March/April 2010
Reality CheckApril 20, 2010
Going to clarify some things I mentioned on Monday because I think I came across sounding slightly callous and a bit uncaring. Maybe not, but there are some things that you all need to understand.
First off, the bus routes down here are a lot different, crazy different. In Maryland (the only other place I've worked a bus route) things are a whole lot more strict. Kids don't touch, adults don't touch, la-de-da-de-da. Maybe it's not all that bad but that's the impression I got. Down here it's completely opposite. First off, we stuff so many kids on that bus that there is no seating left so we'll put like four kids to a row if they'll put up with each other. Then we pretty much scream our lungs out until we get to the church.
So, now that you know this, you'll see why we can't have druggies on the bus. It's just impossible to keep track of all of those people plus make sure the druggie (even if he isn't high) is behaving himself. (Not that anyone would allow a druggie on a bus in Maryland either, don't get me wrong.)
I do know, however, that anyone can accept Christ as his or her savior so there is no excuse not to witness to these people. What we've come to is that Misael goes over there about twice a week and plans to start his own little service which will be great, especially for him. Anyways, just wanted to clear it up with you guys that we don't hate these people or think less of them, we realize they need help and we're trying to help them.
Today is Kid's Day here in Mexico so everyone is celebrating by eating cake and buying things for their kid. On Sunday I get to dress up as a mime so I'll tell you how that goes because I'm really not sure what's going to happen there. ^^
Have a good weekend!
Behind the Scenes #??
April 26, 2010
Wow, it's been quite the week. Pretty amazing things have happened, pretty much all of them a lot of fun. They didn't all feel that way when they happened but looking back on them now they're interesting. Not amusing, no, interesting.
Brother Sexton's classes are going awesome. I love the local church doctrine and I've never really had an opportunity to hit on in this in depth. He's a great teacher and Mrs. Sexton is a lot of fun, you really can't go wrong with this combination. lol. Anyways, that was Tuesday and Wednesday morning. Wednesday evening Misael stumbled across this house in Pueblo Nuevo that is literally filled with druggies. Literally in the actual, correct sense of the word. It's a whole family and everyone, from the dad on down, gets high on paint and glue. It's horrible. They reek of the stuff.
Misael, being who he is, invites them to come to church.
He is very persuasive.
They decided to come.
Yes, yes okay, I know what you're all thinking. I didn't really want them on the bus but the two youngest kids looked alright so I let them get up and their older brothers followed suite. Misael swore up and down he'd watch them like a hawk and said we needed to stop at an Oxxo for some gum because they smelled really bad. Alright, no problem, we can do that. But, two stops later, he'd heard enough complaints that he decided to kick the older brothers off the bus. The younger kids (Claudia and Martin) decide to stick it out and, since they were behaving alright, we allowed them to. Wednesday went well, we were a half hour late (Misael likes to talk a lot. We've since had discussions about this problem) to church but we had 62 on the bus so I think that is why Pastor Dorr didn't say anything to me on that particular day.
Thursday was Thursday which is our free day which is also my horseback riding day and I actually CANTERED FOR THE FIRST TIME!! I bounced absolutely all over the place (if anyone knows how to keep yourself in place while cantering PLEASE LET ME KNOW!) but it was still fun and I get to do it again next Thursday. Yay!
Friday we went visiting and that pretty much sums up that day.
OKAY! Saturday was a test for the prepa students so we went visiting in the evening. (Brittany and I also went to the flea market in the morning which yielded excellent results. Three new shirts and they all ended up working out nicely.) I dropped Misael and Chuy off in Pueblo Nuevo so they could talk to the people at the druggie house and Moises and I went to visit the rest of the route which took us about an hour and a half give or take. We get back to P.N. (Pueblo Nuevo) and discover that Misael spent pretty much all of his time at another guy's house (he also comes to the church but that wasn't the point...) and still needed to visit the druggies. We did it real quick. He said they could go to church but only if they weren't high. (They call it andando chiva if you're 'normal' and andando loco if you're high.) Yeah, yeah, sure, fine. They said. (Misael also managed to slam someone's finger in the door at this point but that's another story.)
We get there on Sunday morning (with a pretty full bus already) and five people try to get on while I'm explaining things to a mother who really wasn't excited about sending her kid on a bus with them (she's their neighbor, she knows all about them). I explained that no one who was on anything was allowed on the bus ever, ever, ever and that her kid was also exaggerating things a tiny bit. As I'm saying this, this guy lurches over and tries to get on the bus. You should have seen that lady's face. 'Whoa!' I yell and block his way. Misael comes running over and we all (seven of us) group up around the bus. Inside it's dead silent as everyone (including two visiting men) watch what's going on. 'They don't look good, Misael.' I said. With that, the obviously high one lurches back off saying he's not going. Misael smells one kid's breath and allows him to get on and the other one refused to let him check so he wasn't allowed on either and subsequently followed his brother back to the house.
