweb.google.com/LeynaRachel/SanMiguel2008

Cinco mujeres en San Miguel de Allende!

We're just 5 women in San Miguel today. Sarah, Justin, and Kara left today, Hannah and Pam (Pamalita) arrived yesterday. It has been a whirlwind for me (Pamalita) and I can see and understand why it was so hard for Sarah to leave. What an awesome and unique place this is. It reminds me so much of southern France, very quaint, somewhat rudimetary, but wonderful and colorful. La casa that we are staying in is very authentic Mexico, and is open air. There are two small areas where we all sleep and you can close those off at night. The breezeway opens to the roof where you can go at night and hear the church bells, that start again early in the morning.

Today Spanish class was a little overwhelming, but amazingly productive. I learned a lot...I think. Sarah Beth and I are partners and Lily is our teacher.(profesora) Ella es bonita y dulce. (pretty and sweet)

We had an interesting opportunity today that we need prayers for. Leyna invited Patti, a lady that we met at the Spanish school. She is 42, but she seems like she is about 25 maturity wise. We prayed that we would have the opportunity to bless her and tell her about the Lord. Sarah Beth did an awesome job of telling Patti about her experience with God and about her family and what they believe. I was SO proud of her. I had a few opportunities to ask her questions about her life and also to just encourage her. She has expressed that she is here sort of looking for something, and we had some casual conversation about searching for meaning in your life, etc. I can't tell you everything that was said, but I feel like God put Patti in our lives today so that we could love and encourage her. We took her for churros and chocolate and I believe that she was truly blessed. PLEASE pray for this relationship!

The girls just left for the school where they will be spending time tutoring las ninas from the orphanage. Yesterday we spent time at the orphanage doing the same. I finally got to meet all the girls and madres that Leyna has been telling me about and the experience was beyond my expectations. The four teenagers with me are amazing, willing servants, and they are here for the right reasons! I am blown away by their servant hearts. But, I think that they are tired, and I know that we need your continued prayers to persevere and continue to bless others. Please remember to pray for us every day. We spent time together today going through a little study about humility and submission and prayed for all those that we have come into contact with by name. It's been amazing so far! Can't really express in words what is happening here, but I feel like God is guiding every step that we take through the city, and we are being blessed. I am praying for opportunities to bless those that have taken our girls in and loved on them...Tom and Lou especially. I think I'll make them some awesome chocolate dessert, I brought my own chocolate! Gotta run. Thanks for looking. Love y'all! Pam

One week gone...time flies

Just talked to Leyna and they are preparing for another busy week in San Miguel. They have already had some amazing opportunities to be servants and help the little girls of Santa Julia. They are spending a lot of their time tutoring and playing with the kids, so they feel like they are being used. We plan to do some movies with them, bake them cookies, and hopefully do some skits and music with them. I arrive on Wednesday and am really looking forward to my time there. I have some preparations to do before then, but I am so excited. Leyna gave me a list of things they need, so I'll be packing a few more things than planned! They are struggling with mosquitos, and Leyna said that Sarah Beth had 20 on her arm, so please pray for protection against mosquitos. I'm bringing some good bug spray with me and probably a bug bomb for the house. Hopefully that will help. Keep praying for the girls' health and safety, as well as opportunities for them to share the love of Christ! Thanks, Pam Rader

Our first Saturday

Today was our first saturday and our first day to rest! We slept in until 10:00! Then we all got ready and went to the orphangae for the birthday party they were having for 10 of the girls. We brought them gifts like bilingual books and journals that they could use to learn more english. They loved them! We ate with them, had cake, and danced and played games. It was alot of fun. Then we came home for some downtime. It was so nice to rest for a while. We made dinner and then headed out for a late-day walk to the Jardin. We went into a couple of stores and went to the ATM for some much-needed pesos. (they don't like to take american money) then we took a cab back home and are just hanging out and resting. Tomorrow we will go to the parade they are having downtown where everyone dresses up crazy and dances down the street. It should be interesting!

