Thanks!

Thanks for all of your encouragement these last couple of days. I started to realize that no matter my situation, whether I have a friend or family member here, etc. there will always be challenges in life. I thought about all the kinds of challenges and situations my family and friends are in and realized that my life is no exception to facing challenges. If you are reading this, please e-mail me any prayer requests you may have. I know I ask for prayer requests at the end of a lot of my posts or emails but rarely do people actually let me know how I can be praying for them. I really appreciate everyone praying for me but I also would love to know how I can specifically be praying for my supporters.

On another note:

Spanish class is going well as of this morning. I actually took time to study verbs the last two nights which has helped a lot during class.Each week, every student talks with the director of the school to evaluate how things are going with your teacher and your home stay. Although I like my teacher a lot, I had been debating whether or not changing teachers would benefit me. The school suggests a student should change teachers every two weeks so I can hear another person's pronunciation of the Spanish language. I have had Teresa as my teacher for the past three weeks and have gotten pretty comfortable with her as my teacher but I decided today that I am going to try a new teacher for my last two weeks. I am a little nervous to have a new teacher but what's one more challenge, right?

May God bless your day!

Psalm 95:16-7
"Come, let us bow down in worship, let us kneel before the Lord our Maker, for He is our God and we are the peole of His pasture, the flock under His care."

Journal Entry

I thought I would share my thoughts from today.

Today has been a tough day. I am tired of learning Spanish and tired of being anxious to know Spanish. I feel like my pace of learning has slowed a lot since I started working on Grade "B." I've been too tired at night to study which is hurting me during class time. I know that I need to be patient and that it's a long process learning a language but I can't help wanting to be able to communicate now!
I have been very blessed by the people God has put in my life in Guatemala so far. I have met Christians, non-Christians, runners, and others who have immediately accepted me as their friend. But today I am asking why do I have to be here alone? without a familiar friend, a family member, a husband? I get frustrated at the fact that i can't change my situation of being a young, blonde, American girl, walking around paranoid that someone is going to slash my purse or rob me (as both of those just happened last week to a couple other girls). I do my best to walk with someone and I find myself always praying for safety, especially when I don't have anyone to walk with.
Today was the first day I had really negative thoughts in my head during class. "I can't do this." "I am getting worse." "I hate this." God, take these thoughts from my mind and get satan away from me! I need to stop and breathe and know that God is active in my life and that He is my motivation, even for learning Spanish. Lord, give me strength to succeed and joy and endurance for the rest of the week. Amen.

Please pray for motivation, my daily time with God, and my ability to learn and speak Spanish.
Thanks! :)

Cerro de la Cruz

My teacher and I walked up to the
Hill of the Cross this afternoon .
It was nice to take a break from studying!

View of Antigua

This is a new friend I made named Brian. I asked him to be in the picture with me so I don't feel lame taking so many pictures by myself.

Cerro de la Cruz

I passed!

I passed my Grade A test! Wahoo! Thanks for all your prayers. The test covered basic vocabulary, conjugating verbs in the past, present, and future tenses, translating English sentences to Spanish, reading a paragraph in Spanish and answering comprehension questions in Spanish, and a short oral comprehension and verbal answer section. Now it's on to Grade B material! I've heard Grade B has a TON of verbs...

Colossians 3:17

I am feeling a little discouraged today in learning Spanish. I really want to pass my Grade A exam but have to remind myself that if I don't pass the exam it is because I have not mastered the Grade A material and still need to review. I am anxious to get through as much material as possible but hesitant because I might not be actually digesting the material. Having 7 hours of language school and then coming home and needing to be motivated to study is very hard (but very necessary). I find myself giving myself pep talks saying, "this is for the ministry, not just for a grade." I continue to pray that the Lord gives me the desire to learn and really embrace the Spanish language.

Colossians 3:17
"And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him."

