Pray & Preach

This time I came to Zapotitlan with a few people from church, including Pastor Gerardo and a woman named Marta Estrada. It was the first time I got to meet Marta. Wow, what an inspiration! I heard her story previously, but I never had the chance to meet her or even hear her speak. She’s a pastor from Columbia, who travels now as a speaker and a missionary. She has done such amazing things with her life, such as starting an organization to help women out of prostitution, and ministering to gang members and the Columbian mafia. She has snuck Bibles into a certain country, and is going to Thailand for 3 months to help a group there that helps prostitutes. (I know this is just a little ol’ blog, but I’m trying to be careful about what I say because I would hate for this to show up in the wrong person’s search engine or something, and for her to get red flagged if she goes to a certain country again.) She was my buddy on the way here and during her time here because she speaks English perfectly, and she lives in Lancaster City so we’re practically neighbors. I tried not to tire her by acting like a child who wanted to hear “just one more” story, but really I just wanted to keep hearing stories. I shared with her a story of God’s faithfulness and she “one up’d” me, though I don’t believe she meant to. Boldness inspires me. I want to have the boldness to walk up to gang members and offer to pray for them, or to buy a prostitute for the night so I can tell her of the love of Christ. She wrote a book called “To the Mafia with Love,” I recommend checking it out. Talking to her makes me want to share the love of God with everyone, especially those who feel unloved.

It’s been exciting being back here. The group was only here for 2 days, and when they left they took Aby & the kids with them. So now it’s only Israel, Ben and I. Israel had a dream that Ben and I got into a big fight and I told him to leave so he went back to Mexico. I don’t see that happening, but Ben & I have talked about staging a fight to scare Israel. I like that Ben thinks messing with people is fun.

Both churches, in Zapotitlan and Huizitlan, are doing well. They changed the schedule around, and I think it’s better. We had services in both places on Sunday, and they were both really good. Some of the youth started leading worship, for both churches, right before I left last time and they are great! I’m so impressed with their talent. On Saturday they were here practicing for a few hours, and the one kid who had never picked up an instrument was playing bass like a natural. He was actually better than the bass player who’s been playing regularly for a month or so. I’m amazed at their ability to learn new songs, like they’ve been doing this their whole lives. I believe it’s God’s hand on them.

People here seem to like to tell stories about whoever they think my current love interest is. Our first day here Pastor Gerardo heard the story about the guy on the horse. If you keep up with my blog, you may recall that story. If not, basically I saw a really hot guy riding a horse while we were driving home one day. Yeah, it’s not a very exciting story, but someone thought Pastor should hear this story. For a few days we ate at Tia’s house. Tia is Pastor Gerardo’s aunt, actually tia means aunt. Her name is Benni, but we all call her Tia. The first day we were there I was being available to help cook, even though I didn’t actually do anything. During that time she called me a word I didn’t know, and can’t think of, and Aby told me it means daughter-in-law. I didn’t think anything of it, I just thought she was saying it because I was around to help out. The next day she said something about me marrying her son, and I then understood what the daughter-in-law reference was. Somehow Pastor caught wind of this, no, I’m going to tell you the truth. Pastor Gerardo was told that his aunt was trying to get me to marry his cousin, Arturo. Who, by the way, is … um, a very handsome young man. In this case handsome means: so stinkin’ fine I nearly passed out the first time I saw him. Pastor kept telling me that I’m only allowed to pray and preach while I’m here, and he would say “no cowboys.” Arturo was going to be coming home the next day, so the next day we were invited over to eat again. Unfortunately, we ended up going over there a lot later than we wanted. See, this is one of the problems with living with men. Tia came over that day to say that Arturo is home and she would like to have us over for breakfast. The guys wait for me to come out of my room, probably an hour or more later, to tell me we’re going there for breakfast. Well, this girl needs to shower, do her hair and put some make-up on. So by time I was ready, Tia had left her house. We ended up not going over to her house until lunchtime. Arturo was already at work, he works at a store in Zapo, and I wasn’t going to walk all the way across town (it probably takes 5 or 7 minutes to get there) to his store to say hello. I know I could have, but I didn’t want to. So I didn’t get to see him, and that’s ok.

Rach, I’m picturing your reaction to this story. I see you throwing both fists in the air shouting, “NO Becky! You should have gone to the store!!!!” :-)

And by the way, Tia now tells me not to call her Tia anymore, but rather suegra, which means mother-in-law.

Rach, here’s 4 Spanish words for you: tia=aunt; tio=uncle; suegra=mother-in-law; suegro=father-in-law.

Last night I dreamed about McDonald’s. I haven’t had any fast food in 5 months and I’m seriously craving it. I woke up briefly from the dream and decided today I’d head to McDonald’s. I was planning my trip when I remembered that I’m in the middle of rural Mexico and there is no McD’s anywhere to be found. Can I mention that despite my current craving, I think McD’s is pretty stinkin gross? But I plan to go there when I go home.

As I’m writing this I have 1 week and 1 day left. Yikes. As much as I look forward to going home and seeing you all again, I don’t look forward to not being here anymore. I’m going to miss the folks, and the culture, and the weather, and the food. I’m even going to miss my gringo friend, who is going to be Lord-knows-where for the next Lord-knows-how-long. Good thing God knows stuff, cause we certainly don’t.

Dropped the Ball

Since I have had unlimited internet access I have not been blogging very much at all. Yes, I dropped the ball. But I'm back! At least for today because tomorrow I'm headed back to Zapotitlan!!! Can I get a woohoo?!?!

If you would have told me 6 months ago that I'd be spending so much time there, and loving it I would have called you a mentiroso...or mentirosa if you're a girl. God did some kind of work in me because not only am I obediently going back, but I'm so excited because I love it there! I'm only going to be there for about 10 days because I want to come back "home" before going home to PA. Wow! Two more weeks!!

Yes, I miss you so much, and I can't wait to be back in PA to see you all! But I'm so at home here I really just want everyone in my life to move to Mexico with me. Ok? Ok, it's settled then.

On Thanksgiving, we celebrated Thanksgiving gringa-in-Mexico style. I made a traditional Strause Thanksgiving meal--turkey, stuffing, potato filling, corn, green bean casserole, sweet potatoes, 7 layer salad and cranberry salad. It was stinkin' yummy! My Mexicans loved it. Israel & Aby the pastoring couple in Zapotitlan just happened to be in the city last week so they came over for Thanksgiving, and brought a pumpkin pie. Yay for American food. Actually I don't like pumpkin pie, but I was excited for those who do. It was just a great time with good food, and good friends.

So, tomorrow I'm off to Zapotitlan. We should have some vegetables to harvest pretty soon, and I'm very excited about that! I'm hoping to get some sweet corn before I leave, but with the way the weather has been, I'm not so sure that's going to happen.

I had a few Spanish classes while I was here in Mexico City, and my Spanish is still really bad but it's better than it was. Rach, here's your word for today: manzana (apple). I want to spell it phonetically, but I'm not very good at that. Here's a try mahn-ZAH-nah.
Rachael quiere muchas manzanas con chile. (Rachael wants many apples with chili.)

Rach's Word of the Day

Rach requested I teach her a new Spanish word each time I blog. Since I already blogged today, before I saw her proposal, here's the word of the day for Rach...and anyone else who's interested:

palabra - word

Esta es tu nueva palabra.
This is your new word.

Mas Lomas

I realized I had forgotten how absolutely gorgeous it is in Lomas. Hilary and I got here, to my host family’s vacation home, Sat. night around 8:30. The rest of the family was away at a birthday party, but arrived at home soon after we did. The family had come to Lomas on Friday, and Hilary and I stayed in the city an extra day because she needed to be at church on Saturday, and her parents didn’t want her staying alone. Friday night was fantastic for me, because I’m the type of person who craves alone time and that doesn’t ever happen in my house. When Hilary and Chucho said they were going to the movies and invited me along, I declined and enjoyed the house to myself. I watched more t.v. than I have in the past 4 months. I laughed hard, and watched an episode of Extreme Makeover: Home Edition so I cried hard too. I cooked up some chorizo, which I knew would make me sick, and enjoyed my totally self-absorbed night alone.
Saturday morning none of us wanted to get up. Chucho and his sister, Pris, stayed with us also. We needed to leave at 10:00 to get to church on time. That’s the same time that I started waking up teenagers. We got to the church an hour or so late. I didn’t understand why we were supposed to be there anyhow, but no one seemed upset that we were late. Actually, we had to wait for the other youth to get there. Hilary taught them a skit to the song Jesus Mesias, or Jesus Messiah. They worked on it for about 3 hours, it was pretty good by the end of the day. I look forward to seeing them perform it.

