Desde la Tierra de las Hamburguesas...

Un Repaso de Los Ultimos 8 Meses...

2010-03-19T13:50:00.014-05:00

Adentro de nuestro apartamento.

Afuera de nuestro apartamento, cuando habia mucha nieve en Nashville.

!Fuimos a divertirnos con la nieve, en Virginia!

Nuestra cocina.

Un parque en el centro de Atlanta (donde viven mis papas).

El edificio de capital de Nashville (donde vivimos).

Fuimos a ver un partido de beisbol profesional en Atlanta.

La iglesia donde se reune mi familia.

Aqui estamos en frente de las oficinas principales de CNN, en Atlanta, Georgia.

Pues el tiempo ha volado. No puedo creer que ya llevamos 8 meses aqui. Cuando llegamos tuvimos muy poco tiempo para buscar trabajos y encontrar donde vivir. Pocos dias antes del inicio de clases yo encontre un trabajo como maestra en una preparatoria. Lo bueno es que encontre un trabajo (en un tiempo cuando muchos no tienen). Lo malo es que no estaba en la misma ciudad de mi familia. Es una lastima, pero claro que mi familia me apoya completamente. Solo son 4 1/2 horas, asi que podemos viajar a verles en vacaciones. De hecho, alli estamos ahora porque no hay clases esta semana.

Fui por la entrevista un viernes, y tuve que entrar a clases el lunes! Asi que tuvimos solo dos dias para buscar un apartamento, despedir a mi familia, y mover todas las cosas de Georgia a Tennessee. La cuidad donde vivimos se llama Nashville; es la capital del estado de Tennessee (en el sureste de los EE.UU.) Es la ciudad mas grande de Tennessee, pero un poco mas pequeno que Tuxtla y mucho mas grande que San Cristobal. Tuvimos que quedarnos en un hotel la primera semana mientras buscamos un apartamento; pero lo que por fin encontramos nos gusta mucho, asi que valio la pena.

Estoy ensenando ingles a jovenes de otros paises. Tengo alumnos de 14-21 anos de edad. La mayoria viene de Centro America aunque tambien hay de Egipto, Somalia, China, y otras partes de Africa. Muchos son refugiados. Bueno hay seis periodos de clases y estan dividos en cuatro niveles, de principiantes que acaban de llegar a avanzados, que ya llevan como 5 anos aqui pero todavia necesitan ayuda en leer y escribir ingles. Me encantan las clases y lo que puedo ensenar. Por otro lado, siempre hay retos con los alumos. Por ejemplo, quieren pelear mucho, algunos les falta mucho respecto, y algunos casi nunca vienen a la clase (buscan lugares en la escuela donde esconderse). Pero creo que poco por poco mientras estoy conociendoloes mas el trabajo es mas facil y mas agradable. La escuela es la mas grande de Tennessee ademas de universidades; tiene 2,500 alumnos! Me llevó mas de una semana para ubicarme bien ; )

Jose Luis les envia saludos tambien. Siempre preguntamos por ustedes aunque no pudimos escribir. El se ha acostumbrado muy bien a la vida americana. (Pero mejor preguntenles a el.) No pudo empezar a trabajar tan rapido, porque tuvo que esperar a recibir su permiso de trabajo (lo que llevó algunos meses de conseguir.) Ademas, es muy complicado aqui conseguir un trabajo. Muchos piensan que es facil conseguir trabajo aqui, pero les aseguro que nada mas es un mito! Es cierto, hay mas trabajo, pero tambien hay mas desempleados. Asi que la competencia es dura. Primero hay que hacer una aplicacion online que lleva por lo menos una hora de cumplir y trae preguntas dificiles. (Por ejemplo, que harias si un empleado llevara cosas sin pedir permiso? Y hay que hacer una respuesta de por lo menos un parafo.) Despues, si pasan esa parte de aplicacion, tienen 2 entrevistas con personas diferentes, una semana de entrenamiento, y por fin el trabajo. Y en el principio no les dan muchas horas, a proposito. Asi que, si, es muy complicado. Ahorita esta trabajando en un restaurante. No es exactamente el trabajo que queria, pero de todos modos es un gran logro considerando que tuvo que hacer todo en ingles (que por supuesto ha mejorado mucho desde que llegamos). Trabaja con algunas personas de Mexico y Honduras. Estamos esperando que pueda conseguir un mejor trabajo despues. Todavia esta interesado en ser un ministro hispano (en otras palabras ir a evangelizar a algunos de los hispanos que viven aqui y empezar una nueva iglesia con ellos). Pero casi todas las iglesias no son suficientemente grande para darle apoyo, asi que seria nada mas voluntario. (Y como viven lejos y estamos trabajando en diferentes tiempos, eso es dificil.)

Nos reunimos en Mt. Juliet Church of Christ. Esta un poco lejos de donde vivimos, como 20 minutos. Pero yo ya conoci a los hermanos desde antes, y es una buena iglesia. Tiene casi 1,000 miembros con 4 ministros principales y 10 ancianos (y como 70 diaconos). Nosotros asistimos a las clases de "parejas jovenes." Toda la gente es muy amable, y hay muchas oportunidades para servir. Un hermano llego de Honduras casi al mismo tiempo que Jose Luis y empezo una iglesia hispana alla. El tambien se caso con una hermana americana de aca y son casi la misma edad que nosotros, asi que estamos haciendonos buenos amigos. Les apoyamos con todo que podemos con la iglesia. Jose Luis ayuda con partes de la adoracion, y yo a veces ayudo con clases de ninos y clases de ingles. En este poco tiempo la iglesia ha crecido a casi 15 miembros; es muy emocionante! Casi todos los hermanos son de Mexico.

Vamos a tratar de estar escribiendo mas enseguida, asi que si pueden estar checando el blog sera genial.

Some Blessed Campaigns

2009-04-30T12:52:00.012-05:00

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

Diary of a Mad Gringa Teacher, Part I

2009-03-01T22:51:00.010-06:00

This is an extinct type of sea turtle in the water.
This is me in part of the Chiapas jungle. Can you tell my looking sideways that these plants were much taller than me??

New and Exciting Opportunities

On February 2, José Luis and I both started teaching at a universidad here in San Cristobal. It is called ¨Escuela Superior de Educación Fisica¨ (Superior School of Physical Education). José Luis received his bachelor´s degree there and also taught there dos years ago. We went to see about oportunidades for me only, and as it turned out the secretaria academica hired us both right there on the spot. I am teaching English for 9 hours a week, and José Luis is teaching physical education classes for 16 hours a week. Teachers get paid pretty well here, and the pay for one hour of teaching is as much as what some Mexicans make for a whole day´s work. It is few enough hours for me to still be able to relax every once in a while and stay committed to the preaching schools and my other responsibilidades, and enough pay for us to save up some extra money (particularly for the inevitable immigracion fees). I really feel like God has answered our oraciones in providing us this opportunity.

Me, a Professor??
The reality hasn´t quite set in yet that I´m a university teacher! I never thought I would be, (especialmente since all of my experiencia is with niños and I am barely older than my 1. alumnos). I must say that I am not enjoying the 2. trabajo as much as I thought I would. I feel exactly like a teacher out of one of those classic education movies like Stand and Deliver, Dangerous Minds, or Freedom Writers, who come prepared with so many plans and tough 3. expectativas, only to discover on the first day that the students are neither capable nor willing of meeting those expectations. It is a classic situación of students suffering from poor teachers and just slipping through the cracks, year after year after year. In return, they lack confidence, have no motivation, don´t care if they fail, and don´t even want to try. Their teacher, meanwhile, is doing everything posible to help them, to make the class more interesante, to egg them on...only to become equally exasperated in the proceso.

Let me give you some ejemplos of what I mean. I really had no idea ahead of time of what to expect from my alumnos. The school has zero materiales, and the only thing they gave me before the start of clases was a very short, very vague program of study. According to the program of study for English II, the students are supposed to be learning how to analyze different kinds of texts in English, like narratives, instructional textos, and scientific textos. So, naturally, I assumed that they had already mastered 4. los basicos. Wrong! José Luis had warned me that the programs of study are not very accurate, so my plan for the second class was to give them an evaluative examen (to have a better idea of what their actual level was). When I discovered that they did not understand a single word I was saying to them in a simple introduction, however, I quickly changed plans. The evaluative exam would have been way too hard for them! Instead, their ¨exam¨was to write sentences with the new vocabulary words. Well it turns out that most of them don´t even know how to write a simple sentence! Plus, they are all freshman boys who are only there so they can play soccer and basketball all day. Can you imagine??

My other group, English 4, are sophmores studying tourism. There are only four of them (lucky for me!) They are much better students than my freshman boys, but they, too, lack motivation and act like they are there only because they have to be. (Actually, one day they tried to get out of having class and almost got me in trouble, but that´s a long story). They at least do their homework and participate in class, but even so I feel like they are doing the bare 5. minimo. Everything I do to spice up the class some seems to backfire because they don´t put the necessary 6. esfuerzo into their work. One day, for example, I asked them each to write questions with ¨will¨ to ask their classmates. Well the questions were so outrageous that the other students didn´t even want to answer--which defeated the 7. propósito. Not surprisingly, their level of speaking and listening is very incompatible with that of 8. gramatica.

Basically the first three weeks have been a lot of trial and error. First, I had to figure out where to start since the programs were useless. Sometimes I still give assignments to the English II boys that they act like is over their heads. On the one hand, I don´t want to start from the beginning when they supposedly should have had an English class every year since 6th grade. 9. También, I have a feeling they know a lot more than they realize, and it´s only a matter of drawing out what they know and teaching them to use it wisely. On the other hand, it really gets to me to see students fail; I am the kind of teacher who cannot just sit back and let it happen. But José Luis thinks that if the students see that they´re failing, it will cause them to work harder. Maybe he´s right. The first time I gave homework, no one did it and of course I had to give them all a zero. (The homework was to watch the soccer game between the U. S. and Mexico and take notes on what happened--in Spanish--and they didn´t even want to do that! Urrrrhhhh!!!) The second time, eight of them did the 10. tarea. The last time, all but one of them did it! They still made a lot of 11. errores and were scrambling to get it done at the beginning of class, but at least they did it! Also, I had to talk to three boys one day about copying each other´s homework. I told them it didn´t do them any good to do something that is not their own work and that as long as they make an attempt, I would give them 12. credito. Well they all did their own work the next time, and one of them actually received one of the highest 13. calificaciones. Yea!

More than the Requirements
A few people have told me that the most I can do is just complete the requirements and then after that it´s up to the students; but I don´t agree. It may sound gushy, but I want to teach so that I can help impact the students--not just teach them a bunch of boring grammar. So far the only impression I´ve made, it seems, is that my ideas are very different from what they´re used to--and therefore invalid. The students have had so many bad English teachers for so long that it´s hard for me to ¨undo¨ their poor learning skills. One day I gave something to my English 4 students and specifically told them NOT to translate it, to just look for vocabulary words and try to understand the main idea. But after 20 minutos, they had barely scratched the surface because they were looking up every unknown word in their 14. diccionarios--and had not even identified any of the 15. vocabulario like I had asked! Also, my freshman boys seem to have the 16. mentalidad that if they can´t do something entirely correct, it´s better for them not to do it at all--which could be another razón that they often don´t do their homework. I am trying to emphasize to them that 17. obviamente they are not going to have perfect grammar and spelling in everything they turn in (if they don´t even understand grammar in Spanish, then much less in English) and that´s it´s OKAY!

Lately I spend so much time and 18. energía planning my lessons, so much time putting myself in my students´19. zapatos, so much time wracking my 20. cerebro trying to figure out what will work and what won´t--all for their benefit. (As I mentioned, I am used to teaching kids, which is a lot different--and a lot more 21. divertido!) Sometimes my hard work pays off--like when I experience those small ¨victories¨ like those I already mentioned. Sometimes it doesn´t pay off--and I am the one who ends up feeling stressed out and angry and discouraged afterwards, not them. But José Luis says to be 22. paciente, and that it might be a long time before the students appreciate anything, but that one day they will. I hope he´s right. I have written a poem to sum up my new teacher feelings:

Teacher to Student

All of them are different,
Yet they all look the same
As I´m teaching them—
Faces blank, withdrawn, motionless,
Thinking about what they´re
Going to do this afternoon
And counting down the minutes
Until they´re free of my charge,
Free of the school,
Away from all the stress
And work and boredom.
I, meanwhile, am pleading
Silently for them to
Hang on,
To stay with me,
To pay attention just a little
Bit longer.
My actions say it all—
Asking them to stand up
And practically dance
In a circle,
Laughing with them
When one of the boys
Suddenly falls out of his chair,
Giving them more time
To finish so they can
Do a good job.
And yet,
Try as I may to
Make it
Different,
Interesting,
Exciting,
Every class is still the same;
And every class I still see
The same, lifeless stares.
They are like zombies,
Walking around
Playing their part
In the world
But not actually in it—
Not yet anyway.
And when they finally
Have to integrate,
To face the music,
To do their own work,
I can only hope that—
One of these days—
They will think back
On our short time together
And thank me.

Kids´Class at Church
I am still teaching the kids´class at church on Sunday nights, as well. (There are two fotos above of kids in the class.) Recently a few of the varones started a pre teens class on Sunday mornings, for 8-12 year olds. Several of us who teach the kids have been complaining for a while about the need 22. separar the older kids from the younger ones, so our 23. quejas were finally heard. There are about 10 in the class each semana, and it seems to be going well. Unfortunately, the clase doesn´t help me at all since it is only on Sunday mornings. The preteen teachers have told the students that they´re too big now to go into the kids´class; but nonetheless I still have 11 year olds coming to my class each week and participating right alongside the 2 year olds. I have a feeling they continue coming because their 24. padres have not told them otherwise. And as much as I stress to them that they need to be the líderes and set a good ejemplo for the younger niños, they seem set on doing nothing but the opposite—choking, hitting, kicking, whistling, screaming—and basically making it that much harder for me to maintain control of the class—and keep from losing my patience!

Punishments and Rewards
Yes, the students (young and old) all frustrate me if that was not already 25. obvio. But just when I think I´ve had enough, something happens to make me suddenly change my 26. mente again. I taught the kids a 27. dinamica that helps them get settled and quiet a lot faster anytime we have a prayer. I have also translated some of the Bible 28. cantos I grew up with and taught the kids my own personal Spanish versions, and they love it! Their favorite so far has been ¨12 Spies.¨ Remember I started giving out 29. estrellas to the kids for participation and good behavior (and taking away stars for bad behavior). For every 10 stars they earn a different 30. premio (each one better than the last). Now that the kids have finally caught on to the idea, they will do anything and everything to receive a star. Before, no one would help me clean up the classroom (I sang a song with them and everything, but nothing worked!), and the same two boys always said the prayers. Now (several meses later) nearly all of the kids will stop working right away and actually get down on their hands and knees to pick up 31. basura and crayons, and almost all of the boys wants to pray now (and I´m pretty sure some of them had never prayed before). One day I noticed a 3-year-old loan a crayon to one of the other boys without me saying anything, and I gave him a star for it. Then for the rest of the class all I heard was, ¨Maestra, I shared a pencil sharpener! I let him use my pencil! I gave him my scissors! Are you going to give me a star for it?¨ Another chica said, ¨Can I go get the broom so I can sweep up the floor for you?¨ So maybe I am bribing them, but at least they´re learning to share and lead prayers and be good helpers in the process! Once again, small 32. victorias.

Changing the Culture??
Sometimes I feel like I´m not just trying to change the students, but I´m going against the entire cultura! Many of the other teachers probablemente don´t ask their students to help them clean up after class, and some aren´t interested in teaching new songs or giving the kids different kind of activities; they are just there to fulfil a responsibilidad, and with that they´re happy. Their idea of teaching is watching the kids play for an hour. Also, parents here seem to take the idea that ¨kids will be kids¨ to the 33. extremo. Anytime a family with kids comes to eat at Mr. Taco (José Luis´family´s restaurante), the kids are usually running around the entire restaurant the whole time, while the adultos just talk away, not paying a lick of 34. atención to all the mischief the niños are getting into! At church, when there is no kids´class, the parents let their kids play and run around in the street during the entire worship service! Some of the teachers also have the terrible habito here of giving the kids 35. dulces and prizes and toys for no good reason. Consequently, not a week goes by when a child doesn´t say to me, ¨Are you going to give us a ball?¨ or, ¨Why didn´t I get candy?¨ Anyway, I finally figured out that it´s so hard for me to get the kids to stay in their seats and raise their hand to speak and speak only one at a time because evidently they don´t ever have to do those things with their other maestros. Urrrrhhh!!!!

A Sad Situation
Something very unusual and terrible happened the other day. Three men went to preach in an indigenous community about two hours away, as there is a new convert living there. On their way back, some leaders from the town detained them just for going to preach the 36. evangelio. Many of the communities in Chiapas are still 100% Catholic. Additionally, they are unincorporated; they have no government and no laws, so they think they can get away with whatever they want (and often do). The ¨leaders¨of these communities have sometimes been known to make threats or hurt others just to get a point across. José Luis, my brother-in-law Gerardo, and a few other men went to explain the situación to the police officers in the next closest town, that is incorporated. Then some of them went to talk to the men who were detaining our hermanos. Luckily one of the ministers who went speaks the same Mayan 37. dialecto and was able to talk to them a lot easier. Finally, about 10 p.m. that night, the men were released—with the 38. condición that they never return to that town to preach. Certainly this was a tragic situation that shows us just how much we take our 39. libertad of religion for granted. Fortunately the men from our congregation don´t seem to be too shaken up by it, though. They recently had a meeting when they discussed the need for us to have a better plan of evangelización and go out to evangelize together more 40. frecuentemente.

¡Hasta luego!

P.S. I was not able to move the pictures this time because the mouse on this computer isn´t working very well. Sorry!

1. students

2. job/work

3. expectations

4. the basics

5. mimimum

6. effort

7. purpose

8. grammar

9. also

10. homework

11. errors/mistakes

12. credit

13. grades

14. dictionaries

15. vocabulary

16. mentality

17. obviously

18. energy

19. shoes

20. brain

21. fun

22. to separate

23. complaints

24. parents

25. obvious

26. mind

27. dynamic activity

28. songs

29. stars

30. prize

31. trash

32. victories

33. extreme

34. attention

35. sweets/candy

36. Gospel

37. dialect

38. condition

39. freedom

40. frequently

What the Students and New Converts Have in Common…

2009-01-29T18:53:00.008-06:00

While my family was here, we visited a nearby Ingidinous comunidad called ¨Zinacatan.¨ As part of the tour, they showed us many of the traditional clothing they make and wear there (remember that each indiginous community has its own attire). Since José Luis and I were about to get married, they asked us to model these traditional bride and groom clothes. I look fat because they wrapped so many layers of heavy fabrics around me!

After a hectic December, I feel like my January has been a slower mes of getting settled into the new casa, getting used to being a housewife (I´m still working on that one!), getting back to old routines, and just taking things easy.

Sleepover in the School (Pijamada en la escuela)

To start, I hosted a slumber party for the girls from church. It was something I had wanted to do for a while, and just hadn´t been able to. Most of them were still on vacaciones from school. Eight girls came in all, and six decided to spend the night. Some of the girls 1. honestamente acted like they had never spent the night at a friend´s house before. I had told them to bring a blanket and pillow, and none of them did. They also told each other when they arrived that they were just going to stay until 11 o´clock or so. But two of the older girls showed up later with their sleep gear, and the rest of them started to change their minds. At 2. medianoche they finally decided that they would stay, and some of the girls who live closeby went to get more 3. cubijas and 4. almohadas for everyone. They wanted to play game after game after game! We played every one I had prepared, and some I had to quickly think up on the spot (that I was remembering from the sleepovers of my preteen days). Oddly, none of them were interested in seeing peliculas. We did not go to bed until 5 a.m. I think all of the girls really enjoyed it (including me!), and some have even asked when we can do it again.

Girls from church racing down these huge slides at a local park (muchachas de la iglesia que estaban teniendo carreras en estas resbaladillas en un parque)

School Visits (Visitas a las Escuelas)
I have also been taking advantage of this month, before I start teaching Inglés on los sabados again, to go and visit each of the preaching schools. First I went to Ocosingo. About 15 students were present, and Antonio, the director has been giving the students preguntas to help them think critically about the passages they read. Many of the students in Ocosingo started out in other religions, so they are not entirely familiar yet with the 5. doctrina of the 6. Nuevo Testamento. Antonio let me know, however, that just about all of them have gotten baptized since they started taking the classes.

Students from Ocosingo eating lunch together after classes (Estudiantes en Ocosingo comiendo juntos después de clases)

Last Saturday I travelled to the coast of Chiapas to visit the schools in Tapachula and Cacahoatan. The students in Tapachula also appeared to be very 7. motivados. They have several good instructores who attended preacher training schools in other parts of Mexico. I am a little worried about the situation in Cacahoatan, however. Fransisco, the director, was telling me how stressed out he feels trying to balance out the demands of the school, the church, and his family. He has cut back on teaching in the school and has not been able to recruit new estudiantes because of it. Although most preachers here earn little to no salary, they work at another 8. trabajo during the day and devote nearly every noche to Bible studies, house visits, and worship services. Francisco was telling me that he works from 7-2 every day in a middle school, goes home and grades papers, conducts worship services for the church in Cacahoatan every Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday night, and spends every Monday and Thursday night in visits or Bible studies. Now he feels like being at the school all day Saturday has taken away the only time he has to spend with his familia. I think he also felt a little discouraged that he doesn´t earn more dinero from the other miembros for all his hard work.

Students having classes at the preaching school in Tapachula, Chiapas (Estudiantes durante una clase en Tapachula, Chiapas)

Unfortunately, his discouragement has rubbed off on the entire escuela. When I arrived on Saturday, there were only 5 students (all of them between 13-15 years old and family members of Fransisco), and they finished classes at 12 :30. The first time I visited this school, there were about 20 eager students present, they had four different classes and four different teachers, and they did not finish until about 4 p.m. (the ideal ending time for them to receive 9. credito). This problema—that many of the students quickly get burnt out and for some razon don´t want to continue studying—is one that has affected all of the schools. In Ocosingo, some of the girls got married and then didn´t come back. In Tapachula, some live far away and just didn´t want to pay the weekly transportation fares. In Cacahoatan, many of the teens graduated from 10. la preparatoria and left home to study in other universidades.

New Ideas (Nuevas Ideas)
Nonetheless, we continue to do everything posible for the students who really do care; who really are working 11. duro to finish the 12. programa and graduate. We are planning to have a 13. graduación for the first grupo of students in Mayo. The escuelas in Cacahoatan and Tapachula are only about 40 minutes apart, so I think I will suggest to Global Missions that we combine the groups into one to keep the students from getting discouraged by the small numero. David attended a different preaching training school also, and he says he is the only one in his class of 20 who is still preaching. But David also reminds us that for just one person, the school is worth it—like the one student we have right now who is preaching full-time for the congregation in Cintalapa, Chiapas.

