February 28, 2006
A Selfless People
posted by Mackenzi
A tiny poor ejido (Spanish for a small town) hosts the meeting of the surrounding and wealthier churches, providing and making two meals for more than fifty people.
A teenage boy whose not well-to-do father buys him a brand new motorcycle and he willing lends this treasured possession to friends and family even after one of them accidentally hurts it. A teenager, who at times does not even have the money for a bus ticket home from music school to come see his family, insists on paying for his wealthier friends’ meals. A young man hits a pole with his brother’s car and his brother lets him drive it again. A woman, whose family owns a taco stand to make a living, invites two girls to eat potatoes at her taco stand since she rarely has them, and then she gives the richer girls tacos and Cokes to go along with them and wouldn’t let them pay for them. All of these are examples of the selfless Christians in Jaumave who give of themselves and their belongings. I’ve wondered if I will ever be able to be as unselfish as them and I’m ashamed of how much I hold onto my earthly possessions. They have the right attitude about what is important. I have yet to meet a Christian in Jaumave who wasn’t willing to share and it seems that their giving spirit is endless. People are more important than things and the witness of the Christians in Jaumave is very strong in following the verse "Freely you have received, freely give" (Matthew 10:8)
February 21, 2006
Pepe de Leon
posted by Randy
Our brother, friend, and pastor – Pepe de Leon:
God has blessed me/us so much with Pepe. He is a wonderful, godly servant of God who regularly and gladly gives literally everything he has to those around him. His faith is really amazing and wonderful to watch. Pepe’s focus is on ministering and giving the gospel to those with whom he comes in contact. God lead me to Pepe before we moved here. God had made it clear that I needed to find the Christian leader in our area with the exceptional integrity and good connections. After asking the local American missionaries and the local Mexican Christians, God made it abundantly and unanimously clear that Pepe was the man who would help guide us through many important decisions and help us with important contacts. Not only is Pepe our loving pastor, but he is the one who introduced me to and suggested the two godly managers of our door manufacturing plant. He continues to come 1-2 times per week and lead our daily devotions. He also shows up from time to time and visits with our employees. You can count on Pepe to look, listen (to the person and the Holy Spirit), and gently share Christ with them. He works tirelessly for our Lord. We praise God and are inspired by Pepe.
February 14, 2006
My Changed Life
posted by German
My name is German Antonio Castro de Leon and I am 17 years old.
Before I started working here I was the kind of person that did not like to hear any advice from others, and I did not care what I believed. But little by little and with help from the Word I have changed my life and it keeps on changing day by day.
Cuando ingrese aqui era totalmente inconverso me valia por lo que yo creia pero poco a poco y con ayuda de la palabra fui moldeundo mi vida y lo sigo haciendo dia a dia.
February 07, 2006
Sharing an Evening
posted by David
Edna and Erika, my workmates, and Erika's precious 23 month-old Alex, came over for dinner tonight. Edna is our M.D. translator who obviously speaks good English (she can even understand Tim's East Texas idioms!). Erika is our office manager and a single mom living with her parents. She studied English at university and can understand quite a bit but only speaks about as much English as I do Spanish, so Edna's translating duties carried over into the time.
I think we were all excited about seeing the two boys playing together. Jesse just had a really good time with his second cousin Gabe over Christmas so was a little primed for the meeting. Edna and I arrived a few minutes late from work to find the two boys feeling each other out in a delightful display of curiosity and play. We looked at books in English and Spanish, played with balls (with Alex calling out "GOAL" with every kick!) and toy farm animals. I pray that a real relationship develops between the two.
Erika, accepted Christ several weeks after joining the team and has been a wonderful picture of transformation over these last months. Before she joined us she was working in the capital, about 45 minutes away, while Alex stayed with her parents here in town and the two only had time together on the weekends. She's a rocket, really sharp and usually "on," keeping up with the many details of our various businesses and pushing ahead with all of the "next steps." We would not have had the success that we have without her. It was probably a bit of a struggle for her to really relax tonight, especially with Alex exploring as a young boy should, but I think she had a good time. (Edna told me that she teasingly told Erika a couple days ago that she should make sure that Alex didn't push Jesse or she might be in trouble with me. Edna told me today that since then Erika has been training him to not push!) We certainly enjoyed her presence.
Our friendship with Edna continues to grow, even though we haven't spent much time together outside of work—I think this was only the third time that Madeleine and she have hung out. We're so grateful for her beautiful spirit as well as her insight into the culture. 2005 was a really hard year for her physically, with a lot of doctor visits and even hospital stays. She told me recently that because of the drugs that the doctors have had her on she's gained over 40 pounds over the year—she was evidently very thin before all this happened. I got to meet her two sisters, both older, several weeks ago. They both speak very good English; in fact they both teach English. Then, last week, during a surprise visit, I got to meet her dad, a gentleman by all accounts. I am grateful for Edna's presence in our lives.
None of us shared deeply or even started notable conversations, but it was a really good time. It's just nice to be known a little bit and to know in return, to hear from "the locals" that our family has a place here. I'm probably being a bit dramatic, but tonight it feels this significant.