Praise and prayer request

One of my main prayer requests has been to meet someone to run with while in Guatemala and the Dominican Republic. About a week and a half ago I made a friend and running partner, Katie, while hiking up Volcano Pacaya. A few days later I went to a free trial salsa class and met another running partner named Alana. Running with the two of them has been great! Unfortunately they both leave within the next week but once again God has provided another running partner! Katie and I were out on a run this morning and we met another runner named Lori. She just arrived on Sunday and will be here for six weeks. She also ran in college and has been praying for a running partner. God is good! Please continue to pray for a running partner(s) in the Dominican Republic.

Another blessing today: Three new students arrived on Sunday to live at my house, Cindy, Casey, and Danny. They are apart of a group here to learn Spanish this week and join other members from their church for a missions trip next week. Cindy has been such a blessing over the last couple of days, giving me spiritual encouragement and inviting me to join their group this weekend to hike up Volcano Pacaya and take a tour of a coffee plantation. Praise the Lord for fellowship family in Christ around the world!

Prayer Request- As most of you know, I am taking 7 hours of Spanish class 5 days a week. I started at the very beginning in Grade A, which has 25 lessons. Wednesday afternoon (July 22) I will be taking the big test to pass Grade A and move onto Grade B. We have covered A LOT of material in a short amount of time. Please pray that I don't confuse material (verbs, vocabulary, etc) and that I can do well on the oral comprehension questions.

Thank-you for your prayers and know that I am praying for you as well. Please let me know how I can be praying for you! My e-mail is julieannebailey@gmail.com

Adios!

This is the sweet McDonalds (and McCafe) here in Antigua.


This is the sitting area inside for McDonalds.
I think they even have wireless internet!


A sunset viewed from the rooftop of my house.

The volcano "Fire" starting to smoke, viewed from my rooftop.


These are my friends Katie (left) and Rui (right).
We went to this cool restaurant on the top of a roof to
hang out one last time before Katie leaves in the morning.
Katie was one of my running partners.


This is my teacher Teresa. We get along well. :)

Praise the Lord for He is Faithful!

Yesterday started off as a rough day. I was frustrated because I could not get on the internet at my school all morning and talk with my mom. On my way home for lunch I stopped by a coffee shop called Higher Grounds to see if I could get online. On the door I saw a sign advertising a worship service hosted by YWAM on Thursday nights at 7pm. I thought it would be cool to go but my host family has dinner at 7pm. I finally got online at the coffee shop and was able to chat with my mom and started to feel better. After lunch, I decided going to the worship service would be worth missing dinner. Later in the day, while I spent time with the Lord, I asked Him to provide fellowship and friends and to be with me as I was a little nervous going to the worship service by myself. The first girl I met told me she was also a missionary with Kids Alive International here in Guatemala. Her name is Melanie, she is in her 20s, she lives here in Antigua and works in the KAI orphanage "Oasis" which is about 15 minutes away. Come to find out was Leanne Root's, my high school discipleship leader, roommate in college! How crazy is that?! I had a great time talking with her about her experience as she has been in the field for almost 1 1/2 years. She was such a blessing as she said she would love to hang out anytime. I am hoping to see the orphanage she works at over the next couple of weekends. Let's just say I know that God played a role in getting me to the coffee shop and I left very encouraged. Tomorrow and Sunday I am heading to Lake Atitlan and Chichicastengo through a travel agency and with a couple of friends. I will post pictures next week. Thank you for your prayers!!! :)

Julie-Anne

P.S.- Kids Alive has a new website. If you would like to see more information on Kids Alive International, see my biography, or donate online, please visit:
http://www.kidsalive.org/around-the-world/latin-america/dominican-republic/

Psalm 67:4
"Let the nations be glad and sing for joy, for you judge the peoples with equity and guide the nations upon earth."

