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!

Mumbling creepers and Hebrew dancing

I’ve been eating meals with the students this weekend (which I don’t normally do, but since my aunt and uncle have been gone, I am), and it has been a good experience. I feel much more accepted and “part of the group”.

Yesterday, Efren, who speaks English (gracias a Dios), came to me with the request to go with him to Rigo about some songs Rigo wanted us to learn in English to sing when we ever had conferences here at the BI with English-speaking people (Efren has made mention of it last week, but it totally left my mind since then). So we knocked on Rigo’s door and entered his house after his niece came up behind and let us in (he couldn’t hear our knocking because he was listening to worship music really loud on his computer).

Okay, so it is completely amazing at how well he knows his way around the computer without his sight. He only uses the keyboard (is learning all the commands), and he remembers where EVERY THING is on the desktop and in the menus. I bet Brandon McRee couldn’t access his computer with his eyes closed like Rigo can!

Anyway, he opened his music library and opened up the Hillsong album (my parents are fans of them and I know a few of their songs), so I was relieved that those were the ones he wanted us to learn. He knew the songs in Spanish, but didn’t know the English titles (obviously, because he doesn’t speak English), so Efren and I clicked through songs and/or translated the Spanish titles to English to find the four that Rigo wanted us to learn. He asked me to get the lyrics and chords for Efren and I to learn, so I spent a few hours doing that on the computer (lyrics in both Spanish and English). I thought I took a really long time for just for songs (internet was slower than molasses and I also took an accidental nap), but Efren and Rigo were very satisfied with how fast I was able to produce the copies of lyrics and chord. Anyway, we didn’t practice yet since the worship band had to practice for our Sunday service, but we probably will this week.

During worship practice, Rigo’s wife, Beteli’s mom, asked me to teach Beteli English while they had worship practice. I think that was her way of asking me to babysit Beteli. So I took Beteli—had no idea how I was going to teach her, so we headed up to my apartment.
“And Abri?”
“No, Beteli, just you.”
“And Danielita?”
“No, Beteli, just you.”
She’s used to typically having another kid in their when I watch her.
“Are we going to color?”
“Yeah, we’re going to color and we’re going to learn!”
“Are we going to play?”
“No, we’re going to learn. Do you want to learn English?”
“Yes.”
“Okay, let’s go learn!”

There were clothes drying on the table (which isn’t out of the ordinary), so I decided to grab some crayons and go work with her in the dining hall off the chapel by where her parents were having worship practice. It was really hard to get her to focus on learning (Obviously! She’s a kid!), so I tried my best to keep it interesting and not cram her brain with words. I taught her the colors while we colored and I taught her the word “Look!” since I know she used the word “Mira!” a lot. It was so cute, because I’d point to a crayon or a color on the page and say, “Blue!” and she’d repeat, “Bloop!” It is also harder to teach her colors because she doesn’t even know them in Spanish or Huave yet, so I might have to teach her those first; or maybe not. Unlike adults, children don’t need to know the word in their language first in order to learn the word of a new language. There’s whole life starts with immersion—seeing something and learning the word for it. I just have to keep that in mind. I’m thinking about maybe just talking to her in English when I’m watching her; for her benefit, and because it’s what her mom wants. That way she’ll automatically train herself to learn English by adaptation and immersion—like I am.

For cena, we had arroz con leche. I felt dumb, because I’m so used to people serving the food for you, I kept forgetting that the students do it different on the weekends—twice in a row I tried to take one of the girls’ cups they had just poured for themselves and said, “Gracias!” They looked at me funny and then I realized what I was doing. What a goof!

Oh, and the Hebrew dance went fine this morning! A few girls didn't participate, so that was a bummer, but it still looked okay! Church was very depressing though—after we took communion, Brother Martín had us all join hands around the chapel and sing one last worship song. As I looked around the room, only I and one other girl was singing (out of 60 people) and everyone had a very sour look on their face… so much for uniting the congregation. But then the whole church ate comida together after church, and then the smiles decided to show up. Oy!

