Standing outside of a church.

Chris got in from work really late last night, so I waited up til 4 in the morning to talk to him. We talked until some time after 5 a.m. I must have been exhausted. So, this morning when I woke up..I was just laid out in my bed. My Madre came to the door and knocked. I can still hear her voice ringing in my head, I leaned over and looked to the door as she peaks her head in and says in her soft, Spanish and playful tone, "?Mari? ?Tú sabes que hora es?" Her sarcasm gets me every time. I looked at my watch...yes. I did know what time it was. 1:30 IN THE AFTERNOON!?! Holy cow. Maybe I should not stay up so late. She preceded to tell me that she knew I was up late. She knew it was because of my boyfriend. And she thinks it is funny that I am so in love. She just laughed and walked out of the room. I am starting to think I am solely here for her comic relief. lol

We went to lunch after we both showered. Oh, and I met Sara's husband, Nacho. He was sooooo cute, but soooooo short. He looks like a good match for her. They are really happy.
When we were at the restaurant, just like every other day, in walks two Spanish/maybe American looking guys around my age. Maybe a little older. I heard them saying things in Spanish, but that accent was AMERICAN! They were having trouble ordering so I asked them if they spoke any English. Instantly we became friends. I told them what was good, helped them order, and then we talked for the next hour while we ate and discussed Spain. They are traveling Europe and this is one of their first few stops. They mentioned having to catch the train around 9 tonight, and it was only around 4:30 p.m. when we finished eating dinner, so I invited them to come with me and meet up with my friends. They ended up staying with us for a good bit. We just walked around Segovia. It started to pour raining so we ran to our favorite bar/restaurant and hid out for a few hours. We ordered some drinks and cake and just had a really good time. They are from Arizona. Carey just graduated from the University of Arizona and his younger brother Chrisman is going to be a junior. They seemed to really enjoy our company. They think that they might be traveling around in Italy and France about the same time we are going to be. We are going to stay in touch via facebook and see if we can meet up over there. It is crazy how much just a simple home country can unite people. We didn't even know them, but they are American, so now they are our friends.

After the boys left us to head to the train station, Derrick, Christy, and I decided that it was too early to go inside. We wanted to walk around more. We normally take all of the same roads to get to everywhere, but tonight for some reason we wanted to explore the back streets and corridors. We walked for a good bit and randomly decided to stop in front of this church. We looked to the top of it and there was a bell tower that we all wanted to climb. We looked at the door, but there was a sign that stated that it was closed until July 19. Man! We were bummed. So we just stood around leaning on the side of it, and I sat on the sidewalk with my back to it.

We just talked. Enjoyed the chilled air. All of a sudden these old women came up to us. They started to talk to us in Castillano. Remember, we speak only Spanish, not the local dialects. We were not doing so well at figuring out what in the world they were trying to tell us. Next, from around the corner an short, old man walked towards the church with an enormous iron key. He began to speak to us in Spanish, and we definitely understood what he was saying to us. He wanted us to come inside...WHAT!!! You have got to be kidding me. This sweet old man. Came out of nowhere. He turned the key in the large wooden doors and let us into this temple. I cannot recall a time where I have felt more overwhelmed by feelings of Tom and Huck in my life. This was so adventurous. The moment we walked into the door, I had goosebumps. I could feel my God moving. The only reason we were standing where we were was because our God loves to share in our joy. Derrick, Christy and I were freaking out with excitement. He began to show us around this small church. It was incredible. Some of the artwork and ceilings were from the 12th and 18th century. This place was old. We wouldn't get to the bell tower which was kind of a let down, but this man, Quirico, just let us enjoy ourselves.

Derrick was in the back of the church sitting in the pews talking with the older women. I noticed he had something in his hands that wasn't there before. When we finished, Quirico walked us out and locked up behind us. Christy asked if we could get a picture with him, so we got one in front of it. The name of the church is Iglesia de San Sebastian. Quirico walks one way, we walk the other. Probably one of the most amazing moments in my life, and then Derrick shows us the bag. Helena, one of the older women, gave him bread for us to share. Three pieces. One for each of us. God must have known we were going to be meeting up with her so she would have had the right amount of bread. The bread was sweet with sugar, and it tasted of licorice. Our hearts were full, and the only thing we could do was laugh.