Lessons learned.

             So I started out this journey well aware I had some difficult things ahead of me to learn. But you know, one cool thing I realized is when you prepare yourself mentally for these lessons and you really want to learn them... they do not always turn out to be as hard as you expect them to be. Nevertheless lesson are being learned and now they need to be solidified.

But, I do want to tell you about some things I am learning here!

1. Life can actually be this good. I keep finding myself questioning moments of pure joy and bliss and wondering if I am simply still in the Honeymoon phase of traveling or if life could actually be this beautiful at times. After having a difficult year full of one crisis after another, I'm overly paranoid as to what possible thing could be going wrong while I am enjoying life. But honestly, while I have no doubt challenges will arise, if you have a good strong community who take care of each other, you receive love every day, and you are choosing to actively trust God each day... then yes! Sometimes life will actually be this good! My adult ESL classes are particularly reminding me of this, as each Tuesday and Thursday I have two different groups of 5-10 adults who come in and just want to learn. But their desire to learn and have fun while doing so fills all of our lessons with laughter and bonding, that I have missed since leaving Germany.
2. When you are surrounded by people who rely and trust God 100%, it's much easier to learn to do so too! Living in a community of locals who daily trust that God will provide for their needs is so  encouraging when I'm consistently worried about how my next year will look. It's also incredibly humbling because my planner needs want to plan at least a year in advance while here my friends are forced to focus solely on a week ahead, because that's all they can do. I will tell you there is a balance to be found between the two. While I most certainly need to learn to trust God to provide daily, monthly and so on...it does not mean I should ignore plans that could develop in the distant future. In the same way, because locals here solely focus on their current needs, things like saving money for the distant future are foreign concepts that are not considered necessary.
   On on this note I'm happy to tell you that I received a lovely surprise of $710 dollars in donations this month! Which already puts me above the bare minimum I needed to stay here! So my heart is filled with gratitude and joy. Thank you for praying for me and thank you for continuing to support me!
3. Fear can keep you from the time of your life! I've mentioned before how I was so nervous about having to get around by myself. But I've also become aware that the fear that I'm feeling tells me to stay home where it's comfortable or stay within the confines of this neighborhood, or don't try to cultivate more relationships than you would like to. It's almost fascinating to me how the description of "paralyzing fear" can be so accurate. Fear of embarrassing myself in Spanish, of being alone where I am not comfortable, and creating relationships that I will only end up leaving again, literally keep me in my seat debating whether or not it'll be worth going out tonight. But I always have to remind myself:

•  In order to learn Spanish you will embarrass yourself.
• Making amazing friends even if it is for short periods of time, it will be worth it. 
• You are great at faking confidence with your "touch me and I'll beat you up"-face when you're alone and uncomfortable (thank you German society!)...and nobody knows you're out of shape. :)
  
  4.  Planning and scheduling is okay. Helpful even. But if you're not someone's employer allow others to be spontaneous, late, and learn to be okay with other people messing with your plan! I like planning things. I like to know what is ahead, but being in a Latin culture I have forced myself to 'loosely' plan activities! If you're too Type A to teach yourself to let go of your schedules, then plan ahead for that one friend that's always late, plan some buffer time. But maybe stop being frustrated with them, and recognize that they function differently, and its okay. While you highly value every minute of your day and like to be practical with time you're given, maybe they enjoy each moment of life they are given, regardless of the time it takes. And if they don't like planning things don't force them to do something they dislike! (This is not permission to be unreliable. Always be someone your friends can count on.)
  
  5. I have no idea what next year will look like. I can barely even think as to what life will look like once I'm back in OKC. Well, I'm okay with that. I know I'll figure it out as that bridge comes closer and it won't be easy to cross but that's okay, because God will cross it with me, and I know prayers are being said for me and my family.

Once again thank you for making this journey possible! We go back to school tomorrow! Having a week off was necessary to rest up! But we are looking forward to seeing the kids! 

Love, 

Jules