Travels and Updates

Banos and Shell, Ecuador
I finally got to travel!!! Last weekend, I went to Shell, Ecuador, which is the same place "End of the Spear" was filmed and the history took place at. I stayed with my missionary tios (aunt and uncle), and they live on the same missionary base that the missionaries in the movie lived. Surreal. I hadn't seen the movie before, but I watched it in Shell and then got to visit all the places in the movie! It was really great. Ecuador is ridiculously beautiful and I can't say a whole lot more about it, because the pictures tell it better than I ever could. But let's just say that I probably saw more natural beauty on the drive to Shell alone than I have in my entire life. My tongue actually went numb--NUMB--from awestruckness. So yeah. Look at the pictures : ) (Click the pic for more)



School Updates
School is going REALLY well. I'm glad I'm only a Jr. here, because I think being so much older than everyone makes it prestigious to be my friend. Stupid--but seemingly true. We had a dance party in class the other day, and I looked at my schedule and realized it was during the time we were supposed to be having religion. Ironic?

So honestly, I feel like I'm going to explode when we talk about socialism. I wrote a full page of scattered thoughts during the discussion. I feel all stressed out and unheard like I need to SCREAM! Because I can't express my opinions or thoughts in Spanish and never know when it's a good time to chime in. AGH! I have so much to say!!

On a sidenote: Notebooks and erasers are scented here, and Winni the Pooh is the notebook cover of choice. haha.

Thoughts
Why would God create us? or anything for that matter? He doesn't need us, and if He's all knowing, he knew we would all screw up royally and bash his name and worship other gods. So...why? and if the answer is he was lonely, why not just make us perfect, or stick with angels? and how could he be lonely anyways if he's already 3 in 1?
I would love some input! But here's what I came up with after a few days of thought.

It's like the relationship between parents and their children. Why would a couple decide to create children? They don't need children, and they know that it's going to be hard and their kids are going to screw up and not like them sometimes and talk bad about them to their friends and for sure be a burden at times. So why? They're not lonely--they have each other.
Obviously, there are a lot of different answers from different people for this question.
One person said that having children is a celebration of the union of two people in love. So who God would be in love with before he created us? Not sure. But that's just one answer for why people have children.
(I found 6 references to us as children of God in la Biblia, and I'm sure there's more)

As far as making humans or angels perfect...
If we were perfect, and therefore couldn't do wrong, we would never do anything good because we wanted to do good and obey, only beacuse we couldn't do any different. Essentially, we would be robots. And I know I feel all fuzzy inside when a robot tells me it loves me.---it means nothing. It's like being the only woman alive. All the men are going to tell you they love you, but you're not being chosen above anyone else. You're it. You're all they have the option of loving. You're not special.
On the other hand, the man you choose is going to feel like king of the world--because he was chosen above all others. He is special.

So--Maybe God does need us. Maybe he just wanted to be loved. Wouldn't love want a lover?
(If God is love?)

Currently Missing
My Mommy, my Amy, awesome teachers like Jan O'Connor--for real.

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