Although we have had similar results in San Cristobal with the asistencia, David recently started up the clases 14. otra vez with a new group of students—most of them jovenes from church. The original idea of the schools was to train young men who want to be predicadores, then send them out to start new congregaciones in other partes of Chiapas. But there really aren´t very many muchachos who want to be preachers full time—mainly for the reasons I already mentioned, that they receive no 15. sueldo and feel constant 16. presión tending to the necesidades of the church and their family at the same time. There are a lot of men who LIKE to preach…but they view it more as an occasional actividad than as a job, filling in when needed and volunteering to go and preach in newer congregations every now and then—as long as someone gives them money for their 17. gasolina afterwards. With the exception of David, very few manage 18. recibir the funds necessary to dedicate themselves to the obra 100%. Anyway, for the first few años, the directores tried and tried and tried 19. persuadir men to come to the classes—all to no avail. Somewhere along the away the focus seems to have shifted from young men to teenagers. I think as long as the schools can keep a group of students, that´s better than 20. nada. I have not been able to attend any of the new classes in San Cristobal yet (since they also decided to change the 21. horario to only Saturdays), but so far between15-20 have been coming. Let´s hope and pray that the schools will continue and that those of us who play a part will not feel so 22. facilmente discouraged.

Teens from church and I at one of the girls´house to celebrate her 14th birthday (Yo con algunos jovenes de la iglesia en una celebración de cumpleaños)

Struggles of New Converts (Obstaculos de los Recién Bautizados)

The problem of poor attendance is prevalent with new conviertos, as well. Back home, when someone gets baptized it´s pretty likely that they´ll stay in church because a.) they grew up in church and their whole family is Christian or b.) they have a good group of friends at church who can 23. constantemente 24. estudiar with them and encourage them. Most of the new converts here, on the other hand, have no ¨support system¨to keep them going strong. David told me that there have been cinco baptisms since the start of the year, but of those I think maybe only one of them is still attending. So many of the gente here seem to have the idea that bautismo is something they do only to be saved and don´t seem to understand that their Christianity is a 25. carrera and could come into jeopardy at anytime. Many never attended church before in their lives and have a hard time developing the habito of going to church every Sunday morning—much less the other times there are worship services. From what I have seen, the biggest reason that new Christians don´t come back is family. Those who have close amigos or familiares at church participate more and stay motivated, whereas those who come by themselves and barely know the other members start to drop off 26. poco por poco. So many of the converts we have had in the past year never came back simply because their family members from another religion pressured them and caused them to question our form of 27. adoración.

Update on Marisol
I´m worried that that´s exactly what´s going to happen with Marisol. The first few months after her baptism she attended nearly every worship service, but since then she has cut back little by little. Now she only comes about one Sunday morning out of the month. She is the only one in her family who is a cristiana. I know her family members have pressured her, because every time I visit her she has doubts like, ¨Such and such a person said they do x thing in x religion and why don´t we?¨ On one side she has devout Catholics influencing her, and on the other side well-versed Pentecostals. To complicate matters even more, she moved to another house a few months ago that is much farther away, and she often uses that as an excusa for not going to church. (I have not been able to visit her as much because of it). Her other excuse is always that one of her kids was sick. José Luis warned me that even if I visited her, that was no guarantee she would come back to church (because the same thing has happened to his family numerous veces). But I told him that it was at least worth a try. This time, rather than preparing a estudio of my own, I asked her ahead of time if there´s anything she wanted to know more about. Fasting. Just as I had expected, her Pentecostal family members told her that in their church they fast every Saturday and wanted to know why we don´t. I honestly didn´t know a lot about fasting before I began to prepare the study, but she told me afterwards that I explained everything really well and she understood it all much better. What a relief! I also left her a handout 28. leer and told her to let me know if she had anymore questions. Nonetheless, she still did not show up for church again on Sunday.

The situation with Marisol is similar to that of many new converts. Sometimes it´s hard to know when to draw the line. When do we stop visiting and calling and inviting them to come back to church? When do we leave them alone and move on to someone else? When do we feel like we´ve done 29. suficiente in helping them obtain 30. salvación? As José Luis says, ¨If we are the ones who are supposed to be encouraging the others, who is going to encourage us when WE get discouraged?¨

Thank you, as always, for taking the time to read this blog. Don´t be afraid to share your opinion about anything I have mentioned; I would love to hear what others think or hear about similar experiences.

My mother-in-law taking a bite out of her birthday cake, a birthday tradition in Mexico. (Mi suegra comiendo una mordita de su torta de cumpleaños)

1. honestly

2. midnight

3. blankets

4. pillows

5. doctrine

6. New Testament

7. motivated

8. job

9. credit

10. high school

11. hard

12. program

13. graduation

14. again

15. salary

16. pressure

17. gasoline

18. to receive

19. to persuade

20. nothing

21. schedule

22. easily

23. constantly

24. study

25. race

26. little by little

27. worship

28. to read

29. enough/sufficient

30. salvation

Our Big Day--AmeriMex Style

2009-01-02T22:09:00.008-06:00

After a long absence of planning for the wedding, spending time with my familia, going on a honeymoon, and moving out of the school, I am finally settling back into my normal actividades.

The Pelfreys come to Mexico

My family arrived on Dec. 9. It was the first time I had seen any of them since Junio, and it was really great being able to spend tiempo with them, if only for a few días. It was also their first time to meet their new son-in-law/brother-in-law! We spent the first three days of their viaje waking up early and visiting various tourist 1. locales in Chiapas. We were able to see Palenque, (the Mayan 2. pyramides), two 3. cascadas, two indigenous comunidades, and the cañon del sumidero ( big canyon), as well as a few things here in San Cristobal. We contracted a 4. agencia de viajes ahead of time, who provided us with a 5. horario and 6. conductor for everything we wanted to do. My family stayed in the school. (Actually, I spent the week before they came cleaning up in the school, setting up more 7. camas, etc.) Of course, they had to get used to sleeping in the cold without heat and throwing their toilet paper into the trash can…but I think other than that they really enjoyed everything. I also really appreciated having them here to help me with last minute wedding 8. detalles. Without them we would have never gotten the reception hall decorated in time!

All of my family eating supper with part of José Luis´extended family in their restaurant

My brother-in-law Joe, sister Amanda, nephew Nathaniel and José Luis inside a cave

Here Comes the Bride…
The wedding also turned out really nice. We got married on December 14, Sunday, at 6 p.m. (Actually, the invitations said 5:30, but that´s only because Mexicanos are notorious for arriving at big eventos at least 30 minutes 9. tarde). First we had the ceremony in the church building. As I have mentioned before, this part is known as the ¨acción de gracias¨ (action of thanks) because 10. predicadores here don´t have the legal right to marry the couple. There is no music and no ushers, and it is basically just a regular worship service except with a sermon aimed more at 11. matrimonio. My 12. cuñado Gerardo preached. With the 13. excepción of David, who led hymns, only family miembros participated in the worship service, both fathers and all 4 of José Luis´brothers. The entire wedding was a clash of Mexican and American tradiciones. I had no bridesmaids, but we did have a flower girl and ring bearer. The tradition here is for the bride to walk to the church from her house, and she designates one boy and one girl who carry her train the whole time. I did walk to the church, but only from a short distancia; and the kids didn´t help with my train. Instead of marching in to ¨Here Comes the Bride,¨ the church sang a 14. himno that they reserve only for bodas. They also sang the same song for the recessional. All of the jovenes and niños lined up to blow bubbles at José Luis and I as we marched out. Mexican parejas don´t leave before their guests like we do, but I really wanted to have the traditional grand 15. salida with bubbles. So we decided to change the 16. orden a little and do it in the church. And we did not ask the adultos since they have never done anything like that (and there was little espacio). After the ceremonia, we left together in a 1956 car (pictured below), went quickly to a photo studio for our big picture together, and continued on to the hall.

The Reception

By the time we arrived, the other guests were already waiting for us, and several of them lined up to clap as we entered. The hall we rented had a really nice yard outside with a long brick sidewalk (where we walked in), benches, tall 17. arboles, and several playground activities for the kids. We were blessed that the weather was unusually warm for December. Mexicans believe that for any celebration they have to eat a big meal and get really full, and otherwise it´s not worth their time. So before we even started with supper, we first had to provide 18. botanas and 19. refrescos to every table. José Luis´family owns two 20. restaurantes (Mr. Taco), and we were lucky to have the entire staff from one of them to prepare the food and serve the guests. Our 21. cena was a Mr. Taco speciality. Before José Luis and I could even sit down, everyone immediately approached us to hug us, congratulate us, and give us the gift they had bought (another Mexican tradition). That entire proceso took 30 minutos or more! Then José Luis´ aunt and uncle (our ¨padrinos de anillos¨) presented us with our rings, we read a poem together in English and Spanish, and showed two photo presentations. We could not receive the rings in the church building because normalmente the exchange takes place after the judge reads the marriage 22. contracto (in the civil ceremony).

Odd Customs

Another costumbre here is for the guests to take all of the decorations afterwards (including everything that is on the table) as a ¨souvenir¨of the wedding. Our theme was ¨From now until eternity¨, and we worked really hard for months and months to make all kinds of star decorations to hang from the 23. techo and put on the 24. mesas. Also we gave star magnets with our initials on them as party favors. But just one party favor is not enough! After spending all day Sunday getting the hall decorated exactly how we wanted it, everything got taken down in less than ten minutes! We were planning on using some of the things again in our American wedding, but oh well! José Luis´dad, who is a welder, also made 40 ¨anafres¨--little miniature steel grills with an opening in the bottom to heat food using coals, and 4 grips to set a plate of food on top. We had known all along that he would either have to make new ones or that the guests would take all of the ones they use in their restaurants…but of course there was not one for each person, and some people were practically fighting over who was going to keep them! The waiters could not even refill the anafres at some tables because the guests refused to relinquish them!

Oh, and Mexicans also have the terrible habito of inviting people who aren´t actually ¨invited.¨ For example, their great aunt Tess comes to visit and they say ¨There´s this wedding that I´m going to…and by the way, you´re invited too.¨ Plus, you pretty much have to count on the whole church arriving here—including those who have been ¨missing¨ from services for two months. It´s not like back home where only those from church who know you the best feel comfortable attending. There were at least 15 people at the wedding whose 25. caras we had never seen before. Another 20-30 we kind of knew, but not well enough to invite them; and we have no idea who did. The church building fills up on Sunday mornings with about 100 members. And the hall we rented had seating for 200. Knowing how Mexicans are, we rented enough tables and chairs for another 30 people to sit at the reception—just to be 26. seguro. Well I don´t know how many came in all, but the church was more packed than I´ve ever seen it, and the extra tables and chairs did come in handy at the reception. Plus, the kids were outside playing the whole time and didn´t really have chairs. So I think at least 230 people came—and we only invited 180.

Not so Nice Surprises

It is very 27. obvio to me that Mexicans have not yet learned to respect the 28. deseos of the couple. José Luis and I worked so hard and spent so much money planning how to decorate the church…only to arrive one day before the wedding to discover that the ladies from church had decided to surprise us with decorations of their own! Surprise they did! What are we going to do now, I thought, and why did they have to use pink and red, of all colors??? Some of the ladies must have worked for horas sewing new 29. cortinas, so of course there was no way we could take them down. I know they did it out of the goodness of their hearts with good 30. intenciones; I only wish they had let us know about it ahead of time!

Also, I mentioned that the Christians here don´t use musica in their bodas. We respected their wishes by using only hymns in the acción de gracias and thought it would be okay to play some romantic English and Spanish love songs in the reception. Think again! We were careful to select only songs that had no profanity, inappropriate 31. contento, etc. and played the CD on a very low volume, but even so that was still just too much for some of our Christian 32. invitados. We left the hall for 10 minutes to go take pictures, and by the time we came back, one of the preachers had forcefully replaced our homemade CD with Christian acapella. Being in no mood to argue, we finally just gave in and ended up listening to hymns the rest of the noche. I have noticed that one problem of many of the Christians here is that they don´t understand when something in the Bible is literal and when it is relative. So evidently many believe that when the Bible says to ¨sing and make melody in your hearts,¨ it means all the time, whether we are in a worship service or not. Despite their old fashioned ways, José Luis and I wish they had held out and been more respectful and mature for dos horas rather than causing us to feel so angry and frustrated on our wedding day.

Lame Wedding Services

Another thing that really gets to me is that contracts basically don´t exist here. You know how every wedding book or wedding magazine ever made recommends to get a contract for every wedding service you use well in advance with dates, times, 33. condiciones and prices thoroughly accounted for? Doesn´t apply in Mexico. We ask for a contract, they shrug and say they can´t do that. It amazes me how uninterested some of the people are here in good money and good business! We followed the ¨advice¨of starting to search for a photographer and florist a few months ahead of time—all to no avail. The first time we went, everyone was nice and willing to help us, genuinely interested in our business. ¨We don´t work on Sundays, but we will make an exception!¨ ¨Sure, we can give you a disc, no problem!¨ ¨Yes, we will be here on that day and your flowers will be ready the day before!¨ But when we went back to ¨hire¨them, it was a different story; ¨Nope, sorry, we don´t work on Sundays…and we´re not going to be here that day anyway.¨ ¨Why don´t you just find a friend or family member who can take the pictures for you instead?¨ (Yes, the actual ¨professional¨ photographer told us that!)

To make a long story short, we ended up hiring a different photographer five days before the wedding, and a different 34. florista just a day before the wedding…all because everyone kept changing their word, and upping the precios. The first florist that we had hired actually forgot all about our order! They were going to give us all different flowers (all uglier) and charge us the same price because they had run out of the ones we wanted. ¨That´s the whole reason we placed the order in advance!¨ we yelled in astonishment. Frantic, we started walking through the mercado until we found another flower merchant (NOT florist) who had enough flowers that we liked. We weren´t even too concerned about the colors at that point, we just wanted to find some that looked good and be done with it! I was practically holding my breath the whole time since many of the merchants were left with only boring white flowers due to the Virgin of Guadalupe day just two days before. I think it was only luck (and God´s providence) that allowed us to get our flower arrangements in time with flores that we were happy with. But being so leary at that point, I bought individual flowers for my bouquet and made it myself rather than depending on one of those goons to do it for me!

All in all the wedding was fabulous, and nothing to complain about. Click on these links if you would like to see more pictures:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2046931&l=d5a65&id=64506233
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2046989&l=f7e92&id=64506233

La Luna de Miel (The Honeymoon)

We spent our honeymoon in Hualtulco, Mexico, a spot on the Pacific Ocean about ten hours from here known for its nine beautiful bays. One day we took an all-day boat tour of the bays. We also got to snorkel, ride a banana boat, visit an ecological area, and go 4 wheeling through the jungle. Of course, we also swam a lot and ate a lot of seafood! The honeymoon was very nice and relaxing, and it was very hard for us to come back to freezing San Cristobal afterwards and resume our normal activities! Ever since we got back we have been busy moving things into the cabin we will be living in and getting it fixed up how we like it. (I will put some pictures on here once we finish with everything). The cabin is very cozy, the perfect size for two people, and just a five minute walk from the school. Also José Luis´family owns it, so we are very lucky that we don´t have to pay 35. renta. The only bad thing about it is that I have to get used to walking outside to use the bathroom and sink, and also to wash dishes. (We do have plumbing and the bathroom in not an outhouse; it´s just not directly attached to the rest of the house.) As my mom said, Mexicans built bathrooms ¨as an afterthought.¨ Even so, I am so happy living there just because I now have a wonderful husband who is always by my side, and who makes living in Mexico much more bearable. A Mexican Christmas

This year was the first time for me to be away from my family and out of the country during the holidays. As most of you already know, the Christians here don´t believe in celebrating Christmas. So my ¨Christmas¨was just like any old day. It felt really weird…but I really did not miss the gift giving and everything as much as I thought I would. I think I actually missed Thanksgiving more than Christmas and New Years! I missed my family, of course…but not as much as usual since I just saw them. José Luis´family did take advantage of the two nights they closed their restaurants, Christmas Eve and New Year´s Eve, for all of us to eat supper together (something they don´t normally get to do since they have to be in the restaurants every night).

I also got to experience the holidays from the viewpoint of another cultura. For Mexicans, Christmas is much more of a religious holiday (which is why the Christians here don´t feel comfortable celebrating it). Starting on December 1st, young people from Catholic churches all over Mexico run from church to church with a torch in honor of the virgin Guadalupe. At each Catholic church they come to, they leave one of the torches. They travel by truck and take turns running a distance of about 1 mile each on the 36. carretera. Each relay team decides what their final destination will be and finishes running there on December 12 (the Virgin of Guadalupe day). I really think they put more emphasis here on the Virgin of Guadalupe than on Christ or Santa Clause.

At midnight on Christmas Eve, families eat a big meal together. What they eat varies from family to family, but they do traditionally drink ¨ponche¨ (like punch, but hot). They start shooting off firecrackers in honor of Christ´s birth. Then, from what I understand, Christmas day is similar to our tradition of opening presents early and looking to see what Santa brought. The main difference is that instead of having another big meal together, they eat leftovers from the night before. Then many of the families like to go out and do something together (have a picnic in the park, go swimming, etc.) which is why a lot of 37. negocios here open on Christmas day (including Mr. Taco). It seems that New Years is not much different from how we celebrate it.

I was a little disappointed that the church did not do anything for New Years; but José Luis and I did at least go to one of the local 38. parques with some of the teens. We played soccer, kickball, volleyball, ate together, and also had races down huge metal slides. It was lots of fun.

Prayer Request

J.C. Enlow, who oversees the preaching schools here in Mexico, fell 14 feet from a hunting stand last week and is in critical condition. He has had several surgeries but has improved very little. Please keep him in your prayers.

1. locations

2. pyramids

3. waterfalls

4. travel agency

5. schedule

6. driver

7. beds

8. details

9. late

10. preachers

11. marriage

12. brother-in-law

13. exception

14. hymn

15. exit

16. order

17. trees

18. snacks

19. soft drinks

20. restaurants

21. supper

22. contract

23. ceiling

24. tables

25. faces

26. safe

27. obvious

28. wishes/desires

29. curtains

30. intentions

31. content

32. guests

33. conditions

34. florist

35. rent

36. road/highway

37. businesses

38. parks

Less than 3 Weeks to the Boda!!!

2008-11-27T21:57:00.002-06:00

Let me be perfectly 1. honesta and say that the wedding is less than three semanas away and I still have a lot to do and am feeling pretty stressed out and exhausted lately. Plus my family is coming in less than dos semanas and I have been busy getting the escuela ready for them. So…this blog is going to be a short one.

Reuniones de Mujeres (Women´s Reunions)

Lately the hermanas from la iglesia have been having get togethers cada martes, and the 2. varones cada sabado. The hombres meet in the school, and the mujeres usually meet in the church edificio or in one of the ladies´houses. We sing 3. cantos and have a short Bible study, then we do some kind of actividad and eat juntos. One of the ladies taught us how to sew flower diseños on a cloth, and another taught us how to knit. The ladies from a nearby congregación, Teopisca (where there is no full time 4. predicador) come and visit with us every other week, and on the other weeks we go there. I´m not much into sewing, but at least they´re doing algo other than having a Bible estudio and leaving quickly afterwards. Below is a foto of us sewing 5. flores on un día when several damas came:

Reuniones de Varones (Men´s Reunions)

David has been using the Saturday reunions to help some of the men develop their preaching skills. Also, some of them having been going evangelizar every Thursday in areas of nuevas congregaciones. The congregation continues to send men to preach in Teopisca, Chiapas (which I mentioned above), as well as others. José Luis and I go to Teopisca every other Saturday. José Luis preaches or gives a Bible class, and sometimes more. There are only about 15 personas in the whole congregation, and only about 4 of them are men, so they need all the help they can get. Here is a foto of my future brother-in-law Gerardo giving a Bible study at Teopisca and the outside of the church building:

Grupo de Parejas Jovenes (Young Couples Group)

You may remember from a few blogs back that José Luis and I wanted to try to 6. iniciar a young couples grupo. We had hoped that after the first 7. convivio one of the other couples would take the initiative to host another one, but when several meses passed and no one else had offered, we decided to try it again. We invited them to come to the school to watch a 8. pelicula we had rented. We hooked it up to the new LCD projector, so it was almost like being in a 9. cine. And we were careful to tell them it was just a movie, because otherwise they would think that it´s¨another worship service¨and wouldn´t come. But they still didn´t come. Apart from José Luis and I and his brother and sister-in-law (who are the only ones we can really count on), only one other couple showed up (out of ten or more). For the longest time I couldn´t figure out why the other couples weren´t interesados…until David mentioned in a Sunday morning worship service that ¨we can´t have young couples reunions because it´s respect of persons. It´s okay to have get togethers but only if we invite the whole congregation.¨ It´s amazing how much one person can 10. influir the whole congregation! I still don´t understand where the cristianos here get their off the wall ideas …but David´s 11. concepto of the young couples group is just the kind of thing I was referring to in the last blog when I said that they´re not ready yet to accept the kind of plans and ideas that I have in mind. Nonetheless, I am 12. determinada to keep trying with the 13. parejas until they finally decide to give in and start coming (ha!)

¿Puedo cortar el cabello, por favor? (May I please cut my hair?)

It´s a big deal here for women to respect their esposos and ask them for permission for todo. Yesterday I went to a hair salon to see about the hairstyle I will use for the wedding. The hairstylist told me it would be a good idea to cut the ends of my hair first. I mentioned (jokingly) that I hadn´t cut my 14. cabello in a while ¨because my boyfriend doesn´t want me to cut it so it´ll be long for the wedding.¨ I told her to go ahead and do it while I was already there, and she started talking about how it would be better to talk to my novio first to make sure it´s okay and then come back another day. ¨Because if the wife doesn´t ask permission from her husband to do things, there are always problems in the relationship.¨ Of course that´s 15. cierto for some things, but not EVERYTHING. I sent José Luis a cell phone message asking his ¨permiso,¨just to appease her. Luckily José Luis is not chauvinistic like many Mexican men, and we both laughed about it later.

Algunas Dificultades de Vivir Aquí (Some Difficulties of Living Here)

It also amazes me how open the Mexicans can be sometimes with their 16. opiniones. I can´t even begin to tell you how sick I am of people who ask me ¨Why do you live by yourself?¨ ¨Why are you going to use colors in your wedding?¨ ¨Why do you use garbage bags?¨ and any other absurd preguntas! I really think there are still a lot of people here who think that I just stay in the house all day twiddling my thumbs, waiting for someone to give me something to do.

Besides the culture, there are some things about living here that I never really have gotten used to. When I´m ready to take a shower, I first have to go and light the pilot light on the boiler, then wait about 40 minutes for the water to get 17. caliente. Yes, I have suffered through plenty of cold showers since I´ve been here because I didn´t wait long enough. On a good day it only takes me five minutes to light the pilot. On a typical day, I try for several minutes, kick it, hit it…and it still doesn´t work. Now that the cold season is upon us, I shiver myself to sleep every night, wondering how long it will be before Mexicans buy heating systems for their casas. When I wash my face en las noches, the agua feels like ice slashing my face. When I wash my 18. ropa, I first have to wait and wait and wait for four buckets to fill up with water…then, 15 minutos después I have to fill up the buckets again in order for the washing machine to start the rinse cycle. (I foolishly did not realize until several loads of clothes too late that the 19. lavadora doesn´t move into the rinse cycle automatically.) If I am in the middle of cooking something and suddenly realize that I don´t have all of the ingredientes, I can´t just get in a car and drive five minutes to the closest grocery store; I have to wait for the bus, then finally arrive at the 20. tienda nearly half an hour after boarding (and by the time I get back I´m already starving!) If everything goes well, though, José Luis and I will move to the good ole USA together in the summer, so I will only have to put up with everything for a few more meses. Every lugar has its fair share of challenges though, so why am I even complaining?

