February 2006

February 1, 2006 - Well February is here, man January went by fast.  Things went well today.  I worked at the church today studying Spanish.  I also had a Spanish class today.  I have dropped one day of Spanish just because I can't keep up with the studying and memorizing words. Yeah I know your saying I should of not went to the movies last night. But the way I look at it if someone from the youth group invite's me to go somewhere with them then I'm going. Learning Spanish will always come second to my job at the church and with the youth. You have to remember from the time I get up in the morning till I go to bed is a Spanish class.  Now I just have the one I pay for on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.   This will help me divided my time evenly between studying Spanish and working on lessons for the youth group.  I have to do two devotionals this weekend. One Friday night and the other one Saturday night.  I don't think I am going to have a super bowl party.  I have already been invited to some so I think I will let someone else plan it, LOL.  I would like for the youth group to be there.

February 2, 2006 - Today was very busy.  I worked at the church on tomorrow nights lesson.  It is about our relationships with parents.  It is in keeping with the theme of relationships.  Last week we looked at our relationships with friends.  In the next few weeks we will get into deeper stuff. Like relationships with the opposite sex and what is ok to do and what's not ok to do.  This is something that the leadership at the church has asked to be discussed with the young people.  I had a meeting today with some of the other youth teachers. We all work together on the lesson material and with other projects for the youth. The retreat or retiro in Spanish is February 17-19. I need to have my first lesson for the retreat done or at least an outline finished by next Tuesday.  I will be teaching two classes for the retreat.  The first lesson has to do with a pure heart and what that means. I will only be teaching the young men so we are going to focus a lot on lusting and what they can do to avoid it.  The second lesson will deal with dating and keeping our self pure till marriage.  It will be more about the relationship between a man and women and what the do's and don'ts are.  I have worked almost all afternoon on this first lesson.  I would like to have it finished by tomorrow so I can enjoy this weekend which is very busy.  I have a meeting tomorrow with Raul to go over the things planned for Saturday night.  I was suppose to do the devotional but that has changed for now.  I will find out tomorrow what all the plan's are and what I am to do.  I have not got to study my Spanish today.  Well I have but not the stuff I was suppose to.  I feel bad that I can't study like I would like but it will come to me. I just got to give it time.  Just as a baby learns its language from its surroundings.  I think I have the ABC's down.  My host mom has been practicing with me. She gives me a word.  And then calls out the letter in Spanish and I spell the word.  Yes even the ABC's are different then English.  Well I might not be able to right in the journal for the next couple of days because of everything going on but I will get to it maybe on Sunday night or Monday night.   I am going to change the months over tonight so remember to get to January's journal you just click on January.  It's not hard. LOL

February 3, 2006 - Today was another busy day.  I worked at the church building till about 3PM.  I finished my lesson for tonight. I am back on for doing the devotional for tomorrow night LOL. I will work on it tomorrow.  Raul and I went over ever thing planed for tomorrow night also.  There should be about 40 or 50 people here.  I am looking forward to seeing some Americans, LOL.  It will be good for me to talk and fellowship with them.  I had Spanish class from 4 -6 also. After Spanish class I went back to the church building and worked some more.  The youth usually start arriving around 7:30 PM.  We started the devotional around 8:30PM.  Tonight we talked about the relationship of teenagers and there parents.  We looked at some ways we could better communicate with each other.  We looked at why we need rules in our lives, that they are there to protect us.  And also that our heavenly Father has rules for us also, one being to obey your parents (Eph 6:1). The class was over around 10:30.  Yeah its kind of different form the USA.  I am used to the 35-45 min bible class but here they can last for 2 hours or longer.  That's not fellowshipping with each other, playing games, or eating. It's a bible class.  We also have them on Friday night to keep the teenagers off the streets and getting unto stuff that they should not.   I wonder what would happen if the Church's of Christ in the United States would have a Bible class for there teenagers every Friday night.  How many kids would show up week after week?  How many parents would complain about it? How much time would be devoted to bible class?  It's just something I wonder about. I know that life is different in USA. Time here in Mexico seems to just slowly go by but in America it seems to fly by.   I am sure there are some that do have a program like that but you don't here about it much. So many times in the USA you hear about youth groups doing many great things only to be put down by other members.  You hear people calling them "Clicks", that they think there better then everyone else or that they do nothing but play.  How sad that members of the church would accuse these kids of that.  Is not the purpose of a youth group to let them fellowship with other kids?  To keep them out of the "LIONS MOUTH"? To uplift them to teach them right from wrong? I have had the opportunity to work with two youth groups. Both are dear to my heart. I am thankful for every thing they have done for me and my life.  If a youth group is not doing what's it suppose to be doing then why not try to "help out" instead of putting them down.  My lesson for tomorrow night is going to be about the "Race that is set before us" (Hebrews 12:1).  In verse 1 it talks about a cloud of witnesses.  I take this as the brothers and sisters that are cheering us a long in life.  How can we call ourselves a Christian when all we do is put people down for the works they do?  If you think you can do it better then jump in and help. We are all in this together so lets work together.  Lets keep these kids in our prayers.  Calling them a "click" how sad.

