Adventure is out there!: Here Comes the Sun

To be perfectly honest, I had been feeling a little homesick ever since I left Abilene. I think it's probably because I have never taken a trip somewhere all by myself before, and it was overwhelming to think that I wouldn't get to be around the people I love for such a long time. However, the sun finally came out today, and I think it just melted those feelings of longing away. Today was blissful.

The morning began at 10 o'clock (3:00 a.m. Texas time), with church. I was feeling a little apprehensive about an entire two hour service in French, but it was actually pretty do-able. Especially at the beginning (the man who taught class was a clear speaker), I was able to catch on pretty well to what was being said. One of the missionary's daughters did a little translating for us during the lesson, and that was really helpful for making sure we were on the right track and keeping up. However, over an hour later when it was time for the sermon, my brain was so tired from translating, paying such close attention to all the words, and the speaker spoke much too quickly that I wasn't able to understand much on my own. Soon I should be able to make it through the entire service, but translating is more mentally exhausting than I was prepared for.

After church, there was a woman's devo thing that I was told I needed to go to. I usually dread women's group types of things, so then when they told me that it was three hours long, I really wasn't looking forward to it. When I got there, however, I found out that the three hours included a lunch that they served us and making me food is always a good way to soften me up. After we ate, the missionary's daughter, Esther, gave a short talk and broke us unto small discussion groups. I was in the English-speaking group with two of the other girl interns and, Katie, the missionary's wife. And the discussion that I thought might be lame ended up being a really awesome heart-to-heart between all four of us about what we want to do with our lives, our fears, our aspirations, and our dreams. We ended up getting pretty emotional and making some deep insights, thus breaking my stereotype that women's group things are lame. I'm really glad I went even though I hadn't wanted to at the beginning.

When the devo thing was over, we each went back to our respective apartments to change for an outing to the park. All of the interns and a couple of kids from the church showed up to the park, and we played an incredibly fun game of ultimate frisbee. Of course I wasn't as good as some of the guys, but I actually scored a couple of times--something I didn't know I would ever do. It felt so good to run around, stretch my legs, soak up some sun, and bond with the group. It's also nice that when playing a sport, it isn't absolutely necessary to have a whole lot of language in common to be able to communicate. I'm feeling really good about how my relationships are forming with the group at this point.

More bread and cheese for dinner tonight, and I'm hitting the hay soon because we have an all-day field trip tomorrow starting early in the morning.