Reading away!

I am not sure how long ago it happened, but at least for the last five months or so it has become an almost daily thing for me to read to the kids after lunch.  I am pretty sure it started out as a way for me to practice my spanish as well as a way to spend time with the kids and to get them interested in reading.  Now it is a time I look forward to more than any other part of my day.

Joel, my most enthusiastic reading buddy

No longer in Mexico

Hi!
As some of you might know, I am no longer in Mexico.  Due to the increasing violence and other issues, I was moved back to the States and am no longer with that ministry.  But, Mexico still needs prayers, so, keep it up! :O)  I plan on going back in the next year and visiting some of the friends and "family" I left behind.  Many pictures/info from my time there did not end up in this blog.  I hope to be able to share some of them with you in the upcoming month.  We will see!

Random kid photos

Okay... I have alot of photos of our kids, and just have to share them.

Miss Lucy and some of her 3 year old class.

One of the toddlers that likes to open the door and hide himself in the cupboard if no one is watching.

More 3 year olds and the fun of coloring and washing the board.

"Lunch" (snack) immediately after lunch ("comida" - food)

3 year olds "sleeping" during one of our following directions songs.

Puzzle play ("rompercabezas" - literally -"head breakers")

Hard at work with clay

Enjoy!  More later!

Happy Anniversary Youth Choir!

On Pentecost Sunday, the youth choir turned three years old!  Started by another missionary three years ago, I became involved in November when she was no longer able to keep directing.  We have ample help with adults, teens, and kids ranging from 5-18.  In honor of the anniversary, we held a potluck in the church meeting room.  We had a wonderful turn out, and, as a bonus, got to celebrate Juan Pablo's 5th birthday (he is in the first row center just right of the cake with someone's arm around him).  So, the Church's birthday, the Holy Spirit, our anniversary, and Juan Pablo's birthday all in one day.  What a great day to celebrate!  

We supplied the cake, while the parish supplied the beans, tortillas, and agua de jamica.  The families each brought a guisada, a cooked dish: tinga, rice, potatoes, and other yummy creations.  One of my favorite parts was getting to meet the families, and being able to thank them for their children and the time they spent getting their children to choir. Overall, it was a great time of celebrating and a time of fellowship.

Most of the choir in front of a mural painted by Marcos, the guy
in red on the extreme right of the picture.  The mural displays part of the
history of Santa Fe, the area where the church building is.

English help

We had some people stop by the other day that we did not know.  We heard a knock on the door and had no idea who they were when we looked out the window.  They were looking for another missionary that lived here almost two years ago.  They wanted help with their niece's english homework.  She had a big test the next day and they wanted us to fill in all the blanks in her study sheet so that she could turn it in and study from it that night.  Emma and I were not sure of this, and many times tried to get the aunt to see that we did not want to do the niece's homework for her.  No, it was okay, she answered, they had another copy of the homework, and the niece would rewrite it in her own handwriting before turning it in.  No, but... The niece had piles of homework to do.... and we were not getting anywhere with the aunt, so, with uneasiness, we did the homework. (Not as easy as it sounds. It was on some kind of passive voice, something we are told never to use in English. :)  We gave it to the the aunts, and they were out the door, telling us that if we wanted cooking lessons to come on over and they would teach us.
      A couple days later these same two aunts and the girl and another boy were back at our door.  This time, with the aunt's famous Jello mold made from fruit juice, pectin, and peaches (it was very good!).  The girl thanked us, as well as the aunts, and again they invited us to come over and learn how to cook.  I still am not sure about the homework assignment, and did not want to start a precedent for doing everyone's English homework, but, I am glad that we got to meet that family, and opened the door that night.

More than Music Time

Emma and I give music classes three days a week, four 20-30 minute classes a day to 2-5 year old classes.  Our first class starts at 10am, and the last ends at around 1:30pm.  In between we have a bit of hang-out time with the kids and teachers, or time to fine tune our plans for the next class.  Then, after our last class, we have about an hour and a half to hang out with the kids and teachers before we go home.

Israel ready to play, with my guitar and "cinta" (guitar strap).

A couple months ago, I started working with kids individually after my last music class, giving guitar lessons  and private music therapy sessions.  It started out because of Israel. 

