Ermita

I got a sim card and some minutes set up so I can use my cell phone down here. It is mostly for receiving calls and not for calling out since it's not that cheap. Text messaging is the way to go.

I originally wanted to buy a bike so I could get around town more efficiently. The ministry office actually had a bike already, but it didn't have any brakes and it was stuck in a high gear which made me have to pedal a lot more than I would like to. We took it to a bike shop and they fixed everything for only 10 bucks. Now it's like a brand new bike! It's a lot easier than driving since I don't have to park and you can only really go about 10 MPH anyways since there are speed bumps everywhere in Jerez. On bike, It only takes me about 10 minutes to get to Centro from mi casa. It's also fun and good exercise and I get to experience the city more. I'm definitely getting more and more comfortable getting around town now. At first, it's quite daunting since there are pretty much no street names and a lot of small one way streets.

We had a wonderful youth service on Saturday Night at the church in the Ermite. I played guitar during worship. Jerry was on the keyboards and Lucerlaba sang. It was a very powerful service. Juan gave a message that was specifically targeted towards the youth. Afterwards, he invited people to come forward so we could pray for them. Many people came forward. Lots of people were crying. It always makes me very emotional to experience moments like these. You can really feel God's presence.

Jerry plays in a basketball league here and I will be joining his team. The team had a game yesterday so I went to go play with them. It was a very close game that we lost in overtime by 1. I heaved a halfcourt shot with 0.8 seconds left in overtime that was way short. It was fun to play competitive basketball again. The last time I played competitive basketball was when I played in a community league in high school. The air is thin here since we are in a mountainous region and I am way out of shape since I really haven't exercised much since I hurt my achilles tendon. That means I could only play for about 5 minutes before I got really really tired. I'm still a bit scared to do anything physical for fear of hurting my leg again. It's totally psychological but hard to get over. I've played more basketball in the past 3 days than I have in a year.

Tomorrow I will be teaching my first computer class. I feel good. I'm getting exercise and I am eating much better than I did back home thanks to the fresh juice I have been drinking everyday since I got here.