As Hilary and I were trying to find our way to our bus to come here, one of the guys from church texted her because some of the youth wanted to hang out with me. He said they hadn’t had time with me and wanted to spend time with me. Awww… they’re so great. It’s been difficult building relationships because I’ve been back and forth from Mexico to Zapotitlan so much. I haven’t really had the opportunity to stay in one place long enough to pursue friendships, but now that I’ll be in Mexico for the next 4 weeks that’s something I really want to do. I’ve often, said that when I leave I don’t want to be “that gringa that was here for a while”. So now I really need to work on relationships with more people than just my family. Well, now being tomorrow after we get back to the city.

Last night (Sunday) we went to papa Roberto’s sister’s house. Before we went, mama told me that the house is big and there is a lot of food. The food was out of control. They just kept sitting things to eat in front of me. No matter how much I said “no, gracias, estoy llena (no thanks, I’m full)” the food kept coming. Actually, I guess it wasn’t as bad as it felt. I managed to turn down the cake, I ate the amazing tostada with shrimp, turned down the peanuts, ate some corn cake (mmmm…), only ate 1 piece of the candied fruit thing, only a bite of a sweet…. empanada (I think), and too much gummy candy. Rach, you would have loved the gummies. They were spicy and sweet …and muy rico! I’m not sure what I liked more the tostada, or the corn cake…both were delicious! When we left the house, after eating and eating and eating, we stopped for dinner. Wait, what??? I was very confused. We stopped at a taco place, which apparently had amazing tacos. My family recounted the food that I ate in order to convince me to eat more, decided I hadn’t had enough and that I really should eat some tacos. Despite their persistence, I won the battle and managed to leave without so much as tasting a piece of steak.

I’m hungry…and my family will be up in a bout 2-2 ½ hours. Today we’re heading back to the city. Normally it takes us about 1 ½-2 hours to get here, but today it will probably take 4 hours to get home because of traffic. I remember the same thing from last year when I was here. It’s ok, hopefully I’ll sleep on the way home. I didn’t sleep much last night because I wanted to get up for the sunrise this morning. I guess because I was trying to wake up before my alarm so that it didn’t wake up Hilary, whose room I was sharing, I kept waking up all night. It was worth it though. Not only did I see the sunrise, but I also get this great alone time.

Gossip & Tacos

Yesterday I was standing on the corner, waiting for the bus. I saw this guy across the street, and thought "I know him. How do I know him?" I thought for a few seconds, and realized he's one of the guys who works in the taco place up the street from my house. I wonder if I've been to the taco place too many times, since the only Mexicans I recognize are either from church or the taco place.

One of my new Spanish words this week is chismoso. Which means gossiper. Tonight a few people are at my house, and a little while ago we were just all standing around. They were talking, I was just trying to be involved. My host sister, Diana, said that she was tired, but was a chismoso so she was staying up to listen to everything. She said that I'm also a chismoso that's why I was hanging around. She then told mama that, and she asked me if it was true. And I said, "No, no entiendo nada pero los quiero mucho." It was a suck-up line. I said, "No, I don't understand anything, but I love you all so much." That's not entirely true, I understand some, but the more I let them think I don't understand the more gossip I'm sure to hear. Hehehe... Ok, for anyone who doesn't like that I'm joking about gossip, it's just a joke. I don't think my family actually gossips about anything, I just think it's a way of joking around.

I was on the metro today thinking about something interesting to blog about,but I don't remember what it was now. Stink! Well, there's always tomorrow!

Pretty Random

This blog post is going to be pretty random, and hopefully it doesn't come out too weird. I'm writing it when I should be in bed, at 1: 45 a.m. I was looking at pictures today from the harvest party at my church and this one stuck out to me.



The reason it hit me at first is because I don't know the guy in this picture. My church is the type of place where everyone pretty much knows everyone. And I try to make a point to know everyone, it's just part of my personality. I figured he's probably new to church, and something in me wanted to know who he is. So I emailed my friend, Mildred, and asked her. Unfortunately she couldn't see the picture, so I had to describe him. She told me his name, it's Ralph, that he used to be a Latin King, and that he's a nice kid. The term Latin King might not mean anything anything to my loyal readers, so I'll tell you what that means. Latin Kings is the name of a gang, not just any gang, but it's said to be the largest Hispanic gang in the U.S. So this kid is an ex-gang member. Here's a picture of an ex-gang member at a church party, smiling while he paints kids faces. To me, it's a portrait of the power of redemption by the blood of Christ. Ralph is not any worse than me. The sins he's committed are not any greater than mine. And the redemption he has experienced is not any more powerful than what I experience. But still this picture moves me.

I don't know if he'd ever find out that I wrote this, but I hope he's ok with me posting a picture of him for all the world to see...or at least for the 2 of you who read my blog. I'm looking forward to meeting Ralph when I get home...in just a few short weeks.

...and not be moved by You

Tonight my sister, Hilary, was listening to Everything by Lifehouse. Actually, she was watching the skit on YouTube because the youth in church want to learn it. I really love that song, and so my attention was turned (from the Eagles game) to it. And I started to think about my situation. I spend so much of my time just being bored, not really doing anything, and wondering what's next. And all of a sudden, I thought "I'm a missionary in Mexico, right now." This isn't about preparing to go, I'm already gone. It's not about getting ready for something that's going to happen, it's already happening. I started to ask Jesus how can I be serving here, with Him, and not be moved by Him. Every second of my day I should be moved by Him. I'm not even sure what it means, but I know it should change me.

Lord, move me!!

You're all I want, You're all I need, You're everything...everything...

I also want to remind you that your life is happening right now. Yes, I believe every season prepares us for the next. But we don't sit and wait for something big to come. We need to work out our salvation right now. Right where you are in this moment is where it's happening. It's where God wants to move in you and through you. Let Him, because He truly is everything.

The Gringos are Back in Town

You know you're singing The Boys are Back in Town in your head now.

Well, the gringo has been here (Mexico City) since Friday, but the gringa is back now too. I don't actually think I have anything interesting to say right now. I came back last night, and have been on the internet since.

I had a chat with Pastor Gerardo over breakfast about the culture of the Church in Mexico, and the things I should and should not be doing while I'm here. Also, he's going to be giving me Spanish classes started next week. I'm excited about that, but also hoping they go well because he's not the least distracted person I've ever met. And I'm not so sure how classes will go with constant distractions. But, well, he's willing so we'll give it a shot! In exchange for the classes, I'll be trying to help at the church. I'm not sure what I can do, because there's not much that they need done that doesn't require being able to speak or write in Spanish. We'll figure it out!

What else? I don't know. I need to do something so I can write about it later.