Our day...feeling blessed

Well we went to voluenteer at the S.P.A. (animal shelter) after school. And all i can say is aww.....please mom! HAHA :) We also got to go out to the orphange and spend a couple hours helping the girls with their school work. Mr. Pool helped some girls with math, Mrs. Pool and Sarah Beth helped them with writing and Melissa and I taught 2 of the oldest girls how use use the computers (mainly microsoft word) and taught them how to type, save, and print their homework or letters or anything they want! The girls loved it!They were so excited to know how to do it and Karina(the one i taught) spent almost an hour writing a letter to the person who sponsors her in english classes. It was awesome! Then we came home and Mr. pool wanted to go get Chocolate and Churros again so He, us three girls and Melissa's brother Justin walked up to the Jardin (garden. The town is so pretty at night! we got lots of pictures and we saw a mexican bend playing and listened to them for a while. It was so beautiful! i LOVE the town at night! So that was our day. We are so blessed to have this opportunity!

Rainy days

It rained all day today! The streets are literally flooded and my feet are very cold! :) Despite the gross weather, today was awesome! After school we went to the artisan's market and got to see some culture and use some of the spanish we are learning! It is so cool! Last year Melissa and I spent alot of our spare time there, so we knew how cool it was, but i guess just having other people there to share it with makes it all the more amazing! After walking to and around the market, we were ready for a break! We stopped at the Biblioteca (library) and got some maps, and something cold to drink at the cafe inside. Then we headed back to the school and were able to participate in conversation with some mexican students, our age, who are in the process of learning english. It was REALLY helpful! We would talk to them in spanish and they would talk to us in english. It was hard but good! Then we tudored some of the older girls from the orphanage and played learning games with them. It is so cool to see how much they have learned over the past year. It is so awsome that we have the opportunity to help them learn english! It is such an important part of our misson! We ended our day with a cold walk through the flooded streets back to our house.

A quick note from Leyna

From Pam: Yesterday I got a short note from Leyna about her day. She was also busy putting together a photo album of all the girls. You can go out and see it at: http://picasaweb.google.com/LeynaRachel/SanMiguel2008
Here's what she wrote: It is cold and rainy here, we just got back from the school where we helped the girls with their English lessons. It was awesome! We have not been to the SPA (She is talking about the animal shelter here) yet, but i think we might go tomorrow or Thursday. We went to the Tuesday Market today! It was big and crowded, but a good experience. We are learning a lot. Time is going by so fast, it seems. I guess it is because we are so busy and there are so many of us. Everything is going great though! (besides the rain) I love you guys! Leyna

Our First Day

Our first day here was awesome! We started school this morning and realized that we were very rusty! But we will get to practice a lot so no worries there! We went to the Mega (large grocery store similar to Wal-mart) and got all of the groceries that we will need for a while. When we got home we set up the internet in the house (thank the Lord!) and after a very frustrating amout of time we actually got it to work :) Then we went to the orphanage with Dennis and Jackie. It was so amazing to see the girls again! I missed them so much! There are a lot of new girls who we do not know, but the ones who were there last year still remember us and are very happy to see us. It was an awesome day! Tomorrow we are planning to have one hour of classroom school instead of three and then go to the Tuesday Market with our teachers for the rest of the time, so that should be alot of fun! Things are going really great so far, but please keep us in your prayers!

Thanks!
Leyna

They have landed!

Saw that the flight landed safely in Leon at 12:04pm today. Their taxi driver, who is also a bullfighter, should be picking them up as we speak! They will arrive in San Miguel after 2pm today. All is well....Leyna should be sending us something in the next few days...I hope!

We leave in 4 days!

I can't believe that we are heading to San Miguel in four days, but it's true! I am sending out the rest of my thank you notes, and getting ready for my ballet/modern/jazz/pointe recital! We are finished late on Saturday night and our plane leaves at 9:40am on Sunday! Wow! Please pray that all preparations continue to go smoothly. Thanks again for PRAYERS and your continued support of Casa Hogar and my opportunity there. Love you all, Leyna

Abundant Blessings!

