BARILOCHE!!

I don't even know where to begin. Bariloche was AMAZING! Simply beautiful and definitely the most amazing place I've been to in Argentina so far. Lucy, Kendra, April, Brandon, and I left Tuesday afternoon  and got on our 20 hour bus ride that arrived in Bariloche on Wednesday afternoon. My padres gave me something to give to my abuelo who lives in Bariloche, so when we got to the bus terminal he was there waiting for me. He asked me where we were staying and how many people I was with, and then he offered to drive us up to our hostel! It was so kind of him and he also gave me his phone number and said, "Si necesitas algo, me llama a cualquier hora, no importa si esta tarde," ("If you need anything, call me anytime, no matter how late.") So we got to our hostel, settled in, and hung out with the other group that was there too.

view from our hostel

On Thursday, we woke up early and headed into the mountains to go horseback riding. I had been riding many times before, but this was a completely different experience. Not only were we trotting and galloping, we were basically scaling mountains. Needless to say I was a bit scared, but the views and the AMAZING asado at the end made it totally worth it. 

 delicious asado

 incredible

my horse, Betty

On Friday, we woke up early again and went white water rafting with our group and the other group from Pepperdine that was in our hostel. I was literally TERRIFIED because I had never gone before and all I could think about was falling out of the raft and dying. Dramatic, I know. We squeezed into a van and drove about an hour and a half down Route 40 (which is breathtaking, by the way). We got to the river, put on wet suits, and got in our rafts! Rafting down that river was so incredible. The water was crystal clear and so blue and the trees and mountains surrounding us were beautiful. Despite my fears, the rapids weren't too bad and we even jumped out of the raft at one point and floated in the freezing water. After about 2 hours of rafting, we got out of the raft and our guide, Julian, said "Bienvenidos a Chile!" I couldn't believe that we had rafted all the way to the border! Now I can say that I've been to Chile :) 

Then we changed clothes, hopped back into the van, and headed back to a little cabin where another amazing asado was waiting for us. 

 please notice the expression on my face.

 Rafting!

 We're in CHILE!

ASADO. 

The rafting excursion lasted from 9am until 7pm so when we got back to our hostel, we were exhausted. Saturday, a few of us went into town and bought some amazing chocolate that Bariloche is famous for.

 The best chocolate store.

amazing helado

Saturday afternoon, we got on another 20 hour bus and headed back to BA. 

This long weekend was truly incredible, not only because of the amazing experiences that we had, but also because this was a place were we could really see the beauty that God created. Everywhere we went I just stared in awe at how beautiful everything was and how much fun God must have had creating it! It was so great to get out of the city and appreciate His creation.

One more week of classes and then our EFT! We are so spoiled :)

Besos xoxo 

My mind is running at 500 mph!

One of the reasons I have not been very good about updating this thing is because there is so much on my mind and I can't seem to figure out how to put it all into words. So far, this semester has been great. Girls bible study, house church, family time, my familia, our group, and everything else has made these past few weeks wonderful. But I can't help but feel like there is something missing from my life. If you asked me to give you an idea of what it was, I couldn't tell you. I can't even figure it out myself. My mind is constantly racing and I can't seem to keep up with it. I am zoning out more than usual and sometimes my thoughts trail elsewhere when I'm talking with friends which usually NEVER happens. I am a very focused person when it comes to talking with people. Despite the frustration of it all, I have never had so many conversations with God than I have had over the last week. I think I've talked to Him more than anyone else here in BA and back home. We talk on my way to school, to and from class, on my way home, ALL THE TIME. And when I say "talk" I mean I'm mostly doing the talking and then patiently waiting for a response (which doesn't happen all the time). I'm not saying this is a bad thing. In fact, I love it. I love that I can literally not say a word out loud and have a raw and honest conversation with God. My prayer is that my thoughts will eventually begin to unfold and I will be able to see what God is trying to reveal to me. At this point, I'm open to anything.


We are off to Bariloche tomorrow until Sunday so let me leave you with a few pictures from Adulam this past Saturday. It was so good to be back there!

Precious children

 Sweet Rosia who fell asleep in my arms for 30 minutes.

 Completely melted my heart. 

Finally reunited with Deborah! Love this sweet girl.

Besos xoxo

Check this song out: None But Jesus by Hillsong United

I have been listening to this song everyday to and from school. We serve the most incredible God who loves us more than we will ever know. Remind yourself of that daily.

