Legally Blonde in Mexico...

I have a new roommate.   For the remainder of my trip I will be staying with this girl Janeth.  I've been trying to figure out who she reminded me of and then it hit me like a ton of bricks... I almost fell out of my hammock when i realized it..

This girl is a Mexican Legally Blonde.. She has the chihuahua named and everything. All her words end with  "ita" and "cita" so i spend much of my time going back and trying to figure out the root of the word  to get the meaning. Her chihuahua, Nobilis, (who also answers to Flaco (Skinny) Flaca-cito (really skinny) Precioso (Precious) and Precio-cito (Really, Really Precious) has little outfits that he wears and the color here is a bright blue... She's got clothes to match.

Janeth turns out to be wicked-smart. She wants to study for a year in France some kinda of i can't even explain it, it's beyond my comprehension. So she has to study English because she has to explain her theory to these judges in english to go to France.  Rediculous.  So over breakfast, I had her explain to me what it was...

Quantum Physics.

We go to the Merida Zoo, freakin' HUGE!  Animals I've never seen before in my life. It's incredible! Lions  less than 15 feet from fleshy rams. The fences are short and the animals so close  you could almost reach out and touch them.  Janeth sees the monkeys and tells him a million times that "sabes que tu eres MUY precioso???" Si, tu eres!" Sabes que Dios te ama??" I can't help but laugh.  I don't know if the monkey knows that God loves him but I'm sure he knows now. 

We are going to pain her room tomorrow a bright fusia/pink color.. with a light purple trim and flowers. Wow.

She's super-social and listens to Mozart and Bach.  She tells me that she cried for the first 6 months every time she saw a roach.  

She has absolutly no furniture in her house except two beds and 4 plastic chairs.  She is explaining instructions to me as to how I can make hot water for a shower. It took me 3 weeks to warm up to the idea of taking a cold shower. I gotta light a gas tank outside the house and BAM! fuego... There is no way to adjust water that has just been torched.. I think i'll stick to the cold showers. 

We went running last night and i feel bad because I schooled her and her dog.  She was out of breath before I had even warmed up.  She wants to learn how to run. And we help each other with languages.. I like her a lot. 

Gotta run!

"Nos Vemos"

It's my last day here in the neighborhood. I'm packing  and I can hear throughout the house a group of kids simotaneously shout, "JOTAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!" They want me to come play.

The neighbors are taking endless photos and videos of me like i'm some kind of celebrity.  I have no idea why someone would want a video of me eating breakfast outside..

They found a pool behind a neighbors house and it's a perfect day for going. 8 Pesos for an hour and it's crowded. The group in the pool has 20 minutes left. We'll wait. This will be good. So now i got Beto, Andrea,  Naiby (the girl who burned an N in her hand), two bro-strippers, and their little bro- we call him "Chino" because he looks Chinese..and it's on now...

I don't think i've done so many cannonballs in my life.

My amazing boyfriend Jonathan had sent me some Pop Rocks and i was saving 'em for a good time and this is it. I had a group of Mexicans outside eating pop rocks. I love their expressions. They've never had anything like it.. "Es una fiesta en su boca!"

Antoni couldn't got to the pool with us but his mom bought him a mini pool and are playing with oranges. Regina, a little 4 year old across the street is Jonesin' so she made her dad  bring out a bucket she could play in as a pool. I love this neighborhood.

Ok, so now i have to leave and say goodbye.. I walk over to Antoni's house and cannot even breathe.  Hugs and kisses everywhere and tears streaming down my face. I cannot even speak.  Antoni gives me his beany baby and Angel, the 3 year old that has flicked me off so many times, kisses my cheek now.  Their Abuela who helped us make a kite is writing her address down and crying as well. I've had maybe 2 conversations with her. Antoni is speechless as well. I have not said a single word, just cried.  I get in the car and we are backing out and I see Antoni run to the car with a photo of himself and another of the family.  The pictures are probably 3 years outdated.  I cannot breathe. 

That's all for now.

Mexico things to remember...

It´s so hot that you can´t sleep at night. Just get up and take a cold shower.



The plague of mosquitos that wake you up devouring your flesh.



Roaches the size of an adult shoe. They come out of nowhere.



Never eat a certain spice and drink water. It causes "problems"



Hammocks.... everywhere



Everyone you meet kisses you on the cheek before they leave. Even if they don´t know you.



The buses can get so crowded that the bus drivers just pass people waiting on the side of the road.



Night soccer games.



Mixing up words like, (maquilar, mantequilla)"makeup" or "butter". And i think to myself, "why would she have butter on her face?"