Wow, folks! Thank you so much for the donations I already received! What a huge blessing. You don't know how much it means to me to have your support and prayers, I could not do this without you! Thanks Batman, Mr. and Mrs. McNeely, and Grandma and Grandpa Self for sending funds so quickly. It just proves to me that God is in control! Love to all, Leyna

Gearing up for the summer!

Hello all. Leyna here. I am gearing up for the summer, it is going to be crazy! I just sent out support letters, so I hope some of you will be praying for me. I am so excited about seeing las ninas at Casa Hogar, but there is so much to do before then! Hopefully, with God's help, I can get it all done! Hasta Luego! Leyna

They've arrived!

Leyna and Melissa have arrived, safe and sound! They are GREAT! Oh, and the cat is fine too!!!! Yes, Melissa brought home a cat! Just letting you know...thanks for the prayers....Pam and Sarah

And finally...today, our last day!

So, today is our last day....I can't believe that it has been a month! Melissa and I have mixed emotions....we are sad to leave, and happy to go home!

Today in school we have a final test and then we will say goodbye to our teachers. Then, after school we are going to the SPA one last time, and then going to the Orphanage to play for awhile, and then say good bye to the girls. We will be able to tell them without a doubt that we will be back again next year! But it will be so sad to say goodbye, it has been wonderful!

When we get back to the apartment we have a lot of work to do getting it cleaned up and getting all of our stuff packed and ready to go. Then we will go out to dinner with Juan Jose. Sad but happy.....he has been a blessing to us.

I can't wait to get home and see my family and friends, and sleep in my own bed, and smell the nice clean air that our exhaust emissions systems filter for us! Ahhhhh! Life is good! That is one thing we won't miss...the smell of exhaust fumes!

Thank you all so much for the prayers, thoughts, and comments. All of that has made this experience all the more wonderful for us! Pray for a safe return home. We arrive at DFW at 5:20pm tomorrow evening!

Love in Christ, Leyna (and Melissa)

Yesterday!

In our first class we walked to the market with our teacher and got Kathleen flowers. I in our second class we went to the MEGA, and bought about 20 things of 2 in 1 shampoo and conditioner, scrubby sponges, a new mop, a bucket, tooth paste, hand towels, and gathered things that we brought to give out also. We had a car full! Before we went to the orphanage we went to the animal shelter, and helped out with their kitties probably for the last time. When we got to Casa Hogar, we gave out and stocked the stuff that we bought from the MEGA. We also gave them out all of the stuff from Leyna's ballet studio to them. They only wanted to take one thing each, but then towards the end we started putting all of the hair ties in their hair, and putting more braclets on their wrists for them. They really loved all of the stuff. They tryed to give back the extras, but we wouldn't let them. They are so appreciative of the littlest things. Thank you for the money that was sent that helped us buy them these gifts!

Then we played with little Lupita because she is really attached to Madre Petra and calls her 'Mama'. Madre Petra could use a break now and then, so we took her and occupied her for awhile. Then we got to help the older girls draw Christmas cards!!! I guess they are planning ahead!

Kathleen is feeling a little better, she has some prescription meds that she is taking for the pain. She is sleeping a lot, but is feeling much better. Your prayers are very helpful, so keep them up. Thanks! Melissa (and Leyna)

Miss Kathleen

Please pray for Miss Kathleen, she was still resting when we left the apartment, and she may be pretty sore after her fall yesterday. Thanks! Leyna

Today was crazy!

Today we went to the hot springs...but did not stay long because it was raining. It was really cool! While we were there we saw one of the little girls from the orphanage with her mom and a man and his wife from Texas....don't know why they were there??! But then we got back and Kathleen came home, then went to get her laundry, and when she came back....she ran into the house and she told us that she had slipped and fell and that she had chipped her tooth and thought that her nose was broken! So we all went to the hospital. Her nose is fine, and the dentist fixed her tooth...right there! ...it was a very interesting experience. We couldn't go to the orphanage obviously.....so we did some things that Kathleen had asked us to do... get her some ice cream and return her books at the library. We walked in the rain all day basically, but it was fun, and we got to do some shopping too which was great obviously! So it was an interesting day. But all is well now. It has been raining non-stop all day, because of the hurricane coming toward Mexico right now. And it is FREEZING! Well, it's 50 degrees. I guess we should count our blessings though, seeing as it is 100+ in Texas right now! We are both getting sad about leaving. There is just so much stuff to do here we could never fit it all in. But it has been a wonderful trip, and we are ready to be back home! Leyna and Melissa

Yesterday...