In the quiet, in the stillness 

I know that You are God

In the secret of Your presence

I know that I am restored

When You call I won't refuse

Each new day again I'll choose

There is no one else for me 

None but Jesus

Crucified to set me free

Now I live to bring Him praise

In the chaos, in confusion

I know you're sovereign still

In the moment of my weakness

You give me grace to do Your will

So when You call I won't delay

This my song through all my days

There is no one else for me

None but Jesus

Crucified to set me free

Now I live to bring him praise

ALL my delight is in You, Lord

All of my hope, all of my strength

All my delight is in You, Lord, forevermore

Last few days

On Sunday I went to the Recoletta Cemetery with my friend, Bridget. It's a really neat cemetery because it is all above ground. The graves are huge and really beautiful and reminded me a lot of the ones in New Orleans.

Last night we had a Valentines Day formal at the casa. I had been planning on asking a guy in our group, Nate, but he was at the beach for the weekend so I was going to do it on Monday morning. That day, I got to the casa and as I was leaving to go get the supplies to ask him, I happened to check my facebook and he had posted on my wall:


"I've met a lot of girls in my travels, but this Valentines day, I was hoping to get a little more PERSONAL with you. Will you come to formal with me?" (and then posted a picture of him under the "Personal" cell phone store sign! 


I found him around the casa and told him that he beat me to it and that I was supposed to ask him first, but of course I said yes and we had a great time. In fact, we had such a great time and looked so good that we won the "Cutest Couple" award!

 photobooth that David put together

lookin' fine!

One week left until the first long weekend!

Besos xoxo

p.s. God has blessed us SO much! We've had awesome turnouts to house church, girls bible study, and family time :)

Pi Phi/ATO mixer!

Thursday night the beautiful Pi Phis and handsome ATOs had a mixer! We all met up for dinner, the guys paid (aww!), and then we went bowling! There were six girls and six guys so it worked out perfectly. We had a great time and we are so blessed to have such amazing guys with us here in BA.
Thanks for a wonderful evening, boys! Y'all are awesome :)

 Thank you Mateo for not smiling...

 The enemy team!

So much love for this group :)

Besos xoxo

Nada mucho going on...

Not a lot has been going on around here. We finally got into the full swing of classes which is... nice. In two weeks, we have our first long weekend of the semester! And then a week after that, we go on our EFT! Ah, what a life.

First long weekend I will be going to...

BARILOCHE!

Our EFT will be in....

CALAFATE!!

I am SO excited to do some traveling :)

Besos xoxo

Lujan Zoo!

7 friends and I got on a bus and headed to Lujan Zoo! After about an hour and a half, we entered what is known in Argentina as the "World's Most Dangerous Zoo." This place has lions, tigers, bears, OH MY! (sorry, I couldn't resist). We got to pet tigers, lions, and elephants and hold lion cubs. It was kind of sad because all of the animals were heavily drugged but it was definitely an amazing experience to see them up close and personal.

 precious cub

 petting a lion!

 holding a lion!

 seriously freaking out!

 our fabulous group :)

Tiger!

Besos xoxo

Sickening Sin

Our first convo dinner was at Kansas so you know what that means... LOTS OF FOOD! Somehow I managed to eat some of an appetizer and a good amount of my main dish without feeling sick. But then the "Going Bananas" dessert came. For all of my BAers, you know how much I love that dessert. Warm banana bread with chocolate and dulce de leche. Oh my gosh. After sharing one with my friend Pat, I happened to enter myself in a little competition with my friend Brandon over who could finish the most dessert. After eating as much as I could (with about a third of the group watching, I might add) I threw in the towel (er... napkin) and gave up. Even though we had some good laughs, I found myself feeling really sick to my stomach. I know you're thinking, "Obviously!" But walking back to the casa it dawned on me that I had just committed the sin of gluttony. I would have never thought of that but I right before dinner, I had just finished reading a chapter in "The Good and Beautiful God" about sin and why it upsets God. The author says that the reason God hates sin is because "[sin] hurts me, and therefore it hurts God- because God loves me." How amazing is that? So many people think that God hates those who sin but in reality, He loves us SO much that anything that hurts us (sin) He hates! At that moment, I said a prayer asking for forgiveness not only because I had committed a sin that left me feeling physically ill, but also because I knew that it hurt my Father and I never want to do that.

Next convo dinner, and any large meal for that matter, I pray that those words come to mind and I am able to control myself in order to avoid pain; the pain in my stomach and the pain in God's heart.



Besos xoxo