Hopeful

Friday, we were thankful for the opportunity to sleep in a bit before we headed over to church for the black Friday service. As we drove up to the church, memories flooded my mind. About 7 years ago, I had gone to this church and then again 5 years ago. Things looked a little different, but there was no mistaking it. Good memories and friendships came back to me as I remembered the different times I had been here. We went into the auditorium and the first thing Lauren said to me was, “WOW, I haven’t heard this much English since we were in the States! There are so many Americans!” She was right. This was an English church. Although I have enjoyed the Spanish churches and translations, there was something about coming here and worshipping in my language. I had never been to a black Friday service, but it was incredible. I was reminded of the time when Christ had died. It seemed like all hope was gone for the world. The one man who was able to save the human race was now dead. But at the end of the service, the pastor said one thing, “But there is still hope, Sunday is coming!” What hope we have. Christ came, died, and rose again. There remains hope that He will come again. This hope is not a fading hope or a hope that He “might” come again. It is a sure hope. He WILL come again.
April 2, 2010

The Big City

Well, Ladies and Gents, it has been rather difficult to blog these last few days, so here we will have a summary of the latest events. On Wednesday, we woke up, ready to head out to the zoo. We made a quick, but necessary stop at starbucks to start the day off right. At the largest zoo in Mexico, we enjoyed exploring and finding all the different kinds of animals. Of course, whenever I am at the zoo, I am reminded of Madagascar and constantly sing the songs to Lauren, especially when we get to the hippos. We enjoyed a bird/reptile show with a young man who was the Mexican version of our friend, Evan. Although I must say that my appetite was lessened by seeing a large hawk eat a rat. There are just some things that I don’t handle so well. On our little trip to the zoo, we got to explore the safari ride. As we climbed into the truck, the person at the closest end was given a handful of carrots. Lauren and I felt a little bit cheated since we ended up with 2 pitiful pieces of carrot, while the man at the end had hands full of carrots. It was neat to see all of the animals up close, drinking from the watering hole, and feeding the giraffes. This was probably our favorite part of our whole zoo adventure. We were beat after going to the zoo, went home, and Vick talked us into watching a movie. I never grow tired of watching Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs. After much packing, we were finally ready. We woke up early on that beautiful Thursday morning. We were filled with sadness because of having to leave our friends, students, and families, but also filled with excitement for the next week. As we drove to the airport, I was reminded of the beauty of God’s creation. The beautiful, shining, bright sun came up over the dark mountains, filling the sky with radiant color and wisped clouds. We easily got through the airport and boarded our plane. When we got to DF (Mexico City), we were exhausted from the early morning, adrenalin, and the mixed emotions. Thankfully, our family, the Waguespacks, had not planned anything immediate and we were able to take a much-needed nap. After our nap, we went exploring with Marianne and her friend, also an MK. Within walking distance is a little town called Coyocan. Coyocan is the kind of place that makes you forget all about the “big city” and relax. We did lauren’s favorite thing and did a little bit of shopping, then proceeded onto the coffee shop. When I first went to Mexico City, I thought their hot chocolate was just weird, but now I have grown accustomed to it and would choose it over the American hot chocolate any day. Well, here in Coyocan, they had cold chocolate (icy) and boy was it delicious! From there, we introduced Lauren to churros, which were out of this world. This day was just a start to our big adventure in Mexico City.

Continental breakfast

Well we got up bright and early, at the break of dawn. We woke up nice and early at 6:30 and started the day with showers and breakfast. We had been lured into the continental breakfast by looking at the enticing pictures on the website for our hostal. As we excitedly (and tiredly) ran downstairs, we were surprised to find two kinds of flake cereal, 1 tub of yogurt, bread, fake orange juice, powdered milk, and not-so-great coffee. Anyway, as Lauren ate her “fish” flakes, I determined to make things better by asking her how her scrambled eggs and ham were with her freshly ground coffee, accompanied by freshly squeezed orange juice. We carried on in this fashion until we were laughing quite hysterically at our rather pitiful breakfast. Let’s just say that Lauren was none to happy with me for making her wake up at 6:30 in the morning for “fish” flakes.
On we went with our tour guide of the day, Juan Manuel, who I believe was previously a body guard. How exciting. First thing on our list for the day was Barranca Oblatos. We took 2 buses and walked a while till we stood on the very top of this mountain. From there, we could see a beautiful view of all the mountains around and the plants, flowers, and rocks below. At the top, there were a couple of small stands with people selling things. Naturally, Lauren and I wanted to see what they were. When we saw the sign: “Coconuts: 30 pesos,” naturally, we (being Americans) did not realize that this meant the WHOLE coconut. So basically, we ended up with far more coconut and coconut juice than we really wanted. But can I just say, coconut with chile y limon is absolutely totally and completely out of this world. Delicious!
From there, we went down the mountain and after an hour of traveling down the mountain, we decided to hike back up it. Needless to say it was a little bit harder and took just a little bit longer than the way down. Beautiful scenery though. It was absolutely gorgeous! After our 3 hour hike, we were exhausted and ready to go back.
Once we got to our hotel room, we decided to go on a little adventure to find lunch and go to the center (shopping of course!). By the end of the day, we were totally and completely exhausted from our long wonderful day.
3/30/10

Surprise!

