Girls retreat, homestays, and countless more adventures in Ecuador!

Sometimes I get really lazy with writing this blog, so I am going to try and do a better job this time :). But if you want to stay updated with my recreational blog which sometimes I spend a little more time articulating my heart on and those types of experiences you can go to meganspradley.theworldrace.org But alas, I have much to update you on! So I will try and sum up some of the things I have been experiencing the past few weeks. For your viewing pleasure I will make this list in a bullet-point type format with no particular order 1) About two weeks ago now I moved in my homestay family. This is a month that is completely dedicated to living with an Ecuadorian family that doesn't speak a lick of English. This has been the most exciting month for me yet because I have learned so much about culture, I have learned so much of the language, and have begun to understand my own culture more because of it. Not to mention, my homestay family is absolutely amazing. Patty (my mom) cooks some of the best food I have ever had in my life and they take us to so many exciting places all around the country! This weekend we are getting ready to go on a five hour drive down to the beach! This has been so growing for me even as I think about being a social worker and learning and adapting to different cultures! 2) This past weekend I went on a high school girls retreat as a leader. I didn't know what to expect because I haven't really been spending time with the high school girls at Alliance yet, but I knew I had a HUGE heart for mentoring and for women, so I figured what is there to lose? Right away God worked and moved in amazing ways. I got to know the 7 chicas in my cabin really well and had a lot of heart felt conversations with them, this time and experience with them has lead to a once a week lunch we are all getting together to talk more about who Jesus is, and also a few one-on-ones. I can't wait to see how God uses me to tell these girls about Christ! So many people at Alliance, even though it's a Christian school, don't know Jesus. So my prayer is God uses me to mentor and love these girls and be there for them and also get to tell them about who God is. 3) Sometimes it feels like a lot of my time at Alliance can be consumed by policy editing, paper work, resource research, planning for future events, sitting in on meetings, and more. At first, it didn't feel really exciting, but lately I have come to appreciate it so much. It is really cool to get to begin to form what I want my personal practice to look like and to have the space, time, and resources to do research and put to practice some of these skills! It's also really cool to get to see how a team of counselors work together on case loads and encourage one another when they are dealing with tough client situations. It has helped me grow so much in understanding more about all the different aspects of my major. These are just a few of the pieces of my life out here in Ecuador. Everyday is an adventure taking public transportation by myself through a country that doesn't speak my language and learning more and more about the culture. It's an adventure being with a group of over 32 students from all over the country and building relationships with those people too. It's an adventure seeing how God has used me out here and how He is challenging me in both my faith and my future career desires by being at Alliance, and I would be lying if I were to say that this internship has been totally peachy, because it hasn't. But I am learning so much about myself being here and I am just loving everyone with the love of Jesus and trying to be a blessing everywhere I go. So that's me. I miss you all a lot. See you in a few months my fellow SW crew. <3