One Year and Counting!

Thank you all so much for your comments the last time! I always enjoy reading each of them, and I have an extra ¨boost¨now to keep working hard 1. publicar my blog each month. Speaking of which, sorry it´s been so long since I last gave 2. un reporte! I promise I have wanted to do it sooner but have just been really busy; usualmente whenever I plan to do it something else comes up that takes precdence. On August 3 I just had my ¨one year anniversary¨—one year since I first arrived in San Cristobal! If you are like me, you are wondering where the time has gone. You may remember that I never thought I would live here past May. (Actually, I was halfway expecting that if I didn´t like it here, I would just stay home when I visited in December ; ) But fortunately I have had a good experience (mostly), and I feel like God has really used me to put me in this posición. Well, no experiencia can be completely buena, so what can I say?? I am especially grateful to José Luis for his constant support and understanding. Without him I´m sure my culture shock would have been much more profound.

Una Gringa Menos (One Less American Girl)
Last week we also had to give a final 3. despedida to Chantel and Adrian. Chantel, like me, had never planned on staying down here more than a year. But after nearly three years (and a 4. matrimonio), she finally travelled back to the U.S. with her new husband. I´m really going to miss having an American around! Not only was Chantel my roommate until she got married, but we also used each other a lot to vent and complain about all the things we don´t understand or don´t like about the culture, the way things are run here, the rudeness of some people, etc. I know Chantel and Adrian will probably be happier back in Mississippi, but I will really miss having someone who listens and understands exactly where I´m coming from.

Clase de Preparación y Presentación de Sermones (Sermon Preparation and Delivery Class)
In the 5. medio of Julio Kerry Reid was here to give a class on ¨Sermon Preparation and Delivery.¨ Actually, he focused the clase more on how to teach or prepare a Bible study since some women came to the class. He gave very useful tips on how to speak in public, how to get the audience´s attention, how to 6. concluir, etc. Our preaching students already received the class a year or two ago, but I have noticed that many of them make the same basic 7. errores; they don´t make good eye contact, talk in a monotone, don´t use personal examples and illustrations much, etc. So I suggested to J.C. Enlow that an American teach the class again—instead of David.

Unfortunately the class attendance was very inconsistent (one of the major problems we have with the school). I know that many of the men from our congregacion can preach, because David has been on vacation the past mes, and at least eight dfferent hombres have preached or given classes in his absence. But many of them work at night, when we had the class, and some of them just seem to think that they don´t need to go. Those who did come regularly were either women, or men who already preach well. The ones who need more help preaching, on the other hand, are the ones who hardly came. So 8. es una lastima that more of the 9. ¨predicadores¨did not go and take advantage of the class that was specifically for them. I told José Luis that most American preachers cannot stay away for more than two weeks at a time, and that the congregation here is very blessed to have so many men who can fill in when David is away. But they seem to take it for granted that there will always be someone to preach, rather than realizing how 10. fortunados they are.

Luckily Kerry was very flexible and did not get too upset about the wavering 11. ausistencia. On the noches of our regular church services, Wednesday and Friday, he gave the class for the whole congregation. He gave them 12. exercisios on how to study a 13. pasaje more carefully and also explained to them several diferentes tipos de 14. preguntas that they can ask in a Bible study. I think most of the people from church really enjoyed it, even though it was something different that they really didn´t understand at first. Once David understood the need for the class, he decided on a whim that we would move all of the classes to the church building instead of having them at the school. I think maybe he thought more people would come because they wouldn´t have to drive/ride as far; and because they would think of it more as going to worship service. On the first night it worked, as we had about 20 present—many of whom don´t usually come to the classes. But every night after we averaged only 5-10.

