Useful Missionary Skills - Part Three

Low-Tech Technological Communication Skills

Yeah, so, that's probably not really a term for anything, but I'll explain.

Something interesting that I've noticed over the past 2+ years of living in Queretaro is the way we communicate with one another. Pretty much everyone over the age of 12 has a cell phone here, and that's been a useful tool for me ever since I got here. Contacting youth group students, friends to go to lunch with, Jean Paul at work, and many other different people is most easily and cost-effectively done by text-messaging. My phone company has 10 cent messages (USD) to all cell phones in Mexico, and I have a pay-as-you-go plan, so that works out pretty cheap for me. I can remind all my college girls about the sunday evening meetings all at once and in about 1 minute.

Another great communication tool for college students is the use of Facebook and other social networking internet sites. It's quicker and funner than emails, free, and can be done at any time of the day or night. Some of my friends even receive Facebook messages on their cell phones! In planning an event, we can invite many friends all at once through Facebook, and they are even reminded about the event shortly before it starts. It's crazy.

I definitely prefer talking in person with other people to texting and Facebooking, but you gotta use the means of communication that those you are trying to reach use! And through those means, you can set up actual times to meet in person with them! :)

He's A Bus Driver, Not A Baseball!!!

The other day I was walking down Universidad Street (a main, busy street) in Queretaro with Jean Paul. It was a sunny evening, and we were going to the park. All of a sudden, we saw at the intersection ahead of us, two men fighting, and one of them was hitting the other repeatedly with a baseball bat!! We stood there for a few seconds trying to figure out what waso going on... There was a bus parked in the middle of the road, a taxi idling on the side of the road, and the guy hitting a man in a bus-driver shirt in the arm with a baseball bat. Pretty much if there are two men fighting here, everyone stays out of it and just watched. JP wanted to go help the busdriver out, and of course I wasn't too cool with that. But right then, a traffic cop showed up, and JP and a couple other men went to the fight scene with the traffic cop to help settle things down. Apparently the bus had cut in front of the taxi on the road and the taxi driver had a bat hidden under his seat, pulled it out, and hit the door of the bus with it, breaking the bus window. I know it's frustrating to be cut off by a bus, but out of the approximately 4 hours I've ever driven in Queretaro, I think I've probably been cut off by a bus maybe three times. So, I'm gonna guess that it happens every day to taxi drivers... So pretty much there's no reason for whacking a bus with a bat! And REALLY no reason to start hitting the bus driver with it! JP was talking with the taxi driver for a while trying to calm him down, while the traffic cop and bus driver were filing an incident report. I stood by the bus (parked in the middle of a busy street, nearing rush hour), and directed other cars around it.

Everything ended fine I think - we left before any other police officers got to the scene. But I was really surprised, road rage (with physical violence) just doesn't happen much here. In fact, that's the first time in my 2+ years here that I've seen violence used in a traffic incident! JP said that Queretaro is turning into the United States - next thing you know people will carry guns in their cars for when other drivers make them mad. It's interesting what a violent reputation the US has in many places! But it's true about the whole road rage thing - I remember ducking under a table in a donut shop on Lancaster Dr. on night about 3 years ago because some people in the parking lot and on the road were waving guns at each other. Living behind the Taco Bell on Commerical Street (the one at Madrona) had it's little perks like that too - the stabbed guy ringing the doorbell in the middle of the night, another lady who'd stabbed her boyfriend in "self-defense," and all kinds of good stuff that went on in the park across the street... Oh, not to mention the fugitive that was caught in our backyard one evening when I was home by my self wen I was 13! Really, it's true! I felt actually rather scared one night in January or February of this year walking behind the Salem Library by myself in the dark, and it was only like 6pm!

And then there's life in Tegucigalpa - don't talk to anyone on the other soccer team in Yaguacire, they'll start a fight; get back inside the house, the police just apprehended a murderer across the street; don't go to the market place alone, Suyapa got robbed at knife-point twice...

Well, I feel blessed to live in Queretaro, it's pretty safe in general!

Just a Normal Weekend...

Here are just a few pictures of some of the activities that were going on this past weekend:

We had a "conectate," or "group link" event at Horizonte Church. This is a breakfast event where people who are not involved in a community group can get involved. We also had a few groups multiply to make new groups! Jean Paul and I are now in a community group for young married couples. I think it will be great, our good friends Ricardo and Ana, and Justin and Lluvia are in the group, along with another couple who we kind of know, and two couples who are new to Horizonte. I know that it will be a good opportunity to grow in our faith along with the other 5 couples!

