Hello friends and fam! I am now back to ¨normal¨ life here in Mexicali, although a lot has changed. We now live in a beautiful, spacious home. The build team did an awesome job and the family is so happy. I, too, am continually surprised when I sit down on the couch in the living room and think, ¨Wow! I´m sitting in a living room!¨ Yadira gave me Karla´s bedroom while I´m here so that I have some privacy. I appreciate that.
The temperature has begun to climb over the past four days. Yesterday at twilight it was 97 degrees, and today it´s supposed to hit 103. We have not yet installed any air-conditioning. This lilly white Michigander is wilting a bit. Our summers in Michigan don´t get much hotter than this so I´m way out of my element! I am shocked when I see someone outside in a sweatshirt and jeans, but the temps here reach the 130s and higher in the summer.
I wanted to post some photos from Octane´s visit, but there is a virus on my usb drive so I can´t access the folder. However, there are some photos from my parents´visit!
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- Dad, Charly, Yadira, and Mom
It was great to have some of my family come and be part of my life here in Mexicali, even though it was only for one day. My parents then swept me off to San Diego for a weekend before all of the chaos of the Mexicali mission trip began.
And now we are nearing the end of April. I look forward to the month of May and changing the format of the ESL class a bit. We will focus now on learning the past tense of English. I have purposely taught the class slowly rather than cramming as much language learning in as possible in this 7 month curriculum. The students need time to practice what they are learning and for that we are just now getting to the past tense. Yesterday was the first day back at class, and only 2 students showed up besides Yadira and Jaqueline. Yikes! I am starting to relax a bit and it didn´t bother me too much. As Marcela said, people are just starting to get back into their routines after 2 weeks of vacation (all of the schools have 2 weeks off and so their parents often take the time off as well).
My lack of frustration shows that I´m starting to understand the culture a bit more. Also Yadira told me yesterday that I look more Mexican. She said that people don´t stare at me anymore like they did when I first arrived. Must be the tan.
God gave me a good dose of information to process through the interviews I conducted in Camp Cuernavaca, and although I continue to struggle with homesickness, I look to Him to guide me. Please pray for me, that God would give me joy in this ministry and strengthen me. I also have a few praise reports. The church now has electricity, thanks to a donation! The family is also blessed with a new home, thanks to the Octane team. And soon we will seal where the walls meet the floors with tile due to another donation. Lastly, and most importantly, Pastor Luna´s daughter Laura has started coming to church regularly since the Octane team came and left. The impacts that the teams´visits have on people here are profound. Praise the Lord!
1 Comment
April 23, 2009 at 11:26 pm
Kelllll-eeeeee
So great to read your blog again. We missed you! I was wondering how your students did with the visiting Americans. Were they nervous trying to speak English? We are also so anxious to see Yadiras new and improved house. So happy for the family. Hope the computer virus goes away. . . try amoxicillin! We are anxiously awaiting your homecoming in 2ish months.
Love, Aunt Marcy, Brian (now 25 years old), Greg, Kelsey and Freckles—-meow