[Thursday, December 25, 2003]
Merry Christmas. Feliz Navidad! I'm at home right now. My trip home was not exactly the best, but I made it. Thanks for your prayers for me as I traveled. I was welcomed home with snow, so that was nice and I had a white Christmas!!! I've had a wonderful visit with both sides of the family (Dotsons and MacDonald's) and fellowship time with friends from church. It's been so good to see everyone. I have a week more at home, and then will be flying back to Puebla on January 2nd. Have a great holiday season everyone! Angelina
[Sunday, December 14, 2003]
Family and friends,
I'm counting the days until I am with you all again. Only 5 more days! Unfortunately I'm not so excited about counting my hours of travel time. 21 hours will pass between the time I leave my house in Puebla at 3am Saturday morning and the time I arrive home to Lima- around midnight. Yes, it will be a long day!!! However, it will be worth it. Well, for those of you who know Jon Hudson, he arrived safely to Puebla yesterday. I saw him at church today and it was neat to see another person I know. Well, there is not much going on this week for me. My students have music practice every afternoon, so that gives me a lot of free time. They have a Christmas musical on Thursday evening. It will be a lot of fun I am sure. Then on Friday we have a short school day. The students come at 9:00 and we will work until 11:45 (lunchtime) then have our class party until 1:30 when we dismiss. So, I'll have plenty of time to pack up and get ready to go on Friday afternoon. I'm so excited!!! This morning I went for a walk between 9 and 10. It was kind of an adventuresome walk because I just walked and so I always knew I'd have to find my way back home and I knew I could, I just didn't really know where I was walking. However, because of my nice walk, I figured out 2 ways I can keep myself from getting lost in Puebla. One is to determine where I am in relation to the mountains and the other is that I can always walk to the church on the hill because that is in my neighborhood and it's the highest point in the city. It was fun walking around. Well, I hope you are enjoying this time of reflection during this holiday. Oh, yes, one more thing. I was able to go to 2 Missionary Christmas parties this week- both with food and singing. It was a neat time. We don't have cold or snow, but we still have the meaning of Jesus' birth. What a beautiful story it is- the story of God's love and grace to us! Have a great week. I'll see you soon. Please pray for safety as I travel. Thank you!!! Angelina
I'm counting the days until I am with you all again. Only 5 more days! Unfortunately I'm not so excited about counting my hours of travel time. 21 hours will pass between the time I leave my house in Puebla at 3am Saturday morning and the time I arrive home to Lima- around midnight. Yes, it will be a long day!!! However, it will be worth it. Well, for those of you who know Jon Hudson, he arrived safely to Puebla yesterday. I saw him at church today and it was neat to see another person I know. Well, there is not much going on this week for me. My students have music practice every afternoon, so that gives me a lot of free time. They have a Christmas musical on Thursday evening. It will be a lot of fun I am sure. Then on Friday we have a short school day. The students come at 9:00 and we will work until 11:45 (lunchtime) then have our class party until 1:30 when we dismiss. So, I'll have plenty of time to pack up and get ready to go on Friday afternoon. I'm so excited!!! This morning I went for a walk between 9 and 10. It was kind of an adventuresome walk because I just walked and so I always knew I'd have to find my way back home and I knew I could, I just didn't really know where I was walking. However, because of my nice walk, I figured out 2 ways I can keep myself from getting lost in Puebla. One is to determine where I am in relation to the mountains and the other is that I can always walk to the church on the hill because that is in my neighborhood and it's the highest point in the city. It was fun walking around. Well, I hope you are enjoying this time of reflection during this holiday. Oh, yes, one more thing. I was able to go to 2 Missionary Christmas parties this week- both with food and singing. It was a neat time. We don't have cold or snow, but we still have the meaning of Jesus' birth. What a beautiful story it is- the story of God's love and grace to us! Have a great week. I'll see you soon. Please pray for safety as I travel. Thank you!!! Angelina
[Saturday, December 06, 2003]
Saludo amigos y familia! Well, I hope you can imagine the excitement and anticipation in my heart when I say, "Only 13 more days!!" I'm still counting the days down until I go home. I hope there is still snow to greet me. It's actually getting a little cooler here, not enough to snow, but still cold. Today, I'm going to tell you about a cultural festivity I went to today. I watched a 15 year girl walk down the aisle, followed by 14 maids of honor! All her family and friends were there. The ceremony was filled with songs, a presentation of a ring, a Bible message and even a reception. It was almost like a wedding, except one thing was missing--- a groom. Well, what I attended was a Quince anos ceremony for a girl here at PCS. In the Mexican tradition, a girl's 15th birthday is the most important event of her life. It used to be that at that time she was eligible for marriage. It's changed nowdays, but they still keep the traditional celebration. Of course some families celebrate more elaborately than others, but no matter who you are, the 15th birthday is special. It was a neat ceremony. She was presented with a purity ring and had a dinner reception and cake. It was neat, but also very interesting. The US has nothing like that for a birthday! I enjoyed it.
Well, today I also got many flashbacks of my first trip to Puebla. Well, the ceremony was at a hotel. When we parked the car I looked around and inquired about the name of the hotel. It was Posada Real......the same hotel I stayed in 7 years ago. It's changed a lot, but I was able to walk back to where my room was and remember who went on the trips, which room everyone stayed in and the reception was held outdoors, in the same area where we had devotions so many nights. If any of you remember seeing pictures of a church on a hill from the hotel yard, this was the same place. I was so excited. I realized too, that since then, I'm the only one in the group who has been back to that spot! I never would have thought that someday I'd be back to that courtyard. It brought back many memories! You know, God knew I'd be there again! He kept it secret until the right time....many years later. Oh, how God's timing is perfect! How we should trust him with our futures! Well, that's about all I have to share for this week. Trust in Him this week, with all you have. He will not fail you!!
Angelina
Well, today I also got many flashbacks of my first trip to Puebla. Well, the ceremony was at a hotel. When we parked the car I looked around and inquired about the name of the hotel. It was Posada Real......the same hotel I stayed in 7 years ago. It's changed a lot, but I was able to walk back to where my room was and remember who went on the trips, which room everyone stayed in and the reception was held outdoors, in the same area where we had devotions so many nights. If any of you remember seeing pictures of a church on a hill from the hotel yard, this was the same place. I was so excited. I realized too, that since then, I'm the only one in the group who has been back to that spot! I never would have thought that someday I'd be back to that courtyard. It brought back many memories! You know, God knew I'd be there again! He kept it secret until the right time....many years later. Oh, how God's timing is perfect! How we should trust him with our futures! Well, that's about all I have to share for this week. Trust in Him this week, with all you have. He will not fail you!!
Angelina
