A fun weekend and leaving on a jet plane!

This past weekend, my friend Bethany who is an MA in Ireland flew down to spend the weekend seeing Spain with me! She got a super cheap flight...lucky! We met a year ago at PFO-our orientation for missions. It was great to see her and show her where I live and take her to Madrid and Segovia! She also got to meet some of my friends here. Pictures will have to wait to be posted because tomorrow I am leaving for the Netherlands to spend Thanksgiving with family! George, Muriel and Alicia Thomassen, family friends from home are missionaries there. I'm excited to see a new country/city because I've only been in the Amsterdam airport. It will be good too hang out and meet the people they work with as well. I'll be super busy when I get back trying to post pictures of my two fun weekends! I'm so blessed to be here. Being in God's will and doing what he wants me to do at IMM is awesome, and getting to travel and experience new places/cultures is a fabulous bonus! Good thing I worked a bunch of jobs and saved money before coming here, so I'm able to do this. HAPPY THANKSGIVING! If you are reading this, you are probably one of my family members or friends, and I'm thankful for  you! Dios le bendiga! Ciao!

I've been meaning to...

post these pictures, here they are finally. The first few are of my new winter coat (that I love so much, it's so cute and fits so good!), and my two new pairs of boots, a black and a brown pair. I got them for a pretty decent price too!

It's sunny in Spain!!

Hello!! 

I love my boots and skinny jeans!! 

These guys are: (L to R: alien monster dude from Emily, Gnomie, and another alien monster guy from Emily). I'm supposed to name each one of the monsters to be me and one Em, so I'll say the shorter guy is Emily and the one with 3 eyes is me! They were a part of my birthday package from her! Thanks Em!

Romanian Wedding Experience!

(Sorry, this is super long, but it’s worth reading)
A couple of weeks ago, my friend, Marin, from the church I go to here asked me if I would go to a Romanian wedding with him (he’s Romanian, by the way). I was like, “yeah, that would be awesome!” You know me…I love new cultural experiences. It was this past Saturday, and the bride and groom must have been praying for some great weather…because it was an absolutely gorgeous day! It was probably around 65 degrees, maybe even in the 70’s—and this is on Nov. 8!! Needless to say, I didn’t need my new winter jacket that I wore, but it was useful when the sun went down. Oh yea, the ceremony was outside too! So, I actually got to enjoy basking in the sun! The ceremony lasted maybe 7 minutes. The dad walked the bride up the aisle, then gave her over to the groom. We all clapped. The pastor then welcomed us to the ceremony and proceeded with asking the bride and groom how long they planned on being married, they both said “my whole life” and that was it! Then we clapped again. Well, that’s all the Marin translated for me. But I don’t think much else happened. It was so short! No candles, no special music, nada. Not even a “you may now kiss the bride.” I don’t even remember if they kissed up there. After the ceremony they served appetizers while everyone got their picture taken with the couple. We also took lots of pictures because this wedding was at a beautiful site! It was a restaurant that was also a golf course, so I guess sort of like a country club in the states. Marin’s friends were so nice! And the girls always included me in on their pictures together and they are just so darn cute! Then we went inside to have the meal. This was a 4 course meal: cheese with jamon serrano (some nasty cured ham that Spaniards think is good for them, but it’s super fatty and just not good), sarmale (which is really good Romanian food! It’s meat with rice wrapped in cabbage leaves), chicken with potatoes and mushrooms, then really yummy cake with ice cream in a chocolate cup and coffee! In between meals, we wandered outside for some more pictures in the gorgeous landscaping! Once the wedding reception was over, we went to some of the girls apartment to hang out for a bit, then they all decided they wanted to see a movie. So about 10 or so of us went to see “Mama Mia.” I was happy that they kept the songs in English with Spanish subtitles. But the rest of the movie was in Spanish. And I guess since we are young and were having so much fun already, we went to play some pool at the nearby game place! One of the most memorable things about that day was that I taught one of the girls how to say “How are you?” and “Do you speak English?” in English. The entire day…she kept saying “How are you” with her cute Romanian accent! She is just hilarious! I laughed so much! She did a lot of other funny things, but I guess you had to be there. Basically, she’s crazy fun! Although I couldn’t communicate with anyone, really, except Marin, I still had a great time. (well, they could’ve spoken Spanish and I would’ve understood, but I don’t expect a bunch of Romanians to speak their non native language with each other). I will always remember this day, because I got to experience a new culture, meet new people, eat good food, dress up and be treated nicely!

*Some of the pictures from the day are in the next blog. Soon, I'll make a Picassa Web album then you can check out more!

Happy Birthday Kenny!

God knows...

who the next president of the United States of America is going to be. We do not need to worry if the person we voted for does not make it in. What we need to do is pray for that leader and pray for a unity in America, a unity and strengthening of the church in America. There are still a hours left for the polls being open. I haven't even thoroughly checked on the internet to see what the east coast states are predicated to be blue or red. I care, but just say "Lord, have your will be done in this election!" The only difference we can make is by voting (which I did), by praying for our leaders, and by standing up for what God cares about and what we should also care about. May God bless America (even though we hardly deserve it!) 

3 months!

Today is my 3 month anniversary in España! It's been a fast but good 3 months. I've been to a few different cities in Spain and have already had one friend from MN/Sweden visit me! In 3 weeks I have another friend coming down from Ireland! And the weekend of Thanksgiving I'll be going to celebrate with "family," the Thomassens, in Amsterdam! I haven't felt too homesick yet. I do miss the conveniences of everything in the states. Spain isn't the most convenient place to live, but I do like some things here and think we should adopt them in the US. For example, you can park on the side of the road, facing either direction. Like if you are driving on the left but see a good spot on the other side, you can park there even though your car will be facing the opposite way of the traffic flow. One reason I am sad...is that I miss my kiddos! Samuel, Lauren and the newest addition that I haven't even met yet, Jasmine. I strongly desire to give them kisses and hugs and watch them grow and become smart! Good thing I get "Spanish kisses" from my non American friends here to sort of make up for not being able to kiss the kids! :)

21 months to go....thanks for friends and family for supporting me in this experience! It's where I'm supposed to be!!