Lugares Turisticos (Tourist Attractions)
While Kerry was here I was able to visit a few tourist lugares I hadn´t seen yet. On one Saturday we woke up at about 5 a.m. and drove about 3 hours to see some 14. cascadas, Aguas Azules and Mishola (where part of Predator was filmed). Then we drove about another two hours to Palenque, some Mayan ruins. Basically these are three of the ¨must see¨ places for all of Chiapas. José Luis, his brother, and his mom accompanied us, so we were a little 15. incomodos in such a small carro Mexicano. But the trip was much more fun with more people, and well worth the long drive.
Another of the lugares we visited is San Juan de Champula—an indigenous town about 30 minutes away. What makes ¨Chamula¨so unique is that it is 100% 16. Catolico. Anyone who converts to Cristianity is immediately expelled from the town and threatened with lynching. Missionaries, likewise, may face death if they try to enter the city. Oh, and they can also put you in jail just for taking pictures!! Naturally we feel a little spooked anytime we go. But despite Chamula´s extreme ideas and extreme sense of 17. unidad, it has actually turned into quite the tourist trap! They charge 18. turistas 20 pesos just to see the cathedral! But I must admit that it is a rare experience.

Supposedly the Chamulans are also 19. famosos for practicing witchcraft and black magic. So inside the cathedral it is not uncommon to see men rubbing leaves over their sons while repeating a chant in order to cure them of 20. una enfermedad, or women plucking the feathers out of a dead chicken. Actually, we saw plenty of live 21. pollos too. They believe that chickens, hens, soft drinks, and even alcoholic beverages make the best offerings to their santos. So the most devout Chamulans bring each of these things with them in order to make a special prayer request. If they do not offer one of these items after the prayer, then they believe the prayer is not valid. Each person lights several 22. velas for every offering, so it is also not uncommon to see hundreds of candles lit at the same time. (If you don´t watch your step, you will burn your feet on one!) They also worship John the Baptist and don´t put as much emphasis on Christ.

I know a lot of this may sound really exaggerated to some of us ignorant Americans, but I promise that it is true! It just goes to show how much we take for granted our freedom of religion. Every time I go I can´t help but wonder how clueless the Chamulans are about other religions, or even the rest of the world. Who knows how long it will be before they ever change their ideas or open up to other religions—maybe never! I highly encourage you to check out one of these websites if you would like to know more about the very interesting pueblo de Champula: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chamula. http://www.forteantimes.com/features/fortean_traveller/253/san_juan_chamula_mexico_a_church_out_of_time.html. (Let´s face it, they explain everything much better than I do anyway.)

Curso de Verano de Inglés (Summer English Course)
When Kerry left I gave a three week summer English course—9 to 11 every morning for beginners, and 11-1 for intermediates. Lately I have been trying to think more about how I can use the class to evangelize to the comunidad. Really that´s the main 23. razon we offer free English and computer classes. But when half of our students are youngsters and the other 24. mitad are from church, it´s kind of hard 25. evangelizar. I always invite los estudiantes to worship services, tell them we could have Bible studies with them, and invite the younger ones to youth eventos, but that´s about it. Many people have told me I should use the ¨Let´s Start Talking¨method of teaching them English from the book of Luke. But I can´t exactly do that when some men from church also come to my classes—and none of them are proficient enough yet to help me with that parte. José Luis thought it might be better to reach out to the students in less direct metodos (so that they´ll keep coming to the class instead of getting scared away by the religious part) and suggested hanging up some information from the Bible. So one day I worked with Sofi, the computer teacher, to make posters to hang in our classrooms of the 26. plan de salvación and other key versos. I also drew pictures to go with mine and translated them all to English. And I hung a poster in the main entryway with the 27. dirección of the iglesia and times of worship.

