me and Norma at church

Here's a photo of me and my beautiful host sister Norma outside the church that I'll be attending during my time here. Even though the church is pretty small, worship is always loud and lively. The people are all very welcoming and friendly.

A few Saturdays ago I experienced my first half prayer vigil at the church, which was basically 5 hours of worshiping, praying, and sharing. People were speaking in tongues and some were falling over in the spirit, some crying, shouting and trembling. It was somewhat uncomfortable at times, since it's not the church experience I'm used to and a lot of the time I couldn't understand what people were saying. I am curious about the idea of being "touched by" or "falling down" in the spirit since it's something I don't really understand or know much about. I'm glad that I feel comfortable talking with Norma who is very open to discussing my questions about it.

Norma has been a Christian for 3 years and shared a lot of her story and her struggles with me, despite only knowing me for a few weeks. I really appreciate her friendship and honesty and I look forward to getting to know her better this year. I'm planning to help teach her English since she hopes to apply for MCC's International Volunteer Exchange Program (IVEP) next year.

I should also mention that Norma and I already have plans in the works to start our own cajeta business. We already have a name for it: Normeli. Cajeta is a sweet treat made from milk, sugar and cinnamon that is boiled and stirred and then hardens as it cools. You can make it into shapes and it's kinda like candy, but soft with a consistency similar to fudge. We brought a basket of it to church one evening to hand out so we could see if people liked it and find out if our business might one day be a success :)