COUNTDOWN: T-minus 6 days

I'm rocking in a comfy, pink recliner sitting in a Christmas-decorated apartment in a retirement community in southern San Diego--I'm 18 years old.
We're (Tio, Tia, and I) staying with Tio's adorable mother, Elaine (by the way, that's one of my favorite names of which I hope to name a daughter one day), is letting us stay in her apartment with her while Uncle Kent recuperates.
He was in the hospital (and Tia with him) for several bleeding divertics and stomach bleeding.
I was alone for a week and got pretty depressed. I watched kids and stayed in the house--I guess I've just been homesick and on top of that they were gone, so I felt even more lonely. Don't know why since I've made so many friends their. I stuck with Juan and Marbella a little bit, though. They took me last weekend with them to a Christmas parade in downtown Tecate--it was a parade of people dancing on semi-trucks and VW Beetles decorated in lights--super cute!

**Fun Fact: Mexico bought the rights to the design of the original VW Bug and so the original--what we would call the Old Slug Bug--is still produced in Mexico.**

At the parade we saw one of the students from the BI, Silvano, selling his cotton candy on a pole (their were other men selling, too); Silvano has made several cotton candy machines. He's a handy-man, jack-of-all-trades type. He is currently in the process of constructing an outdoor oven for the BI. Anyway, he gave us a free bag of cotton candy at the parade. :)

But yeah, the rest of the week was lonely and lame--my own fault. I could've socialized. Instead I slept through Devotionals everyday, and only went to breakfast for the days they served Chilaquiles. I've lost all motivation it seems. Hopefully going back home for a few weeks will revitalize my motivation and energy.

I CAN'T wait to hug and kiss my mom, and converse with my Pa, and watch movies with my siblings, and spend loads of time with my best friends.

Vegetable juice and appreciation

A solid week of being sick and recuperating. As of now I’ve thrown up 3 times since I’ve been you—before that it had been 6+ years since I’d thrown up… crazy. So, as I was puking and sleeping through Wednesday… wait, wait, wait! Let’s back up to pre-barfing on Wednesday morning:

She opens her eyes to the light already on; sits up quick to find Cheli freshly showered across the room and Jokabed on the bottom bunk, just starting to wake up. A quick glance at her phone and she instantly realizes she is 6 minutes late for the Fiesta de Frijol (the consequence for having deliberately slept through devotions and breakfast on Monday)—if she’s late to the Fiesta she’ll be required to attend the next one it two weeks; and what sane human being wants to clean beans at 4 in the AM. So forget brushing the teeth—or even taking out the retainers, for that matter—or brushing the hair; she jumped out of bed, pushed on her shoes and glided out the door, down the hall, down the ramp, along the sidewalk, down the stairs and through the door to find that everyone else had just arrived as well and were still waiting for the bags of rock-infested beans to be brought in to clean. Alright so she’s a pro-bean cleaner even after the first and only Fiesta she had attended previously—well, somehow that pro title slipped away as she sorted through the beans on a pebble scavenger to find that her eyes would not latch to the open position, and every time she would inhale as a lion would roar, she became more sleepy… more… and more… slee… *yawn*… pyyy. ZzzzzzzzzZzzzzzzzz…. Just kidding! She didn’t crash at the bean table, but she did, however, start to feel an all too familiar feeling of nausea. Then the stomach began to communicate its feelings. “Alright, so I’m definitely, probably, absolutely, more-than-likely going to hurl at some point this morning, but who knows when that might happen; I’ll just stick out the bean cleaning and go lay down during breakfast (not marked to eat, anyway). The stomach continued to communicate its feelings, and its feeling just grew stronger, but she abided. Just in case, though, she asked her Uncle for a trashcan; he gave her permission to go lie down in the house, but she’s a stubborn gal. She sat down with her trashcan and continued cleaning beans. The stomach wasn’t having any of this “stubborn” business—so finally it demanded she go to the house to rest. She submitted to its desire. As she walked the path to the house, she new that she would be relieving the stomach of its unwanted freight quite soon. The moment she hit the pillow, she was out, but the very next moment, it seemed, she was running to the bathroom to puke. This exact sequence continued until about 11 AM; then she just slept until 2 PM due to her fatigue. Her stomach was still a little upset about life, and now she was, too.

It’s probably my favorite way of writing—to take something that occurs to everyday and make it super dramatic and in third person, if it has to do with me.
Anyway, thank you for your patience, now back to the blog. (Haha, it was like a commercial or something)

While I was doing my routine of throwing-up and sleeping all morning, Aunt Lila considerately took the “Mom” role, and researched how to solve this mysterious puking issue I’d been having. Turns out it quite possibly is tied to my current disorder of Ulcerative Colitis. She researched for hours and when I finally woke up after 2, we discussed the juice fast that I’d be taking for the next few days. And so it began: nothing but the juice.