So in the end four people get on. We travel jauntily down the road and stop at Agustin's house where I'm suddenly pushed out of the door by Misael and the older kid he allowed to get on at the other house. 'You can't come!' Misael admonishes the kid. 'I ask you to do one thing and you can't even do that!' Thus he begins ripping into this kid. It took him about ten minutes and in the end two people ended up getting off. It was for the better except we did get a rock thrown at the bus and didn't dare go back to the house on the way home and ended up walking everyone who lives in that area back to their homes.
We discussed it like adults and determined that the druggies at the house would not be allowed to get back on the bus until they've shown definite changes. He's going to go talk to them on Saturdays and Mondays (we showed up about twenty minutes late on Sunday morning and I had to tell him that Sundays were not for visiting) and start a little service there for whoever wants to come. He's got a definite heart for this sort of people because he came out of the culture himself. I'm going to let him run with it.
We had 65 people on the bus on Sunday. The route is definitely growing but this is probably just a 'honeymoon' period and we've had those before. I'm not getting too excited about it and I wish we could arrive on time like we used to.
Saw a car crash on the way to kid's club this afternoon but that's small potatoes. Everyone lived and there was a police car right behind the car that got crashed into so like..no big deal. The guys were really impressed by it though. Couldn't stop referring to it.
My battery is dying and I've got to go pick people up. Five weeks and change until I go back to Maryland. Have a good week everyone!!
Reality Check
April 23, 2010
Alright, once again, this whole testimony thing. Very, very important. Here's why.
I was talking to a guy on my route who doesn't come but I know pretty well, he sells popsicles and he'll loan me an ice chest for a few hours to take my kids popsicles. Anyways, point is I've tried to get him to come out to church by inviting him and being a good testimony. This Monday I went over to buy some popsicles and he started asking me a whole lot of questions such as how we were different from catholics, why we did certain things, why women don't preach, etc. I answered all of those pretty easily and then he asked if we didn't smoke. "No," I said, "Our bodies are the temple of the Holy Ghost and so we protect them." "Then why," he asked, "does Lourdes smoke?" Lourdes is his neighbor who does go to our church pretty faithfully and even invites people and wears a skirt. Nevertheless, she smokes, and the fact that I said we shouldn't smoke and the fact that he knew she does really drove home a point to both of us. To him, that a lot of Christians are hypocrites and to me that testimonies are really important. I ended up telling him that I can tell Lourdes that she shouldn't smoke and give her all the reasons in the world but in the end it was between her and God. The only thing that did for him was convince him that there really wasn't much to this Christianity thing. Thanks, Lourdes.
So the next time you get frustrated at all of those little rules that you don't understand and you don't want to obey and you think are just dumb, consider what the people around you are thinking. I'm sorry, but we're examples in this world and, you've probably been told this eighteen million times but, people are watching us. Especially if people know you go to a church, regardless of what church that may be.
It frustrates me so bad, this. Really, really does.
Behind the Scenes #19
April 19, 2010
Crazy week this last week, culminating in catching a horse this afternoon. She'd been wandering all around the property for about two years now and no one had been able to catch her because she was just too smart. She was also selfish though and wandered into the corral when we left the gate open (the other horses were being ridden so no big deal there). I saw her in there and drove the Jeep over. The gate was shutting so I just parked the Jeep in front and chained her in, easy as that. lol. Now we have this wild fourth horse we have no idea what to do with. Everyone wants to tame her but..yeah right. She's supposedly pregnant so maybe that'll be cool. I don't know what we're going to do with her.
We had 61 on the bus yesterday! That was awesome, and it wasn't even a special day! We had a whole group of new kids come from a colonia we hadn't ever been into because the streets are just too hard for the bus to get into. So we opted to park the bus outside and walk in. Worked like a charm and there are tons of kids back in there, it's just a matter of visiting and letting everyone know who we are. With tons of kids, though, comes more problems. I can't remember if I told you all about the drunk woman from two weeks ago who was pretty mad at us for not helping her out (she wanted us to say a few words so that she would magically stop drinking. Not gonna happen lady.) Anyways, she got on yesterday. She's about a foot and a half shorter than me and calls me "pequena" which means like..'small-y'. I'm like, looking down at the top of her head and laughing silently. She says she wants to come back though, which is cool. She didn't do anything weird, just smelled like beer and got rather bouncy while we were singing on the bus. No harm done though, and she needs to hear about Christ. Misael is a huge blessing when it comes to people like that because he grew up in that sort of environment, even was really into drugs for awhile so he is a living testimony and encouragement to me when I see all these people on my route just high out of their minds, all the time. Misael has changed, so can they. And he sees that as well, plus he has a worker's heart and just won't stop talking to people for anything. I thought I'd lost him on Sunday because he disappeared while giving tracts out to people at a stop. I want to get mad at him for holding us up but can't really..y'know?
