kook

i can't believe i let a whole week pass without posting. i've been keeping myself pretty busy with the usual - surfing, service, partying... not so much sleeping lately, though. i was dead tired today. i went surfing sunday morning, and that went really well. i'm starting to catch on to some stuff. not the actual 'surfing' part, don't get me wrong. no, the other stuff, like, paddling, and getting hurt, and sitting up on the board (which is much more difficult than it looks) and 'duck and dive'ing (which is where you stay on the board and go right under a wave - muy dificil). unfortunately, i made the mistake of going two days in a row. i was too tired and sore from sunday to accomplish anything. we left at 5:30am to drive to a beach they call 37 (it's 37km past mazatlan). it was the worst day of surfing i've had so far. the jelly fish were insane. we all got stung like crazy. britanny got it the worst - she still has a rash all over her fore arms. i got stung on my face too, but thankfully there were no marks. and i was just generally too tired. by the time i swam out to get the board from britanny and then paddled out once, i was wrecked. and the second wave i tried to catch absolutely slaughtered me. i have huge black and purple bruises all over my legs. the back of my left calf is still swollen. it looks pretty tough actually. but at the time i was having a fit. i only lasted an hour on the water. then i just sat on the beach and complained, and made fun of myself for complaining. good times.

then that night we went to another mexican party. we're trying to learn how to dance properly. they do a lot of line dances here, which aren't really my thing, but i try to keep up anyway. and every state seems to have its own style of dancing. sinaloa's is banda. i've tried it a couple times. monday i danced with a guy named jesus who didn't speak any english, and i could not remember enough spanish to attempt conversation. slightly akward, but fun all the same. this friday we're having a bunch of people over to practice a bunch of different dances - swing, salsa, banda, and line dancing. we have a pretty good mix of people coming, so it should be interesting if not fun. it will be fun, i don't know why i said that.

and i started another study yesterday. her name is carolina, and i'm going back tomorrow morning. she seems really nice. i've been praying for more people like lidia, so i hope she's my answer. i guess i'll find out tomorrow. lidia didn't have her study last weekend because she went out of town, but she very nicely text messaged me to apologize for not being there. i want to try to get her to come to meetings. britanny's study, monica, came last night. that was really nice. she loved how nice everyone was, and made some comments that showed she really listened.

speaking of the meeting last night, it was fabulous. absolutely fabulous. the whole thing was upbuilding and encouraging and loving. each talk seemed better than the last, and people's comments were straight from the heart. the service meeting, especially, was great. i wish i would have counted the number of times we clapped during the announcements. it had to be about five. and between the part on helping others and the experiences from the past summer, it started to feel like one huge congregational group hug. may sound cheesy, but it was wonderful. i remember when i was first baptized how much i loved the meetings. they brought me so much joy that by the end i felt like i was glowing with happiness and spiritual contentment. i lost that for a long time, and i couldn't figure out how to get that back. and then in the last couple months, when i really started progressing again, with auxilliary pioneering, then regular, now mexico, i have definitely rediscovered my joy. i love Jehovah and his organization with my whole self, and being part of it makes me feel like i'm beaming. perhaps that's part of what Jesus meant when he said to let your light shine.