una nota de mi corazón

Hola to all! It's been a long while, but wanted to update you guys.


Received A's on both my history essay and photography project! yay! Praise God!

I'm living in a hurricane of exams. haha

Have 3 essay exams next week--History, Culture, Conversation/Grammar.

I have a professor that thinks we're native speakers and who expects us to read material on the university level. It's impossible. I'm often frustrated and discouraged. I spent 3.5 hours reading 5 pages and didn't understand anything. We have close to 60 pages to read for the exam. My parents looked at the material last night and told me that they would need a dictionary in order to read & understand. How encouraging! :) :(

My madre's cousin passed away today. My family is taking it really hard. Please pray that the Lord will grant them peace and comfort during this difficult time. Please pray that the Lord will grant me comforting words to speak to them and that the passing of this special person will lead them to search for Him.

My argentina sister asked me at lunch today when I will return for the states. I just started crying and answered "jj-uu-nnnn-eeee". I kind of surprised myself. I have 2 months left and I already cry when I think about leaving. My madre corrected my sister and said..."No,no,no we don't think or talk about this. Let's move on and think about happier things" So, I've decided that I'll begin, right now, praying for comfort and peace on June 27th. This will be one of the hardest days of my life. Father, grant me peace. . .

I'm so, so thankful for Mr. Mark and Mrs. Karen. We enjoy a time of bible study and mate (type of herbal tea) with sweets every Wednesday afternoon. I absolutely LOVE our time together. We are growing and learning so much about the Lord (not to mention spanish). I'm thankful unto the Lord from the very bottom of my heart for this opportunity to gather and study the word in spanish each week, and just to relax and "let down our reigns" for a few hours. I always feel so renewed and refreshed after our time together. Thank you Mr. Mark & Mrs. Karen! and Michael & Amanda Hodge for putting us in contact with each other. :)

This week we studied Acts 3-the story of Peter and John and the healing of the crippled beggar.
This man was at the gate in order to receive money, but Jesus had something better for this man. Often, we ask God to solve minor problems when in reality God wants to give us help for ALL of our problems.
But his healing wasn't the end of the story.
The Word says "Then he went with them into the temple courts, walking and jumping, and praising God."
This man began to travel with Paul and John and served as a witness of God unto the people. He never forgot what the Lord did for him. Later in chapter 4, we read that Peter and John spent a night in jail for sharing the gospel. BUT 5,000 people heard and believed.
I've been reflecting on the Lord's goodness and all the things he has done in my life. I'm praying that I will be like the crippled man, Peter, and John. In reality, we once were cripple. May I "burn" to share what the Lord has done in my life, no matter what the cost. Just think...5,000 people all because 3 people were obedient. How incredible!

Please continue to pray for my family--Jorge, Marcela, Guille, Coty. I know that the Lord has a special plan for each one of them. Please pray that the Lord will provide me conversations with them and the words and confidence to speak when the conversations come.


Psalm 143:5-10

"I remember the days of long ago;
I meditate on all your works
and consider what your hands have done.
I spread out my hands to you;
my soul thrists for you like a parched land.
Answer me quickly, O LORD;
my spirit fails.
Do not hide your face from me
or I will be like those who go down to the pit.
Let the morning bring me word of your unfailing love,
for I have put my trust in you.
Show me the way I should go,
for to you I lift up my soul.
Rescue me from my enemies, O LORD,
for I hide myself in you.
Teach me to do your will,
for you are my God;
may your good Spirit
lead my on level ground"

Posted in: on Thursday, April 29, 2010 at at 8:13 PM 0 comments  

I FOUND DARK CHOCOLATE!!!!!! ARGENTINA HAS DARK CHOCOLATE!!!!!! I KNEW they had to have it, but I couldn't find it anywhere! That's because they call it "chocolate amargo" (bitter chocolate). I was calling it by it's literal name "chocolate oscuro" (dark chocolate), but they use this to distinguish between white chocolate and milk chocolate.