We continue to be grateful to be here. After this last trip to the 'States, our longest yet, the transition back home was the easiest yet. I was actually a little concerned coming back—I was ready to return to our rhythms here and the beauty and the lack of options and activity, but I was very aware of the lack of developed beauty: architecture, coffee shops, bookstores, thoughtful design, good food, and so on. I find I've been chewing more gum and sunflower seeds, and ordering various loose ends, but the deeper beauty consistently outweighs the lacking hospitalities, and the tostadas really are pretty good. As is the case for us all, it seems, it is in the absence of apparently unnecessary "needs" that our roots deepen and we discover new elements of our homes and even ourselves.
January 03, 2006
Rossy
posted by Susan
When I came to Mexico, I was looking forward to my life slowing down even though we would be experiencing a big change. However, when I pictured "slow", I was envisioning a more relaxed lifestyle not that everything would take longer.
Along with my normal responsibilities of home schooling six, mothering seven, supporting & loving my husband, and managing our household (to name a few), Mexico was a whole new experience. For example, trying to improve my very basic Spanish skills and helping our children learn a whole new language was a job all in itself. Then there were the unique cultural differences of a small town in Mexico. I could no longer give someone a quick call to ask a simple question because most of our friends did not have phones. It was necessary to go to their home and then, of course, graciously be invited in, sit down to visit, and finally get around to the simple question - all of this in my broken Spanish and with my comprehension impairment. To say the least my days quickly filled and my slower paced life was only a mirage.
Then came Rossy - our blessing from God. Rossy is the wonderful lady who takes a load (no pun intended) off of us and makes life more manageable in this foreign culture. Not only does she help us to cook, to clean our home, and to do laundry, but she loves our family. Rossy is in her early forties, a mother of one adult daughter, a grandmother to her 18 month old "nieta", speaks only Spanish, and a diligent worker. I couldn't have asked for anyone better.
With Rossy's patience and sense of humor (a must considering our large family and our limited Spanish), she quickly became a part of our family. Being widowed at age 25 and living alone now, she enjoys the noise, constant talking, playing and even arguing at our house when compared to her quiet home. She loves the attention from Olivia (four years old) who always wants Rossy to play when she is working and continually calls "Ven! Ven! Rossy!" (Come! Come!) We're trying to train Olivia to ask, not tell and encourage Rossy to say no more often. :)
Not only have we enjoyed Rossy's company, but we have also been the happy recipients of her delicious cooking-mmmm! Something always smells good when Rossy is in the kitchen. Our favorites are her homemade tamales, Spanish rice, pico de gallo, salsa and frijoles charros! She has also enjoyed learning to make some of our dishes including lasagna which seems to be many of the Mexicans' favorite of our "American" dishes.
Besides her wonderful culinary skills, Rossy’s patience when speaking Spanish with us is so appreciated. She gently corrects our Spanish and patiently waits for me to get my thoughts into words (and you thought it took me a long time to get my English thoughts out.) She also purposefully speaks very slowly and thinks of alternative and simple ways to express and describe ideas. Because of the large amount of time she spends with us, she has been known to slip into this strange way of speaking even with other Mexicans. Recently, Rossy was with her adult daughter at a store, and after Rossy asked a clerk something, her daughter looked very puzzled. "Why are you speaking like that?" she inquired when Rossy had spoken very slowly with very simple words as she does with us. When Rossy relayed the story to me, she had a really good laugh. She is definitely turning into one of us. :)
Although living in Mexico can definitely have its challenges, Rossy has made our transition into a new culture so much easier. Her friendship and great contribution in assisting us with our Spanish and in helping run our home is a blessing that I don't take for granted. And yes, our lives have become a little slower paced but even more so we thank God for the privilege of having Rossy in our lives.
October 26, 2005
Learning to Count My Blessings
posted by Mackenzi
When we first moved to Mexico I was determined not to make any really good friends because I did not want to “get stuck” here or to get hurt when I moved back to Texas when I finished high school. I tried to be friendly, but to hold people at arm’s length, which was not very hard since I hardly spoke or understood any Spanish.
Occasionally it was hard to not have any close friends, especially after Heather Daniels (a summer intern who shared a house with me) went back to the States to continue college. While Heather was here, she introduced me to our church youth group and we hung out with them more than I had previously. It was around that time that I decided that I could not stand not having better friends any more. I had been studying Spanish for high school during that year and listening when I was around the Mexicans so I could now understand a lot of what was being said even though I still could hardly speak it at all. I began spending more and more time with the Mexicans that I knew and listening to them talk amongst themselves, began understanding more of the sermons at church and actually wanting to go to church and listen and try to understand.
It is truly touching to see how much many of the Mexicans care about the other Americans and I. The way that they reached out to me, even when I was holding back, showed such unconditional love. Sometimes it even gets annoying how much they try to include us; they often say “talk about anything…. in Spanish!” or “sing something for us! We promise we won’t laugh and you can do it in English!” I do not like to sing for other people alone and I can still hardly speak in Spanish so I refuse but they are usually very persistent. Though my understanding of Spanish is very limited, we work with it, their broken English and my very little Spanish and can usually communicate what we want to. Their patience with our Spanish is amazing and they are very careful to not laugh at us, no matter how bad our Spanish is. Spending time with them is very refreshing and enjoyable. In a small town, they have to create their own fun and more often than not it is more entertaining than anything you could do in a bigger town. It ranges from renting a movie and talking to each other through the whole thing to cramming ten people into a 7 passenger mini-van to drive across town and during that time learning that one of the 18-year old guys can scream like a girl if he wants to. There are things that are not enjoyable about the Mexican youth as there is anywhere but overall the Christian youth here are a great blessing to me.