Corn Tortillas with a Splash of Lime

Alright, I'm late in updating this; I was going to try for once a week but I couldn't get to it. It's been a busy week. Carlos and I went to go visit a friend last Friday who is doing her servicio social for her school. She and 8 other students have been living in this tiny town working with the families that live there. They've been teaching the "youths" to cut and polish old beer bottles to make them into glasses that they can sell in the city. It was pretty neat to see how the students have been warmly accepted into this tiny community.

Sunday was Father's Day. I went to church with Carlos and his family; afterward we ate at home and then watched some family videos. Then his dad broke out the video camera and started recording us watching the videos. I'll take that as a complement that I'm integrated enough in the family to get to be in one of the family videos.

I'm still helping at Casa de Cuna. The school year doesn't end here until July 3 (and then starts up again August 3). When the school year ends it looks as though I will be moving into another house. My old host family's daughter asked me if I would move in with her to help her 12 year old son with his English. He will be starting a new school in the fall in which half of his classes will be in English. It's a good opportunity because I wouldn't be paying rent but I will definitely miss the house where I am now. They certainly spoil me here and they are really great about correcting my Spanish and teaching me new things. It'll be good for the budget, but I'm going to miss living here.

In other news, I got a job teaching a class in the UAQ, the university I attended last year. It's just one class, Basic English II, but it'll be good experience and I hope it can really benefit the students.

These past couple days I've been helping Carlos with some painting. His family owns a house that they rent out and their new tenant arrives on Monday, so they've been getting some work done to get it ready. There is never a shortage of things for me to do, for which I am very thankful, because I was worried I would get here and just be twiddling my thumbs.

I think that about wraps it up for now. Thanks to everyone for all the comments! I'm honored that you care enough about me to read this. :)

Oh, For a Thousand Tongues

I'm going to try to do a better job updating this because I seem to forget that no one knows what's going on with me unless I keep them updated! It would be really encouraging to get comments occasionally from those of you who read this, even if they're just, "I read this one" so that I know that I am effectively keeping people informed.

The family I'm staying with is great. Their house is enormous. You open these huge, solid wooden doors from the street and walk into an open courtyard which is covered way up high by a tarp. The bedrooms open off to the side and the kitchen sits at the back. The door at the very back of the house leads out into their garden. My bedroom is just to your right after you walk out the back door. Some stairs right outside my window lead up to another bedroom where a student from Singapore is currently living. They have two other Mexican students and three children, all about my age. In the mornings and early afternoons they sell liquors and pineapple juice from their front door. I've never been a huge pineapple fan but I can't get over this juice! They stick a pinapple into a container that looks like a large metal pot and then twist a crank which lowers a lid to press the pineapple and the juice comes out the bottom. It's delicious.

I've been helping out at a preschool/daycare called "Casa de Cuna." There are four classes, one for 2-, 3-, 4-, and 5-year-olds. I'm helping out with the 3-year-old class. It's a Catholic organization so it took me a little bit to get used to what seemed like constant yelling and punishments in comparison to Head Start's discipline policy which prohibited time outs and encouraged giving children choices instead of requiring them to do only one thing. Other than that, it's been going well, and now that I better know the expectations for the children, I have been able to help some of those who have definite communication delays/disorders. I'm thankful that I can be useful as more than just an extra warm body.

I'm also SO THANKFUL for the food! I don't even care that I've lost "regularity" in my digestive schedule (if you know what I mean :); I have a love affair with these tacos. Chili-covered peanuts are another fav.
I wonder if you can buy them at Meijer....?

This past Saturday, Carlos went WAY above and beyond the necessary to make a ton of awesome food so that we could invite friends over and hang out. These were the friends I had made when attending the Bible Study "La Busqueda" last year, which is also where I met Carlos. I had Kevin DeYoung's book, "Just Do Something" sitting out on the table, and everyone kept glancing at it and saying it looked really interesting. We decided to do a little study with the book, and I'm hoping that it can really be a blessing in everyone's understanding of the freedom we have in Christ. Our conversation that night for each and every person revealed their struggle with knowing how they could serve God in their lives through different decisions they have to make. Everyone in the group speaks English, though some better than others, but if anyone doesn't understand the specific chapter for the week we will be going over it as a group, so I'm really looking forward to this.

God is really opening my eyes to the blessings and grace that He is and always has been pouring out daily. I'm so thankful for the thousands of opportunities in which I was able to practice my Spanish, without which I would never have been led here. I miss everyone back home, but I'm incredibly thankful to feel as content and comfortable here as I do. I will be looking for work for the start of the school year in August, but for now God has been providing me with lots of opportunities to stay busy and use the abilities He's given me.

