Yay!!

Ok, so I had a GRRREAT weekend! Friday (after a way not cool day at work) I went to Red Robin and had a super yummy Terryoki Chicken burger with Apryl and family and my parents. We all headed over to Cheryl's home (Apryl's sister) for some pie and movie, and of couse Apryl and I being silly.

So Sunday, after church, iglesia, and lunch, I headed back over Cheryl's where we (Apryl, her mom, Kevin (brother in law), Kyle (nephew), Cheryl, and I) carve pumpkins and had a good time. I LOVE carving pumpkins! It would've been better though had I not had to get up so early this morning for work... Blah. It was realy busy at work today, and we seemed a bit understaffed...
Apryl and I with our hollow pumpkins!

Anyhow, after work, I went to Cheryl's yet a third time to have lunch, and our friend Heather joined us this time with her 6 week old little daughter who I hadn't yet seen (ooo, we live in the same city and I hadn't seen the baby yet...)

So this weekend was a great time of hanging out. And that's pretty much all I did! haha! It was much needed though. So now, I won't see Apryl again until her and Steve come visit me in Mexico... Which you guys better do! hehe! It will make a good vacation... And they may be able to visit their sponsor child during that trip as well - hey free interpreter, you just have to pay to get me to Chiapas and I'm all over interpreting! haha! Or I can save up myself and go... But I'm glad I got to see Apryl one last time before leaving for Mexico!!
Apryl, Heather, and I.

We Got a Car! But More Importantly...

Wow, no mad comments from my last blog post. Whew...

So, yeah, Franklin just informed me that the fam is now the proud owner(s) of a car! And..... du du du..... it's an automatic!! Therefore, if for some reason the opportunity arose for me to use a vehicle, I wouldn't feel confined to the familiar, less confusing, less hilly west side of Tegus. That would be under the assumption that I would be allowed to drive it... Franklin was making plans for where we will go when I'm there, but I'm guessing that Papi going to work will take priority over me and the boys and whoever going wherever else. Delmer was going to have me drive Michelle's truck last year though when she was gone, but that was before we had the Bug at my Oregon house, and I REALLY didn't know much about stick shifts. Although I did consider taking it up to Santa Rosa, but it was facing in the opposite direction, and I didn't want to try to turn it around on the highway!

But now the bestest part........ (on a TOTALLY different subject...) APRYL IS COMING TO TOWN! In fact, as I write this she is probably leaving out of Chicago right about now. She gets home in a few hours. Or I guess I should say "gets HERE in a couple of hours." So yeah, I'm SUPER excited to be able to see her before I leave! AND maybe in Mexico when her and Steve come to visit...... hehe! More about this weekend later.........

Just Another Reason...

I have a bone to pick with the idiot gringos who appear on the news in airports across the country today. The ones who were vacationing in Canucn the past few weeks, who rode out the hurricane... I in no way wish I could experience a hurricane, and I'm sure their experiences were quite traumatizing. But seriously... On national news tonight, there were interviews with people still in Cancun, and those who just got home. Some of their comments: "I'm an American! Where was the United States when I was down there going through this thing?!" "We had no airconditioning, no electricity, no hot meals, and there were hundereds of us packed into the hotel lobby." (Sorry, not direct quotes because I don't have a photografic memory). I have to say this: "You, gringo, were not in YOUR country, you were being cared for as best as possible by the country you chose to vacation in. YOU have a home to come back to, one that will most likely look the same as it did last time you saw it - still will have the 90% of your possessions in it that you didn't take to Mexico with you. YOU have your two suitcases of clothes with you, the ones that you took on vacation with you. YOU got to stay in the hotel lobby for several nights before you got an airline ticket out of there. YOU had food, even though it may have been cold beans." What about the people who LIVE in carribean Mexico? The ones whose homes didn't withstand the hurricane like your hotel lobby did. I'm sorry, but blaming the Mexican or United States governments for not putting you up in a functioning 5 star hotel during this thing is completely unrealistic. In a situation like this YOUR personal comfort takes back seat to the SAFETY of yourself and others. No airconditioning in Cancun? Uncomfortable? Yes. But, um, you survived! I don't hear ANY of the vacationers giving a crap about those within a few miles of those who DIED beacuse of the hurricane, or those who lost everything they owned and have no where to turn now. I realize that the news can't interview everyone, although I'm not sure why they'd choose to show just the interviews that make gringos look completely self-centered and uncaring... I choose to believe that SOME of those gringo survivors DO care about those around them that suffered more than going without airconditioning (that they most likely never had in the first place...)

