10 Days Left?

The days here have melted into weeks. It is hard to believe that we have already been here thirty days. It seems like only last week it was the first day. This week has been a little harder because I’ve had this very persistent cough that has not gone away. This week has also been a little stressful for me. There has been so many emotions that I have been feeling, but it has been really hard for me to put those emotions into words. So I just kept my emotions to myself since I didn’t know how to express myself. And so it felt like I was drowning in my emotions and it lead to a breakdown but during that breakdown God brought the verse Isaiah 43:2 to my mind which says, “When you go through deep waters, I will be with you; when you go through rivers of difficulty you will not drown.” This was just mind blowing to me because I have a hard sometimes hearing God’s voice and this was just an amazing reminder that He looks out for us.

Thursday it was Halloween and we had a little harvest party and it was so much fun! Everybody brought a snack or drink to share and I finally got to make some cookies! Even though I couldn’t bake them and they took a while to make since I didn’t have any measuring cups, a microwave or a beater to mix the ingredients together I had so much fun. All the food was so good and it was just so much fun to hang out with everybody. Then we had a fun little dress up competition before watching Hotel Transylvania until midnight. Friday we deep cleaned the whole building and we finally now know where we are going in Thailand and Europe. We are going to Chang Mai in Thailand and staying in a little home above a coffee shop which is going to so dangerous for my wallet. In Europe we are going to Greece!! I’m so excited. However we are the only team going to Greece and the other teams will be going to Albania. Unfortunately we will all be split up for the next three to four months, which is kinda sad because we’ve been living together for a month already. We finally got to go to the food court and I got my noodles that I had been craving so much. After that we had team time at a little coffee shop named Monism and we did something new and it was fun. We then had church that night and I got to talk to my parents after that to wish my little brother happy birthday. Saturday and Sunday were pretty chill because almost everybody went to Penang which is an island that a lot of tourists go to. But I decided that I need some rest. And it was so nice to have some peace and quiet. 😂 But on Sunday I was able to hang out with Lee and Gretchen at at cute coffee shop that I hadn’t been to before and it was just so relaxing. Something that really puzzles me was that for being a town that rarely has tourists there is a lot of English things. The thing that started this was a Boston, MA map in a coffee shop that we went to. Monday we started the day bright and early and tired. School started at 9 and I’m just so proud of all that my girl has learned so far, there has been definitely been a change from when I first meet her to now. I still sometimes struggle with what to teach her but she is willing to bear with me and makes me the cutest notes ever. And I love her with all my heart. Monday night we had three hours of dance practice since we are shooting the music video on Sunday the 10th. Tuesday there was school again and I noticed that she struggled with say words ending in -s by just skipping that sound and also words ending in -ed by saying the word and then -ed so we worked on that and then word problems. In the afternoon for team time we went to another cute coffee shop called Five Leaf and did some crafts for team time which Liv lead. I also got this mango shake and a really good cookie that I immediately ate. We made a finger turkey and also did an activity where we would start drawing something and then after a certain time we would switch papers adding something on to it until it got back to us. That was really enjoyable for me. That night we had another three hours of dance practice in our dresses, very uncomfortable shoes and a head scarf and we learned some new moves and finished off the dance around 11 pm. Wednesday we had school and we kept working on pronunciation and more word problems I struggled a little because she finished her math book and I had to look up some questions. I also got to talk to my sister and it was really refreshing. I also got to take a nap and I was so great full because I was knocked and  I had a full four hours to do so. We then finally got to go to our house church! And Maya did an amazing job with the message. They were also so sweet and gave us so much fruit which we ate immediately. Today is a Sabbath since we won’t have one on Sunday because of the music video.

There is a devotional that I did this week that just stuck with me throughout this week. It is about letting God lead. “Above all, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one.” Ephesians 6:16. “But each of us has to come to a deep understanding and realization that God has already conquered fear—and by the power of his Spirit we can live completely free from fear.” Sadie Robertson from “Live Fearless” If you know fear is talking, go ahead and silence it. You be the one who does the talking. It’s okay to be afraid, but we have to realize that God has already, and will always have it taken care of. We also have to take care of others the same way we should take care of ourselves when we’re fearful. Plus, you always hold the power to silence fear, it’s just the devil talking anyway.

Something that you can pray for is that my cough goes away since I have had it for six days now. Also peace for my mom and my grandma as my grandpa just passed away this Friday and his funeral is this Saturday the 9th.

 Sunset!