Post Script:
The picture is from the mountains in Colorado where I was two weeks ago with the Grays (and my cousin Alysia and her husband Nathan). That was a wonderful blessing in that I was hugely encouraged and cheered up by the fellowship and jokes (after feeling really down and guilty about leaving Michigan). It provided a nice transition time from saying a lot of good-byes in Michigan to starting an uncertain future in Mexico. Thank-you, Gray family for your hospitality and hilarious creativity! (Ariel, I hope you don't reject your creative side for very long :)


Some verses from Proverbs that stood out to me today:

I am the most ignorant of men;
I do not have a man's understanding.
I have not learned wisdom
nor have I knowledge of the Holy One.
Who has gone up to heaven and come down?
Who has gathered up the wind in the hollow of his hands?
Who has wrapped up the waters in his cloak?
Who has established all the ends of the earth?
What is his name, and the name of his son?
Tell me if you know!
Proverbs 30: 2-4

Your Mom

So I'm in the Denver airport right now (HELLO GRAYS)...waiting to fly to Bismarck.

Gramsicle broke her foot yesterday and, since I'm basically doing nothing these days, I was the ideal candidate to fly out and take care of the DLF ("Dear Little Friend" for the Narnia illiterate)

I'm glad to do it, and I'm grateful that I can serve and put my huge amounts of free time to good use, but I have to say that it was hard to leave MI again, just as I was beginning to feel like I was settling back down. Ah well, God's timing is perfect for everything and I'm thankful He's making sure I'm not comfortable.

Welp, I'll be back in GRaps August 8. In the meantime, I'll be picking beans and milking goats. Ciao!

The Land of the Free

Haven't updated this in a while because the school computers aren't allowing me access to certain websites lately...which begins my list of things I'm looking forward to in the land of the free.

1. Easy computer access
2. Toilet paper that goes IN the toilet
3. Riding a bike
4. Free refills on pop and free water
5. Plenty of pizza sauce on pizza-no need to add ketchup
6. Milk that expires in three weeks instead of six months. (And that is sold in the refrigerated section, not the shelves)
7. Cell phone plans
8. Air conditioning
9. FRESHWATER LAKES
10. Diversity

There's a start. I'm still working on it.

So, like...does my heart ache inside everytime I'm out walking because I realize I only have 5 and a half more weeks here?

Yeah.

He Reigns

Nolan and Carlos
Originally uploaded by changopelon19

I'd like to start a new ministry climbing trees and using The Giving Tree as an evangelical tool. I pitched this idea to Carlos and Nolan as we were climbing trees yesterday and they both said they would be on board.

Anyway, yesterday we discovered some amaaaaazing trees downtown. I think they're ficus? I'm not sure but they're everywhere in Queretaro, and they're also all really well groomed/trimmed/whatever the word is. So these trees were amazing and because they're so well trimmed, the leaves provided a sort of wall that hid us from the crowds downtown. At one point though, some sticks fell to the ground because we were climbing around, and the people walking by looked up, saw us, and exclaimed "Mira! Hay unos emos en el arbol!" ('Look! There are some emos in the tree!')

*giggle*


Let praises echo from the towers of cathedrals
To the faithful gathered underground
Of all the songs sung from the dawn of creation
Some were meant to persist
Of all the bells rung from a thousand steeples
None rings truer than this

And all the powers of darkness
Tremble at what they’ve just heard
‘Cause all the powers of darkness
Can’t drown out a single word

When all God’s children sing out
Glory, glory, hallelujah
He reigns, He reigns
All God’s people singing
Glory, glory, hallelujah
He reigns, He reigns

El Arbol Generoso

For those of you who have never read 'The Giving Tree' by Shel Silverstein: it's a book for children that tells the story of a tree who loves a little boy, but as the boy grows older he just wants money, a house, a wife and kids, etc. and while the tree can't provide any of those things, she gives him her apples, branches, and eventually her trunk to make him happy.

I brought that book to class today (because I have it here in Spanish and it's my faaaavorite) and I showed it to a kid in one of my classes who was telling me about some of his favorite children's books. Anyway, long story short, the story really affected him and it 'choked' with him, as they say in Spanish, so we spent like 30 minutes after class talking about sacrificial love and how the tree in some sense represents Christ's love for his people (in that He provides everything and we can do nothing) and how also God's love for his people is nothing like the tree's because He doesn't sit in heaven wringing His hands, hoping His creation will love Him and doting on their every desire.

Summary and conclusion: that book is the best.

However, how do you explain to someone the necesity for Christ's sacrifice? Or better said, the necessity for His death or for spilled blood? Damien (the kid I was talking to) isn't a Christian (though he says he believes in God) and he said he didn't understand the need for Christ's death. He said he's so amazed with the love that Christ showed, especially when he cried out, "Lord forgive them, for they know not what they do," but he didn't understand the need for his death. We don't live in a century of animal sacrifices anymore so I was stuck in how I could respond (and also maintain the analogy of the tree...which isn't quite necessary; but it's useful).
Anyway, I'd like some insight on this one, or just thoughts about 'The Giving Tree.'