¡Mi Primera Clase!

beans and flowers in the market/frijoles y flores en el mercado

Well the most exciting 1. noticias to report this time is that my clase de inglés started on lunes. I LOVE teaching English and am so excited to finally have my own clase. I´m not sure how well our advertising worked, because the majority of estudiantes are from la iglesia. Most of the fliers we hung had mysteriously disappeared after a few 2. días, so I´m not sure if that´s from people who were interested taking them down or the local 3. policia or some other grupo. Either way, 4. solamente dos de mis estudiantes so far are from la comunidad (not members of la iglesia). Several others from la comunidad have called or asked me about it, and a few even came for the pre-test I gave, but most of them have not shown up for las clases 5. todavía. But in a way that´s better, because I prefer to have estudiantes 6. serios than estudiantes who just want to come and go as they please. On la primera noche I really tried to stress to 7. todos how 8. importante attendance and punctuality is to their learning. I also told them that it really takes about cinco 9. años to be able 10. hablar una lengua fluently, and we have only tres 11. meses juntos for less than cinco hours a semana. I was very pleased when all but dos of los estudiantes came back 12. la segunda noche and EVERYONE arrived on time. So right now I have about 15 estudiantes, and I think la clase is off to a great start.students in the Hebrews class/estudiantes durante la clase de Hebreos


13. La semana pasada I went and visited our Saturday school in Ococingo, Mexico. Los estudiantes were very happy I had come, but they were also very eager to share 14. algunos of their concerns with me. The escuela in Ococingo is going really well and the director there is doing a great job, but some of los estudiantes who want to come have not been able to. Global Missions had to cut some of the money it was giving, and since then about half of the students who were faithfully attending classes previously can no longer go because they can´t afford it. They live in the jungle, and they have to walk 3 horas to get to the highway, and from there it was another six hour drive to Ococingo. So they were having to leave on viernes en 15. la tarde and return on domingo en la tarde, and it just got to be 16.demasiado difícil for them. Antonio (the director) 17. y algunos de los estudiantes 18.también expressed to me that they would like to have 19. más materiales, so I told J.C. (director of Global Missions), who is already in the process of sending them more. 20.Un problema they have had so far is that muchos de los estudiantes come from different denominations and use other kinds of 21. Biblias, such as the Catholic Bible or the Jehovah´s Witness Bible. So Antonio requested that we send enough Bibles so that 22. todos de los estudiantes can use the same version. There were 16 estudiantes 23. en total--9 muchachos y 7 muchachas. Dos de las muchachas just got baptized as a result of las clases en los sabados. They, along with muchos de los 24. otros estudiantes, do not speak Spanish--only an indiginous language, ¨Sochil¨(or something like that). Sometimes I feel a little 25. extraña when I know more Spanish than some of la gente who live here and cannot even communicate with them in Spanish; but luckily Antonio is fluent in 26. ambos lenguas. After la almuerza en el sabado, he had a short 27. estudio biblico with tres de las muchachas in Sochil to clear up some of the confusion they had.

view of the inside of our house from the door to the roof/vista de a dentro de nuestra casa de la puerta al techo

Another Saturday school also started last Saturday near the Guatemala frontera, and that school also had about 16 estudiantes. Global Missions has plans to open up dos más escuelas de los sabados aquí en México in the near 28. futuro. But the school here in San Cristobal has been struggling to draw new estudiantes. When la escuela first started there were about 20 estudiantes, but now 29. la mayoría of them have graduated and there aren´t many muchachos who are interested in being 30. predicadores. Please continue 31. orar for the success de todas 32. estas escuelas, and especially pray that the school here in San Cristobal will grow and David will not be discouraged.

the computer classroom/sala de computación

33. Ayer I had another 34. experiencia that reminded me just how much we take some palabras for granted. I went to the 35. papelería to buy a few supplies for my clase, and I needed poster board, butcher paper, loose leaf paper, and brads. Well naturally I never learned the words for different kinds of paper--just paper--and have never needed to know them until now. And stores here are mucho diferente. You can´t just go right to what you want and buy it; en la mayoría de lugares, there are 3 or 4 workers waiting to help you as soon as you walk in, and they have to get the items for you from behind a counter. Then you have to pay for the items at una 36. ventana and pick them up at a separate window. So I described what I needed the best I could, but the poor girl who helped me ended up bringing out 3 or 4 different kinds of 37.papel before I finally got exactly what I needed.

My clase de muchachas at church is also going well, but I´ll write more about that 38. la proxima vez.

39. Eso es todo (40.) por el momento,
Elizabeth

1. news
2. days
3. police
4. only
5. still/yet
6. serious
7. everyone
8. important
9. years
10. to speak a language
11. months
12. the second night
13. last week
14. some
15. the afternoon
16. too hard
17. and
18. also
19. more materials
20. one problem/a problem
21. Bibles
22. all
23. in all/in total
24. other
25. strange
26. both
27. Bible study
28. future
29. the majority/most
30. preachers
31. to pray
32. these
33. yesterday
34. experience
35. paper supply store
36. window
37. paper
38. the next time
39. That is all
40. for now/for the moment


our kitchen/nuestra cocina

Guatemala y las nuevas clases

tourist walking street in el centro/andador en el centro

Well another semana is almost gone here in Mexico, and I just wanted to give a quick update on some of the 1. obras I have been or will be involved in. Last week Chantel´s 2. padre stayed with us for a few noches, and then on Fri. we left for Guatemala for the 3. fin de semana-- 4. mi primera vez to see Guatemala. It was more or less the same as Mexico, only a little bit prettier 5. afuera of the ciudades and a little bit dirtier inside the ciudades. We had somewhat of an interesting experience trying to cross the border. From the bus station we took a taxi to the 6. frontera (a taxi which, by the way, looked just like the Dukes of Hazard car!), but our taxista could not even drive us all the way because the calles were so crowded with gente. It just so happened that we picked 7. ¨dia del mercado¨to cross the border; imagine what a mile-long yard sale in the south would be like, only worse! So we walked--yes, walked--about half a mile uphill. Now I can say that, as a ¨Mexican,¨I crossed the border on foot!