There had been a couple kids with home/behavior issues I had been hoping to work with in music therapy.  But these were also the same kids that wanted nothing, or little, to do with the music classes Emma and I were already giving.  So, how do you do music therapy with a kid that does not seem motivated by music?

Enter Israel.

Israel is 4 year old in love with the guitar.  He was always asking me questions about my guitar, and especially the exact name of the store where he could buy a guitar strap ("cinta" to him) just like mine.  He wanted to tell his grandma the name of the store so that she could buy him one.  Then he learned if he asked, he could play my guitar.  Then, one day, with much excitement, he brought in his guitar.  More decorative than anything else, he sat down with me one day after class and we had a jam session.  Him playing with nearly perfect rhythm and so much gusto, singing at the top of his lungs "Feliz Navidad," complete with hand-stops (though in odd places).  Just like I had when we taught the kids the song in December.  

Soon, there were a bunch of kids around us wanting to know, "What are you doing?" and "Can I/we play with you too?"  Among them was the little boy I had been praying most to work with.  We will talk about him in another story.  So, now I have between 4-6 kids that I work with after the end of the school day.  Only 2 or 3 a day, and then afterwards we have about a half hour each day or more where I read to the kids or have them read for me/the other kids.  I am getting to know more about the kids' home life/interests through the songs we make up together and having some fun while trying to work through some of the issues in each of their lives.  

Another one of my students :)

English

I have told you that my Spanish is getting better, and it is, but it is also a constant reminder that I am not perfect, and I already have so many of those reminders.  I was going to take another Spanish course, but in the end, with the extra money and time I would spend getting down there and back, I decided against it, and in its place I am starting to trade English for Spanish lessons/conversation and getting to know better the people in my community.  I have a guy I talk to almost every day as I pass by his store on my almost daily run up and down the hill.  Mostly Spanish with him, but I am hoping more English will come when he sets up his new store (he was so gung-ho when we met him, showing us the English lessons he was working on while he was taking care of the store, but lately, he has been doing more with the store.)  Starting yesterday, another friend and I are getting together once a week to start trading stories and getting the English/Spanish juices flowing. I am excited about this as it is so hard to make friends down here.

But what I wanted to relay is about H-.  H- is the father of one of my 3 year old students at the guardaria.  He sees learning English as almost the only way to a better life for his son and family.  He was a bodyguard for years, making good money at clubs, etc.  There are bodyguards and security everywhere around here.  I noticed one at the mall parking lot today that had a semi-automatic weapon (it could have been automatic, I do not know much about guns, but it was big and looked heavy-duty).  Anyway, one night, several years ago, H- was working and his pregnant wife was with him.  Someone came in and wanted to sequester, rape, and kill her.  It came to blows, H- threatened to kill the guy with his bare hands, and eventually the guy ran off.  So, he quit being a bodyguard, and has a little store 3/4 of the way up the hill from my house before the traffic circle that divides the richer from the poorer section of the colonia.  He took a pay-cut, a big one, and works from 7am to 11pm everyday to put food on the table for his family, but, the store is his, and he is much happier.  He has told us multiple times he does not want his son to grow up here.  And is very fearful because of the drugs, sequestering, assassinations, etc (unofficial numbers put it at about 150,000 people in the last five/six years.)  It is sad to see how desperate he is to get his family out of Mexico.  We know American citizens down here that have a Mexican spouse.  Their spouse cannot come into America because there is a five year waiting list for immigration to even look at their paperwork for a visa.  Another friend of ours is dating a Mexican.  They have been dating for over two years, and applied for a visa for him to visit her family in Wisconsin.  He was turned down because he does not make enough money.  He is an artist, and we figure that the American government is afraid that once he gets into America, he will not leave due to the better possibility of making a living.  There is a concern that H-'s family will not be able to get into America, but he says that since he owns a business here in Mexico, it is easier for him to get a visa.  So, we talked today for about an hour, a Spanish/English mix, and I plan to go back everyday or at least a couple times a week to stop by on the way back from my run to help him with English, while he helps me with Spanish.  Please pray for him and his family.  There is a bit of desperation there, and he would be considered more better off by our pueblo standards since his family owns the store.  A good amount of people down here have what is considered, "informal" jobs, ie. selling things on street corners/buses/etc.  They do not earn salaries, but just the extra from what they sell during the day.  One of the ladies I know is a bagger at a non-Walmart grocery store up the way.  She had to buy her uniform, is considered a volunteer with no benefits, and makes whatever money people give her for tips.  Her good day is making 70 pesos in a nine hour work day, about $5.  She actually turned down a steady job working as a cleaning lady at our guardaria because the pay was better being a bagger.