Las Clases de Inglés (The English Classes)

I have been teaching English every sabado (10-12 for beginners and 12-2 for intermediates). The last time I taught I had a good grupo of intermedios but not so many principiantes. This time I have nine in the beginners class (it doesn´t sound like a lot, but it´s more than I usually have) and only two in the intermediates class (José Luis and his brother). The beginners are good students, but they seem to be on auto pilot throughout the entire class. Once again I feel like I am having to clean up the leftovers of poor teachers who don´t teach the students to think, only to write write write and listen listen listen. Plus, the 21. alumnos are too shy to even open their 22. bocas! In the intermediates class, on the other hand, we have been focusing more on conversation and reading skills. I have been giving them more 23. tarea so that we can make the most of the two hours we have together each week. I must admit that I like the intermediates class more even though there are only two of them.

24. Anoche when I came home, several military guys with big guns and stern faces were surrounding the school. Lately they have been stopping there to check cars for 25. drogas. Even so, it´s kind of weird and spooky to see them right in front of my doorstep!

I hope that everyone had a wonderful Thankgiving and that you thought of me, turkeyless and familyless, as you wolfed down your meal!!! (Just Kidding.) I spent my ¨Thanksgiving¨going from house to house giving out wedding invitations (since it is not acceptable here to send them in the mail). In half a day we managed only three visitas--and will continue again first thing mañana!

1. honest
2. men
3. songs
4. preacher
5. flowers
6. to start
7. get together
8. movie
9. movie theater
10. influence
11. concept
12. determined
13. couples
14. hair
15. true
16. opinions
17. warm
18. clothes
19. washing machine
20. store
21. students
22. mouths
23. homework
24. last night
25. drugs

Highs and Lows with the Jovenes

2008-11-07T20:54:00.009-06:00

San Cristobal in the distance

Allow me to Vent…

I have a new pet peeve. I can´t stand it when people talk to me in Spanish, then a few minutes later ask someone else (NOT me!) ¨¿Ella habla español?¨ (Does she speak Spanish?). Or worse, they talk about me in the third person, as if I´m not even there listening! I just had to get that off my chest. While I´m at it, there´s something else I need to get off my chest too. David is infamous for preaching ONLY about marriage in the weeks leading up to the boda of two church miembros. Last week he mentioned José Luis and I in his sermon and it really bothered me. Actually, I became so mad that I left during the announcements; I was not in the mood to talk to anyone. José Luis immediately went and talked to him about it afterwards. I won´t tell you what David said because it´s so ridiculous; but I will include 1. un poema I wrote in repsone to what happened (at the end of the blog). Each of the church members (including David) have their good 2. puntos and their bad puntos, and of course I don´t want to dwell too much on the bad points. At the mismo tiempo, I don´t want anyone to have the delusion that everyone here is bright and fun and cheery and that I never have any conflictos with them.

Now for the more positive stuff! As you know, our work with the jovenes (like so many other things) so frequently teeters between really great and uplifting and really low and discouraging. For example, one week there are several in attendance, and the next week they´ve all disappeared again. I still haven´t figured out what causes the abrupt changes. But it seems that now we are in a high point again. We have been averaging close to 20 for the Sunday morning classes! José Luis continues to teach all of the teens together, and I only teach the girls once every two months or so.

Unresponsive Girls

Actually, the last time I taught them I was really 3. emocionada because I taught them about Esther, one of my favorite Bible characters. I asked them before we started what they knew about the 4. historia, and no one said anything. But only cinco girls showed up that day, and the whole time I was teaching them they seemed distracted, like everything I was saying was going in one ear and out the other. Also I have been wanting for some time now to help the girls 5. organizar a short worship service for the 6. damas of the congregation (working with the Young Ladies Serving Christ at Mt. Juliet last year inspired the idea). We frequently talk about using our 7. talentos and stepping out of our comfort zones, and I want them to be prepared for oportunidades they may have to lead as they get older instead of constantly being afraid to say a oracion, read a verso, or whatever. But one problema with not having ancianos is that David and Ani tend to take charge of everything. When I mentioned the idea to Ani the first time, she told me we would talk about it later. When I mentioned it again, she told me that I should consider putting tablecloths on the tables for the Sunday morning classes (I am not kidding you!) Obviously the way a 8. mesa looks is más importante to some people than whether their hijos have opportunities for spiritual 9. crecimiento. Also, I had all of the girls note what they would like to do (lead songs, speak, etc.) Then I started thinking that even though they wrote their names, I could not count on them to do what they said they were going to do. The teens have a terrible habito here of saying they´re going to show up for something, and then don´t. I was afraid that only 2 or 3 would show up (like always) and would be stuck doing everyone else´s part. I also didn´t want them to think I was forcing them to participate in something they weren´t comfortable with. So the next time we had class together, I told them to let me know afterwards if they were still 10. interesadas and what they wanted to do. No one did.

All of that was another low point for me. Reluctantly, I have come to accept that the Christians here just aren´t ready yet for the kinds of 11. metas and 12. ambiciones I have had in mind since the very beginning. Who knows when they will be…but at least I can´t say I didn´t try.

A New Take on the Teens´Class

Lately, however, José Luis has been asking the teens what kinds of doubts and questions they have and addressing those in the class. Not surprisingly, many of them were confused about the same topicos. What did surprise me is that they participated much more this time (we have asked them plenty of times in the 13. pasado what they want 14. estudiar and they never have volunteered anything 15. específico), and that some of their 16. ¨dudas¨are actually basic things that we thought they should already know well, like baptism. We started with an explanation of the 17. diferencias between the old and new 18. pactos, and now José Luis will begin to teach them about different parts of 19. adoración, and why we worship the way that we do. He is teaching them those things not just because of the doubts they have, but so they will be better prepared to talk to their amigos and familiares about the issues. José Luis´younger brother, Toño, has been involved in a series of discussions lately with some Pentecostal classmates, and he comes to José Luis anytime he doesn´t know how to counter an argument. So José Luis has used Toño´s preguntas as a springboard for the classes. We have a feeling there are several others who, like Toño, have not known very well how to talk to someone about doctrinal issues but have just been too afraid to tell us.

José Luis teaching the teens one Sunday morning

Reunión de Jovenes en Cintalapa (Youth Rally in Cintalapa)

Two weeks ago we took a group of ocho teens to a youth rally. There are about 30 teens in the congregación in all, and only about 20 who participate regularly. So I think for us to have to wake up early on a Saturday morning, pay public transportation, and go to a city about three hours away, eight is not bad. Remember that for them three hours is much farther away because they hardly ever leave their home towns. Many of them had never been to a ¨reunión de jovenes¨before, and some had also never been to the city where it was held (Cintalapa). Before we left they asked us to take them to the ¨central park¨ just so they could see what it looked like. (Each of the towns here have a big parque in the middle of the city, which is the part of the city you ¨have to see¨ in order to say that you´ve been there.) The only bad thing about the trip is that we had to pay for public transportation, about $13 a person. No one from church who has a car offered to take us, but that´s another story. I really think if it wasn´t for the transportation costs many more teens would have gone.

José Luis was in charge of games, and Cesar (the preacher/youth minister from Cintalapa) did not tell him about it until a few days before. So we spent the greater part of each of those days getting ready for the games. About 70 teens came in all---not bad for this to only be the second youth rally they´ve had. José Luis divided them into eight 20. equipos, and they had to run together to eight different stations to complete a certain activity as quickly as possible. The activities ranged from answering questions and riddles about the Bible to carrying their teammates to balancing water cups on their heads, and the first team that finished won a prize. The teens from San Cristobal and I manned the stations. When we arrived we ate breakfast together, then we received name tags and heard the first sermon. Everything started late and the sermon ran much longer than expected (almost 3 hours!), so we were not able to use all of the games we had planned. But the preacher was very interesante, and very good at helping the teens to think and reflect. After the games we ate lunch together, heard another sermon by the same preacher, and told each other adios. It was certainly not as well organized as an American youth day, and I think it probably hasn´t even occurred to them to split the teens into classes instead of having two long sermons. But all in all it was a success, and a good effort for their primera vez. I feel like the more they have these kinds of activities, the more they will improve.

All of us who went to the youth rally (excepto de José Luis). I told them we were going to take a silly picture, and this is what they did (nothing!)

Un Estilo de Vida Diferente (A Different Lifestyle)

I still have to remind myself sometimes that the teens here are so much different from American teens--not just in their estilo de vida, but in the kinds of things they are exposed to each day. Carlos, a young guy about 20 years old, got baptized and joined the grupo de jovenes a few weeks ago. (Below is a foto of his bautismo.) Actually, one of the girls invited him and studied with him--good for her! So far Carlos has participated a lot in the classes and seems to be really on fire for the 21. Señor. Last week, however, he explained to José Luis that the dueños of the room he is renting are very Catholic. They saw him reading his Bible a lot, and told him that Christians are not allowed to live there. When he tried to reason with them, they did not want to listen. How many American teens do you know who have to find a new place to live just because of their religion? Another girl, Maribel, has been attending with her aunt and other family members. She is 14, but does not go to school. The first time I met her she asked me what she would be able to help me with because she ¨needs to work.¨ Maribel is very sweet and 22. bonita, and on the surface she seems like any other 14 year old girl. You would never guess by looking at her that she had to give up studying and move to another ciudad in order to help her family.

Many of the jovenes cannot participate in as many youth eventos as they would like because their parents do not give them 23. permiso. Deissy and Sonia, however, are cousins who attend every reunión with their moms and abuela and must receive persmission not just from their papas, but from their GRANDPARENTS! It is not uncommon here for several familias to live together all under one roof—abuelos, tios, primos, todos! And those who are grown (with families of their own) but still live in their parents´casa must still consult with their parents first about how to raise their kids; they are not considered capable of making those decisiones themselves until they have their own house. Deissy and Sonia told José Luis that they really wanted to go to the youth rally, but that they are not allowed to go in public transportation. Even if they had been able to go, they said that their grandfather would have had to talk to the driver first!! It occurred to me that they rarely attend 24. cualquier of the actividades unless one of their moms accompanies them—and they are 14 years old!!

I am praying every day that the teens will grow spiritually and make good decisions and that José Luis and I will be good leaders for them. I also hope that we will be able to organize an area wide youth event in San Cristobal before we leave. I told José Luis it would be a good ¨last activity¨to leave with them before we go to the United States and someone else (hopefully) takes over. So please pray that that will also come to pass.

Our ¨taxi¨on the way back from the Tuxtla airport one day

Ceremonias Civiles (Civil Ceremonies)

More good news is that José Luis and I sent off the first part of the immigration paperwork last week—woo hoo!!! We decided to apply for a fiancé visa because it´s about one year faster than a spouse visa. Yes, we are still getting married in Mexico in December—but it will not be anything ¨official.¨ Mexican 25. leyes require couples to get married in front of a judge and two witnesses. The 26. juez reads a statement to them that they must repeat (similar to an American preacher reminding the couple of their vows), and then each of them sign the marriage decree. The judge also presents them their rings. The whole process is very long and boring and unromantic!

Laws here also state that this civil ceremony cannot take place in a church. Consequently, most Mexican couples choose to either have a short religious ceremony in their church first and then go to a public place afterwards for the civil ceremony and food (usually a hall that they rent), or they kill two birds with one stone by doing everything in the hall. José Luis and I decided to have the ¨acción de gracias¨in the church building because we both agree that a church has more romantic appeal and are willing to spend a little extra to make it look really nice. Even if we had decided to have the civil ceremony here instead of the U.S., the costs of hiring a judge and paying a fee for me being a foreigner would have been the same as those of the fiancé visa—and it would have taken up to a year longer. So basically we are going to get married in front of God and all of our friends and relatives but not in front of a juez. As part of the fiancé visa, we will have to get married within 90 days of arriving in the U.S. and send immigration the American marriage certificate as soon as we have it. Please pray that God blesses us throughout this entire proceso.

Mexicans must also appear in front of a judge when a new baby is born. I mentioned a few blogs ago that José Luis´brother has a new baby girl. For the longest time I found it 27. extraño that anytime someone asked they still had not decided on the girl´s name. Then I finally realized that they hadn´t decided yet because they did not have any kind of birth certificate yet! Forty days after she was born, they (the parents), the baby, and two 28. testigos attended a short ceremony in which the baby had her picture taken, put her fingerprints on the certificado, and received her official 29. nombre. They finally decided on Abril Guadalupe. They had wanted to name her Lupita Abril,(after her abuela), but the judge would not allow Lupita because it is a shortened name.

Una Nueva Escuela de Predicadores (A New Preaching School)

On Monday David and I traveled to Comalapa, a ciudad about three hours away, to see about starting up another Saturday preaching school there. We opened up a bank account for the school and met with some of the men who will serve as directores and maestros. J.C. Enlow thought Comalapa would be the best place for a new school because of its central location. But it turns out that the church in Comalapa is very small, and they meet in a casa that wouldn´t be big enough for all of the students. Originally the plan was to start the classes in Comalapa in January, but now we will have to find a good 30. ubicación first. It kind of irritates me that the men have known for several months now that we want to start up a school there but waited until now to let us know that there´s no place for it. But that´s just the way they do things here—and the kind of thing that make my job harder ; ) On the way back we stopped and visited with a few hermanos from other congregaciones who need 31. animo.

And now I will leave you with my poema:

Five Hours

The typical Mexican woman spends
At least five hours of her day
In the kitchen—
Cooking for her family.
She leaves the house only
To go to the market
And MUST have the food
Prepared and ready
At all hours—
To meet the family´s
Differing schedule.
Supposedly this makes her
An excellent mother, a sympathizing wife.

But where is the love
In all of her labor?
Where is the love
When her husband,
Having been gone
Who knows where all day
Arrives only long enough
To eat and instead of saying
¨Thank you honey, that was delicious!¨
Knows only how to say
¨Gimme, Gimme, Gimme!¨

Where is the love
When her husband beats her
With a belt
Because she did not do everything
Exactly to his standards?

Where is the love
When her husband
Gives her no money
To buy the food with
And expects her to make it
Magically appear?

Where is the love
When her husband
Sits at the table afterwards,
Watching TV and relaxing,
As she scrubs relentlessly
On the many dirty dishes?

Is there more love in a pan of
Burnt refried beans
That the wife prepared with
Utmost precision and care?
Or in a feast of chicken and rice and
Tortillas and caldo
That she made only because of
Obligation?
You decide.

1. a poem

2. points

3. excited

4. story

5. to organize

6. ladies

7. talents

8. table

9. growth

10. interested

11. goals

12. ambitions

13. past

14. to study

15. specific

16. doubts

17. differences

18. covenants

19. worship

20. teams

21. Lord

22. pretty

23. permission

24. any

25. laws

26. judge

27. strange

28. witnesses

29. name

30. location

31. encouragement

Parties Galore

2008-10-04T20:40:00.007-05:00

For the Mexicans to supposedly be so much poorer than we are, they sure do like to spend a lot of money on 1. fiestas! A few weeks ago we went to the birthday party for a little girl at church who just turned one. Her parents rented a children´s hall just for the evento (Disneyland!) and invited everyone from la iglesia, as well as several other friends and relatives. It is not uncommon here for adultos to attend children´s birthday parties and even participate in some of the juegos. At this particular party, I really think there were close to 200 people—and only about ¼ of them were kids!!! Also, the parents invite any kid they know—edad doesn´t matter.

The little girl, Miriam, was dressed in a Snow White costume. Miriam´s hosts hired someone to paint the kids´ 2. caras, repeatedly brought us 3. refrescos and 4. platos of snacks, and broke at least 6 different piñatas—half for the kids, and half for the adult family members. They gave out nice photo 5. invitaciones of the girl, because a spoken invitation just doesn´t count. And all of the tías, tíos, abuelos, and primos worked together more than a semana to make the 6. recuerdos—decoractive wooden boxes that they hand paintd with various 7. diseños. (Another 8. ¨regla¨of parties here is that every guest has to take something nice home afterwards with the name of the person being honored and the 9. fecha.) Basically a party just isn´t a party here without lots of food, lots of piñatas, and lots of musica. There is normalmente a clown show for the kids, as well. So I must say that they make our traditional invite your 7 closest friends and go to the local pizza parlor parties look like wimpy little nothings. On the other hand, I can´t understand why the parents want to spend so much money on their kids´birthday parties—especially when the kid is only turning 1 and isn´t even going to remember anything! I really think they spend more dinero on the party than we spend on all of the gifts ; )

You may have heard of ¨quinciñera¨; that´s the big birthday party for girls who turn 15. Supposedly the quincieras are like a miniature wedding—with just as many expenses. The parents of the girl find friends and family to help them with all of the major 10. gastos, like 11. pastel and hall, just like in a wedding. And the girls have up to 40 ¨damas de honor¨ (like bridesmaids). And what do the boys get when they turn 15? Absolutely 12. nada! I haven´t actually been to a ¨Sweet 15¨party yet (most of the Christians here don´t celebrate it because they think it´s too Catholic), but I will let you know more about it as soon as I do. Of course, the Catholics here also like to have parties to remember the birthdays of their favorite santos. Well, they say it´s for the Saint, but according to what José Luis has told me, it´s really nothing more than an 13. excusa to get together and gossip with other ladies and take away their boredom.

Wedding Padrinos/Padrinos de la Boda

Now that you know a little more about the festive nature here, let me tell you more about my upcoming wedding. Los padres of the novios only pay one part of the wedding fees here; the rest are divided up among several amigos and familiares known as ¨padrinos.¨ When the bride and groom ask someone to be their padrino, it is considered a great honor for that person, and an 14. ofensa to turn them down. Remember that Mexico is still very traditional compared to the U.S. When the futuro bride and groom have decided who their padrinos are going to be, they cannot just ask them at any time; they must make a formal visita to the person´s casa. And they also cannot make any specifications; for example, with the padrino of cake they cannot ask that the cake be a certain flavor or certain color. To do so would be considered very 15. rudo, because the Mexicans believe that as long as they are paying for something, they should be able to choose how´s it´s going to be. Nor can they ask them how things are going, if they bought the item yet, etc. So basically we just have to trust each of our padrinos and hope they don´t forget about their 16. responsibilidades and pick something we will both like!

Well I say all of that to let you know that José Luis and I are going to have cuatro padrinos: two of his aunts for cake and rings, his brother Gerardo for video, and four of his cousins working together for photos. And my future in-laws are going to help us with the food and location fees. So basically the only things we have to pay for ourselves are our attire, a few 17. flores (which are really cheap because we can just go and buy them in the mercado), and a few decorations. I brought my 18. vestido back with me in June. It needed only one alteration, height (of course!), but I got it done here and only had to spend about $6!! Woo hoo! On an aside…Catholics sometimes have more than 40 padrinos—even for the small things, like the bride´s hairstyle or party favors—and don´t have to pay for ANYTHING themselves! I must say that I am willing 19. sacrificar not having the exact color and decorating sheme for everything in order to have reduced costs. And if something doesn´t turn out well, we will have a second chance to make it right anyway (in our American boda). By the way, we have now completed the first 20. paso of the long and frustrating immigration proceso, as well—getting José Luis´21. pasaporte. It was actually 22. listo on the same day that we applied for it! I will let you know more about the wedding (and immigration stuff) 23. poco por poco as we continue to plan everything…

Another American Teacher/Otro Maestro Americano

Two weeks ago another American teacher was here, and I translated for each of his clases. He taught at the church in San Cristobal on Sunday and Wednesday and at two of our Saturday preaching schools, Larrainzer and Ocosingo, on the 24. fines de semana. He made presentations about some of the Biblical 25. tierras using pictures and 26. mapas of some of the places. Before he came I had to go to the nearest Office Depot to buy an overhead projector and a powerpoint LCD projector. Both were necessary for the class, but now they will come in handy for other classes, as well. I am especially looking forward to using them in my upcoming English classes! Antonio, the director of the Ocosingo school, really went out of his way to invite several brethren to the class. He also allowed us to use his second grade 27. salon for the 28. presentación since none of the local churches were big enough. Over 70 men, women, and children came to Ocosingo, with at least 10 different congregaciones represented. Some of the people who came to the Saturday classes are so poor that they never even leave their home comunidades, so naturally they found it very hard to believe that someone has seen places where Jesus and the 29. apostoles lived. We had to explain to them several times that the fotos were in fact real and that the teacher actually visited those places several times. Once they finally caught on, they were 30. MUY impresionados.

All those who came to hear the presentation in Ocosingo/Todos que vinieron para escuchar la presentación en Ocosingo By the way, we were standing in front of a second grade classroom (to give you an idea of what the schools look like here)

My Visit to Tapachula and Cacahoatan/Mi Visita a Tapachula y Cacahoatan

A few weeks ago I also went to visit the schools in Tapachula and Cacahoatan (on the coast, 8 hours away) and take them their new Biblias. Unfortunately, I picked the worst possible day visitar. I left San Cristobal Friday night via overnight bus and had the hardest time sleeping because hard rains and strong winds rocked the bus all over the 31. carretera. The yucky 32. clima continued most of the mañana on Saturday. As a result, the streets quickly became so flooded that most of the students were not able to attend classes that day (particulary those who live in the 33. montañas and have a longer viaje to the escuela). Only four showed up in Tapachula, and only two in Cacahoatan. In Tapachula we decided to have class anyway—but only for half the morning. Then I spent the rest of the day with Fransisco and his familia (el director of the Cacahoatan school). We went to see some Mayan ruinas, and then ate and hung out at their house until it came time for them to drive me back to the bus station. ¨Cacao¨ in Spanish means cocoa, which the people grow a lot of in that area—hence the name of the ciudad. Francisco was more than eager to show me the inside of a huge cocoa plant, coffee beans, and a few other 34. plantas I had never seen before.

Kids´Class at Church/Clase de Niños de La Iglesia

I have been teaching the kids at church again, on Sunday nights. This class is always a challenge, because sometimes there are as many as 30 kids from ages 2-11 all in one room. The church does not have the space or the funds yet to add more classrooms. A few months ago we started taking up a special 35. contribución to add classroom space behind the edificio. But there is still not enough money to start the proyecto yet because there are so many who said they were going to give and haven´t. Last week at a ladies meeting, however, we did discuss the possibility of renovating another room or breaking the class into 3 groups. It´s nice to know that others feel the same way that I do about the situation.

Many of the kids seem to have the 36. actitud that they can get away with anything just because they´re at church. Therefore, I have been thinking up some new 37. sistemas of punishments/rewards. For example, I have started giving them 38. estrellas for attendance, participation, and good behavior. For every 10 stars that they receive, they get a 39. premio. So far it seems to be working well. I have also started asking some of the teen girls to help me. Sometimes the poor kids act like they don´t even know how to use a glue stick—much less draw something from their own imaginations! And the younger ones completely depend on the older ones to do everything for them. But I can´t help but enjoy teaching them--despite their endless, crazy antics!

The materiales that the Mt. Juliet ladies contributed have really come in handy. However, there were some that the ladies here 40. obviamente had never seen before—like the flannelgraph materials. I told Ani, the preacher´s wife, that I would be glad to meet with the ladies sometime and show them how to use each of the materials. But I guess they thought they didn´t need me to show them, because they jumped the gun and organized everything themselves sometime while I was away. The result? Rather than sorting the flannelgraph pieces according to each story, they decided to put glue and laminate paper around each of them. Their reasoning? They thought it would be too easy for the kids to tear them up otherwise. Well maybe so, but I guess they didn´t realize that the 41. piezas won´t ever stick to the flannelgraph board now! Oops! And they are using the flannelgraph book as the main source for their 42. temas rather than an aid. So they are using the materials, they just aren´t using all of them in the same 43. manera that we do : )

Last week I was flipping through 44. canales and happened to catch the second half of the first Presidential debate. I didn´t even know it was going to be on. Sometimes I feel so estranged from my home country!

