Crazy busy couple of weeks!

Hola amigos,
These past couple weeks have been absolutely jam packed with stuff. These past couple days of being sick in bed are the only days I think I have had to sit down and have some deep thought since my last blog. And I am sure many of you feel the same way with December always being incredibly busy!! It has been a whole month since my last post and I really didn't want that to happen ever during my time here because I do want to keep you all posted on what is going on, but it just sorta happened, but it won't be happening again.
This month has been absolutely incredible. I have done lots of travelling, spent lots of time getting to know some awesome new friends, and got to see God do some amazing things through it all. First off things at the orphanage! This was a very busy month for everybody out at the orphanage. At Christmas time, groups from the town of Linares & Monterrey travel to the orphanage to throw the kids a "Posada" which is a Christmas party. We probably were there for about six different groups, but there were also many others that we were not around for. They usually bring pinatas, play some games with the kids, give them lots of candy and then finish the day off with some kind of present for the kids. The groups ranged from 10 people to about 60 people so some days were pretty crazy around the orphanage, but it was all fun! :) For Christmas, they got two weeks off of school, so things were alot more chill and relaxed in the mornings since they didn't really have a timeline in the mornings and the expectations weren't so high. Originally this year, all the kids were not suppose to be going with their families until boxing day, but unfortunately a large group of the kids got picked up the day before Christmas Eve when I was in Monterrey, so I had to miss saying bye to alot of them, which made me really sad because it is a really long time not to see them for. But they are coming back this weekend so I will get to see them on Monday and I am really looking forward to it. The people that pick the kids up are grandparents or aunts and uncles usually, but some even get to go back with their parents for Christmas. For some, this is a really great thing, but for others who's situations really aren't the best, makes it harder on the kids. Not all of the kids have the choice to go see family though, so they remain at the orphanage for the whole holiday time. It was nice though, because we were able to spend some more one on one time with the kids just relaxing instead of only doing chores and with a full house of kids with can get pretty hectic sometimes! But overall, the holidays were an enjoyable time at the orphanage. Busy, busy, busy, but lots of fun for the kids!
My holidays were a very incredible time for me! Christmas down here works very different then in Canada, so this will always be a Christmas to remember! :) The first thing you need to understand in Mexico is that when you make plans, it is VERY rare that they will actually turn out that way, because people showing up unannounced all the time for days at a time and inviting you places on very short notice, so when you think of a quiet weekend at home, it ALWAYS turns into a jam pcked weekend of visits and outings. Not that this is a bad thing at all, it is just one of the biggest differences from Canada and Mexico. The second thing you need to understand is that Mexico does not have a Christmas Day, they have a Christmas night, so on our Christmas Eve at 12 o'clock at night, everybody's families are together opening presents, eating massive amounts of food and celebrating Christmas together. So their Christmas is always a very late night for Mexican families instead of celebrating in the morning and the next whole day. So on Christmas Eve, we had the plan of family time at home, with Christmas movies, popcorn, hot apple cider, chocolate fondue and warm blankets! And that is how the evening began! Until the phone rang with a couple inviting us over later on, around 10. We agreed, because we still wanted some time at home. Then not too long after that, our friends showed up for a visit and enjoyed some fondue with us. About half an hour after that another one of our friend's popped over inviting over to his families house to eat tamales and to meet his family so we couldn't say no. :P So after dinner at his house it was about 10:30 so we went to this other families home. We were only planning on staying a short time but didn't end up getting home til about 1:30am :). When we were there we met the whole family, played a gift exchange game and then had another dinner! :) By this time, we literally could not look at any more food without feeling sick. We ate WAY too much and were filled way past our limit! But it was a great night of fellowship with some awesome people. It also helped that the second house we went had people there who spoke English! Speaking of my spanish, it is continuing to get better. I keep understaning alot and my vocabulary is growing too, but word placement in sentences and all the little stuff in between is what is really getting me. Pronounciation is still pretty funny sometimes too! :) But then I just make them try to say "thoroughly" and I get to laugh at them back! haha. Getting back to my story though. Christmas Day started off pretty normal. Woke up to a stocking with the best gift inside! An air freshener! :) And then we watched the boys open up their gifts. After that we headed out to the orphanage. We were suppose to make them breakfast but they were already eating when we got there so we just hung out there for a bit with them and helped clean up the kitchen. After that we headed back home to make oursleves some waffles and we made a couple skype calls home to our family! Then we started to get ready for our dinner party. Our friend Ramone and his family, as well as another family came over for a big turkey dinner. I made a huge pot of mashed potatoes and Rick made one of the best turkey's I have ever tasted! After dinner I got picked up my friend Dely and her sister Sophie, to head to Monterrey to sleep a bit before we left for our mini missions trip/retreat to Aguascalientes. I am going to write a seperate blog of Aguascalientes