The weather here is wonderful, and it is sunny out right now.  Things are starting to look good for the prayer group, and we have about 20 or more families interested and should be starting up things in the next few weeks.  Please pray for the families, the getting together of the group(s), and the possible continuance after we have left.  Thanks.

The Last couple weeks

Hi everyone.
I'm back.  Spent the last couple weeks in transition.  At the end of February, we had a week-long retreat in Cuernavaca and, as the host country, spent a few days planning and getting ready for everybody's arrival, a few days picking people up as they arrived from San Antonio, Peru, and Guatemala, taking people around, getting them orientated/sight-seeing, a week in the retreat, and then a few days after retreat taking the Peru and Guatemala people around the city before they got back on a plane Monday night.  It was truly fabulous seeing everyone, but we were really tired afterward.  Before everyone came, on the same day that we were going to pick up people on the airport, Tara and I were able to pick our visas, me as a non-immigrant, and Tara as a visa renewal.  There was a concern that we would have to go back to the immigration office for a fifth time, but, thankfully, we were able to pick them up the same day.

Cuernavaca was lovely.  The sun was shiny and the company great.  It was wonderful seeing people that I hadn't seen since orientation, and meeting people from other sites that I had never met before.  There were some security concerns at the time, so we pretty much stuck together, but we had a lovely time looking at the market, lounging on the grass (a treat, since we rarely see grass where we are), and swimming in the pool as long as the sun was out.  We came back rested and rejuvenated and Emma and I started the process of starting a faith sharing/support group for the parents of the Guardaria we work at.  We got to hand out fliers at a parents' meeting Friday, to see if there was any interest, and a few of the parents were really excited.  We really don't know where this is going to go, but are hoping to see some great communities form from it. Please pray for the spanish, as it is still a trial, though, it seems to come in leaps and bounds, and it is definitely getting better every day.  I attended three afternoons of theological, biblical, and social talks last week, and I have to say that by the second day, I was understanding a lot more to most of the talks.  I am feeling a lot of pressure because of the lack of Spanish.  More on that later.  Have a good night.

Prostitution talks and small groups

Had dinner tonight with a sister that works with prostitutes down at one of the metro stations.  She does not normally talk about her work, but she did tonight.  A couple interesting things: the word for marry "casar" and the word for hunt "cazar" sound almost identical.  I was confused for a while in the conversation as she was talking about the metro stations as a place that men hunt women to capture into prostitution.  From what I gather, this sister works to help those that are in prostitution get the care they need, for them, for their children, etc and to help them get out of prostitution if and when possible.  I wish I could have understood more of the conversation.  Please pray for her and her work.  And please pray for Mexico.  I kept thinking that this kind of trafficking probably happens down the street from my house in Michigan, yet I am unaware.  Please pray for those involved in the human slave trade, both the persons that are trafficked as well as the system and traffickers themselves.  Also for a family that has had seven people murdered in their family and are in hiding themselves.

We met with another sister tonight, and got some helpful ideas about getting to know more of the families around us.  Please pray for better interactions with the families, and the possible foundation of small group communities.  Have a good night!

Condessa Day

It is raining again.  It has been raining everyday for some amount, but today it rained a little bit in the morning, was bright and sunny for a couple hours and has been steadily raining for the last three hours or so.  We were told that February is the month for crazy weather (from what I understand, normally it only rains like this during the rainy season.).  There are no flooding streets this time around, so that is a bonus.  

This weekend was a long one.  In Spanish, long weekends are called a puente (bridge).  Today is Constitution Day so we had the day off of school.  Friday, I went to my first Charismatic Adoration here in Mexico.  It was nice, and hope to go back again next Friday.  I met with the leaders afterwards and they told me of a place that I can pick up some praise music (both books and I think recordings.).  I am hoping that I can use some for the kid's choir Emma and I lead every Sunday, as well as for my own personal/community use.

I spent alot of time at the parish at night during this past week.  It was not planned that way, but it was wonderful to be able to go over there to get a little exercise, and end up conversing around a table with some of my closer parish friends until late at night, getting a little bit of exercise, and then walking back home together.  I haven't had much time to just sit around the parish lately, so to get to do so is a wonderful unexpected surprise.  