Well I better stop this blog here before it gets too long.
45. Cuidense,
Elizabeth

1. parties

2. faces

3. soft drinks

4. plates

5. invitations

6. souvenirs/memories

7. designs

8. rule

9. date

10. expenses

11. cake

12. nothing

13. excuse

14. offense

15. rude

16. responsibilities

17. flowers

18. dress

19. to sacrifice

20. step

21. passport

22. ready

23. little by little

24. weekends

25. lands

26. maps

27. classroom

28. presentation

29. apostles

30. very impressed

31. highway

32. weather/climate

33. mountains

34. plants

35. contribution

36. attitude

37. systems

38. stars

39. prize/reward

40. obviously

41. pieces

42. lessons

43. way

44. channels

45. Take Care

Questions, Doubts, and Immaturity

2008-09-04T20:18:00.007-05:00

College Blues

Well it´s that time of year again when the kids are back in school and the older teens are trying to decide what to do with their 1. vida. Several of the jovenes de la iglesia are starting new jobs or starting college. I must say I never realized how difícil it is for them to study exactamente what they want here—and it has nothing to do with dinero. First, they have to know before they start what their 2. especialización is going to be because most 3. universidades only offer a few majors at most. Then they have to take a test to see if they qualify to attend that university. But oftentimes they are competing for just a few open slots out of several hundreds of applicants. Toño, José Luis´brother, had his heart set on a Universidad en Puebla, but he did not pass the 4. examen. So he has begun studying in Tuxtla instead.

But a few of the others have not been so lucky. At least dos of the muchachas want to be teachers, but they were not able to pass an exam after two or three tries. These tests are not like the SAT or ACT in that a passing score is generally 5. suficiente; there were only about 30 slots available for over 200 teens who wanted in. The girls are both very 6. inteligente, I know, but just had slim chances of passing. So they have put off studying another year and are trying to figure out what else they can do. But there really aren´t very many jobs geared towards women here (which is why I think almost every girl at church is studying to be a teacher, nothing else). Since Mexico is still so far behind the United States, the most prominent 7. trabajos are male-dominated ones we tend to overlook, like welding, pouring concrete, or painting carros. I feel really bad for the two girls who still can´t go to college and wish there was more I could do to encourage them. José Luis did give one clase de jovenes about what is truly involved in being successful, and I think most of them really appreciated it.

Daniel´s Story (La Historia de Daniel)

A few weeks ago José Luis and I invited all of the jovenes to visit one of the elderly men of the congregation, Daniel. We had planned on visiting with Daniel for about an hour and going to a coffee shop in the centro together afterwards. A whopping one teen showed up. Sometimes I wonder how many años it will take for the teens here to have the same 8. unidad and love for the 9. Señor as teens from big youth groups like in Mt. Juliet. José Luis and I work so hard to plan actividades they will enjoy and go out of our way to invite each of them, and yet they still take so many wonderful oportunidades for granted. But we have learned not to let it get to us and to ¨try, try again.¨ I think it really helps that we are in it together; that way even if no one else shows up, we can still do something just the two of us. Before José Luis seemed to get discouraged a lot easier. So maybe encouraging him to keep working hard is one of the many 10. maneras I have found to be useful here.

Anyway, we had a good visita with Daniel, and even with only three of us, I know that we were able to build him up a lot. Daniel is about 70 years old, and for the past few meses he has been battling several health problemas. Before his health started to go awry, he attended several of the classes at the preaching school and preached for the congregation occasionally. Like many elderly folks, he had some very 11. interesante historias that he was more than eager to share with us. First, he went to school on the first day of kindergarten and never went back because he didn´t like it. Instead, he devoted himself to milking cows at a nearby 12. rancho, never learning to read or write. He worked hard every year after, and also kept 10-15 13. novias at one time. As a young adult, he lived and worked in Detroit one year. I have mentioned before what a small mundo it is when I find cristianos aquí with connections to people back home, and Daniel was actually living in Detroit at the same time as mis padres. Upon returning from Detroit, he married one of his many novias. They moved to ¨the city¨ (San Cristobal) and started a small convenience store together. Since there weren´t very many convenience stores at the time, their profits eventually allowed them to contract four taxis and build a casa large enough for the whole familia. Daniel also started his own coffee business. He and his esposa and hija became Christians a few years ago after one of his vecinos invited him to la iglesia.

Daniel seemed very pleased to share his experiencias with us, but afterwards his mood quickly changed. It turns out he doesn´t feel comfortable preaching because he still has a hard time reading. And he said various times that he is ¨ready to go and be with his wife¨ (who died a few years ago). But despite his eagerness to go to 14. el cielo, he also told us that he doesn´t have any faith. Apparently he believes that God should have listened to him and healed him of his enfermedades a long time ago. For alguien who attends every worship service and leads 10 minute prayers, it certainly struck us as odd. But it just goes to show that there are many seemingly devoted hermanos fighting battles that we might not ever realize. Daniel´s ¨lack of faith¨ has already deceived him so much that he has started to confuse 15. las ciencias with 16. cristianidad. He wanted to know why, if there is a God, he allows it to rain for days on end in lugares like San Cristobal, but in other places of the world it´s completely dry and no one can grow anything? Why, if there is a God, do scientists say they have proof there were living beings 17. milliones of years before the Biblia was written? Naturally we spent the second part of our visita mitigating his doubts, reminding him of other great men of the Biblia who had great faith in tough times, and helping him to realize what some of his many 18. talentos are.

Babes in Christ (Bebes en Cristo)

Lately I have come to realize that there are many men in the congregation like Daniel: men who are still babes in Christ, trying so hard to understand the Bible while at the same time clinging to their Catholic roots. It never fails that anytime an Americano comes to give a clase, one of the men takes advantage of their presence to ask picky doctrinal preguntas. When Glen was here, one of our preaching students asked what he thought about listening to music. The student believes that it is sinful to listen to any kind of 19. musica at anytime (but really did not know of any versos from the Bible to support his belief other than Amos 5:23). With Kerry, someone asked if there are still people in the world today who can perform miracles, like the apostles did in the book of Acts. Another man, who was losing his eyesight, actually went to visit another religious grupo to see if they could heal him!

Of course David has preached on these 20. topicos. So José Luis and I really can´t understand why these men who have been Christians over a year now still don´t understand such basics 21. principios and don´t talk to David when they do have questions. But I have to remind myself that many of them have little educación; they rarely study their Bibles; and very few of them come to church 22. consistemente. These kinds of doubts and questions also make me aware more then ever, like Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz, that ¨I´m not in Tennessee anymore!¨ I have told José Luis varias veces that we Americans have a different style of teaching simply because most grew up in the church and are much more mature spiritually. The congregation here may be one of the biggest in Chiapas, with over 100 members, but 23. ciertamente it is still young and in desperate need of guidance and support.

Marisol

I am also convinced more than ever now that, because of simplistic doubts like these, of how crucial it is to continue studying with new 24. conviertos. It´s una razon I continue studying with Marisol, even though she´s been baptized over a year now. In our past few studies we have been studying 25. oración. I told her that I am getting married (she didn´t know yet because she was away all verano), and out of the blue she responded, ¨I never married. I am still living in unión libre (free union) with Abel.¨ She said it like it was nothing. I, on the other hand, had no idea she never married because she has always referred to Abel as ¨mi esposo¨ (my husband). And the poorest of Mexicans don´t like to spend money on engagement or wedding 26. anillos, so it´s not like I could know if she was actually married or not just by looking at her finger.

Naturally she put me in a difficult posición. I want so badly to encourage her and help her grow spiritually, but at the same time I feel somewhat 27. responsable to teach her about God´s views of marriage since I am the one studying with her. But José Luis and I talked about it, and we agreed that I won´t say anything. She has already been discouraged lately and coming to church a lot less, so if we tell her she has to officially get married (to her non-Christian ¨boyfriend¨, no less) we would risk that she stops coming altogether. On the other hand, hopefully she will be able to continue coming to church and studying until she knows enough to make the decision to get married on her own. If anyone else has any other suggestions of how to handle the situation, please let me know.

Good Works (Buenas Obras)

Even though many of the members are having a hard time 28. espiritualmente, I really feel like the congregation as a whole is working hard and moving in the right direction. Who knows how long it will be before we have 29. ancianos, clases for all edades, or several different kinds of 30. ministerios, but at least we do more than most of the other congregations in Chiapas. Speaking of ministries, José Luis talked a few Sundays ago about some of the different kinds of works we can be involved in. I was able to give him lots of ideas of things that have worked for us in the U.S. that most congregations here haven´t considered yet. I also showed him part of the SOS booklet from Mt. Juliet´s website, and he was amazed by all the different areas. For those of you who don´t know, the ¨SOS Booklet¨ is something every member fills out to indicate what kind of actividades he/she would like to help with—some of them as simple as placing attendance cards in the pews, others as complicated as teaching at the local jail. The book is literally about 30 pages long!

Vacation Bible School? (¿Escuela Biblica de Vacaciones?)

This past verano some of the ladies decided to teach daytime kids´ classes. (Actually, I think they decided it just one or two days before they started it—one of the many things that still bothers me about this cultura.) A few of them worked together to teach the niños Monday through Saturday from 10a.m.-1p.m. cada día. I was not able to go because I was busy with one of the American maestros, but from what I heard it went well, with more 31. visitantes arriving most days than regular miembros. So you could say that it was their first VBS. No more than 40 niños came each day, which may seem like nothing compared to our high 32. numeros. But with such a lack of planning, I think that´s pretty good. As long as we are consistent, I´m sure that our ¨VBS¨ will only grow and get better each year.

Problems in Teopisca (Problemas en Teopisca)

Also, as I mentioned in the last blog, more of the men have been getting involved in preaching and teaching. Before they were preaching just to ¨fill in,¨ but now they are having to preach more out of 33. necesidad. For one reason, they are having to take turns preaching in the Iglesia de Cristo de Teopisca—about 30 minutes away. A few weeks ago David attended the Sunday morning worship services at this church to try and resolve some problemas they´ve been having recently. Supposedly some Texans came a few years ago teaching that they should practice ¨one cup¨communion. As I told David, I find it highly ironico that Americans with such bizarre ideas went evangelizar in a little known place like Teopisca when I don´t even know of any churches in the United States that are ¨one cup.¨ But Teopisca is a very poor comunidad where la gente has little to no educación (like muchas in Chiapas). We have a feeling those American 34. evangelistas purposefully seek out places where the people are more 35. ignorante because no one else will listen to them. Actually, David told me that the same men came to San Cristobal and offered him dinero if he accepted their 36. doctrina, but of course he refused. So the Christians in Teopisca adopted the one cup doctrine, and lately they have had some other extreme ideas, as well; for example, they believe that women are never to wear earrings. I don´t know all the 37. detalles, but I think their 38. predicador has a lot to do with it. Fortunately David managed to persuade the majority of members that those ideas had no ground. Those he didn´t persuade, including the preacher, basically split off and have begun meeting in a separate local. But the group that agreed with David is mostly mujeres, so of course they are without a preacher now.

A New Congregation (Una Nueva Congregación)

Also we are in the process of establishing a new iglesia in the pueblo of Pujitic—about two hours away. A brother of one of our ladies lives there, and David began studying with him one or two months ago. Last week we had the 39. privilegio of travelling together to Pujitic and witnessing the man (Antonino) and his esposa get baptized. There are several other religious groups in Pujitic, but no Church of Christ. Actually, Antonino and his wife already know a lot about the Bible (compared to other members) because they were previously Jehovah´s Witnesses. So they are the start of a new congregation in that area. They will travel to San Cristobal for our culto every two Sundays; and on the alternating Sundays, David or one of the other men will conduct the worship services in their home. In the meantime, we will continue taking groups on los sabados to evangelize in Pujitic and surrounding areas.

We took advantage of our trip to the river to go swimming!

All of us who went to Pujitic

I also witnessed a bautismo in Larrainzer a few weeks ago. I had gone to see how everything is going with the preaching school there. (You may remember that those students recently started meeting in their own church building instead of coming to San Cristobal each week.) But in place of classes that day, the students, several others from the congregation and I drove to the nearby 4o. rio to watch an older lady be baptized.

By the way, I really enjoyed watching the 41. Olimpicos this time. There´s just something about being in another país that makes you feel even prouder of your own. I´ve never paid much atención to the medals count before, but this time every time an American won algo I would want to get up and cheer. The Mexians can´t understand how we can win so many 42. medallas and almost feel jealous of our 43. atletas! At the same tiempo, however, they consider a 44. victoria for us a victory for them, simply because we are the closest country to them.

Public busses decorated for ¨Día de Choferes¨ (Driver´s Day), when all the bus and taxi drivers go together to el cerrillo de San Cristobal (the San Cristobal hill) to receive a blessing from the ¨santo de motoristas¨ (saint of motorists). They believe that the saint will help them drive well and protect them from accidents. Supposedly it is strictly a San Cristobal tradición because no other ciudad has the santo de motoristas.

Well I think I have said enough for one blog ; ) As always, I am open to your suggestions and 45. comentarios. Elizabeth

P.S. I still need support money, if anyone can help me out, whether it be a one time donation or monthly. So far I have only received little more than 1/4 of what I need for my second year here.

1. life

2. major

3. universities

4. test/exam

5. sufficient

6. intelligent

7. jobs

8. unity

9. Lord

10. ways

11. interesting stories

12. ranch

13. girlfriends

14. heaven

15. science

16. Christianity

17. millions

18. talents

19. music

20. topics

21. principles

22. consistently

23. certainly

24. converts

25. prayer

26. rings

27. responsible

28. spiritually

29. elders

30. ministries

31. visitors

32. numbers

33. necessity

34. evangelists

35. ignorant

36. doctrine

37. details

38. preacher

39. privilege

40. river

41. Olympics

42. medals

43. athletes

44. victory

45. comments

José Luis and I have a new sobrina (niece)!

One Year and Counting!

2008-08-13T21:57:00.012-05:00

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

Algunas Razones de Regocijo

2008-07-05T21:54:00.011-05:00

Youth Ministry Class (Clase de Ministerio a Jóvenes)

These past few semanas have been very 1. ocupadas for me. First, Glen Bowman, from Mississippi, arrived to give a class on youth ministry. I feel espeicalmente grateful that he was able to give the class, because it´s algo that the cristianos here don´t think about much but that they really need to hear. I only wish that more estudiantes could have come to learn more about why jovenes are so importantes in la iglesia and how to encourage them best. José Luis particularly benefited from the class since he was the only one who actually works directly with young people currently; the others were mostly older men who want to preach or teach but have more contacto con adultos. As part of the class, the students had to present two different lessons to teens during the week, and most of them had never worked with, much less taught, that age group before. They improved greatly just from the time they taught the first 2. tema to the time they taught their second. I only hope, as siempre, that they will take to heart the things that Glen taught and try to help more in the great work of teen evangelismo.

Painting the School (Pintando La Escuela)

The first week of Glen´s viaje I translated for the clase each noche, and this week we have spent mucho tiempo painting the outside of the escuela. We invited the congregación to help us paint on Saturday. Tres hombres and siete jovenes came to help. We had quite a time getting the school looking nice. First, the store we originally wanted the buy the 3. pintura from upped its 4. precios and didn´t want to give us the same discount as before. So we had to search for another paint store with the same 5. calidad of paint at lower prices. In our haste to buy just the right amount and just the right color, we completely forgot to buy trays to roll the paint in. Glen insisted that we needed the trays to keep from wasting the paint, but the first men who arrived started using the rollers before we could stop them. They insisted that we didn´t need anything else and had no idea what the roller trays even were. Many of 6. ellos also could not understand why we wanted to paint the building the same color. As you can see from the pictures, the second story had never been painted. So we first had to paint the entire building, top and bottom, a light blue primer color, then paint over everything in the main blue color. But the Mexicanos could not understand our logic. First, they thought we were done after we painted the primer color, then they couldn´t understand why we wanted to go through so much trouble to paint the escuela the same color as before. Mexicans don´t put nearly as much 7. trabajo into fixing up their casas as we Americans do (mainly because of the lack of dinero); even if they have just plain cement blocks or their paint is old and peeling, they take great pride in where they 8. viven and don´t see much necessity to change it.

Unfortunately, grafitti is very common here (both on houses and businesses). We have no idea who put the graffiti on the side of the school are probably never will. We´re just hoping that they don´t come back to do it again anytime soon, now that we have painted everything!

So we finally started painting, and 9. basicamente the jovenes were rolling and dripping paint all over the place! I don´t know if they don´t have much experience painting or if they just weren´t thinking, but I constantly had to remind them not to leave the rollers on the sidewalks, not to paint around the 10. ventanas and 11. techos with rollers, etc. Some of them did not even paint in a straight 12. linea. The men painted up top, while the jovenes and I painted 13. abajo. As you can see from las fotos, the men had to stand on a narrow ledge, and there were power lines all over the place. To reach the highest parts, Glen actualmente had the guts to stand on nothing but a paint bucket! I was scared just watching him! But we had a good time and managed to finish the main partes on that first day. And amazingly, no one got hurt! Then Glen, José Luis and I spent dos días más making touch ups and painting the trim. Here´s a foto of the producto final:

A Birthday Celebration (Celebración de Cumpleaños)

After painting on Saturday we had a little celebración de cumpleaños for one of the older muchachas from our grupo, Carmelita. Carmelita is a very buena persona, but muy diferente from most other girls her age (including me : ) She is originally from an indigenous comunidad, and she just learned to speak Spanish a few years ago. For the past few años, she has been living with one of the larger familias from church as a live-in helper. Basically she helps wash 14. ropa, 15. preparar comida, and clean in exchange for having a place to live. She is very 16. timida, but very hard-working. I don´t think she has completely learned yet how to relax and enjoy herself because she is so used to doing housework all the time. Anyway, her guardian family decided to invite all of the jovenes to a surprise lunch for her after we finished painting on Saturday. In order to surprise her, they made her go to the school even though she didn´t want to paint. And as soon as she arrived, she told me, ¨I´m going to clean your 17. baños.¨ I told her again and again that she didn´t have to do that and to just relax and enjoy herself, but she told me again and again that it was no problem; and that she preferred helping me with things than just standing around, bored. Not only did she thoroughly clean all of the bathrooms with 18. acido, but she also tidied up some and cleaned some glass windows for me—things that I have been wanting to do for so long but just haven´t gotten around to yet! I was very grateful for her help, even though she didn´t want to use any of the cleaning products I offered her (because they´re not the same cosas she normalmente uses to clean ; ) When we finished painting around 2, we walked to her casa and ate mole—the traditional Mexican birthday meal. Then we spent about another hour playing basketball in a local parque.

Top picture: José Luis, Glen, and Bella Lisbeth. The bottom one is a picture of Carmelita (in the middle) with Josue and Claudia, two of the teens she lives with.

Since Glen is a 19. ministro de jovenes and the kids here are mostly all out of school now, we wanted him to be able to spend time with the jovenes as much as possible. Plus, he was 20. originalmente going to come with a grupo de jovenes from his congregation, but things didn´t work out for the teens to come with him. One day we went and played soccer for about two hours (he was anxious to see how much better the Mexicans play!), and on his final night we watched a movie together in the school. We are very grateful for the class he gave and the time he spent with us. Now I have just one more día to get rested up before the next maestro americano arrives!

Kids Class Enforcement (Reforzamiento para la clase de niños)

A few weeks ago, Ani, the preacher´s esposa, asked me to talk to some of the muchachas about the clase de niños. Lately not as many of the ladies have wanted to teach the clase because they get easily frustrated and burnt out. As I have mentioned in previous blogs, there is just one class for all edades de niños and a lack of ready-made materials. As a result, the kids sometimes don´t listen very well or treat the class as ¨play time¨. So Ani hopes that some of the younger girls can start helping teach the class. I felt very honoured that she asked me to talk to them since I sometimes have the same problemas in the class as anyone else. But luckily I was able to draw on my education classes and previous experiences teaching to give the girls some helpful tips. We talked about how to begin and end the class, how to engage the kids at the beginning of the lesson, what kinds of actividades to use, discipline and positive reinforcement techniques, etc. Luckily I was also able to show them some of the Bible class materials I brought back from Mt. Juliet as ejemplos. Only 4 came, but I feel like those who did come participated well and have a strong 21. deseo to help make the classes 22. mejor. We discovered, unsurprisingly, that all of us who have taught before experience the same difficulties; the most común are that the younger kids want to play with 23. jugetes too much, and the older kids want to talk and bully too much. But we discussed soluciones for each of the most common discipline problems. I also suggested to Ani that it would help a lot to have two teachers work together: one with more experiencia who serves as the main teacher, and one with less experience who starts out as a helper.

Update on Jesús and Marisol (Reporte sobre Jesús y Marisol)

The situation with Jesús and Marisol has not changed much since my last blog. We have been to visit Jesús one or two more tiempos. He has not been there, but luckily his wife has been willing to open their casa to us and 23b. estudiar with us. The weird thing is that she never seemed 24. interesada in studying before, when we were studying primarily with Jesús. She told us that Jesús drinks a lot and sometimes hits her as a result, and that currently they are separated. However, she was very open to what we had to say and said she would like to study la Biblia some more. We have a feeling that she only wants to study and go to church when Jesús is not pressuring her, and vice versa. Marisol has been back to church a few times, but every time I try to go and study with her she´s not able to. One of her aunts has been 25. enferma, so Marisol has had to take care of her and her two young niños. And her tia lives further away, which is why Marisol says she hasn´t been able to study and come to church as much. So I only hope that´s 26. cierto and that she has not grown discouraged.

The Death of a Saint (La Muerte de una santa)

Two Sundays ago, after the evening servicio, a few of us decided to have a culto in the house of an hermana that had been bedridden with cancer for the last few months. Her situation had been grave for quite some time. This lady, Maria, was a very faithful servant to the Lord and a grand example for some of the younger ladies of the congregation. She herself established the congregation in her hometown of Nueva Leon, where two of our preaching students conduct worship services each week, by talking to people she knew about the 27. evangelio until they decided to get baptized. She lived in a tiny wooden house no bigger than most people´s living rooms with her granddaughter and granddaughter´s family. Her granddaughter, Amelia, is a miembro de la iglesia, but has not attended worship services in quite some time. So about the time her situation became more 28. serio, Maria started saying that she hoped Amelia would reconcile herself with the Lord before her 29. muerte. That noche while David and others were in the middle of the worship service, Maria said once again that she didn´t want to die until Amelia reconciled herself. A few minutes later, Amelia stated that she would come back to the church. David said, ¨You can rest in peace now.¨ They said a prayer, and by the time they finished praying, Maria had passed away. We had a viewing for her just a few horas después in 30. el local de la iglesia. I hope and pray that Amelia will come back to church as she said and that she didn´t just say she would in order to satisfy her abuela.

I hope that a lot of people are still reading my blog and that not everyone has forgotten about me ; ) Do me a favor and leave me a comment if you are still reading it. I love to read all of your comments and always feel more encouraged after I do. But the lack of comments sometimes produces the opposite effect : (

¡Que Dios les bendiga!
Elizabeth

Title: ¨Some Reasons for Recjoicing¨

1. busy

2. lesson

3. paint

4. prices

5. quality

6. them

7. work

8. they live

9. basically

10. windows

11. roofs

12. line

13. down low

14. clothes

15. to prepare

16. timid/shy

17. bathrooms

18. acid

19. minister

20. originally

21. desire

22. better

23. toys

23b. to study

24. interested

25. sick

26. true

27. Gospel

28. serious

29. death

30. the building/location

¡Yo Quiero Taco Bell!