Thursday was Thanksgiving. The BI had a big party of games (chess, janga, dominoes, ping-pong, air hockey) leading up to the traditional Thanksgiving dinner that would feed 60+ people. In the morning I left a little early to head to San Diego to pick up my cousin Kimberly and bring her back to the BI to celebrate with us. Aunt Lila allowed me to eat a little of the Thanksgiving dinner (however I don’t think I understood the concept of “a little bit” and overdid it), but my stomach made sure I had made a mistake later that evening.
After the big turkey dinner, Uncle Kent encouraged an opportunity for open mic where people could come up and say what they were thankful to God for. Almost everyone that came up said something about the Bible Institute being like a family. My hand became the mic stand, so it was inevitable that I would need to say something, so from the start I started brainstorming for something I was thankful for that wasn’t already said, that revealed that I was human, and that I could actually say in Spanish. I came up with this: God having faith in me even when I don’t have faith in Him. SO… when the time came that all the people in the room chanted my name to share my gratitude, I stuttered, “Yo no habla… hablo… mucho Español, pero yo quiero dar gracias a dios porque El tiene fe en yo cuando yo no tengo fe in El.”
Whew! My first time speaking to an audience in Spani-wish; it went alright. And what cracks me up is that as I looked around the room while other people were sharing their gratitude, not many were paying attention—looking at their shoe laces, feeding their baby, whispering to their neighbor, eating seconds—but as soon as the gringa starts talking in her broken Spanish, all eyes are on her with big white grins below them.
For Thursday night service, Uncle Kent showed Facing the Giants instead of giving a sermon, and ice cream and home-made apple cobbler followed. Aunt Lila, Kim, and I left ¼ way through the movie to take Kim home, so we missed the desert (probably a good thing, in my case).

Friday, I watched kids in the morning and then we took Juan, Marbella, and their kids with us to Black Friday shopping for the afternoon (they have passports and cross every day).
On the way out, we stopped at the Post Office, where I picked up my huge box of miscellaneous food items (top ramen, one can of peas, a zuchinni) from my mom. We also stopped by the home of Linda Osborne; Juan and Marbella were house-sitting for her and her husband. Linda is a former member of Tecate Mission International. Her home and property were so lovely—I would have never guessed there’d be such a nice place in such an armpit like Tecate, CA.

In San Diego, went to Fry’s (I always think of Brandon when I go there—there was even a little boy there playing DDR Robot who looked just like a younger Brandon!), Walmart, and the mall and then we did some grocery shopping to finish. I was tired and kind of grumpy the whole time because all I’d consumed that day was vegetable juice—I had a craving for normal food and protein! Aunt Lila even kindly bought me Odwalla carrot juice in Henry’s grocery store, but I refused to drink it that night. What a little turd! :P

Saturday there was an APEN conference at a church here in Tecate. I didn’t go. I slept in until 9 or something and pretty much played the perfect bum the whole day. I showered—I think that was my biggest accomplishment. It was nice to let my body and mind rest, though.

Sunday = church. After church was Keila’s birthday party at her dad’s church that he pastors. I knew ahead of time that they would be serving menudo (an acclaimed cow stomach soup), so I brought my own vegetable soup in a thermos. When we got there, we sat at one of the nicely decorated tables and were very soon after served menudo, so I whipped out my thermos and started pouring it into the Styrofoam bowl, but… the soup wouldn’t come out. The chunks of veggies were too big and were crowding the opening. I tried using a spoon, shaking it, using my finger (yuck), and finally a beat the bottom as I tilted it upside down. I was making quite the scene apparently, because all eyes were on me. Awkwardooo! Finally about half of it trickled out—the other half… was a lost cause.
I wanted cake. SO bad. SO SOOO SOOOO bad. I snuck one bite, but it wasn’t enough, so I snuck another, and I was going to sneak a whole piece, but I decided that self-control shows stronger character. What a hard thing it was for me to do; but what a gal! :)
Uncle Kent slept in the car for most of the party because he was feeling sick and fatigued. He suspected he was getting a cold, but we would later find out it was something else.

Monday Aunt Lila gave me the day off from nursery so that I—and Uncle Kent ended up going with to trade cars with Kim so he could take her car to a mechanic here in Mexico—could do some errands in town. Uncle Kent and I had minor trouble with their car going there, but when we traded for Kim’s car we had way more trouble. “There are so many lights on in this car, it’s like a Christmas tree!” he laughed. Out of gas, out of transmission fluid, leaking radiator, low oil… it went on. We made it back, at least. :) Thank the Lord.
Later that evening, Efren came and got me from the house to go practice the Hillsong songs, I was supposed to have been practicing, with Rigo. Luckily, those four years in choir of learning songs as we sand them paid off—I was able to sing along with Efren okay, but every day since then I’ve been listening to those four worship songs every time I have my laptop out (even right now I’m listening to them).

