no.302 140226 Thank you for the new challenge

Sitting at this bakery reminded me of La Chata in Mexico

As of today, I am starting something new. Well.. I guess I can't really call it "new", because I made an attempt to do this last year… and I miserably failed. I am learning Spanish my amigos. Thankfully, there is a greater motivation this year. To be honest, I don't think there was that much motivation last year. When I was preparing for my mission trip to Mexico, I only managed to master greetings… and that was about it. It's embarrassing. I especially hated learning the verbs and the conjugation. Spanish is very similar to French, meaning it requires a lot of memorizing verbs! And also, knowing French is messing up my pronunciation. What I noticed so far is this: in French, you never pronounce "s" in the end in the plural form, but in Spanish, it seems that you have to pronounce "s" just as we do in English. Another thing is pronouncing "e" in the end. In Spanish, you pronounce "e" in the end as if you were to pronounce "é" in French. I will need some time to get used to this. I'm just afraid that it will complicate my French pronunciation… I hope not! I found a great website that is super helpful. I think it will be a great tool for me as I start this journey of learning a new language!

I'm not setting my goal too high. I just want to reach a basic level to communicate with the children in Mexico. In fact, that's what I said I would do when I left the country last summer. I said the next time I come back, I gotta know the language. I want to keep this promise.

Having said that, I think I am going back to Mexico this summer. I really want to. My heart is already there. However, I'm still praying about it.

As I think about learning Spanish to communicate with people in Mexico, it is bringing back a lot of memories from last year. I sometimes see myself smiling nonstop when I reminisce Mexico. I will share one song that takes me back to Mexico 2013. My team and I listened to this song over and over again when we were practicing the skit called the "Wounded Healer." It is a really sad skit, as Jesus dies in the end, after taking away our hunger, coldness, sadness, sickness and even death. I still remember the girl who cried after watching this skit at the church in Guadalajara. I am reminiscing Mexico as I listen to "Oceans" by Hillsong.