The Living Dead and Cracker Jax

This blog was written Nov. 1…or 2….well a few days ago.
Yesterday (or today) was (or is) dia de muertos…or something like that. I’m not quite sure if that’s right, but in any case it’s the day of the dead. To celebrate people make certain foods, apparently tamales and mole. I only say that because I keep getting fed tamales and mole. We have more tamales than you can shake a stick at, but the tamales story comes later. So, also for dia de muertos, people leave offerings of food out on a table so their dead relatives can come during the night and eat. I suggested we go house to house eating all the food. And if we’re questioned I’ll act like a ghost and say “Yo soy tu abuela y tengo hambre. Yo soy blanca porque yo soy muerte.” “I am your grandmother and I am hungry. I am white because I am dead.” Well, we didn’t go because we’ve been loaded down with tamales, as mentioned previously. Also people put a line of flower petals out their doors so the dead people know how to get it, I suppose. Some people also spend the night in the cemetery, eating food and singing and stuff. I just don’t get it. The other thing people do for the holiday is make balloons and send them off. Montse (Israel’s daughter) and I went to watch the balloons. It’s pretty impressive. I have video if you care to see. It’s impressive because they’re made with paper, and they’re huge! Some are 10-20 feet high. What I find most impressive is that they create a burner and light it on fire to make the balloon go up. The reason this is impressive to me is because the balloons are made of paper, which you probably realize is highly flammable. So they have to strategically fill the balloon with air before lighting the fire so that the balloon doesn’t go up in flames. Usually, the balloon does eventually go up in flames, you just hope you get it to lift off before it does.
Eating tamales in rural Mexico is kinda like getting Cracker Jax. You know you’re going to get a prize in the middle, but you don’t know if you want it. The other day I broke open a tamal to find a chicken toe, complete with nail, staring back at me. I put the tamal back together, wrapped it back up in the corn husk, and left it for someone else. Sometimes the things you find in your tamal aren’t nearly that interesting. But you just never know what it might be, maybe beans, maybe another kind of beans, maybe chicken, maybe a pig hoof, they keep you guessing. I’m sure it’s interesting to watch a gringa who has been faced with making a choice between 40 tamales. Choose wisely, white one, choose wisely.
There’s something exciting happening in the church, and I should send out an email update. The youth have started learning how to play instruments and lead worship. Until now, they’ve been doing cd led worship, or this one guy has been doing some old time Mexican worship on a guitar. But this past Sunday the youth led their first song. I’m so amazed by them! There are 5 youth who steadily come to youth group and church, and 4 of them know how to play instruments. The other one, the only girl, sings. Seeing them play on Sunday brought me to tears. It’s really great, I’m very proud of them. They make me miss my kids.
Tonight 1 of the ladies from Huitzilan, which is where 4 of the youth are from, came to our house while the youth were here. She brought us atole, which is a hot drink made out of rice and milk. She and Aby went and bought a cake and they threw me a little farewell party. I videoed everyone saying a few words to me, even though I didn’t always understand, it was so sweet. When Aby asked the one guy what he wanted to say to me, she said he had to say it in English, and he did a cat call whistle. You know, the one you do when someone looks good. I definitely blushed and didn’t look up from the cake I was cutting.
I don’t like that bugs bite, not at all. But I think there are especially mean bugs that bite you in the worst places. I thought the bottom of the foot was one of worst places to get bitten, but now I’m thinking the palm of the hand is worse. Well, at least with the chilly weather, the bugs aren’t as bad as they were a few weeks ago.
I’m trying to waste time while my laptop charges. There are only certain places in the house where I can charge it, and I was trying to charge it earlier in the kitchen but it got in the way of cake and atole. Now I want to go to bed, but I don’t want to go upstairs until it’s charged. Well, I’m out of things to write about for now so I’m going to play a game.

Muy Triste

Yesterday was a sad day in my life. In the morning I went out to check on our chickens who have been living outside since Thursday, to find one gone. The neighbor said she saw an animal (that I can´t translate) snatch it during the night. I cried a little over Princess Leia. And I brought the rest inside, where they´re going to live for now. I think they´re still too little to stay outside.

Last night I said goodbye to the church in Huitzilan. Everyone was really nice, and they prayed for me. But the one little girl (who´s around 6 yrs old) started crying because I was leaving. So I picked her up, hugged her and told her that I love her, between sobs she told me she loved me too. And the harder she cried, the harder I cried. Within a few minutes all the ladies were in tears. Two of the men gave me some good words of encouragement, which began with "I can´t say what I would like to say to you, but I will pray for you..." It was really nice, but so sad. I said goodbye to them because I´m leaving to go back to Mexico tomorrow or Tuesday for my last 6 weeks here.

Later I´m going to write more upbeat things about dead people, and chicken toes. :)

Bugs, chickens & squirrels

Winter had left, but it’s back now. It’s been so rainy here, it pretty much rains every day. It makes doing laundry difficult because there’s never a good time to hang it out. But it makes living easier because it’s not in the 90s anymore.

Ben doesn’t believe I can write (what I call) stories about anything. But in the past few days I’ve proved to him that I can. He periodically says something like, “we have trash hanging from our stove; write a story!” So I did. Ok, it’s not really a story, but more like a one-sided conversation about something. In that case it was about the trash that’s hanging from our stove. You may be wondering why is there trash hanging from our stove. Just in case you are, or in case you couldn’t care less, I’ll explain.

Here in rural Mexico we have issues with bugs, namely ants. So anytime there’s garbage on the ground, there’s ants in the garbage, and a trail of ants following after the ones in the garbage. So we can’t keep garbage on the floor so we hang a bag from a knob on the stove. Does anyone care? I’m sure you don’t, but it’s based on the fact that I can talk about anything.

My toes are much browner than the rest of me.

It’s kinda boring here without Isra, Aby and the chilluns here. I’m not sure what the difference is, because I don’t feel like there’s any less to do without them, but I feel like it’s harder to occupy my time. I was just helping Ben build the nesting boxes for the chickums, but I don’t feel like doing that anymore. Actually I should probably go out and round up the pollitos, bring them in, and clean up the house/church before service tonight. I’m hoping it cools off enough this evening to share some ponche with whoever comes, but I doubt it will. We might make ponche anyhow. Ponche is a hot fruit drink, similar to hot apple cider, but it’s only served hot. The other day we made some hot chocolate, which was so yummy, but that’s when old man winter was still here. We’ve been getting raw milk from a woman here. We boil it before drinking it, although Ben wants to drink it raw, as per the woman’s instructions. The milk in Mexico is gross. I really hate it. I guess it’s the preservatives that make it taste bad. Ok, I gotta go help Ben and wrangle some chickitos.

Plans seem to change on a regular basis here, without warning. Israel and family were supposed to be back from Mexico on Sunday. On Monday Israel emailed us to let us know they’ll be staying in Mexico for another week. Then they showed up Friday night.

Last Friday Ben & I reconnected with a family from church who haven’t been around lately. It’s a single mom and her 3 teens. She also has a daughter who is away at college. I enjoy the family a lot. They’re very nice, very talkative and very entertaining. We spent time with them Friday, yesterday and today. Unfortunately because of a certain incident there’s a lot of rumors being spread about the family, and our neighbors have let us know that we shouldn’t allow them to come visit. So we just go to their house now. She took us to a restaurant here that we’ve been talking about trying. It was so good! By far my and Ben’s favorite place here in Zapotitlan. Six of us ate for 95 pesos, which is less than $8. We had tacos, tostadas, and quesadillas. It was yummy!! I think Ben and I might try to go every day until we leave.

Tomorrow Ben is planning on going squirrel hunting. I told him that if he brings a dead squirrel, or live, or somewhere in between, into my house I will stab him with my umbrella. I have a feeling that if he manages to kill one, he’ll bring it here and expect me to cook it. Not so sure that’s gonna happen.

Speaking of Ben, I wanna give a shout out to Ben’s mom. Hi Mrs. Yutzy, hope you enjoy my blog!

Seven weeks left until I return to chilly PA. Wow. This time has gone so fast. I’m hoping that in the next 7 weeks I learn much more Spanish, and learn how to make a lasting impact. I just really don’t want to go home and be “that gringa that was here for a little while.” I want God to impact people’s lives through me….or despite me. He’s still working that out.

I’ve been writing this blog for almost a week. And I keep having to go back to change things. I’m giving up on that. I really need to upload this soon. Ben and I have decided to head back to Mexico on Friday. It’s really bittersweet for me because I might not come back here…until next summer. It’s hard to imagine not being here, but that’s the reality of it.

Wintertime in the Pueblo

Winter has come to Zapotitlan. And by winter, I mean it’s maybe in the 60s. That’s pretty good for me, except that I took all the warm clothing I had here back to Mexico because it’s always in the 90s here. So I’m wearing someone’s random Old Navy sweatshirt. I’m concerned about the corn because I don’t think corn appreciates cool weather. Actually, I know it doesn’t. I’m also a little concerned about it because when we planted it we didn’t think about the fact that even though it’s a tropical climate, the days are getting shorter and it may not be getting all the sun it wants. Well, we’re hoping for the best and believing for the name of God to be glorified even through the garden.

