A Dentro De La Carcel

It seems that the less I have to do, the less I accomplish—which could be part of the reason I´m just now getting around to updating my blog after almost un mes. Plus, I was in El Salvador all last week and not much has changed. Actually, I think I will cut back the updates to only one every 2 or 3 weeks for precisely that reason—that nothing much has changed.

First, I still can´t understand how the teenagers here think. As most of you already know, I gave up teaching the girls´ class on Sunday mornings so that we could have one class for all of the jovenes together. Who knows if changing the class had any positive effect or not; some of them did start coming to class who hadn´t been in a while, but we also had some stay 1. abajo who had always gone before that. One of the girls (a 14 year-old!) actually said she didn´t want to have the combined class because it ¨makes her afraid¨ to be with the boys, so she is one of the jovenes who has stopped coming. José Luis asked her what she does when she goes to la escuela, and she said ¨that´s different, because she has to go.¨ Some weeks we have as many as 20 in the class, but another week there was only one—not because the teens didn´t arrive that day, but simply because they decided they didn´t want to go to class that day. So who knows what goes through their heads that sometimes motivates them to go to the class and sometimes motivates them to stay downstairs and listen to the ¨sermon¨class—especially considering that José Luis is an excellent teacher who encourages them to participate. (And I´m not just saying that because he´s my novio!)

J.C. Enlow and I with David´s family at his house in Nueva Libertad (where one of the new preaching schools will be)

I also had another girls´night at the school a few weeks ago—and that, too, was met with disappointing results. About ten of them had told me they were coming, but only two showed up. So instead of having a devo and playing games and eating like I had originally planned, the three of us, along with Chantel, headed to a coffee shop in el centro. We had a lot of fun, just the four of us, but I really wish more of the girls could have come (or at least, made more of an effort to be there). The worst part is that some of the girls really wanted to go but couldn´t, simply because their parents weren´t able to drive them. Transportation is almost always a hindrance here. Many familias don´t have a single carro, so they are 2. accustumbrados to walk everywhere or go in the public busses (like me!) But if they live ¨far¨away or don´t live close to the bus route, they have to come to the school in a taxi (which, of course, is a lot more 3. caro). And they basically consider ¨far away¨ anything more than 2 miles. While San Cristobal is not a huge city (I would say roughly the same land size as Mount Juliet), the school is located on the very outskirts—about the farthest away from the center as you can get. So for someone to come from any other part of the city to the school would be like me driving from Mt. Juliet to Nashville. (And that´s precisely why I advertise for my English classes only in the neighborhood of the school!) So anyway, I think if the school weren´t so ¨far away,¨I would have more students in my English classes and more muchachas on girls´nights.

Me with three of the girls from church, Deissy, Dulce, and Sonia

Speaking of my clase de inglés, I have started teaching again. I waited so long about starting back so that I could plan everything really well and have the best turnout possible. But so far it seems that it was all for nothing. Whereas the first time I taught, in September, I started out with about 15 students, this time I started out with only about 10—even after I worked twice as hard to publicize for it! But that´s okay, I guess; what matters more to me is that the students I have stick with the class until the end, rather than the number of students I have. Other English teachers in this cultura (with the exception of those who charge about $300 a week!) seem to have the same problema as me with student attendance. So I will just keep working hard, and we will see if any of the other changes I made will have any effect or not.

El domingo José Luis and I visited la carcel (the prison), where two of our hermanos take turns preaching every week. We had a good worship service, with 12 total in attendance. Besides the four of us from San Cristobal, there were 7 men from the prison and one other lady visitor (la esposa of one of the men). About half of the men who came are already baptized. Like any church, some of those men who have gotten baptized have been very faithful in their attendance and very useful in encouraging others to come, while some always seem to disappear when it´s time to start the servicio. The couple that got married, for example, evidently just used us to conduct their marriage ceremony, as they have not been back to the church services since then. Unfortunately I was not able to take pictures of the prison. (Actually, the woman conducting the line told me flat out that I couldn´t go in as soon as she saw that I was American, but our hermanos haggled with her until she finally gave in.) I have never actually been to an American prison, so I can´t say very well how this prison compares. I can only say that it was much different from what I had expected.

