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

Greater things are yet to come!

We had an AMAZING house church tonight and some of us girls planned a girls bible study for Wednesday nights this semester! My sweet friend April played this song today and it made me think of how greater things are still to come for our group this semester.

"God in this city" by Chris Tomlin

You're the God of this city
You're the King of these people
You're the Lord of this nation
You are

There is none like our God
There is none like our God

(Chorus)
For greater things have yet to come
And greater things are still to be done in this city

(then the song repeats itself)


This is going to be a great semester. God is going to do amazing things and I am so excited for what is to come.



Besos xoxo

Count your blessings!

Before I left for BA, my mom gave me a book called "The Good and Beautiful God." I just finished a chapter about God being trustworthy. At the end of each chapter, the author (James Bryan Smith) gives a "soul training" exercise and this chapter's exercise was to make a list of blessings. I have countless things to be thankful for, but here are just a glimpse of my blessings here in BA:

my padre and madre
my hermanas
casa holden
our group
empanadas
agua sin gas
the park
when my little sisters play with my ipod
when Jesi and Eli hang out with me and my friends
convo dinners
asado
house church
bible studies
cheap food
EFT's
long weekends
laughter around the casa
dulce de leche
serving at Adulam
the overwhelming feeling of happiness when I am with my friends
skyping with my family back home
deep conversations
walking home listening to my ipod
our little dog Shaggy greeting me when I walk through the door
the feeling of being so incedibly BLESSED when I walk to and from school everyday!

Smith gives a quote from David Crowder that I just love:
"When good is found and we embrace it with abandon, we embrace the Giver of it... Every second is an opportunity to praise. There is choosing to be made. A choosing at each moment. This is the Praise Habit. Finding God moment by revelatory moment, in the sacred and the mundane, in the valley and on the hill, in triumph and tragedy, and living praise erupting because of it. That is what we are made for."



Besos xoxo

Humidity and no AC

After bawling in the airport with my mom, a 10 hour and 20 minute direct flight, almost losing my bags, and waiting in line for 45 minutes for customs, I am finally in Buenos Aires! My sweet padres came and picked me up from the airport and because I only got an hour of sleep on the plane, I slept the whole way back to the apartment. Walking inside and seeing all of my hermanas made me so happy and excited to be back. The plan for tonight is to SLEEP! But tomorrow we have asado and our first intensive spanish class.


Besos xoxo



*Couldn't leave America without these goodies...