I got back to Zapo yesterday evening, after almost a week in Mexico. Although I didn’t think I was looking forward to coming back, I’m glad to be here. Israel and family left last night to go to Mexico for a week, leaving Ben and I in charge of 3 prayer meetings, youth group, and a church service. It should be interesting. .. at least it will give some of the people chances to use their leadership skills. They’re doing the preacher, worship, offering, etc. I think it will be a good time for them to practice some of the gifts God has given them.

Today is the first day that Ben and I are in alone in the house. He decided it would be a good day to be in silence. It makes me laugh because I think after just a few hours of me being back in the house, he was ready to not have to listen to me anymore. In any case, what a huge difference it makes when you remove 2 adults and 2 kids from the house. Israel and Aby like to play very loud music all the time, not having that alone makes a big difference. Although in some ways I think the music makes me feel more at home because, well, I live in Reading where there’s always some kind of noise, usually Reggaton music, happening. Well, I’m still playing music. Today’s choices are Innocence & Instinct by Red, various stuff by Jesus Adrian Romero, and of course always some IHOP. My new favorite IHOP worship leader is Tim Reimherr. I first noticed who he was at One Thing last year, but never really researched his stuff until recently. I haven’t found many songs by him, but I really love his sound so I listen to what I have over and over again.
Most of my morning was spent cleaning and doing laundry….no, that’s a lie, let me try again. Most of my morning was spent sleeping, the little bit that I was awake for was spent cleaning and doing laundry. It’s important to do laundry in the morning so that it dries before it rains. It’s now almost 2:30 and I’m bored. I need to find something to do with my week. I planned a couple of English class lessons, but the youth haven’t been coming for class so I don’t need to prepare any more lessons until they start showing up again. I guess tomorrow when I’m allowed to speak to Ben I can ask him what needs to be done in the garden, or help him the chicken house, if he’s up for that. Ben was very sick yesterday, and I don’t know if he’s feeling better today because I can’t ask him. (Because of the whole silence thing, if you’re not following along very closely.)

Ben and I made friends with a woman, Ana, who lives down the street. I ran into her today on my way to the store. She’s very nice and friendly, and seems to like to talk to me. She was asking me when I came back from Mexico, where Benjamin was and of course where I was going. It’s normal for a woman to stop you to ask you where you are going. And if you tell them the store, they’ll probably ask what you’re going to buy. Ana was also talking to me about the weather and how nice and cool it is right now. She’s right, it’s so nice here right now. It would be good if I could talk back to her, but at least I mostly understand and can answer the things she asks, even if it’s just with a 1-word answer. Once in a while I forget myself and speak to someone in English, but not very often. Usually if I’m talking to someone, like Ben or Eliezer, in English then I quickly try to say something to someone in Spanish, it often comes out in English. But last night I was at the store chatting with the man who works there in Spanish. (Ok, maybe not chatting, just asking for items.) While I was getting out my money to pay he asked me if I wanted a bag, and I looked up at him and said “Yes. (pause) Sorry! Uh….uh….si. Um, yeah….” Or it was something like that. My favorite is that when I realize I’ve just spoken in English, my gut reaction is to say “sorry” because that makes the whole thing better. Hehehehe. :-)

Oh, as if I haven’t had enough excitement for the past 2 days, I have another exciting story. Also on my way to the store this morning a man stopped me and asked me a question. I think he may have been asking directions, but I don’t really know. I had to explain that I don’t speak much Spanish, but I was happy to be mistaken as someone who looks like they belong here. I’ve gotten used to looking like I don’t belong, and getting looked at, so that was a nice change.

We usually travel 1 ½ hours once a week, on Tuesday, to go grocery shopping and shopping for other stuff. This week since the family is in Mexico, we won’t be going grocery shopping. Ben said they bought extra stuff for us for this week, but they pretty much ate it all. So, Ben and I have yogurt, 1 box of cereal, milk, pasta and rice (with bugs in it) to last us this week. The good thing is that I brought 4 cans of tuna, a box of mac n cheese, and a jar of alfredo sauce from Mexico. But I’m really hoping that one of the ladies around here, maybe Tia, will want to feed us at some point this week. Really, we’ll be ok because we can always buy stuff some stuff here. Unfortunately I still don’t know how to cook too many things that are made from ingredients available here, so we may be eating tacos de pollo, tacos de papas, tacos de frijoles, gorditas, and rice for the next few days.

I had a very girly moment 2 weeks ago, which I’m willing to share with anyone who wants to hear about it. This line is now my second disclaimer. If you don’t want to hear about a girly moment, don’t read this paragraph. I’ve warned you, what you do is on you. I’m not really the kind of girl who falls for the rugged cowboy type guy, usually. But the one day we were driving back from Zacapoaxla (the town we do our grocery shopping in) and we passed a guy on a horse. It’s not too uncommon to see a Mexican man on a horse in rural Mexico. But this man was FINE. And just for a second, I thought about jumping out of the over-crowded car and onto the back of that horse. He was riding in the opposite direction of the sunset, but I’m sure he could have turned the horse around and rode off into it.

So, as I was saying…Dios es bueno. Yup, that’s what I saying…God is good. Most of my focus is on Him, but once in a while I fall off the wagon and check out a guy or 2. :-) I’m in a story writing mood. I think I’m going to put my blog down for now and write a story.

It’s 7:15 p.m. and the silence day has gotten to me. I’m ready to talk. I’m ready to talk to anyone. I’m ready to talk to anyone about anything. But maybe it’s good, because I’m saving all my talking for my blog. I mean there’s not really much to say, because well, nothing happens when you’re in a small town where you can’t speak the language, in a house with someone who’s not talking and doesn’t want to be talked to. Normally I’d say to Ben, “do you wanna go downtown?” or “do you wanna go to the store?” or “do you wanna go for a walk?” But today all I said was, “wanna eat?” and “do you want this?” I’ve gone out like 3 or 4 times today, as mentioned earlier in my story about my conversation with Ana. But I doubt Ben wants to go out because that would mean he’d have to talk to people. You can’t walk down the street without saying “buenas noches” to everyone. And I do mean EVERYONE. Aby told me that Israel was here before her, and when she got here she would tell him to stop saying buenas dias, buenos tardes, and buenas noches to everyone. That’s the same thing Eliezer said when he was here. But you just need to accept that it’s the custom. Now Aby says it to everyone, like a good Zapotitlanian…. Zapotitlano… Zapotitlanite…whatever. (I think I like Zapotitlanian the best.) Oh, and just to clarify, when I ask Ben to go downtown that means the park that’s in the center of town. There’s nothing to do but walk around, but it’s something to do…more or less. Oh, or sometimes we go out for hot chocolate. That’s not a lot of fun when it’s 80 degrees out, tonight it would be good but the whole silence thing would diminish my fun.

I just did something dumb. It’s 11 p.m. and I decided to go for a walk. Zapotitlan is so safe that I really thought I’d be fine. But when everything is eerily still, not a soul around, it’s probably not a good time to go out. It’s probably a good time to pop in a movie or go to bed. This is the only time I can remember actually being afraid. It’s funny, put me in the middle of Mexico City alone and tell me to find my way home, and I wouldn’t be afraid. (Unless it was after midnight and the metro wasn’t running.) But let me step out of the house in Zapotitlan late at night when no one’s around, and I get scerred!