Oh! This is funny..ish. On Friday Brittany and I were watching a movie when I got this really long text from an unknown number. It read something like, "Pardon the dare, hope I'm not bothering you, wanted to get to know you, saw you at church when I went but since I'm military I got stationed and can't go back until I have free time." All in Spanish. So I sent back a text that said, "Who are you?" No response. So I just let it go. On Saturday I get this call and answer it before looking at who it was. It was that guy! His name is Octavio and he's a soldier stationed in Sinaloa. He said pretty much the same things as he said in the text and I tried my hardest to explain to him that, 'Look, I'm leaving the country in five weeks, I don't think it's worth your trouble.' He said he didn't care. 'Well, fine, I'm leaving in five weeks and it's not worth my trouble.' Still not a problem with him. 'Well, okay, I don't feel comfortable getting to know someone over the phone, you have to come to church.' Well, he can't so...what should we do? He would do anything. Fortunately at that time his minutes ran out (you have to buy minutes to put on your phone down here) and he had to hang up. Misael and Moises were there the whole time laughing their stupid heads off while I'm dropping the broadest hints on the planet to this guy who ignored them all. He texted later that afternoon, I didn't respond. He called three times on Saturday night but I didn't answer so I think he's given up because I haven't heard from him since then. Brittany composed an elegant refusal message for me if he should chance to call again. It claims I have a boyfriend in the States (which I don't) so I am reluctant to send it. My mother sanctioned the action, but still. I can't help but feel flattered of course and I hate to lie to the poor guy but if I absolutely have to then I will.
Brother Sexton is here this week (and next) to give classes on the local church which I am really looking forward to. He's a great guy (today is his birthday, by the by) who was a missionary pilot in Honduras for many years and has the craziest stories. We bought a cake for him. Yay! It's kinda ugly (sorry, but Ley here makes the ugliest cakes, never buy one from them) because it has black lettering (WHO PUTS BLACK LETTERS ON A BIRTHDAY CAKE?!) and it's slightly hard to read but..ah well. Can't do much about it now.
Have decided to leave the posts from March and April connected because there really is no point in dividing them now, I'll be sure to divide May though. Not that this is really going to improve or detract from anyone's ability to function. Just so that you all are aware.
Making the Scott's new prayer card tonight (because I had absolutely no time today) and will take it over to them tomorrow. They're taking off to the States on Thursday to visit churches and need a new card. I love making prayer cards.
Wearing my fedora today. It's only the second time I've worn it in public down here and I love it. It started out as a pretty humid day so I figured a hat would be an easy way to control my hair. I think I'll do this more often, it's really sweet. Plus I can do my eye makeup dark when I wear the fedora. ^^
Thank you everyone who reads and leaves comments!! I especially like people who leave comments. lolol. I like people who just read, too, but more the people who leave comments. XD -broad hinting-
Have a great weekend everyone!!
Reality Check #15
April 16, 2010
Yesterday the boys left early in the morning to go poor a floor for a lady who comes to church. She's from Buena Vista which used to be my route until the bus got caught in a huge mud puddle one Sunday morning and Pastor Dorr decided that he never wanted that to happen again and officially made Buena Vista part of Brittany's route which worked out really well because it allowed us to expand further out the other way. Anyways, all rabbit trails aside, the boys left yesterday morning to go poor a cement floor.
They (Misael) planned on returning three hours later because it should have been pretty easy. Mix the cement, poor the cement, smooth the cement, ta-dah! Turns out they had to level the floor, take out a ton of rocks and only then could they mix and poor the cement. It took them all day.
But our boys are so great and awesome that they worked all day, for absolutely no money, at a back-breaking job because they wanted to. They didn't get back until nine in the evening and had missed their favorite lunch (Navojo tacos) and were rather irritated about that fact but they took what I made (potatoes with meat) and ate it happily. They had been given lunch there in Buena Vista but there's just something different about coming home to what serves as your family and eating with them.
And you know what? I actually missed them while they were gone. Everyone did. We are literally brothers and sisters in Christ and we act that way.
The moral of this story is that the boys who live on the property are great. lol. This won't have anything to do with any of you but I just wanted to be proud of our guys for a bit.
Have a great weekend!!