February 4, 2006 - Today I worked at the house on my lesson for tonight.  Raul and I met yesterday and went over the verse's we wanted to use.  I went to the church building around 4 and set everything up.  I was not for sure what time the AIMers were going to arrive.  We had told everyone to be a the building around 6.  In Mexico that means anytime after 6:30 LOL.  The AIMers arrived before most of the others did.  It all worked out all right thou.  It gave us some time to talk and fellowship with each other.  I played a lot of games just to get every one together.  I know the kids like to play the games I have.  We ordered pizza for everyone and had a great time.  We had the class and everything went off great.  I think the AIMers had a great time and I hope they are ready to come down in May to help the church out here.   I got home around 10:30PM and worked on a DVD for the AIMers.  I just put all the pictures I took and put some music to it then burned a DVD for them.  I do this for the kids here also if something special happens.  They seem to enjoy it.  I worked on the DVDs till about 12.

February 5, 2006 - Today was SUNDAY!!!  I went to worship service and had a wonderful time.  I'm getting were I can pick out the verse when the preacher says it.  I am trying to learn all the books of the bible in Spanish. I gave the AIMers there DVDs today. They seemed to enjoy them.  I hope they still think that when they see it LOL. I do the best I can. I had the youth group sign each one so maybe they will like it. The AIMers will be leaving tonight for Mexico city.  After worship service the youth group took me out for lunch. Getting to the mall was a challenge.  We had 9 people and one car. If you count the drive of the car we had 10.  You guessed it we got 10 people in a car that was made for no more then 5.  It was so funny but we did it.  We finally made it to the mall that has a food court. I had Burger King LOL.  After lunch we walked, walked, and then we walked some more. I think I walked over 5 miles today. We were trying to get to one of the guys house from church but after 5 miles we called and had him come and pick us up.  The kids like to walk so they can save there money for other things.  I could of paid for two taxis but I would have missed out on all the laughs I had walking with them. My legs do hurt now thou LOL. We finally made it to the house and watched the supper bowl.  Way to go Pittsburg!!  I love being around these kids.  I pick up on so much Spanish around them and I don't feel uncomfortable speaking it with them.  I got home around 10PM tonight. What a great day.

February 6, 2006 - Yesterday was a holiday here in Mexico. Most of the people took today off for it. So I didn't work at the church building or have a Spanish class. I spent most of the day doing laundry and cleaning up my room.  I am hoping to hear something about my VISA this week.  My one month is up on the 11th.  I wished I had more to tell you about today but there is only so much I can tell you about doing laundry. LOL.

February 7, 2006 - Today I worked at the church building.  Not much happened today ether. I was suppose to have a meeting today about the youth retreat but one of the teachers for the girls class was sick so we moved it to tomorrow.  I still have not heard anything on my VISA.  Maybe tomorrow will bring good news.  I wished something exciting would happen but so far this week has not been that exciting.

February 8, 2006 - Ok I know you are getting tired of nothing happening but today was the same.  I worked at the church all day.  I had a meeting about the youth retreat this afternoon.  I am going to start working on the second class sometime this week.  Kim did tell me today that there might be another person from the USA coming down to help.  This is a girl that is about to get out of college.  She knows Spanish and would like to come down and work with the church here.  I think that the school that is in the church building is wanting a English teacher so this might work out ok.  I told them I would be more then glad to teach English to the kids, but for some reason they think my English is bad. LOL,  I am just kidding. I cant teach anything until I learn Spanish.  Still there is no word on my VISA.  They say they will let me know when its ready. Well I am getting worried about it now.  Oh I did answer the phone at the house today. LOL, LOL, LOL,  it was funny,  I forgot about this.  Yeah Kike was suppose to call so that is why I was answering it.  Like 3 different people called and I was like sorry I don't speak Spanish, but I said that in Spanish, LOL. It was funny.  Well any way that's all for today.