There are a lot of stray dogs in Zapo, and mostly they have a you-don’t-bother-me-and-I-don’t-bother-you attitude. However, late at night when no one else is around, they seem to think a gringa might make a good, white meat, late night snack. On the first ½ of the trip I was rather angrily approached, or chased by a few of them. To avoid the dogs on the way back during my little stroll around the block, I decided to go home the other way. That’s ok, except that the other way goes around a bend through a wooded area where there aren’t any houses. There’s a small area you come to that is not lit at all, it’s very dark and God knows what is lurking in there. Well, I made it around the bend, and through the darkness. With the house in view, I came upon a dog. It was a large black dog that was trotting towards me, in a not so friendly fashion. Not sure what to do when approached by a large, black dog at night in the middle of a small Mexican town, when no one else is awake, I crossed to the other side of the road. It’s not much of a road, but it put an extra 5 ft in between us. As my heart started pounding, the dog veered off the road and into our garden. Now I really should have shooed the dog out of our garden, that’s what Ben would certainly want me to do. But really, I was just hoping it would be so distracted by Al (the scarecrow) that it wouldn’t notice me sneaking by. If it did notice, it didn’t seem to care. I need to stop carrying steak around in my pocket.

I better go to the internet café tomorrow to post this, it’s already 3 pages long.

I know I need to update my blog, but I just don't really want to do it. But I'm determined to accomplish this task today!

Right now I'm in Mexico City. For reference, if I say Mexico or DF that's Mexico City. I'm heading back to Zapotitlan this weekend. On Monday Israel & his family are coming to Mexico and leaving Ben and I in charge of the home, and church for 6 days. That should be interesting. :) Thankfully, Ben's Spanish is better than mine.

I know I'm supposed to be learning a lesson about self-sacrifice, but I don't get it. It's a hard lesson for me to learn, and I'm ok admitting that because I'm trying. I believe that trying is important, especially since God knows that sometimes the doing is hard.

At the end of October, I plan to come back to Mexico for most of the remainder of my time here. I may go spend 1 more week in Zapo at the end. But I really want to take some Spanish classes before I leave. Unfortunately, it's not looking like I will be able to afford classes, so I'm going to see how the church can help out. I figure, if I'm able to teach English, someone should be able to teach me Spanish...right? Hopefully.

Randomness

It's been one week since we got back from Zapotitlan, and what a week it's been! September 16 is independence day and a pretty major holiday. Lots going on, lots to see. Mexico City is a great place to be all the time, but especially at this time of year.

I've been trying to write this post for a few days and haven't known where to go with it. I decided I have so many random thoughts floating through my head, I'm going to express them all here.

On Friday evening, there was a shooting on the Mexican metro. It happened on the same day I decided to ride it alone for the first time. There's an image from the news that keeps haunting me. The shooter was doing graffiti and when a guard asked him to stop, he shot guard. Everyone fled the scene. Except this one guy. I can't seem to shake the image of this man, he wasn't uniformed and I don't know if he was a cop or not. He just kept running at the shooter. Again, and again, even though he was apparently unarmed, he kept running at him. That man had to know he was going to die to save all those people. He had to know that eventually the gunman would shoot him. But all alone, next to the metro train, he charged at the man several times. I have to wonder what was going through his head as he laid down his life. Perhaps he knew some people on that train, but most he doesn't. It was possibly one of the greatest displays of love I've ever seen. Maybe he didn't know it was love, but it was because John 15:13 says Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.

Last night papa Roberto stopped me from putting something in the microwave because he thought I was putting something metal in it. I wasn't. Why would he think I don't know any better?

Because Ben is so smart, a certain Mexican who is learning English wanted to ask him if he got good grades in school. (I'm going to use a bad word, so if that offends you don't read the next sentence.) But the person mispronounced A's, and asked Ben if he got a lot of ass in college. I try not laugh when Mexicans mess up English, but that time I laughed hard.

Faith. I hear people say things like, "I wish I had your faith" or "pray for me because I need more faith." Maybe I'm wrong, but I don't think faith is given out in quantities. I don't think one person has more faith than another. I think it's more like muscles. Like I have as many muscles in my arms as, say...Ben, but his are bigger because he has used them more. I think we all have faith, but you have to use it for it to get bigger. You can argue with this in all kinds of ways, but generally I would say if you think God is telling you to do something, take a step. If you don't have enough faith to go any further, take another step. If you're worried that God won't meet your needs, take a step to glorify him. Eventually it's easier to take leaps because you meet him at every step you take. Well, it's something like that. But that also doesn't mean I think you should run like crazy not knowing if you're in God's will. In those times, you need to seek his face. Well, all the time you need to seek his face like crazy!

Russian food and Mexican lights

Last night I got in trouble with my Mexican papa. Would it sound terrible if I said it was worth it? To me at least, I think my Mexican parents would say otherwise.

Recently my family acquired a new member. I now have sort of a host-brother. Previously, it was just my 3 sisters and I, but now we have Chucho. He's 19, a good friend of the family and a really good guy. He's starting college soon, and he'll be staying with us. I should mention Chucho doesn't speak any English, but he's going to learn.

Yesterday afternoon I told Chucho (which is a nickname for Jesus), in my best Spanish, that I was going to Insugentes to meet up with Ben & Eliezer, we were going out for dinner, then to Zocalo for a light show and asked if he wanted to come. He said he did, and around 5:00 off we went. It was a huge relief to mama that I wasn't going to attempt traveling alone.

We had no problems meeting up and getting to restaurant. The only problem was that sometimes I don't so much enjoy Ben's relaxed, we'll-just-keep-walking-around-and-around-until-we-figure-it-out nature. We ended up at a Russian restaurant, which was good. It's not a place a would rave about, but it's a place I'd go to again.

Once our tummies were full, we hopped the metro and headed to Zocalo. In Zocalo is a square that is described on a website as "massive concrete area signed with a giant flag". It has the the National Palace on one side, a cathedral on another, and city hall on another. Because Independence Day was 2 days before, the buildings in the square are magnificently decorated in lights, and there are people dancing, performing, and throwing lighted objects into the air. And, man, are there people. The four of us wiggled through the crowd and found a place close to the palace to watch the light show which is on the front of the palace.

Words can't even describe how magnificent the light show was. I feel to use the words light show doesn't do it justice. You are standing there, looking at the palace as it lights up and the facade seems to move in waves. Before you know it you're watching as flowers appear to have grown on the front of the palace, skeletons appear and dance, and it's turned into a huge aquarium, not to mention various other effects. Truly amazing, or at least that's what Chucho said. Ben videoed the whole thing but, obviously, the videos don't do it justice.

So, you're probably wondering where the getting in trouble part comes in. It seems that when the gringa and 19 yr old faux brother get home a bit after 11:00, it causes quite the stir. Sometimes it's hard to be grown and living by someone's rules. But I know it's my choice to either follow their rules, or find a new place to live. So for now I'll be a rule-follower.