Behind the Scenes #18
April 12, 2010
Sometimes the ministry just has this way of punching you in the chin and watching you recoil. lol. (I'm not usually dramatic like this, I swear.) Over the last couple of days we've had a lot of shocking news. Number one is that spring break is over, which is good and bad in its own way. I wish I could still have no classes but I'm also glad to finally have something to do with all of my time.
Anyways, the bad news is that we've recently received news about two kids we used to work with. One of them, a fourteen year old girl, was pregnant and lost her baby, supposedly by falling down. She's had a really rough life and the saddest thing is that it's all her own doing. We've offered to help her several times but she just doesn't want help. She's completely happy with things the way they are. The second kid is the brother of one of the guys who lives on the property, he himself also lived on the property until he got into trouble for beating someone up. He's on drugs and we haven't seen him at church in quite awhile now. Prayer for these kids, both of them are really young, would be extremely appreciated. Their names are Carla and Marcos, respectively.
The horses are great although pretty much everyone is already tired of them. Misael went riding this morning and his saddle slipped under the horse. He himself fell off and the horse, obviously unaccustomed to having something flopping around between her legs, went crazy and ran off all over the place. He won't get back on. Brittany isn't really fond of horses in the first place so that cuts her out. The other two girls won't even touch the horses so that leaves pretty much just me. I love it. Unfortunately I've only got two months left. Less, actually. I had forgotten how much I actually loved horses.
There will be a Friday post this week, I promise. lol. Have a great week everyone!! Thanks for reading!
Behind the Scenes #17
April 06, 2010
Wow, so it's been crazy busy recently and I haven't really felt like posting for awhile so that's where I haven't posted anything on the last two Fridays, plus everything has been hectic. I'll move April's posts to their own page here sometime next week but until then you'll all just have to put up with the jumble of April and March being mixed together. That's how I feel at the moment anyways.
I imagine a lot of you have heard about the earthquake up in Mexicalli. That's about 12 hours away from us so no, I didn't feel anything but we did have a group of people from the church (Misael, Chuy, Abraham, Sugey and Rosario) who were up there when it happened. They told me that it felt like they were suddenly dancing. Everything just started moving around all over the place. There was an aftershock that evening in the church service as well and they all felt like Presbyterians. They're all in Obregon right now at another conference. I was there yesterday on account that I was supposed to be in a special but the pastor canceled it at the last moment so I didn't actually end up singing which is fortunate because I was actually overdosing on cough drops the whole drive to Obregon because my throat is just killing me. I've been trying not to talk while I'm alone and I was surprised to learn that I actually talk to myself quite a lot I just never noticed it until I decided not to talk.
Mike is bringing three horses down tomorrow. One word, awesome!!!
Oh, and I now have a guitar which is going to cause more logistical problems when it comes to getting to Maryland. I already have a quilt and a chair that I'm bringing with me. lol. My whole family is just going to have to pack empty suitcases.
And that's pretty much it. Made a pinata out of a huge box on Saturday which turned out..insterestingly. Not all pinatas are created equal, especially those made at 10 o'clock Saturday evening. ^^ Not that it really matters because the point of a pinata is just to tear it apart anyways so you don't want to spend a lot of time on something like that, y'know?
They are now playing Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds in the background now. I think this is a good place to stop.
Have a good week everyone!!
Behind the Scenes #16
March 29, 2010
So it's officially almost the end of an era. I'm about to buy the plane ticket that will officially move me back to Maryland. I've got nine weeks left in Mexico and then that's it. How very, very sad. I'm just not going to think about it.
So no real updates this weekend because it was really, really crazy busy. I mean, beyond the usual norm. On Friday we had a teen activity where we sold mini-pizzas for a fundraiser to try to get our youth group to a camp this summer. It worked out alright, I didn't realize how averse people are to looking a salesperson in the eye. It's not as if I've never sold anything before, but I've never sat in a plaza with a sign and outright asked people if they wanted pizzas. That was really hard. In the end we moved to a stoplight and sold pizzas while the light was red. That worked out much better. Mario would take the cars with families and I'd take the trucks with guys. Yeah, it sounds bad, but I sold a lot of pizza. Around eight in the evening a drunk (who somehow knew me?) wandered past our corner and decided to camp out so we left. We sold all but two pizzas. I'm really sick of pizzas now though. lol
Saturday was a blur. We had visitation in the morning and evening because we had to skip it on Friday. Led someone to the Lord though, that was a huge blessing. His name is Christian and he wants to come on Wednesday to church. I'm really hoping he does, he seemed really super interested.