February 9, 2006 - Well I have great news.  I just saved a bunch on my insurance by switching to Geico. LOL.  My house SOLD today!!!  After over a year and a half of trying to sell it finally happen.  My family (mom) kept it from me for almost 2 weeks as they worked out all the paper work and stuff. They figured I didn't need to know what was going on with it because there was nothing I could of done about it here.  Today I worked on my lesson for class tomorrow night.  I am going to have them break into groups and discuss the things we have talked about for the last two weeks. Next week I will begin to start getting into the stuff we will talk about at the retreat on February 25 and 26.  Some of you have asked about the food here. Well my host mom takes really good care of me.  She will not let me eat stuff that she knows might make me sick.  So far its not been a problem with the food here.  I eat good.  In Mexico they only eat two meals a day.  One in the morning and the other around 3PM.  I have already gotten used to it already and I never get hunger here.   I try to eat an American restaurant about once a week.   I still have not heard anything on my VISA.  Maybe tomorrow will bring some word about it.

February 10, 2006 - Well its Friday the busiest day of the week for me.  Today I worked at the church building till 3PM.  I had Spanish class till 6PM and went back to church to study so more.  We had the youth devotional tonight from 8 till about 10:30.  We are still talking about relationships.  One problem that we have now is all the kids have cell phones and they like to play with them during class.  We have a meeting tomorrow with all the adults that help with the youth and I am going to bring this up.  There is no need for a kid to have a cell phone at church.  At one point during the class there was 3 phones out being played with.  After the devotional Kike and I went to the mall to get something to eat.  If you remember a couple of weeks ago when I told you about when the lights went out and the boy was talking to me in English.  Well he was at the mall tonight and started talking to me.  Its funny my mom always says that it don't matter were I am at I will know someone.  Well I guess that's true.  Out of 2 million people in the valley here, I knew one of them at the mall.  I did not meet him at the church ether.  I met him close to the house.  Well anyway it made my day made me fill like I was from here.  I got some of my paper work back today for my VISA.  I still don't have the VISA but I have papers that make me legal.  LOL.  Well that's about all for today.

February 11, 2006 - Well its been one month, and what a month it has been.  Every thing seems to be going good so far.  It's just taking it one day at a time.  I am ready for the next month.  I have a lot of things going on this next month.  We have the retreat which will be February 24-26 which I am looking forward to. A lot of work is going into this.  Spanish went good this last month.  I am not really were I thought I would be at this time. But it takes time and I was not expecting to be teaching as much at the church as I thought I was going to be.  Not much happened today.  I worked here at the house most of the day. Kike and I went to the mall to the movies tonight.

February 12, 2006 - Today was Sunday so you know what that means.  We had a good class today with the youth. Worship service was nice also.  My Spanish teacher has been helping me learn the books of the bible and stuff.  I can almost get all of them right when the preacher calls it out.  After church we went to the mall and had lunch.  I worked on some stuff for the youth this afternoon. Well that's about all that happened today.

February 13, 2006 - Today I worked at the church building till about 2PM.  We had a meeting about the youth today.  There will be no more cell phones allowed in class or on the retreat.  I am the one that gets to break the news to them. I am the bad guy now.  I think some will be mad but they need to learn we go to church to learn and worship God. If they can't give up a few hours with there cell phone well there is something wrong.  We also worked on the retreat today.  Every thing seems to be coming together ok.  I am teaching 4 class's in the next 2 weeks and each lesson is built on the one before it.  So I have been really busy.  I had Spanish class today and it was not good at all.  My teacher didn't seem her self and during about half way thru the class she started crying.  It seems that her landlord has given her about 15 days to move out. She is a member of the church.  I told her not to worry about it that we would find something. She has been really worried about it thou.  I read to her James 4, were it talk's about tomorrow.  I told her it would work out for the best.  She seemed to let it go after that.  I told her Raul and I would work on something tomorrow for her.  She takes care of her mom who is not in good health and she is not in the best of health her self.  I think everything will work out ok thou.  I told her the youth group would help her move all her stuff and stuff. LOL, They need a work project anyway. 