Adventures in Zacatlan....or rather Tepango

Adventures in Zacatlan
This past weekend Eliezer, Ben’s roommate in Mexico City, came to visit us. It was so great having him here, I came up with the brilliant idea of extending our time together by going with him part way back to the city. From Zapotitlan you take a combi (a van that’s made to fit about 15 people[important info for later in the story]) to Zacatlan, then you get a bus to Mexico. For those of you who came to Zapotitlan on the church trip this year, Zacatlan is where we stopped at the gas station with the 7 peso coffee machine. The drive from Zapotitlan to Zacatlan should take about 1 ½ to 2 hours. This time the trip took 2 ½ hours. We arrived in Zacatlan at 5:45, the bus to Mexico was leaving at 6:00 and we were told the last combi back to Zapotitlan left at 7:00, but that we should get on at 6:30 to be safe. We went and bought some apples, said adios to Eliezer, grabbed some cheap dinner, and got on the combi that said Zapotitlan at 6:30, just as we were instructed. I also need to mention that it was raining and probably about 30 degrees colder in Zacatlan than Zapotitlan which we weren’t at all prepared for. I was started to doubt the choice we made to go with Eliezer and explained to Ben that when I come up with something like that it’s because I make irrational decisions based on the feelings I have towards the people I’m with, and that he shouldn’t let me get us into dumb situations. The funny thing is that he didn’t want to go, but I convinced him it would be a good and we would have fun. The benefit of the trip, up to this point, was that I had a cell signal for a few minutes so I checked in with mom & dad and got to check my email.
I hope you’re not bored by this story because I’m really having fun writing it.
The combi we were on left the bus terminal and sat along the street for maybe 15 minutes as more and more people got on. I tried to count, and by best guess there were about 28 people on the combi. Remember, when I said they’re made to fit about 15? Yeah, that’s a lot of people, but that’s Mexican style. Pastor Gerardo once said we were taking a Mexican car to church. I knew that meant there would be way too many of us in a car that’s way too small. In the states we might cram 5 into a compact car, but here a compact fits 10 easily. I digress…
The conversation between Ben and me in the combi was deep and good, but also emotionally heavy. I was started to feel pretty worn out by the rain, the cold, the bumps and curves, and just wanted to be home. We got to the town of Tepango and the driving informed us that we’re not going to Zapotitlan, we’re not going any further actually. I assured Ben, who never actually needs any reassurance, that Israel would surely pick us up and all we needed was a public phone. The driving took us to one and Ben checked where the hotel was, just to have a backup plan. That’s why I love travelling with Ben, he’s more generally more logical than I am. The public phone was in a store owned by an older man who didn’t seem to understand Ben’s Spanish, and told Ben he didn’t speak English when Ben was talking to him in Spanish. I found this situation to be pretty humorous. I pulled out my cell, got Israel and Aby’s number, and proceeded to give it to Ben who said it to the store owner. It’s not that I couldn’t have said it myself, but I didn’t want the responsibility of making a mistake. The store owner dialed the number and told us it was busy. Well, that’s not really a big deal because Israel and Aby are never on the phone very long, so we’ll just wait. For ½ hour we kept trying to call and the phone was busy. Ben bought burnt animal crackers to thank the man for his time. Around 9:30 we asked when the store was closing and the man said he was closing, so we left and headed to Tepango centro where the man assured us we could get a (I forget the term) pickup truck taxi (where you stand in the back) back to Zapo.
Centro consists of the municipal building, and a pay phone. I think this is just fine because we’ll keep trying to call Israel until we get him. How long can they possibly be on the phone, right? After walking a few minutes in the rain, and talking about how God’s blessing was not on our trip, we get to the municipal building. Someone is on the pay phone, so Ben commands me to “sit down and pray,” which I do willingly after calling Ben bossy. By this point, our moods have changed from similar to the rainy, cold weather, to jovial knowing full well that God will pull through and be glorified. We prayed and we waited. I would like to point at that at 10:00 at night there are not many people driving through Tepango, and hardly anyone on the streets in the rain. So, we’re kinda outside alone with just the guy on the phone and some random dogs. The guy finished on the phone and walked away. So I went to use the phone. But to use this type of phone you need a phone card. Well, we couldn’t buy a phone card because everything was closed. We had already decided that we would either get a room in the hotel, or sleep on the benches in front of the building and maybe some dogs would come cuddle with us to keep us warm. As we were standing there trying to figure out what to do, and man pulled up to the municipal building got out of his truck and went into the building. We greeted him, and I was hoping after seeing our poor, pathetic gringo faces, he’d offer some help. He went inside and returned a few minutes later with another man. Ben talked to them, and (I think) told them about our plight to get to Zapotitlan. They asked us where we’re from, if I’m Ben’s mom (what the freaking heck!?!??!), and other normal conversational things. All I added was “we need a phone” in my best broken Spanish. The man who arrived in the pickup offered to drive us to his family’s house so we could use the phone. Well, that sounded wonderful so off we went.
The house was probably a 90 second drive up the street, and the man driving said he’s the municipal president. When he said it, Ben asked something like “you are?” And I had to check with Ben to make sure I understood, so Ben told me in English what he said. The man said it again, more simply this time “soy Presidente Municpal” (sorry if my spelling is wrong). And I said “usted?” To which he confirmed it 1 more time to the seemingly dense gringos. We got to the house and called Israel one more time, just to find out that the phone was still busy. Well, that’s about it for us. There’s absolutely nothing left for us to do. I guess we find a hotel and call it a night. Or not.
The president offers for his chauffer to take us in his car. We were like, “really?” So we walk up the street a little further and get in the car with the president’s chauffer. After several “muchos graciases” from the gringos, the chauffer drives us back to centro to pick up a man at the municipal building, and we turn around head towards Zapo. The driver and the man (who I hadn’t yet learned the identity of) joke about the music they start playing and about not having and music in English. A few minutes into the drive we stop along the road and the chauffer disappears for a few minutes. While we wait, was ask the man his name he introduces himself as the Commander of the police, and shows us his police ID. Ben informs me that said he came along for security and I start to wonder what kind of trouble they’re expecting. Honestly, I also start to get a little nervous because Mexican cops aren’t known for their trustworthiness. (Ben and I just watched Man on Fire the other night.) The chauffer comes back a few minutes later with cds in hand. I’m starting to think all Mexicans thrive on music.
We had the most comfortable ride ever on our way back to Zapotitlan. And we couldn’t help but talk about how apparent God was in all of that. We arrived in Zapo, and let the chauffer know he could just drop us off in town, but he insisted on driving us to our door. Ben gave the driver some money, we said many more “muchos graciases” went inside and were eating animal crackers, Cup O’noodles (me) and cereal (Ben) and laughing about our adventure in no time. Even someone who says he doesn’t believe in God, had to admit that was God. To God be all the glory.

La Proxima Semana

If there is one phrase I learned during my time in Zapotitlan, it's la proxima semana--next week. It seemed like everything got planned for next week, and next week it got pushed back until next week. Next week never comes.



One of the best things about Zapotitlan is that it looks like that. That's a shot from on the roof. The other great part about it is the people, they're so friendly. I have learned to enjoy being there more than I did when I first got there. Which is good since I'm going back for a month. During that month I plan on working with Ben to staert a vegetable garden and maybe even get some chickens to raise. I also really desire to work more with the youth doing some discipleship, but the language barrier is most definitely a problem. Also I am hoping to teach some English classes since so many people seem to want to learn. I think that will be a good way of building relationships and helping folks see that we're not as scary as some might think.

I love living with Israel and Abby (the pastor & his wife), they're great people who work hard and have a lot of fun. I'm also glad that Ben is coming along because he just seems to make life more fun and more interesting. He also sometimes challenges the way I think and some of my beliefs, and being challenged is good.

I feel like I need to blog more details, but I just don't really know what to say. Right now I'm in Mexico City, tonight we'll be going to church for some kind of Bible classes and tomorrow hopefully my family will be in church so I can go home with them for a few days. I'm staying with the pastor's family right now while my family is at their vacation home. I haven't seen my family since before their trip to PA, and I'm looking forward to hearing all about it.

We're planning on heading to Zapotitlan on Wednesday, but in Mexican time that could be Friday...or la proxima semana. It's all about going with the flow.

Zapotitlan & Huitzilan

Surronded by breathtaking mountains, Zapotitlan and Huitzilan are must-sees in your travels in Mexico.
I´m thinking about writing a tour pamphlet, what do you think? Just kidding. But seriously, wow what amazing towns these are. I´m staying in Zapotitlan (pronounced sap-o-teet-lan), but we often travel to Huitzilan (5 pesos to anyone who can guess how to pronounce that!) It´s a short, bumpy, windy car ride from one to the other.
I´m thinking about how many times I´ve thought, or said to Ben, "that would make a great FB status," or "I need to blog about that." Unfortunately I can´t think of any of those awesome stories now. I might just go copy and paste Ben´s blog, except that I probably wasn´t with him when he did all the cool stuff. Pretty much for me it´s been praying, church services, being hot, sleeping, more praying, more church services, cooking, eating, more praying, more eating....etc.
The truth is that I´m in a mood. I really want to be in Mexico City, just because I feel so disconnected here. I miss you, my friends (American and Mexican) and my family (American and Mexican). And I´m frustrated with not picking up more Spanish. But it really is amazing being here, and I´m ok with it. We don´t know how long we´ll be here, probably another week, maybe longer. And I will be happy to be back to reality.
Well, I think Ben´s trying to leave me so I´m going to end this.