Monday morning as I continued packing my things, it was impossible not to feel a little bit of sadness. Tita, my dear friend was leaving for camp and I would be leaving the house and going to a hostal. We had made memories last night by getting Bionicos for the last time together and took pictures. She packed her things and I packed mine. We said our sad goodbyes and we both left. She left for camp, Vicktor and I both left to pick up Lauren and her teacher, Tammi. Off to Chapala we went. After picking up Lauren at her house, we stopped for a little treat. For a week, Vicktor had been telling me, “Before you leave, you HAVE to have tortas ahogadas!” Vicktor ordered for me and Lauren and we had our tortas. It’s like a bread and meat soaked in a sauce. It was good, just like all the food in Mexico! It was so filling though, neither of us could finish. As we were getting ready to leave, Lauren grabbed her pepsi bottle and asked, “can I take this?” I had no idea, so I said, “I’m sure you can.” Well, as we drove in the car, we handed Vick his pain meds for his headache and Lauren offered her pepsi bottle. If only you could see the look on Vick’s face. Lauren had obviously stolen the pepsi bottle. Who knew you were supposed to leave the bottles!? Lauren asked, “should we go back and return it?” Vicktor’s only response was, “You’d better pray and ask forgiveness for that stolen pepsi bottle!” After the adventure of the stolen pepsi bottle, we continued on to pick up Tammi and headed for Chapala. Vicktor let us off by the water, and Lauren, Tammi and I proceeded to shop till we were ready to drop. We sat for a while and enjoyed the beauty of the lake. It was such a gorgeous day. At the end, it was beautiful to see the sun going down over the mountains and the lake.

We headed back for Guadalajara and Vick took us to our hostal near the centro. As we pulled up to where the hostal was, we all looked around and thought the same thing, Tammi was the only one who voiced it as she said, “are you serious?” and we all thought one word, “SKETCH!” We lugged all of our belongings to the hostal, signed in, found out it was far more than we expected, and dragged all of our things past the creepy man in the dining area to our room upstairs. Little did we know what surprise would wait for us. Vicktor, Tammi, Lauren, and I could hardly fit in the room together with all of our luggage. We all looked at each other and laughed a nervous laugh. We opened all the windows to our hot little room and continued to bring all of our things in and get settled. As Vicktor and Tammi started out, we stood at the door and watched, sadly longing for them not to leave us. We eventually left the doorway and headed back up. I will say that it was quite a relief to do our laundry, to have a nice, clean room, and some privacy. Let’s just say that Lauren and I drowned our sorrows in laughter…
March 29, 2010

In time for a surprise

Little did I know that Sunday, as I waited for the church bus to come, that this would be no ordinary bus, and no ordinary Sunday. As our big yellow bus pulled up to the curb, I was surprised to see the words, “South Carolina Public Schools” inscribed on the side. I was ready to die of laughter right there and then, at the street corner. Who would have thought that I would have been climbing in a SC school bus in the middle of Guadalajara?!?! The Lord has such a sense of humor. Sunday was an interesting day since I went to church here in Guadalajara with Tita. This was one of those times when I remembered Makenzie and her prayer for me this week, that I would be brave and not shy, making lots of new friends. It’s my automatic response to cling to the one person I know when I’m in a new place, but I have to force myself out of it. And here in Mexico, it’s my automatic response to cling to the Americans (if there are any) because it’s just so much easier. God is teaching me that what He requires from me will not be the “easy” thing. He will require me to do many difficult things. Anyway, I sat with my friend Tita, but the pastor asked me (in front of the whole church) my name and all that. Then he asked me if I came with Marta. I looked all around me and was like, “Who’s Marta?” Tita hung her head, then I realized, Marta was sitting right next to me. Her nickname is Tita, which I knew, but I thought her real name was Catalina since that was what Vick always calls her. Come to find out, her name is Marta Catalina. Tita is a shorter name for Martita. We both died of laughter later and we retold the story over and over. The church was really interesting as well. The church has started a children’s home, so all the children (about 45) came to church and sat among the congregation. I feel incredibly blessed to see so many incredible ministries happening in Mexico.

