#lovewins

It was interesting to be out of the country during the recent news of the election. I felt the same as some of you, grieved, sad, confused and speechless. What is interesting, is to talk to my Spanish teacher about this and explain to her our voting system. With Hilary winning the popular vote, but losing the election, my teacher asked, "Then where is the democracy?" Great question. In her opinion the US is the most powerful country in the world and has been to war fighting for democracy in other countries. She couldn't believe that our voting system could be called democratic. I tried to explain the theory behind the representation of voted officials etc. For me, it is interesting to hear her perspective and her opinion about our new president and to learn about the perspective of others who don't live in the US. I have a chance from the outside to hear and see the message the US is now sending to the world.

Our friend who is struggling with addiction has been in a rehab center for about 2 weeks. At first, we couldn't find her for a few days. Checking her house, the hospitals, jail and even the morgue. Come to find out a pastor took her from the park to this center he has to help addicts. It is not the best situation and none of us feel really comfortable with it so next week she will be moving in with Chris and our team will take over caring for her. This is still not an easy situation because she has spent most of her life on the streets so adjusting to expectations and responsibility are new. Overcoming addiction is about literally changing everything. This journey for her and for us, takes time, wisdom, patience, perseverance and lots of prayer.

Another girl from the states is visiting our team for 2 weeks. She is considering joining our team and came like I did two years ago to spend time with the team and experience life here. My team leader Karla, decided it would be fun for us the girls of the team to run a 5k. There are quite a few races here  because running is a popular hobby. With the altitude the two Guatemalans from our team had a big advantage during our first "training run" over Christa and I. The race is in 10 days so who knows if I will be able run it all. It might be my first 5k walk/run here and I can build up to an actual 5k run :)