Yesterday we went to the animal shelter to volunteer again. There was a new cat there that I named Milano, because it reminds me of those kind of cookies! She is all white with taupe sploches all over her body and on her head. She has huge ears and big blue eyes that are too close together and she is cross-eyed! She is ADORABLE. I want to take her home so badly! But I am poor...:) Anyway, then we went to the orphanage after we got back from the shelter and we helped the girls cover all of their school books in Paper and Plastic. It is alot of work considering that all of the girls have 8 books each! It is a big help for the madres that we are doing that. We also checked to see if the girls were using the soap we bought them and it turns out that almost half of every bottle that we put out we gone! I guess they like it alot!?! We haven't told the mardes that we are leaving on Saturday, but I don't want to! I wish we could be here all the time to help, but we have to come home and go to school and return to our everyday lives! We will be here next year!

School here is going well, we are having our final test on Friday so we are just reviewing all of the things that we have learned so far. Today we don't have school because we are going to another city, and going to the Hot springs instead. I am very excited! We have almost finished the entire birthday poster for the orphananage and have decided that it is very cute! .......And I think that is about it! Thank you again for all of the thoughts and prayers, this trip has been amazing! I pray that what we've done will have an impact.

Love in Christ,
Leyna

Tutus and Twirls!

Today we passed out the tutus for the younger girls. They went crazy! They loved them. There weren't enough ballet shoes for all of them to have a pair, so they would take turns wearing them for five minutes at a time. They were running around screaming and chasing each other, and dancing. They had a lot of fun. It was a joyful time. Melissa took lots of pictures, and Leyna danced around with some of the ninas. All of the girls are back now, and have started school. Everything is settling down now for the school year. Later in the afternoon, we rode back to the school with the girls (they take English lessons with Senora Josephina as well...) and then we went and printed off some more pictures for the poster that we have been working on. We got to work on it some more this afternoon after school. We have it almost all the way finished. Pray that we are able to finish up everything that we have started here in San Miguel, and that we will do it to the glory of our Savior! Well, not much more, keep up the prayers! We will try to send pics of the girls in tutus tomorrow for the blog...Melissa (and Leyna)

soap

One thing that Melissa and I noticed is that the girls at the orphanage do not have soap at the sinks. They stick their hands under the cold water and then wipe them on their clothes! So we decided that one of the best things that we could do for them would be to buy them some hand soap. We went to the Mega store, and bought 12 soap pumps full of soap and 4 huge refills for them. We hope that this will be a good contribution!

Today when we go to the orphanage we will give them the soap and the Madres some Chocolate that we bought for them. Then we will probably help them organize their things for going to English school tonight!

I will write again later with more information!
Leyna

The last Sunday....

Here is a note I got from Leyna today:

Hey Mom! We are at Tom ond Lou's house today. We are taking them out for a late brunch to tell them thank you for all that they have done for us while we were in San Miguel. They leave on Tuesday to go visit their son in Houston, so they will be gone when we leave. They have been so kind to both Melissa and I. Lou was the one who gave us the opportunity to help with the animal shelter down here, and Tom is so passionate about work with the orphans, he was inspirational. He helped us with some of our projects like the pictures.

I probably won't get to talk to you today, but all is well. The church that we were going to try today is not close enough for us to get to, but we hung out here today and listened to worship music and stuff. It was fun! I have been working on the studies that you sent, thank you! We have so much stuff to do this week and we can't believe that we only have six days left! I can't wait to see you, but will be sad to leave. We are so used to things here that now being home will be a huge change...another culture shock!...especially with school. Will write more tomorrow.

Love, Leyna

Just a quick note!