The main reason we went to Guatemala was for Chantel´s dad to visit with some of his 8. amigos from past trips. Not long after we arrived on viernes we went to one lady´s house to present her with an incubator. She is the single mother of 5 (9.) niños, but a total of 15 (10.) personas live in their casa suited more for 3 or 4. Sometimes they were using only 1 or 2 eggs to feed the entire household per day--hence the need for the incubator. The family lives literally on top of a 11. monte. Only camiones can make the drive up the steep, narrow, and rocky curves, and the family leaves the house only about once a week because the walk to town takes thirty minutes or 12. mas. Even though we had a good driver who took his time, I still feared for my life. I will share some fotos from the 13. experiencia a little later.

Even though the cristianos aquí are very kind and devoted, they conduct their services a little differently (as expected). One of the main differences is that they offer only two clases: uno for all of the niños up to about age diez, and uno for everyone else. There are several 14. jovenes, and many have already been baptized, but I immediately realized that they are probably not learning as much from the sermons as they would from classes; and some of them probably still have a hard time paying attention (I know I did at that age!) So I asked David, the preacher, if I could start teaching a young girls class on Sun. mornings at the same time as the adult class. The good news is that he agreed, and he liked the idea so much that he asked Jose Luis (my 15. novio) to teach a clase for muchachos at the same time. The bad news is that he announced that those Sun. mornings clases will take the place of the 16. reuniones de jovenes on los sabados. It´s times like that when I really wish the iglesia aquí had elders so that more than one persona could make those kinds of 17. decisiones! I have been trying so hard to convince Jose Luis that the young people need to spend time together and study 18. juntos as a 19. grupo in addition to having separate guys and girls clases. He and David and Jose (the other guy who helps teach the teenagers) have felt a little discouraged that only 10-15 of the jovenes have been coming on Sat. (out of about 30-40 total). I told him that it´s the same way in the U.S. I also told him about our 20 somethings devotionals that we have in a different house every other semana, and that it really doesn´t matter how many personas come, because sometimes when the least amount of people come is when we grow even closer to one another. He really liked the idea of doing something like that every other week, and we are going to ask our 20. estudiantes on Sun. when the best time would be.

21. Hoy I have been a little busier than normal. A group of us went out doorknocking in la mañana to invite people to la iglesia. Even though we only worked about 2 (22.) horas, we found a lot of people interested in learning more about our beliefs. I felt somewhat useless because my partner (the preacher´s wife) did most of the talking...then later I learned that they didn´t want me to do much because I had worn pants instead of a skirt. One lady we met even questioned whether I went to the same iglesia since I wasn´t wearing a skirt. The role of 23. mujeres here is 24. mucho diferente than in the 25. estados. Sometimes I feel like I don´t have much of a say in things just because I´m a muchacha. But nevertheless, I also struggle with whether I should say something or do something the way I always have in order to improve a situation, or whether I should do exactly as the people here want (namely my fellow cristianos) in order to avoid offending anyone.

Chantel and I also worked on some posters and decorations to hang in what will be our guys and girls ¨classroom.¨ Originally David told me they have wanted to have a young people´s class on Sun. mornings for quite some time, but they just didn´t have the space. We decided we would use the area right above the auditorium (which also serves as their fellowship hall). But it is just one long, narrow room with a few 26. mesas and 27. sillas, and the walls are completely bland. So we are working hard to convert it into what looks like two Bible classrooms. Chantel and I also went to visit Marisol, a girl about our age who was baptized mi primera semana aquí. (Here is a pic. of her with David.)

This week I have also been busy hanging up fliers about my English clases that will begin next week. We decided not to mention that the clases are 28. gratis, and Jose Luis gave me some good suggestions on what would get people´s attention. He has done a lot of publicity for his family´s 29. negocio, so he also showed me where the best lugares to hang the fliers are. I have also been giving them out at la iglesia in order for los miembros to give them to their amigos and 30. vecinos. Please pray for the success of all of these works.

Hasta Luego,

Elizabeth

1. works

2. father

3. weekend

4. my first time

5. outside

6. border

7. ¨market day¨

8. friends

9. kids

10. people or persons

11. mountain

12. more

13. experience

14. teenagers

15. boyfriend

16. young people´s meeting/get together

17. decisions

18. together

19. group

20. students

21. today

22. hours

23. women

24. much different

25. states

26. tables

27. chairs

28. free

29. business

30. neighbors

Los numeros 11-20:

11. once

12. doce

13. trece

14. catorce

15. quince

16. dieciseis

17. diecisiete

18. dieciocho

19. diecinueve

20. viente

our house/school...I know it doesn´t look like much, but it is actually pretty average for the houses here. nuestra casa/la escuela

view across the street from our house/vista del otro lado de la calle donde esta nuestra casa

view from our roof/vista del techo

Random Thoughts:
--Last week I was eating at a family´s house, and during our meal a young boy brought in a cage full of chickens... and I´m almost positive they don´t have a farm!
--No one here can understand why I don´t like coffee or tea. It seems that everyone drinks it but me (even the babies!) And when I politely decline and ask for water, they ask me what kind of water I want: orange or jamaica. They can´t seem to understand why I want to drink plain water without anything added!