Eating "tamarindos" after we´ve climbed and searched the tree.



The pyramids in the park and watching families play together.



Making kites out of sticks and our attempts to fly them in the field



Corn ice cream



The bonfire singing praise songs under the Mexican stars.



Sombreros



Getting cheated because i´m a gringa.



Roadies with people who don´t speak your language and yet jamming to American music.



Hugging the toilet after hours of puking up. It´s bound to happen in any 3rd world country.



Playing spanish pictionary. I had to have my dictionary by my side. Our team still won!



Watching Mexico play sports. Even the kids have better footwork than anything I´ve seen in the states.



Pijamadas- everyone brings their hammock and camp out in the house like cocoons.



Lime or chili on EVERYTHING



Watching the Lost Boys "break and enter".



Going to a church in a house crowded with Mexico.



Seeing how it was possible to cram 15 people in a car the size of a bug.



Hanging clothes out to dry.



Running the baseball field.



Getting acquainted with scorpions.

More to come...

Party with the Lost Boys

It´s my last day here in this neighborhood before I'm on to the next colony. I´ve been telling the boys about a party a goodbye party i want to have on Saturday.. I don´t remember how many kids i told, because they keep multiplying everyday.. They all konw my name but there are new faces I don´t recognize. It´s weird.

They´ve been asking me what´s on the agenda all week. "Es una sorpresa pero no hay piñata o pastel" We didn´t have money to buy a piñata or cake.

There is a rumbling outside my door. Some have gathered early. "Where are the rest?" Apparently, they are getting ready. Antoni, the 6year old with cancer, has an extra glob of gel in his hair. He´s looking sharp..I tell them to get the others and we´ll start early.. They explode on their bikes and run in all directions telling the others not to take baths first but to come. I love it.

We started the party with the three legged race. It didn´t really work because the culture here is so backwards in thinking that everyone is on their own, there is no such thing as team or working together. They don´t follow rules or directions at all. Chaos. Every single one of them cheated. They carried one another or hopped thru it. I have pictures of boys clinging to the others leg as he carries them. I guess they just decided who was bigger and they would drag the other. One kid ended up getting dragged pretty bad.. The other wouldn´t really stop until he himself tripped over. It´s so hott and their feet are getting burned. What a mess!
We sat them down and gave them fruit freeze popsicles in the shade and Diego talked about how there is a manual for TVs and Cell phones and all sorts of things and there is also a manual for life. He talked about the Bible and gave them the verse 2 Timothy 2:5 "Similarly, if anyone competes as an athlete, he does not receive the victor´s crown unless he competes according to the rules." They seemed pretty attentive.

We went on for a scavenger hunt which I thought would buy me 20 minutes time but it took less than 5. And once again, teams were scattered and everyone was out on their own.

At this point, the neighbors were gathering because of all the noise.

Last thing we had was a waterballoon toss. I had them line up in 2 lines and find a partner, but it was impossibly to get them to follow simple instructions. They don´t know how to play with another. Well, it didn´t take long before all 75 balloons were being pelted across the neighborhood.. Rose and I ran for the house and they followed us, screaming all the way. We need a doctor. Saulo got cut and is bleeding. I had no idea how you can bleed from water balloons except til I found out that Niavi was breaking balloons with a piece of glass. (She recently burned an "N" on her hand. She´s maybe 12.) Rose and Saulo got inside and slammed the door, while I was on the outside with the savages who were trying to bust the door down. Chaos. I felt like Lot for a second when the people were outside his door trying to get inside. But i was laughing.

We gave them these New Testament Bibles which are super cool because they have famous professional athletes and their stories scattered thruout the pages of the Bilbles. Everyone really liked it. Also, we passed out bags of chili covered candy. Everything in Mexico is covered with chili... Fruit, vegetables, yogurt, cereal, shampoo.. ok, i´m exaggerating a bit. But it´s for real here. Anyway, I promised them the biggest, baddest game of soccer going down hott tonight at 8 in the pm. They´re beyond stoked.

Some of them gave me goodbye notes and told me I was their best friend and they all kissed me on the cheek before it was over left. Another girl drew me a picture with a strawberry smelling crayon. The party was exactly one hour.. It felt like 4.

Rose and I had a debriefing period immediately after we locked the doors. It´s over. Wow. We were just discussing in Bible Study on Wednesday how God gave us the 10 Commandments for our protection and freedom and how we enjoy life when we live by the rules. And i just wished these kids could see how much MORE fun they would have if they had played by the rules or worked within the team. How much more we all could have when we listen. ¡Que Dia!

ok...I´m going to bed.

Adventures with the Lost Boys..