Today....School in the monring, then we went to the orphanage and wrapped the rest of the boxes for the girls school supplies! (40 in all) It's like Christmas, without all of the shiny paper...! Then we got new pictures of all of the girls at the orphanage to use in the poster we are working on. It was a very good day! I am very tired and have to run...but I thought you might want a little bit of info about today! Hit the word "comments" below and leave a message for me! (don't click on the envelope!)

Love, Leyna

What's been happening......

Yesterday we had a busy one, working at the S.P.A. and at the orphanage. We are helping get the girls ready for school, so we have been busy there! We also helped adopt out a few animals, which was fun!

Last night we went to the circus with Tom and Lu. Besides a baby camel and 4 pink poodles, there was a clown between each act and the clown and a trampolinist were doing an act together, and the clown was trying to do the act better...kinda like a dance off, except it was a trampoline off...and so the clown did some flips, and then the trampolinist was doing these HUGE flips and aerials. The clown did another set of flips, and just jumped off onto the mat. So, of course, the trampolinist did a huge flip and started off onto the mat. Then we saw the clown kinda push the man forward while he was still in the air to try to get him onto the mat when he landed, but his left foot didn't make it, and he limped back over to the tramp. The whole time he didn't make a sound. Then the clown walks over to him, and he helps him walk over to the curtain, and the stage crew grabbed him from there and took him behind the curtain. During the intermission, the trampolinist was screaming, and you could hear it over all of the people talking. We were sitting no more than a yard away from where it happened. Sad for him though, other than that the circus was awesome! Please be praying for him.

Melissa and Leyna

We will try to update later too. Sorry, we have been very busy with school, orphanage, S.P.A., keeping in touch with our parents, etc. We will also need to be working on our schoolwork from here, so hopefully we will find time to get everything done. Please pray that we will also be good roommates...

Today, after school, Melissa and I volunteered at the S.P.A. ( A.S.P.C.A.) again. It is so hard to love on all of the kittens and cats and not be able to take them home. Melissa is determined to get one cat back to the states...and I wouldn't doubt that she will make it happen! After the SPA we went to the house and loaded all of the pictures of the animals onto the computer. Then we came back to the school to meet our ride to take us to the orphanage. However, when we go there, Señora Josefina said that the Madres called and they all had to go somewhere today at the last minute, so it would not be good for us to come since nobody is there. :-( Since we had a bunch of extra time, Melissa and I went on a long walk around the town and had a chance to have some good old english conversation with eachother. It was very pleasant. Now we are back at the school using the computers. We are VERY fortunate to have internet access like we do! Thank you Senora Josephina! Tomorrow we were planning on going swimming in the hot springs after school, but our plans have changed so we will have to figure out something productive to do...like study....or eat! Hopefully we will be able to get to the orphanage and see our little muchachas though. Life is good in San Miguel de Allende......but there is no place like home! (click, click) No place like home! (click, click):)Leyna

Plans change

Today, after school, Melissa and I volunteered at the S.P.A. ( A.S.P.C.A.) again. It is so hard to love on all of the kittens and cats and not be able to take them home. Melissa is determined to get one cat back to the states...and I wouldn't doubt that she will make it happen! After the SPA we went to the house and loaded all of the pictures of the animals onto the computer. Then we came back to the school to meet our ride to take us to the orphanage. However, when we go there, Señora Josefina said that the Madres called and they all had to go somewhere today at the last minute, so it would not be good for us to come since nobody is there. :-( Since we had a bunch of extra time, Melissa and I went on a long walk around the town and had a chance to have some good old english conversation with eachother. It was very pleasant. Now we are back at the school using the computers. We are VERY fortunate to have internet access like we do! Thank you Senora Josephina! Tomorrow we were planning on going swimming in the hot springs after school, but our plans have changed so we will have to figure out something productive to do...like study....or eat! Hopefully we will be able to get to the orphanage and see our little muchachas though. Life is good in San Miguel de Allende......but there is no place like home! (click, click) No place like home! (click, click)

Keep emailing, and please post comments if you can. I am reading them all!