Last week

Well, a week has passed since my last blog entry. Things have been busy here. It’s been a long week. To sum it all up, I taught my last lesson on Thursday, Lauren and I got our hair and nails done. =) I got to observe 1st and 2nd grade classes and we finished student teaching officially on Friday. Thursday and Friday were spent in sickness of the stomach infection, but Friday I made it to school for the very special occasion my students had planned. My students are incredible. They may not be really huggy or telling you how much they love you every moment, but when it counts, they go above and beyond to show you how much they love you. For weeks (without my knowledge) they had planned a going away party for me. We had these Mexican chip things, brownies and coke. With all the chairs in a circle, we ate our snacks and my students each said something they liked about my teaching and a tip for being a good teacher, (especially to 2nd graders!). I had the amazing opportunity to tell them that I would be coming back next year. They were so excited, it made me bubble with joy! Hojun was the first to share what he liked and his tip. And I quote, “Ms Iman, you will be a good teacher because you are very patient with us, especially when we don’t understand something. And a tip: Second graders are CRAZY!” They had just had the second graders in their class that morning and realized how long their attention span really was! Hehe. Next was Arturo, oh dear Arturo… “Ms Iman, you are very patient with …um…with some of us (looking very sheepish and guilty as the whole class laughed because we all knew WHO he was referring to-himself).” My fifth graders gave me a book filled with letters from them and their pictures, as I flipped through and read, we all talked and laughed. It was wonderful. I treasure the time I had with them. We had a lot of rough spots, but I saw them grown as well as myself.

Saturday we had the club for the children in a different town, children, who once again, have very little. But I must say we had some difficulty getting there. Vicktor had already gone with some of the other guys to the town, while I rode with Pastor Ceasar and everyone else who was going. For about an hour or so the van refused to start. We sat there in the heat waiting, hoping it would start soon so we could go. We knew that Vick and the other guys would be the only ones playing games with about 100 kids. They would have no other help if we could not come. Finally the van started and we were able to get there. I enjoyed myself even more this time since I got to take more of a part. I was on the red team, cheering them on with my limited Spanish vocabulary. =) I enjoyed every moment-met a little girl named Dulces (or sweet/candy). I’m reminded of all the times I did Bible clubs in the states.
March 27, 2010

Ready to make a decision? I think not.

Well, today is Tuesday. Another weekend has come and gone too quickly. I only cant believe that I will be here for only 2 more weeks. QUE TRISTE! How sad! Over the weekend, the missionary family in Chapala took me to a place called Tonala. Can I just say, I LOVE shopping! There is nothing better. Rows and rows of market and shops. After church, we ate KFC, went shopping in Tonala, and then had a lovely visit to starbucks. Monday, we had a meeting for those who want to be involved in the children’s program on Saturdays, playing awana games with the children and teaching them Bible. Everyone was supposed to make a decision if they would be helping every week or not. Pastor Pelayo, Cesar and Vick were all saying that I would be there every week and that I would be back soon. They couldn’t believe that I was leaving. On little papers, we had to write if we would be part of the weekly help (of club ancla) or just help when we could. On my paper, I wrote, if I am in Guadalajara, I will help. This obviously was not what they wanted to hear and kept trying to change what I wrote on my paper. I think it is awesome that two churches, from Chapala and Guadalajara, that are so different can work together for a purpose. In one church, the women only wear skirts and dresses, they listen only to conservative music…Those in Chapala are exactly the opposite, yet both can work together to do something like helping the children of other villages. I find this incredible. I am so thankful that I have had the opportunity to get to know all these people. I feel comfortable with all of them and love them all. I also had a great day with Keren, tickling her all the day long and soaking up her attention, especially since I haven’t spent much time with her.
On to today, I am back at my old house again for another few days, so up bright and early I was, ready to catch the bus. My only surprise, someone from Lincoln staff was on the same bus I was! How funny! I didn’t even know that anyone else took the bus to school, much less, the same bus as me! Today, we finally had our Egyptian museum for my class. They were so excited, that during Spanish class, they kept asking the Spanish teacher if they could start with the museum. Then they kept asking me when we were having the museum. My students had a ball dressing up as people from Egypt. There was a large pyramid covering my desk this morning when I walked it. It was part of our wonderful Egyptian display. They students had fun and did a great job. It was neat to see them share with others exactly what they had learned and there were so excited! We had all kinds of people come through our museum, including the coordinator for elementary and about 5 other classes. The principal even wanted to come through, but he was just a few minutes too late. The other 5th grade class did not come prepared, so they will be presenting on Thursday. Hoping that they come prepared! It’s been quite a great day and ready for tomorrow. We will have our sports Olympics day tomorrow!
Also, sidenote-my principal stopped me today and told me that he wants for his teachers to be involved with their churches, his exact words were, “I just don’t want you starting a church your first year!” He encouraged me in still pursuing ministry, but knowing my boundaries. He told me that he trusted me to find that balance once I started teaching, and that is what I had really wanted to hear from him. So, I am 99% sure I will probably end up at Lincoln, but still unsure (mainly because I’m scared of making adult, 2 year, difficult, stressful decisions!). Pray that I will just have the Lord’s peace when making a decision. I have only another week and a half to decide, and I really need the Lord to show me exactly where He wants me.