Saturday, we got up bright and early and took a group of thirteen to the "Joven Crientes" (Young Believer) event held by the (arch?) dioceses.  The diocese opened up one of the high schools for a day of skits, games, tents, music, and to give the youth a place to play sports while learning/engaging their faith.  My personal favorite was seeing about 25 nuns dancing and singing on stage while another one played the electric guitar and lead the youth in some songs.  Some of the youth put on a powerful, and moving, skit about Christ's love for humanity.  It moved me to tears, and afterwards, the teens/young adults in the audience split up to enact their own skits.  From there, Emma and I had to rush home and change to go to a birthday party for one of our co-workers from the guardaria.  We had everyone over for Thanksgiving, but this is the first time we had been invited over to one of the teacher's homes.  We had a fun time sitting around talking, dancing (they were trying to teach me to dance "cumba".  It is a pervasive way to dance down here, and though I understand it in theory, the actuation is lacking.  A lot of laughing was had by all, and I think  I might have a new dance teacher or two when I get back to work! :), and watching the kids and the other adults sing karaoke.  It was nice to be able to share in that fellowship out of work.

Sunday we had children's choir rehearsal with mass afterwards.  I am still having problems communicating in Spanish, but I have wonderful help, and the choir is growing.  We added some new songs ("I have decided to follow Jesus" (in spanish) was a hit) and we are hoping to add some more soon.  It can be challenging to ride the line between the culturally out-of-tune foreigner, and what are simply good habits, ie. cultural tardiness, what is kid chattiness, what to say when kids/teenagers chose to plug into an ipod/music during the homily or during mass, and what to just let go.  The language/my own expectations can be a challenge at times, and things can be misconstrued.  Sunday we had a community meeting in the middle of the day to talk about house matters, and decided to change our daily prayer so that there is more of a specific focus each day.  Monday - World, Tuesday - Santa Fe (were we live), Wednesday - Mexico, Thursday - Our own individual missions, and missions overseas, Friday - Family and personal matters.

Today (Monday), Emma and I had the day off, so, after going to the market and running some errands (I had to get a new chip for my phone), we met a few friends and went down to the Condessa to for lunch and to walk around.  It is beautiful and green there.  It is a more "rich" or "nice" part of town, and today was the first time I had been there.  One of our friends used to live down there, so she showed us around.  We bummed around, watched the dogs playing in the park water fountain while we ate middle eastern food, and shopped for some essentials before the rain started again and we headed home.  On to more spanish practice tonight, and then hopefully off to bed.  Good night.  

Raining Update

It is raining and hailing here.  This is supposed to be the non-rainy season, but there is an outright downpour going on right now.  It has been threatening all week, with a few days of a little rain but today we were soaked during our 5 minute or less walk/run home.

Things are going good down here.  Nothing too exciting.  I have a habit of losing/misplacing pics for my guitar and at times need to use one of the children's building blocks, legos, plastic puzzle piece or something else instead during music class in the morning.  Well, I came into class yesterday and was getting out my guitar, when the little three year old girl next to me leaned into the box of toys, rummaged around a little, and presented me with a wooden rectangle.  I had to think for a minute before I realized that she was giving it to me to use to play my guitar.  I had to laugh.  Before I got my guitar strap, I used to use a chair to prop my foot on while I played the guitar.  The kids sometimes still bring a chair out for me when I am in class.  So cute and observant.

Did you know that most eggs in (at least my part) of Mexico are not refrigerated?  I wondered about this at first, but I learned that the eggs are so fresh that they do not need to be refrigerated.  There is less than a six day turn around from the bottom of the chicken to my kitchen table.  It is only after that six day time that the eggs need to be refrigerated.  I now like that my eggs are un-refrigerated.  Emma and I went into a store the other day for eggs and bread and ended up running into the uncle of one of our preschool kids who owned the store and wanted to learn English.  This commenced into a 20-30 minute conversation, during which he brought out all his English books and learning materials that he works on in between customers.  It was humbling to see his perseverance.  He was looking for someone to speak English with.  We gave him our email addresses (an easier way to get ahold of us), and the next morning he had found us on Facebook and asked to be our friends.