2008-06-10T11:59:00.007-05:00

One day I went with José Luis and his family to the 1a. rancho where his madre and tios and tias grew up--and I got to ride this caballo!

Home Again, Home Again, Jiggety Jig
Can you believe that the first place I wanted to go when I got home (as in, back in the U.S. 1. temporalmente) was Taco Bell?? Actually, Taco Bell doesn´t exist down here, and most U.S. Mexican 2. restaurantes serve food that´s muy diferente from the real deal (like burritos!) Seriously though, I enjoyed my three weeks back in the US immensely--even though they went by really 3. rapido! I never realize until I go home how many small cosas I miss—hot water, carpeted floors, paper towels, driving…and sooooo much more! I must say I also got spoiled by the southern heat and humidity once again—which never actually feels like a 4. bendición until I head south (yes, south!) only to be welcomed by yucky 5. lluvia, cloudy days and chilly noches. My family just moved to Fayetteville, Georgia a little more than a month ago (about 30 miles south of Atlanta). It was the first time for me to see the new lugar, and everything but my furniture was still packed in heavy 6. cajas surrounding my 7. cama. But just being back in the United States for a few days to ¨refresh¨myself and spend time with my familia was good enough for me!

Mama, Daddy, and Gayle have placed membership at Fayetteville Church of Christ—a very friendly congregation of about 300 members. I really enjoyed meeting some of the Christians there and watching their shocked expressions as I told them that not only am I DONE with school, but that I live in Mexico : ) I also enjoyed reuniting with some old friends from Seven Hills Church of Christ (where I grew up) and Mt. Juliet Church of Christ. Seven Hills has about 70 members, while Mt. Juliet has almost 1,000. But it always comforts me to know that there are loving, friendly Christians all over the 8. mundo--whether it be a foreign country thousands of miles away or the small town where I was born--who encourage me with their kind palabras and good ejemplos. One night I was in line at a Wendy´s in Lynchburg, Virginia, and an older man behind me began to make small talk and jokes. He then proceeded to ask me how old I am and what I do. He was from another church, but when I told him that I am a missionary, he said, ¨That´s great!¨ Unfortunately that kind of friendliness just isn´t very común here in Mexico. Speaking of the church being so 9. grande and so 10. pequeño at the same time, I met a man from 11. la costa de Mexico who went to visit Maple Hill Church of Christ last year (which is like a sister congregation of Mt. Juliet) and also knows some of the same people I went to Honduras with last year! 12. Que extraño!!!

Geografia de la Biblia (Bible Geography)
Two semanas before I left on my viaje, Vladmir ?, from Lithuania, came to give a Bible Geography class at the school here in San Cristobal. Normally the only foreign teachers we have are Americans, but Vladimir had taught the same clase at the Global Missions preaching school in Russia, and he has close ties to J.C. Enlow. He also loves to travel, so he spent his time here sightseeing during the day and teaching at night. Lately we have had a low turnout for the classes at the San Cristobal school. So I thought that if Vladimir could give his class at church a few times, he could personally invite the members to attend his classes during the week and also give them a taste of what he was teaching. It worked! Between diez and 13. quince estudiantes arrived most nights (which may not seem like a lot to you all, but if you take into consideration how busy everyone is and how reluctant the Christians are here 14. participar in anything other than the Sunday culto, it´s actually pretty 15. bueno!) We had a good mix of mujeres and hombres, new converts and older ones. Vladimir spent much of his time summarizing key stories of the Old Testament. Many of his students have only been baptized cristianos a few years, so some were hearing the 16. historias for the first time. They were enthralled! We Americans really take for granted being able to send our kids to Sunday school or knowing the story of David and Goliath. Actually, many of us would probably find it hard to learn much from Vladimir´s class just because he did have to simplify it so much, but the Mexicans felt like they learned TONS!

Downtown Pachuca (where José Luis studied for his Masters/el centro de Pachuca, donde José Luis estudió para su maestria)

Estudios Biblicos (Bible Studies)
Speaking of new converts, I have been a little concerned about Marisol lately. We still have Bible studies together on Thursday afternoons whenever we can, and she always tells me she enjoys the estudios and always has good 17. preguntas for me despues. But she has cut back considerably in her attendance, and while I was away in the U.S. she didn´t come to church at all. I have a feeling her family is sometimes a bad 18. influencia on her (i.e. they question her beliefs to the point of her doubting herself or try to talk her out of going to la iglesia.) Her husband had been coming with her on Sundays for a while, but he suddenly stopped coming, as well. The last time I met with her she told me that he didn´t like that there were no activitidades for him outside of church (hence one reason that I really want to start a young couples group!) and that he felt pressured to get baptized. Jesús, whom José Luis and I were studying with, has been somewhat unpredictable, as well. For a long time every time we wanted to study with him he either wasn´t home or we had other 19. obligaciónes (there is only one time we have found that we can study with him because he stays so busy with his job.) For several weeks we didn´t see him or hear from him at all. Then suddenly, a few days after we went to see him and he wasn´t home, he showed up at church one night with his whole familia. Then they came back two or three more times, always at night, and each time they were able to meet a few more of the miembros. Please pray that Marisol and Jesús and their families keep coming to church and that we may encourage them in any way 20. posible.

La Clase de Inglés
My English class ended just before I left for the 21. estados. I am happy to say that nearly all of my students stuck with the class this time and received 22. certificados. On an aside… my most advanced student wanted to know when past tense verbs end with a ¨d¨ sound, like ¨listened¨, and when they end with a ¨t¨sound, like ¨talked.¨ Well as an English major at Freed-Hardeman, one of the classes I had to take was Structure of the English Language. And one of the main things we had to learn in that class was how to pronounce all of the 23. letras in the International Phonetics Alphabet. I never understood at the time why we spent half of every class moving our tongues around pronouncing consonants or writing nouns phonetically on the board…but I must say that it paid off! Thanks to Dr. C´s persistence in teaching us the IPA, I was able to explain the answer to her! Yea!

La gente who came to the 24. fiesta sorpresa I gave José Luis after he passed his examen de tesis and 25. el pastel I made for him. The gas ran out while I was making the cake (meaning the oven wouldn´t work)...then I could find only thick, white frosting to write the words with. But luckily it turned out all right!

Grupo de Parejas Jovenes (Young Couples Group)
Chantel and I were visiting one day, and we got to talking about how much we miss spending time with people our edad. As I have mentioned before, our age group of twenty and thirty somethings rarely spends time together outside of church; in fact, most of us barely even know each other! If we talk to each other at church at all, it´s usually just to say ¨Dios le bendiga,¨nothing else. José Luis and I really enjoy spending time with los jovenes, but seeing as how neither of us are teens anymore, it´s just not the same. So we organized a get together for all of the young couples from church. I invited them all to mi casa/la escuela one night after church. There are about ten 26. parejas our age, but only five other people showed up. (Which is really not surprising since many of them rarely even show up for church.) But we explained to those who did come that we would like to start doing something together at least once a month, such as going to someone´s house, going to a coffee shop in el centro, etc. I also explained that as long as we continue getting together, our friendship will grow, our spirituality will grow, and little by little the other couples (the ones who weren´t there that night) will become more interested and start coming, as well. Then we played a 27. juego in which everyone had to write two factual statements about themselves and one false, and the rest of us then had to guess who wrote it and what the false statement was. José Luis had warned me that the Christians here aren´t used to playing any kind of games together (evidentamente they believe that Christians should not even play cards because it is a bad example.) But they really got into it, and one of the couples actually used the same game for a reunión they had the next day. After the game, we ended by eating 28. la cena together. Those who did come seemed to really enjoy themselves and really liked the idea of us forming a grupo. (Those who didn´t come seemed to like the idea, as well.) So I only hope that the others will take turns hosting the group each mes to make this idea come into fruition…

Hasta Luego!

1a. ranch

1. temporarily

2. restaurants

3. fast

4. blessing

5. rain

6. boxes

7. bed

8. world

9. big

10. small

11. the coast

12. How strange!

13. fifteen

14. to participate

15. good

16. stories

17. questions

18. influence

19. obligations

20. possible

21. states

22. certificates

23. letters

24. surprise party

25. the cake

26. couples

27. game

28. supper/dinner

Please help if you can...

2008-05-15T18:28:00.005-05:00

Hello again faithful readers! I need your help! Since I originally raised enough funds for only ten months, I will need to raise $8,000 more. Typically I spend about $500 each month, with the greatest part going to student loans, food, church, transportation, calling cards, and teaching supplies. In addition, I will need about $1,000 for airfare. Don´t think that just because I´m getting married my work here will cease. On the contrary, I feel like I will be able to do even more with José Luis´ continual support. We have already been busy working together to lead the youth group, evangelize, visit some of the sick and elderly of the congregation, and start a new young couple´s group. With your help I can not only continue to live in Mexico and continue with each of the projects I have already been involved in, but be even more effective in helping the church and preaching schools to grow—in love, faith, and enthusiasm as much as in numbers.

If you are willing and able to make a donation, you may send checks directly to my parents´ address (please make note of the new address!) and I will deposit them into my checking account as soon as possible. I will be ¨home¨visiting at that address from May 13-June 4 if anyone would like to call and ask me any questions during that time. Or, you may send checks to the Global Missions office, and the Global Missions staff will hold the money for me in an account. (If so, don´t forget to note my name on the memo line!) You may either send a one-time amount or send something once a month. Here are the addresses:

21st Century Global Missions
2005 South Adams Street
P.O. Box 277
Fulton, MS 38843
662-862-4886

The Pelfreys
125 Springhouse Lane
Fayetteville, GA 30214
770-629-2061

Thank you so much for your sincere desire to help me in this missionary effort! I don´t know how I could ever do it without your emotional and financial support. Of course, prayers are always appreciated, as well.

Elizabeth

Va a Ser Otra Boda

2008-05-03T17:59:00.007-05:00

I have some very exciting noticias: José Luis and I are getting married!!! My time in Mexico has been full of ups and downs, but he has 1. constantemente supported me and made my long stay in a foreign country much more bearable. So many of the goals and proyectos I have been involved in we have been able to share in and do together, especially our work with the teens. I look forward to us sharing in many more spiritual works together in the years to come, both in the U.S. and in Mexico. And I can´t wait for everyone to meet him! So far the plan is for us to get married here in San Cristobal in diciembre and move to the U.S. in julio. Needless to say, I will be here a lot longer than I had 1a. originalmente planned ; )

MI CLASE DE INGLÉS

My English class is going 2. bien, despite the disappointing low turnout. On the first day, when I gave only introductory information, about 15 showed up, and many of them stayed to take the placement exam for me to see what their current 3. nivel of English is. But since then I have had only about seven or eight. I always explain to the estudiantes that the examen is not for a 4. calificación and that they only have to answer the qustions that they know, but nonetheless it seems that most who take it before the start of la clase never actually come to the class 5. después. Currently, half of my students are 6. principiantes and the other half 7. intermedios. The class meets only once a week for three hours, so I have to work with the beginners and intermediates at the same time. So normally while the principiantes are writing or working on something individually, I practice pronunciación and conversación with the intermedios, and vice versa. I have had to change my teaching 8. metodos a little bit by giving each group more written work and more tasks to do if they finish early; that way they´re never waiting for me for too long or getting bored while I´m busy with the other grupo.

Another challenge I have had is that it´s sometimes very 9. dificíl to teach niños and adultos at the same tiempo. It never fails that my high school aged students and adults finish everything super fast, while the younger ones sometimes take 20 minutos just to write two sentences. And los niños are such perfectionists! Even though they write just about everything in their own personal 10. cuaderno, if they write one letter wrong they cross out everything they have written so far and start over on a new page. Sometimes I feel like they are more focused on writing everything just right than on learning what I am teaching them. One of my girls, the youngest student, has precisely that problema, that she takes about three times as long to do everything and doesn´t pay attention to anything I teach. This week she finally got so 11. frustrada that she left the class in tears. She is only 8, and I made the minimum age for the class 11. I have known all along that the class is too hard for her, but I could not bear to tell her not to come since she is from la iglesia and her madre is so set on her learning.

On an aside…Many people (like this girl´s mom) seem to think that kids learn a lengua faster than adultos. But I can tell you from my own experiencias and classes I have taken that that´s just a 12. mito. First, kids usually do not have much 13. interes in learning a language yet, so there is no personal meaning for them; instead of making connections among what they learn and applying what is most useful to them, they tend to memorize bits and pieces and 14. a menudo can´t understand how what they re doing is even importante. Second, their thinking is not usually advanced enough to process all the different parts of the language at one time. Third, they cannot transfer información very easily from one language to the next if they have just barely learned what many words mean, how to read and write, etc. Three boys around age 11 stopped coming to the class after the first dos semanas. (But that may have actually been more of a blessing than a curse, as they came just to goof off and 15. frequentamente distracted the other students.) Anyway, I say all of this to explain why I don´t feel too surprised and don´t get down on myself when certain kids leave the class crying. But I promise that all of my other students really seem to be enjoying the class (as am I), and everything else is going really well.

VIAJES RECIENTES (RECENT TRIPS)

A few weeks ago I got to take a little trip with José Luis and his mom. I must say I was pretty excited about getting out of San Cristobal for a while. First we visited the ciudad of Pachuca, where José Luis studied for his Masters degree. The school he attended is actually called ¨Universidad de Futból¨ (¨Soccer University¨). But before you burst out laughing, allow me to explain… Well as you already know, soccer is HUGE in Mexico, and Pachuca has its own 16. equipo. A few years ago the 17. dueño of that team decided to invest a large part of his dinero in a university that specialized in sports. So the school offers many of the same majors as other schools, but all of them have to do with los deportes (especialmente soccer); sports journalism, sports broadcasting, sports publication, etc. José Luis received his Masters in intensive sports training (ok, so I don´t know the exact translation because I´m pretty sure it doesn´t exist in English, but that´s close enough).

I have mentioned that the education system is pretty diferente here, and colleges are no excepción. Every student must write and successfully defend a thesis in order to receive a Masters OR Bachelors degree. Well José Luis graduated two years ago, but he has been waiting all that time to receive an invitación to take his thesis exam—which basically consists of explaining the thesis in a twenty minute presentation, then being subjected to 10 minutes of intense questioning from a panel of judges—his former teachers and advisors. (That parte is actually similar to how most American universities conduct thesis exams, I think.) We listened to presentations all day long, and needless to say, the majority of them had something to do with soccer. But it was actually quite 18. interesante. José Luis did an excellent job and passed the exam without any problems. A week later, I threw him a surprise 19. fiesta. About 20 of his 20. familiares and amigos from la iglesia came. We ate a few snacks together and congratulated him. I´m pretty sure Mexicans don´t ever have surprise parties, so you could say that´s one way I have shared the American cultura with them. (By the way, he worked over a year on his thesis, and it was over 100 pages long. His Masters degree was not considered oficial until he finally received the grade from his thesis exam.)

Then we spent the next día in the cuidad of Puebla, about two hours away (or about 11 hours from San Cristobal). Puebla is one of the oldest cities in Mexico, so it is full of historic landmarks and beautiful catedrales. It is also where the famous 21. batalla was fought that Mexicans now commemorate every año on the ¨Cinco de Mayo¨ holiday. Just a few days after returning to San Cristobal, I travelled eight hours to Tapacula, Chiapas, where the newest preaching school is. We came back from Puebla/Pachuca on Wednesday night, I went to Tapacula on Friday night, and I returned from Tapachula on Saturday night. I must say I´m getting used to sleeping all night on a bus! As long as there´s not a squiggly or noisy person next to me, it´s actually not that difficult.

I arrived at the church in Tapachula about 7:30 a.m. on Saturday, just a few minutes before the first estudiantes. The new school in Tapachula held its first classes a few weeks ago. There are about 20 students, a good mix of ages and gender. And three or four men will take turns teaching the classes. To start out they are studying Intro to the Old Testament and Intro to the New Testament. One of the girls recently got baptized as a result of the classes. Humberto, the director, seems to be doing an excellent job encouraging the students and keeping good records (both of which we have had problems with in some of the other 22. directores).

LAS ESCUELAS BIBLICAS (THE BIBLE SCHOOLS)

Then, in la tarde, I visited the sister school in Cacahoatan, only about thirty minutes away. Unfortunately the attendace was very low that day, only seven. I did not get to talk to the director as he was out of town, but his wife told me that there are almost always about 15 students, but it just so happened that many of them had conflictos that day. One of the biggest challenges in this culture (both with church actividades and each of the preaching schools) is the lack of attendance. Many of the members just don´t seem to have the same steadfast encouragement yet as many Americans, and many factors inhibit them from being able to participate in anything on a regular basis. They also seem to get burnt out or bored a lot faster and seem to go through phases of attending a lot or not attending a lot. (Actually, the preaching school in San Cristobal started out with 15-20 students and eventually shribbled down to 3 or 4 for precisely that razón.) So I only hope that the students who attend the classes in Tapachula and Cacahoatan will still want to and be able to attend well into the futuro.

Please continue to pray for all of the preaching schools. Hasta luego!

RANDOM THOUGHTS

--Did you know that Mexicans do not actually eat burritos?? I fixed some for José Luis and I one day, and he had never even heard of them!! (He did think they were very 23. sabroso, though : )

--A few days ago when we were at 24. la pista, there was a 25. competencia going on for some of los niños from nearby Indiginous comunidades. I think I have mentioned before that most Indiginous communities have their own ¨uniform.¨ So a few of the boys had actual track uniforms, but most of the girls ran barefoot in their usual skirt and blouse. Most were only about 6-8 years old, and it was so cute watching them run with such pride and excitement!

Titulo: ¨There´s Going to Be Another Wedding¨

1. constantly

1a. originally

2. well

3. level

4. grade

5. afterwards

6. beginners

7. intermediates

8. methods

9. difficult

10. notebook

11. frustrated

12. myth

13. interest

14. often

15. frequently

16. team

17. owner

18. interesting

19. party

20. family members

21. battle

22. directors

23. tasty

24. the track

25. competition

Una Carrera y Una Feria

2008-04-16T11:30:00.003-05:00

Niños from Nueva León, where two of our preaching students conduct the worship service cada domingo

Well the ¨warm¨1. tiempo seems to have finally arrived in San Cristóbal, and we are trying to make the most of the last few semanas we have before the rainy season is upon us once again. But even on days when the highs reach nearly 80 degrees and the sun is so strong it burns me within minutes, I am still one of the few people of many running on the track who is not dressed in a heavy sweatshirt and hot pants—and certainly the only woman wearing shorts! Some of the the people even wear blue jeans to run. Even though most of my shorts are knee length, many Mexicans seem to think that a woman in a skirt or dress is normal, in pants is liberal, and in shorts is just plain immodest! But I refuse to wear 2. pantalones to run in the hot weather just to satisfy their outlandish ideas; it is one part of our culture that I just don´t feel necessary to sacrifice in order to avoid what they might say about me. (I bet you never realized that running attire had so much to do with cultura!)

Obviously the running boom hasn´t hit Mexico yet like it has the United States. I was super excited when the track got a total makeover (you may remember from one of my first blogs that it was previously not even worth running on), and even more excited when one of the local athletic clubs decided to host a mini track meet. Naturally I signed up to run (even though the highest distance offered for women was 1500 meters, which I hadn´t run since I was in 3. la preparatoria!) I´ve always wanted to race against Mexicans (just kidding!) But I was really disappointed that only one other woman showed up to run! As a result, we had to run alongside the long-legged hombres, and we both got a medal (even though most of the other winners got dinero!) The 4. medalla does not even have the correct date or 5. distancia on it; I´m pretty sure it was just a leftover from the last evento they had. Oh well, at least I´ll have a 6. recuerdo of my first race in a foreign país : )

Warmer weather also signalled the start of the annual fair here in San Cristobal—a much bigger deal than any of their 7. carreras! People come from all over el estado (including the indigenous communities), and sometimes it takes 20 minutes or more to walk about a fourth of a mile at the entrance/exit because of so many gente packed together. This particular 8. feria was very similar to American fairs; the main diferencia is that there is no entrance fee. On the other hand, you have a pay $2-$3 to go on any of the rides. One of the main 9. atraciones of the fair is the 1o. famoso singer that performs each night, especially since that part is also gratis. Chantel and I can´t understand why the government spends so much Mexican money to convince all the big hot shot performers to come, when instead they could charge a small fee for everyone wanting to listen to the 11. concierto, then use the proceeds for algo more worthy—like better roads. After all, we have to pay a pretty penny just to attend a concert of that magnitude—it´s just not fair! One night I went to the fair with some of the muchachas from church. I felt a little disappointed that the only ones who showed up are the same ones who always come, no one else, but we had a really good time. Actually I ended up spending a lot more money than I had planned on. We only went on three or four rides, but in addition to paying for myself I also paid for some of the girls to ride with me who hadn´t brought much money. But we enjoyed going on the rides juntos, so it was worth it. Unfortunately I can´t post fotos of my recent 12. aventuras because I lost my digital camera somewhere between San Cristobal and la ciudad de Pachuca : (

Some of las damas from church and I dressed as ¨brides¨at Chantel´s wedding shower

I have set a new goal for myself to hang out with a different girl from church every week. The group actividades sometimes don´t go over very well, since so many of the girls have other 13. conflictos or just can´t come, and I feel like I can get to know them all better and encourage them more by spending time with each of them 14. personalmente. Last week I watched a movie in my bedroom with four of the girls, who just happen to live in the same casa—two of them are hermanas, and the other two are friends of the family who help with the cooking and housekeeping in exchange for living there. Normally I would only invite one girl at a time, but since these girls all live together I made an 15. excepción. They barely opened their mouths the whole time, but when they left they told me they really enjoyed it, and that they would like to do it again.

Watching a movie at someone´s house may seem simple (especially considering that most American girls do it all the time), but for the girls here it is not a very 16. común occurrence. As you may have already guessed, the jovenes here really don´t go out much-- (possibly because they don´t have carros, and the only money they have is what their parents are able and willing to give them—very little). In fact, I think some of them don´t even know HOW to socialize. When I first told these four girls that I wanted to do something with them, they had all kinds of strange questions for me: ¨What are we going to do?¨ ¨Who else is going to be there?¨ ¨Can Josue come too?¨ ¨Why aren´t you inviting anyone else?¨ I´m not sure they ever did get it through their heads that I wanted to spend time with JUST them—no one else! When some of us first started talking about going to the fair together, one of the girls didn´t think Chantel and I would be able to go because ¨Adrian and José Luis wouldn´t give us permission.¨ (Adrian is Chantel´s esposo.) It was all we could do to keep from bursting out laughing! And forget asking them for input on what to do; José Luis and I mostly just have to pick something ourselves and hope they like it; otherwise, they just stay tight-mouthed with a blank look on their faces. One of these girls that I watched 17. la pelicula with, the oldest, recently came forward to ask for prayers and forgiveness. She was only the second person who has come forward for something since I´ve been here. I really think she can be a good 18. ejemplo for her brothers and sisters and the rest of the youth group if she stays consistent in her attendance.

Recently someone broke into the church building. The thieves broke all the locks and even burned a paper that told about the offering. But luckily there was not much of value in the edificio, so they got away with only the sound system. This was the second time someone broke into the building in just a few meses. Many of the miembros proposed that we build onto the walls surrounding the building and also cut down a tree in the back so that it won´t be so easy for 19. ladrones to jump the 20. paredes. But David thought it would be better to save our money for another 21. propósito and pray for the security of the building instead. I know that many of the members did not agree with that decision, but since David made the announcement last week, I haven´t heard anything else about it. It was one of the many times when David took matters into his own hands rather than trying to reach a consensus with the members. José Luis has told me various times, however, that the members generally don´t say anything when they don´t agree because they don´t want to cause further problemas.

