You know those moments when you are like "wow, I can't wait to blog about this"? I used to think it was a ridiculous feeling that I would never succumb to, but alas, I have had at least a dozen such moments these past two weeks. I will try to pick out a few highlights.
Probably one of the top bloggable moments was my first experience at the youth group here, called Revo. Only a few of us went because it was a last minute kind of thing. There were about 15 or so local kids there, a decent turn out from what I've heard. The leaders pulled Michaelene and I aside right at the beginning and asked us if we wanted to participate in a "dynimico" which I think is some kind of a skit. They, Gio and Patti, spoke decent English but we still didn't quite understand what they wanted us to do...so of course we said we'd do it. From what I understand, Michaelene was blind and I was "almost dying". They lead us up to a stage in which there was a large stone pit, I think it is a rustic baptismal of some sort. Michalene and I got inside with three other local boys. Then Gio starts saying, "Shannon, you are dying!" and shakes himself and gestures towards me, and Sam, one of the Ventaneros, says, "Shannon, you're supposed to have seizures!" So there we are, in the four foot cold stone pit that is kind of wet and kind of smelly with three boys who don't speak a lick of English, and I start convulsing and Michaelene is blindfolded and we have no idea what we are doing. Then the rest of the kids come and stand around us and start speaking Spanish so quickly that ten words sounds like one word and Michaelene keeps asking "Who me? Who me?" and I am wobbling around and everyone is laughing and wow, what an ice breaker, huh? It's actually kind of funny.
Saturday night we went to a local worship concert in Ensenada. It was basically Hillsong in Spanish, very energetic and passionate and incredible. After the experience Friday night I was able to go up to a lot of the Porve kids and talk to them without worrying about making an idiot out of myself (been there done that kind of thing). It was so refreshing to experience the kind of uninhibited worship that it seems like only youth can grasp, and a warehouse in Ensenada was the last place I expected to feel reconnected with God in such an emotional way, let alone in Spanish! I love the Spanish worship, not only because it's a beautiful language but because I have to think more about what I am saying...and because even the conservative churches here are filled with a sincere desire to worship God...passionate is one of the words that keeps coming to mind.
I am thankful for all those years of Spanish I took in school, I am able to understand a lot and am getting better at speaking it every day. One skill I didn't think would come in handy however, was math, yet I helped Gio, the youth pastor, with some algebra work for his daughter one Sunday at church. It was the most random awesome connection, and I was shocked that I even remembered how to divide fractions.
The girls have also gone around and presented ourselves to several of the neighbors, it seems like everyone in Porvenir is related (or at least our neighbors are!). It was a good chance to connect with a few girls our age and their families. We have also all been hanging out with a local boy named Tatan, he's 16, a junior in la prepa here, but school doesn't start until February so he's been hanging out at Ventana almost every day. He speaks very good English and has helped me a lot with my Spanish, so it's easy for us all to communicate. We jokingly call him the other Ventanero, and he's joining us when we got to Culiacan in about a week. We're all pretty excited to have him along (if nothing else he can help translate!). But he's been a blast.
Speaking of Culiacan, we are leaving February 1st at about 3 in the morning. Culiacan is in central Mexico and is notorious for drug trafficking and migrant workers. So we're going down to work with the indigenous people who come to Culiacan to work the fields. They live in cramped, dirty, poverty stricken camps that we'll be traveling to each day, showing the Jesus Film in their own various languages (most of the people there won't speak Spanish). It sounds like it is going to be a very challenging and draining and rewarding experience. We are going with a bunch of Mexican nationals, and to be honest, I feel like I am not bringing very much to the table on this one. Usually I feel pretty competent, like I at least have something to offer...it's almost refreshing to not have to worry about what I can do and just let go and let Christ work through me. Not so much pressure, I guess. But yeah, we could all use as much prayer as we can get, just pray that God moves in Culiacan!
Mi vida pongo en tus manos
Dios de gracia vengo en hulmidad
En tu presencia quiero estar
My life I put into your hands
God of grace I come in humility
In your presence I want to be
Monday, January 26, 2009
Monday, January 12, 2009
Settling In
Wow, it has been awhile, yes? For those of you who don't know, I'm now in Porvenir, Mexico, living here for the next five months or so.
I arrived last Monday and have been settling in over the past week. The girls get a house to ourselves, a double wide trailer strait from the 70's. It's actually very nice, three rooms, two full bathrooms, a kitchen, dining room, living room, and a few random storage closets. I'm in the largest bedroom with three other girls, and I've enjoyed nesting into my area.
We spent Wednesday through Friday in Tijuana. We stayed in a place called El Castillo, a pretty awesome but rather drafty stone building right in the midst of the city. We took classes on all the different languages (body language, tone, smell, space, etc.) and some particular ways Mexicans communicate within these areas. Then we were kind of let loose in pairs to wander the city and observe said behaviors. It was a little intimidating at first, but we were all safe and learned a lot. For example, if you want to say thank you to a fellow driver in Mexico, you hold up your hand to them with the back of your hand facing them, and this comes from when people would tip their hats to one another. Also, there is a distinct difference between how you indicate the height of a thing, animal, or person, and each way you gesture differently. I tried fried cactus for the first time and took a taxi.
We also went to an upper middle class mall one night. It looked exactly like something I would have seen in California, except everyone was dressed nicer. It is the norm in Mexico to dress up every time you leave the house, and people tend to dress nicer than they can afford. It was a different side of Mexico than the impoverished villages I had seen on previous mission trips.
