Some Blessed Campaigns

After being without a computer, teaching, and traveling a lot, I am finally able to update my blog once again—and a lot has happened since the last time I wrote! I think I am a little ¨campaigned out¨--(not that that`s a bad thing.)

Viaje a El Salvador

First, in Marzo, José Luis and I had the 1. privilegio of going to El Salvador for a medical mission 2. campaña with the Mt. Juliet church. We had to take tres different busses and travel nearly 24 horas straight, but it was well worth it! It was my fourth vez to go, and José Luis`3. primera (and first time out of the 4. paìs other than Guatemala). I am so glad that he was finalmente able to meet some of my American amigos. He was really 5. impresionado with the way we conduct the campaign, and very 6. cansado by the end of the week. For the most part we worked in the 7. clinica, giving the 8. presentaciòn de salud (as you can see in this foto), and helping the people find their way around. One day we also got to leave to evangelizar juntos. Casi all of the people we talked to were polite, and interesados in what we had to teach them. José Luis also hung around the parque during the nightly worship service to invite the people he saw and talk to them about the Biblia. We both left feeling fired up to evangelize more here in Mexico. By the way, José Luis loved listening to us sing and also came back with a 9. deseo to teach songs with partes to the jovenes.

Campaña en San Cristobal

José Luis and another man hung this sign on the church to let people know about the campaign.

10. Poco tiempo after we got back, the church here in San Cristobal also hosted a campaign. The campaigns are much different here from what we`re used to. Think gospel meeting combined with lectureship, but on a much larger scale. The church started planning for the evento about one year ago, and each of us proposed at that time how much money we could give. When it was all said and done, we spent about 63,000 pesos (about $6,000 11. dolares)—all of which came from the members´own pockets. Those who came to the campaign also spent a great deal of money, as some traveled from as far away as 18 hours. It was the week of spring break, so many familias chose to attend the campaign instead of taking a 12. vacaciòn. We invited cristianos from all over Chiapas, as well as other parts of Mexico. I think nearly every congregación in Chiapas had at least one person represented. On viernes there were 13. practicamente 600 people in attendance (as you can see from the foto). Since the church building is not big enough to hold so many people, we rented a hall. We also provided every meal and housing for each of the guests. John Dial from Mississippi gave a few lessons, as well as one man from Guatemala and one from Santo Domingo, Chiapas.

Typically we had two or three Bible studies cada día, as well as one or two hours when the damas had a clase, the jovenes had a clase, and the men went out to evangelize. Over 100 teens came! José Luis and I stayed busy planning actividades for all of them. We took advantage of some of the 14. tiempo libre to have icebreakers and fun games with them. We also organized a few 15. competencias, in which they participated with the 16. mismo team of 8-10 people each day. The first day we had a soccer 17. torneo, the second day we had relays, and the third day we had a little mini Bible bowl. The two winning 18. equipos received prizes on the last day.

This was one of the relays the jovenes participated in with their teams.

Baptism in El Salvador, and baptism of José Luis and I´s grandfather in San Cristobal.

Probablemente the best part of these two campaigns were the bautismos—21 in each one. Several teens got baptized during the San Cristobal campaign, including two of the girls from church. Marisol (the girl I had been studying with) seemed to be discouraged and was not coming to church as much; and I have not been able to 19. visitar her as much as I`d like because of my 20. trabajo. But she came consistently to the campaign, and managed to bring her esposo, in-laws, and several other family members with her. Then on Sunday morning, the last day of the campaign, her husband said that he was ready to be baptized. Marisol looked so happy when I went to congratulate her! Also my future sister-in-law got baptized, José Luis´grandparents, and one other man that my father-in-law had been studying with. I am very 21. orgullosa of him for all the evangelizing he´s been doing! He has been trying to talk to his parents about the gospel for years, but they never wanted to listen. Finally his persistence paid off! Since most of my extended family was raised in the church, I cannot even imagine how happy José Luis´ family must feel. The abuelos live in a small town about 20 minutos from here where there are several denominational churches, but no Church of Christ. (Actually, they were Pentecostals before, and said that they felt ready for a change when the church introduced more 22. moderna types of music—musica that they felt was inappropriate for 23. adoración.) Please pray for all those who got baptized, and also that we can start a new church in this pueblo! Members of José Luis´family after we had a Bible study with his grandparents at their rancho.

Clases Biblicas en la Costa

Then last week (the second week of spring break) I traveled to the east 24. costa of Chiapas to help an American who came, Larry Foster. Larry was in San Cristobal just a few months ago, but he wanted to come back and give his class in other areas of the preaching schools. For meses I was calling the directores to make sure there would be no conflictos with the 25. fechas and telling them about the classes—all to no avail. They conveniently forgot about all the planes we had made over the phone and ended up putting something together at the last minute. Mexicans really take dates and eventos for granted, and fail to plan in advance. (In this picture we crammed about 30 predicadores into someone´s living room to show them the photo presentation. Sometimes we have to work with very primitive locations. Another place we went did not have electricity, and they had to hook up 2 or 3 extension cords to the neighbor´s house.)