Here, we are playing some games at conectate to get started:

Sunday evenings are our college group meetings for the college kids at Horizonte. I led the discussion this week, the topic was about evangelism, and how we can branch out to our non-Christian friends; how we can introduce them to Christ's love by creating atmospheres that are relevant to college students.

Here's our ice-breaker game:

And, Julian and Whitney and their girls - a family who used to work here at Horizonte and now live in Atlanta - are here for a week to visit!

Here's me, Sandy (I live with Sandy and her husband Luis), and L to R Talya, Micaiah, and Haniel. Talya and Micaiah are Whitney's daughters, and Haniel is Sandy's.

Whitney, Sandy, and the girls:

Pepe - Part 2

In a blog in the beginning of December, I wrote about two guys named Pepe who had significant life changes and accepted the Lord in the past year. (You can read that here)

Well, last Sunday, Pepe (the one referred to as "Pepe 1" in the previous post) publicly announced his faith in Christ through baptism at Horizonte! Baptism is a big step for a lot of people in Mexico, as many of them were baptized as babies as "assurance of salvation" in the Catholic Church. Many Mexican families don't want their family members to be baptized in an Evangelical Church.

Here is Pepe in our little baptism tank!

The Car

I think I mentioned before that Jean Paul and I now have a little car! Here it is - a Volkwagon Pointer - I don't think they have that in the States, but it's a great little car. It gets good gas milage, and is easy to find parts in case it needs reparation. And I always think of Volkswagons as being pretty sturdy. This one is a 2004, so it pretty new (especially for me, who's never had a car newer that 1984!!). This picture is how I saw the car when I got back to Queretaro after being in Honduras! It's amazing how everything worked out for the car - we bought it from the boss of a good friend of ours who sold it to us for substantially cheaper than he should've just because our friend is such a good employee. With a car, JP and I will be able to find cheaper housing, as the further outside of the city you go, the cheaper rent is.

Another way that God has provided for us - a friend fromo JP's school works for a home construction company, and the company furnishes their model homes before showing them. One the model home is bought, they company sells the furnishings, most of which are slightly used, or not even used. So we are buying a brand-new refridgerator through this friend for about half the price that it sells for at Sears! Little by little, God is providing things that we need even before we actually need them!

A New Stage of Life

Ok, I know, it's time for a major update on this blog!

As many of you know, things have changed substantially here in the Queretaro ministry in the past few months, basically the months that I was not around, so everything was different when I got back! So hopefully this entry will provide some answers to what is going on:

1. Global Grounds Cafe - Yes, Global has closed it's door in the mall across the street from the university. However, we have moved everything to Horizonte church, and are continuing to have our sunday evening college group with the students at Horizonte. We hope to have everything up and running this next week to open as a cafe and a place to have activities for students on Friday nights as well. We are in the planning stages of re-organizing and re-thinking the college ministry. The Horizonte college students are enthusiastic about continuing the sunday evening meetings, and we are making sure to keep in contact with the students who don't come to church, but came to Global. So yes, I DO still have a job here!! We would appreciate your prayers in this transition time!

2. The Wedding - Things are coming along excellently for our wedding! We have a lot of things completely taken care of, and many friends are pitching in a lot too! Here are some of the things that friends have volunteered to provide: our rings, my dress, our cake, the centerpieces for the reception, the food for the reception (cost of food only, labor is free!), the cost of transportation to our honeymoon destination (yet to be determined!), and we have a friend who's volunteered to be in charge of serving the food at the reception and finding others to help serve, for free. By the way, in Mexico you always have food at a wedding, it's pretty much not optional! So we're not doing an extravagant feast! In fact, in case any of you are worried, the total for food for 200 guests is approximately $300. Not bad if you ask me!! :)

3. Jean Paul and I - It's transition time from being two single people to being a married couple... ok, that does NOT mean moving in together!! That will be AFTER the wedding! :) But, there's so much to think about: arranging our schedules so we can have sufficient time together, thinking about renting a house, changing my mexican visa to a permenant resident, and lots of other stuff that you'd never even think of. But it's been good, and my my pastor and ministry teammates have been patient with us as we work out scedule details and wedding plans. Please pray for Jean Paul and I as we prepare for our life together as a married couple!
Oh! This is cool... We've been asked to join a small group for married couples! There's been a group for young married couples at church, and now there's a lot of those couples, so they're breaking it down into young couples with kids, and young couples without kids. Our good friend Ricardo and Ana are leading the non-kids group, and we'll be joining along with 2 or 3 other couples!

And a couple of pictures...