Tuesday we had the woman’s craft session in the morning. Oh, Aunt Lila had briefly taught me how to crochet on Saturday, but I had forgotten how to start. She showed me again really quick at the woman’s craft session that we had in the student kitchen, and I had it down. I’ve gotten so much faster, now! I’m making a navy blue bufanda (scarf), and have become half-addicted to crocheting. Cheli makes fun of me, “You’re like a little grandma always crocheting!” Haha
Tuesday afternoon Grete and Nohemí never showed up because Aunt Lila had to kick their parents out of the class since they missed and were late for too many classes. I felt kinda bad. The week before, their mom had given me a bracelet (as a thank you).
Uncle Kent had rested in the house all day because he had felt sick and exhausted still.
Aunt Lila and I took Ester (and Hermana Rosanna accompanied her) to the doctor at about 7. It’s so interesting! Here in Tecate, and probably in other parts of Mexico, too, people can go to a doctor at any time of the day and get a consultation for 30 pesos—which is less than 3 dollars—and they can get a doctor’s note or prescription slip for another 30 pesos. And don’t worry, the pharmacy is right next door and is open 24 hours a day, too! So insane!

The next morning I woke up at 4:30 to my phone ringing. It was Aunt Lila, so I answered it, still half-asleep. Apparently Uncle Kent was having internal bleeding that manifested itself in the night, so they left at 3 in the AM for the hospital in San Diego. She asked me to make sure the girls who were supposed to make breakfast that morning, got into the kitchen. I had to wake up poor Ester—she was supposed to have the day off to rest—but she was grateful that I everything for her so she didn’t have to leave her apartment.
Well, I was actually up before 5:30! This is good. I still managed to be 20 minutes late for Devotionals, and since Daniela was giving it that day, it was really short, so I arrived just before the last prayer request was taken. I assumed correctly that someone already asked for prayer for Uncle Kent (I had already told three people, so I figured word had probably gotten around), so I didn’t say anything to avoid repetition.
Made my vegetable juice, like I’ve been every morning, watched the kids, and spent the afternoon having alone-time in my Aunt and Uncle’s. I spent about 3 hours on Facebook while I was uploading pictures onto the BI’s blog—the internet was SO slow. I really to lay off the Fbook, though. I deleted my Facebook account for two days a few weeks ago, but had to get a phone number off of it, so since I was reactivating it anyway, I thought I might as well keep it. What a dummy.
It was going on 8 and I decided I wanted to sleep at my Aunt and Uncles, so I went up to get my stuff and let Cheli or Joka know. Cheli was the only one up there out of the two, and we ended up chatting and being silly for a while. Let’s see, we each sang to eachother out country’s national anthem, I explained to her the concept of “the middle name” (they are very uncommon in Mexico), we threw a yellow ball at one another, and we talked about the characteristics of America’s diversity. Speaking of diversity, what a diverse conversation that was! Haha

Thursday, I again didn’t go to Devotionals. I woke up really late this time. I hopped in the shower at 7:27 and had to be up in our apartment to watch kids by 7:55. Yeah, this is the girl who takes exactly a whole one hour every day to get ready—no matter what the order is that she does her getting-ready, it takes the same amount of time: one hour. Well, I did what I could, made it up in time with wet hair and morning breath, but the nice thing about watching just one baby is you can finish getting ready as long as you keep it occupied and out of trouble. ;) What a goof!
At 2 PM, I cooked a big batch of my vegetable soup and crocheted while I waited. Then I burned APEN CD’s for my aunt up in her office. I was going to go to the ECEN class (even though my aunt and uncle wouldn’t be there), but I was planning on talking to my mom on the phone after 7 (my mom and I have contrasting schedules, it seems), and I didn’t want to go to the service (in case Karla was there, although she hasn’t been there on Sundays, so I hope it’s not my fault because I’ve been avoiding her), so I cleaned the house. It looks nice. But I never got to talk to my mommy… :( she was sick. Hopefully tonight, though. Anyway, after I cleaned the house I went and hung out with Keila and we checked her email on my computer. Her mom and aunt did the same (because I have internet). I had them laughing a lot—half because I have a good sense of humor and half because I don’t understand enough Spanish. Haha Keila and I did the Mana Mana skit from The Muppets, and her mom recorded it, also we were talking about boys. I told Marbella about how Jehu is crushing on me, then she asked if I liked a guy named Sirvando or Silbano (one of the two) because both of those guys are students here, but one is older and married. So because I don’t know the difference (which name is for which guy) when she asked me if I had a crush on whoever she said, I mixed them up and thought she was asking me if I had a crush on Mari-Chuy’s husband. They were rolling!