Ok, so we´ve all seen the movie Hook, right?

Well, I have a group of kids here that are my lost boys.. Ages 2 to 18, there´s about 12 of them and the numbers grow daily. They call me everyday after they get out of school and call out "JOTA!! JOTA!" (A.J. here is pronounced, "Ah- hota) and ask me, "¿quieres jugar futbal?" We end up playing soccer til about midnight. They never sleep.
So the other day, Rose and Diego had left for the day and I went out to hang with the boys. They tell me that the Virgin is "muy intelligente" and they are so saturated with Catholicism..
Pepo asks me a million times to tell them the story of how i killed Lissandro. They think it´s soo funny.
Anyway, so there i was, goign to play game with the boys and i wasn´t really feeling it because i was hungry, tired, and it was a bit chilly outside. I ran back to the house to grab a sweater and realized that I was locked out. The keys were on the table. It could be hours before Rose and Diego return.
So all the boys gathered together, jumped the roof adn were trying to help me figure a way in.
One girl took a knife to my door and took the handle off, but the way these doors are built in Mexico, it´s like a jailcell.. You ain´t gettin´in.
They rallied some of the other neighbors who tried to bust use other objects to leverage the door. Finally, the girl with the knife brought me a teddy bear for comfort and another kid brought me his moms jacket. I love them all.
All the sudden, I hear a cry in my backyard.. I´m in the front and looking thru the window, I can see what´s happening.. Some of the boys have ripped the window screen and are sending Antoni, the boy with cancer, thru the horizontal bars to the window.. All i can see are legs coming thru the side of the house. He starts to whimper a bit because his head doesn´t fit.. He´s stuck..
What is going on! I was totally fine with waiting and now, i got a band of brothers breaking in teh house and a kid that´s got his head stuck in the window! What a mess!
they got him out and tried to send another kid thru, Antoni´s little brother who was scared out of his mind.. If they did get him thru, he would just end up crying. Not a good idea.
In the meantime, upon Antoni´s safe return to the front of the house, I taught him how to tie his shoes, and some of the other kids, i taught how to step. It was fun. I asked the 2 year old what his favorite color was, adn with all of his motor skills, he turned to me and flicked me off. And Beto, the fat kid, trips while playing soccer and Pepo jumps on him and humps him. They are a mess and I love them so much. They made me french fries and gave me cake. Another kid gave me a plastic Virgin doll thing. They take such great care of me! I love them so much. Please pray for the lost boys.

Roadies and Scorpions

The girls went on a little afternoon retreat to Izamal, "the Yellow CIty". It was pretty rad.. In the AM, we stayed under a straw hut, did devos in español, (which i still struggled to get thru but I think I understood the basics) and sang worship songs.. and how cool was it that we talked about how Jesus paid it all.. We wrote down our own struggles with sin and taped ém to the cross.. And wow, I think i needed to hear it all over again. ¡The gospel brings such life!
We stayed at this womans house who must have been 100 years old. She had a one room house with a hammock and a severely retarded girl about my age staying with her. All she had in her house was a jug of water which she offered to me. It´s hard to take it in sometimes how little these people have and yet they are soo generous.
After the devos, we scampered of to see the cathedral. The whole town is a bright yellow and is just incredible. The cathedral was gorgeous. Except this one room which freaked me the heck out. Rose had told me that in this room was the "Virgin of Cameron" , this life size doll behind a glass wall.. People here believe she´s for real and give her baths and change her clothes and offer her prayers of thier loved ones. I walked in her "room" and just got wicked-creeped out. "Idolos" my friends from church say and Mexico is covered with them. Even the houses have little shrines with christmas lights and candles surrounding.. It´s freaky.
Anyway, i´m back now, to the fullest. In other news, I have a plague of mosquitos in my room. I prettymuch wake up with the pox every morning. Oh and i have a skink that crows like a lost boy in my room and last night, I found the little brother of Carmito (the giant scorpion i found on day one), he was so cute.. I named him Lissandro and took him outside to have a "chat". Killed him with a broomstick.. and today, we put acid in the bathroom to kill the mildew, mold, roaches, worms and ants that swarm the bathroom daily. Wait, should i be telling you this stuff??? Uh, welcome to Mexico...

Puking with a Purpose and a Fiesta Sorpresa!

So there i was, puking my existence up on an empty stomache from 9am til 3:30 the next morning. I was working overtime... I don´t think i´ve ever prayed for the rapture in my life, but wow, that was rediculous. I think i clocked in at about 16x and spent some time laying on the bathroom floor. ( I mean, " da flo´). I am in the Almighty Hands of God.