Leyna

Today

Today was awesome! We had classes with two new teachers that were both incredibly nice and are helping us a lot. We are learning so much! We were planning on a trip to see pottery today, but instead went to the orphanage and stayed all day. We got home at 7pm. Madre Petra put us to work cleaning, doing dishes, laundry, and helping get the girls clothes and school supplies ready for school. It was wonderful working with Madre Petra, I love her! She is a godly woman. She was sad that we are leaving in two weeks, which made me feel special. I felt so accomplished today, being able to help so much and being able to speak Spanish with Madre all day...it was awesome! We are heading home now for PB & J and bed. We're tired, but blessed. I am not homesick, just feeling wonderful. Love, Leyna

Weekends...

This weekend was very busy! On Saturday, we went on a tour of two houses. It was not what we thought it would be, but it was for a good cause! Plus, we met a lady on the bus who we started talking to about our trip. She LOVED what we were doing and wanted to support us, so she invited us to go to a play with her and she bought our tickets for us. She was very nice and very generous. After the play we went to a very good restaurant with Tom and Lou called Hencho En Mexico. (made in mexico) It was very good and I ate WAY too much. On Sunday morning, we went to see a movie with Juan Jose (Señora Josefinas son) and we saw License to Wed. It was in english, but had spanish subtitles. Then Melissa and I went on a 2 hour long walk and when we got home we thought we were gonna die. So we rested the rest of the day. The weekends are very busy,but sometimes I feel like. because we do not get to serve anyone, we are wasting our time. But it's ok...because we always need a little time to rest! I am doing ALOT better with homesickness and appreciate all of the prayers. My mom tells me that everyone I know is praying and it fills my heart with joy to know that! We only have 13 days left! I can't believe it. I am trying to make the most of my trip and definitely beliveve that I am doing with God want me to do. OK, well time for school. Hasta Luego!

Leyna

Projects and tours

Today, after school, Melissa and I went on a walk through town. We ran into Tom and Kathleen, who were talking near the center of the city. When Kathleen left, Tom invited us to go out to lunch with him. So, we went to Subway and he bought us a sandwhich. When we left him we went to the market, el mercado. We walked around and found A LOT of cool stuff to buy and bring back for friends and family, so that was a lot of fun! When we came back, we immediately went out to the orphanage. We played a little and watched some TV with the girls. It was a quiet evening. We brought a big poster back from the orphanage, which Melissa and I are going to work on this weekend. It has pictures of the girls all over it, but they are all outdated! So, we have some new pictures to put in and we will reorganize it and decorate it. Making it, we will be able to leave a little piece of ourselves at the orphanage. It should be a lot of work...but very fun! Tomorrow we are all going on a tour. We found out today what we are going to do, and it sounds like a lot of fun! We will be leaving at 10:30 in the moring and going to a house where this family has a business and makes homemade jewelry. We will get the chance to see them make it and watch the technique that they use. Then when they are done making it, we will have the chance to buy the jewelry from them, or buy some jewelry from their store. Then, we will go to see a cannery another famous family from the area cans their own food and sells it here and in the U.S. That should also be very interesting. I do not know what else is planned, but we will stay busy. We may go out to eat with Tom and Lou (his wife) sometime after the tour. They are very nice people. I am having a very good day today!.....The Lord Provides! Leyna

School was a blast today. It is really getting exciting and this feeling of being able to speak a little Spanish...it feels good! Ha, ha. Tomorrow, Saturday, at 10am, we are all planning to go on the "Saturday Surprise" tour. I am very excited about that....hopefully it will be alot of fun and worth the money. We will find out today sometime what the tour is. Sometimes it a glass blowing factory, sometimes it's ruins...we'll just have to see. It's a surprise! When I find out I can tell you about it. I am feeling much better than I was yesterday...so Praise the Lord! We are heading to the orphanage at 4pm today to see our little cuties. See ya in 2 weeks! (dos Semanas) Leyna

Thursday........