Oh my goodness, and creepy Karla is always coming up to me and kissing my cheek and looking very awkwardly at me; I’m so creeped out! She’s only 15, but she looks my age and is a bigger girl and she dresses kind of emo. Did I mention before how she showed me that she’s been cutting herself, and tried to explain it to me for 5 minutes (didn’t understand much of it since it was in Spanish AND she’s a mumbler), so I just prayed with her (in English) and told her she shouldn’t do it anymore. I tried loving her “like Jesus would”, but the more I love her, the creepier and more clingy she gets. I’m at a loss with this one.
I’m afraid to go to church sometimes (esp. on Thursdays when Aunt Lila and my friends aren’t there); today after church I jetted-out and sneaked into Aunt Lila and Uncle Kent’s house so she wouldn’t find me. And I didn’t go to the church baseball this afternoon because of her—“what if she’s going…”—I’m legitimately uncomfortable… more than I’ve ever been with any person on this Earth. :\

Alright, in closing. I have some really exciting news—to me—but I can’t share it yet.

Una conferencía por la salud de mujeres

Just got back from una conferencía por la salud de mujeres (a conference for the health of women), put on by one of the churches here in Tecate (Sinai), and the guest speaker being the doctor the BI uses—Dra. Yolanda. What a character! Tall, curly-haired, curvy, and hilarious! Unfortunately I only was able to follow 1/8 of her jokes; she was very blunt with everything she said so she had the women rolling. Of course she also poked a joke about me being the only “gringa”—or in this case, non-Latina—in the building (except for this one girl who was apparently half white—her Mexican mamá wasn’t too thrilled about Yolanda leaving her out—but Dra. Yolanda said the girl was still part Latina). This was even pertinent to the discussion because, according to Dra. Yolanda, out of all the races, Latinas have the highest risk of breast cancer for some unknown reason.

The church was very neatly decorated with pink, flowers, and breast cancer ribbons. They served coffee and pan dulce. Several ladies started the conference with personal stories of family, friends, or personal experiences with breast cancer. Another lady sang a BEAUTIFUL song about being used by God—amazing voice! Then Dra. Yolanda presented her powerpoint and commentary concerning Cancer de la Mama.

*The Spanish word for breast is mama (you’ll notice, without the accent, as the Spanish word for mother does)—I was a little confused at first…*

So I understood about 75% of the information that she gave. Didn’t fully understand her jokes and witty comments, but oh well. :\

**When Uncle Kenta had talked about her before I was expecting her to be old and farty (guess I just wasn’t paying too much attention to how they’d describe her—I just always associate doctor with old age and farty-ness). Anyway, she’s not. She’s young (mid-30s), attractive, witty, and confident—the kind of lady you’d want to sit and talked to for an hour over coffee (if you spoke the same language, of course). She’s the doctor who’s been “dignosing” and dealing with all our fake passer-outers this year. Haha! What a gal—she had chewed Daniela out for her incident (even made her cry)! Also, Dra. Yoldanda had miraculously gone to Africa this past summer—God really wanted her to go and made sure she knew it!**

After her presentation and answering of questions, they gave out prizes through a game of “What’s in your purse?”Anyway, good conference; advantageous with all the important information it had to offer!

It was also funny riding there and back—crammed in an 8 person van with 15+ girls—O, Mexico! How thee cracketh me up!

Oh, Tío y Tía are gone all weekend for their anniversary, so I’ll be with my roommates for all meals and everything—should be a growing experience. :)

Yesterday + Today = 2 days

Yesterday was an improvement. I think I unconsciously knew, when I was typing up my last blog, that if I vented about the things that were bothering me, it would hold me accountable to put more effort into changing them. It’s comical how the human brain works; God’s funny.

