Mexican ramblings

¡Buenas tardes todos!

¡Yo tengo un buen tiempo aquì!

Well, I have made it through my first week at Global Grounds and I am absolutely loving it! I have had great opportunities to hang out with university students and speak with them a bit. Luckily, ping pong trancends language and I have played a lot of ping pong with people who have come into the coffee shop.

Last night we had a universitarios grupo bible study. That was really cool! Alvero (one of the young guys who helps at global grounds) led the study (in español). We all read from the bible in Spanish which was really interesting and special to see the power of God´s word in whatever language it is in.

Today we planned out my weekly schedule for my ministry at Global Grounds.

• Monday will be my day with God - reading and studying the bible and praying
• Tuesday I will work at Global Grounds from 4pm to 10pm and run an advanced english class at 7pm
• Wednesday I meet with Justin for discipleship and then go to Global Grounds for the universitarios lunch
• Thursday I run my advanced english class at 7pm then we have the universitarios grupo at 8pm
• Friday I work at Global Grounds from 10am-3pm then we have activities at 7pm. The activities we have planned include an Australia Night and some music nights to enable me to interact with the young people and build relationships

I expect that I will be doing other things on top of this, but this is my current schedule and I would love it if you would pray for me! Also, we are 17 hours behind you here if you were wondering about time - but don´t worry too much about the timing.

Finally, I´ve had some great language faux pas so far...
I was asking a guy how long he had been learning English and I said: "¿Cuanto anos?" which means "How many anuses?" What I really meant was "¿Cuanto años?" which means "How many years?"
Lesson 1: anos = anus, años = years

I was wondering why people were always talking about dogs, like all the time!? Until I found out...
Lesson 2: perro = dog, pero = but

Oh yes, and a finally, finally...
I promised I would let you know how God has been protecting me in amazing ways... well... I was in a car accident on the night of my birthday - I´M OKAY!!! so don´t stress. We were driving home from the guys hangout when a car came from a side street and hit the passenger door, denting it in. It was amazing, but everyone walked away unhurt. I was fine, I just got a tiny little bruise on my arm and I wasn´t really shaken up at all - just thankful to God for his protection. Both cars needed to be towed and it took ages for all the red tape with the police and insurance to be sorted, but it was all good. Cars are replaceable, people are not and thankfully all was okay. So yes, I´m really stoked that I have the God of the universe looking out for me!

Mum - don´t start worrying - I´m really fine! All is going well and I´m safe and sound!!!

I really love it here and I am integrating well with the team. We are having a lot of fun and the ministry is going well. My luggage is still lost, so please continue to pray - it would be handy to have before I return to Australia - but next time I´m just bringing hand luggage, it´s all you need!

Love ya,

Phil