On Sunday we had a men's meeting which the girls performed a drama for. We did that scene where Solomon orders the baby cut in two pieces to determine who the real mother is. It went well. The special was much more fun though.
Today half the people on the property traveled up to Los Camotes to stay the evening. It was an orphanage trip so I didn't have to go. Instead I went in and paid the Jeep plates. I'm completely legal again. ^^ Everyone cheer.
Two weeks of spring break are going to go quickly. I've got various plans including finding a museum I've been looking for since just about forever. There aren't going to be a lot of people on the property so it'll be kinda lonely but we'll work it out.
Love y'all! Have a good week!!
Behind the Scenes #15
March 22, 2010
Happy spring everyone! I know the first day of spring falls on one of these days, either today or yesterday. The school on the property celebrated it by hosting a parade through Guaymitas and La Cuchilla this morning. It was a two car parade, three car when Markie showed up and joined in about halfway through. At first everyone was embarrassed about it but in the end everyone started enjoying themselves a whole lot. I wouldn't be surprised if there were more parades in the near future.
It's gotten to be some kind of hot down here, seriously. At least ninety in the afternoon on most days, no A/C yet though, we don't save that until it's 80 degrees at ten in the morning. ^^ lol. Kidding.
Spring break starts next week, already looking frightfully eventful. A conference and a camp at least. I'll have some days off though, not that a lot of my days aren't already off. lol. I plan on sleeping in at least once and staying up late most nights. XD I've run out of movies to watch though so next thing I'm off to Amazon to buy used versions of Hogan's Heroes because that show is epic. I've finished all of Wild Wild West, determined that Artimus Gordon is the most awesome person ever and if you haven't watched the snow then your life is simply incomplete.
I think that's all this post will consist of. lol. You already know what happened last week with the wallet situation and all of that and, in light of that, the water not working in my house just pales. (The water works again, sorta. lol)
So take care everyone! Go do something crazy for that spring fever, I'll be back on Firday!! Adios!!
Reality Check #14
March 19, 2010
I've probably talked about this subject before and I will inevitably talk about it again because it's just one of those things that constantly surprises me although I've experienced it enough by now that it really shouldn't.
God is so much in control. He knows exactly what is going on everywhere with everything. He knows what is going to happen and what has already happened because He is the one that allowed it to happen. We shouldn't ever worry about things because God is all-powerful and has it firmly in control regardless of what we think.
Case in point. On Wednesday I lost my wallet. I had it on the bus with me because I thought I might need it and because Jorge was taking the Jeep to change the oil in it (finally!). Not that I don't trust Jorge, I just felt better having my wallet with me. Anyways, at the end of the route, back at church, I had finished eating dinner and realized, much to my dismay, that I had gotten on the bus with the wallet but had not gotten off with it. So I called up Martin, the guy who owns the buses, explained the situation and he said to come over and look for it (they're really nice people over there). It wasn't in the bus anywhere.
I can cancel credit cards and replace a drivers license but I also had my social security card in there (don't ask my why, I just did) and that was causing me to panic in a huge way. I prayed and prayed and prayed. Misael, Chuy, Abraham and I all went up to Nogalitos on Thursday to look around to see if anyone had seen anything. I offered a ten dollar reward to anyone who would come forward with it, no questions asked, didn't care about the money, just wanted the cards that were inside (and useless to a teenager anyways because they obviously don't look like the picture on my license). Nothing.
Prayed and prayed and prayed some more. I don't think I've ever been so anxious over anything ever in my life. For whatever reason I couldn't find peace about it, couldn't completely give it over to God and stop worrying about it. I've always had this need to control things like this. Plus I felt like a moron for losing it in the first place.
Finally, this morning, I woke up without a problem. No anxiety, no dread, just the peace I had been praying for. It was so nice. Then, around noon, Martin called me and told me they'd been taking seats out of the bus and encountered a wallet and was it possibly mine? Black with a little pink flower he said. That was it!!
Within a matter of five or six minutes I was in Capohuiza at the bus stop collecting my wallet from Martin's wife. The cash was gone but I'd gladly pay $12 to learn a lesson like that. (Never again though.) The wallet is a little bit worse for the wear as it was stuffed under one of the seats but everything important was in it. The other miraculous thing was that my dad (when I called him up at one in the morning) only put a temporary block on my credit card instead of canceling it so I already have access to my account back. Isn't that amazing?
See? So God is always in control, even when we obviously aren't. He knows what happened, what is happening and what is going to happen. He knows where all the lost things are and when or if they'll be found. It's really hard not to worry, especially about something so important, but we need to realize that we just don't need to. End of story.
Have a good weekend everyone!!
P.S. I did take my social security card out of my wallet. ^^
Behind the Scenes #13.2
March 17, 2010
Alright, my friends, this is going to be epic.
