home again!

farewell mexico! it's been a couple of weeks now, and still memories flood my mind daily. i miss it. it's good to be home, but i will never foget you mexico! te extrano! and i guess this is it. good bye blog. no more guadalajara. however, i hope this is just the beginnings of my adventures. this whole traveling thing is addicting! and i plan to see the world. hasta luego.

siempre
ashley

soaking up the sun reys....

Well…we’ve done it! School’s out and we are headed to……ta-da!!! Puerto Vallarta tomorrow! I am so completely excited! Wow! Wow! Wow! This entire weeks been awesome! We have been able to do so much, one thing right after another. Today we had an end of the curse fiesta kind of thing, it was tons of fun, and we finally found a green grass to play some futbol on! Finally! And just the perfect opportunity to get dirty! Our teachers were there as well as our whole group and our families. Liz and Carlitos came. It felt like they were our family, like actually there for us. And the food was absolutely delicious! Orchata, tres leches cake, and arroz con leche, same idea as rice pudding! I can honestly say we ate more than necessary! It was so fun to just be all together and just have fun! Music, dancing, piñatas, the whole shpeal.

Being able to play soccer was so refreshing! I can’t tell you the high I get from playing! And just from running! Especially this time, being able to feel the grass between my toes! I love it! Afterwards, we took off to al centro. Do some last minute shopping and stuff. The feeling of it all was way cool. We really had no organize plans, but aftwer shopiing we went and got some authentic street gringas, tacos that especially famous here in Guadalajara. We listened and danced to some of the Marachis there. And most of our friends were there…it was kind of like a last get together. Actually kind of sad, but we had loads of fun! I swear I could dance forever!!! It was so fun, the Marachis would play and someone would grab your hand and you’d just spin and spin and spin!

We’re here!! I can’t believe how warm the water was! I didn’t have to wait for my body to numb up before I could really get moving, like back at home! And you’ll never guess what happened today! I got stung by a jellyfish! Really! I felt it at first on my right hand, then my leg and then under my left arm! At first I felt like I was on fire, and then all of the sudden it hit me. I was in so much pain! I can’t really describe it. It wasn’t too bad at first, however, I soon felt like my entire arm was going to fall off my body. It definitely was not the most pleasant experience, but definetly one to remember! And guess what it was followed by! Yep! That’s right! I peed on myself!

TIMES RUNNING OUT!!!

Wow! (you know I think I often start my journal enteries “wow”…we just have so many wow kind of days!) Last day of service! How sad! This is going to be hard!

And its over. I can’t even express how incredible that was. And the kids sang our most favoritest song! Amigos para siempre. I can’t remember if I actually have mentioned this song or not. However, one day the kids were practicing it and we fell in love. And how perfect it fit for this occasion. I know I will see these kids again some day, we are friends forever. The piano started, and each of us, me, Jess, Becky and Kayla looked at each other…we new the song. The kids began to sing and all of us lost it. I was crying and laughing, happy and sad, I really can’t explain it. And the teachers presented us with some gifts, including these head bands that are very Mexican and handmade. It’s something I will always treasure!!! Forever and ever!

There’s so much to say, really this time. And definitely no time to say it all. Especially since we have our final tomorrow and presentations and it’s already…well, …really late. The rain continues. I am so glad that we were able to enjoy the sun for as long as we have. However, my fingers are crossed that are upcoming beach trip is nothing but sun, maybe I could handle a Ocean storm, which could be way cool….for the most part…however…bring on the rays of golden sunshine!!!! (I’m so exciting…there’s a group of us investing in boogie boards….we’re playing on living on the beach for those four or so days that were there. Futbol, volleyball, swimming, games game games. And the beach front dances!!! Woo Hoo!

So, tonight we had a group activity to al Teatro. We were able to see some of the true folklore of Mexico, and WOW! (see, there it is again!) It was so cool to be able to go to this, and really see part of Mexico. The colors, the music, the dancing was way cool!

Wow! What an incredible day! And there’s so much to say! The rainy season has definetly started! We were practically swimming through the streets!!! The storm was awesome, But first I have to write about our afternoon with the missionaries! What an awesome opportunity! We got to go on splits!!! I have never done that before!! It was incredible! And quite interesting in Spanish!

My heart is full! And I am on a complete high! I think I found what tops horse back riding! We even got to wear the tags!! We went tracking, actually knocking from door to door! I’ve known all my life that this is part of missionary work, but I actually did it. Before we actually knocked on the first door (and actually the first door would not even let us in) I think my heart was going to explode. I was overwhelmed. Wow, even right know I can not type what I am feeling fast enough. We went from door to door, trying to share with the people a special message about families and our Lord Jesus Christ, and remember, this was all in Spanish. I got to bear my testimony a couple of times in Spanish, and we sang several himnos. Actually, I even got to say the closing prayer at one of the homes that let us in. One of the sisters turned to me and asked my to say the prayer, after asking the family if there was anything special they wanted included in the prayer. Wow! That was an adventure, but not a train wreck! And it was so so so fun to bear my testimony so many times in one day, and in Spanish. I actually felt like things went pretty well, I understood MOST of what was being said and I was able to be involved in the conversation!