Itzel had her Pre-K graduation tonight, she was so cute. The madres invited Melissa and I today and Josephina came too! Itzel was all dressed up and all the kids did little dances with eachother...they are 3! They all sang a song, and Itzel had the microphone, but she had it right up to her mouth so you couldn't understand what she was saying. It was funny! Even funnier was that there was a teacher who was directing them on what to do, but he didn't do anything. Him being there, standing right out in front on the stage telling them what to do rather than doing it from the side stage, seemed very unusual. It was very unique cultural experience. There were 20 children in all, but only one from the orphanage. We felt very privileged that they invited us to come. It was a wonderful time.

I had a pretty bad stomach ache all day today, so I am going home to have some tea and hit the sack! Thanks for all the comments, and the emails. I really wish I could shake this homesickness, but the truth is that I love my home and I miss my parents. That's just the way it is! Love y'all! Leyna

Thank you!

Thank you Dennis for all the great pictures! My mom is posting them, I don't have time to do it! Check out the other site for more...
http://3amigasinsanmiguel.blogspot.com/

Two more things...

When we are at the orphanage, there is no English, because only one of the madres knows English, and she is not there right now. So, we have to speak Spanish, and that is helping us a lot. Yesterday though, we taught our little ones some English! So, it is good stuff for all! Today Melissa and I get to volunteer at the equivalent of the SPCA here in San Miguel! What a cool opportunity, huh? God is just opening up doors for us to serve and to keep busy. We are looking forward to it. She and I both love animals. Keep your comments coming, I love reading them. I am here every morning 8-9 reading and emailing my parents. Thanks for keeping up with me! Leyna Rachel

Our 11th day!

Hola! Yesterday, after school, we went to the Mega Store and bought the girls at the orphanage a soccerball and a volleyball. When we got to the orphanage there were only 7 girls....but they all loved the balls! The whole time we were there they played with the balls. I tried to teach them to play volleyball, but they did not like the idea of hitting it with their hands and decided that it was a soccerball too. One of the little girls, Josealine, is kinda shy and low energy, but she loves to paint everyone's nails. So, I let her do mine.......they were a wreck....but she just loved the fact that I let her do them! We were planing on staying until 9pm, so that we could help clean up after dinner, but I got a really bad stomach ache and we had to leave early. I am feeling much better now and I am very well rested for the next week. Our spanish classes are going very well and we are learning so much. I feel very accomplished when I can understand the girls at the orphanage and respond to what they say. They love it when we can talk to them in Spanish. Well, we have to get ready for our class. We are here early. We will try to kepp y'all posted on this next week! Thanks for all the prayers! God is Awesome and is working in me right now, and has been through this whole trip. He is starting to reveal to me my purpose here! Keep praying for me.

Love In Christ,
Leyna

Update!

Well, we have been talking to the girls briefly, but they are having a hard time finding time to write a blog, so I will fill you in. The girls and Kathleen went with Tom for a four hour walk around San Miguel on Sunday. They are becoming very familiar with their surroundings. Today they had a blast in their classes. They join up with some teenagers that have already been there for three weeks tomorrow. They did a bunch of homework to catch up enough to be with them. So, they are looking forward to that. Today they are serving at the orphanage from afternoon until about 9pm, helping put the little ones to bed. They are going first to buy soccer balls for the girls, as theirs are deflated and old. They went home just now from school to eat fruit and shop. That's all I have! Please pray that they would continue to become more at home and more comfortable in San Miguel. Pray for unity and for Kathleen to find some time to paint. Pray against homesickness. Thanks so much! Keep the comments coming, they are reading them! Pam Rader

Life in San Miguel

Hey everyone!....Yesterday we went to the Bellas Artes (a very cool art museum) for one of our classes in school. From there we went to the library to see a movie that some of the girls from the orphanage were in. We met all the girls there and they we very excited that we came. After the movie Melissa and I, and Dennis and Kathleen, went out to a traditional mexican lunch.Then Kathleen went home and Tom (Dennis' friend who lives here and is fluent in Spanish, he and Dennis do lots of stuff for Casa Hogar) took us to the orphanage. The girls were so excited that Señor Dennis was there! We played with the girls for a while and then had a meeting with the Madres about buying the girls the things that they need. They said that they needed socks, underwear, and undershirts. So we decided that we would go tomorrow (today) to buy them that stuff, and Madre Perta is going to come with us to make sure we get the right things. We also talked to the Madres about helping more with the chores. They told us that they really would need help with the babies at night with baths and diapers, pajamas, etc., since most of the older girls would be off at camp next week. We are both very excited about helping, and the madres were shocked that we wanted to do that. After we left the orphanage, we went back to Dennis' brothers' house and used his computer-phone. We both called our parents, so that was great! Then we all went out for a wonderful meal. We got back home at 10:30 and went strait to bed. It was a wonderful day! But now, we have to do homework! Love to all, Melissa and Leyna

