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!
Sunday, February 19, 2012
Monday, February 6, 2012
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.
Thursday, February 2, 2012
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.
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.
Wednesday, February 1, 2012
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
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