Let me start off by saying that it is so much fun to celebrate a holiday in a country where they've never celebrated it before. St. Patrick's Day is one of my favorite holidays (bet ya didn't know that now, didja?) though I'm not sure why, probably has something to do with everyone wearing the same color (I love uniformity!!). Anyways, down here it is absolutely unheard of so this morning I put on green eye shadow (just about shocked everyone) and Brittany and I happily explained to everyone the purpose of the holiday, after pinching them. They learn quickly though, so so much for that.
Alrighty then, starting with last week, on Wednesday the main speaker in the church literally started smoking while I was playing piano. Amazing. The piano cut out and the next thing I know Markie is racing up to the platform to try and figure out what smells like smoke. Then we saw the clouds of smoke pouring out of the speaker and figured out what it was. Pastor Dorr brought a new one down with him that Saturday. lol
Brittany also got pulled over on Wednesday and just about scared the snot out of the policeman who was talking to her. She claims he must have been barely 20 and was literally shaking in his boots (the policemen down here wear amazing boots). He let her go. A bus also broke down on Wednesday so I ran two routes but that's just..meh.
Thursday is the greatest day ever because I have no responsibilities. It was wonderful.
Friday watched this horrifying movie over at Jennifer's house. Did you all know that it 1968, the year the Olympics were held in Mexico City, the president of Mexico at that time ordered a large group of people to be killed? Yes! Killed! Slaughtered, right there in a plaza in Mexico City D.F.! It is all very complicated and since then has been completely apologized for, everyone knows what happened but if you're interested (and speak Spanish, sorry, it's only in Spanish) the movie is called 'Rojo Amanecer' which means 'Red Dawn'. A quick warning though, the ending is absolutely tragic.
You can also look all of this up online too, I'm sure.
On Saturday Misael was feeling ill so drank some tea someone gave him at one of the houses we visit in the morning. It made him 'bien happy' as they say, only the word happy comes out sounding like 'hoppy'. We still aren't sure what the tea was, only that it came off of a bush at the back of the house and seems to have worked as the next day, Sunday, he was functioning fine. We get a lot of food given to us on the route. Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining at all, it largely consists of bread and tortillas though on occasion we get mole (moh-ley not 'mole') and coffee. On Sunday someone handed me a roast beef sandwich (just randomly, around 9:00 in the morning). It was good, I split it with Misael who was my only worker at the time. Misael himself has been given a whole chicken (which was amazingly tough to eat) and a bag of eggs (which were not).
Sunday was Jennifer's birthday so we went to her house to eat Pozole which was better than the beef stew we were going to eat at church. Once again, not complaining, but when you eat the same thing all the time you get tired of it. We spent a lot of time with Jennifer this week.
You all know about Monday, I forgot to upload the pictures (to be honest I'm not even sure where my camera is at this moment) but I know I really need to. It also occurred to me that I still have the snowman up in the logo. I'm going to switch that over as soon as I save this post. Heh.
So there y'go! I'm about to run off and get the Jeep's oil changed (got oil all over my favorite green shirt!!!!) and after that...dunno. ^^
Love y'all!!
Behind the Scenes #13
March 15, 2010
I had so much to say in this update but since I'm running late I'll have to make it a short one and maybe do another one sometime this week if I can. Really, a lot happened this week.
However, just got back from San Carlos where we had a ton of fun. At least I did anyways. We climbed up some dunes (first time I'd done that) and went to a really beautiful beach and also a mirador where I got to explore this little path some people had made (because in Mexico they could really care less if you accidentally killed some purple lichen or some such thing) on the mountainside which led to a rocky point. I'll post pictures in the middle of the week.
Anyways, have to make a coffee run and then get to class I'm running late right now. I'll post a full update on Wednesday, sorry about that everyone.
Thanks for reading! I appreciate the comments you all leave!! Have a good week!!
Reality Check #12
March 12, 2010
There's this book wandering around campus (haha! campus) these days called, "He Came to Save the Lost" or something like that and it's about this lady named Elaine who apparently came out of this Satan-worshiping cult called 'The Brotherhood'. It is all written in Spanish and I don't have the book with me so my translations may be a bit off so sorry in advance.
My point is that this book is full to the brim of fantastic stories of demons inhabiting people, being cast out, people sacrificing other people, drinking other people's blood, having amazing powers and, honest truth here, wolf-men.
From the get-go I had a hard time believing it but it's one of those things that you just sort of want to believe because you read so much about demon possession in the Bible. And I know that Satan is powerful and people who give themselves over to him can be subjected to just about anything, but I don't know if it could honestly be as fantastical as this book is describing it.
