My new dawn!

This whole past week and a half has been awesome, yet challenging. I'm so excited to be here, and to see how God plans on using and teaching me...I'm excited for all the time I have...I really have no obligations or worries to think about, other then my fmaily back home and managing my money while I'm here. Mandy and I were talking about it yesterday afternoon, and it just really opened my eyes to see that I don't have to worry and that being here so early before my DTS actually starts is going to be so great because, not only do I get a head start on learning the language, I also have all this free time in which to spend with the Lord of all creation and take in His marvelous beauty all around me...How exciting is that? And to boot, I have the awesome oppertnunity to take in a lot of the sights...and the breath taking beach! The waves are amazing, and HUGE! I only wish it wasn't so cold still or I would so be out there in it! And oh my gosh, the food is so yummy! So I have been to a few great places with Mandy and Jorge and his family...I've tried lots of different meats, new ice cream flavors and even the McDonald's here has all different stuff, hehe. And Empanda's! (YUM!) Empanada's are kinda shaped like a big pizza pop and I believe they are deep fried which gives the outer pastry a bubbly look and on the inside you can get stuff like cheese or chicken and cheese and corn, or lots of other yummy stuff! They are sooo good! One of the favorite things to eat here is hot dogs smeared in avacado and mustard and stuff...I don't like them at all, lol. Sorry Jorge. But enough about the food...
Jorge took us to a Chilean monument, a boat that the Chilean's won in a war back in the day with Peru. It was pretty neat, and here in Chile they are super patriotic and Jorge strudded sround the boat like telling us about all the different soliders and canons and whatnot and it was kinda cute cause it seemed he had been there and this was his boat. Aww...We also went to the zoo in Concepcion, we took lots of pictures (you can see them on my facebook!) It was lots of fun, it was such a cool experience, and so different! The animals were mostly just behind chain link, so you could totally touch them...that is, if you wanted to! Lions and tigers and bears, Oh my! Totally couldn't handle the birds of prey...I tried my best to stay as far away as possible, especially *shudder* the owls (...if you don't know, we'll leave it at that) and I was glad I had stayed a fair distance away because as Mandy and Jorge checked out the birds there was a sudden explination of...fear and a big noise, this huge candor (which is like a HUGE vulture I guess) swooped down toward Mandy...It was in it's cage still of course, but all the same, I would have had a heart attack! And Mandy couldn't get over how big his wing span was, and ohh that was enough for me!
There was a really cute animal too, I can't remember what it was called and Jorge said they are extinct, which is so sad, cause it sure was adorable! (See the picture above? That's it! Isn't it cute?) We saw a macaw too, that could say hola! Hehe.
Hmm...What else did we do? Oh yeah! We went shopping! I only had two pairs of jeans and Mandy needed some clothes too so Jorge kindly let us shop for a day! Hurray! I felt so wonderfully back in my element...:) We also saw a movie with Jorge, "Die Hard" it was pretty good!
While we were doing all this we were staying in Concepcion with Jorge's family. I think it's about 6 hours from Pichelimu. Jorge's parents were both soo sweet, and he has two sisters, Carolina and Paulina...They were a lot of fun :) I'm going to miss them! It was really nice to spend time there with them and relax and get to sleep in before the school starts...
Now though we're back in Pichelimu and Mandy and I had a girls day yesterday...Except we had to make a stop at the hospital...I've only been here a week and I've already seen the inside of a hospital! I burned my hand the night before with hot water...I was getting ready for bed and it's always so cold in bed, so I boiled some water for a hot water bottle. I've never actually filled one before, my mommy always usually does it for me. Anyways, I poured it a little to fast I guess and it filled the up the top part and it spilled onto my hand and of course I can't move my hand off or the whole thing would pour out. Fortunetly, I had a hoodie on which covered most of my hand so most of the spilled water went into the fabric, so it could have been worse. The burn is about 3 inches long, and on my left hand (and I'm left handed) and I just thought ouch, whatever, put some ice on it (which I was told later you're not suppose to do?) and went to bed. The next morning there was water blisters on it, and I thought they looked so gross and so I poped them (which you're also not suppose to do, because apparently it makes it scar) but the water blisters came back again so Mandy took me to a pharmacy and the pharmasist looked at my hand and asked if we'd been to the hospital yet, we said no, shuold we go? She said yes, so we walked to the hospital (so nice to be in such a small town where everything is within walking distance!) We waited for a little while and then they drained the blisters and took off the burnt layer of skin (with tweezers!), cleaned the area and bandaged me up. They wanted me to go back every day to get it cleaned but I have to pay, but there are nurses here on the YWAM base who can do the same thing so that's a blessing...
Mandy and I had a really yummy chicken stir fry that she whipped up when we got back from the hospital, and had a really nice talk, as I mentioned. Super encouraging for me, and she wanted to know what was happening with Joshua and I and I really appriacte how she's treating me like an adult and understands how I feel when people seem to just want to tell me what to do, and when it feels like they don't think I'm old enough for this, I am an adult and this is a big part of my life and I would love nothing more then for people to get to know the amazing man that he is, and come to his church and get to know his big, awesome family...I want both these parts of my life - so deeply want- to be meshed and to be together...
We also talked about this is an amazing time for me to grow and really get to know...me! Mandy wanted to know how I was really doing and how I'm holding up here. She encouraged me to just walk or go to the beach and seek out time alone with God while I have this time and just take it easy and get to know Him better. Be still and know that I am God...Jeremiah 29:11 says, "For I know the plans I have for you" declares the Lord, "Plans for good and not for evil, plans to give you both a future and hope." And John 10:10 comes to mind, "The thief comes only to steal, kill and destory, but I have come that you may have life and have it to the fullest." What promises, what an awesome God we serve!!!!!!!!!