I am so blessed

I cant even begin to explain everything I have experienced while I have been here. I have gone to a circus, a movie in Spanish, the park, the mall, the center of town, rode in taxis, rode with crazy Mexican drivers :), and made so many good friends. Building relationships with people my age has been my favorite part so far. I feel like I have known them and been apart of their group forever :) I am learning Spanish and helping them with their English haha. I know God has given me this passion for a reason and know I am praying that I will follow His will once I get back from Mexico. Right now at this point I want to live here. It has only been a week though :) Sunday was a good day to be here. I got to help with kids church and helped with a Sunday school class. I thought it would be more difficult since I don't know much Spanish but it wasn't. The kids are so helpful and patient. Then I think their were six baptisms after church. Praise God! I started my Spanish tutoring yesterday so hopefully I can learn some more words and structures of their sentences. Please pray that I will pick up on it. I want to learn it soooo bad. I have also been helping with homeschooling the missionary kids; Benjamin and Teo. I love it!
Yesterday was my birthday and the people in my house threw me a party. I got around 5 or 6 buckets of water thrown on me which is tradition in their family. Then they bought me a cake with strawberries, kiwi, and a peach on top. They sing to you and then they tell you to take the first bite. When you do this they shove your face in the cake :) Then the youth took me to the center of town and walked around and gave me a mini tour. Write to me on Facebook if you want to know anymore.
Please continue to pray :)
Thank you to all my supporters in prayer and who gave me money to come.
Dios le bendiga (May God bless you) This is the phrase I am working on today!
Ashley

La comida es bueno!

I am in Pachuca after staying one night in Mexico city when we arrived.  I have had an awesome and growing time just in a one day period. I got to ride in a couple of taxis, eat the food, speak a little spanish, be confused, be a little overwhelmed, and be so ready to go all in one day.
Every single meal I have had here so far has been so good. I have found a couple of things that are not my favorite but oh well. I have had chorizo, arroz, lots of tortillas, quesadillas, chocolate milk, nutella, pastor, a different kind of pork, papa fritas, guacamole (I think that is how you spell it) and so much more. I hate guacamole in the states but love it here. I am so excited to keep trying new things.
I attended a cell group last night for adults which was alittle over whelming because I couldn´t understand much. I wanted to but I was so tired. After that I met my host family which I LOVE so far. They have four older children but one just got married last weekend and doesn´t live here anymore. I get here bed for the summer. One of their daughters Sandy is helping me learn Spanish and I am helping her learn a little English. It has been so nice to have someone who is my age to talk to and relate to. I get to go find out what I will be doing here in alittle bit :)

Last day of Pre-Departure Orientation

Wow, I leave for Mexico tomorrow. I am so excited but I am a little nervous also which I think is good. I really had to focus hard yesterday during training because it seems like there is a lot going on back home. Yesterday I learned a lot about Spiritual disciplines, spiritual warfare on the field, and culture shock. I didn't realize that usually everyone experiences culture shock when they leave the country for a extended period of time. I always thought it was bad that I did when I went to Spain. It can be very helpful if you know how to deal with it. The way they described culture shock is with 5 R's which include the romantic stage, realization stage, rejection stage, readjustment stage, and reentry stage. Romantic stage is the honeymoon stage where EVERYTHING is just so cute and amazing. Then you start realizing all the differences and then after awhile you started not liking those differences. Then you get use to them and start adjusting your attitude and behaviors. Then you cme back to the United States and try to figure out how to process everything and get back to this life.
I am learning so much about God's grace just from listening to everybody's testimonies. Some things I learned yesterday was....
"Discipline without direction can be drudgery" God doesn't take excuses when we are fearing something He is asking us to do  because He knows us and what we can handle. He made us so DUH!
I am so excited to get started and be on the plane. I will need prayer and especially as I am there longer and hitting some of those different culture shock stages. Thank you for everyone who supported me and gave me this opportunity to serve God.
                              ~Ashley~

PDO

I love orientation so far! The first night I chugged a jar of baby food for a game. The worst part about that was the flavor...it was sweet potatoe and turkey. GROSS I met so many new people with similar passions as I had which was amazing. The second day at orientation we did so many things. One of them was that I got to give my testimony. There were many people who were nervous to give their testimony. I was really nervous but I was going to try hard to stay in the time limit. I think I did but it doesn't matter because I got to tell the story about my mom witnessing to Carlos in Mexico. The best story ever and if you haven't heard it ask me about it! :) I also found out I am an "i' on the DiSC personality test and an "otter" on another personality test. They both fit me very well and taught me some cool things about myself. Yesterday we went to a ropes course and did team building. It was so much fun and my team really bonded. I found out some of the group has the same fears I have which is helpful to work through them together.
I am really leaning on God and trusting that His plan is so much better than my plan. I want to tear down this wall of not being able to speak Spanish. It is ok to look foolish and it is ok to fail. Please continue to pray that I give this fear to God. I miss my family and Stephen so much already but this is going to be an awesome experince.