Gentle Whisper

BibleGateway.com - Passage Lookup: 1 kings 19;: "11 The LORD said, 'Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the LORD, for the LORD is about to pass by.'
Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the LORD, but the LORD was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the LORD was not in the earthquake. 12 After the earthquake came a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper. 13 When Elijah heard it, he pulled his cloak over his face and went out and stood at the mouth of the cave.
Then a voice said to him, 'What are you doing here, Elijah?'"
I think more often than not God speaks in a gentle whisper. I'm sure sometimes He uses a booming voice, and sometimes I've felt like he had to hit me in the head to get my attention. (Or maybe he was showing his love for me, the same way my friend, Andrew, did.) But mostly He doesn't seem to talk very loudly, to me at least. It's more like if you ask your dad if you should be doing something, and he says "it's your decision, you know what's right."

The truth is that today I'm going to Zapotitlan, and I really don't want to. I don't have a good reason to not go, it's just not a convenient time for me. I need to do laundry, we were supposed to go to a movie tonight, my Mexican family is coming home in 3 days, and I don't feel like dealing with mosquitoes and heat. I know it would be ok for me to not go. But I don't think not going is best. In my heart of hearts, I think God wants me to go. When I ask him He says, "it's your decision, you know what's right." Sometimes I'd rather if He said, "get your butt of the sofa and go!!" He doesn't; He just whispers.

There's not really much to say from the last few days. More cooking, more prayer, more Bible study, more Spanish, more tacos. I do have a nice story to share. We were at a small Bible study at someone's house the other night. After the study was over we were eating sandwiches. I was offered some soda, which I turned down, and they started a conversation about drinks. They were telling me about some different Mexican drinks, and talking about who likes what. The one guy asked me my favorite drink, and I told him "Coca light" which is Diet Coke. He disappeared for a few minutes, but some of the guys were hanging out outside so it didn't seem strange. He came back from the store with a can of Diet Coke for me. Aw, isn't that nice.

Well, I need to get myself ready to head to Zapo! Woohoo! It's gonna be so good....mosquitoes and all. You probably won't hear from me for a week or so. Or a month, who knows how long I'll be up there. Not to worry! No news is good news!

Meat Juice

You know, each day is just a new adventure in Mexico. I helped cook again for some guys at the church. I made Mexican rice, and something called bisteak. It's small pieces of thin steak, that's cooked with tomatoes, onions and chili peppers. My teacher, Rodrigo, cooks the meat separately from the veggies and adds it all together to finish cooking. While it was cooking I walked away, and when I came back he tried to hand me a glass of brownish-greyish liquid. We went back and forth a bit until he finally said it was "jugo de carne" or meat juice. I still refused it, and he asked me "no te gusto" don't you like it? I told him I don't, so he squeezed some lime into it and gulped it down. Ok, really....that's just gross. The arroz y bisteak Mexicana turned out well and got rave reviews. I think Rodrigo is a great teacher, but it would help if I spoke Spanish of he spoke English.

I was thinking about something else I wanted to blog about, but now I don't remember. It's my bed time anyhow.

Surviving vs Thriving

Lately God's been speaking to me about surviving versus thriving. He draws my attention towards things like a beautiful rose among several dying bushes, or one lone bright orange flowers in a rooftop cacti garden. Those flowers are doing more than surviving, they're thriving. The other plants are surviving, barely, but that which is thriving bears fruit.
I think most people think if something was different their life would be better. (I doubt my grammar on that sentence, but I hope you understand.) Maybe you wake up at 6 every day to get your kids off to daycare, and yourself to a tedious job knowing you'll be bogged down with people's issues. You know you won't get home until 6, just in time to make dinner, clean up, try to spend a minute with the kids, watch House, and get to bed to do it all over again the next day. All you have to look forward to are those 2 weeks vacation you take every year. Or maybe your situation is completely different, but you can relate to how difficult your life is. I don't have the answers about how to change things, but I know that's not the way it's supposed to be. You are meant to thrive, not just survive in your surroundings. Are you bearing fruit? If not, what do you need to change? Whatever your situation you're being called to thrive in it. If you feel like you're only surviving take it to God and ask Him what you need to change, most likely it's just your outlook.

Gorditas

Today I learned how to make Mexican food, gorditas to be exact. You might be wondering why that's blog worthy. Well it's the first thing I cooked in Mexico, besides eggs the other morning. And see, the thing is, I love to cook. I guess it's one of those things that I know I'm good at and I can use it to bless people. So I'm very excited about cooking Mexican food for Mexicans. The highlight of the experience was when one guy asked me how I learned to make gorditas. When I told him Johanna just showed me today he didn't believe me because they were "too good". Yea, that made my day.
I really enjoy living with Johanna because I love her, but also because I get to spend time with people at church all day...and I love people.

Good Day

Just want to blog quick before bed. If it seems early to be going to bed, that's because the time on my blog is off. Maybe on day I'll fix it.
Most of my day was spent hanging at church with some guys--Noe and Juan Manuel mostly. Noe is very entertaining, and Juan is very nice and he speaks English. At least he did until Pastor Gerardo said no one's allowed to speak to me in English anymore. They made me a great breakfast consisting of eggs with tomatoes and onions, and tortillas. As they were cooking, all I could think about was how dirty their hands were. Oh well! I ate it anyhow.
This evening I attended a school of ministry class that seemed really good. It was about healing, and either I understood a good bit of it or it wasn't on healing and I understood nothing at all.
Some of my highlights from the day are: having a chance to talk to Pastor Gerardo about what I want to do, asking someone's name and getting the answer "he's married", having every person sitting around the table ask me in Spanish and English if I want some chicken, getting told I have beautiful eyes, and watching some men play football in the church. All in all it was a good, but long day. And I'm going to bed.

Understanding from God

I've been wanting to upload some pics and haven't been able to, so here's one of the group in Zapotitlan. I'll upload a ton to Facebook at some point.
Last night I was thinking about how it seems like I always understand what I need to. I might not understand what someone is asking me about my life, or when Johanna tells me where her husband is, but I totally understood when Johanna told me that we are going to Zapotitlan next Thursday for 10 days. I've decided that understanding is from God. He knows what I need to know and what is just conversation. And He makes me understand what I need to know. You might ask why He doesn't let me understand everything. Well, I wouldn't work so hard on learning Spanish if He did. He knows that too.
So it looks like I'm heading to Zapo next week with Johanna & her kids and another family??? I understand the big picture, but sometimes miss the details. :) I'm glad to be going there, but I know it's going to be hard. I'm afraid the language barrier will be particularly evident, and the living conditions are rougher than the city. But I'm excited to be going because I know God is moving, I'll have work to do and I'll be appreciated.

Cebu!

You know those songs that get stuck in your head? One of mine is the cebu song from Veggietales. The word for onion in Spanish is cebolla and is pronounced something like say-boy-yah. When I learned it I must have associated it with cebu because I've never forgotten it, and whenever I see an onion the cebu song pops into my head. I know it's weird, just sharing whatever comes to mind.
This morning Clair and Ben left me. Ben's still here in Mexico City, we just won't be living together. Um...wait...not quite how that sounds. Not that we were living together just ... staying with the same family. There it is! Good explanation, right? Ben thinks we're not going to be friends now, but he's wrong cause I'm a pretty good stalker. Well, that and I live with a family who cooks well and he lives with another guy. They won't be able to pass up dinner invites.
Right now I'm hanging at the church with some Christian brothers. I'm here waiting. Go ahead ask me what I'm waiting for. I have no stinkin idea! The pastor maybe??? I'm just going to wait until I'm told to go. Then I'll probably go wait somewhere else. Such is life in Mexico. :)

No mas Lomas

I've been in Lomas at my Mexican family's vacation house, along with Clair & Ben, since Tuesday. It's really wonderful here. Nice houses and pools (2 of each), awesome weather, amazing people and delicious Mexican food. What more could you want? Well, I want to get into the swing of things in the city, so I'm heading there tomorrow. I'm going to stay with my friend, Johanna, probably until my family comes back from PA a week from Monday. I'm not sure yet, but that's my best guess. This has been a great vacation but I'm ready to work. Remind me of that later.