This time I also specifically wrote on my signs ¨Clase para jovenes y adultos¨(in hopes of attracting an older, more mature grupo). But surprisingly, many of the adultos here act like they really don´t want to learn Inglés. Actually, the majority of my students are usually middle or high school students who are either failing their English class at school (the middle schoolers), or they ¨learned English one time but already forgot everything because the teacher was no good¨ (the high schoolers). So this time I publicized less, and got más o menos the same resultados: 5 in the beginners class, the oldest 19, and the rest 11, 12, or 13, and 6 in my intermediates class: the oldest one 33 and the youngest 15. Half of my students were from la iglesia. I have found that most methods, like putting flyers in people´s doorways, giving out the flyers personally, or advertising in the centro really don´t work. So in addition to the big vinyl sign in front of the school, I hung a few advertisements in nearby businesses but did not waste my time with anything else.

Clase de Principiantes de Inglés (Beginners´English Class)

Despite the low turnout and young age group, I really think this was my best class yet. I don´t know if it´s because they were on vacaciones de verano or what, but my students all had much better attendance this time and seemed much more eager to learn. I think another reason I liked these classes so much is that the students ¨bonded¨more. When we started the beginners´class, no one knew each other and they were all very 29. serios; they hardly ever talked, even when we did group work. But by the end of the three weeks, they were sitting together and even helping each other study. And most of the students in the intermediates class are from church. José Luis and two of his brothers made up half of the class, and they all like to joke around a lot. So naturally since we all knew each other already, the class was much more fun and relaxed. I think they also did not feel as much pressure to talk in front of the others, ask for explanations, etc. And they especially loved laughing at me anytime I pronounced something oddly in Español (I´m still learning, too : )

Clase de Intermedios de Inglés (Intermediates´English Class)

I never actually learned the Spanish word for ¨flashlight¨ because it is not very común. And anytime I translate and someone says a word I don´t know, I have about 1 segundo (30.) to think of a different way to say it. So one time when I was translating I said ¨palito de luz¨for flashlight (little light stick). In my class one day, to review some of the 31. palabras we had learned, I gave them a word in Spanish, and they had to tell me in English. Without thinking, I said ¨palito de luz¨ to ask them what flashlight means. My students got the biggest kick out of it! It took me about 5 minutes to get control of the class again because we were all laughing so much.

We finished the class last Friday, incredulous that three weeks went by so fast. Each of them took a final exam, and then they ate some American foods I had prepared while I gave them their 32. certificados. I had wanted to fix them some traditional American breakfast foods, since we had the class in the morning. But for varias razones I did not start cooking until about 11 p.m. the night before, and my oven suddenly decided to quit working. So I had to settle with what was quickest and easiest for the small amount of American 33. ingredientes I had: deviled eggs, apple crisp, and French toast. (I cheated and made the apple crisp in 34. el horno de microhondas.) And they brought chips or pop. A weird combination, I know, and not exactly ¨breakfasty,¨ but they don´t know the diferencia anyway. They must have liked todo, though, because by the time I went to fix my plate, most of the comida was already gone! Each of them stayed longer than necessary and asked when I´m going to teach again. And for once every student who started the course finished it, rather than dropping out in the middle! So the class may not have been the best for evangelizing, but nonetheless it was 35. un exito. If you have any suggestions on how we can evangelize more with the English and Computer classes, or anything else we can do to make the classes better, please do let me know.

Una Alma (One Soul)
Sometimes it´s easy to get frustrated when it seems that no one wants to come to the classes. But I have to remind myself that the results don´t always come quickly. Let me give you an example. I have had 36. un letrero in front of the school for months now advertising the English and Computer classes. Even though it´s on a busy 37. calle in plain 38. vista, very few people have called or come to ask me about it. Many who did ask me about it never actually showed up for the classes. But a few weeks ago a young guy about 30 or so came who said he was interested in learning English. It just so happened that he came on a Saturday morning, when our students from Larrainzer were there. So he also asked me about the classes they were having right then. I was able to use that oportunidad to tell him more about the school and what church we´re from, etc. As luck would have it, David was also there that day, so we went upstairs and I introduced him. David had about a one hour Bible study with him right there on the spot. El muchacho also came to a few of the Bible classes later in the week. He never actually got baptized or came to my English class, but at least that was 39. un buen inicio. If we can reach just one 40. alma through the classes, I will feel like we have done a good 41. obra.