So, I found this last Thursday (April 8) at a chocolate festival! I traveled with my tutor, Nadia, and my friend, Cristi, to Villa General Belgrano. This small town was founded by 2 Germans in 1930 and is well known for it's German delicacies like apple strudel and German chocolates. For Easter celebration they had a a festival full of activities from Thursday until Sunday. They had more chocolate than you could possibly think of! Thursday evening, we had the opportunity to watch "Vía Crucis" the Road to Crucifixion acted out by a ballet team. It was amazing!

We arrived about 10:30 am. It was about a 1.5 hour drive from the City of Cordoba. We walked the streets, entered and browsed through shops, bought TONS of chocolate, and spent from about 1pm-6pm on a blanket by a small river. We drank mate, ate more chocolate, crackers, and took cat naps. It was absolutely amazing! It's definitely one of my favorite days spent in Cordoba so far. After about 5.5 hours relaxing by the river, we walked (very,very short distance) back into town. We ate Pizza (mozzarella cheese, onion, oregano) for supper that was grilled over a fire pit (AMAZING)and we were charged for our utensils (even though we didn't use them and ate the pizza with our hands). That was the craziest thing I had ever heard! haha
After dinner, we returned to the main building downtown to watch the ballet team perform. By this time, it was 10:00 pm and the last bus leaving from Villa General Belgrano to the City of Cordoba was leaving at 10:30pm, so we booked it to the Bus terminal and arrived back home about 12:30 am :)
For those of you that know me well...This is MY KIND OF DAY! :)






















P.S. Daddy: I included the picture of the random tree for you. If you look closely, it's FULL of doves ;)

Posted in: on Tuesday, April 13, 2010 at at 11:46 AM 0 comments  

Boy am I glad that it's Friday. I thought I wouldn't ever make it through this week!
I can say that I experienced my first tad bit of homesickness this week. It comes when I'm stressed.

My dislike for history was confirmed this week. I feel like my entire week was consumed with writing my 5 page history paper. I enjoy learning history to some extent, but boy is it 10x harder in Spanish. I finally finished my essay right before class on Thursday after spending hours studying the topic in English, talking with other students, and spending 2.5 hours with another professor discussing the topic. Whew! What a relief! I practically threw my paper into the arms of my professor as soon as I walked into class on Thursday. We'll have them back on Tuesday, I'm hoping for the best.
Not sure if you recall, but I, along with 3 other students from Clemson are taking a photography class here at the University. All of the Clemson students were required to take at least 1 class with other Argentine students. (The rest of our classes are specifically for foreign exchange students) Needless to say, we chose photography. Can I just be honest and say that we hardly ever have a clue as to what's going on in class. It is definitely much easier now that it was at first, but photography has a language of it's own, even in English. We always prepare to spend 15 minutes after class talking with the professor about what happened during class. It's quite comical. I often wonder what he thinks of us, but we are honestly making an effort.

So today, we turned in our first project for photography. None of the professors here (NOT ONE) explain what they expect or what they want for a project/essay/anything. It's all just assumed, and I can't stand that! Anyway, Pat, Matt and I spent Thursday afternoon working on our projects together. We each had to select a theme and shoot 10 photos regarding the theme we chose and illumination. We had the pictures professionally printed and had to analyze each photo: quality of light, direction of light, temperature, intensity, contrast, plan, point of view, etc. Please remember that we've been taught these terms in Spanish and have no clue their significance in English. So, Pat, Matt and I struggled and pushed through each of our photos for about 3 hours. We hope our understanding of each definition is correct because we were pretty strict to these definitions.
So, we arrive to school early this morning to print out our analyses and we're feeling pretty good about our work UNTIL we ran in to some other Argentine photography students. ALL of these students are graphic design majors. Several of the students looked at our worked and made comments like "oh, nice" and "very good". BUT, it had to be a fake! You should have seen THEIR projects! These were the most elaborate, most incredible projects you've ever seen. They made ours look like projects of 5 year olds.
Anyway, I thought it was pretty funny. Here's to hoping our professor understands that we do not have ANY experience with photography and our majors are FAR from graphic design.
Today, I took a 4 hour nap. It was amazing.
Tomorrow I'll be spending the day working on my cultural videos for a class at Clemson. I hope the weather tomorrow is the same as it was today. Sunny, about 75 degrees with a light wind. Just beautiful.