There was three of us girls that went, with four missionaries. I went off with the two sisters, and the other two girls divided with the other companionship. I loved the two sisters! And I wish their names were not so hard to pronounce so I could spell them….one was from Ecuador and the other from the northern part of Mexico, close to the border. The sister from Ecuador was 22 years old and the other was quite a bit older. We were able to talk a lot, and it was such a great opportunity to practice my Spanish. After asking how old I was, they asked me when my birthday was. I told them when and they sang me a happy birthday song in Spanish, since its my birthday month! It was so fun! (by the way padres, they said you are to celebrate your birthday everyday leading up to it…. ;-) )

You know, there is absolutely no doubt in my mind about the reality of our church. Missionaries are incredible! I am so jealous of all my friends, and so excited for Chris. It makes me really want to go on a mission. It has also made me realize, even though we only got a tiny tiny taste, but ...its hard work!

If it's okay with you all, and I think I am just going to assume it is... :), I want to bear my short and sweet version of my testimony in spanish.

Estoy muy agradacido por el evangelio, por la iglesia de Jesus Christo, esta es mi vida. Yo se que soy una hija de dios. Yo se que vive mi Senor, el es mi Salvador, mi amigo mejor, y mi hermano. Esoty muy agradacido estar aqui en Mexico y aprender espanol y otras cosas sobre vida. Me encanta leer las scripturas, y yo se que ellas tienen palabrad de los profetas y nuestro Padre Celestial. Estoy muy agradecido por mi familia, ellos estan mis amigos mejor. Y yo se que puedemos estar juntos por eternidad. Estoy muy agradecido por todos los tenemos y por mi padre celestial!

The talent show!!!

It was so much fun!!! singing and dancing! And there was quite a lot of people there, surprisingly! I guess word got around that the gringos thought they have some talent….

We sang, we danced. So as I walked out on stage for my clogging performance I totally biffed it. Everyone said at least I was a graceful faller! ha ha And color esperanza was of course lots of fun and I think thriller was a big hit! I’m surprised, I think most people knew of the dance and were Michael Jackson fans!

For some reason my asthma really acted up tonight, ya I know, good timing, so I was a little nervous about our song, I know my Redeemer Lives. I couldn’t seem to stop coughing. It went well though, I said a little prayer before, we’ve worked so hard and practice this song so much, I really wanted to be able to communicate the spirit through the words we were going to sing. Luckily I think my prayer was answered. It wasn’t until after the song that I couldn’t seem to stop coughing. Darn asthma, sometimes it puts up quite the fuss.

All of our friends came and watched. Members from the ward, the missionaries, and our non-member families. I’ll have to make sure to get all my pictures from it and explain those, I really can not seem to express how much fun it was. That same kind of good-feeling that I had during Strength of Youth rehearsals and Dance Festival…just loving life!

Dancing all night!!!

I am really going to miss this dancing every week! Really really! I love it! Tonight we had the institute dance, which was kind of a change from the traditional bar or dance club setting. It was fun to be all together and kind of be crazy! I think their idea of a “dance” is a bit different than the traditional set up of an American “dance”, but we decided we stood out anyway, why try and blend in? And it was so fun….they played thriller, so we got to put on our show! It worked out well, a little dress rehearsal before tomorrow! (ah! Which I am actually kind of nervous for,…it should be way fun though!) It was so much fun, we were not very good zombies though, laughing through the whole thing! Everyone seemed to enjoy it though! I learned how to dance la banda tonight. I have absolutely no idea how to explain that one…its one of those I guess I’ll have to show you! You kind of hop back and forth, and it’s a very close and well, close kind of dance! Probably actually not one of my favorites, but anything on the dance floor can hypnotize me. And I discovered that you can polka to most banda songs! (something they don’t dance here, but since its one of my favorites I could not resist, polkaed my way around the dance floor…made me think of my favorite polka partner…daddy-o!)

Shopping with Pablo...

Shopping with Pablo….
Pablo is a friend we met at service! He’s pretty funny and fun to practice speaking with. Well, we got done with service earlier and he was hoping to maybe find something to do with us. However, our day was pretty booked, but he insisted that he ran our grocery runs with us. (We needed to go to the store to make our pie for class) Now, this is probably one of those you had to have been there moments, but I was cracking up. So we get to the store, and Jess and I are a little flustered (the stores here are a bit different). Pablo then takes our shopping list and cart and does our shopping. I was laughing so hard. We just followed behind him as he rounded things up. We got our shopping done though! :)