José Luis and his familia at Chantel´s boda

Las buenas noticias about la iglesia is that we had two more bautismos last week—which makes a total of six since the beginning of the year. I think one of David´s strengths is studying with people and convincing them to be baptized. Two of the new converts are young girls, so I really hope I will be able to get to know both of them better and study with them like I have been with Marisol. So far they haven´t come to any of the youth activities even though we repeatedly invite them, but hopefully they will soon get to know some of the other jovenes better and feel more interested and comfortable in participating. And one of the men, who got baptized last Sunday, found out about our congregación through the prison ministry. Normally the inmates go to other cities once they are released, so even if they get baptized while in prison, we have little contacto with them afterwards. So luckily this man was actually from San Cristobal and decided to continue with his Sunday cultos.

The next time I will tell you about my recent travels and the progress of the preaching schools and clases. Big thanks to Emilie Shannon for all the comments and prayers. The 14-year old girl I told about the last time has since started coming back to class, so that is at least one answer to your 22. oraciones! Hasta luego! Elizabeth

Título: A Race and A Fair
1. weather
2. pants
3. high school
4. medal
5. distance
6. souvenir
7. races
8. fair
9. attractions
10. famous
11. concert
12. adventures
13. conflicts
14. personally
15. exception
16. common
17. the movie
18. example
19. thieves
20. walls
21. purpose
22. prayers

Algunos Animales:
1. cat--gato
2. dog--perro
3. horse--caballo
4. mouse--ratón
5. snake--serpiente
6. monkey--mono
7. elephant--elefante
8. spider--araña
9. ant--hormiga
10. fish--pes
11. bird--pajaro
12. donkey--burro
13. tiger--tigre
14. dolphin--delfín
15. shark--tiburón
16. giraffe--girafe
17. frog--rana
18. turtle--tortuga
19. leopard--leopardo
20. dinosaur--dinosaurio

A ¨devil worship¨march on a Sunday morning in the town of Nueva León

A Dentro De La Carcel

2008-03-27T19:19:00.006-05:00

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

2008-03-03T21:38:00.008-06:00

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

Ups and Downs

2008-02-15T22:31:00.004-06:00

El tiempo is really flying by! It´s so hard to believe I´ve been here six months already. Chantel,who has been working here about three years, is getting married on Saturday. I organized a ¨despedida¨ for her (basically a bridal shower without the presents) and invited all of the ladies from church. José Luis and I were really worried how the ladies would react to my organizing that without checking with any of them first. He warned me that some of them might get the wrong idea about what we would be doing and not want to come just because of that. Normally the Christians here don´t do anything for those who get married or have babies; if they do, it is usually just a short worship service for all of the men and women together. According to José Luis, a despedida is a ¨Catholic tradition,¨ and the Christians here 1. más o menos refuse to celebrate anything having to do with 2. Católicos—even ¨Saint¨Valentine´s Day and ¨Saint¨Patrick´s Day. And if you haven´t picked up already from my previous blogs, they are also extremely reluctant to change (which is probably why the only thing they ever do 3. celebrar is have a worship service—even for birthday parties and weddings). I understand their desire not to ¨fall down the slippery slope,¨etc., but I wish more of them would understand that not every change is 4. malo. This was definitely one of those tiempos when I didn´t know if I should follow my heart, even though it could bring disastrous 5. resultados; or follow the cultura--simply to avoid offending others. Well having others (my fellow hermanos and hermanas en Cristo, no less) talk bad about me isn´t a good enough razón for me, personally, NOT to do something I strongly believe in.

So I went through with my plans—but nonetheless tried to lessen the blow by having the party in the school, rather than the church, calling it a ¨reunión de mujeres,¨rather than a despedida, and inviting the women 5. personalmente, rather than having it announced. And, because Chantel and I are both Gringas/Gueras/Americanas, I elected to use the American approach of 6. juegos and comida rather than the Mexican approach of preaching and more preaching. About 15 women came, only about one-fourth of the women of the entire congregation. But I enjoyed coordinating it, and I think all in all it went pretty well. I just hope that the women will have only good things to say about it, now that they have seen what it´s really all about (and see that we really didn´t play any dirty games! Ha ha.)

On a side note…remember from an earlier blog I mentioned that men never serve themselves but just wait for the women to bring the food to them?? Well we said the 7. oración for the food and I said ¨we´re going to eat now¨…and nobody moved! I went upstairs for 8. algo, and when I came back they were still just sitting there! Well as it turned out, two or three of us had to first put everything on serving dishes and take the serving dishes around to the ladies one by one. I fixed banana pudding, and I have a theory that no one ate it simply because they couldn´t serve it with their hands, like the 9. pan. Anyway, by the time we finished most of them were already done and some were starting to leave—and I hadn´t even started yet! Needless to say, I am STILL learning about the culture, six months later!

All of the students from the Ocosingo school who are already preaching or teaching a kids´class/Todos los estudiantes de Ocosingo que ya predican o enseñan una clase de niños

The problems with the teens that I talked about in the last blog are more or less the same problemas that every congregation deals with. What makes them more challenging for us, however, is the lack of interest shown by the other miembros. I started thinking the other day that there really aren´t very many people at church between the ages of 20 and 30. The few who are that edad are mostly all 10. casados and have kids and hardly ever come. And there certainly aren´t members lining up to help us out at youth events (most of the time it´s just José Luis and I.) So there really aren´t any good authority figures for those young people to look up to other than their 11. padres. I really think if we had more active members in that age range, it would influence some of the jovenes to be stronger cristianos. So maybe instead of encouraging the teenagers we first need to encourage the twenty-thirty somethings who aren´t coming! I appreciate more than ever now our 20 somethings class at MJ and understand why that class is so importante.

12. La semana pasada we played soccer and basketball with the teens at a local parque and ate sandwiches and 13. botanas together afterwards (which we do about once a month). 14. Las buenas noticias is that 15 came, many of whom hardly ever come and need encouragement the most. 15. Las malas noticias is that we will no longer be taking a grupo to the youth rally in Tuxtla that we have been so excited about. It just so happens that the congregation will be hosting a 16. seminario on the same day, and David decided that it would be better for the jovenes to stay and help with the seminar than participate in the youth rally. José Luis and I have been thinking for some time that the youth rally would be a great encouragement to some of the teens who have not been coming as much lately, and many of the teens had already started making plans to attend. (Some were even going to ask off work for it.) The youth rally will be a one-day, once every four months 17. evento with teenagers from all over the area, while the seminar will be a three-day event with mostly only 18. adultos. Furthermore, the seminar is not intended for teenagers, and if we have a hard enough time just getting them to come to church on Sunday morning, how will we ever get them to come to a seminar about a topic that doesn´t even interest them? So José Luis and I can´t help but feel disappointed about David´s 19. decisión. José Luis often tells me that the other members (including David) leave him completely in charge of the youth but don´t give him any support, and 20. ahora I can see why. It´s times like this when I really wish the congregation here had elders; I have a feeling that if more hombres could have helped David make that decisión, the outcome would have been diferente. As for las clases, David seems to think that the teens need to hear him preach more than they need the classes…but I personally don´t know any 13 year-olds who actually enjoy sitting through a 2-hour sermon. We haven´t made any final decisions about the classes yet, so we´ll see what happens. Please pray that everything will work out well for 21. todos.

On a happier note, I went and visited a congregation on Sunday where one of our students is preaching. He is a middle-aged man, about 50 or 55, and he has only been a Christian for less than diez años. But he shows up for every class right on time and never complains. His 22. hijo, who is about my age, goes with him each week to teach the kids´class. He was previously very active with our young people, but he gave up being around his amigos to help his dad. They drive about two hours early every Sunday morning to a little comunidad called Nueva Leon. The congregación is still very small—only 5 members and about 10 kids—and most are from the same familia. But just to convert those five people has taken two years or more. Maybe in another two years, there will be five more. As is characteristic of 23. muchas Mexican communities, the men have very little 24. educación (and the women none). While José preached, one of the older men kept reading each verse slowly and to himself—but loud enough for all of us to hear it—and about ten minutes after we finished going over that particular 25. pasaje. If I were José I would have been a little annoyed, but he handled it very well. It turns out that one of the ladies we went and visited in el hospital was largely 26. responsable for the conversions in Nueva Leon. Here are some pictures from the culto and the clase de niños:

A few days ago I was abruptly awakened by an earthquake as my whole bed started shaking at 6 a.m. It was not big enough to cause any 27. daño, but it did last for at least diez segundos and shake the whole second floor. It´s the second 28. terremoto we´ve had since I´ve been here.

I introduced José Luis to peanunt butter and jelly sandwiches the other day, and he was very impressed! If only every Mexican could try them instead of eating their boring tortillas every day! Well once again my entry has gotten too long before I could say all that I wanted to say…but that just means you´ll have even more exciting news to look forward to the next time (ha ha!)

One day I decided to run up this 29. monte that overlooks the city. It killed my knees, but it was worth it for the beautiful 30. vistas at the top! Normally some of the poorest residents live at the top of the montes (where the roads are not wide enough for carros and look more like hiking paths). The building you see in this picture is actually a casa!
Hasta Luego!

1. more or less

2. Catholics

3. to celebrate

4. bad

5. personally

6. games

7. prayer

8. something

9. bread

10. married

11. parents

12. last week

13. snacks

14. the good news

15. the bad news

16. seminar

17. event

18. adults

19. decision

20. now

21. everyone

22. son

23. many

24. education

25. passage

26. responsible

27. damage

28. earthquake

29. mountain/mount

30. views

Los Problemas con Los Jovenes

2008-02-07T22:51:00.000-06:00

Saludos faithful readers! It seems that some of you still do not understand how to add comments?? Ok, well I give you the instructions one more time, but please let me know if you are still confused afterwards or if anything doesn´t make sense! First, scroll all the way down to the end of that particular blog posting (past all the Spanish vocab and everything). You will see a link on the lower right hand corner that says how many comments there are. (If are there are 0 comments, you should still be able to click on and open the link.) Next, put the mouse inside the box on the upper right corner that says ¨leave your comment.¨ Once you have finished typing the comment, click on the part below the box that says ¨anonymous,¨then ¨publish your comment.¨ If it works you will see the comment appear on the left side. I recommend posting the comments using ¨anonymous,¨because otherwise you have to set up a blogger account. Just make sure that if you do it that way you write your name at the end of your comment!

These last two weeks I have been doing a lot of spring cleaning in the school. It´s not something I enjoy, but it had to be done! Chantel has moved into an 1. apartamento in preparation for her upcoming wedding, so I moved all of my 2. cosas up to her room last week. It´s definitely a lot better living 3. arriba!! It´s a lot warmer (I have gone from about 6 heavy blankets on the 4. cama down to 3!), and there is more 5. privacidad. And, since it is actually two rooms divided by a partially open wall, I feel like, for the first time in my 6. vida!, that I have plenty of 7. espacio for everything.

On the other hand, I must say that I feel like more of a fraidy cat than ever now that I live in that casa 8. enorme all by myself! I hear so many noises that make me think someone else is in the house--especially since there are 9. vecinos on two sides with nothing but the wall between us! (Hardly anyone here has a yard.) Sometimes when I sing to myself really loudly in la mañana I have to remind myself that the neighbors can hear 10. todo--(but at least they can´t understand anything I´m saying : ) Today when I left at 2 p.m. I almost stepped on a man who was completely passed out right in front of the house!!! When I first arrived in augosto I got really worried anytime I saw a man in that position, but it turns out they are nothing more than drunks. Now I see drunk men passed out all over the city at all hours of the día, but never has one been so close to my doorstep! But don´t worry, the house/school is very secure and I almost always feel safe. One Saturday I returned at 11. medianoche and the front door was wide open because the students forgot to lock it when they left, but as far as I can tell no one came in and nothing was taken. What are the chances??

Parade in Cintalapa, Mexico celebrating the Mexican Revolution/Desfile en Cintalapa, Mexico para celebrar la revolución mexicana

I mentioned in my last blog that the jovenes have been missing a lot of church and classes lately, and unfortunately that trend has not reversed itself. When we started the Sunday morning classes a few months ago nearly all of the jovenes were coming, but lately José Luis and I both have been averaging only about 5. They have missed for various razones. Some feel like las clases (or church) aren´t really 12. necesario, some arrive really late and don´t want to interrupt the class in the middle, and some are at that in-between age when they can´t decide if they´d rather hang with the jovenes or do more ¨adult¨ things. The smaller class size really doesn´t bother me that much. As I mentioned to José Luis, I grew up attending Bible classes of only about 3 or 4 students of various ages—and was often the only girl. However, we are afraid that the few who are still 13. fiel in their attendance may eventually feel discouraged and stop coming, as well—especially now that they are used to the bigger class size.

So we have been thinking about ways to improve the situation other than telling the truent ones we missed them and asking the non-truent ones to help encourage them. Most likely what we will do is combine the two classes for a while (so that José Luis will teach all of the chicos and chicas 14. juntos.) I don´t really want to give up teaching my girls´class, but as I told the girls on Sunday, we do what we do for them, not for us. So we´re hoping that maybe more of them will come to class if they can be with the opposite sex (ha ha!!!) If not, at least the class size will be 15. doble what it has been. On Sunday I also had my girls write some anonymous suggestions for me of things they don´t like about the class, topics they want to study, lugares they would like to go for get togethers, etc. Well either they didn´t understand the 16. instrucciones or they just really don´t want to change anything, because what they wrote was incredibly vague and not very useful. One of them actually wrote that she would like 17. estudiar ¨topics appropriate for teenagers.¨ I asked them if they would like to start having the class with chicos and chicas together in place of our class, and, surprisingly, many of them were very opposed to la idea. So I think what we might do is have the class with everyone most weeks but still have our girls´class once or twice a month, as well as still have the ¨girls´only¨ get togethers.

José Luis and I both have been struggling not to feel discouraged about la situación. The last time he had a get together for them, on New Years Day, the only ones who ¨came¨ were the ones who live at that house. So he is reluctant to initiate more get togethers and says that it´s not worth it to plan anything if no one´s going to show up. But the way I see it is, if we don´t plan anything for them, they may think that we´re not interested anymore, either, and only feel more discouraged. Besides, I feel like even if there are just a few who do appreciate what we´re doing, it´s definitely worth our time and effort. On Saturday we´re going to have another time of playing soccer and basketball in the 18. parque, so hopefully a lot will come. If anyone has any comments or suggestions about how to encourage the teenagers more, please do let me know!

This week I also went and visited two hermanas who are very sick in the hospital. If I had to pick one word to compare this hospital to American hospitals, it would be: small. The entire hospital was one floor, one block. There was no carpet, no waiting rooms, no TV, and no vending machines. Family members wait to receive news by standing in the hallways, and patients receive a bed assignment, rather than a room assignment. The room that I saw was very similar to a camp cabin—about ten basic beds placed side by side, with no furniture to store belongings. It just so happened that the two ladies from our congregation had beds right across from each other, so that we were ¨kind of¨able to visit them both at the same time. I say kind of because the hospital only allows three people at each bed at one time (regardless of whether they are family or not), and we first had to leave i.d. before we could enter. Supposedly the 19. reglas are so 20. estricto because the hospitals here have had trouble with some people wandering around the rooms stealing items from complete strangers.

I have more to say (a lot can happen in two weeks!) but I don´t want anyone to stop reading in the middle of my blog just because it got to be too long again (ha ha!)

Until the next time,
Elizabeth

Title: Problems with the Teenagers

1. apartment

2. things

3. upstairs

4. bed

5. privacy

6. life

7. space

8. huge/enormous

9. neighbors

10. everything

11. midnight

12. necessary

13. faithful

14. together

15. double

16. instructions

17. to study

18. park

19. rules

20. strict

Weather Words and Phrases:

¿Como está el clima? (What is the weather like?)

Hace calor. (It´s hot.)

Hace frío. (It´s cold.)

Está bonito. (It´s nice out.)

Está lluviendo. (It´s raining.)

Está nublado. (It´s cloudy.)

Está caliente. (It´s warm.)

Está ventoso. (It´s windy.)

Está fresco. (It´s cool.)

clima (climate)

el tiempo (weather)

See the bus in this picture? Maria Auxiliadora is the neighborhood I live in, so this would be one of the busses I would take when I ride public transportation.

La Visita del Gran Jefe

2008-01-23T11:04:00.000-06:00

Pictures from la reunion de jovenes at Rancho Nuevo Park (which I wrote about the last time). 1. Some of the girls from my Sun. morning class opening their secret sister gifts, 2. playing fun games together, 3. the whole group

Fotos de una reunion de jovenes en un parque. 1. algunas muchachas de nuestra clase de los domingos con sus regalos de hermanas secretas 2. cuando jugamos algunos juegos divertidos juntos 3. todo el grupo

I have some 1. buenas noticias: Global Missions will soon have two new escuelas de predicadores (preachers´schools) here in the state of Chiapas! J.C. Enlow (director of Global Missions) has just completed 2. una visita in which he made 3. muchos planes for the new schools. David and I met him at the airport in Tapacula on Wednesday night, a city of about 150,000 gente that is about 7 horas de San Cristobal. It took us over an hour to drive to the hotel because there was so much 4. tráfico, but we later found out that there was a fuego (fire) on the street our hotel was on, and all the calles surrounding it had been closed off. So we left the 5. caminoneta in a parking garage and set out on foot to find the nearest hotel that would not be too expensive. Luckily we met the owner at the first one we came to, and not only did she speak perfect English, but she negotiated with J.C. to bring 6. el precio of the rooms down to our price level.

Then on jueves, we met with some of the members of the Tapacula church. We had told David to set up a meeting with the hombres, but many of the mujeres also came. I have a feeling that anytime someone mentions anything about a reunión, the entire congregation feels invited because they expect it to be another culto (worship service). But since the women can help buy and prepare food for the classes each week, it was actually good that some of them came. One of the first to arrive was an older man named Pedro, who had been visiting the church there for about a month but still claimed to be Catholic. When J.C. learned that, he immediately started preaching to him about the beginning of Christianity while I translated. Then David and Humberto (the preacher of their congregación) shared some more 7. versos with the man and explained to him about 8. bautismo. The man doesn´t know how leer (to read), but he was attentive to what he heard. About 10 minutos despues (9.), he made his 10. confesión and decided that he wanted to be baptized right then. So the majority of us carpooled about 20 minutes to the river, the closest location to baptize him. Here are algunas fotos of David studying with the man, Humberto baptizing him, and the rest of us singing 11. himnos along the shore:

We returned to el edificio around lunchtime and had the meeting up until about 4 o´clock. J.C. also spent some time preaching to the men, urging them to start new congregaciones. He was a little disappointed that there are 10 predicadores (12.) yet only 2 congregaciones for such a big ciudad. But I´ve also noticed that the mexicans use the word ¨preachers¨ much more loosely than we americanos. Whereas we only refer to the two or three men who preach on a full time basis and receive a salary as ¨preachers,¨the mexicans may call any man who preaches or teaches from time to time a preacher. José Luis even calls himself a preacher, even though he never actually preaches to the congregation, just works with the young people. I´m not trying to say that there´s anything wrong with so many men calling themselves preachers, I´m just trying to explain J.C.´s initial confusion when he thought that if there are 10 preachers, there are probably 10 separate congregations. At the congregation in Tapachula where we had the meeting, there is one main preacher (Humberto) and two other ¨preachers¨that help him. Humberto will serve as director for the Saturday school there, and all three of the men are willing to teach classes. They are really 13. emocionado about the school so that they can train some younger men to eventually take the place of some of the older preachers in the area.

J.C. then explained more (through my translations) about el dinero y las clases. Each of the Saturday schools receives roughly $350 each month. $100 of that goes to the director, $50 to the secretary/cook (who is responsible for keeping good records, buying and preparing food each week or delegating others to help), and the remaining $200 goes to 14. la comida for each semana. The students typically have one class in the morning, eat lunch together, and then have another class in the afternoon. As long as they offer each class for the correct number of hours, however, the director of each school has some 15. libertad as to the schedule of classes. At the Saturday school in Cacahoatan, for example, los maestros agreed that it would be better to teach each class for two hours for four months rather than four hours for two months. Then the secretaries and directors and I work together 16. cada mes to send the necessary reports to the Global Missions office in Mississippi. I know I haven´t talked about the schools in my blogs much to this point, but if anyone has any 17. preguntas about how the schools work or how the money is spent, etc., please let me know and I will do my best to answer those questions.

On Friday we left early and stopped on our way back to San Cristobal in David´s hometown, ¨Nueva Libertad.¨ Once again we had a groupful of hombres, mujeres, and niños eagerly awaiting our arrival (almost the entire congregation!) Most of David´s family still lives there, and his padre is the predicador 18. principal. However, the men were quick to explain that none of them ever received any ¨training,¨and that four of them (including David´s dad) volunteer to preach, but take turns. For precisely that reason we would like to start another school there! Nueva Libertad is a 19. pueblo of only about 2,000 people, but there is a much larger city about 20 minutes away where we hope to recruit a director, teachers, and more students. We still have some tiempo to decide who the director and teachers will be, where the school will be, etc. since J.C. does not plan 20. visitar them again until 21. el verano. He will first have to raise more support before we can know anything definite. The school in Tapachula, on the other hand, will start classes the first sabado in abril. After the meeting/worship service, we enjoyed eating lunch with David´s familia and a few of the other miembros at la casa he grew up in.

On Saturday we visited for a short time with the students who come to la escuela in San Cristobal from Larainzer, Sofi (la maestra de computación), and los estudiantes in Ocosingo. J.C. was especially pleased with what he saw in Ocosingo. He believes Antonio Sanchez has been working very diligently as 22. el director and as 23. el unico maestro for those students, as well. We have been averaging the highest turnout at the Ocosingo school, 24. normalmente between 20 and 25 estudiantes. Some of them, who live in the jungle, must first walk five horas the Friday before classes, then take a bus three more hours and spend la noche in a hotel. Because Global Missions does not believe in paying the students to study, these students pay for the majority of el viaje out of their own pockets. When la clase ended, Antonio invited us to stay and eat lunch with them. J.C. was ready to go, but David asked me to explain to him that if we didn´t stay and eat with them, the students would feel very offended. Another part of the cultura here is that if someone invites you somewhere (especially to eat), you regard that as a 26. privilegio and don´t make 27. excusas! Sometimes las mujeres spend all day preparing special food if they know that guests will be coming. It´s also not uncommon for 28. visitantes to stay at the host´s home for several hours, eating, talking, and drinking 29. café. Here is a picture of all of us eating together at Antonío´s house:

Los miembros in San Cristobal on domingo also enjoyed hearing J.C. preach about lost souls, 30. evangelismo, and 31. el principio of the church. We spent Monday taking care of some miscellaneous jobs related to the school here, and then he flew out early martes en la mañana. 32. Muy, muy temprano! We actually got to the aeropuerto in Tuxtla una hora before they even opened, and then J.C. had to wait another hora just to check in his 33. maletas!

By the way, if you don´t speak the same idioma as someone, screaming at them isn´t going to help them understand you any better! I had just gotten back to my hotel room on Thursday night when the 34. receptionísta called and said the gringo was saying something, but she didn´t know what. Well the whole time she was talking to me I could hear J.C. in the background yelling, ¨Wake up call! I need a wake up call!¨

Here are pictures from our worship service at ¨Larainzer¨(indiginous community) that I promised 2 or 3 blogs back. First, Dr. John is preaching to them in Spanish with one of their men translating into their dialect. As you can see, a packed house came out to see their new edificio!