They're leaving

Today is the day most of my American friends are leaving. I have so much I want to say, but limited battery time to say it all. The time in Puebla (in the mountains) was amazing. It was hard to be there for just a few days and see that kind of poverty and desperation. But despite the sucky accomodations (no hot water, and sleeping on a concrete floor on blow-up rafts), and enduring such things as hearing a pig being slaughtered, I almost can't wait to go back. The way God is moving there is astounding! We went to 2 towns in Puebla. One is Zapotitlan, and the other I don't remember the name of. In that town as we were having the church service, there was a Catholic priest on an overhead speaker who was telling people not to listen to us and to go in their houses and lock their doors because of us foreigners. And yet people came and listened. Before we were done, they turned off the lights on us in the little outside arena we were speaking in. And yet people stayed. Many people came to receive prayer that night, probably more because it was dark. They didn't care that we prayed for them in Enligsh, because the Spirit of the Lord was moving and it was evident.

Well, because of my limited battery, here's the quick version. After that town, we went to Zapotitlan. We prayer walked there, hung out with the kids, some of the men went back to the first town to install toilets in a home, and we had a service that night. We left Puebla on Friday, ministered at a church service in the city, crashed at host families' houses and went to a Quince Anos on Saturday. Sunday we ministered at Agrupacion Familiar Cristiana (my home church in Mexico), and had a service somewhere on the street somewhere else Sunday night. Yesterday, we performed dramas at a VBS at another church in the city and spent the afternoon and evening sightseeing, shopping, and spending time together as a team.

It has been an amazing time! Today I'm headed to my family's vacation home and will be back .... well, I'm not really sure. They don't tell me anything. I'm sure that will be a good time and I'm sad because my extended Mexican family is leaving today or tomorrow to go back home and I don't know that I'll see them again.

Man! So much more to share....I want to tell you about Joanna & Rodrigo, and the view from my 1st host family's house, and getting to know Ben....plus funny stories like the proposal con pollo. But I will soon!

From July 15

As I sit here outside room #2641 (I'm saying it in Spanish in my head), thoughts are so flooding my brain that I'm unable to sleep. I'm slightly jealous of everyone on my team who are sound asleep, but not jealous of their sleep from last night. The team is the group that just got here from Reading. This is the end of day 5 in Cuidad de Mexico and my first blog entry since coming here. Though, I’m wondering if I’ll actually ever get on the internet to post this. And now I’m wondering why Word considers that a fragment. It seems to like it better since I added the comma. Comma has 2 m’s right? Coma is one… and that’s not the word I want to use. I forgot to pay my car insurance before coming to Mexico, and forgot to cancel Netflix. Ooops! This is why I can’t sleep tonight.
Whoever might actually be reading this probably wants to know more about the things that have been going on and less about my flighty brain. Well, my first few days here have been trying. It’s good, but being tried usually is good. Read it again, I said tried not tired. I think the biggest issue is that I’ve spent a few days being sick. I was sick when I got here, which the swine flu Dr. at the airport didn’t seem to like as he yelled “TOS” at me thinking I would be able to better understand him if he stomped his foot. It also seemed to frustrate him that I shrugged my shoulders when he showed me the thermometer, which showed a reading of 39 degrees centigrade. I suppose he didn’t understand when I told him in fine English that I have no idea if that’s good or bad because I don’t understand Celsius. I later researched centigrade & Celsius and learned it’s the same thing called by a different name, and found out my temp was 102 Fahrenheit. Why when I wrote Celsius Word automatically corrected it with a capital C, but when I wrote Fahrenheit Word simply red underlined it? So, I was kinda sick when I got here then I got much sicker (or is it much more sick?) on Saturday, which I blame on tacos from the market. I got some amoxicillin by injection and various other meds that I have no idea what they actually are, but didn’t really feel better until the family prayed for me. By family I mean host family, extended family, and some other folk. Yup, other folk.
I love the family I live with in Mexico. They’re really great, and they have an awesome house. Unfortunately, the house is under construction right now. That isn’t, by any means, a problem. I mean there’s dust and noise to deal with, and construction workers in and out and you have to remember which ones you’ve greeted that day and which you haven’t. But really, it’s ok. The problem is that right now there’s no door on my bedroom, just a curtain, only 1 functioning shower, one flushing toilet (and one that doesn’t flush), and there were 20 people staying in the house. Yup, 19 Mexicans and 1 gringa. Plus countless others who show up during the day—a couple of maids, some friends helping to cook, some guys building a wall, some aunts, some kids etc. etc. etc. It’s a lot of people, a lot of noise and very little privacy. I don’t mean to sound like I’m complaining, I’m still grateful to be able to live with them and everyone, even the extended family and friends, are really great. (I definitely have a cougar crush on cousin cousin Paco. It’s a cougar crush because my guess is that he’s >20. And he’s a cousin cousin because he’s not a cousin, he’s the cousin of a cousin. So we call him cousin cousin.) But sometimes it’s nice to be alone in a quiet hotel hallway late at night. Though I’m certain after tomorrow’s trip to Zapotitlan I will be more than grateful for my awesome Mexican family, my awesome Mexican home, and the awesome Mexico City weather. Right now in Mexico City the days are usually around 75-85 degrees, mostly sunny with some rain, and the nights can get down to the 50s. There’s hardly any humidity, and I just think it’s about perfect. But we’re about to go to Zapotitlan, as mentioned above, where it will be entirely different.
Before I tell you about Zapo, which I affectionately call it because I have a hard time saying Zapotitlan, let me tell you who we are. The group from my church (all but 2 are from my church) came today. There’s like 14 of them, plus this guy who is joining us because he’s friends with someone in the group and he’s visiting a friend in Mexico right now. I hope that makes sense because I don’t feel like explaining it. So today, after waiting for 19 other people to shower, my family& I went to the airport to meet the group. From the airport we came to our hotel, which we’re only staying in tonight, spent a little time in the pool (life as missionaries is hard!) and headed to downtown Mexico City. We went to this great restaurant, which I’ve been to 3 times now, and went to see the square where the palace is. We walked a lot, and truly experienced the Mexican metro. Just when you thought there was no way one more person could possibly fit, because you’re so smashed up against other people you’re pretty sure you can feel their kidneys functioning, that 10 more got on….and then 5 more. You realize Mexican metro is a matter of survival of the fittest when you find yourself shoving ladies older than your mom, because you know you have about 3 seconds to make sure you and the 17 people with you get off at your stop. Not to mention, do the words hang on for dear life mean anything to you? Hang onto both your purse, and the railing…and the kids who can’t reach the railing. Good times! And I’m sure there are lots more to come! But not until after my adventures in Zapo.
And I think I’m going to leave Zapotitlan for another time because then I can write about what actually happened, rather than what I think will happen.
I have a thought for tonight that I would like you to consider. I wonder, even considering all my words and actions, do the people in my life know how much I appreciate them and wouldn’t be who I am or be able to do what I’m doing without them? I know this might sound like a thank you speech, but it isn’t meant to be. It’s just a thought. I guess I’d like you to consider who in your life might not know that you truly appreciate them? Maybe, even though you remember telling them recently, you need to let them know again.
Mom & dad, I appreciate you more than I show, and I deserve you less than you think. Love & miss you lots! There, that’s my thank you speech.

Small Steps

If there's one thing I've recently learned in life, it's that you always have to take that step.

Joshua 3 speaks about the Israelites crossing the Jordan. It states: And the Lord said to Joshua, "Today I will begin to exalt you in the eyes of all Israel, so they may know that I am with you as I was with Moses. Tell the priests who carry the ark of the covenant: 'When you reach the edge of the Jordan's waters, go stand in the river.'" ...
So when the people broke camp to cross the Jordan, the priests carrying the ark of the covenant went ahead of them. Now the Jordan is at flood stage all during the harvest. Yet as soon as the priests who carried the ark reached the Jordan and their feet touched the water's edge, the water from upstream stopped flowing. It piled up in a heap a great distance away, at a town called Adam in the vicinity of Zarethan, while the water flowing down to the Sea of the Arabah (the Salt Sea) was completely cut off. So the people crossed over opposite Jericho. The priests who carried the ark of the covenant of the Lord stood firm on dry ground in the middle of the Jordan, while all Israel passed by until the whole nation had completed the crossing on dry ground.

Who all is affected when you take a step?