Today my kids for first block didn’t show up because Uncle Kent’s class was canceled since he is still at the hospital (oh, after two colonoscopy’s and one scope down the mouth, they found that he has a few divertics in his colon—we both have colon issues together, what a bond!). Beti, Rigo’s wife, came up to my room and asked if I could help Rigo find the keys of a few songs on the internet for him; so I did that. It was nice talking with Rigo and getting to know him a little better. I’ve mostly every interacted with him when I’ve invited myself into his house to pray over him. :)
The babies, Abril and Daniela have been crabby lately. I’m wondering if it’s from the weather or what. Daniela’s skin is really drying out from the cold (I always put lotion on her face when she comes in to me—she hates it! I asked her mom if she has lotion to put on her and she said, “Yeah, but I can only put it on her when she’s asleep because she doesn’t like it.” Of course she’s not going to like it, but you still need to keep her skin moisturized at all times otherwise it’s gonna start bleeding. As of now your daughter looks like a cute chipmunk with lizard skin.). Abril is throwing two-year-old kind of tantrums, and she’s not even one yet. I usually ignore it and she’ll stop once she realizes that I won’t pay any attention to her if she’s crying. I think her mom’s babying her, though. And I know, she is a baby, but I believe unnecessary tantrums are inappropriate for all ages. Today she was just screaming for no obvious reason, so I just sat in a chair and crocheted. She stopped after two minutes and calmed herself down and then I picked her up and she was completely fine. It’s ironic how you can learn so much from other peoples’ mistakes. :)
Her mom came and got her early, so I went over to the office to help Ester by burning more APEN CD’s; after lunch, we labeled them together. She’s feeling a lot of stress without my Aunt and Uncle here; she had about 15 people interrupt her eating lunch to have her mark them off on the dinner attendance sheet. You could see her getting super annoyed. I felt bad. Once we went up to the office to label the CD’s, she gained some joy as Alex was telling me the story of how she drove for her second or third time today and almost hit a cop.

Well, I’ve been blogging since. Actually, I’ve been compiling this blog post, piece by piece, this whole week. I’ve been putting it off, and putting it off, and running out of time, and running out of time this every day. But now it’s almost done. And I feel dandy.

Two last things:

1.) I/or Aunt Lila have been making vegetable juice every morning; I’ve been drinking it and it’s giving me so much energy throughout the day and my body feels stronger and more tolerant. I recommend it! Better than coffee (I mean, for you)! We juice: cabbage (purple and green), carrots, broccoli, cauliflower, celery, and apple.

2.) The keyboardist from Keila’s church asked her for my number. He’s only seen me twice. I thought that was kind of awkward for two reasons. a) He’s never said a word to me, so he obviously only wants my number based on my physical attributes b) If you interested in a girl, why wouldn’t you ask her for her number? Why the 11-year-old friend of hers’? Oye.

And a third:

3.) I love fresh oranges off the tree! I’ve already eaten two today! SO good!

Catching -up on a few days...

Saturday it rained. Saturday the Americans came. Saturday being with Americans was kind of awkward.
It was a group called the “Border Ministry” from a church in San Diego; Mark, who is head of the group, has been volunteering here at the BI with miscellaneous work jobs for 5+ years. I know he developed the garden, so I’m guessing he designed the beautiful landscape of the property, as well.
Anyway, the Border Ministry cleaned the walls of the kitchen and repainted it. They were dripping it all over the floor and not really being concerned about it until Uncle Kent pointed it out, but I’m not bashing on them. Uncle Kent and Aunt Lila have shared with me, and now I’m seeing it first hand, how Americans (even I before this trip) think that we don’t have to try to hard when we are trying to “bless” other people in Mexico. It’s not a big deal if the hand-me-down clothes we give them are stained and have holes; they don’t care. It’s not a big deal if their walls are crooked in the house we built them; they won’t mind. I live with them; they care and mind. I will say this: I’ve seen a pattern within their own world that if they do something, they’ll tend to half-do it because presentation isn’t important to them. But it seems that if someone else is giving them something, or building them something, they appreciate thoughtfulness and consideration.
A “do unto others as you would have them do unto you” kind of idea.

Continuing…

After the Border Ministry crew left, we were off to do our typical Sunday errands (but instead on a Saturday)in San Diego, and this time Marbella, Keila’s mom, tagged along. It was so awesome having someone from the BI go with us—even though she’d been to the states before, it felt like we were introducing her to our other world. I enjoyed sharing in that with her. It was odd when we’d be in Office Depot or The Christian Book Store and we’d be talking in Spanish and people would just stare awkwardly. If only they knew how cool it is to share in the Mexican culture! We went to Smart & Final and Walmart, too, but half the people at both stores spoke another language anyway, so it wasn’t unordinary. The Walmart in San Diego that we went to would be the PERFECT Walmart for “PeopleofWalmart.com” pictures. Haha I’d always wondered how people were able to get such outrageous people in their pics; well, now I first-hand witnessed how they do it—it would just be tough in the Placer County Walmarts.

Sunday Aunt Lila and I went the mission early, as typical, to pick up bread, beans, rice, etc. We also were sorting through the clothes set aside for the BI. Aunt Lila has been saying that I’m gonna need a coat for this winter. Well, I picked up two that I like! One is a genuine army jacket—complete with the extra coat liner—and I couldn’t pass-up such a rare opportunity as the chance to own a jacket like that. And it’s as if it was made for me; the measurements seem perfect. The coat I thought I liked, but now I’m thinking I’ll either need to acclimate to the odd burnt-orange color or dye it. It’s pretty, just an obnoxious color. I was excited to be blessed with those coats.
We got back from the mission a little late, and hadn’t showered, so we were late to church (which is normal for Aunt Lila and I); however, this time we ended up totally skipping Bible study (all my things were up in my apartment where they were holding Children’s Church) AND we were even late for service. Over two hours late—that’s pretty sad, Miss Lynda. I can’t wait until I grow-up and am finally on time, if not early, for all my appointments. HAHA! Yeah right!