So, why do other countries have such a bad image of the United States? Why do they think we're completely materialistic and self-centered? Probably because they see those same kinds of interviews that I saw tonight. And because lots of us ARE completely materialistic and self-centered.

Back in the Game

Five days with absolutely no contact with the bakery whatsoever. Okay, the minute I wrote that, I knew it was an exaggeration - I called Sarah Thursday to tell her I was sick, and Ben gave me my schedule for this week on Saturday, via the phone. But I didn't GO INTO the bakery, something that I usually do on my day off, just can't get enough of it I guess. But five days - be they ever so unintentional, and ever so miserable - were a nice break. And, had I not been coughing up a lung, half passed out from lack of oxygen half the time, I'm sure I really would've enjoyed it! haha! So tomorrow I go back to normal daily life. The life that will be "normal" for the next five weeks! Then....??? I believe normal will cease to exist for me for maybe the next 50 years, or however long I keep kicking before I drop into a Willamette Valley nursing home. Yes, if I retire back to the States, I DO plan on that being here... Maybe language school will have a "normal." Four hours (shoot me now!!) of spanish classes a day... But then there's field trips, weekend jaunts to QRO, heading off the Mexico City or Guadalajara to see Chivas mutilate America (no, not as in the United States, it's a Mexican soccer team!), having Luisa at the house (?) etc. So maybe that won't be normal. Okay, I could possibly be jumping the gun on the whole "5 more weeks of normal" thing, I'm 90% sure that I'll no longer be working at the bakery after that, but it's highly possible that I could still not have a plane ticket in my hands by that point. Still $135 in monthly support left to go. And I honestly do not have the foggiest idea as to where that will come from. And it must be pledged before the end of November, or I'll be getting a round trip ticket from Portland to Tegus. I really don't want to come home after Christmas. I actually think that the excitement of going to Honduras may ease the harshness of leaving home for good.... or two years, or however long I'll be gone for. This mero minuto, I don't exactly feel any "harshness" coming with the thought of leaving home (Salem, Oregon, United States....) But I have actually had the scary thought that I might be sad to leave. Those thoughts usually come about 9pm on sunday nights on the way home from donuts of the gym after having played basket or volleyball with Iglesia... When Yessenia left for China, and I saw people crying, I got sad too and realized that I'll be bawling on my last day there. Alraaayyt.....
So I'm needing to get back in the swing of getting up at 4:30am. Fun.
Until next time...

My Best Pictures Ever!

Ok, so this will be a long post, but worth it, I hope. I was going to put my top ten favorite pictures on here, but I couldn't narrow it down that much, so here's my favorite 13. They're in chronological order.

1. The Ghetto You Never Knew
This was taken in 1984 by my mom, in the park across the street from our old house. It's me and Apryl. That blue house with the red van in front was my house, the house where we found a stabbed Native American on our porch, the house that was robbed to get my dad's Rugers, the house where the police caught a fugitive in my backyard when I was home alone one evening when I was 13...

2. The Three of Us

Andria, Danny, and I at my 4th birthday party, 1985. This was taken by my mom. You can't see our lovely orange carpet, but the brown thing kind of behind Andria is our stove... hehe!

3. Clyde the GlideMe and Andria with our idol Clyde Drexler! This was taken by my mom in the Lancaster Mall, maybe like 1991.

4. Cheeeeesy!Becky, Joel, Mike, Emily, and Me. I took this on the way home from camp the summer of 1998. We had apparently made our annual stop at the Tillamook Cheese Factory, as Mike seems to be enjoying some cheese curds...

5. S.A. Stonehenge I'm guessing this was taken by either Brook or Kelly as neither of them are in the picture, at Stonehenge in England, November of 1998. Me, James, Annie, Jenn, Andria, Beth, Bridget, Caleb, and Joey make up the Salem Academy rendition of the famous rocks.