I asked my dad (because when in doubt, ask your pastor) and he said that he'd only actually heard about two cases of actual demon possession and he hadn't actually had anything to do with them, some other pastors had told him about them. In one of the cases someone attempted to get the demon out of the person but it didn't work. His response to my question about this lady claiming to be able to cast demons out willy-nilly was the verse in Acts 19:15 "And the evil spirit answered and said, Jesus I know, and Paul I know; but who are ye?"
The book is by a lady named Rebecca Brown and I'm not sure about the title of it but you might be interested in reading it. It's a good story but I can't claim to believe it. I'm interested in hearing what you all have to say, I don't know enough about this subject to talk about it all that long. Does demon possession happen all that frequently? If it does, it must be well hidden. And who can cast out demons? Have you all had any experiences in this area? Better yet, have you read the book?
Please leave a comment! I'll be back on Monday!!
Behind the Scenes #13
March 8, 2010
Mail came!!! I had a picture and everything to show you guys but I ended up being to busy to actually put it on my computer. I got tons and tons and tons of stuff, all of which I am extremely thankful for. My Aunt Donna sent me this whole huge box as did my mom. Want to thank Mrs. Snow for her contribution of air heads as well. It was a great Friday.
The Mormons have been a lot more friendly since our last encounter. We see them walking down the main road all the time, thumbing rides which we never give them. The blond one even waved the other day which, might I say, is a huge step forward. lol. We'll see what develops in the future. ^^
Went to a missions conference on Saturday evening at Brother Ismael's church. The best thing about it was the fact that people from all over the area were there, including all of the Americans so there were a lot of people I know but haven't seen in awhile. It was nice to catch up.
Spent the afternoon learning how to make semillitas which are a sort of sweet bread with piloncillo melted into them. Very, very good though traditionally baked in a brick oven so these took forever to cook. But they were splendid. Can I recreate them? Not on your life.
That's pretty much it. This week isn't looking too busy except for the fact that the Dorr's are going to be out of the country until Friday and things always go wrong while they're gone. Ehh.
Bye, y'all! Have a good week!!
Reality Check #11
March 5, 2010
The thing about learning another language is that, with a whole new set of words comes a whole new set of swear words. The unique situation missionaries are in is that they are sort of in a position where they need to teach people to not use swear words, especially kids. But then Christians really shouldn't know have a large swear word vocabulary. So what do you do? Learn them in order to know which words that people are saying are bad or just refuse to learn them and hope people realize that they shouldn't use them because, to be honest, people know those words are bad.
Except kids. The majority of the swear words I've learned have been from kids saying them and another kid telling on that kid (consequently using the exact word he's telling on the other kid for). These kids have learned them from the various adults in their lives and either A.) don't know they're wrong yet or B.) do know they're bad and take fiendish delight in saying them over and over. During bus route the kids usually talk freely if we're not singing and when they do that the street talk usually takes over. Which means the swear words come out. Since I'm the captain it's inherently my job to tell the kids not to say those words. But here's the kicker, I can't if I don't know the words they're saying are bad. So therefore I've learned a few.
Obviously I never use them and I know about as many Spanish words as I do English. The Dorrs, on the other hand, usually avoid using/learning them at all. He is the pastor, however, and him knowing even any swear words would be a little weird. I, on the other hand, am not a pastor and people don't expect so much of me (I, however, expect a lot of me).
It's an ongoing theological discussion between Brittany and I. We're both on the same side, learning them in order to teach the kids not to say them. But it's still interesting.
Have a good weekend y'all!!!
Behind the Scenes #12
March 1, 2010
Sorry about missing the Reality Check on Friday. There was just absolutely no way I was going to be able to do that. We had a teen girls meeting on Friday afternoon and then on Saturday Brittany and I drove to Hermosillo for a wedding (I've mentioned this several times and I'm mentioning it again because it is still novel to me that I was invited to the wedding in the first place). I just got back from the hospital where I was waiting for about two and a half hours to see if I would need to donate blood (during which time several doubts were raised about my eligibility owing to the fact that I am an American) which I ended up not being able to do, not because I am an American but because there wasn't time. They'd brought in a total of four people in case a few of them wouldn't be accepted (they are extraordinarily strict about it) and by the time they'd accepted one of them and rejected the other two it was too late for me to be checked. They needed the blood for the mother of a member of the church here and so I volunteered. Apparently you can donate blood specifically for one person. Can you do that in the States? What if your blood types don't match? Maybe if I'd gone back to be checked it would have made more sense. Ah well.
