Lately...

Hello folks...it's been a while I do realize that. First and foremost in the post I would like to put to rest the conversation of "a bushel?" It has been confirmed for me by 7 different people that the lyrics are, in fact, "Hide it under a bushel? no!". Yay!! Some small sense of triumph (and thank you much to a humble Eben who even conceded his own defeat after much googling...) LOL.

Secondly, what has been going on in Merida lately?! A LOT! Perhaps that why I've been lax in my writing and keeping up on this blog lately. Let me see if I can sum up a bit through usage a few pics (blogs just aren't as much fun without them!)

Amanda and I hosted our "last" English club (because the summer project is taking over this charge) and we had a lot of fun playing a big game of jeopardy to review all the things we have taught this year....


Lucia and I have become frequenters of a local pastelito place....maybe too frequent, lol.



Our team took a trip to the Coromoto Ice Cream store that features the most flavors in the world (featured in the Guinness Book of World Records).....including some really weird ones!


We spent hours in the plaza waiting for ....drumroll....the SUMMER PROJECT to get here!! It's true, they are here folks, healthy and whole and in MERIDA. We have a had a lot of fun so far getting to know them and they bring a TON of energy to us old folks who have now been here for over 9 months (wow!!)....They have already seen many students come to Christ as they've been sharing on campus and inviting students to our weekly meeting.....


Amanda turned 25!!



We had a fiesta for the birthday of Amanda and Kelly (one of our students) as well as the arrival of the summer project....They got to learn to dance, Venezuelan style ;)



Rafael Turcios came to visit!! Jesus, Lucia and I were his welcoming committee in the airport....


We may have had some car troubles :( :S....welcome back Rafa!


In reference to a previous blog...here is the total for a tank of gas...less than 3 Bolivares...that's less than a dollar - TOTAL!

a bushel?

Conversation I had yesterday (in the middle of a staff meeting)....

Ivan (paraphrased) : How can we really let ourselves be known as Christians?

Me: Well, not hide it under a bushel.

Eben (sitting next to me with confused face): What??

Me: You know...(with hand motions and singing voice from "This Little Light of Mine") "hide it under a bushel? - NO!!"

Eben: hahahahahahahaha

Me: what??

Eben: It's not bushel!! It's "hide it under a bush? - oh no!" You can't hide things under a measurement!



*I tried to google the lyrics but it keeps coming up with random versions that don't contain the "bushel" part.....does anyone agree with me, or did someone poorly teach me the song as kid? hahahah. oops. 22 years later, I think I've got it figured out.*

For anyone who is interested a bushel is a unit of dry volume, usually subdivided into eight local gallons in the systems of Imperial units and U.S. customary units. (wikipedia)

I always thought it was a measurement of a woven basket of apples....I think Reading Rainbow messed with my mind as a child.

just to rub it in a bit....

I hear you're paying over $4 a gallon for gas in the states these days?

I went out with a friend who has a car last night.....she put Premium in her car for roughly 36 cents a gallon....unleaded runs at about 12 cents.......

Now if only I could bring THAT back with me, lol.

ewwww......

A picture is worth a thousand words.....

Teleférico/Bye Sarah...

A week or so ago the team took it's final outing together as a whole.....Mérida is home to the highest cable car (teleférico) in the world. I have actually been on it before (with my summer project) and so I got to enjoy a second trip up the mountain (to Pico Espejo). It was pretty cold at the top! The trip up to the final station....
The team nestled in a rock....
It's a little chilly up there!

It was our last team outing because Sarah left us this week as she is headed back to the states to re-raise her support for next year. Our dearest Maracuchan will also be departing from us shortly as she is headed back to her beloved Maracaibo to raise support as well. Both of them will be working with the team in Caracas next year. Please pray for them as they raise support! The other 4 of us will be continuing on with ministry as usual for now :) and making the most of our last 2 months in this beautiful city.

www.freerice.com

it's cool. and good "waste" of time.

Religious

"I believe that the greatest trick of the devil is not to get us into some sort of evil but rather have us wasting time. This is why the devil tries so hard to get Christians to be religious. If he can sink a man's mind into habit, he will prevent his heart from engaging God....." - excerpted from Blue Like Jazz by Donald Miller, pg 13