Race time!

This morning I ran in a 10K race (about 6 miles ish) in 49:33 minutes at UDLAP. Each year they have the Carrera Azteca (Azteca Race) as a fund raiser for the university. There were 2,000 runners of all sizes, shapes and ages, some doing a 5K and some doing a 10K. It was an awesome environment to be in. 5 of our 6 staff from our AIA team ran in it and did so well! I'm debating running in a half-marathon in November here in Puebla. I'll keep you posted.

Love you guys!

God is good.

I always try to come up with some clever, witty title for each post but, alas, I can't come up with anything. My creative juices are NOT flowing.
Cool story. There's a girl on the soccer team at UDLAP who we've known for about a year. She wears a necklace with a stone on it that she believes gives her all the energy she needs to play, study, live, everything. If she were to lose that necklace, it would not be good. Abbey has been working with the soccer team for a little over a year now and last week, she was asked by the soccer player if she could meet her pastors. Keep in mind this was "out of the blue"/ Jesus is working in her heart. She and one other player went to dinner at her pastor's house and then came to Casa Verde (another college ministry here) and are going to be doing a Bible Study!!!!! I mean, going from putting all of your faith in a rock to wanting to study the Bible?? Only Jesus can do that.

We're hoping to take the track and volleyball teams on an outreach with another ministry called "Living Water" to the indigenous villages that are less than an hour away from Puebla. Please pray that all of them want to and are able to go. The people in these villages don't speak Spanish, don't have running water (we'll be helping building wells), don't have any personal hygiene because they've never learned how and don't have the resources. I'll definitely write more about it when we go.

Love you all!

Captain's Dinner

I wanted to let you know about the Captain's dinner. So, we invited 6 girls, the captains of 4 teams. We made dinner (lots of it) bought flowers, made cards, the whole works. Jacky, the captain of the track team came, and that's it. We heard from the rest of the girls that night saying they weren't going to be able to make it and they felt really bad for cancelling. Here's the cool part. I hardly knew Jacky at all but the fact that we were able to have dinner with her and focus just on her was awesome!!! She is the captain of the biggest team, and a co-ed team (which we've been praying for men to step up on the campus). She's an awesome leader and was really touched by the dinner that was all for her :) Please keep praying for Jacky and also for the other captains (Monica, Fer, Areli, Wendy, and Melissa).

It's easy to get discouraged when things don't turn out the way you plan but it's cool to see even the little victories that God gives you in what seems like a failure of an event. He can turn anything good... He's really good at it :)

Love you guys!!

Captains=Influence

Tonight we're having the captains of the volleyball, basketball, track and field, and soccer women's teams at UDLAP over for dinner. We decided we wanted to show them how important their role really is and that we're here to support them in whatever they need. I'm not sure how close the different sports are. What I mean by that is I know all the athletes know each other from the different teams, I just don't know if they're buddies or just know each others' faces. I think tonight will be cool to get them to hang out and get some recognition.

I've been practicing with the volleyball and basketball girls and it's such a different feel to be just at UDLAP. I feel like I get to see all the girls throughout the entire day instead of just during the 2 hours. It's amazing to see how the ground work has been set by last year and now it's just a ton of growth in the relationships that have already been made. This year already has a completely different feel then last year.

Last week I started with the team talks for the volleyball team and made them binders with their pictures, quotes, and places for them to take notes and they loved them!! They're always stoked to get new stuff especially if it has their picture in it :)

A little taste of home.

2 days after I got home from London, I had 3 of my favorite people in the whole world come visit me from home!! It was so INCREDIBLY refreshing to have them here and to be able to get a little glimpse of my life in Mexico. There's something special about being able to combine my life now with amazing memories and friendships of home. They were here for 2 weeks!! We got to see Puebla, the universities, meet the teams and coaches, visit the world's smallest volcano, and tour all the other little perks and quirks of Puebla.

It's an incredible blessing to have friends sacrifice time and money to come down here! Love you guys!!!

London... in a little more detail.