Love you guys!
Can you believe next week is mid-April! 1/2 of my adventure has passed. That just seems crazy to me!

Besos from Cordoba,
Hannah

I wanted to include a few of my photos from photography. I chose the theme of textures with illumination. I realize I'm not a photographer, but I thought I would share some with you guys :)

Posted in: on Friday, April 9, 2010 at at 11:15 PM 0 comments  

Although I need to be writing an essay that's due tomorrow (that I haven't started), I just need to chat about the past week (or so) because something pretty significant has happened and I'm pretty excited about it. Within the past week, I've actually started to feel like a real person again. I am so happy!!!! A real person who is capable of understanding, speaking, and carrying on a conversation. I know you're thinking I'm crazy but you actually start to feel like a toddler when you're immersed in a new language. People talk to you something like this "Hey...my...name...is....Peter. Today...is...Monday. M-o-n-d-a-y." and I love examples like this..."The suuunnnn....the moooooon", and they point to objects as if I'm supposed to be utterly amazed like I've seen the sun and the moon for the first time in my life.
Another example: when you don't understand something the first time and then they (those that know) resort to attempt to pronounce the word in English. This is just disastrous. My brain doesn't switch from Spanish to English then back to Spanish.

But please don't misinterpret me. I'm beyond grateful for all the help I can get, but at the same time there's a point where this starts to get frustrating and you just want to grow up and be a big girl. haha I have to admit that there have been plenty of times during conversations where I've needed the person to speak more slowly and clearly than they normally would, but it's different with simple words like sun, moon, my name is...
This has to be the best feeling ever, ever, ever, ever, EVER! I feel like everything has just CLICKED. It no longer drains every ounce of my energy to have a conversation or to listen. I can have a conversation so easily now and say pretty much anything I want to. Wow, I thought this moment would NEVER come. I'm speechless about this feeling. I'm so, so very thankful unto God because this has been my prayer since before I arrived.

So I've been studying the life of David for a while now, but I'm 2 chapters away from being finished! :) Can I just say that I feel like I can relate to David? To me, the spanish language has felt like one big Goliath. One big 9 ft tall giant. Spanish is something that I've always looked to with fear and thought "that's impossible" or "that will surely be the death of me". But don't you love David's response to that 9 ft tall giant? He definitely had a different perspective than I did. He completely trusted the Lord, and knew that he wouldn't fight Goliath alone. Instead of looking at the giant from his perspective, he chose God's perspective, and through his courage and his faith in God he was able to defeat Goliath.
I love 1 Samuel 17:48 "As the Philistine moved closer to attack him, David ran quickly toward the battle line to meet him"
David didn't have any fear. He RAN QUICKLY toward the giant! At first glance this seems CRAZY! but it's exactly how the Lord wants us to react when faced with "giants".
And just as God delivered David from the hand of his enemy, today I feel as though the Lord has delivered me from my "enemy".
Today I read one of David's songs that he wrote after the Lord delivered him from his enemies in 2 Samuel 22:33-37:
"It is God who arms me with strength and makes my way perfect. He makes my feet like the feet of a deer; he enables me to stand on the heights. He trains my hands for battle; my arms can bend a bow of bronze. You give me your shield of victory; you stoop down to make me great. You broaden the path beneath me, so that my ankles do not turn"
Just as David wrote, I believe that it is only by the strength and help of the Lord that I have been able to reach this level of Spanish. Although I am not fluent, and therefore have not completely defeated this giant standing before me, I'm going to continue to trust in the Lord, and run towards the battle line for victory!

"The LORD lives! Praise be to my Rock! Exalted be God, the Rock, my Savior!" 2 Samuel 22:47

What giant are you facing? Hand your battle over to the Lord. I'll guarantee his weapons and battle schemes are more deadly than yours ;)

Posted in: on Tuesday, March 16, 2010 at at 9:38 PM 0 comments  

So I spent last weekend with the group of Clemson students in Buenos Aires and didn't get to participate in the birthday festivities for my madre. Therefore, I baked an apple pie and we had our own celebration on Tuesday night. The time we spent together was so special.