It was moist or sprinkley all day, when it comes to the weather. We used umbrellas. :)

Later in the evening, Keila’s whole family came over for a dry-run, Thanksgiving dinner. I totally felt for them not liking everything; before I would’ve expected all people to enjoy American food, but now I understand that it’s what you were raised with. That Thanksgiving meal was outrageous for those kids, and their mom had them try a little of everything. I don’t blame them for not liking it—it took me 18 years to actually enjoy all the dishes offered at Thanksgiving. I even tried the Turkey—I wasn’t going to, but then I convinced myself to go for I it, then I felt guilty, and then the Holy Spirit whispered, “Lynda, you’re turning your vegetarian habits into a cult; I said you could eat this Turkey, so enjoy!” And I did.
Uncle Kent also made APPLE COBLER WITH NO SUGAR—so good—for desert with a side of Oaxaca Hot Chocolate. :d Gooood stuff.

Monday I woke up late. Bitter about life. I deliberately skipped both Devotionals and Breakfast after realizing I was late already (and now I have to pay the consequence by going to Fiesta de Frijol and cleaning beans at 4 in the AM tomorrow). Well, this bitter girl became a content girl after Efren came in and installed my IKEA shelf above my bed. I’ve been waiting for a few weeks (and had misplaced it for a few days), so I was thrilled that it got done. After the work day and my peanut butter and jelly on Ezekiel 4:9 bread for lunch (Mom has me off beans for a while for my health), I ran errands with Tia. We took Marbella on her errands (taking her 5-year-old daughter Juanita to her English lessons and taking Marbella to her and her husband’s church where she would prepare for the Tecate Pastor’s Alliance meeting), and then Aunt Lila and I stopped at a fabric store where she picked up some cross-point (or embroidering?) materials for Gloria (because of her emergency abortion—the baby died—she’s on bedrest for 40 days, supposedly; we think it’s odd). At the fabric store there was a guy working at the counter—which I thought was odd in the first place—and he was trying to practice his English with us, but Aunt Lila was apparently in Spanish mode, because she didn’t speak in English until the end. Haha! He was also trying to pitch to us this “efficient” needle that would be better for what we were doing—he tried to use it at least 5 times and couldn’t get the results he was looking for. Kinda made me giggle.

Tuesday, today, I took Dalila’s place on kitchen duty since she’s gone, so I worked with Lucilla at making Chilaquiles. I was kind of bummed because I didn’t really get to learn how to make them today—she put me on bean duty—but I at least got to peak at what goes in the sauce for them. Maybe next time.
Later in the morning, since everyone has first block off and are typically in library, Aunt Lila and Marbella decided to delegate it as a craft/social hour for the women. Today was the first day, from 8-9:20, where we all met in the chilly classroom (Uncle Kent was kind enough to heat it up for us a little bit with a gas space heater before we entered) and Marbella, Hermana Rosanna, and Tía all showed us the knitting, crocheting, cross-point, and embroidering crafts they had done, then they taught some of us girls, individually or in small groups, how to do the different hobbies. I didn’t try today, but I’m really looking-forward to learning how to knit, crochet, and sew. I want to knit headbands like the leadership of my Junior year in high school had done. It’s kind of a blessing because I’ve been wanting an activity I could do while the kids play in the nursery—it’s really boring for me to play with them—so if I could knit during the times when they’re playing, that’s be great! I’d be accomplishing something!

Marbella and I went on a adventure today with all the kids. She needed someone to drive her to the different stores to grocery shop for the BI, since she can’t legally drive my Aunt and Uncle’s California-plated car (which was the only one available this morning), so I loaded up Beteli and the the two babies, and she loaded up her 3-year-old, David, and we were on our way. I felt so grown-up, driving kids around in the car—drove extra safe, I did. We also unexpectedly had to pick up her daughter from kindergarten on our way, so it was a pretty full Escort. At the three stores we went to I stayed in the car while Marbella went in, sometimes she took her kiddos. The hardest part was trying to keep her 5-year-old, Juanita, from being rambunctious because she was being rough with the babies and they’d cry. They babies were a little whiney, but I got Abril to go to sleep halfway through and set her in the one carseat we had (traffic laws are a little different here). The whole outing was a learning experience, to say the least.

Beteli nor Grete and Nohemí showed up for the 3:30 session this afternoon (I even waited for an hour because Grete and Nohemí are typically a half hour late, but never showed today).

Off to bed because I have to get up before 4 tomorrow so I’ll be on-time for the much deserved Fiest de Frijol.

P.s. the BI is celebrating Thanksgiving this Thursday--tell you more about it in my next post!

Hitting the Bricks

Another week down, and 4 left to go! That's right folks, it's the homecoming countdown!

Honored that I'll get to see my sister and friends perform in Cabaret on the evening of December 17th when I come home.