Phil, Jana, Brisa, and Dany (students who attend Horizonte Church) hanging out at tacos:

Pablo, Alma, and Aixa - students who we know through Global Grounds:

DMV in Queretaro

Just a little interesting culture story for you all...

I think I mentioned in a previous blog that Jean Paul and I now have a car. Well, one of the things that comes with having a car is following the traffic laws (which are extremely subjective in Queretaro!) JP dropped me off at my house one evening, and on the way to his house, got a speeding ticket on the pan-american highway (he probably wouldn't want to to mention that there were large flashing signs that said "State Police Radar" right before where he got pulled over!) All I have to say is that 35 miles per hour is a RIDICULOUS speed limit for the pan-american highway... But, that's the limit.

Anyhow, if you pay the speeding ticket the next day, you get a 30-50% discount. The DMV - where you go for everything from diver's licenses, to speeding tickets, to car tax, and anything that has to do with vehicles in any way, shape, or form - is open from 8am to 3pm. Those are conveniently the hours that JP works, so he couldn't pay the ticket (and there's no such thing as mailing them a check here!) So I took the ticket down to pay it.

I knew where the DMV was, and it is conveniently located an hour bus ride from my house, and I went at 1pm on a really really hot day. I entered the huge, recently-remodled building, and was really surprised to see the inside. Generally, buildings and homes in Queretaro are a lot nicer on the inside than on the outside, and the DMV is pretty nice outside. But not inside. Inside, it is one huge room with a thin corrugated metal roof (no ceiling tiles or anything); customer service and payment window on all four walls, and a few seats a large concrete flower gardens. Like I said, it was probably the hottest day I've experienced since I've been in Queretaro, and, corrugated metal roofs are NOT friendly in hot weather, especially since the DMV is not airconditioned (which most office building here DO have airconditioning). So, I entered into the mass of people cutting in line to take a number and wait. I told the number-giver that I needed to pay a speeding ticket, and he gave me a number for a specific window. I was pleasantly surprised to see only 2 other people in that line. Then I realized that this WASN'T the correct window, and was told that the bank of like 9 windows on a different was was. So I waited. And waited. And finally my number was called, and I went to the window, and a lady printed off a payment form, and told me to go to a payment window and wait until my number was called. I waited in front of the payment windows. After several minutes, I noticed that the payment form was in someone else's name, and for a different amount. I pushed my way in front of the person who was being attended by the lady who gave me the wrong payment form, and she printed me out another form, in the same wrong name as the first form. I told her that it was the wrong form, and she read me the name on the form and informed me, "yep, that's your form." I told her it wasn't. She finally printed off the correct form, and I returned to the payment window area and sat on a big concrete flower garden to wait for my turn, which, by this point may or may not have been called. After about 40 minutes (and wondering if my number had already been called, or if they'd even call it before 3pm!), my number was called, and I paid the traffic fine with JP's money. Then, they informed me that I would need to go to the next window to receive JP's drivers' license, which they had confiscated as a way to assure that he's pay the fine. I was sure that they wouldn't give it to me because I'm NOT JP, AND I'm a foreigner. But they gave it to me, and I was on my way out of the boiling hot building into the boiling hot sun, praying that I never again lose my Oregon drivers' license, so hopefully I'll never have to spend the DAY in the DMV getting a mexican license!

So, no more complaints about the DMV's in the United States! heehee! :)

Pictures from Honduras

I realized that I never put any pictures of my recent trip to Honduras in this blog!

Here's my Honduran mom, Suyapa and I:
Luisa, me, and Moises. Luisa and Moises are getting married in August. Luisa is my next door neighbor, and best Honduran friend!

A view of my neighborhood from above my house:

My "nephew" (actually Luisa's nephew) Carlitos Daniel, playing with my grandma's bird:

Suyapa working on my wedding dress! (yep, this is as much picture as you'll see of the dress until my wedding!)

Suyapa working on wedding things from another friend, Marthita's wedding, and me working on beadwork for my dress:

My brothers' soccer team playing in Yaguacire (a farm area near my neighborhood):

Yep, I said Yaguacire was a farm area! The soccer game had to stop because of the cows crossing the field!

I really enjoyed my time in Honduras, and had the opportunity to spend lots of time with Suyapa and her husband Delmer, my brother Franklin, Luisa and Moises, and various other people from the neighborhood. Suyapa completed my wedding dress in approximately 4 days! Beadwork included! We are trying to get visas for Suyapa and Franklin, and possibly Delmer, to come to Mexico for my wedding, but it's more difficult for Hondurans to get visas to Mexico than to the USA, so it's really up in the air as to whether or not they can come... But we hope!

Now I'm back to Queretaro, beginning a new phase of ministry and life!