Posted in: on Friday, March 12, 2010 at at 3:40 PM 0 comments  

Just thought I would give an update on the dark chocolate...I have 1 piece left ;)

Off to shower & pack for Buenos Aires! yay! :)

Posted in: on Thursday, March 4, 2010 at at 6:45 PM 0 comments  

Yesterday, on my walk to school, I waded through rivers (called roads) with my good friend Matt. We were drenched and my shoes now smell like 2 wet dogs.

Yesterday, I received my packet from Mama & Papa John!! WITH DOVE DARK CHOCOLATE!!!!!!! Oh my goodness, THANK YOU so much!!!! I'm trying my hardest to make it last for longer than a week but it's so hard.

One of our professors gave Christi, Matt, Chapman, and I a ride home from school yesterday. How kind! He went way out of his way.

We're completely finished with the intensive month! The exam went well. My professor told me that I did very well on the exam. Praise the Lord :)

Today during our bible study we shared our testimonies (in spanish) ;)

Tomorrow at 10:30 pm, we'll be leaving for Buenos Aires. We'll travel through the night and arrive Friday morning. Our schedule is packed full of fun tours and adventures. I cannot wait!! Needless to say, I'm not so sure we'll come back rested!

Friday is my Cordobese Mom's birthday. I'm quite disappointed that I'll miss the celebrations, but I'm planning to bake her an apple pie next week :)

Posted in: on Wednesday, March 3, 2010 at at 11:32 PM 0 comments  

Sorry for the late update on my safety! I know many of you have been worrying/wondering if things are still holding together in Cordoba after the recent earthquake in Chile. I'm thankful that everything is well, we didn't even feel it. Or my family didn't. Maybe we're just hard sleepers ;)
On the other hand, my heart breaks for the people of Chile. I'm praying for an overwhelming sense of peace and comfort for the people in these hard days ahead.


I HAVE WONDERFUL NEWS!!!!!!!!!! I'm officially a Clemson University Nursing student!!!!!! :) I received my acceptance letter on Friday. How excited and thankful I am. I cannot wait to begin my courses :) :) Thank you Lord for an answered prayer and dream come true!

This morning I was deeply encouraged by Jeremiah 29:11-14. I know you are all familiar, but I believe most people memorize/concentrate Jeremiah 29:11 but overlook the wonderful verses 12-14.
"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you," declares the LORD"

What a mighty God we serve! I'm so thankful for His plans for me. Because of His plans, I have hope and a future. I'm also thankful today for God's love for His children. How amazing is it that our God desires to have an intimate relationship with His children. That He desires for us to know Him. He wants us to seek Him with all of our heart, to step out and to discover His majesty, His wonders, His love.


Yay! This week wraps up the intensive month of February, and marks our first month in Cordoba. That's so hard to believe! Our final exam is on Wednesday. Thursday afternoon the group of Clemson students will travel to Buenos Aires, the capital of Argentina for a long weekend. We will return on Sunday, and start our classes for the regular semester on Monday. I'm not sure what we're most excited about--our trip to B.A. or the end of this intensive month! haha