It hurt to move and hardly ate for the next four days.. Doing better now.. God did his thing thru it though, spoke about prayer and faith and answered a prayer for me to hear from someone I had been praying for..God does what He wants..



So i was getting ready for bed this one night, and then all the sudden a bunch of Mexicans bust thru the door with decorations and a piñata.. It´s a Fiesta Sorpresa for Rose, it being her birthday. I think Diego told everyone while i was puking my guts out so i missed the memo..Anyway, Mexicans party like there´s no tomorrow.. She got there and BAM! Everyone is in song and dance.. These dudes busted out a guitar and violin and were playing love songs.

A white dude, Jim Rumelhart from Athelets in Action, a division of Campus Crusade for Christ came to visit for the day to set up a conference in June. He ended up coming to Rose´s shindig and since I was the only gringa, we became friends. Turns out, the dude knows Dr. Russel who worked in the Sports MEdicine/Rehab for ballerinas at Belhaven.. Dr. Russel was my boss.. HOw freakin´cool is that? Small world..

Anyway, they started to chant my name to break open the piñata.. So i´m gonna tear into it like i´m getting paid for it.. And oh, the glory... WHen i finished, the violinist called me "Million Dollar Baby" and when Jim went for the gold, they chanted "Rocky, Rocky!!" I couldn´t stop laughing.. The night was INSANE!!!! These pèople have such a rich culture and are extremely close.. I love it.

BANGERANG!!

Wow.. So God once again is so faithful, it´s rediculous..



My friends here have soo much drama with their 100 year old computer crashing all the time, but it looks like that they have enough now to buy a new computer! How amazing!



THings are starting to look a bit better here.. First couple of weeks were kinda rough.. I have absolutly no problem eating cereal with ants in it, or brushing my hair with a fork or having a huge scorpion lurking in my room... I think it was just a few other things on my mind..

Anyhoo, the update:

Friday night was cool. I went to a conference: Los Cinco Lenguajes de Amor (The 5 Love Languages). All in spanish.. The jam.. I had the opportunity to eat out with the speakers. They are locals here to Merida and he is a pastor to a presbyterian church. All the locals said that they spoke soo slow during the conference, but GOd knows that was for me! my spanish is still pretty malo..



Saturday morning we were out of the house by 5.30am to hunt for pajaros.. We went to a field and let these birds do the rest. We took the birds in their cages and placed them out in teh fields and waited... These types of birds are super territorial and the ones we had were trained, so it usually is pretty easy. THe other birds get angry because there´s a newbie in the area. So they just fly over and jump in the cages. and Boom, Baby! Pajaros. Nobody ever kills the birds; you just catch them and let them go (although some people make a living off of catching these birds). They´re a bit bigger than finches and absolutely gorgeous.



After that, went to see Mexican soccer live. These guys are machines. Playing out in the heat for hours without water.. It´s rediculous.. Our team won though. We schooled those punks like we were gettin pesos for it.

Had a dance party in this girls house.. I think the dance parties will continue because i keep getting requests for tha Salsa.

Our connection here to Campus Crusade for Christ hosts church services at their house.. THey dug up a keyboard for me and i´ll be playing this Sunday.. Chopper, the guitarist, introduced some Spanish songs and helped translate the chords- even the music is read differently here! Turns out that a lot of Mexicans know Christian artists from los Estados Unidos.. Toby Mac, Jars of Clay and my personal favorite, Jeremy Camp. One of the guys here calls me "Amy Grant"

I made a new friend and she took me out for ice cream.. Corn icecream!! it was Insane! REmember the movie NACHO LIBRE... Yeah, it was just like that..



I´ve been chewing on this verse recently:

The LORD will fulfill his purpose for me;

your love, O LORD, endures forever-

do not abandon the work of your hands.

Psalm 138:8

Thanks again for hanging out with me.. I miss you all.

PLEASE HELP!!!!!

WOah!

SO God totally provides!!!

My friends here are minisionaries right, and as missionaries they have to trust GOd completely with everything.. even finances... especially finances.

SO they find out tonight that they are only $300 ollars away from being OFFICIALLY full time missionaries!!!!


If you would have it in your heart to donate , they would OFFICIALLY freak out!

Go to the campus crusade for christ international web site, under the search menu type in DIEGO SOSA and donate to staff. Their staff ID #2760272

It would be MOST EXCELLENT if they could be full time so they could finally devote their time to the ministry!

WOW I can´t breathe! PLEASE HELP!

Wait, WHAT?!?! I don´t understand these things....

My last half of the blog was deleted cuz i talk too much.. I was really droppin the hammer.. I´ll sum it up.

