Una Carrera y Una Feria

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Random Facts:

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

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

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

Title: ¨Inside the Prison¨

1. downstairs

2. accustomed/used to

3. expensive

4. uniform

5. clothes

6. the movies

7. before

8. tradition

9. the birthdays

10. someone

11. gifts/presents

12. cake

13. May you go well

14. strange/weird

15. goalie

El Seminario

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

1. job

2. projects

3. to visit

4. meters

5. the authority

6. the Bible

7. mother-in-law

8. husband

9. literature

10. Thank God/Praise God

11. interested

12. schedule

13. attendance

14. games

15. tomorrow

16. basic

17. method

18. businesses

19. the neighborhoods

20. activities

21. telephone

22. visitors

23. the help

24. wife

25. the world

26. leaders

27. topics

28. ladies

29. words

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

Ups and Downs

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

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

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!!!

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!!