Thanks for your prayers.
Besos from Cordoba,
Hannah

Posted in: on Monday, March 1, 2010 at at 12:43 PM 0 comments  

Hola Todos! It's been a while since I've updated. I decided I would write some before bed tonight. I'm SO exhausted! I hope you all enjoyed the pictures of Cordoba! There will be many more to come. I'm not sure what mental pictures you had, but if they were anything similar to mine then you were surprised when you saw pictures! It reminds me of walking out of the airport and seeing Cordoba for the first time and seeing my house and my room for the first time. They are nothing like I had pictured!
So,things here are still amazing! Our schedules are jammed packed for the month of February. I hate to say it, but I'm glad this "intensive" month is almost over. Things will be much more relaxed after March 3! We've taken many tours and excursions around the city and country. We've spent the past 2 Saturdays in the country visiting ranches where the Jesuits once lived. These trips were both interesting, but hard for us to enjoy because we were all preoccupied with taking notes. After both trips, we had to write informative essays on the history of the specific topics.
Last Friday, we had our first exam which went very well.
Tango classes have started. This class is quite humorous. Only a select few students in our group know how to dance, and those are mostly girls. I always enjoy watching the guys dance. I'll have to give them credit because they are honestly trying, but I can't help but laugh when I watch them because of their intense concentration.
Horseback riding has continued. My class was canceled last week due to the rain, so I had riding 2 times this week. Tuesday was my first day, and only my 2nd time on a horse. Whew! What an experience! Horseback riding is much harder than most people think. We spent an hour galloping, trotting, and walking around the arena. I learned that when the horse is galloping or trotting, it's much better and more comfortable to put the weight of your body in your legs. Sadly, I didn't realize this until about 15 minutes before the class was over. Needless to say, I have a black and blue bottom and can barley sit and it hurts pretty bad to walk. All I can do is laugh :) So, despite this problem, I went back today. I couldn't resist, and I'm SO glad I went. We spent the hour in the forest, crossing rivers, roaming and galloping through fields. It was BEAUTIFUL! I LOVED IT! :)
My horses' name is Nacho. She's wonderful. Bless her heart, she wanted to trot/gallop so bad today, but I just couldn't allow it. I think she was frustrated with me.
We've come to the conclusion that our group of students doesn't have very good luck with horses. We have 1 student with major allergic reactions to horses, 1 student with a phobia of horses, and 2 students who've fallen off. I was told by an administrator at the university that our group is the worst of all the past groups when it comes to problems horseback riding. haha :)

Last Thursday, we had our first Bible study with Mr. Mark and Mrs. Karen Alexander. Praise God! What an encouragement! They met us at the school on Thursday after class. We had a prayer walk around the campus in Spanglish (Spanish & English haha). We had such a wonderful time together. We had 5 students attend last week, but we're praying this number will increase! We're planning to continue the study throughout the semester every Thursday afternoon. I'm so thankful unto God for Mr. Mark and Mrs. Karen for their availability and willingness to lead this study. When I first began to pray about having a Bible study, I was only thinking it would be among students at the University. Aren't you glad that the Lord works outside, above, and beyond what we think of or imagine? I never imagined that we would get to study alongside missionaries, but oh how thankful I am! Through interaction with them, we have the opportunity to learn more vocabulary and more about sharing our faith within this new culture. We're all looking forward to what the Lord has in store.

Sunday, the same group of students headed downtown for church (the same church Mr. Mark and Mrs. Karen attend) What a WONDERFUL experience. I LOVED it! Everyone was so welcoming and so happy to have us. I was touched by the time of worship through music and the sermon. There is something special about worshiping the Lord in a different language. I cannot wait for next Sunday. Thank you Lord for providing and blessing me with such an amazing church family.

Tonight during my quiet time, I was challenged with 2 Peter 1:5. I want to share with you some of my thoughts, and ultimately my prayer request.
"For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love. For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ"

My faith is more than my belief and trust in the Lord. The Lord doesn't desire for us to simply believe. He wants our beliefs to result in actions. All are a vital part of the Christian life.
I want to know God better. I want to develop perseverance. I want to pursue righteousness and godliness. I want my heart, my thoughts, my attitude, my actions, my words to reflect those of Christ. I want to be kind. And out of the overflow of Christs' love for me, I want to love those around me.
Lord, I want to learn and grow in my faith. Enable me. None of these are possible without your guidance and strength!
I don't want to be ineffective or unproductive. I want to be a light for my family, for this city.
The Lord has given me such a heart and passion for my Argentine family to come to Christ, and I am so grateful. I love this family like my own, and it is soooo hard for me to come to terms with the fact that they aren't believers. My heart literally aches for them. My prayer is that the Lord would use me in a mighty way to draw Jorge, Marcela, Coty, and Guille unto Him.


Love you guys!
Besos from Cordoba,
Hannah

Posted in: on Wednesday, February 24, 2010 at at 11:22 PM 0 comments  

The Campus



The City


The Country

Posted in: on Saturday, February 20, 2010 at at 9:42 PM 0 comments