February 14, 2006 - Feliz dia de San Valentin or as you people from America say it Happy Valentine's day LOL. Today was good. You could feel the love in the air, LOL.  Valentine's day here is just like it is in America.  A lot of money spent on flowers, balloons, and candy. Things went good today.  We went and looked at an apartment today for my Spanish teacher. I worked at the church building till about 2 today.  I went to Raul and Kim's house for dinner this afternoon. I also got some mail today which was cool that it came on Valentine's day.  It was from the College class at Carthage and from some friends I used to work with in Lebanon.  They sent it about 3 weeks ago and it just got here. LOL

February 15, 2006 - Ok today was just weird.  This morning I went to a school close to the Centro and played with the kids for about 2 hours.  This is something I hope to do like once a week.  I just show them different games and play with them.  They like it because I am American.  Americans are cool here LOL.  The only problem is I get picked first for everything. Finally after 26 years I am the one that gets picked first for everything, LOL. It's about time LOL. I always try to pick out the kid that I think is the one that well was like me and got picked last for everything and make him/her my little helper. They are the one that gets to pick who is on my team and stuff like that.  I worked at the church till about 2pm today on my lesson for Friday night.  At the bus stop there is this big building on the corner that is like 10 stories.  I think the building is some kind of government building or something.  Everyone has on suit and tie.  Well  I was standing there when all of these people started coming out of the building.  Some of the woman were crying and stuff. I was like oh no what's going on.  Well then these men ran by me all on cell phones so I got up against the wall of one building.  Yeah like you would of not done the same thing.  Well within a minute when all this started there was like 20 cops that came out of no where.  I mean I never heard any sirens or anything.  Within 5 minutes everything was back to normal.  I have no idea what was going. If I find out I will tell you.  Well right after that when a lot of the people were still out side on the sidewalk one of the bus's broke down so all of those people got off at my bus stop.  It's hard enough to catch the bus when its just me. Try it with about 200 people on the sidewalk all trying to find there bus.  Its not fun at all. Oh and they all are speaking Spanish and making fun of the American.  Ok, there not making fun of me I just think that.  So any way I see my bus coming and so I start pushing my way thru the crowd.  The good thing was that everyone was standing in the road so the bus had to stop.  Most of time the bus don't stop. It just slows down just enough for you to jump on it.  I also had Spanish class this afternoon.  It took me over an hour to get home after class. 

February 16, 2006 - Well not much happened today. I worked at the church most of the day.  This afternoon I had a small class of English with some members.  I just talk to them in English and they practice there English with me.  I will do this when asked even thou I don't like it.  If you read this journal a lot you know my English is not the best in the world LOL.  Tomorrow I have another English class at the school that his here in the church building. I am going to make sure the kids come out with the Tennessee accent, LOL.  I finished my lesson for tomorrow at the house tonight.  I also sent out emails.  This is something I have meant to do for a few weeks now but just now getting around to it.  I try my best to respond to everyone.  Tomorrow is Friday a very busy day for me. 

February 17, 2006 - Today was a busy day. I worked at the church till 2pm.  We had to move the retreat back a week because the cabins were already rented for next week.  Which is find with me, that gives me another week to get ready. I also had a Spanish class tonight.  I got to break the bad news to the youth group tonight. NO MORE CELL PHONES.   We didn't tell them till after we had started the devotional.  We were singing the first song and two kids had there's out playing with it.  So we stopped class then and took care of it.  I think they understood why they can't have them out during class. Cell phones here are big right now, there bigger here then they are in the USA. I guess the kids in USA have already got over them but I have seen and heard cell phones during worship service in the USA. So its just not a Mexico thing.  I told them that if I see or hear one I was taking it for a week.  Well the rest of class went great, didn't see or hear a cell phone at all.

February 18, 2006 - Today I did nothing, LOL.  Well I did do some work on the Carthage web site but that's about it.  Kike and I went to the mall tonight and ate at burger king.  

