Recent happenings

so, whats been happening lately in this side of the hemisphere?

besides 70 to 90 degree temperatures, a few rainstorms, going to church, starting Spanish tutoring with the Call kids 4 days a week, practicing music to play at church on a few Sundays, looking forward to VBS planning that starts this week, spending time with the Richlines on their recent return (giving back up all of the household and cooking responsibilities I spent a good month practicing), I have been getting to know the folks at IPUY a little bit better. I will copy my best friend's recent blog post by sharing a travel quote to kind of sum up what I have been learning about:

" A journey is best measured in friends, rather than miles." - Tim Cahill

how true. This was something I had not actually expected. I was looking forward to the adventure and challenge of being in a different country that in my anticipation I seemed to have bypassed thinking about the people. I know, how selfish, but I am learning my lesson. The past couple weeks I have been spending a lot more time with the recently mentioned gem, Veronica, and we have many more outings planned for the next couple weeks. There are so many other jovenes (young people) at this church and I want to really get to know them all! I really crave and cherish the time spent at church now with these people. It is an amazing feeling to be able to communicate and laugh even a little bit in another language. That is something I am grateful for, the semester of language learning that God gave me before this experience to be able to get by enough to form relationships with Uruguayans, or Peruvians, or Argentines, or whoever happens to be visiting our church from some other south american country. I have such a long way to go in language learning, and forming these relationships at even such a basic level is inspiring me to want to learn more. 

Besides finally being able to have potential solid friendships with Spanish speakers, I have only been getting closer and closer to both the Richline and Call families since I have been here. Family dinners and car rides and talking through the culture and experiencing some of the same things and being so far away from my own parents and siblings has really attached me to these people in a way that makes me want to stay here with those whom I could now consider extended family (don't worry mom and dad, i haven't forgotten the past 20 years of my life, and I wouldn't be here or who I am if it weren't for you <3). 

Although I know it needs to happen eventually, I literally cannot imagine leaving this place and I hope not to treat the relationships as temporary even though there is only a little over a month left of this summer in Montevideo.