Las Escuelas de los Sabados (Saturday Schools)
Speaking of the students from Larrainzer, they have since started having classes in their own church building. As I have mentioned before, these students are very poor, and Global Missions does not like to ¨pay¨students to come to classes—thus giving very little towards their 42. transportación. For months and months they piled into the back of a small pickup truck (which, of course, was often a very cold ride). But lately the 43. dueño of the pickup truck has not been able to come to the classes as much, so there were a few times when they could not come to the classes simply because no one could bring them. They were also very particular about the food Chantel fixed (even though it was all Mexican). So we decided that it would be easier for them to have the classes where they live. Now they are able to fix the food themselves with money that David gives them each month, and more students have been able to attend the classes who could not go before. Recently Global Missions sent 100 Bibles to the school to be distributed to the preaching students. Some of the students were using other 44. versiones of the Biblia, such as the Catholic version or the Jehovah´s Witness version. In the Ocosingo school, in particular, many of the students are new converts who still have the other versions, or they attend a different church still but come with friends or family members who invite them to the classes. So naturally Antonio, the director, sometimes had a hard time explaining important concepts or allowing these students to participate. He requested that every student receive a King James Bible. José Luis and I travelled to Ocosingo one Saturday to deliver the Bibles to them. I also gave out five or six Bibles to students from Larrainzer. Some of those students are so 45. pobre they had probably never owned a Bible before. Each of the students were very glad to receive the new Bibles and instantly started looking through them. Their only concern, especially 46. algunos from the Ocosingo school, who walk several hours from the jungle each week, was that the Bibles may get wet easily anytime it rains. They said even if they put the Bible in a 47. mochilla, it would still get really wet and ruin easily. In the future those men would prefer to have hard cover Bibles. The next time I visit the schools in Tapachula and Cacahoatan I will take Bibles there, as well. And whatever Bibles are left afterwards we will keep in the San Cristobal school and give to any new students who enroll later.

Alumnos de Ocosingo con sus nuevas Biblias (Ocosingo students with their new Bibles)

Por el Amor de Las Mamas (For the Love of Moms)
By the way, moms are placed on a pedastool here much more than dads. I asked each of my intermediate students one day to tell me (in English) what person they admire most, and all but one of them said their mom. As I have mentioned before, most women do not work, so they stay in the house all day to clean and prepare every meal. Usually the only time they leave is to go to the 48. mercado or visit a 49. familiar. Those who do work often take their kids with them. The men, on the other hand, sometimes stay gone all day working in several different places and show up only for meals. They are also known to be the stricter disciplinarians. So naturally the hijos feel more of an attachment to their moms. The Christians here celebrate Mother´s Day (one of the few holidays they do celebrate), but they do not pay much attention to Father´s Day.

Well if you have made it this far in my blog, then thanks for reading everything! I know it was 50. muy largo this time; but in part that´s because I was not able to write in so long. I will try to do a better job in the futuro. ¡Que tengas muy buen día! Elizabeth

1. to publish
2. update/report
3. farewell
4. marriage
5. middle
6. to conclude
7. errors
8. It´s a shame
9. preachers
10. fortunate
11. attendance
12. exercises
13. questions
14. waterfalls
15. uncomfortable
16. Catholic
17. unity
18. tourists
19. famous
20. a sickness/illness
21. chickens
22. candles
23. reason
24. half
25. to evangelize
26. plan of salvation
27. address
28. address
29. serious
30. second
31. words
32. certificates
33. ingredients
34. microwave oven
35. a success
36. a sign
37. street
38. sight
39. a good start
40. soul
41. work
42. transportation
43. owner
44. versions
45. poor
46. some
47. backpack
48. market
49. relative/family member
50. very long