Another update from today...

Melissa and i just got back from Casa Hogar Orphanage. We played a game with the girls that they called "soccer" but it was some kind of kickball game. All the girls are very sweet! they know less english than we know spanish, but some of the older girls can communicate with us pretty well. The little girls are ADORABLE and most of them love the individual attention that we can give them. We are planning on going to the orphanage almost every day from 4-6 pm. The Madres told us that this would be the best time for them. We have not met all of the girls yet because some of them are going to camp this week. We heard that all of the girls will be gone next week, but we are not sure that this is true. School is going pretty well.....We had to begin at a slower pace but are starting to understand it better and will be moving faster through each class. Hopefully we will be able to speak alot of the language by the end of the month. Señora Josefina has asked us to help with the younger children's spanish/english classes after our classes in the morning. This way we can help and learn at the same time. We are all doing well. Melissa and I miss home, but we will be ok. Thank you for all your prayers!Leyna & Melissa

Note from Leyna...finally!

Hello everyone! Thanks for checking on me! Senora Josefina (the owner of the school) is letting us use the computer (and phone to receive calls) whenever we need to, so that is very good. Today our spanish classes were very fun. Our first teacher taught us a lot of spanish, and our second teacher took us out on a walk. First we went to one of the other teacher's house and made our own tortillas and quesadillas. Then we went for a walk with two other girls who spoke english and their teacher. Our teachers took us to the ice cream parlor up the street and bought us some ice cream. Then we came back and decided to help with one of the little kids classes. They were making flowers out of paper. "Mi gusto helado"- I like ice cream! We will try to send pictures soon...we are heading back to the apartment now. Yesterday (Monday) we went to the orphanage for the first time. It was so sweet when we got there because the little girls were waiting for us. They asked us to get down to their level and they all kissed us on both cheeks and hugged us. Then they took our hands and we played and played with them. They wanted us to pick them up and twirl them around. They are all so sweet! We go back today at 4pm. Can't wait!

Love, Leyna and Melissa!

Homesick...

Well, unfortunately, Leyna has the homesick blues. Please, please, please pray for her! I know how it feels, and it is not fun. We are making attempts to make communicating with the girls easier, but it has been a challenge. Thanks, Pam...

Prayer needed!

Hey all. Sarah, Melissa's mom, talked to Melissa this afternoon, and we have a prayer request. Melissa was sick to her stomach after having breakfast this morning. She ate croissants and drank apple juice. Please pray that the problem is over, and that this is not the beginning of any sickness. Pray that everyone will get the rest and nutrition that they need to stay healthy for the next month. Thanks so much! Pam (Leyna's mom)

Adios DFW!

Well, the 3 amigas took off and landed safely, arriving in San Miguel at 12:07pm this afternoon. We have not heard from them, but really don't expect to until they are settled into their apartment. They will go to church tomorrow, and then make a big Sam's run for monthly groceries and gifts for the girls and the madres. Just wanted to give y'all an update. Thanks for all the posts! This is another blog that we have set up for all three of them, you might want to check it out from time to time to see if there is any other cool info on there. Pam
http://3amigasinsanmiguel.blogspot.com/

Thanks for your support!

Just letting y'all know that I really do appreciate your financial support, encouragement, and prayers. Please remember to pray for us during our trip, especially for Melissa and I so that we won't get homesick. For Kathleen, just thank God for her, and pray that she has fun with her two new roommates! Hopefully we won't get on her nerves!

Leyna