This particular prison houses men and women serving minor infractions, usually about two to ten years. Men and women live in separate areas, and the only part I saw was the men´s quarters. They do not have a 4. uniforme, but just wear whatever 5. ropa their family members can afford to bring them. In fact, you would never guess that some of these men were criminals if not for the nametags that distinguish visitors from inmates. They also weren´t locked up in cells or in handcuffs like you always see en 6. las peliculas; most were just walking around in the open air! Their facilities are actually not bad for it to be a prison—basketball and soccer courts, concession stands, sales booths—probably a lot nicer than where some of them lived 7. antes. And the inmates are even permitted to sell things on the sidewalk, including pictures, belts, and good ole´Mexican style comida. So some of them are not only living better inside the prison, but making a pretty good living for themselves, as well. I have more respeto than ever now for our two hermanos who go to preach there cada semana. First they have to drive about thirty minutes to get there, then they have to wait at least una hora in the long line of visitantes waiting to enter. (The line is so long because they frisk everyone at the entrance, make them leave most personal belongings, take their fingerprints, and give them a nametag.) Then sometimes they have to wait just as long to leave from inside the prison. Here´s an interesting fact: the word for handcuffs in Spanish is ¨esposas,¨which literally means ¨wives.¨ (How appalling, right ladies??)

My prima Juliana asked me the last time if Mexicans normally blow out candles on a birthday cake. Some yes, some no—it just depends on the family. José Luis´family normally doesn´t, but they just did it for me because they know it´s an American 8. tradición. Sometimes kids smash their face into a portion of the cake though, instead. Birthdays are certainly very diferente here. Instead of viewing 9. los cumpleaños as a time to give gifts and celebrate, they view it more as a time to humble themselves before God. Every time 10. alguin de la iglesia has a birthday we say a prayer thanking God for allowing that person to live another year (even the babies). And instead of saying happy birthday they say ¨Felicidades¨(Congratulations) and give the person a hug. Most don´t receive 11. regalos, and some do not even eat 12. pastel. I was very surprised the first time I wanted to sing happy birthday to someone to discover that most of the mexicans did not even know the words to the song! If they have a birthday party at all, it´s mas o menos ¨a rule¨that they have to have a full worship service first (which they call ¨accion de gracias¨--action of thanks). Oh, and they don´t eat ice cream with the cake and think that we´re crazy for doing that because it´s ¨so sweet¨!

I´m going to stop the blog here, but I will try really hard to update again within the next two to three weeks. 13. ¡Que les vaya bien!

Random Facts:

I am so proud of myself for eating three spicy meals this week! People here tell me I´m becoming more and more of a Mexicana every day!

José Luis´brother has a Tennessee Titans cap! He can´t remember where it came from, but isn´t that just 14. extraño?? And speaking of the Titans... I heard ¨Nashville, TN¨as I was watching a soccer game the other day. Supposedly they will be using Titans stadium for a preliminary Olympic soccer game between two countries. Anybody have tickets??

And speaking of soccer...I´m learning how to be a goalie! José Luis has 4 brothers, so anytime they´re all around they like to go play futbol together...and if they have uneven numbers, they ask me to play 15. portera! It´s really not much different from being a catcher in softball.

Title: ¨Inside the Prison¨

1. downstairs

2. accustomed/used to

3. expensive

4. uniform

5. clothes

6. the movies

7. before

8. tradition

9. the birthdays

10. someone

11. gifts/presents

12. cake

13. May you go well

14. strange/weird

15. goalie

El Seminario

José Luis and I are beginning to understand why being a youth minister is normally a full time 1. trabajo. We have so many 2. proyectos we want to do with the jovenes and so many of them that we want 3. visitar, but most semanas we´re lucky to have the tiempo just to carry out one of those planes. The past two weeks we have been visiting/studying with a young man named Jesús. Jesús has an interesting story; he had never attended church and was living a pretty wordly lifestyle, when supposedly he had a ¨calling¨ that he needed to go to church. The only reason he happened to pick ours is that he saw a sign on one of the main roads that says ¨Iglesia de Cristo; 100 4. metros.¨ He is about our edad, but, like many of the Mexican 20 somethings, he is already casado and has dos hijos. Last week Jesús told us that he never went to a single iglesia a single time last year, but so far this year he has already gone four times. We have been studying about 5. la autoridad of the Bible. So far he has been very open to our teachings and very eager to learn more. Please pray that he will keep coming to church and eventually make la decisión to be baptized.

I have also been studying with a girl named Marisol who got baptized a few months ago. Marisol is about my age with a husband and two kids, as well. She has been very constant in her attendance but still has many doubts that need to be resolved. Like Jesús, she had never been to church in her vida and dosn´t know much about 6. la Biblia. But her mother-in-law, who is Pentecostal, kept urging Marisol to go to church with her. Marisol agreed with her 7. suegra that it would do her good to start going to church, but luckily she chose ours over the Pentecostal one, only because it´s a closer walk from her casa. When I first started studying with her about a month ago, she felt pretty discouraged; her husband had been drinking a lot and sometimes even beating her, and she sometimes had a hard time walking to church in the dark or the cold with her two kids, ages 4 and 2. She told me that her 8. esposo knows much more about the Bible than she does and likes to read Christian 9. literatura and listen to musíca cristiana but that every time she invited him to church with her he made an excusa. She also felt discouraged that her family are devout Catholics who don´t want to listen to her, either. But 10. gracias a Dios, her esposo came to church with her for the first time last week, and then returned again this past Sunday! She tells me again and again how lucky I am to have been born into a Christian familia and raised in the church. This week she surprised me with two questions: Why don´t we pray kneeling down, and is it okay to fast? I have a feeling her Pentocostal in-laws have been trying to unravel her with their ideas. Please also pray that Marisol will remain faithful and that her husband will keep coming to church with her. José Luis and I decided that we like these kinds of Bible estudios much more than trying to talk about el bautismo with someone who´s not even 11. interesado.