Volcan Pacaya

My first day of class is officially done and I have survived! I like my teacher but taking seven hours a day of Spanish makes for a long day. I had 16 pages of homework my first night! I asked her for less homework so I can have time to study the massive amount of vocabulary I need to learn. She said okay. :)

My first weekend went well as I spent time mostly with people who spoke English. I walked around Antigua a few times and became familiar with my new home town. Sunday I went through a travel agency to hike up Volcan Pacaya which is about an hour away from Antigua. It was awesome! The hike was definitely more challenging than I expected but I would do it again in a heart beat. Volcan Pacaya is an active volcano so I got to see flowing lava at the top. The hike was about 2 hours up and a little less than 2 hours down. The last quarter mile to the top had loose volcanic rocks which made climbing up and coming down tricky. I just laughed the whole time (even though I was scared) because I knew I was going to slip again and again. I actually slipped into the splits one time, good thing I am flexible. I also made a few friends. They are from all over the place including Poland, Denmark, and South Africa.

The city of Antigua is growing on me more and more. I like that I have to walk everywhere as I haven't gotten much exercise other than that. I think the buildings here are so interesting. If you walk down a street, the buildings look like one long wall with a couple windows and doors but the insides are likes mini courtyards.

Thank-you again for all of your prayers and encouraging words. I love opening my e-mail or blog to find comments and updates! Please let me know how I can be praying for you and your family.

Julie-Anne

Psalm 67:3
"Let the peoples praise You, O God;
let all the peoples praise You."

This is the famous Santa Catalina Arch in Antigua,
also known as Arco del Antiguo Convento.

View from the roof of my house.

Another view from the roof of my house
and where my alarm clock resides (a rooster).

This is at the top of Volcan Pacaya. I am trying to roast
a marshmellow but it is really hot!

This is the rocky and slippery path we had to take to
climb up and down to get to Volcan Pacaya.

View from Volcan Pacaya.

No hablo Espanol

Hola! Me llamo Julie Anne. That is about as much Spanish as I know so far. I arrived safely last night in Guatemala and found my driver holding a sign with my name on it. I was quite overwhelmed then and continued to be overwhelmed when I arrived at my new home. I feel like I somewhat now know what people felt like during the Tower of Babel times...total confusion. Elizabeth, my hostess, was not home so her house care taker greeted me and showed me to my room. She said that breakfast would be at 7 am, or at least that´s what I thought she said (I was right). I met she other students at breakfast this morning who spoke English which was so nice! They filled me in on things like lunch is at 1pm and dinner is at 7pm. Elizabeth is very kind and has one daughter who is 18 and one son who is 20. I think she has 4 or 5 bedrooms for students like me. The house is pretty simple but pretty. The view for the rooftop is very cool. I can see 2 huge volcanos! Well, I am not sure what I will be doing today as I am a little scared to walk around by myself but we´ll see what´s in store. I will post pictures in a few days.

Psalm 67:2 "That Your way may be known on earth, Your salvation among all the nations."

Leaving in the morning

What a great last week I have had here in Az (except for the heat)! First, I want to thank all of you who stopped by my farewell party. I am so blessed to have such a wonderful family in Christ. It is about 10 hours until I leave and I am feeling pretty good about things at the moment but I am anticipating many tears saying good-bye to my family at the airport.

I received a couple of useful e-mails this week from the Christian Spanish Academy where I will be attending language school. I will be in school from 8-12 and 2-5pm, Monday through Friday. The school has free wireless internet so I will be able to post updates often. Tonight, the night before my departure, I finally received the name the family/person I will be staying with (Elizabeth). I am not sure if I will have internet before I start school on Monday but I will post an update asap noting my arrival, living situation, etc.

Once again, I cannot express how much your prayers and encouraging words mean to me. This step in my life has been a long time coming and now I am ready to leave my comfort zone and agenda behind and embrace the life and plans God has for me in Guatemala and the Dominican Republic.

*Prayer Requests- traveling safety, communication and relationship with my host family, first day of language school on Monday. Praise- my dad got a job and my mom passed her big state math test to teach high school math!

May God bless you and your family,
Julie-Anne

Psalm 67:1 "May God be merciful and bless us. May His face smile with with favor on us."