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Published: January 11th 2011
Well, its now Monday night. We made it through the first weekend, not to mention the church opening! There have been a lot of changes over the last few days! Its been really neat to get to meet the people working here at Casa Hogar and the children that this ministry is affecting directly.
To those of you who were wondering, our bags did make it in! Leah and I took a trip back into Oaxaca city with Ian on Friday night. Friday was actually quite the eventful day! We met with Janelle and Jill in the morning and they gave us a run down on the home, the procedures and our new jobs. Before we came, we had been told that I would be handling groups and Leah would be in charge of sponsorship. Well, that got swapped. Because one of the biggest roles with sponsorship is translation, Janelle moved me over to that since I have a bit more experience with Spanish. (Not much though - I was doing some translation today and I felt like my brain was gonna explode! Talk about 5 hours of Spanish homework! haha) Once I get the hang of things and get everything with the kids updated, the sponsorship won't end up taking me all day to complete. Therefore, I will also be helping out when groups come to visit. Leah and I will be going on all the outings with the groups, picking them up from the airport, working with Enrique to set up visits to the prisons and all sorts of stuff. And yes, that means lots of driving in Oaxaca! AHHH!!!! (There's a big prayer request there - for safety and protection. Janelle said though that in the 3 years of being here and driving here, they have only ever been in fender benders and that nothing bad has happened. God's protection has definitely been with the home and their many vehicles)
After getting the rundown on our basic roles, Leah and I dove right into cleaning the visitors center. Friday's task: bathrooms. Gah! 4 really dirty toilets, showers and sinks later, we have clean bathrooms ready for visitors (not to mention us - since we share a room in the visitor's center) That job literally took all day - with a break at around 1 for lunch.
The last few days we have been sitting with Estela and the muchachas (teenage girls). Estela was one of the girls we met in Morelia. On Friday morning after devotions, she showed me a picture in her Bible of she, Leah, her sister Celia and I from our trip to Morelia. It was so amazing and warmed my heart like nothing else. It has been neat talking with her over the last few days and getting to know her as a young lady. She is now 19 and studying hard. She wants to be a translator and work with languages. Her English is actually very good, but she speaks with me in my very broken Spanish to help me learn. Sometimes I get laughed at (like when I say cabaillo instead of cabeillo - horse instead of hair. Oops!) but on the whole, its been great.
On Friday night, we went into the city with Ian to get our bags. Ian and his wife Elaine are a Canadian couple who have been serving here for the last 8 years. He was great to talk to because he knows the area so well. We were able to talk about the culture and how the city functions and all sorts of stuff. He also had to make a stop and pick up some traditional black pottery that was made for the home, which means we got to drive right into the area where there are shops everywhere! So much intricate pottery. It was really neat to see. We're definitely going to have to go back so we can browse! After that stop, we went back to grab our bags...and of course they made us clear customs again! So ridiculous. Ah well. I got my shampoo and my pyjamas. I was a happy girl! Its the little things in life eh?
After the airport stop, we went to Sam's Club - where we bought a massive box of cereal for like 2.50$. Justin would have been in his glory - especially since it was a 3 pack of Trix, Coco Puffs and Lucky Charms. Amazing.
By the time we got out of there, it was like 9pm...and Iwas kinda starving. Ian had given us the option of getting food at Sam's or going to El Berguesa Carbon - this crazy burger joint. So clearly I opted for that one! We got these guacamole burgers which were grilled up with queso (cheese) and ham and spicy jalapeno peppers. YUM! It was a good night.
Saturday was pretty chill. Not too much happens on Saturdays - and honestly it was kinda nice to chill. I made some verb flash cards. The sooner I can pick up this language the better!
Sunday was the dedication of the church in Tlacolula. It was quite the service! All 4.5 hours of it! The pastor talked for about 2 hours. No joke. And I didnt understand a word! haha. Thankfully I had one of the girls Alicia sitting with me and each time there was a scripture reference, she would just take my Bible and flip to it for me. I also had one of the younger girls, Sol, pass right out in my lap. Too cute! I have to say though, the music was pretty awesome. The started with How Great Is Our God, which was so amazing. It was a really neat experience - to be in Mexico while everyone is singing in Spanish and to be able to sing in English, knowing our hearts are focus in the same way worshiping together. Music gets me though. Its a language all on its own - so powerful.
After church there was a big lunch, which I ate with 5 year old Julio sitting my my lap the whole time. We were joking that the table we ended up at was the Cuna table (nursery table) we had all the young ones. It was good though.
Sunday night Leah and I went over to babysit Celina (she is a 2.5 year old girl that Jill is in the process of adopting) She calls Leah and I her muchachas. Too cute! So we hung out with her in the afternoon/evening and Estela came and joined us, which was great. When everyone got back, we just hung out and joked with Estela and Yoli (another girl we met in Morelia) in Spanglish. It was a great night actually - really good to start feeling comfortable with the people I am going to be spending the next year of my life with! haha
Today was another productive one. I got started with Sponsorship stuff - which means a spent a good chunk of time translating. One of the other things I will be doing regularly is heading into the post office to mail letter/pick them up. So with that in mind, Janelle thought today was a good day to learn where it was and to have me drive there! Ahh! On top of that, I took the Urvan, which is a 15 passenger skinny van. It is standard though. That was fun. haha. Practice makes perfect! haha
Tomorrow should be another eventful day. We are headed to the Zokolo in the evening (center of Oaxaca). Plus I have about 8 more cards to translate! That means I have reached bed time for tonight! (plus, if I dont make breakfast, I dont get coffee! We all know how tragic that is!)
Until next time!
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anonymous
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Hi Jess! Your blogging is great! Sounds like you have been thrown right into the thick of things! Shana will be glad to know what an expert on cleaning bathrooms you have become!!! I can still hear Uncle Paul's words echoing in my ears the last time you were here....NO DRIVING IN MEXICO! Ah well...I guess God has other plans for you. : ) We will increase the praying power...especially for those driving trips. All is well here. I did get skype set up so it would be great to chat with you live sometime. Let me know what is a good time for you and we will try to co-ordinate that. We brought Grandma and Grandpa Saunders here on sunday for a two week stay. They had been sitting in their apt not doing ANYTHING for over a week. Ever since the all nighter at the hospital a week ago, Mom decided that life wasnt worth living and just wanted to "go". That's what she told Paul when he went down last saturday to see them. She was sittting on the sofa moaning and groaning and rocking. They wouldnt watch tv, listen to music, read, knit or go down to the dining hall for dinner. Mom hadn't eaten a meal in over a week. So we packed them up and brought them here. They are doing great so far. She keeps saying she is going to throw up every time she eats and wants the bucket beside her, but wonders of wonders, she has eaten every full meal so far and NOT thrown up! Shana did remind me its where the "drama queen" genes come from in our family! So we have them all set up downstairs (they stay down there as we had to get Grandma down there on her bum) and I have NO idea how we are going to get her back up! I take them their meals and check on them, but otherwise go about my own daily routine as if they weren't there. It does mean it will be alittle more crowded whenever someone else comes to stay, but oh well! We are all family right? I looked at flights already to Mexico City and the cheapest I could find were over $500....for June.....I already have a trip planned down east for the end of May with Aunt Kath to go and see Uncle Kevin. Maybe in September! I would love to bring Shana with me too! I am going to be doing a lot of praying in the meantime as God will have to work all this out if it is going to happen...in the meantime thank goodness we live in a day and age where communication is so "instant"! keep the blog coming..it is so much fun to read! I have printed it off too for Grandma and Grandpa to enjoy! love you honey...give a hug to Leah.