February 19, 2006 - Today was Sunday so I went to worship services. After church I went with my Spanish teacher to look at an apartment.  She decided that she wanted it.  Which is kind of a problem for me except I did not tell her that.  The apartment is far away from were I live.  By bus it will take me almost 1 and 1/2 hours to get there from my house.  I could not tell her that I would not come no more to Spanish because she is going to lose all of her students any way and since I have the most class's a week with her losing me as a student would mean she lost a big part of her income.  So I told her I would like to come earlier in the day then I had been coming.  This will allow me to avoid all the traffic that is at night.  I finally had a schedule down and now its going to change.  I am going to try and get the youth group to help move her and clean up the new apartment before she moves in.  It does not need that much work but it could use a good cleaning.  Maybe we can get it done this weekend because the next weekend is the retreat. 

February 20, 2006 - Today I did my laundry because I think this is going to be the only day this week I can do it.  I also did some more work on the Carthage Web site. I had kind of let some of the stuff get out of date.  I hope to have it all fixed by the end of the week.  I also had a Spanish class today.  I told you that she has been given till the end of February to be out of her apartment so we are working very hard to try and have our out and into her new apartment by then.  I don't know if its gone to happen but I hope so.  I am helping her a lot because she can speak English so its easy for me to talk to her.  She does not have anyone else to help her.  So her family from the church is stepping in to help.  We hope to have a work project this Saturday to clean and get the apartment ready to move into.  She has already started selling a lot of her stuff because the new house can not hold everything.  Please pray that everything goes ok this week and next week.  It's gone to get ruff but I think it will all go ok.

February 21, 2006 - Today I went to the my Spanish teachers house and helped her clean and start packing some stuff.  She has a LOT OF STUFF that must go.   She has called a lot of the schools in the area to see if they would like it.  She is given a lot of it away for free.  I also had a English class at the church building today.  Well I say English class its more of a conversational English study.  I just speak in English or read a bible chapter in English and then we talk about it.  This class usually last around 2 hours.  I had two students today.  They can speak very good English.  So its been good for me to also be apart of this.  OK, now for the fun stuff LOL.   Why is it that out of 2 million Mexicans, someone has to pull over to the side of the road and ask the American  for directions? Oh this has happened not one time but two times.  Yeah so your asking yourself how do I know they are asking for directions?  Well I do know some Spanish LOL.   I just don't understand why you ask the only American out of 2 million Mexicans.  I do have what I say to them down thou.   "YO HABLO ESPANOL UN POCO" which means "I speak little Spanish"  so for you  people laughing at me right now, at least I don't have to say "NO HABLO ESPANOL" which means "I speak no Spanish"  LOL. I also got to talk to my mom today.  I had to call her this morning because of a little problem we had.  Noe which a lot of you know is coming home for his spring break from the USA.  The only problem is his parents did not have away to get the money to him so he could buy his plane ticket.  This is something he decided at the last minute.  I still have a bank account in America that is in my name but my mom has control of it right now, and don't any of you get any funny ideas.  I do have a debt card here with me from this bank account but its only for emergency.  I had to call to make sure it was alright for me to buy the ticket and then his parents repay me so I can put the money into my account when I get home in June.  So we got everything worked out and I bought the ticket tonight.  I also got to talk to my younger sister (Joy Ann the popular one out of the 4 of us, LOL) which was the first time I got to do that since I have been here. Also I think I am flying home June 16 for a two week stay.  I would say vacation but I think its going to be far from that.  I hope to work on the City of Children trip while I am there and also make my way to all the church's that help support this work. 

February 22, 2006 - I worked at the house today and we about got everything moved around so we can see what we got to work with.  People are coming by and getting a lot of the stuff.  It's really sad to watch this lady's past, everything she has collected over the years just walk out the door.  I can tell she is not taken it good.  I just tell her that we came into this world with nothing and we are leaving with nothing.  I think that helps her a little thou.  It's got to be hard on her thou not knowing what the future holds for her.  I might note that the Mexican government does not help the older people with NOTHING.  They pay taxes but get nothing back so that kind of makes me mad. I hope none of them read this thou, LOL.  Well no I take that back, I wish they would read this and everything else on this web page.  We built this webpage so people could learn more about Christ so it would do them some good to read it.  Ok I am going to stop preaching now.  Anyway I worked there most of the day and also had a English class again today and a Spanish class.  Also I finished updating the Carthage Web page tonight so I got that out of the way.  This week has been really busy with many different things going on at one time.  I enjoy it thou.   OH, I forgot to tell you last night that I learned that I could ride a different bus to my house.  There is another one that takes the same route.  So maybe that will cut down on some of my time I spend on that thing. 