6. Did the Bus Turn Off?!Too many people to name here, but this is our mission team to El Salvador when our bus "broke down," or I should say ran out of gas in San Salvador in 2000. I believe Elsy took this picture! Good times...

7. Four Guys in the... Tub??Micah, Michael, Sean, and Andrew in the "shower" in El Salvador, 2000. I took this picture when I heard lots of laughter coming from the shower. Don't worry, they all have shorts on! This particular shower was a small cement room with two 5-gallon buckets and a "paila" or "juacal" (depending on which country you're from!!) - a small bowl used in cement sinks in Central America - you use the paila to scoop water out of a bucket and wash yourself with. I LOVE Central America...

8. Jungle ChicksJoann, Rachel, Me, and Ruth canoeing on the Amazon just west of Manaus Brasil in 2002. Mr. Palm took this picture. Looks like in a movie, no?

9. It Just Doesn't Get Any Better Than This!Me, Austin, Evan, and Ben hauling leaves on a homemade tractor at PuraQueQuara Brasil, 2002. Joann took this picture of our daily life there at PQQ. A leisurely ride on a homemade tractor in a neatly kempt yard between the Amazon and the rainforest, not wearing shoes for days at a time, hopping into the river in the late afternoon to cool off, playing volleyball and salão until the electricity turns off at 9:30... yeah, life is good...

10. Pijama Party!Zenia, Paty, Alej, Alma, Me, Vivi, Luisa, Karlita, and Jeni one night at camp outside of Tegucigalpa Honduras, 2003. Michelle took this picture. Most of these girls are from my neighborhood in Tegus - Germania. Mis queridas...

11. Hermanitos VerdaderosBesides the fact that this is one of the few pictures I have that has all three of my brothers in it together, what I REALLY like about this is the facial expressions! You can totally tell their personalities from their expressions in this picture - Franklin is a happy, crazy, teasing guy; Ronald comes off as being shy, but really he is hilarious; and Ivan is cynical, but still has a sweet side. Teagen took this at Fran's 19th birhtday party in 2003.

12. The Cost of Good FriendsBeing dogpiled at 6:30am on your birthday! Dr. Huster took this on Joana's 21st birthday. Marlia, Katy, Me, P., and Ruth smothering the just-woken-up Joana.

13. Queen and Queenie (don't ask...) Apryl and I after her wedding in 2004! How many people can show 24 years of pictures and have the same friend in the first picture as in the last?! Yep, I'm blessed...

So, those are my favorites! I hope ya'll enjoyed them too!!

"LOST" Quote of the Week

Yes, for all two of you who read this and don't understand spanish, I decided (at least for now) to go with english blog titles.

Do you watch Lost? If you don't, I highly recommend borrowing season 1 on DVD, watching the whole thing this week, and sit down and hold on for next wednesday night. If you live in the States, I am pretty sure you personally know someone who has season 1 on DVD. Anyhow, it's excellent. But if you haven't been watching it from the beginning, it will probably seem lame. But they do tend to have some hilariously funny moments in the midst of the spooky weirdness. It usually comes from the mouth of 400 pound Hurley. (We can't figure out how they've been on the island for like 45 days and it looks like he's gained weight...)

"Yeah dude, dogs will eat anything. This one time, my dog, he broke into my piggy bank - I guess I put some smarties in there or something - and the next day he crapped out a-buck-thirty-five in nickels."


I had to go to the freakin' doctor today because I knew I am getting bronchitis. I possibly held out too long - this whole no medical insureance thing is not cool. But I got off, prescriptions and all, for right at $100. Could've been worse. I just wish I could go to the pharmacy and say "I have bronchitis, I need amoxicillin - 500mg, t.i.d., 10 days." The last two times I had bronchitis, I was in Honduras. The first time, I took meds given to me by the Simpson nurse in case of emergency. Then last year, I came home, opened one of the 60 or 70 boxes full of various medicines that were sitting in our living room, said, "Suyapa, can I have a bottle of this amoxicillin? I think I'm getting bronchitis." That was about the same time that Ivan found a huge bottle of liquid vitamin, and swallowed a spoonfull, proceeding to make gagging noises because of the sick flavor for the next ten minutes... Ahh, the big brother I sort-of never had...

Ya Basta Aprender!

