In March of that year my family and I went to visit our good friends the Prices in ha, guess where? Yeah, Mexico! We stayed with them for one week and had a blast…and a lot of tacos during our visit. When we were back at home, my parents told us that the Lord was calling our family to move to ha, guess where? Yeah, Mexico! So, we started packing and by the end of May, my completely white, non-Spanish speaking family was living in ha, guess where? Yeah, Mexico!
While my family was already here, I stayed behind in Boerne to finish up a ballet performance with my dance school. I was staying with some close friends who toted me to and from all of my classes and rehearsals every day. During that time I was trying to eat as much American food, see as many movies, hang out with as many friends, and talk up my cell phone to death as much as possible. I was having an extreme disinterest in the whole moving to a foreign country with no cell phone thing. Haha. I was really not looking forward to going. After the first week in June I was off to the same place I had formerly named “one of the dumbest places in the world to live”.
I have now been here in Mexico almost seven months. Whoever said “the older you get the more time flies” apparently never moved to Mexico! I celebrated my seventeenth birthday only two months ago an already it feels like my twentieth should be next. I have experienced so much since coming here, some bad things like; insane homesickness, racism, language barrier, doing without, and having to miss friends and family immensely. But at the same time the truth in the Bible where it says that “in all things God works for the good of those that love him” (Romans 8:28) has come shining through. I do love Him, and through missing my family and friends I realize how blessed I am to have them (you) to be there for me, to always love me no matter what crazy things I do! He has also given me a lot of new friends here. The doing without has made me extremely appreciative of what I do have and to be able to really play the “lean on me” game with God, and trust Him completely –even without having my cell phone or ballet! The language barrier…haha! There are some funny moments for you! Racism has been a really weird thing to deal with because it is not a prominent thing in the U.S. anymore. It is hard to be walking down the street followed by odd stares, ripped off (money-wise), or mistreated just for being white. It makes me so conscious of how pathetically shallow people are, and that no matter where you go all people have issues! (Yes, I’m definitely included) haha! And God is so much bigger than that but He still loves us all anyways!
After all of these things build up, before I know it I am feeling so so so homesick! For my friends, family, country, Pizza Hut, ballet, English, grass haha….just everything! But then I have to remember that this whole little earth no matter where I live is only a temporary home for me. My real home that I will never have to move away from or be a random white kid is in Heaven!
After having experienced Mexico so um, profoundly, I think I now have the ability to properly define it as I did a year ago…….Yeah, I would definitely say it’s one of the dumbest places in the world to live! Where else could you live and see random horses and donkeys in your from yard? (happened this morning) Or have road signs that say “obey the signs” haha! Yes, it is pretty dumb….But we cannot forget about Kansas. Ha, guess who lives there now? Yeah, Rachel!