February 23, 2006 - Today I worked at the church all day.  I finished my lesson for tomorrow night.  That is about all that happened today.  Wished I had more to tell you. OH, I did go to Wal -Mart today.   Going to Wal - Mart is something I really enjoy.  Its just like home.  Mexicans everywhere, LOL.  The only thing different is I am the only American in there.

February 24, 2006 - First things first,  Thank God for the South Dakota Legislature. If you have not heard the South Dakota Legislature voted today to put a stop to the almost 800 abortions that are done in that state each year.  The governor has said he will sign it in to law.  Maybe this is the first step in reversing Rode vs. Wade.  Today was a great day.  I worked at the church most of the morning. This afternoon I had a English class. I had Spanish class also.  I also met a boy that would like to study English with me some.  This is good because he does not believe in church. Well I should word that different. He has decide that everything he has been told by people of denominationalism is wrong.  I told him we could sit down some time and talk about the Bible.  I showed him the web page of the church and he didn't understand why we baptize.  He thinks that its another man made tradition.  I told him not to believe what I say, I am human I make mistakes.  I told him just do what Jesus told him to do.  If he has this attitude then he will have to believe in baptism.

A lot of people don't believe that baptism is involved in our faith and salvation which goes against what Galatians 3:26-27 says.  I will never understand how someone can read John 3:5 and not believe that baptism is necessary for salvation.  John 3:5 "Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, EXCEPT ONE BE BORN OF WATER AND THE SPIRIT, he cannot ENTER INTO THE KINGDOM OF GOD." It is sad how many people will believe what someone tells them and never look to see if Jesus told us to do or not to do it. Instrumental music is another one that comes to my mine. Where is instrumental music command in worship of our Lord?  It's not.  Never in the scriptures does Jesus say use them.  In fact, the scriptures tells us what to do.  "Speaking one to another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody with your heart to the Lord;" Ephesians, 5:18-19.  Now someone please tell me how a piano can speak to one another or how can a organ make melody in its heart?  And what about Colossians 3:16, "Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly; in all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts unto God." Again someone please tell me how I can teach someone with psalms when the band is covering everything up I sing?  Oh people say "I" like it. It sounds so good to "ME".   It makes "ME" feel so good.  When did worship service become about "I" and "ME" and not about JESUS?  But people say the scriptures does not say its wrong.  When the scriptures tells you do something a certain way you do it.  When it says teach each other in psalms and hymns that's how you do it. Instrumental music teaches NO ONE.  It only make "US" feel good.  Worship service is not about "US" its about JESUS.  

I always wonder what's going to happen on the judgment day when God asks did you live and do everything like I told you to? OH Yes God I did everything you told me to do.   And God will reply,  Tell me again where I told you to use instruments in worship?  Tell me again where I told you baptism was something that means nothing to me?  Tell me again where I told you to do what you need to do to make your self feel good?  Tell me again where I told you could add and take stuff from my word?  In fact, I told you exactly not to do that (Rev. 22: 18-19). Now I have no idea what God is going to say on that day. This is something I just think about.  One thing I do know is I don't want to test him.  Just because you like someone does not give you the right to do it.   You say Oh God would never punish me for doing this stuff.  I bet Adam and Eve thought the same thing when they thought it would "FEEL GOOD" to eat the fruit.  We all know what happened after that.

 I had a small problem at church tonight with a young man. We had already sat down and was about to start singing when I hear a harmonica being played.  Well I hit floor and when I found the harmonica I took it and told him to never, never, never play a musical instrument when we were gathered together to worship our Lord.  This is one of the same kids that likes to play with his cell phone.  He has really become a problem thou. He has no respect for no one.  I am going to see how he does at the retreat and then decide on what we need to do about it.  I think a lot of it is just he is trying to get attention but its still causing problems during class.  I also got 4 boys to help me tomorrow.  We are going to the lady's apartment to start cleaning.  I would of thought that it would of been girls that would volunteer but none did.  So its going to be 5 guys cleaning a house, LOL.  It might look worse when we get done with it, LOL.