Well, this week has been typical, normal, and ordinary. Why the synonyms? Who nose. :^)

Sunday we went to Juan and Marbella's church (Keila's parents who are missionary's through TMI and pastor a church in a different colonia here in Tecate and graduate from the BI several years ago and now live here at the BI again temporarily since their house was broken into several time over the summer, which has turned out to be a blessing for them and us with the mutual exchange of help that's been taking place the past few months they've lived here) because was the anniversary of Juan's church. Uncle Kent delivered the sermon, followed by a church lunch. Afterwords we spontaneously hopped the border and did our usual Sunday shopping and visited with Uncle Kent's mom. I really like shopping at Trader Joe's and other healthy food grocery stores (Henry's, Whole Foods, Sprout's) which I've newly started shopping at since I've been living here with my Aunt and Uncle (health-food nuts).

*When I was little I never liked when Mom would shop at Trader Joe's because I was under the impression that it was a healthy food store owned a backstabber named Joe.*

Monday I watched kiddos.

Tuesday I watched kiddos. Nohemí threw a terrible 5 minute tantrum as her mom was trying to drop her off and go to her class. She was screaming and crying "No quiero! NO QUIERO!" and tried to climb out the window after her mom made it out the doorway. I got her to settle down almost instantly by giving her the eye (a learned look from my mom) and calmly telling her to stop crying.

Wednesday I watched kiddos. But don't remember the rest very much. Oh wait! I do remember that Dalila left Wednesday evening! She's apparently having health issues and had to go home for tests--that was her excuse, at least. I feel terrible that I had been praying for God to take her out of here (such a David prayer, huh?)--there must be a reason He answered. She was the only roommate I didn't like, due to her shady behavior. I felt SUPER bad when I went up to my room, after we had said our goodbyes and she had left, to find a note on my bed that said "Te quiero muchooooo! Love, Dalila"--at first I'd thought it was from Chelita, but felt remorse when I read it was from Dalila. Such a terrible person, am I. And she even returned my towel. :\

Thursday I watched kiddos, got the mail from the other side, and went to the ECEN 1 (where Children Evangelism Fellowship is taught in Spanish [APEN]) class. Aunt Lila needed help in one of the skits, so I was a little kid who fought with Olgita, a newly saved niña (played by Elda). I got a little too into it trying to pull the song boards from her hand as I sassed my one line: "Yo lo quiero hacer!" I got so into my small role that Ester, who played the teacher, had to add the line "Haver, Lynda" or in English "Alright, Lynda (that's enough)". Giggle, giggle. Eunice gave a demonstration on the Bible story of Naaman, the leper, with a visual book , which held my attention quite well. It brought back memories of Sunday school with Mrs. Roberta and her flannel board. I totally recalled her having told the story of Naaman to me at least three times. :) Always a good story.
After the class We picked up our "cena de bolsa"--bag of dinner--as we do every Thursday for supper, and Joka, Cheli, and I ate on our rooms.

Today I watched kids, napped, and taught Jehú more music stuff. Every time it's getting a little easier (socially and linguistically)to work with him once I'm in the Chapel with him, but it's getting me there that's hard. I dread. But God is granting me grace and patience in handling his arrogance.

Since Dalila's gone now, I offered to take her place on the kitchen duties until Aunt Lila changes it to the next one. Must've been meant to be because the two meals that she had cooked for are the two meals I'd been wanting to learn to make to share with my family back in Penryn. Chilaquiles on Tuesday mornings for breakfast and Arroz con Leche on Wednesdays for dinner. I'm looking forward to sharing it with the fam--they might not like Chilaquiles for breakfast though--maybe dinner. Corn tortilla chips, soaked in chile sauce, topped with onions, cilantro, and crumbly cheese.

Well, it's time to hit the bricks.

Space Jam

Gloria’s baby died. :’( They ran tests at the hospital (where she’s been since Friday), and the spotting she was having was the beginning of the natural abortion her body was having. How sad. I sympathize so for her and Beto. They will for sure keep trying until God blesses them with success.

Haha! I’m typing this in my room in the dark and my roommate Jokis (our nickname for her) is moaning in her sleep. Just thought I’d share. I love the quirky things you learn about people when you live in the same room as them! It’s so intriguing and so reassuring that you are perfectly normal!

Tonight, while I was Bible reading, I decided to share with Joka and Cheli the passage in Acts that made me “LOL” (“laugh out loud”, for my readers who are blessed with long lives): it was where Paul was preaching at Troas until midnight, and some teenager fell asleep in the window and fell off 3-stories and died. Well Paul just stopped the teaching, went outside to the landing spot, jumped on the dude and gave him a giant bear hug, and then walked back inside saying “It’s all good, guys. He’s alive, no worries,”, and then they ate bread.
Chelita recognized the story half way through my telling it, and after she finished reiterating it, Joka started acting it out by falling on the floor as Eutychus, and then I jumped off my bunk and decided to be like Paul, so I jumped on Joka with a big bear hug and then said to Cheli, “Esta bien, ella no muerte. Vamos a comer!” (“It’s okay, she didn’t die. Let’s go eat!”) We were rollin’! It seems every evening we end up making our own comedy show to self-entertain. Goofballs. Dalila is never really involved though—seems like she’s always out flirting with the guys. She’s missing out, I’ll tell you what!

