Laughing, laughing, laughing, all the way home :]

Tonight on the way home from outreach at La Gloria, Andres was teaching me how to say things in Mixteco.  That’s a dialect here in Mexico that many of the older people who have migrated here from mainland Mexico speak.  It sounds very Asian with it’s breathy, pushy fluctuation of intonations.  Anyways, there are a number of abuelitos (grandmas and grandpas) in our little church that only speak Mixteco, so it’s a real blessing to have Andres as co-pastor so that he can communicate with them.  I asked him to teach me how to say “Dios le bendiga (God bless you)” tonight on the way home and we were just laughing and laughing as it’s difficult to get the right intonation (or else you might be saying a completely different word).  Unfortunately, I’ve already forgotten how to say it, but he said he’d keep reminding me and testing me on it. 

The Grand Opening of the Daisy Mae Daycare Center!

The Daisy Mae Guardaria (Daycare Center) was built in San Telmo (where we have our Thursday outreach) by a group from Canada over 2 years ago (I believe it was the summer before I moved here).  Anyways, it has been a long hard struggle to get this place cleared by the government and up and running (lots of work these days after another daycare center was not up to code and burned down with children trapped inside).  It has been one lawyer fee after another for over two years as we have done everything the legal way to make sure everything would be safe for the kids. 
Pastor Santos’ wife, Sara (pictured), has agreed to be the director of the guardaria and has brought on one other helper named Leti who will be doing most of the cooking (daily breakfast and lunch) and cleaning while Sara will be doing more of the teaching.  So far, eight children have been signed up for this daycare program (allowing space for only two more).  This should be such a great blessing to the entire families of these children as it will allow parents to go to work in the fields (which usually both have to do in order for families to survive) and the older siblings to be able to go to school (it’s not rare to find that a few kids in each family may be pulled out of school to stay home and raise the babies themselves).  Praise the Lord for this blessing!  Pastor Santos and Sara are praying that this (and the principles that are being taught to these children in the daycare) will be a witness to some of the non-Christian parents of the students.
It brought so much happiness to my heart today to be able to visit the kids (along with Judy, Paul, Victor, Saul and Amber and their two kids, Kaden and Brielle) on their first day at the guardaria.  We had a little dedication prayer with the children and then played for a bit with them.  It was so fun, those little kiddos are so cute!  I wish I had more pictures to share with you, but my camera battery died.

Quick Catch-up

So, I meant to update this more often with shorter posts, but I just really have not had the time.  I’ll try to quickly catch you up on my last few weeks of events and news.

First of all, I’ve been blessed with the opportunity (through support from the ministry) to help outfit some kids with school uniforms and school supplies so that they can go to school.  Even though it is “free” for children to go to school here, they are required to arrive clean, well groomed, and in a uniform (which are not exactly cheap, $30 for a sweater is a lot when most people don’t even make $30 in a day).

 

Another thing that’s happened in the last few weeks is that I’m learning how to drive stick shift on this bad boy.  I’ve only had one lesson so far, but Judy and Paul said I could use it to keep practicing.  I’ve always wanted to learn and finally I’m getting the opportunity!  It’s really fun actually   I like it.

 

 

My neighbor (and one of our staff), Yolanda (pictured), and our other neighbor Myra convinced me that everyone was going to be dressing up for this big party (the Noche Mexicana) at the orphanage down the street (Foundation for His Ministry) a few weeks ago and they gave me this outfit to wear.  Well, when we all got together that night to walk over to it, THEY weren’t dressed up!  They came up with all kinds of excuses, but I think they just wanted to use me as a doll that they could play “dress-up” with.  Haha.  It was really fun though.  Pretty much everyone from the orphanage and our church come to this event every year on the night before their independence day.  They have a stage set up where Mexico is celebrated through traditional song and dance.  Then after all that, there are booths set up all around with the incredible homemade FOOD!  When you arrive you are given three tickets, two for food, and one for a drink.  Once the performances are over, everyone just bumps around, mingles, gets in line for their favorite foods, and then you just eat and hang out.  It’s pretty great.

 

 

 

 

The following day, September 16th, is Mexico’s Independence Day.  I met up with some of my friends to go watch the parade and then hang out at the party in the park, where again there is TONS of food (but this time you had to pay for it), lots of traditional music and dancing, and where if you aren’t careful, you’ll get hit in the head with a confetti egg!

 

These past two months, construction has been going on at La Gloria (primarily by Victor, Pastor Hector, and Saul), but also some men and older boys from the church have been coming to help and I’ve been able to go and help two days myself!  The church walls are up, tresses have been built and put on, and on Monday I get to go help with roofing!  Yay!  I like doing that kind of stuff (every now and then mind you).  I am definitely not cut out for this as a career.

 

Last thing for this post!  Last weekend I was able to escape to the states at the last minute for a short break, some grocery and clothes shopping, and some good quality time with my family.  I was even surprised to be able to see Mammere and Pappere (my grandparents on my dad’s side), Uncle Chris and Aunt Lilibeth, and my Uncle Jerry from Washington!  The night before I went back Mexico, I took a train down to San Diego where I got to spend some good quality time with my friend Hannah (who moved there from Mexico about 2 months ago).  It was SUCH a wonderful trip and I was SO blessed to be able to take it.

Well, that’s all I’m going to leave you with for now.  I have exciting news about my “new position” here at EFF, but I want to save that for it’s own post (hopefully in a couple days).  Thanks for keeping up with my busy, but exciting life here   Until next time, amigos!