February 25, 2006 - Oh what a fun day.  I got on the bus this morning ready to work hard all day and what did I do?  I sat on a wet seat, LOL.  So when I got to church I had to change into some shorts I had in my backpack. What a great way to start off the day.  Three of the boys showed up to help today. That was more then I thought would show up LOL.  We worked very hard all day.  We had to get on our hands and knees and scrub the floor to get all the dirt up.  We still have not finished but I plan on going back Monday and finishing up what we did not get done.  I am so tired tonight thou.  This week has been really busy and this next week is going to be the same.  I have worship service tomorrow morning and also am teaching a English class tomorrow afternoon.  The retreat is this week so we are still planning for all of that.  I am teaching 3 classes so I have a lot of studying to do.  And on top of all this I have English class to teach and Spanish class to study for all week.  And we got to move the lady into her house at sometime. Before I moved I was screed to death I would not have anything to do here. Was I ever wrong.  I am hoping the week after this next one will give me a small break.  It's not going to be but a couple of days because Noe is flying in on March 9 and his family is coming in also.  So its going to be another full house here for about 2 weeks, LOL. 

February 26, 2006 - Today was great.  I went to church services and it was great as always. I love the singing here.  I can sing along with most of them and understand what I am singing.  After church the youth asked me to go to the mall with them but I said not today.  I don't want to hang out with them all the time. I want to be there friend but also someone they can trust.  If I hang out with them to much I will become one of them and not someone they can talk to or someone they will respect.  I went out to eat with my host family.  We also went to the mall after that.  When the youth group found out I was at the mall they came looking for me and made me go with them this time.  So I we went over one of there the boys house and hung out till about 6pm.  Then we went to another persons house and hung out till like 10pm.  I am played football also and I am going to feel it tomorrow. So I had a busy day today and it was great till I got home tonight.  I had an email from my sister which told me the bank that I have my debt cards from had issued new ones.  The 3 I have are no longer good.  So now I am stuck in another country and I have like $20, LOL. I do have some American money also so that will help some.  Oh well there is nothing I can do.  I will just have to wait till the church can get new ones to me. I just hope they don't forget about me and work really fast to get them here (hint, hint) LOL.

February 27, 2006 - Well the first thing I did today was went to the bank hoping they would work but they did not, LOL.  I went to the apartment today and almost finished cleaning it up.  I have never seen floors that dirty.  I have scrubbed them like 4 times and still am getting dirt up.  I was suppose to have Spanish class but I have so much to do for the retreat and to get this lady moved that I need to skip it tonight.  I told her that when everything settles down I would do and extra class to make up for the one I was skipping tonight.  I have worked on my lesson's tonight for the retreat.  I am almost finished with the last one.  Well I have not wrote the 2 one but I know most of the stuff I want to say so it should not take me long to do it. I got an email today from the bank and they are working hard on getting the cards to me as soon as possible.  So maybe they will get here soon before I run out of money.  Money is something I don't use much here.  It cost about $2 for the bus everyday and very little for food.  I do spend some on things for the church.  Like I have used some to get the lady moved but just on little stuff.  I my Spanish class does cost me $100 a month so that's where a lot of my money is going so far. That and Insurance.

February 28, 2006 - Well I had a big surprise when I got home today.  Laying on the kitchen table was a envelope from FedEx.  It was a debit card from the bank in Tennessee.  I know that Johnny Law worked really hard on getting it here that fast.  I was not expecting it till some time next week.  That made my life a little bit better here knowing I had away to get money.  Thank you Johnny for working so fast on it.  Also to my mother and sister for helping take care of it.  I still don't have the church cards yet but they should be coming in the next few weeks.  Today well was just crazy.  I try to have a game plan when I leave the house in the morning but well it usually gets way off track really quick.  Today I had a meeting at 11:00 that got moved to 12:30 for the retreat.  I was suppose to be helping the lady pack today at 12:00 but had to cancel that because the meeting got moved. The meeting didn't start till about 1:00 and I had to leave early because I had to be somewhere else at 2:00.  So you can see I don't stay on my schedule to much..