So, yesterday I was on-time for Devotionals—it’s been a while. I didn’t get to walk down with my roommates (haven’t been ready on time for that since the first week I was here), so that was nice. I had beans and a tortilla for breakfast, toast and an oatmeal drink (avena) for snack (antojitos), and beans, rice, and tortillas for comida; oh and I snacked on some lime-flavored peanuts for dinner. So I kind of stuck to my no dinner deal, and the only sugar I consumed was in the agua de naranja (orange flavored water) that Gloria made with comida.

I only had Abril yesterday for the first block. I think her parents don’t have money for diapers, because for the 2^nd time this week she wasn’t wearing one and just peed in her clothes and I couldn’t do anything about it, so I just let her nap and took her outside for a walk so she wouldn’t cry (she loves being outdoors), and we also played blocks together. I was much more involved in playing with her today (accountability).

Aunt Lila and I hopped—well drove over—the border yesterday to get mail. My box from my mom hadn’t come yet—she’s sending me winter clothes! And muffins! :D What a good mama! I’m gonna go check again today.

For Wednesday, mid-day chapel, Jehú’s brother, who’s been staying here since Monday, brought the message since Uncle Kent was away at a conference. I don’t remember Jehú’s brother’s name, so we’ll call him Billy. Billy talked about the steps of being a missionary, specifically when it comes to working with indigenous tribes and people. He’s a missionary with an organization that outreaches to the indigenous (now I understand why that’s all Jehú ever talks about when it comes to ministry, is how God loves the indigenous people). He talked about how you have to learn their language and their culture thoroughly, and gain their acceptance and respect, before you can share the gospel; it takes a lot of time. He said that typically it would take about 50+ years to establish a mature Christian church within a tribe of “unreached people”. Pretty crazy!
I wasn’t expecting his lesson to be impactful, since I’d heard he was as arrogant as his brother, but he turned out to be pretty humble and giving God the glory.

We ate comida and then I went to my dorm to sleep for a half hour, which morphed into three. Exhausted I suppose. When I awoke, I got to gab with my mom for a little bit on the phone and then I returned to my room where I found Joka and Chely laying in Joka’s bed (they usually cuddle together, but they weren’t this time), so I decided I would lie with them. They were surprised because I hadn’t done it before, so they wanted to take a picture of us three lying on the bed together. “Now let’s do one with our stuffed animals,” Chely suggested. “Now let’s do one with the guitar,” Joka added. One thing led to another, and we ended up taking over 30+ pictures for a half hour all throughout our room and even on our back porch. We were ready to look at all our crazy pictures on the computer, so I was looking for the “synchronize” settings on my phone; touched an option that said “format memory card”—everything was erased. All my photos, including ones I’d taken before, all my music, all my videos—everything that was saved on that memory chip—gone. Just like that. I knew it was irreversible after a few touches around my settings, and I explained to Joka and Chely what happened, but so I wouldn’t seem careless, I converted the language on my phone to Spanish and handed it to them to try to reverse what I did. Of course, they couldn’t either. Oh well. “One last one,” Chely said. Okay, so we reiterated four of the photos.

Today I woke up late again, so I didn’t shower until after breakfast so I wasn’t late for Devotionals. Didn’t eat breakfast with the students, either, because the burritos had churriso (sausage) in them. I was nearly late to babysitting since I didn’t get into the shower until 7:40—so I had really wet hair. Anyway, I babysat Abril, next a babysat birthday girl, Danielita (one year old today—I gave her a birthday bath in the sink). Also, I think Danielita has eczema (her parents are taking her to the doctors tomorrow), and it doesn’t help that they don’t cut her nails—she has scabs from scratching all over her rough-skinned arms and legs and in her ears. Pobrecita (poor thing), missed out on one of the best things about babies: soft skin. I tried to trim her nails while she was sleeping—couldn’t get all of them (so little).

Beans and rice for comida. Now I’m off to the other side to do post office stuff and pick up communion items for church.

Well, that’s all, I guess.

I’m just looking forward to my muffins.