Saturday night we went to La Confra, a youth conference in Ensenada. Everyone was dressed to impress (kind of like a lot of youth and college groups in the US, right?). The worship was by far my favorite part of the evening. I was framiliar with a few of the songs' English translations, but even the ones I didn't know were powerful and moving. The speaker was over my head most of the time, but I could tell that he was straight to the point and passionate. By the end of the night there were about twenty kids who went to the front to accept Christ. It was awesome to not understand exactly what was going on but to still feel God moving.
Earlier today we spent about an hour at Casa de Gabriel, an orphanage for handicapped and HIV positive children. It's always been a challenging place for me (I've visited Casa de Gabriel in previous spring break trips). The kids are all adorable and beautiful and amazing, but it's hard not to dwell on their circumstances and be sad. We spoke with the lady who runs the orphanage today and she gave us a better perspective on things. She told us about the kids' prior circumstances, some had lived in cages, some where tied to chairs all the time without food or water, some were left to wander around on their own...Casa de Gabriel is a huge blessing for all the kids who get to go there. I guess the ones I should really be sad for is the children who are still living in horrible situations.
We also go shopping every two weeks for our own breakfasts and lunches for each house. So the girls got together and tried to make a plan...it was not quite chaotic but it was difficult and tiring and frustrating. Everyone had preferences and opinions and no one knew exactly what would work for eight of us for two weeks. So today we went to Costco with a faint plan in mind...I think we got enough of the right foods to survive for two weeks, but will definitly be a trial and error kind of week. But all in all, a good and necessary experience.
It has been nice not having internet or phones in Porvenir. We are all more likely to hang out with God and each other, and I've been having a good time getting into a few good books (including the Bible). I could definitly use prayer for patience with myself, feeling like it is okay to mess up and stumble over my Spanish, and not being too proud or embarrased to try and connect with the locals.
Right now I'm sitting in a McDonalds getting my internet-slash-cheeseburger fix. Authentic, I know. I guess I will have to make up for it by eating delicious local tacos tonight. Sigh. Such is life.
I arrived last Monday and have been settling in over the past week. The girls get a house to ourselves, a double wide trailer strait from the 70's. It's actually very nice, three rooms, two full bathrooms, a kitchen, dining room, living room, and a few random storage closets. I'm in the largest bedroom with three other girls, and I've enjoyed nesting into my area.
We spent Wednesday through Friday in Tijuana. We stayed in a place called El Castillo, a pretty awesome but rather drafty stone building right in the midst of the city. We took classes on all the different languages (body language, tone, smell, space, etc.) and some particular ways Mexicans communicate within these areas. Then we were kind of let loose in pairs to wander the city and observe said behaviors. It was a little intimidating at first, but we were all safe and learned a lot. For example, if you want to say thank you to a fellow driver in Mexico, you hold up your hand to them with the back of your hand facing them, and this comes from when people would tip their hats to one another. Also, there is a distinct difference between how you indicate the height of a thing, animal, or person, and each way you gesture differently. I tried fried cactus for the first time and took a taxi.
We also went to an upper middle class mall one night. It looked exactly like something I would have seen in California, except everyone was dressed nicer. It is the norm in Mexico to dress up every time you leave the house, and people tend to dress nicer than they can afford. It was a different side of Mexico than the impoverished villages I had seen on previous mission trips.
Saturday night we went to La Confra, a youth conference in Ensenada. Everyone was dressed to impress (kind of like a lot of youth and college groups in the US, right?). The worship was by far my favorite part of the evening. I was framiliar with a few of the songs' English translations, but even the ones I didn't know were powerful and moving. The speaker was over my head most of the time, but I could tell that he was straight to the point and passionate. By the end of the night there were about twenty kids who went to the front to accept Christ. It was awesome to not understand exactly what was going on but to still feel God moving.
Earlier today we spent about an hour at Casa de Gabriel, an orphanage for handicapped and HIV positive children. It's always been a challenging place for me (I've visited Casa de Gabriel in previous spring break trips). The kids are all adorable and beautiful and amazing, but it's hard not to dwell on their circumstances and be sad. We spoke with the lady who runs the orphanage today and she gave us a better perspective on things. She told us about the kids' prior circumstances, some had lived in cages, some where tied to chairs all the time without food or water, some were left to wander around on their own...Casa de Gabriel is a huge blessing for all the kids who get to go there. I guess the ones I should really be sad for is the children who are still living in horrible situations.
We also go shopping every two weeks for our own breakfasts and lunches for each house. So the girls got together and tried to make a plan...it was not quite chaotic but it was difficult and tiring and frustrating. Everyone had preferences and opinions and no one knew exactly what would work for eight of us for two weeks. So today we went to Costco with a faint plan in mind...I think we got enough of the right foods to survive for two weeks, but will definitly be a trial and error kind of week. But all in all, a good and necessary experience.
It has been nice not having internet or phones in Porvenir. We are all more likely to hang out with God and each other, and I've been having a good time getting into a few good books (including the Bible). I could definitly use prayer for patience with myself, feeling like it is okay to mess up and stumble over my Spanish, and not being too proud or embarrased to try and connect with the locals.
Right now I'm sitting in a McDonalds getting my internet-slash-cheeseburger fix. Authentic, I know. I guess I will have to make up for it by eating delicious local tacos tonight. Sigh. Such is life.
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