Ugh. Why is this "learning" thing so hard? Learnig to be patient, learning lots of other life lessons... Why I am I SO close to being able to leave for Mexico, but still not able to go!? Almost every day, SOMEONE asks me when I'm leaving, and all I can do is give a blank stare and say "I don't know yet, maybe the beginning of December." I try to think of what more needs to happen (besides obtaining another $135 a month) before I can leave, and I'm completely drawing a blank. Plans are being made around me being in Mexico - my parents are looking to take time off work to go there in February, Luisa is going there the end of January or in February... What if I'm not there yet? I mean, obviously, my parents could just go vacation at the beach for a week or something, and visit me later, but half the reason Luisa is even going to Mexico is because I'm there... And, assuming I am there, I'll be in language school 4 hours a day anyway, but I guess that won't dent plans too much... as long as I'm THERE! Vivian is waiting to come to the States until her spring break now, because I'll be in Honduras when she was going to go visit her mom.. MAYBE! What if I can't go?! Maybe people just tell me "oh, I'm going to Mexico to visit you," or "I'm staying here 'cuz you're coming," just to make me feel loved (it works!!), and they really have other reasons. Maybe I read too much into it.

Well, apparently I have stuff to learn still before going to Mexico. Like emaybe getting an attitude adjustment. I'm really am glad that I've been here so far though, things I've learned the past few months would NOT have been fun to deal with in Mexico. And, I would've missed out on meeting my chavos from Iglesia. :-)

So the journey continues... Just no more after Thanksgiving, ok!???

Ya casi...

Alright guys, I'm officially only down $135 in monthly support before I can go to Mexico, that's not really too much, so hopefully that will come in soon! Soooooooooo looking forward to going!!

Por Que Aquel Mero Pais?

I just got an email from some missionaries in El Salvador, confirming what had been going through my mind off and on through the past week. I'd heard that the largest volcano in El Salvador blew last week, and wondered if it affected anyone I know. Thankfully - no, however that part of the country is the coffee producing part, and a large chunk of the coffee crop was lost. But... what we didn't hear in the news was that there were two sizeable earthquakes last week as well. AND that the floods/mudslides that were on the news as happening in Guatemala also are tearing up El Salvador. (Thankfully, I'm in frequent contact with my hondurans, they are fine! Just a little extra rain...) I heard from Elsy (my salvadoran friend) on monday, and she didn't mention any damage in her area, but that was before the largest earthquake. In 2001, when there were quakes there, her family slept outside for a long time for fear that their house may fall down. When I was there last summer, I saw that behind their home - where the pila (centralamerican sink, or the most wonderful invention ever made), outhouse, and shower are - there's a cement wall with a window-shape cut out of it that is like hanging off the edge of the drop off behind their home. I'm assuming that it is a wall of what used to be their neighbor's home. The land slides that are happening now are disturbing, especially knowing that my best-salvadoran-friend and family now live on the edge of that drop off.

Why is it always El Salvador getting slammed with natural disasters? I mean, there a lots of other places that get it too (like the southern US), but it seems like every year something bad happens that's weather related. They just had a huricane-ish thing (either tropical storm or cat 1 hurricane) pass through in May. The difference I saw in that country between going there in 2000 and then again in 2001 (post quake) was amazing. Last year, there was still a lot of damage that wasn't fixed from the quakes! I wonder if it will be even worse off this Christmas... or if I'll have a home to go to there?! Aren't I optimistic?? (<-- insert sarcasm here) But seriously, stuff like that just doesn't happen here. For one, my home most likely would've suffered minimal damage in a 6-6.5 quake, where thousands of homes on El Salvador were leveled in that! But come on, we're not in danger of floods (even though we've had them), hurricanes (when I was 14 we had cat 1 force winds), tornadoes (non-existant), blizzards (ha!), and our earthquakes have been minimal in comparison to our building standards. I guess there could be worse countries to have disasters happen in - like the Tsunami where hardly anyone is saved. El Salvador is probably the most Christian country I know of (if you're saying "oh no, the US is!" I hate to break it to you, but you're on crack.) The Lord works there. I'm guessing that more missionaries per-capita leave from El Salvador than from the US. It's really easy to find an evangelical church in pretty much any part of the country. There are some frustrating riffs between denominations there - more than I see here - and that's really lame. But people are hearing and accepting the gospel there. I know salvatrucha members (can I say that on the internet?!) who are saved and are now preachers! I know young adults who go to the north country (the bad part that Suyapa (for good reason) won't let me take a bus through) where the left-over sandinistas congregate, with just the clothes on their back and some Bibles, and they spread the gospel. It's Salvadorans who I've thought on occaision that I'd be embarrassed if they came to my home because they'd wonder why we only go to church once or twice a week. Maybe satan is trying to send a message for Salvadorans to quit taking the Word to the streets! Ha! They won't be deterred! They'll push forward despite the volcano/earthquake/flooding. I'm proud to know guanaco Christians! Now, I just wish I could go there everytime a disaster happens and help out...