Larry, meanwhile, was sending me 26. mensajes almost 27. diario to ask me when he was going to give the class, where, to how many people, etc. I think he was just as frustrated as I was that the plans changed every semana like it was nothing. In the end it all worked out and he gave the class at least six different times to different groups of people each time. I´m sure they would have had a much better turnout, though, and possibly even invited some visitantes, if not for waiting until the last minuto to decide what to do. Larry asked me one day if the directors frequently act that way with me because in this culture they can´t accept when a woman tells them what to do, and I felt like shouting, ¨Yes! Finally someone understands!¨ This lack of 28. comunicación with the directors continues to be one of the most difícil things about my job as school secretary!

We stayed in a small town in the mountains that is just so beautiful and peaceful. It also has some history to it, as Germans came about 50 years ago to rule the many coffee plantations (including Hitler´s son-in-law). Some of the girls were very proud to show me the famous town museum and restaurant. The women really filled that ¨mother of the house¨role, giving us refills without asking (when the bottle was right there in front of us), not allowing us to take our plates off the table after we ate, and waiting to eat until after all of the men had been served (which means the men generally ate by themselves, and the women by themselves; whole families never ate together). By the way, I also taught English to some of the young people in the mornings. They were very good students,

unlike some of my other students...

Larry Foster giving his class on Ephesus with me translating, and students from the preaching school in Tapachula about to receive certificates for successfully completing the first year of studies.

Problemas con mis alumnos siguen

I spent a lot of my last blog complaining about the problems with my new university students. I wish I could tell you that those problems are all resolved and that my students work a lot harder and study more and everything else; but I can´t. I am coming to accept that I just can´t force them into doing their work and liking English—they have to make that decision on their own. Sometimes I feel like I´m winning them over, like when they ALL turn in their homework or they ALL listen and show 29. respeto while I´m talking. Then I see their terrible test scores, and feel depressed all over again! Last week I lectured my Physical Education students about the 30. importancia of them working harder. I told them bluntly that most of them are failing, and that I can`t understand why that doesn´t bother them if it bothers ME; and how do they expect to ever graduate and get a good job if they act that way in all of their classes?? Then I gave the students a chance to evaluate me, by filling out some 31. cuestionarios. Luckily the results did help boost my confidence and reassure me that the students are failing for their own poor actions, and not because of something I´ve done.

Algunas Diferencias en Universidades Mexicanas

I have also come to realize that the problemas with the students don´t just have to do with them, but with the education system in general. I have mentioned before that schools seem to be much more laid back here. Mexico is far behind other countries in education, of course, but Chiapas ranks the lowest among all Mexican states, and also has a higher illiteracy rate. (Students from the preaching school in Tapachula, most of whom just finished their first year.) A friend from church is attending a universidad in northern Mexico, and she told me last week that the 32. profesores are much stricter there. Out of about 20 students who went to study there from Chiapas, she is one of only two who is still passing. But she is just barely passing, and often stays up all night trying to get her work done. Students also don´t receive much financial aid here, so many have to work full time jobs in order to pay their university. Another diferencia is that the universidades are set up more like high schools or middle schools, in that the students only take classes with those of the same level and profession, and always have the same horario. My grupo of 14 alumnos de educación física, por ejemplo, have classes together from 7a.m. to 3p.m. each day, always in the same classroom and with the same teachers. One disadvantage to this sistema is that the students all get to be pretty good friends, and have absolutamente no qualms about copying each other´s work!

Mexico is also diferente from the 33. Estados Unidos in that private universities generally have worse fame than public ones. It is very obvious that the ESEF (where José Luis and I are teaching) is more concerned about receiving dinero than educating and preparing its students. Let me give you an example. A few days before spring break, I felt terrible, couldn´t get out of bed, and certainly couldn´t go teach that day. Most Mexican 34. empresas have no 35. politica for sick days, so I offered to make up the time after the break. Well the administradores decided that they didn´t want to pay me for those hours, so my students lost four hours of instruction. Also, when I went to El Salvador, I assigned a 36. proyecto to my tourism students (since we weren´t going to have class all week). The school director asked me to give them more time to complete their projects, because ¨they took a trip and didn´t get back until the night before.¨ But they did not take the trip until Saturday, and they had had the whole week before to get their work done! Urrrrr!!!!! Now instead of getting mad at my students for not taking the classes more seriously, I get mad at the administrators for not valuing their education more.

Busqueda de Trabajos (Job Search)

José Luis and I are busy looking for jobs and making plans for our move to the States. We´re hoping to move in July, just in time for me to start teaching in August. But it all depends on immigration. We recently received the second notice from immigration, and now we are waiting to find out when we can go for the visa interview. Of course, José Luis will have better 37. suerte at the 38. entrevista if he can find a job before then. He really wants to be a Hispanic minister. If not, he is also interested in teaching Spanish or giving P.E. classes again. If anyone hears about any good jobs for either of us, please let us know!

Most of you probably already heard that the ¨swine flu¨epidemic is very strong right now in the Mexico City area. It has not affected Chiapas yet, but all of the schools are closed until May 6 anyway, just to be cautious. Please pray that the epidemic will soon end and not get worse.

Some of the teens from church giving a group hug to one of the girls after she got baptized.

1. privilege

2. campaign

3. first

4. country

5. impressed

6. tired

7. clinic

8. health presentation

9. desire

10. not long/little time

11. dollars

12. vacation

13. practically

14. free time

15. competitions

16. same

17. tournament

18. teams

19. to visit

20. job

21. proud

22. modern

23. worship

24. coast

25. dates

26. messages

27. daily

28. communication

29. respect

30. importance

31. questionaires

32. professors

33. United States

34. businesses

35. policy

36. project

37. luck

38. interview