The conference in Tijuana went great! I ended up going. We crammed into the escort, Elda, Rosanna, Tío, Tía, and I, and headed for our destination church in Tijuana at 7:30ish in the AM. When, we got there, it was an obscure, gated church—it was hidden within a neighborhood. The church was very vintage looking and had a basketball court and lots of rooms. I’m thinking it maybe used to be a school. I was thinking when we entered, “Boy, if Americans showed up to a conference with the place looking like this, they would leave.” I guess that’s just how our culture differs from theirs’. Content is more important than presentation here.

My job the whole time was to check on the car every few minutes (I did every 3-5) to make sure the car wasn’t getting broken into (even though it was parked directly outside the church gates). Last conference they did at this church, the trunk of the car was broken into during. Not this time, thanks to the efforts of myself, my aunt, and uncle checking on it for 5 hours, but more importantly the hedge of protection God put over our vehicle and the trip.

It was a great turn-out! 30+ people trickled in the whole time. We served yummy “Maria” crackers with the coffee that bear a light vanilla flavor. I guess you’re supposed to dip them in your coffee, but they’re kind of addicting just to snack on in general. Oh, and obviously we served coffee, too. I flip back and forth between drink coffee with milk and sugar and just drinking it black like my Pa does. It’s a decision I’ll eventually make here since part of their culture is drinking coffee often—typically served with breakfast and/or dinner. I don’t know if I told before, but a few weeks ago, Abril came to nursery with a coffee, milk, and sugar in her bottle—she’s not even a year old. Aunt Lila said that’s not common, but it’s not unheard of here. Parents tend to be a little ignorant when it comes to nutrition here in Mexico, as compared to the States and Europe. Health in general they really don’t seem to understand; doctors are the ones they rely on—families are discouraged to research “health” themselves. In the states, if you have some unusual symptoms, the first thing you do is get on the web and see what it could be, whereas here they’d head to the ER or doctors right away.

Anyway, back to the conference:
There was this “macho dad” who was kind of being a goofball during the whole conference; sat in the front row and acted like a big kid and laughed extra loud; in the end, ironically, he was weeping after Uncle Kent had given the Devotional in which he called out men into the children’s ministry, too, saying “Guys, working with kids isn’t just for the women; we can make a difference in our own way”. Through his weeping, God reminded me of his intricate plan for our lives—there was a reason that “macho, goofball dad” showed up to the unexpectedly life-altering conference. Cool God!

After we finished cleaning up the conference, we packed up the car and were gonna head out, Rosanna had mentioned that she knew where the Blind Institute was where Rigo would be studying; she thought she knew where it was, but turns outs she was a few blocks off. After asking two different men for directions, the second one pointed right above us at the sign that said “School of the Blind”, it ended up being directly across the road from the church—we were pretty unobservant for not having seen the sign/building.

Uncle Kent took us to his favorite restaurant, China Star, for lunch. I love those little Chinese fried noodles they serve as an appetizer! A handful of those things, a squeeze of half a lime, and a couple squirts of ketchup and I could munch for days!

When we got back to the BI, it was naptime for everyone. I slept for two hours and Uncle Kent and Aunt Lila slept for four (super wiped!).

I called my dad, and while I was talking to him about Biblical stuff, an unlikely parallelism came to my mind:
Space Jam // Spiritual Warfare

NBA players/Looney Toons = Christians
Alien monsters (the Nerdlucks) = demons
Swackhammer = Satan
Michael Jordan = Jesus
Moron Mountain = Hell
The basketball skills Power = the Power of God

I don’t know what I was thinking last night, because before they seemed completely parallel; now, not so much. But they still have similarities.

Puke and stuff

I threw-up again all morning yesterday--don't know why. My aunt and uncle said they had problems when they first moved here, too.
Aurora covered first period for me with Abril; by second period I had puked 6 times and any and all fragments of food had been eliminated from my body, so I was feeling better.

Aunt Lila and Uncle Kent allowed me to sit-in on their ECEN 1 class (child evangelism) rather than going to Thursday night church (I can't handle Karla any longer--not alone, at least), and the class actually ended up being more beneficial. I have never directly evangelized before, and I know it's something important in my walk with Christ to learn. I'm looking forward to possibly even taking the class myself one semester, instead of just sitting in. Evangelism Explosion would be a cool class to take, too--evangelizing with adults.

Today I watched the kiddos (Beteli and Abril), crossed to go to the post office, and then ate lunch.