Ruth and Krissia - girls from the earthquake ravaged Candelaria Cuscatlan in 2001

Bastante Para Contar de lo Bien Macizo

Ok, this may be a long one... I had a GREAT weekend!!

I'll start out with Friday night...
I left at 9pm (yeah, really late for me!!) to go to Iglesia, as we had a late-night prayer/fellowship at church. We had a wonderful time of praying for each other, expressing our thanks to God, sharing testimonies, and singing. And eating, of course. :-) It was really great to be in a close community of believers who love each other and love the Lord! Hearing people's stories of how they came to the Lord was really cool, I can't picture some of them how they said they used to be... We wrapped things up about 2:30am. Nora (who had already gone home) called and invited us all to her brother Noe's house for his birthday party. A 3am birthday party - that's a new one for me. I didn't end up going, but I heard it was fun!

Saturday morning, I passed at going to the Iglesias de Cristo de Oregon volleyball tournament, and went to Lincoln City for shopping with my parents. I was able to get some necesary items of clothing, mainly new jeans as I doubt I'll really be able to find long-enough pants in Mexico. I also hit a gold mine at Old Navy as far a Christmas gifts go - I got $3 shirts for my brothers and Vivian (they're new shirts, and not some cheapy kind, just on really big sale!) It was a good day, but I sure was tired that afternoon - my body is more used to gettig UP at 3am than going to bed then...

Sunday, I taught the 3&4th grade sunday school class at S.S. Nazarene - all boys in that class. It went pretty well, all things considered. I don't like to come across as an old nag teacher, but I can't say that the boys like to pay attention, especially since one of them just returned fromf being gone for a month!

After morning service, I went to Iglesia. Eliezar, a young guy who had come to the friday night thing, accepted the Lord yesterday! So that was really cool!!! I pray that it is not something done just to be done, but something that he will live out for the rest of his life.

We all went to Mixteca after church for some good home-cookin's Mexican-style.

I went home for like an hour, just barely enough time to see the first maybe 10 minutes to 49ers V. Cardinals at, yes, ESTADIO AZTECA Mexico City! Rad! I never knew that there were even 103,000 people in Mexico who gave a crap about American Football! I have a goal to go to Azteca sometime in the next two years or so - hopefully to see the Chivas MUTILATE America in Liga Mejicana soccer (America is a Mexican soccer team). Although I'd definitely jump at the chance to see NFL there too!! Anyhow, after the 49ers DEFENSE (!!!!!!!) scored two touchdowns in the first quarter (I left after that, assuming a win) the Cards came back to win.... not sure how that happened, but bummer.

Also in sports, I told Beto yesterday that I ALWAYS root for Brasil in all world soccer competitions, which didn't go over well - Mexico and Brasil were in the sub-17 world cup final yesterday - Mexico won.

So Sunday afternoon, I went to Hoover Elem. to play sports (we usually go to Bush park, but uh, not since it started raining...) As soon as I shut my car door, I realized my keys were sitting on the driver side seat, IN the locked car. I had my mom's car, and after a few minutes of trying to open the door or window, the guys who were working on that decided that I either needed to call my dad or a locksmith. The locksmith sounded pretty good right about then - my dad seems to flip out when stupid things like this happen. But I called anyway, and mom came and got the situacion under control. We played basketball, watched the kids play futbol, and had out regular 10 or so volleyball matchups! So fun! I didn't get to bed till late, so I'm going down for a nap...
If you read all this - wow, you have too much time on your hands!! But I suppose that means I do to, because I WROTE it! haha!