Last Monday I celebrated my 25th birthday with José Luis and his family:

Lately I have also been busy preparing for my English class. Sofi (the computer teacher) and I have been working together to publicize for the two clases at the same time. It turns out that she was having the same problema I had, that most students came on Mondays, a few on Tuesdays, and hardly any on Thursdays. So we decided to offer each class for only three hours once a week, English on Mondays and Computer on Tuesdays. I´m hoping that once the students get used to the new 12. horario they will be more consistent in their 13. asistencia, especially those who will only have to pay taxi or bus fare once a week. Previously we offered the classes for all ages, but we also decided to change the age to 11 and up; Sofi had problems with the younger ones coming just to play 14. juegos on the computadora, and I had problems with them not being able to learn on the same level as the adultos. 15. Mañana we will have an introductory class to give the estudiantes información 16. basica and urge them to invite others. My 17. metodo the last time of posting fliers on telephone poles or in 18. negocios also did not work well as the fliers all got taken down within a few days, so this time I have been putting the fliers on people´s front doors—only in 19. las colonias closest to the school. I gave out more than 1,400 fliers, as well as making and posting this sign on the front of the school:

So if we still don´t have a good turnout this time, it won´t be because the people didn´t know about it!

I am still teaching English to the students who come on Saturdays, as well. Just to give you an idea of how diferente the indigenous cultura is here, I would like to share an experiencia I had with them a few weeks ago. We were learning to say what we like to do and don´t like to do. I gave them a questionnaire for them to fill out afterwards with various 20. activitidades on it, and for each activity they had to mark if they like it, love it, dislike it, hate it, or don´t know. Pretty much the only activities they marked that they like to do were sleeping, cooking, eating, and playing soccer. And for other activities that most other teenagers enjoy, like talking on the 21. teléfono, chatting on the internet, listening to music, or hanging out with friends they all marked as ¨hate¨or ¨don´t know.¨ I also thought it was funny when I asked each of the students ¨What do you not like to do?¨and one of the boys said, ¨I do not like cerdo (pork).¨

Last week the congregation also had the pleasure of three American 22. visitantes—Jerry and Margaret Humphries and Ricky ? from Florence, Alabama. Jerry Humphries taught a class last year for the preachers´students, and he decided to come back to give a church growth seminario, with 23. la ayuda of Ricky and his 24. esposa. The Humphries have been giving seminars all over 25. el mundo for the last 25 years! The seminar lasted for three days, and members from various congregaciones in Chiapas were able to attend. Chantel and I took turns translating for the womens´classes, while Roberto ?, from Texas, translated for the men. The men mostly talked about the role of elders and deacons and how to solve various problems with church 26. lideres, and in the joint sessions (with men and women together), we heard lots of good sermons about the need for every member to work and the importance of evangelismo. The womens´classes were also very enjoyable, covering many 27. topicos that will be beneficial to the women here, such as Bible class teaching and constructive criticism. In the last session, Margaret gave many ideas of ministries the women can get involved in and pointers on how to start them. Fortunately she mentioned some activities that I have already been trying to initiate here myself! So hopefully I won´t face so much resistance now that the other 28. damas can see that I´m not the only person who has those ideas! I also hope and pray that los miembros (in San Cristobal, especialmente), will take heart of the things that were said and actually DO those things, rather than just thinking about them. Then Jerry preached a gospel meeting the following three nights. We didn´t have any baptisms or restorations, but we did have a lot of visitors come. I always get a little boost anytime other Americanos come; they encourage me with their 29. palabras, understand my point-of-view, and appreciate my ideas. If only I could get that kind of encouragement every month (ha ha)! Here are pictures of the womens´class and everyone eating together afterwards:

30. ¡Hasta la proxima vez, y que Dios les bendiga!
Elizabeth

1. job

2. projects

3. to visit

4. meters

5. the authority

6. the Bible

7. mother-in-law

8. husband

9. literature

10. Thank God/Praise God

11. interested

12. schedule

13. attendance

14. games

15. tomorrow

16. basic

17. method

18. businesses

19. the neighborhoods

20. activities

21. telephone

22. visitors

23. the help

24. wife

25. the world

26. leaders

27. topics

28. ladies

29. words

30. Until the next time, and may God bless you