I was following Chuy to the hospital this morning (he did end up donating blood) and the police stopped him (we don't know why but it might have been because the Mexican was driving the van with American plates and the American was driving the Jeep with Mexican plates). They walked up to the window, asked him if the green Jeep was traveling with him (I had stopped about a block ahead and was walking down there to make sure there weren't issues with the paperwork) and when Chuy said that yes, the Jeep was with him, they let him go. Ha! Anyways, we still don't know why, just thought that was funny.
The teen girls meeting went well. Very simple. I gave a devotion on purity to which maybe three of them paid about five minutes worth of attention. That was not really discouraging because I wasn't expecting rapt attention or anything but it was an eye opener for me because I didn't realize how little they paid attention. I knew it wasn't much, I didn't realize it was that bad! After the devotion we ate pizza and painted our fingernails (we're girls, yay!). There was also a popcorn fight right in the middle there (I've come to the conclusion that popcorn is like glitter. You can't ever get all of it out.) and a lot of coke was also spilled somehow. But everyone had a good time. Can't say I'll be organizing another one any time soon though. lol
Brittany and I left Navojoa around 11:30 on Saturday morning (bus visitation was reaallly rushed) and drove the four hours to Hermosillo in her car (no one trusts my Jeep except me. I don't understand that.) The hotel we stayed in was absolutely beautiful, one of the best I've stayed in in my entire life. We got all dressed up in shoes that made us the tallest people at the wedding (okay, so I exaggerate, but it was very close) and really enjoyed ourselves. The dinner afterward was the best part, we got to meet some guys from Jenny's old church who are studying in the university there in Hermosillo (and so that you can understand what kind of city Hermosillo is and what kind of church this is, one of these guys (there were two of them, Ignacio and Nataniel) was studying Robotics and Engineering and the other was getting his doctorate in Nutrition. I think, lol). That was a lot of fun. Then, since Brittany couldn't sleep (I was drowsing), we decided to head home at around three-thirty in the morning. I refused to sleep just out of principle (plus I hate the achy feeling you get after sleeping in a car) and so we both ran our bus routes on Sunday morning on about an hour of sleep between the two of us. Brittany drank a Red Bull and a Monster, I just went with your normal coffee. lol
Oh, right! Yesterday I was driving across the bridge and saw the latest guys the Mormons have sent down here. They're pretty distinctive, what with one of them being tall and blond. We've all seen them all over the place but I really wanted a chance to talk to them in English. (I can't really explain why I had this desire except by saying that when you're surrounded by another language, finding anyone who can speak your first language is wonderful. The thing is, though, that usually this person has to be a stranger because it's more fun that way.) So yesterday, wonder of wonders, miracle of miracles, I was driving home from buying coffee and saw the familiar blond and black heads heading into Guaymitas so I figured, 'Hey! I'll just wait until they walk in front of my house and I'll talk to them then!'. So, with my coffee in hand (first mistake I think) I stood out in my driveway (fairly nonchalantly) until they passed by. "Hey! You guys have to be Americans!" I said. This is very traditional because, duh, yes of course they were and, if you're going to break the if you are American in Mexico, do not speak to another American rule (which is usually left unbroken) you do so in an inane way. Thus my yelled comment. In English of course. Well they stared at me like I had three heads or something. It might have been the lack of sleep and also my hair was a little bit crazy yesterday but nothing abnormal and I didn't look weird or anything. Nevertheless they answered me in Spanish. And even then it was just, "Buenas tardes." No, no, no. "I'm an American, too. Grew up in Utah, actually." I said. They had stopped by now and I crossed the road. THEY KEPT SPEAKING IN SPANISH. Finally I wore them down and even then only the black haired one ever spoke. The blond one kept looking off at a tree with this incredibly pained expression on his face. We talked for about...two and a half minutes and then I finally let them go because we weren't getting anywhere. In the end we spoke (in English) about the shocking fact that I'd been here four years "which is why I want to speak English!" I said. That did it. I know, I know they're Mormons but, y'know, so? You have to talk to them to witness to them, right? They know me now so maybe next time it won't be so stilted. (Now that I think about it we never exchanged names. lol) A few years ago there was a really nice Mormon who was working up in Jacarandas that I'd run into every other Saturday or so and we'd talk for a bit. He's gone now but he was friendly. I don't know why these two acted so thick.
Well, Pastor Dorr is out of town until tomorrow. He took the bus up last night. I misheard two weeks ago and Jon and Annie aren't going out until this week so I won't get mail until this Thursday, that is, if I didn't misunderstand. Still looking forward to it, regardless. Hope you all are having a good time wherever you are. Hope it's not too cold. Spring is on its way! I know this because I have reaalllly bad tan lines. XD
Love y'all! Take care!! Happy March!!!
