In the light of the day

Well, I finally made it to Venezuela and there is so much to write about! I'll start with the process of getting here.  Praise God for his provision through support raising this summer! He provided 100% of my support two days before my departure.  I am so thankful for each of you and how you have partnered with me to reach students in Venezuela with the gospel.

My team (I and 6 others) left for Venezuela on Monday September 27.  It was a long day of travelling and we finally arrived in Valencia at our new home at 4am! It was so exciting landing in Caracas, the capital city,  at night and seeing the lights sprinkled across the hills.  

I woke up the next morning at 7:30am disoriented and hungry.  I was sure I had at least slept until noon but when I asked my roommate for the time she confirmed that we had indeed only slept for 3 hours.  We spent the morning cleaning and unpacking until we met up with the guys on our team to get some breakfast.  We walked to  the bakery and had our first experience of ordering food in Spanish.  Everything since then has been a whirlwind of new experiences, challenges, and memories.  

Here are some of my first impressions of Venezuela:

-It's beautiful! Valencia, the city where I'll be living and working, is in a valley so there are large green hills everywhere you look.  Everything seems so bright; there's lots of color everywhere.  Women, young and old, love to dress in bright colors.  

-The people are amazing! I have felt welcomed from the moment we stepped off the airplane and I am continually blown away by their warmth, joy and love.  People greet you with a hug and kiss on the cheek even after just one meeting.  We are still in the process of trying some of the churches and when we go to a new one the pastor always introduces our team.  After that, everyone in the congregation comes and gives you a hug and kiss! It caught me off guard at first but I'm learning to appreciate that aspect of the culture.  

-It is so loud here! Car alarms go off at odd hours of the day and you can hear them from blocks away.  Venezuelan drivers also seem to like using their horns.  We take the bus to and from campus, church and the grocery store and the music on public transportation is always very loud. I'm learning to enjoy this also because it makes the trip fun.

-Venezuelan coffee is so good!

I have so much more to learn and see here and I can't wait to share it with you all!

Here are some pictures from my time so far:

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               

Thank you SO much for all your prayers and support!! You are such a blessing in my life.