The front of the church building, with some of the members leaving afterwards.

David speaking to everyone. Standing next to him are all the men of Larainzer congregation, who are outnumbered by the women about 3 or 4 to 1.

While we had the worship service, all the kids had a special class in the old church building (right behind the new one). Here is a picture of them singing some Bible songs for everyone afterwards:

Spanish words:

Title: ¨The Big Boss´Visit¨

1. good news

2. a visit

3. many plans

4. traffic

5. minivan

6. the price

7. verses

8. baptism

9. minutes later

10. confession

11. hymns

12. preachers

13. excited

14. the food

15. liberty

16. every month

17. questions

18. main

19. town/village

20. to visit

21. the summer

22. the director

23. the only teacher

24. normally

25. the trip

26. privilege

27. excuses

28. visitors

29. coffee

30. evangelism

31. the beginning

32. very, very early

33. bags/suitcases

34. receptionist

The blog is back and so am I!!!

2008-01-15T11:57:00.000-06:00

I had a nice trip back, and while I really enjoyed my time at home, I´m also glad to be back among my new amigos once again. Can you believe I made it through an 18 hour bus ride without getting car sick or going out of my mind?? I´m feeling more and more like a Mexican every day! They hardly ever travel by airplane because they can´t afford it, so they are much more accustomed to long bus rides. By flying into Cancún and then riding the bus to San Cristobal, I paid only half of what a plane ticket to Tuxtla Gutierrez would have cost--and saved about a month´s worth of expenses!

I would like to take a minute to commend a few people. First, the "Donation Calibration" team -- Emilie Shannon, Natalie Arnold, Sydney Mann, Elizabeth Fuller, Gabi Simmons, Amelia Smith, Jessica Beckham, and Julie Beth Fluellan--for all their letters! It was such an encouragement to me to read all of them, and I know these girls are all going to continue doing great things for the Lord as they get older! Also to Sissy Pickler for all her help getting me more teaching materials to take down, to the ladies´class at MJ for the money they gave for me to buy teaching supplies, to Rosemary Fox for buying school supplies, and to Darlene Moore for letting me take so many of her own books and crafts. I don´t know if I ever mentioned it in previous blogs, but there are no supplies for the kids´class at church. So whoever teaches has to put a lot more time into preparing lessons, and the kids quickly grow restless because of the lack of teaching aides. So I am very grateful for all the extra supplies I was able to bring and know the ladies and kids here will be too. (One of my suitcases weighed 90 pounds this time because of all the books, but it was worth it!)

I especially enjoyed being home for Christmas since the Christians here don´t celebrate it. Because there are so many Christmas customs here related to the Catholic religion, the Christians think that by celebrating it they are being hypocrites, and not setting themselves apart from other religions. I understand why they don´t celebrate it, but I wish they would do a better job trying to understand why I DO celebrate it!

I´m going to do my best to remember everything that happened before I went on vacation that I never got around to writing about. First, on the Saturday before I came home, we had a get together with all of the young people at a local park. We had a devotional together, played several games, and ate hot dogs. They all thought I was absolutely loca for putting a hot dog on a stick and roasting it over the fire, but I equally thought they were absolutely loco for wanting to eat the hot dogs raw! Our girls´class had been participating in secret sisters, so I also used the opportunity for us to give each other the final gifts. They had never participated in secret sisters, and most of them really enjoyed it. We had the best turnout of chicos and chicas that we have had since I´ve been here.

Since I´ve been back, however, the teenager turnout has not been so good; José Luis and I have only had about half as many in our classes. But we are trying really hard not to get discouraged. We also plan to do a better job visiting some of the jovenes who have not been coming regularly. On Saturday we went to Tuxtla, where José Luis met with men from other congregations to start planning get togethers with teenagers from all the nearby congregations about every four months--similar to what a day-long youth rally there would be like. So we are both really excited about that and hope the teenagers will be, too!

Before I left for vacation, some of the girls were starting to talk a lot more and pass notes during the classes and worship services. I feel like I got what I reaped in dealing with that problem, because I did the same things when I was their age! I also feel partly responsible since I kept encouraging them to sit together when we first started having our class! But since they were becoming such a distraction to the other members, I taught a special class about the importance of showing respect and not talk¡ng during those times. Since we have still been studying about the tongue, it fit right in with our other lessons! Who knows if what I said had any impact or not, but since then they have also started sitting with their parents again rather than sitting together. Then this past Sunday, we talked about the importance of making spiritual resolutions and growing spiritually. I gave them the first week and a half´s worth of verses from the daily Bible so that we can all try to read through the Bible together every day, just like everyone at MJ is doing. I have a feeling most of them have never even considered studying the Bible on their own, so it may take a lot to motivate them to start. (But I hope not!)

The congregation has also been busy making plans for the new year. Several of them met last week (before I got back) to discuss the budget and the works they want to be involved in this year. One of the works that seems to be going really well is their prison ministry. About a month ago, our two prison ministers actually had the unique opportunity to perform the wedding ceremony for two of the convicts that have been coming to their weekly worship services. Since the men and women´s cells are in completely different parts of the prison, the newlyweds normally only see each other for a few hours each sabado. Yes, they did meet at the prison!

At the ladies´class last Sunday, someone asked me if it´s hard to deal with the constant tardiness. (If you didn´t already know, Latinos are known for rarely checking the time and arriving at everything at least 10-15 minutes later than they say they´re going to. Sometimes they seem to have the mentality that minutes really don´t matter, just the hours. For example, if you ask someone what time it is, they might say, ¨12 o´clock,¨even though it´s actually 12:25. Even weddings and funerals typically start 30-40 minutes after the time designated.) I feel like I didn´t answer the question very well on Sunday, so I´m going to try to answer it better now. Yes, sometimes it is frustrating, but for the most part I´ve gotten used to it. I´ve learned to always carry a book or something with me in case I end up waiting somewhere a long time. I´ve also learned not to expect people when they say they´re going to arrive. The tardiness bothers me the most at the start of my classes (especially if half of the students show up right on time and the other half shows up 10-15 minutes later). I really tried to stress to my students that they needed to be on time for every class, and for the most part they did a good job of that. David (our preacher) also tells the members to arrive on time for every worship service, and asks the men to come 10 minutes early if they want to participate. Unlike many other preachers in Latin America, he starts every worship service right on time, regardless of who´s there and who´s not.

Random Thoughts:
--Jose Luis´5-year-old nephew frequently asks me how to say certain words in English. Yesterday he started asking me about some new words, and José Luis asked him,¨Como se dice pollo en inglés?¨(¨How do you say chicken in English?¨) Fabian said, ¨Kentucky!¨

--My English class that meets during the week finished up right before I left, but I hope to soon start publicizing again for a new class.

--I mentioned a while back that I was going to add the Global Missions info. to my blog page, and I finally did; it´s in the top right hand corner.

--Andrew was right, your comments are a joy to read and such an encouragement.

So I wasn´t able to put any new pictures or Spanish vocabulary on here this time since I´m getting ready to leave for another trip, but hopefully I can get back into doing that the next time. Adios!!

Una Boda y un Funeral

2007-11-29T21:10:00.000-06:00

Leaving the house to run one morning, I saw these two (1.) caballos perched right outside our door. It´s just not something you see every day!

¡Saludos! I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving. Mine was about as good as could be expected for celebrating it in a foreign country with a bunch of Mexicans who don´t understand anything about it and don´t like any of our food : ) Not wanting to be alone that day, I invited some people from la iglesia to celebrate with me. Seven came. I explained to them a little about the origins of the holiday and our customs, we ate, and they left. Nothing special. It turned out all right, but the worst part is that we had no turkey, nor stuffing, nor pumpkin pie! So I can´t wait to eat those foods as soon as I get home! I had also planned to make (attempt) a pumpkin pie for my clase de inglés, but so many of the ingredients we take for granted are very hard to come by here--pumpkins and pie crust included. (2.) ¡Ni modos!

Funerals, like so many things, are muy diferente aquí. The first Mexican funeral I experienced was actually for a man I never knew (that´s a long story). But nevertheless, it served as a learning process for me. First, we arrived at the house of some of his family members, where they had closed off the street to cars and where several people were already seated outside on the driveway. Yes, the coffin was at a house and not a funeral home. Remember when I said that they have a worship service for everything here? Well, funerals and weddings are no different. So, just like in a typical Sunday morning service, we had a prayer, three songs, the sermon, three more songs, and another prayer. Cesar, the preacher in Cintalapa, is still very young and had only preached for one other funeral before this one, but I thought he did an excellent job. He had the privilege to baptize the man just a few weeks before his death. But something that really struck me was that he did not mention anything about the man´s (3.) vida or accomplishments or what kind of person he was, only about the need to prepare ourselves to go to (4.) el cielo, etc. I asked mi novio about it, who at first acted like it was one of the silliest things he had ever heard. He said they never say any of those things because, ¨What if the person wasn´t a good person?¨

What was (5.) raro about this particular funeral is that after our service, the Baptists also had a (5b.) culto. Normally there is only one sermon, but evidently the family consisted of both baptists and christians who could not agree on which preacher to ask so decided to ask both of them. Then we continued singing for about another hora. Finally, as I was falling asleep at 1:30 a.m., José Luis and I left, but the others remained for several more horas. Another custom is for the (6.) vistantes to stay with la familia singing and praying all night. Some of the Baptist men even brought playing cards and beer to help them pass the tiempo. Then, around 7 or 8 in la mañana, everyone walks together from la casa (or wherever the coffin is) to the burial site. They then have another worship service before talking with the family one last time and heading home. I also asked José Luis if they walk because so many people don´t have carros, and he responded that no, they just do that as a sign of (7.) respeto.

The following semana we witnessed the wedding of two young cristianos, Sofi y Jorge. Jorge is one of the preaching students at the school here in San Cristobal, and Sofi is the computer teacher (and (8.) la hermana of Cesar). Everyone at church felt so honored and excited to attend because good christian couples are so hard to come by here in Mexico. Most couples choose to get married in a recreation hall here rather than a church becuase, by law, they must have a civil wedding with a judge and four witnesses. But the civil wedding cannot take place in una iglesia, so they often decide to kill two birds with one stone rather than have two separate ceremonies. Everyone stands outside the building and waits for the bride and groom to enter together, but it is really anticlimactic compared to our traditions. They do not cheer anything and there is no (9.) música, (although in this particular (10.) boda the guests sang (11.) un himno as they entered.) Then (12.) los novios sit at a table in the front of the room, (13.) el juez comes and reads the long, boring court document, and los novios and all the witnesses sign every page. Next comes the worship service and the final prayer, then the guests eat and go home. Just as (14.) los predicadores do not say anything about the deceased during a funeral, they also do not say anything about los novios during a boda--just talk about the importance of loving one another (14b.) siempre and helping each other through difficult times, etc.--for about una hora. The copules do not read vowels or poems, and very few of them give rings. But, at least they serve a full meal instead of our measly hordourves! By the way, it´s also not customary for los padres de (15.) la novia to pay for everything. Instead, the couple asks friends and family members they know well to serve as ¨padrinos¨by paying for certain parts. (I.E. one persona is padrino del salón and pays to rent the salón, another is padrino of the video, another of the cake, etc.) And they do not have bridemaids and groomsmen, nor rehearsal dinners! They feel like there is no need for them (16.) practicar because every (17.) ceremonia is always exactly the same (with the church service taking up most of el tiempo and los novios saying very little.)

This past (18.) fin de semana three Americans came to visit. One of the men helps support David, and he also gave money for the church in ¨Larainzar¨to construct a new edificio. (I do not remember his apellido, so we will call him ¨Dr. John.¨) If you remember from past blogs, students come from Larainzar for the Saturday school here. I teach them English for two hours, and Chantel prepares their lunch. Larainzar is a small indiginous community about 30 miles from here. Many of the residents (including some of my students) do not speak any Spanish, only their indiginous language. They are very exculded from the rest of the world, but I think that´s how they prefer it. For example, even though they live so close to us, they do not observe daylight savings time like we do, they eat many different foods (sometimes only tortillas and beans), and they don´t have a clue what´s going on in the rest of the world. They also don´t greet each other with the customary kiss on the cheek like most other mexicans. Not knowing that, I leaned in to kiss one of my especially shy girl students on Saturday, and she instantly backed away in fright while the men around her laughed. The women all wear white, stitched blouses and black, wool skirts, while some of the men wear a white ¨shorts¨suit. So it´s practically a miracle that Dr. John ever discovered la congregación there--a congregation that was previously desperately in need of support due to all their poverty.

Here are pictures of some of my students from Larainzar working hard in our clase de inglés: (By the way, the little girl is not one of my students. She just comes with (19.) los demas.)

Anyway, the reason Dr. John and his esposa and amigo came from Mississippi was to see the new edificio. La congregación held a special worship service on Saturday to celebrate el nuevo edificio, with Dr. John as the guest speaker. Although he speaks pretty good Spanish, uno de los hombres had to translate the sermon into xochil (or whatever the name of their idioma is!) It was the first time for me to hear a Spanish sermon translated into a language other than English. Many of the members from San Cristobal were able to attend, as well as some from other congregations. One characteristic that has really impressed me about los cristianos aquí is their willingness to work with and support sister congregations (certainly more than we could say about most congregaciones in the U.S.!) Despite the distance, I really think about 60% of our congregation attended. The building is very cool and spacious and now lacks only (20.) las ventanas y (21.) la puerta. Dr. John also has big plans to add a medical clinic above the church building. (I will show fotos of the building the next time, as I have not uploaded them to (22.) la computadora yet.) For Larainzar to be such a small pueblo, the congregation there is really quite large (especially for Mexico), with about 100 miembros and 50 niños. (Yes, 50 niños! Hats off to the one lady who volunteers to teach all 50 of them in the same class for two hours!) But, like other Latin American congregations as well, las mujeres outnumber los homres about 4 to 1.

I want to give a special shout out to all my fellow 20-somethings for the notes of encouragement. (I finished reading them a while ago but am just now remembering to mention it : ) I took your advice of reading only one note at a time on the days when I felt the most discouraged, and luckily I didn´t have too many of those days so it actually took me longer to read all of them than I thought it would. Also to Emilie Shannon and friends for the letters! I haven´t actually gotten them yet, but the folks at Global Missions are supposed to be enclosing them when they send another package. So hopefully they will come any day now!

Random Comments:

I bought tortillas from the tortilleria today--yet another ¨rite of passage¨that made me feel like a bonified Mexican!

Two people in two days have asked if Chantel is my sister (even though we look nothing alike!) It´s like they can´t understand why two Americans would be living together down here if they´re not related!

¡Hasta luego!

1. horses 2. Oh well 3. life 4. heaven 5. rare 5b. worship service 6. visitors 7. respect 8. the sister 9. music 10. wedding 11. a hymn 12. the boyfriend and girlfriend/the fianceés 13. the judge 14. the preachers 14b. always 15. the girlfriend 16. to practice 17. ceremony 18. weekend 19. the others 20. the windows 21. the door 22. the computer

Algunas Profesiones:

1. arquitécto (architect)

2. mecánico (mechanic)

3. recepcionista (receptionist)

4. abogado (lawyer)

5. enfermera (nurse)

6. médico/doctor (doctor)

7. actor (acter)

8. actriz (actress)

9. trabajador de construcción (construction worker)

10. pintor (painter)

11. escritor (writer)

12. periodísta (journalist)

13. peluquera (hairdresser/barber)

14. bailarina (dancer)

15. conserje (janitor)

El Día De Los Muertos y una visita con un doctor

2007-11-15T22:24:00.000-06:00

Wow! So much has happened since I last wrote that I don´t even know where to begin. Halloween came and went with me barely noticing since hardly anyone here celebrates it (and none of the cristianos do). To make up for my lack of celebration, I´m going to write this blog in naranja. Some kids here get dressed up and go from door to door, but instead of saying ¨Trick or Treat¨they sing a whole song. And it lasts for a whole week, not just una noche. But in that week, I only heard tres or cuatro kids singing for (1.) dulces. Most mexicanos focus more on El Día de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) because it is more of a Catholic celebration. One of my students invited me to her school that day, because each year the classes have a competition to see who can create the best altar. They may choose any dead person that they want, and the winning classes receive dinero to buy supplies. Then on Nov. 1 and 2, students are out of school and familias go to the cemetery to put flowers and food on the graves of their loved ones. These (2.) fotos are from some of the classrooms at the middle school I visited and should give you a better idea of how they decorate the graves/altars:

Jose Luis and I took advantage of the holiday to visit the Saturday school in Cacahoatan (about 8 hours from here). We even got to see (3.) el Oceano Pacífico for a few horas on Friday. The school in Cacahoatan could possibly be more successful than any of them. For one reason, church members there have been more active in preparing (4.) comida for the students and teaching the classes. Right now they have four classes each Saturday for two hours each, intro to the (5.) Antiguo Testamento, intro to the (6.) Nuevo Testamento, Acts, and Theory of (7.) La Musica. A different man teaches each class. They have been averaging 15 to 20 students, and they have even drawn some kids from la comunidad for a separate children´s class each week. Francisco, the director, told us that originally about 20 niños were coming, but since then the number has slacked off a lot because the Baptists started offering free whole chickens to any kids that went to their (8.) programa. The only drawback for the school there near Guatemala is that the majority of students are jovenes (some are still in middle school). But, maybe that´s actually a good thing. Here are algunos de los niños who came for la clase that day eating lunch outside the church building:

In addition to visiting the middle school on Día de los Muertos, I also got to visit the elementary school where José Luis teaches. All the kids were coming up to me asking, ¨How do you say Daniel in English? How do you say Floriberto?¨ (And by the way, anytime (9.) alguien here hears my apellido, they instantly bust out laughing. I guess ¨Pelfrey¨is just funny in any (10.) idioma : )! Escuelas here are definitely not the strict, rule-bearing institutions that we are used to. In una hora while I was at the elementary school, I watched kids jump on desks, scream nonstop, start fights, run to the bathroom, throw paper wads at the walls...all without any teacher supervision. No wonder Chantel and I have such a hard time getting the kids from church to sit in their seats long enough to listen to one Bible story! And when I went to the middle school, (11.) la situación was really not much different despite the difference in maturity. Los estudiantes were free to leave the classroom whenever they wanted and socialize with amigos in the hallways or in other classrooms, and many times the teachers did not even know it. The girl who invited me even left to go to her casa for a few minutes. One of the church girls told me when I asked that normally they can´t just leave whenever they want like that, but it was just because it was (12.) un día especial...but I don´t really believe her. The school is right across the street from our house, and I frequently hear the students yelling and giggling and watch them loitering on the railings at all hours of the day. Once when I was talking to my dad on the roof, he could even hear the students through (13.) el teléfono! Students here frequently complain about all the (14.) tarea they have (it´s certainly more homework than I ever had when I was their (15.) edad), so I wonder if they get so much because they never do anything in class?? (16.) Quien sabe. (And that homework sometimes keeps them from coming to my clase de inglés or to our reuniones de jovenes--urrr!!) Now I´m not necessarily saying it´s bad to give the students such freedoms...I´m just saying it´s different. But don´t worry... José Luis is definitely not one of those maestros who lets the students get away with (17.) cualquiera cosa.

I can now say from (18.) experiencia that doctors´ visits in Mexico are mucho diferente, as well. You do not have to have (19.) una cita; you basically just show up and wait your turn. And most doctores aquí run their own practice, rather than working for un grupo de doctores. So the doctor I saw had just one room that doubled as his (20.) oficina and as his (21.) clinico, and I was able to tell him what I needed and leave within about 15 minutos--no waiting and waiting for him to visit with other patients in the meantime and wondering when, if ever, he was going to come back! No one asked if I had insurance, and the entire appointment cost only 150 pesos (that´s about 15 dollars!)

One of the main (22.) metas of Global Missions is for the preaching students to establish a new (23.) congregación upon graduation. This foto shows Cesar, a former student, who is now preaching for la congregación in Cintalapa (un pueblo about tres horas from here). Originally la iglesia there had about 20 members, but since Cesar took over preaching about a year ago, the number has grown to about 35.

Sometimes I feel spoiled living in this big casa without any hombres. A few days ago I had to take a freezing cold shower (the water felt like ice!) just becuase I didn´t know how to adjust the gas properly. Plus, we have a major problema of water spewing onto the floor downstairs that I know absolutely nothing about, a light bulb that needs to be changed that I will probably have to climb on a ladder for, doors that creak and scare me half to death in the middle of la noche...and just so many (24.) cosas that, though I know (25.) más o menos how to fix them and feel perfectly capable of doing those things, I just haven´t had much (26.) practica doing those things because my (27.) padre y (28.) hermano have always been around to take care of them for me. It´s small experiencias like those that cause me to miss home the most. But I am coming home in three weeks, and I must say that, while I am enjoying mi tiempo aquí, I will be grateful for the reprieve.

The next time I will tell how weddings and funerals are here, so stay tuned...and don´t be afraid to leave me a comment : )

Elizabeth

P.S. I think the rainy season may finally be ending, but some of the people of Tabasco (the next state over) lost everything in recent storms. The churches here have been taking up special contributions to help them, but they are also in need of our prayers.

1. candy

2. photos

3. The Pacific Ocean

4. food

5. Old Testament

6. New Testament

7. music

8. program

9. someone

10. language

11. the situation

12. a special day

13. the telephone

14. homework

15. age

16. Who knows

17. anything

18. experience

19. an appointment

20. office

21. clinic

22. goals

23. congregation

24. things

25. more or less

26. practice

27. father/dad

28. brother

Los Meses Del Año (months of the year):

enero

febrero

marzo

abril

mayo

junio

julio

agosto

septiembre

octubre

noviembre

diciembre

Todavía no entiendo a las mujeres...

2007-10-23T22:11:00.000-05:00

According to one of my TSU professors, anyone living in a new place goes through five stages lasting anywhere from a week to a year: first the ¨honeymoon¨stage, then culture shock, and eventually adaptation (I don´t remember the other two stages). I think I can safely say I´m past the honeymoon stage and moving into culture shock. I am still perfectly happy here, don´t get me wrong, but lately a lot of things have been bothering me that I know SHOULDN´T bother me that much. So I´m going to devote much of this blog to sharing some of those bothers, simply because I know any Americans will at least understand where I´m coming from and I will feel better about these little issues afterwards.

First, I am still appalled by most womens´attitudes here to cook, care for their family hand and foot--and nothing else. While there is certainly nothing wrong with those noble actions, I can´t help but wonder sometimes if there is really anything going through their heads other than what they´re going to prepare for the next meal or when they´re going to sleep. I am reading Gone With the Wind right now, and the women here remind me so much of the women in the Confederate, Civil War south. On Saturday night José Luis and I went to a reunión en la casa de una hermana (they get together at a different person´s house every sabado to have a worship service and eat). When it came time to eat, José Luis handed me two empty plates, told me to just give him whatever I got, and then went to sit down without saying another word. I gave him a funny look, until I realized that ONLY women were around the table fixing plates, no men. At many of the gatherings, many of the women (except for me) also spend the majority of their time pouring drink refills, making the coffee (which takes a lot longer here because they hardly ever have coffee makers), and washing dishes; rarely do they actually get to sit down and eat and enjoy their meal, poor things. (By the way, on this particular night there were only two choices of drinks--tea or coffee, yuck!--and I had no choice but to drink the yucky, unflavored hot tea because there was no water (1. ¡Qué lastima!))