London was a big whirlwind of an adventure. 3 weeks of non-stop going, exploring, meeting and venturing. We were able to meet quite of few of the athletes that were participating in the games from all different sports and nations. They all wore their gear that represented their country so it was easy to tell and easy to approach them. I had my eye out for anyone from Mexico. There weren't very many around but when I saw them, I knew they were from Mexico! They wore their Mexican gear proudly, whether they be athlete, coach, trainer, or just a die-hard fan that traveled all the way to London to support their nation. I met 2 coaches, one an archery coach and the other, well, he just said he's the best coach in Mexico... we have yet to determine which sport and why he's the best. The cool part is that the archery coach lives in Puebla :) I'm praying we get to meet up with him. We met the men's archery team and one of the men's soccer players (an official gold medalist!!!!). It was easiest to approach them because I feel like there was some common ground already being a foreigner living in Mexico. It just felt natural to start a conversation with them. I didn't just limit myself to talking with people from Mexico however. It was AMAZING to strike up conversations with people from all over the world! We handed out DVDs called "Struggle and Triumph" which has past Olympians giving their testimony about how they combined their faith and their sport and how their identity is in Christ and not in medals that they try and win. It was a cool time to be able to explain what we do and what we believe. Majority of them were very receptive and interested. Along with it, we were able to invite them to the Legacy Breakfast.
   What's the Legacy Breakfast you ask?? It was the first year that AIA put it on and this year there was an Eric Liddell (from Chariots of Fire) award. 2 athletes were given this award, Bryan Clay (decathalete) and Debbie Flood (Rower). They shared their testimony about their identity in Christ and how their faith has brought them to where they are today. If you haven't heard the Eric Liddell story I would HIGHLY recommend it. The room where this breakfast was held was the room where the first UN Meeting was held, Queen Elizabeth had been in there for several meetings, so it held some pretty significant historical meaning... and not to mention is was BEAUTIFUL!!!!! There were 400ish people from all over the world that heard these testimonies :)

So much time, so little Blogging I've been doing.

Hello everyone!!!!
I have done such a terrible job at keeping this blog up to date so I'm going to do my best to fill you in on everything without making it brutally long.

A couple weeks ago, I had the amazing opportunity to climb Iztaccíhuatl (one of the volcanoes here in Puebla). She is the love of the warrior Popocatepetl who killed herself after realizing that the love of her life was "killed" in battle. This is part of the legend of the 2 volcanoes. There's more to it but like I said, I don't want to make this brutally long. We made it all the way up to 16,060 feet!!!!!!! There was snow on the trails, INCREDIBLE views, really thin air, and 10 hours of hiking :) All of it was totally worth it!! It was beautiful! There were 3 people in our group that got altitude sickness but were troopers and made it all the way back down.

We've had about 2 weeks of being able to meet with Becky (the girl who recently accepted Christ)! We gave her a Bible and walked her through how to read it. Her response was, "Yay, now I'll have something to read in my favorite spot." :) I was just reading an article called "Lifetime Laborers To Lead Into The Harvest." It talks about how Heaven parties everytime someone accepts Christ. Then it says, 'What a difference it would make if we even celebrate these small steps students are taking to enter His kingdom." It's cool to think about rejoicing and celebrating everytime someone makes even a baby step towards God and how those baby steps are eventually going to turn into something big. I want to apply this idea of rejoicing all the seemingly small stuff because it's evident that God has His hand on these small things too.

Alice, one of the volleyball players, applied to go to Costa Rica for one of their Athletes in Action summer tours. It's just like the basketball tour I did 2 years ago here in Mexico. Things have been kind of chaotic in the process but as soon as she gets the green light saying she's accepted, she gets to start raising support!!! This could be huge for her walk with God because it will take her out of her comfort zone, teach her how to share her faith with others, help build our relationship because we would be doing the training camp material together, and she'll get to practice sharing the gospel!!! I just remember what an amazing time it was for me and how God worked through that tour to bring me back here to continue teaching me things. Please be praying that A) she gets accepted B) She can raise all her support, and C) That this trip would be monumental in her walk with Christ!!!!! That her life will be changed for the better as a result of going on the trip :)

Thanks guys!!!! Love you lots!!!