because if I included it in this one, this blog would be WAY too long and I thought it would make it a bit easier of a read if they were seperate! It will be posted by tomorrow night I hope, but I needed to get this one posted tonight! Upon returning from that trip though, I felt very spiritually refreshed. Unfortunately, physically I wasn't very refreshed because I came home and had to go to the doctors to check if I had strep throat. That was a pretty interesting experience in itself. We had to change locations about 5 times before we actually saw the doctor! :P And unfortunately, I got told it was strep throat. Had to spend about $80 on my medications after the whole week because during the week of being sick, I got a migraine too! It was not a very good week for me. But in a way it was also an awesome week. It gave me alot of quiet time to think about life and what God wants for me after Mexico and he really spoke to me. Ending up laying alot of exciting thoughts in my mind of visions he has for future of projects at home! And I feel a huge excitement and almost sense of relief when I talk about them to people! :) After I finally was feeling a bit better, Mexico decided to drop in temperature drastically. Just yesterday actually, they were calling for snow. It didn't actually come, but it has been bitter cold the past couple days! In the negatives!! And on top of that we don't have heaters, so inside is basically as cold as it is outside. Cement walls don't do a whole lot in helping with the cold! :) We did have an awesome opportunity to help a family in need though. One of our friend's Mario, actually lives with his family down by the river in a small "house." Since we know it was going to get really cold over the next couple days and he mentioned how cold it was living there, we brought a box full of blankets down to the river. Turns out his family is much larger than I thought. There is a grand-mother and her 5 kids I believe, and then all of their kids as well, which is an extra 15 children, I believe. They all live in these shacks, with matresses taking up all the space. The one shelter we were in had one wall with wood, another with two comforters and the other with a matress. The other wall was completely open to let in any rain and cold weather that may come in. Their mattresses were right there too, with barely enough blankets it looked like to cover them all. They all sat around two logs of wood, with a tiny fire, trying to keep as warm as possible. None of them had hats or mittens, so we decided to run back to the house and grab the box of hats & mittens that got sent down from one of Rick's family members. As we were leaving one of the little girls went up to Rick and pulled on his hand. She looked up to and asked if he had food for her. He told her no, but knew that when we returned we would have to bring something along! So after we picked up the box with the mitts and hats, we took Mario to the grocery store and bought him a cart full of all the basics to feed the family. We went back and gave all the kids a set of hat and mitts! They were so happy! Some of the sweetest kids I have ever seen! As we left the second time, the same girl went up to Rick and looked up at him with her big brown eyes and asked if he had any cookies? And he said go look in the bags! :) She said really?!?! And as soon as he replied yes all of the kids turned and ran towards the pile of bags laying on the mattress with huge smiles on their faces! Overall it was one of the most humbling days I have had in a long time! Made us very careful to complain about anything since then! Makes you really appreciate just the fact that you have 4 walls around you!
God has continued to bring people into our lives over the past month that we feel will turn into some great friendships! Not only just to the family, but some really awesome girls who have been through some crap in their life and are really just looking for a friend! It makes me look forward to new opportunities and chances every day, because you truly never know what is in store! He never seems to fail at anything, and when we feel dicouraged he always brings something back into view that makes us go, "Wow! That was cool! :)"
Prayer Requests
1) Direction: We feel at this point we have a better idea of what this year's focus will be on, so just pray that God will continue to provide opportunities to do some awesome things for people really in need! Also more specifically for me and the things God is laying on my heart. Pray that I would continue to see a clear vision of exactly what God wants for the things he is laying on my heart! And that I would continue to have the drive and passion for it as I have over the past couple days.
2) Migraines: Please pray that I am not effected by these anymore at all, or even just to find a medication that is alot cheaper and actually works so I can keep them more in control!
3) Charitable number for Rick & Lisa: This number is required for their organization to give tax reciepts to donations but since they don't have this donations haven't been made yet and they haven't been able to do as much as they hoped without it.
4) Truck Registration: There have been alot of problems at the border with this since it is a Canadian vehicle so please just pray that God would give them help in figuring out a way to renew their truck registration here in February without too much hassel.
5) The kids: These kids are always needing prayer but mostly that God would continue to heal their hearts from all the hurt and struggles they have been through in their lives so far. That they would continue to follow in the footsteps God has laid out for them and would show them some kind of direction for their future. And pray that we would be able to be shining examples for them to look up to and that they would look at us as people they could trust.

Thanks to all of you have taken the time to read this! Your thoughts and prayers are so much appreciated! I miss you all! And look forward to the day when I can see ya again, but until then I will continue to follow on the path God has laid out for me in my heart!
God Bless each and every one of you!
Check for the next blog about my trip very soon! :)

Rebecca Jensen