Beteli and Abril were easy to handle together today. Abril recognizes me for sure; whenever she spots me in church or at meals she always smiles and waves--so cute!
Oh, and I crossed the border because my parents ordered me a new phone since mine was lost or stolen in San Diego a week ago. When I activated my new phone today there were some crazy messages: one was in Spanish, but he talked so fast that I couldn't understand, two were from a guy who sold pigeons to whoever has my old phone ("If I sold you two male pigeons, they're gonna fight," the man informed in a Italian accent), and three other messages were from a lady angry that her wallet hadn't been returned to a Union Bank like the person who has my phone said they would (she used my name, since it's on the voicemail--kinda creeped me out). Anyway, Aunt Lila just said to not answer any numbers I don't recognize. That's going to be a challenge since my new phone doesn't have ANY numbers in it (and the only numbers I have memorized are my immediate family's). SO, if your reading this and you are not my immediate family--text me sometime with your name or call and leave a message so I'll have your number again. 'Preciate it!

For comida I ate bean soup and cabbage salad with Jamaica to drink--enjoyed it!

Oh, and Gloria news! She's pregnant (I told you that), and now I guess it might be twins (the doctors said she would NEVER get pregnant--seems like those are always the women that end up having twins or more, the women who are said to have no chance), BUT she's spotting! Spotting typically means there's an infection and the body will abort the baby(ies). That would be terrible! Luckily, we trust Jesus! We're praying (and if you would, that'd be great, too)! She's also on bedrest--which means the BI is minus one staff member. Ester is currently juggling cook and secretary, for the time being. Pray for Ester, too, if you would!

APEN conference in Tijuana tomorrow... I don't yet know if I'm going or staying to clean. We'll see.

Oh, and when I crossed the border today, two people (1 Mexican, 1 not) asked me if I spoke Spanish and I said "Poquito"--I should've been bold <--(intended pun) and practiced. I want to be bold--so does Aunt Lila--like Paul. Paul was blunt and bold. Aunt Lila actually wants to be more like Barnabus--the encourager. Yes, our study in Acts is going well, thank you! :)

Oh, and I thought I'd stop at the Mexico bank and try to get pesos in El Centro, and while I was in the ATM booth, this guy who was at the other booth was trying to talk to me. I was nervous and caught off guard, so barely understood him. I've noticed I understand certain people here at the BI merely because I'm used to their accents and pronunciation of the words--strangers, I have to listen more closely when they talk. I guess that's normal for when I converse with people who speak English, too.

Discouraged

Can't believe it will be Thursday in less than 3 hours! Back into the swing of the week; and now it’s almost through.

Alright, so Monday Aunt Lila and Gloria said I could take the day off, so Joka (she doesn’t work on Trabajando Day because her parents pay for her to be here) and I spent the day in our room bonding and studying. I read the Bible from 9AM to 11PM with just a few breaks to eat and socialize. I was trying to catch up to Aunt Lila on our Acts Bible study before she got home—of course, I didn’t start my catching up until the day she was supposed to get home; well, I made it, and now we’re on the same page (no pun intended).

Tuesday I watched kids and got my box from the post office! Yea! My skirts came. My roommate, Dalila, was eye-balling my skirts and when I tried on the green one, it didn’t fit well (kinda snug in the hips) and she totally made me feel like a fatty by trying to stick her hand in my pocket to show me that it was too small for me. She’s not getting my skirt! I’ll lose the weight! Haha!
Grete is walking now and crying even less, and I was softer with Nohemí and she was surprisingly much more obedient. Cool!

Anywayyy, today I only had first period with little Abril (Grete’s mom never showed up with her). Went to Wednesday chapel, where Jesús (who’s visiting), a graduate of the BI and a missionary in Chihuahua, Mexico, delivered a sermon on… on… I guess a whole lot, because I don’t remember one specific topic. So we were praying for Jesús when we were doing our fasting; he is terribly ill as a consequence of his former life in the world. Well, after comida (lunch); when I went back up to my room I was just sitting on my bed talking to God and he told me that I need to lay hands on Jesús before he leaves so that he will be healed.

I don’t want to. I’ve prayed twice for major things, and saw no results. Rigo for his eyes (I went to his house and laid hands on him and prayed over him for 5+ minutes 5+ different times), Pablo who’s dying of cancer, I laid hands on in the hospital at the prayer circle for him and I’ve heard no news of anything happening. I feel like such a failure—I’m missing the mark somewhere. It bums me out so much because all I’m doing is obeying the Bible &/or obeying the prompting of the Holy Spirit, yet I’m not seeing the healings. I don’t know what I’m doing wrong; Jesus gave me the power, but why can’t I use it to glorify Him?

I’m discouraged. That’s why I don’t want to pray for Jesús; I know the healing is available in the name of Jesus, but I don’t think I’m the one who is able to administer it. :\

Needless to say, I didn’t pray for him today.

I’m getting closer and closer to my certain roommates every day (Cheli, Joka, Elda)—what wonderful, admirable women of God, are they! Cheli came up to my bed the other night and sat and used Paint on my computer while I was doing the Bible study. Here’s what she made me:

It says “I love you A LOT +” :) That made me laugh and happy! And you wanna know what made her laugh and happy? What I drew in Paint:

And Elda (not pictured) hugs me every day; she’s really sweet and I look up (and down) to her so much!

P.s. The good news I mentioned in the last blog was that GLORIA'S PREGNANT! It's kind of a miracle--she's in her mid 30s and doctors recently said it was impossible. We're all so happy for Gloria and Beto!