Thank You God for Mexico!

Although I've been here in Queretaro for almost four years, (yeah, it's gone by REALLY fast!) there is still so much to learn culturally! I frequently that the Lord for sending me to Mexico - besides the fact that I met my husband here - it's really not been that difficult for me to adjust to living in this country. The thought process of Queretanos is somewhat different that growing up in Oregon, but nothing too strange. I seriously think that Mexico is home to the world's best cuisine, and Queretaro is an excellent place to enjoy that! The dress of the middle-class society is basically the same as middle-class Oregon, with the exception that not many women wear shorts outside. But that's not a problem. The list of subtle differences goes on. I've been thinking about this lately, as my new friend, Sarah, who is in Queretaro from Kansas studying at the State University, frequently asks me about cultural things.

I recently met with my CostaRican friend, Yami. Yami and her husband are missionaries from CostaRica to Queretaro. They have opened the Mexican regional offices of an organization that sends Latino Christian workers to restricted-access countries. Yami and her husband had prevously lived in one of these countries - a predominently Muslim country. She told me about many of their unpleasent experiences with immigration, having to leave the country at least once a month in order to live somewhat legally in the country, having the police come to their home looking for them to question them in a language that they didn't speak very well, and many other things. (This conversation started as we talked about how frustrating Mexican immigration in Queretaro has been this year - complaining about the $250 per person to renew a visa, and the 3 months it took to GET the visas renewed. After what Yami told me about their experiences in the other country, I'm pretty thankful for the $250 fee and a 3 month wait. I live very peacefully here, and have all the same rights as a Mexican, with the exception of voting.) Anyhow, Yami told me that their experiences overseas were NOTHING compared to what some of their missionary friends went through. I seriously won't put those things on this blog because it would make you sick.

I have a friend, Elsy, who is from El Salvador, who went to the same country as the stuff I won't mention. Elsy, in my opinion, comes from poverty. I've stayed a few times at her family's home. It's very small - about the size of my parents' kitchen/dinning room - and 5 people live there (I'm the 6th when I go). The two girls sleep in bunk beds that must've been made for midgets - I was 15 pounds lighter than I am now when I stayed there, and my hips hit the metal sides of the bed when I laid down... Elsy and her sister shared the top bunk when I was there. The wall between the girls' room and parents' room is a tarp. It's interesting to have a random elbow poke you from the other side of the tarp as you go to sleep! And the bathroom, well, you go down a really narrow, and constatly wet, staircase to where there is a hose that comes from the neighbors' home. That's the shower. And the toilet is a concrete tube sticking out of the ground.
Anyhow, I would have a hard time adjusting to living more than 3 or 4 days at a time in those conditions. And when Elsy moved to the restricted-access country, she said the poverty was so horrible she couldn't stay for the 2 years she'd signed up for. A few times she mentioned some of the living conditions, and mainly rituals that happen there, and it's just hard to believe that there are people who live how she described.

Jean Paul and I went out to dinner with one of his teachers, Alejandro, who gives world culture classes in his school. Alejandro had just returned from China. We were eating BBQ pork tacos during this dinner, and we asked about the food in China. Alejandro grimmaced and asked if we get grossed out easily. We don't. So he told us about the schishkabobs he saw in China. Schishkabobs are pretty common in Mexico - chunks of beef, onions, green peppers, and other vegetables on a stick and BBQ'd. Well, in China, Alejandro saw a guy with two kabobs, each with two recognizable RATS on them! The skin was the only thing missing from the rats! Jean Paul and I thanked God for Mexican food right then!

All in all, I feel like we have it very easy here in Queretaro. True, many people are VERY resistant to accept ANY religion, much less a relationship with the Lord. But they are generally not hostile toward Christians. Here is a nice place to live!!

Pork Tacos...

Side note: The other day I was walking and, after seeing something funny that I'll mention in a moment, thought about some of the weird store combinations here. For example, near our house there is an office-supply store that also sells foods like ham, cheeses, and many things other than snacks and pops. There's also a famous muffler shop that sells tacos. No one would think anything of it if you invited them to lunch at the Chavez Muffler Shop! And, while walking, I found another really interesting store combination that I don't know how I'd missed before, as it's about 3 blocks from my house. It's a hardware store that also sells cleaning supplies (mops, pinesol, bleach, etc.) That doesn't seem weird at all. But this is a hardware and cleaning supplies store, that also sells lingerie! hehe.

Quick Update...

Wow, I haven't been good at writing in my blog for quite awhile...

We've been pretty busy... Jean Paul has finished with the political candidates' visits to his school (see previous entry), and is busy with another semester. He graduates in August 2010!

Oh, speaking of August, we received a large enough financial gift from a generous person to be able to go to Oregon THIS August!! We still haven't bought tickets, but it looks like we should arrive on August 15, and stay until the 26th. It will be JP's first time to the States - actually his first time ever leaving Mexico!!

As far as the young adults group goes, things are good! We are planning a youth camp for ALL the young people (age 12 and up); that will be 16-18 of July. Please pray for the planning of the camp, in which we're trying to involve many of the college-age students, that the Lord will give us wisdom in WHAT to talk about with the teens, and what to plan for. We want this to be a camp that is not only FUN, but that also IMPACTS their lives! Our main theme is "Identity in Christ." We hope that the speakers can communicate well to the teens, and that all activities are uplifting, fun, and learning experiences! The camp will be held in a place with cabins in the town of Tequisquiapan about an hour away from the city of Queretaro.

Our friends Mark and Abby, who have been in Queretaro since January, are leaving this week. They came here to study spanish before moving to the state of Chiapas (southern boarder of Mexico with Guatemala) to begin a youth ministry there. So the time has come to see them off to their ministry destination!


And, my 10-year high school reunion was a couple weeks ago - that makes me feel old - and No, I didn't go, but I heard it went well. It looks like about half the class was there! (Yeah, there were only 45 in my graduating class...)


Look! Most people look just the same as 10 years ago! haha!

Politics

Well, the swine flu scare has passed, and things have returned to a much more normal state here. And we've been busy!

JP started summer semester at school, and has had some interesting things happen there...

JP's friend Benjamin works for the county government. He's affiliated with one of the political parties, and helps the candidates for mayor, senators, and governor. In JP's school, one teacher (an ex-polititian himseld) mentioned that he thought it would be an excellent idea to be able to bring one or two political candidates to the school to either have a debate or just talk with the students. Benjamin went to JP's school until he transferred to another this semester, and began talking to his political party's candidates. Since Benja no longer goes to the school, he passed the organizational part of the candidate event off to JP. JP met with the college president and the ex-polititian teacher, and they decided to go ahead with the event, inviting the candidates for both mayor and governor (state and county elections are on July 5). JP is in charge of setting things up for the event. We're excited that he has this opportunity, as it may provide a chance for a better job in the near future, especially if the invited candidates get elected. JP hadn't previously been affiliated with any political party, but this is the party that he would've been a part of... The party that, in general, seems to be most like what JP would vote, AND the party that is most likely to win the elections here in Queretaro.

Please pray for JP in the process of this event, and his relations with the candidates. He's always had a desire to minister to the upper-class and famous people... it kind of seems like God has given this opportunity for that specific reason!