Another custom here is that la gente almost always takes any food that is leftover. Whereas we Americans are begging to give away our leftovers at the end of a potluck or fellowship meal, Mexicans generally take away bowls and plates brimming with whatever food they can get, thinking it rude to refuse. So when someone came around with the extra tamales to give away, José Luis took one...and then put it on my plate. I said ¨Oh that´s okay, I don´t need anymore¨and gave it back to him. He gave it back to me, I gave it back to him. Finally he explained that ¨the women always take the food.¨ So he felt compelled to take a tamale he didn´t need so that he wouldn´t be rude, but he felt too embarrassed to carry it out himself. Ha ha ha!

This sign literally means not to go to the bathroom on the sidewalk:

The next day, Sunday, the preacher´s family shared with our class some of the snacks that didn´t get eaten el sabado. Normally by the time our class ends the other members have already started singing, so we have to hurry up and get downstairs as soon as possible. (There is no break between the class and the worship service here, and they start singing whenever the class ends--sometimes at 10:50, other times at 11:20.) Anytime we have snacks, some of the girls always want to stay and clean everything up first, and I always tell them not to worry about it, I will do everything afterwards, because we need to get downstairs. So I went on down and told them to come down too...but none of them did. I went back upstairs to see what the hold up was, and sure enough, they were still trying to throw away all the leftover popcorn and wash all the plates and dishes. (Oh, and another thing: they evidently can´t stand the thought of eating food right off of a napkin. Anytime I bring snacks I take napkins for them to pass around, but instead of passing the napkins, they run to the kitchen to get plates and serving platters. Tonight we had another little get together and since there were no plates, I started putting a handful of popcorn on a napkin just like I would do at home. One of the girls from my class just looked at me and said, ¨What are you doing? You´re supposed to use a cup!¨ Well, ha ha ha again.) I agree completely that anytime a group of people eat something they should clean up after themselves--but not to the point that they would miss the Lord´s Supper because they couldn´t wait just one to two more hours to do it afterwards.

After church, I started eating some candy and offered some to José Luis. He said, in all seriousness, ¨NO! After the meal!¨Well I felt like chucking one of the candies at his face and told him that he is ¨very traditional.¨ Then his family started to eat some spaghetti and chicken salad that Chantel and I had given them, and they wanted to eat the spaghetti cold and warm up the chicken salad. I told them they could if they wanted, but that we never eat it that way. Nevertheless, by the time we ate the spaghetti it was more or less cold and everyone gulped it up except for me, yet no one touched my yummy chicken salad.

I invited the girls from our Sunday morning class over to the house last Thursday, and none of them wanted to eat any of the food I had fixed either--save the brownies and cornbread. It really bothers me sometimes that Mexicans turn themselves off to other foods so much. I know there are lots of americanos who are picky eaters, but I do think that, as a whole, we are not afraid to try new foods. But they act like they won´t eat anything unless it has hot sauce and tortillas with it--or anything that looks remotely strange or foreign. If I had the same attitude as them, I would have starved myself to death living here a long time ago.

But enough about food! (Isn´t it funny that someting I like so much has been the source of so much of my frustration?) So nine girls came on Thursday, which is a really good turnout for the first time considering that about 15 muchachas come to church regularly. We played some games, laughed a lot, and really enjoyed ourselves. Most of the girls are really interested in getting together more often, so Chantel and I have considered inviting them over every two or three weeks--provided we can serve them food they´ll actually eat.

Well I´ve been so caught up talking about food and the women that I haven´t even begun to talk about my frustrations with my English classes yet--ay! The biggest problem I´m having right now is that many of the students are evidently losing interest in the class and aren´t coming as much. One of the ladies told me she hasn´t been coming because she needs new glasses and can´t see anything right now. I asked her to come anyway and told her she can at least listen and participate a little, but she has yet to return. She brings her daughter and three of her nieces to the class as well, so when she can´t come, they can´t come--and that´s a third of the class! Then when the other students see that a lot of the other students are absent, they, too, start to miss, thinking that it´s not such a big deal. I really wish they thought the class IS a big deal, but since we´re not at a regular ¨school,¨they don´t care anything about grades, and they´re busy with many other activities, they seem to view learning English more as something ¨extra¨than as a necessity. I think the attitude most of them have is that they really want to learn and go to the classes...until something better comes along. I´m really going to encourage them to stick with it until December (not much longer) and also give them a questionnaire to fill out to see what they really think of me and of the class, but the hard part is finding a day when all or most of them show up instead of just a handful. I want so badly to help them, but I feel like before I can really be effective, they first need to learn to help themselves (i.e. by coming to class, studying on their own, participating, finishing all the activities we do together, etc.)

Cultural dances like these are very common in el centro. Performers sometimes stand right in the middle of the sidewalk so that passerbys will have to stop and watch, thus allowing them to earn more money. I´m pretty sure that using the two young girl dancers was also a ploy to get more money. San Cristobal is known to have lots of hippies, as well.

By the way, I really don´t know much about the quality of education here--the same could probably be said of many students in the U.S.--but I´m discovering more and more that kids just don´t know how to think for themselves. I have four students age 12 or under, and anytime we do an activity that does not involve them copying something word for word from the board (which is pretty much constantly) they get a deer-in-the-headlights look and start asking all kinds of questions to the people sitting around them, then take twice as long to start as the other students and still try to copy my own examples word for word. Sometimes I specifically try to make it really easy for them, i.e. by writing a paragraph on the board and leaving blanks only in the parts to describe themselves, but even then they copy every letter I write and don´t write a thing on their own, even after I explain it to them several times. Then sometimes when I write something that they don´t need to copy, they automatically take out their pencils and start writing it down anyway. If I wrote ¨(The person´s name) is stupid,¨ they would probably copy that too, without reading or understanding a word of it. I know it´s not their age because I am accustomed to teaching students that age who can complete these same activities without any problems.

Tonight I went to David and Ani´s house to celebrate their son´s 3rd birthday. I was really looking forward to seeing my first Mexican birthday party but must admit that it was kind of a let down. Lots of people from church were there, but I´m pretty sure I´m the only one who took a gift--and the only one who didn´t take a Bible and hymn book. (How should I know they were going to have a worship service in the middle of the birthday party?) Like every time they meet together, they had three songs, a prayer, a sermon, three more songs, and another prayer. Please don´t get me wrong; I´m not trying to suggest that they should not worship when they celebrate someone´s birthday or that they should change the order of their worship; in fact, I like that they have so much zeal to meet so frequently throughout the week. I just think that at times it would be better for them to have classes, singing, prayers, or something other than a long sermon. But, who am I to judge? Anyway, after the worship service the women began serving food...but there were so many people and everyone was so crowded into the living room that we could not even move around to talk to other people. We ate tamales (like always), and if you´ve never had a tamale, they come with a giant papery material wrapped around them that you first have to unroll to get to the food. So while trying to unwrap the tamale and stick my fork in it on the tiny little desk I was already sharing with one other person, my whole plate fell right onto the floor. Now normally anytime that happens in the states, people laugh and joke, saying things like ¨Way to go!¨or ¨Smooth move, butterfingers!¨ But here, no one laughed and no one joked; they all just looked at me like, ¨I can´t believe she did that!¨ To make matters worse, I accidently caused a piece of cake to fall as well, as I was climbing onto the couch to take a picture of the entire group (I´m more or less the official church photographer now since I have a digital camera--ooohhhhh!) So naturally, I felt very embarrassed. I´ve heard that a tradition in Mexico is for the birthday person to stick his/her entire face in the cake before anyone else eats it, but Davicito cried and refused to do it, so I didn´t get to see that either. Oh well, the next time I guess.

I also became quite irate with a taxista yesterday. I told him as soon as I got in the car that I was going to ¨Mr. Taco, San Diego¨and he said ¨Está bien.¨ Then when we came to the first part of San Diego, he started asking me where it was. Well I really didn´t know how to tell him from where we were because he took a different route than I was used to. So I told him I really didn´t know for sure because I haven´t lived here for very long, but that I would let him know when I started to recognize it. Well he kept asking me ¨¿Donde está? ¿Donde está?¨anyway. I named some monuments it was close to, but he was supposedly not familiar with any of them either (and I don´t know how any taxista, new or experienced, could not be). Then about a minute later he said, ¨You can just get out here and walk.¨ I told him no way, becuase it was still pretty far away, and the whole reason I went in a taxi was to get there faster. Well I finally started to recognize the area and was able to lead him to Mr. Taco. I gave him 20 pesos like normal and started to get out, when he told me he was charging 25, ¨because he had to drive around a lot.¨ I told him that if he didn´t know where it was, he should have told me that when I first got in the car so that I could find a different taxista. Besides, he only went one block out of the way, at the most. So I refused to pay the extra 5 pesos and left in a huff. I hate it when people try to take advantage of Americans like that!

I haven´t been so busy that I haven´t been able to enjoy myself some, as well. This is a picture of José Luis and I in a little town called Chiapa Chorizo. We went to take a boat ride in a canyon but got there too late...so we decided to go to this little town instead, and a man offered to take us on a short boat ride, just the two of us...and then took our picture for us.

I´m going to forego the Spanish this time because it´s late and I need to get up early...but I promise to include more words the next time!

(2.)¡Que Dios les bendiga!

Elizabeth

Title: I still don´t understand the women...

1. What a shame

2. May God bless you all

Algunas Buenas Noticias

2007-10-16T22:06:00.000-05:00

2 of the main cathedrals in San Cristobal

Well it´s raining (1a.) gatos and (2a.) perros here in San Cristobal! The rain helps me sleep really well algunas noches, but I am really missing Tennessee sunshine--and a dryer. It seems that anytime I hang (1.) la ropa on el techo to dry, that´s an automatic signal for the rain to come blasting down with a vengeance. I´m going to keep this blog short since it seems that not many people are reading it now anyway. (Has everyone really already forgotten about me??)

Last week Chantel and I went to Ococingo to visit with Antonio (the director of the Sat. School there) and set up a bank account. Now Global Missions will be able to deposit dinero directly into that account instead of us having to travel to Ococingo each month to personally give it to Antonio. Each of the escuelas de los sabados continues to average about 15 estudiantes cada semana, including the newest one in Cacahoatan (close to the Guatemala border). Here is a picture of some of the students from the Ococingo school (on the left are the two girls who got baptized recently. They don´t speak any Spanish):

The members of the church in Ococingo are in the process of constructing a new (3a.) edificio. As you can probably see in the pictures, their current facility (where they also have the school), is quite small, with only two rooms, all dirt floors, and very little light.

In San Cristobal, members gave extra to pay for an addition, as well. The men are hoping to start construction this week to create more class space in the back of the building and finish by the end of the year. But when they finish really depends on how much help they have each week, since they are having to do everything entirely on their own. Currently there is only one classroom (for los niños), and for our Sunday morning clases de muchachas y muchachos, I teach in the hallway, while José Luis teaches the guys in the tiny kitchen. So while I´m teaching, our class faces multiple interruptions, from the booming guys´voices just a few feet away, the screaming babies, the latecomers who must walk right past us, the parents who bring their kids to class, and anyone who has to go to the (2.) baño (which is also in the kitchen). The classes are going really well and we have mostly adjusted to the surroundings, but nonetheless, we are very excited about the extra (3.) espacio.

On Thursday mornings a group of us has still been meeting to go door-knocking , as well. David told me he wants to do a lot of evangelizing so that the church can grow, and thus, the school can grow. Last week one of the ladies and I studied with a girl about 17 years old who lives by herself all week and goes to a different area to be with her family on the weekends. She was very interested in (4.) todo we shared with her. Unfortunately, since she goes to school at night and isn´t here on the weekends, she will not be able to come to church or the reuniones de jovenes.

Left: It´s not unusual to see dogs perched on the roof here (sometimes they stay up there all day). So you don´t have to worry about them chasing after you so much while you´re running or walking, but you do still have to listen to them bark ferociously at intruders.

Right: This is the road we drove on to visit the lady in Guatemala(which I wrote about in an earlier blog). She lives on top of a mountain, and this part of the road was still at the beginning of the drive--before it really got dangerous and scary.

By the way, we had another reunion de jovenes this past Saturday, and about twice as many came this time. Some of the girls preferred walking around and talking about boys than playing (5.) basquetbol o (6.) futbol, but at least they came : ) Then afterwards we went to surprise-visit one of the girls in our group who recently had (7.) cirugia and has not been able to come back to church yet. I don´t know if José Luis and I have anything to do with it or not, but I do feel like the group is growing and getting stronger. (8.) ¡Eso me hace muy feliz! More good news for the church here in San Cristobal is that el domingo some of our miembros witnessed tres (9.) bautismos at a nearby prison. Two of the men (one of them José Luis´(10.) padre) preach at the prison cada domingo en la manaña.

Ani (the preacher´s (11.) esposa) asked me last week if I would be able to start teaching the clase de niños on Wednesday nights. I agreed, so I am teaching every day now but Friday. But I love teaching and don´t feel too stressed out yet. Plus, each of my classes offers something unique. I know that if I were a first-year (12.) maestra in the U.S. right now, I would probably be working a lot more and sleeping a lot less. So other than a few students who really act like they´re only in mi clase because they have to be, my ¨fist year¨has really been quite satisfactory so far. The clase de niños might be a challenge, simply because there are so many niños of so many different (13.) edades (one two year-old, one three year-old, one four-year-old, etc., all the way up to age ten). Plus, like in El Salvador, there´s really no set tiempo for teaching; the class begins when the preacher starts the sermon and ends when most of the song service is over. So depending on how long the sermon is, the class could last anywhere from una hora a dos horas. But so far I have not had any major problemas. My English class has been more frustrating lately, but since I promised to keep this blog (14.) corto, I will wait and tell more about that (15.) la proxima vez...stay tuned...

Thanks so much for taking the time to read about the works taking place here. Please let me know if there´s anything else you would like to know that I have not mentioned or anything I can do to make the blog better.

Elizabeth

Title: Some Good News

1a. cats

2a. dogs

1. clothes

2. bathroom

3a. building

3. space

4. all/everything

5. basketball

6. soccer

7. surgery

8. ¨That makes me very happy!¨

9. baptisms

10. dad/father

11. wife

12. teacher

13. ages

14. short

15. the next time

Las partes del cuerpo (the parts of the body):

cabeza (head)

orejas (ears)

ojos (eyes)

nariz (nose)

boca (mouth)

cuello (neck)

hombros (shoulders)

codos (elbows)

brazos (arms)

manos (hands)

estómago (stomach)

cadena (hip)

piernas (legs)

rodillas (knees)

pies (feet)

¡Los estudiantes están volviendome loca! (Not really!)

2007-10-02T21:28:00.000-05:00

Well I have officially exceeded my previous 6 week mark of how long I have been in a foreign country at one time. But mis clases are still going well, I have a wonderful novio, and I have a comfortable place to sleep and eat every day. I cannot complain. It seems that some of you have been having trouble leaving comments? Well I cannot do much to help, only walk you through the steps. Scroll down to the very end of that particular blog (past all the pictures and Spanish words). Click on the link that says ¨comments.¨ If other people have left comments already, you will see those on the left. There should be a box on the right that says ¨make a comment.¨ Just type in whatever you want to say, choose a user name (or post anonymously), and then publish the comment. If that still doesn´t work, then I really don´t know what to tell you. But just remember if you can´t figure out how to add a comment, you can always send an e-mail instead. Some people have also asked how to send money to me. The easiest thing would be to send it directly to Global Missions. I´m planning to add the address and website of Global Missions to my blog page for everyone´s convenience. Mail to Mexico is not very reliable (it might take 2 meses o más), and even if it did get to me, I do not have a bank account here.

My clase de inglés continues to grow (1.) cada día. I think it´s really (2.) irónico that I have had more people from la comunidad ask for (3.) información this past semana than in the whole three weeks when we actually had the fliers posted. And the fliers clearly said that the class starts on Sept. 17, so who knows how they even managed to find out about the classes or what they were thinking. Sometimes Mexicans just don´t make any sense. Then when I tell them that the other students already know a lot more and that it will be difficult for them in the beginning, they just look at me like, ¨So?¨

One of the biggest challenges I´ve had with the classes so far is that many Mexicans really do not take education very seriously--and especially not my class that meets in a private school for only three days a week and is practically free. They have continued coming after two weeks, so that in itself is enough to make me happy, but sometimes they don´t complete assignments when I ask them to (I guess they think I´m not going to bother checking anything even though I tell them I will), and they don´t study outside of class (even though that´s their only homework). I actually overheard one of my middle school students say that I am strict. (Ha! Can you imagine? I´d probably never hear that in the U.S.!) I try to tell myself that they are only hurting themselves by not completing the assignments or coming to class on time or studying on their own...but at the same time, I feel like foreign language teachers have so much pressure on them to perform well simply because of all the ignorant people en el mundo who think you really can speak una lengua after only three months of isolated classroom instruction. What a joke! I´ve been speaking español only when it´s absolutely (4.) necesario in order to help them get to that point, but some of them seem to tune me out as soon as I start speaking English and then expect me to translate everything for them afterwards.

I have also started teaching a class on Saturday mornings for the students who come here for Saturday school. None of those students speak Spanish as a first language; in fact, some of them don´t know any Spanish at all. And some of them never learned to read or write, a misfortune they too often use as an excuse for not even trying. So yes, the classes are frustrating at times. But even though I´ve been complaining a lot, the positives far outweigh the negatives and my students are really quite polite and well-disciplined.

¨Market day¨ at the Guatemala border (hence the super crowded streets). See the cool mountains in the background? El día del mercado a la frontera de Guatemala (la razón por mucha gente en las calles).

One of the cultural differences that has really made itself evident in each of my clases is that the people here, in general, are much more (5.) tímido--especially the women. Yes, I can be timid as well...but these (6.) chicas are much worse! That (7.) diferencia is not only manifested throughout the (8.) país, but within different ciudades, as well. (9.) Por ejemplo, I was originally having a hard time getting the girls in my Sunday morning class to speak up anytime I asked them something. I thought at first it might have been my poor pronunciation or the type of (10.) preguntas I asked that kept them from answering, but last week there were three girls in the class visiting from Tuxtla Gutierrez (that´s the closest big city, remember) who easily answered everything I asked, no hesitation. The students who come for classes on Saturdays live in a (11.) pueblo that, even though it is only 40 minutes away, is worlds (12.) diferente from San Cristobal. I have yet to visit that town, but from what I hear many of the citizens never went to school, they spend most of their days selling goods in the mercado, and just about everyone is indiginous (hence the reason español is not their primera lengua.) When I asked them to find someone they don´t know very well and introduce that person to the class, no one moved. Even after I made the pairs myself and practically led them by the arm to their partners, some of them still blushed and hid their faces behind their shawls, refusing to even make eye contact with the other person. Then I discovered that most of them did not even know each other´s names--and these are people who go to church together and ride 30 miles together cramped in the back of a pickup truck every week! So even though each of these areas are fairly close, I have concluded that the bigger the city, the more confident la gente.

For my class on Sunday mornings, we are talking each week about a different purpose we use our tongues for--(13.) bueno o (14.) malo. In addition to having a hard time getting las chicas to answer my questions or make comments, I have an especially hard time getting them to pray. I have told them that they need (15.) practicar praying out loud now while they have la oportunidad, that the prayer can be very simple, just a few words, that there is no reason to be afraid and that a different girl is going to pray every week...but nonethless, every time the end of class comes and I ask them those dreaded words of ¨who´s going to lead the prayer,¨ no one says a word. Instead, they immediately divert their eyes to the table, begin writing, or desperately look at someone else who will boldly take on the task and free them of the tension.

But little by little, I feel like we are making progress. Each week they speak up more, and a different girl talks who hasn´t said anything yet. They have also started to sit together in church and talk to each other more outside of class--one of the main goals all along. We did have our first young people´s outing last week since the Sun. morning classes took the place of our regular Saturday devotionals, and Jose Luis and I were a little disappointed that only 5 showed up. But since then more and more of the jovenes have asked when we´re going to get together again. So we can not let one día deter us from continuing to encourage them and spend time with them. Besides, I got to play soccer and basketball for about two hours straight, and I had a blast! I really think soccer is my new (16.) deporte favorito!

Well since I always try to include a good cultural story in every blog, some of you might enjoy hearing about the garbage collection here. That´s right--garbage. In our (17.) barrio the garbage truck comes around every martes y viernes. But most people here do not have good ole trash cans they can leave by the end of their yards on garbage day (in fact, most people here don´t have yards, either). So someone comes around ringing a cow bell when the garbage truck is a few miles away. Then, after hearing the bell (if they´re lucky enough to hear it--I still have a hard time telling the difference between the gas trucks and the cow bell!) (18.) todos los vecinos have about 15 (19.) minutos to gather up all the (20.) basura from the whole casa and take it across the street. Then they can´t just leave it there; they have to stand there until the truck comes by and throw the garbage in the truck themselves. Sometimes the truck comes within a few minutes, and sometimes it feels more like una hora. But if you aren´t standing on the corner exactly when the truck comes, you will miss your chance and have garbage smelling up your whole house until the following martes o viernes. Garbage day is quite the family affair. (21.)Niños of all ages (who should be in school at that time!) pour out of every house dragging bags, boxes, and buckets that are too heavy for them to carry and that are too full for their small size, with (22.) madres in aprons and dresses trailing close behind--sometimes down steep, rocky hills a half-mile long or more. Here is a picture of some of the ladies and kids from our neighborhood waiting for the garbage truck to come by:

Common Expressions:

¿Donde está el baño? (Where is the bathroom?)

Tengo hambre. (I am hungry.)

Tengo sed. (I am thirsty.)

Estoy cansado(a). (I am tired.)

¿Qué pasa? (What´s up/What´s going on?)

¿Qué tal? (What´s up/What´s going on?)

Buenos días. (Good morning.)

Buenas tardes. (Good afternoon.)

Buenas noches. (Good evening/good night.)

Lo siento. (I´m sorry.)

Con permiso. (Excuse me--when you´re wanting to pass by someone.)

¿Como te llamas? (What is your name?)

Me llamo (name). (My name is...)

¿Cuantos años tienes? (How old are you?)

Tengo (x) años. (I am (x) years old.)

Mucho gusto. (Nice to meet you.)

Igualmente. (Likewise.)

Que Dios le bendiga. (May God bless you.)

¡Salud! (Bless you--when someone sneezes.)

Sari (from church), Chantel and I at the Guatemala border--I told you I crossed the border on foot! Sari (de la iglesia), Chantel y yo a la frontera de Guatemala

Top 12 things I miss the most after living here 2 months now:

1. Hot water
2. Milk shakes
3. David and Andrew´s sermons
4. Biscuits and gravy (and pretty much all Southern food)
5. Songs in English
6. Heat
7. Bagles
8. Driving (but not Nashville traffic!)
9. Hollywood Video
10. Big, hearty breakfasts (especially from Cracker Barrel!)
11. Our 20 Something´s Class
12. Talking to David Burka and Grif about running

Spanish words:
1. each/every
2. ironic
3. information
4. necessary
5. timid/shy
6. girls
7. difference
8. country
9. For example
10. questions
11. town/village
12. different
13. good
14. bad
15. to practice
16. sport
17. neighborhood/section of the city
18. all the neighbors
19. minutes
20. trash/garbage
21. kids/children
22. moms/mothers

And of course, my family and friends. I didn´t put that because it´s a given. But don´t worry, I´m getting along just fine with everyone here.

¡Mi Primera Clase!

2007-09-19T15:09:00.000-05:00

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

2007-09-06T17:03:00.000-05:00

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!