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Hola!

So as you can see my Spanish is improving...sort of. 

This week there were a lot of ups and downs with ministry. This week
really taught me about learning to be flexible and work with what the Lord gives
you. We dealt with a lot of changed plans this week. However, one of the high
points (literally) was last Saturday.

In the community at the church we attend they are doing a program called
Young Life (Vida Joven) and we are always invited to attend. It is not
exactly one or our ministries but it is always good to get out into the
community and build relationships with the local kids. We were invited to go on
a hike that they were going to take the kids on, they were going to test it on
a few of us to see how we liked it and make sure that the games and lessons
they had planned for the kids would be beneficial. Although all of us were
invited only 5 attended, and I was one of them. I figured this would just be a
run through of sorts. We woke up super early on Saturday and made our way up to
Gringo ( Gringo = white tourist ) street.  There we met with Yenner, the
Vida Joven leader, his wife, Carlos, and Ezekiel. We were off on our hike to
the mountain. It was a fairly long walk to even the base of the mountain. Along
the way we tried to make conversation with Yenner and Carlos, we would try to
teach them English and they would try to teach us Spanish. We would ask simple
questions and try to respond the Spanish. They were so patient and always kind
to correct us. At the base of the Mountain we stopped and had a Bible study and
some snacks and played some games. By this point we were fairly well out of
town and more into the poorer rural outskirts of Granada. I am pretty sure that
the locals though we were crazy, we played a game called Frio (freeze) where
you would have to Cantar (sing) and Bailar (Dance) and then Frio at the correct
time. It got fairly intense, and loud. Following our study and game we set off to hike up
the mountain. We had to walk through a slum to get to the base. When we got
there we climbed up to the top. It wasn't really a mountain, I have been
calling it an intense bluff, but it was still a good 15 minute hike up.

Once we reached the top the view was incredible. We could see the lake
and rural neighborhoods and all of Granada. It was incredible. There was a
large cross at the top too. Once we got there we had some lunch. I also took
this time to be a tourist and take a few pictures. We sat down and had some
worship and another Bible study. It was so incredible. I thought it would just
be a run through in preparation for the real thing but it meant so much more to
me than that. We worshiped and prayed together and at that moment the language
barrier did not seem to be an issue. The fact that we were worshiping the same
God, a God that went beyond languages and cultures was enough to connect us. We
spent a long time in prayer and prayed over the city of Granada.

The hike back to town seemed full of conversation, both in Spanish and
English. I think God worked in all of us, giving us ears to hear one another. I
managed to tell Carlos and Ezekiel all about Alaska, entirely in Spanish. It
took awhile but we managed to share about our homes and lives and how we came
to Christ. 

When we returned I felt that I had accomplished something and had grown
so much. I was very sunburned and had a lovely t-shirt tan, but I am excited to
go back out next week and travel with the local youth and show them the
wonderful and amazing connection you can have with God out in the world He
created.

Thanks so much for all your continued prayer and support. I will be
coming back home to Nebraska on December 19th and will stay until January 6th.
I look forward to visiting with you and hearing about all the adventures you
have had. I will keep you all in my prayers. Please, as you pray for me, also
keep the rest of the team in your prayers too. Some have had a hard time
dealing with being away from home and culture shock. We work as a team; we all
need to be strong. 

Annie
Valenziano