We had a little scare a few weeks ago when two persons were found beheaded in a burning car just up the road from us.  One of the drug cartel's took responsibility for it through a note they left with the heads.  The larger thing was that, though this happened in a rather upscale area, hardly anyone talked about it (though Tara did say that it did effect some of the people that she talked to).  People are just so used to it happening in other places, Chiapas, Veracruz, Juarez, Monterrey... I think, in a way, people are a bit desensitized to it.
There is a movement to bring awareness to the disappearances and the killing called "Movimiento por la Paz¨.  They have had some caravans across Mexico to raise awareness, pressure the Mexican government to halt the killings (there have been over 47,000 people murdered in the last 5 years since this president came to power), to document the killings and disappearances, and to provide help for the families and loved ones left behind.  Many members of the people who started this movement have been killed.

Please pray for the government and the people of Mexico.  There is alot of light here.  Please pray for that light to grow.

Guardaria Time

We have alot of down time at the Guardaria, time to hang out with the "baby teachers" (the teachers in the nursery upstairs), watch/play with kids on the playground, and help teachers in their classrooms.  One of my favorite times of the day has become the time when I get to read to the kids after lunch.  After lunch, we have a good hour and a half block where we are waiting for parents to pick up their kids.  The waiting around can be tough, but a couple weeks ago we started bringing out books and reading to the kids.  It started out in the classroom with the 3 year olds, and it has kind of took off ever since.  My spanish is not that great, but it is improving, especially when I am brought the same stories over again (the current favorite is "Como el Grinch Robó la Navidad.")  One little boy started tearing the classroom apart the other day becuase he was looking for the book that he wanted me to read (he had already given it to me and I had it in my hands outside).  It is starting to get a bit out of hand with ALL the books ending out on the playground, which has led to some of the books getting ripped.  I think we are going to have to lock the doors after we choose our 1-2 books, and then we can go back in and select a couple more when those are finished.  :)  I am looking forward to more days with the kids.t

Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe - Sept 2011

This was a wonderful trip my two housemates and I took the first week I was here.

Zocalo Visit - September 2011

Click on the pic to view more!

Santa Fe General Sept 2011

Here are some pics from the first month or so that I was here. Click on the picture to view more.

Santa Fe House

Pictures of my house in Santa Fe (just click to see them all).

Guardaria Pastorella 2011

Click on the picture to see some more of the kids at their pastorella Dec 16, 2011

Guardaria Pastorella 2011

Click on the photo to see more pictures of the kids and their Christmas Pastorella.

Christmas Break Catchup 2

Emma (on right), with her sister and mom in middle crammed in the backseat (with me) for our Teotihuacan adventure.

View from the Temple of the Moon

Bottom of the larger Pyramid

Another day we went to Teotihuacan, the Mexican pyramids. These were built pre-Mayan and have been largely reconstructed.  We were told before we got there that we would have to go up 500 steps, but thankfully, I do not think that there were that many between the two pyramids we scaled.  The place was huge and spacious.  I didn't realize it till after, but it was odd (wonderful) to be in a large, open space like that.  We were definitely out of the city. We very thankful for our driver that day, for what would have taken us six hours round-trip just in transport by bus/metro, took us about three round-trip with the car.  Thank you Padre Tonio for the car and Juan for driving us!

Christmas Catchup

Close-up of the baptismal font top in the National Cathedral.

A little Christmas catchup...

One of the sanctuaries in the National Cathedral (there are a few)

National Cathedral

Emma's family arrived in Santa Fe Christmas Day.  During a nice dinner at our house, surrounded by expected, and unexpected, friends, we learned that one the Jesuit priests took it upon himself to get her family a chauffeur to take them wherever they wanted to go for the week.  We saw him go outside, and the next moment he was sticking his head in the door wanting to know what time we wanted to be picked up in the morning!  Wow!  So, we spent the first day in the city taking her family around to some of the sights there: the National Cathedral, the outside of the Palacio National, shopping in the square, and dinner in a restaurant overlooking the Zocolo at night.  It was lovely. Some of the sights were set up just for the holidays, such as the temporary (though very large) ice skating rink, snowman building, and snow fighting tents.  It was quite fun to watch!

Zocolo decorated buildings

Zocolo at night (Palacio National in back, skating rink in the middle, decorated buildings on the sides)