Estoy aquí en Nogales

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Hola from the border!!! I made it here safely...and with no major problems at all. In fact, traveling here was perfectly enjoyable...minus the 4:15am wake-up call!

I've been catching up with Dave and Sue Thomas since I arrived in Nogales and tonight we'll be joining Dr. Pazos (my Mexican partner) and his family across the border in Nogales, Sonora for dinner. Yesterday Sue and I were able to meet with my Young Adult Volunteer (YAV) site coordinator, Brandon, and one of the other YAVs for lunch. It was exciting finally putting faces with names and talking about the exciting year ahead!! I will be in Tucson this Friday through next Tuesday for YAV orientation, so I'm pretty busy this first week here.

I plan to explain my situation more in-depth once I return from Tucson, but for now I'd like to share my message ("sermon") from last Sunday. I realize many of you heard it, but many of you didn't and I would like to share my final thoughts on language school with everyone. So, here it is......



My five weeks at language school were more perfect than I ever could have anticipated! I was able to fine tune another language in the most nurturing environment, full of people who were really there to help me and really wanted me to succeed….even when I was spitting all over the classroom in hopes of finally rolling my “rrrr’s” (And for those of you who are curious….I still CANNOT do it! But I certainly haven’t stopped trying!!!)

Cuauhnáhuac Language School began in 1972 and it’s clear that in 30+ years they have developed their own highly successful strategy for teaching Spanish. Their textbooks are intensive and thorough and vary so much from textbooks found in a Spanish classroom here in the US that it’s apparent that they were designed and written by native Spanish speakers.

When a student arrives at the school they are given an oral placement exam and based on their results they are placed in a classroom according to their needs. I was extremely pleased to find that I was the only student in my grammar classes the first two weeks, thus allowing me to get the individual attention that I needed. By week 3 when two other students joined my class, I was happy to see that the teachers were still able to give each of us the attention we needed.

In addition to daily grammar classes, each student participated in an hour and a half of conversation class, as well as either a lecture type class (where the themes changed daily) or a situational class that helped one learn what to do in specific scenarios, such as going out to eat, traveling, going to the bank, etc. All these classes combined provided a pretty intensive day of study for students.

However, the learning hardly stopped when the final bell rang at 2:20pm. After-school activities, such as visiting a local orphanage, watching movies, attempting to Salsa or Meringue in dance class, or going on one of the many excursions offered, provided all students with a bigger picture of Mexican culture.

When asked, “What was your favorite part of your experience?” every time I either wind up babbling nonstop for a couple minutes, or I answer with a simple, “I dunno—everything!” I can’t seem to get down one correct answer to the question because there just ISN'T one answer. The school, the excursions, the food, the people, there are just too many categories to draw from. I enjoyed scaling ancient pyramids in the rain, or scaling a mountain with aching blisters on my feet just so I could see a view that a civilization fell in love with thousands of years ago. I took advantage of my Senora’s great culinary skills and never left the table hungry. I enjoyed interacting with the locals, even if it meant making a fool of myself when trying to ask where the Hot Nuts were in the grocery store by asking for “Hoat Noots?!”

To help prepare me to speak this morning to you all, I decided to re-read my blog entries on the Internet. I found my first entry to be the most interesting…perhaps because it was the shortest, unlike all the ones after that! Or perhaps because I was rereading the thoughts of someone different. Someone who had yet to experience 5 weeks in the heart of Mexico. Here’s what I wrote the night before I left:

“I can say 100% that I have clear goals for my time in Cuernavaca. I want to wholeheartedly experience all Mexico has to offer. I want to dive into the language, the culture, the food (big surprise there, right?!), the people. I want to understand new perspectives, opinions, and the influences surrounding and affecting Mexico. I want to spend hours people watching in bustling plazas just for the chance to gain a new perspective. And given the right atmosphere and dance partner....I just may salsa!! Whatever the next five weeks hold for me, I'm ready for it! The good, the bad, the ever difficult verb tenses, whatever. I'm ready.”

I’d like to comment on a few of those goals, starting with the obvious component: the language. I entered language school with a decent foundation in Spanish, thanks to many classes at KU, as well as having had the opportunity to study in Spain one summer and travel to Mexico on many mission trips. However, somewhere over the years I lost a lot of confidence in using the language and forgot many rules and conjugations necessary for speaking more than Spanglish. So I went to Cuauhnáhauc hoping to gain those things and I am pleased to say that I have. I am now once again an eager student, curious and impatient to know and understand all that I hear and read. I’m excited to know that Dave Thomas, current US coordinator at Compañeros en Misión, will act as my personal Spanish tutor these new few months and that my Mexican partner for the next year, Dr. Pazos, is incredibly patient and willing to work with me on my language skills as well. (As you may recall, both men have previously spoken from this pulpit!) As is obvious, my newly enhanced knowledge of Spanish will serve me well as I assume the position of US Coordinator at Compañeros, working with and meeting many Mexicans over the year. I will also do my best to serve as translator for the visiting mission teams.

However, more than just knowledge of the language is essential for the job I’ll be doing. As I had hoped to do during my time at language school, I gained a new appreciation and understanding of Mexico’s rich culture and history. I got to walk the abandoned streets of civilizations that existed so long ago that my mind still can’t grasp it all. I was able to learn things about Mexico’s history, both good and bad, that have shaped the minds of the Mexicans of today. I was able to witness a massive protest in direct response to the political turmoil that still continues to trouble Mexico in the 21st century. I realize it’s impossible to learn everything about a country’s history and culture in 5 weeks, but it’s amazing just how much I did absorb in that time.

And because I absorbed all that I did, I’m thrilled to realize that I have now gained a new comfort zone. Although my comfort level had grown more and more with every mission trip, this experience solidified it for me. I learned the quirks and the ins-and-outs of living there and I feel that understanding will help me in helping visiting mission teams become comfortable in Mexico as well.

I’d like to share with you a scripture that I feel is very appropriate. 1 Peter Chapter 4, versus 10-11 says: Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God’s grace in its various forms. If anyone speaks, he should do it as one speaking the very words of God. If anyone serves, he should do it with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ. To him be the glory and the power for ever and ever. Amen.”

I share this with you because I’ve been told by different people over the past few months that they think it’s great that I’ll be serving in Mexico, but that they could “never do it!” So I’ve thought a lot about the fact that yes, we’re perhaps not all cut out for doing mission work in Mexico. This just happens to be something that possibly I am able to do better than other things. But I haven’t always been aware of that and it took many years of preparation to get me to where I am today. And even after I had years of experience under my belt, it wasn’t until I listened to the calling from God to actually use my talents to make a difference that any of this was possible. So, I ask you, What’s your talent? What gift have you received from God and how can you use it to serve others?? Because we’ve all been given different gifts, but like in the Parable of the talents, if we just bury them, then what good are they?

Finally, thank you so much again for all the support I’ve received. This congregation has been behind me every step of the way, even long before I realized I was being prepared to serve in this fashion. Your interest in my service is greatly appreciated, as have been your donations and your prayers. I look forward to returning here at Christmas time to share all that I will have experienced in the first four months of what I believe will be an amazing year!!! Gracias y Dios les bendiga.

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