Hi again!

My roommate wanted to go to the internet cafe today, so I figured I would write another short update while I´m here. The last few days have really been great. I credit that to the prayers of you all reading this!! So thank you.

Friday, a lot of the people from our team went to Chapultepec. It is technically a ¨bosquë" or forest, but there is a zoo, anthropology museum and, my favorite part, a real CASTLE! I went to the zoo last time I was here, so this time, we went to the museum and saw a LOT of ancient pottery from the indigenous tribes here in Mexico. It was really fascinating, but it did get repetitive after a while, because it is huge! We saw the piedra del sol, which is a really big stone with Aztec symbols. It was a place where they used to have one on one battles, but most people think it is the Aztec Calendar. Anyway, we then went to lunch and had some very authentic Mexican food at a little restaurant in the bosque. I had hueraches...or something like that...it was really sabroso, but pretty messy too. Then we went to the Castle, that belonged to the French emperor when he was in charge...we evil Americans actually attacked it and were in charge for almost a year or something. You´ll have to check my history because everything we read in the castillo was in spanish, so I´m not totally sure. But there were a lot of things that belonged to royals, and everything was refurbished and it really made me want to be a princess or something!

Then Saturday, we had a work day at our church and everyone came and we all painted the entire church all day. And I learned something new about Mexican culture. Apparently, they think that if you stop working to eat, you won´t do anymore work, because you´ll be tired and full, so they just don´t eat until they are done. Since all I had for breakfast that day was a little cereal, that was obviously not an option for Lauren Three-meals-a-day Bruton, so at around 2, I finally asked if we were ever going to eat, and Rachel made me a ham, onion, avocado and crumbly cheese sandwich, which is probably the best sandwich I´ve ever had to date.

Sunday was another good, long day- my first at our church. I met a lot of new people and all their names are a little tricky so I´m working on that still. They were all precious though, and very welcoming. Our pastor plays the piano, and there are a few electric guitars and a drum set, so the music is beautiful and more contemporary, although we do sing hymns, too. We are supposed to have a service at 10, Sunday School and then another service at 5, but here, time is really relative, and nothing is when it is supposed to be. For example, this Sunday, they had a meeting about church business that lasted from about 2-5, then we broke for dinner, and then finished the meeting from 6:30-8:30, and didnt´have the second service. So Karen and I pretty much just go with the flow, never knowing what is going to happen the next second. You can pray for that, that I would just relax and get out of my North American efficiency mindset, and try to become like the Mexicans with their conception of time.

This week begins another week of Spanish classes. We are also going to be helping with the prayer meeting, which is on Thursday. I am looking forward to that, and also I can´t wait to start helping with their jovenes group, which is like a youth group. We have many active youth who I can tell are lots of fun, but need some Christian guidance from good role models. That may just be our niche this summer...but we´ll have to wait and see.

Thanks to all who have been praying for me and keeping up with all that´s going on down here. Please keep praying for my emotionally stability during this time of even more transitions. Pray for my American family as my mom and dad move and have to adjust to another life, and for my sister as her husband, George, adjusts to his residency program at UNC. Also please keep my college roommate and one of my best friends, Heidi, in your prayers in the coming week. She is having a surgery on a spot of melonoma, and we are praying that it has not spread.

Love!