My most excellent boyfriend (hug him if you see him) encouraged me today with this before the computer crashed:

"Do not be afraid, Daniel. Since the first day that you set your mind to gain unmderstanding and to humble yourelf before your God, your words were heard, and Ihave come in response to them...." Daniel 10:12

And I want that to be me.. To trust HIm even in the dry times. To know his plan can be known, to KNOW Him and make Him KNOWN in the short time i´m here.

"I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. I pray also that they eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order taht you may known the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and his incomparably grea power for us who believe..." -Ephesians 1:17-19

I guess i´ll finish with this (shout out to the ´havenites!)

"No eye has seen,

No ear has heard,

No mind has conceived,

What God has prepared for those who love Him."

1 Corinthians 2:9

Adios

Come Apart or Come A-WHAT?!?!?

Ok,
So the church I go to en los Estados Unidos (www. calvaryccm.com) is doing a series on how each of us should take time to get away with God or be lost in our own desperate lives.. And Í´ve been chewin´on this recently:

" GOd is our anchor,refuge and strength,our ever-present help in trouble. Therefore, we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea." and it goes on to say, "Be still and know that I am GOd" Psalm 46:1-2,10

And I seriously want to know God. and there are things i struggle with even now in different country that I just beg for God to illuminate so that HE would be made great in this situation.

I feel like i´m in a different country, taking a step back from American life and "coming apart" with the intention to know HIs will and yet there are distractions all up in my grill..I am so desperate to hear the voice of GOd.

I don´t want to waste my time or my life for that matter on things that are lethally distracting and superficial. . I´m over it.

God´s purpose for my life was that I have a passion for God´s glory and that I have a passion for my joy in that glory and that these two are one passion. The wasted life is the life without a passion for the supremacy of God in all things for the joy of all peoples. ...We waste our lives when we do not pray and think and dream adn plan and work toward magnifying God in all spheres of life. ...Love has to do with showing a dying sould the life-giving beauty of the glory of God. - John Piper, Don´t Waste Your Life

Un otro dia, Un otro peso

I just got schooled by a bunch of 4 year olds..


I actually thought i was decent enough in Spanish til I hung around these kids in SUnday school. They worked me so bad i wanted to cry all the way back to los Estados Unidos.. I was depressed for awhile but i´m back in the game, baby!

I was treated like a true gringa yesterday in el centro. I bought a small purse for more than any local would pay.. It´s a scam.. Because i´m white.. THe injustice of it all..
I had the chance to walk thru this HUGE Cathedral with actual people inside of it. They had gregorian chants playing - it was super cool until the priest started to speak, in this monotonous way over the speakers, i couldn´t understand but it seemed almost like brainwashing.. Please take no offense...

That´s all for now.. tell my mother i love her.

AJ

Dias longas en Mexico

Well, Hello my good amigos. I´m glad you´ve taken the time out from the American lifestyle to spend a little time with me..Gracias.

I´ve been encouraged to do one of these blog things but I really have no idea what i´m doing..

I sleep in a hammock. I eat in 3 meals what consists easily of 1 meal en los Estados Unidos.. I miss Jonathan terribly. I had a star party with a bonfire completed with 8 Mexicans singing praise songs.

I¨M staying out here in Merida with a good amiga from Belhaven days. She married a local here and they are working with Campus Crusade for Christ - with Athletes in Action. Diego, Rose´s husband, is basically a chaplain for the baseball teams and I believe they are working on a soccer team as well.. He is a spiritual supporter and counselor to these guys who are so lost.. GUys play ball here. To the point that it rips marriages apart.. It´s very highly esteemed for them. The women aren´t so happy..

I´v been trying to learn this language.. It´s more difficult thatn i thought.. but ´what´s a little discomfort when I think God has much to say to me in this time..

I´ll try to keep these blogs supershort because I´ve always had a short attention span myself.

Things to pray for:

My friend Rose today got a phone call. Her friend was killed in Iraq and their families were very close.. Pray for Julia (this boy´s twin sister) and the entire family. Their dad has already died. IT´s a mess.

Also, please about supporting my friends here.. They are sooo very close to reaching their funding goal so that they can be full time missionaries.. THey spend a lot of time with appointments trying to raise the money. If they can meet their goal, they can be more focused and do more in the ministry. I believe they are only a few hundred dollars away and it´s taken them quite some time.

and if you´re still in teh prayer zone, I´d like to learn this language and so far, hardly anything is sticking. It´s getting discouraging. I want to stay focused and really hear what God is saying to me in whatever language that is...

Thank you for your time.. Please keep me posted with teh lasted happenings with you..

i love you all.

Amy