Hello folks,This trip is wonderful….on so many levels. It has been the perfect pace of vacation for both Marlene and I. We’ve stayed up late, slept in, ate wonderful food, spent precious time with people and just been here. Much time has been spent with the children, loving on them and entering into their lives. A few days ago, Sheila had the day off from school, Marlene was out visiting, so I had some concentrated time with Sheila. We took a walk, ate ice cream and looked at pictures of my family, Charleston , etc. She’s very quiet, but in a long period of time like that together, she opened up and talked to me a little bit.Marlene and I aren’t planning on going to Acapulco anymore, as she needs to be here in Cuernavaca in case she gets news to come home quickly for her dad. So far, it looks like she’ll be staying here as long as he remains stable. I’ve been doing a bit of email communication for her just so she doesn’t have to repeat things over and over, and in doing that I’ve seen the updates coming in as well as the replies she gets from friends who are praying, all of which confirm that she should stay here and receive what God has for her here. Those have all been extremely comforting, and I’m grateful that God has given me the opportunity to be here with her on this trip for what help I can be. If she does have to leave, I have been so accepted by the people here, that they would not even let me consider leaving early. M has been considerate to give me one on one time with some of the girls here, and friendships are developing that I know will continue after I leave.
I continue to fall more and more in love with this country…in so many little ways that it is overwhelming at times. Of course, I’m in a kind of honeymoon mindset still, but I think it is safe to say that God’s purposes in bring me here were more than just my personal benefit or to support Marlene. He may have a place for me here in the future. This trip has definitely felt like a kind of “mission trip”, but “mission” in the sense that we are coming to share life with Christians in another part of the world and share Jesus together. That is the mission of this trip.We’ve been very “latin” about out lifestyle here, falling back into old, familiar patterns for both of us. Nothing happens until it happens here. We wake up with the expectation that we will probably eat breakfast sometime soon, but apart from that, nothing has been set in stone. We’ve sat in a lot of café’s, had lots of long conversations, walked all over the city, gone to movies, sat and talked more and more. It’s heavenly!!
Yesterday was a pretty typical day: We woke up late, since the tremendous thunder and lightning display had kept us up for a while. It was absolutely beautiful, causing me to sit at our picture window and gasp and every streak of lightning and window shattering clash of thunder. My dad has instilled in me a intense love of God’s thunder storms. We slept with the windows open and were awakened by a refreshing rain falling into our bed in the middle of the night. In the morning there was a cool breeze and the city felt clean and new, so we walked the 15 minutes to an Italian style café in the town center. There we had coffee, baguettes with eggs and cheese, cookies, salad, a fresh strawberry smoothie (and internet access!) for just $3.50 a piece! We walked back home, picked up what we needed for devotionals, and headed back into the center for time with Jesus. That lasted a good 2 hours and we both went back home feeling refreshed.
Lunch with the family followed (meat, veggies, and tortillas) and then we took shower #2 of the day. Here, you really need to shower at least 3 times a day, just to be able to stand the heat! By the time we looked presentable, it was time to meet Sheyla (who little Sheila was named for) at the mall. I think Sheyla is like a director of a branch of Intervarsity here in Mex, called Compa, but I could be wrong. She travels all over the world, speaking, etc. In anticipation of a meeting she has coming up in Singapore , we met at Starbucks for an English class for her, Spanish class for us. We all were pleased with how much we learned in 3 hours! We took a taxi to the mall to meet Sheyla, a rare thing for us, since we’ve been walking everywhere, but it was a divine appointment. Our taxi driver was unusually chatty and it turns out he has children in the states, in Omaha , NE where I was born. We chatted about nonsense for a while, but then he started telling us about Jesus. He told us how he sees his job as a double job, to drive people around and share Jesus with them at the same time. “If I had know you to güeras spoke such good Spanish, I would have started evangelizing you as soon as you got in the taxi,” he said. I think we were able to encourage him as much as he did us. As we left him, he asked out names and told us his, Salvador . Savior.
Leaving the mall at 9, we decided to walk the 5 miles home so that we could stop by Dona Pali’s on the way. She was sitting at her table, Bible opened in front of her. Her eyes lit up to see Marlene and she listened intently to all the updates on Marlene’s dad. Her occasional interjection of, “paratopera” into the conversation let us know exactly what she wanted it to. What an incredible woman!
Arriving at home, so tired and so ready for showers, we found that the kids had accidentally locked our door, the only one in the house without a key. I tried to apply some of the skills I had learned in Honduras (breaking and entering and such), but to no avail. Fortunately, the family was out of town last night, so we slept on the girls’ bed. Marlene was in a talking mood, so I heard a bunch of her stories from all over the world, prompting me again to beg her to write a book. This morning, we got a locksmith to come open the door around ten, watched a movie, and are now at a café. Shakira is singing “Hips don’t lie” in the background and behind her I can hear Mariachi and Norteño bands walking around the center playing there songs to the mothers who are out today (it’s Mother’s Day in Mex). There are horns honking, quiet conversations buzzing around me in Spanish, a nice little Mexican bird hopping on the wall above me. I feel at home, but missing all of you muchly. Thanks for reading, thanks for praying, thanks for being in my life.
Love, Mandie
I continue to fall more and more in love with this country…in so many little ways that it is overwhelming at times. Of course, I’m in a kind of honeymoon mindset still, but I think it is safe to say that God’s purposes in bring me here were more than just my personal benefit or to support Marlene. He may have a place for me here in the future. This trip has definitely felt like a kind of “mission trip”, but “mission” in the sense that we are coming to share life with Christians in another part of the world and share Jesus together. That is the mission of this trip.We’ve been very “latin” about out lifestyle here, falling back into old, familiar patterns for both of us. Nothing happens until it happens here. We wake up with the expectation that we will probably eat breakfast sometime soon, but apart from that, nothing has been set in stone. We’ve sat in a lot of café’s, had lots of long conversations, walked all over the city, gone to movies, sat and talked more and more. It’s heavenly!!
Yesterday was a pretty typical day: We woke up late, since the tremendous thunder and lightning display had kept us up for a while. It was absolutely beautiful, causing me to sit at our picture window and gasp and every streak of lightning and window shattering clash of thunder. My dad has instilled in me a intense love of God’s thunder storms. We slept with the windows open and were awakened by a refreshing rain falling into our bed in the middle of the night. In the morning there was a cool breeze and the city felt clean and new, so we walked the 15 minutes to an Italian style café in the town center. There we had coffee, baguettes with eggs and cheese, cookies, salad, a fresh strawberry smoothie (and internet access!) for just $3.50 a piece! We walked back home, picked up what we needed for devotionals, and headed back into the center for time with Jesus. That lasted a good 2 hours and we both went back home feeling refreshed.
Lunch with the family followed (meat, veggies, and tortillas) and then we took shower #2 of the day. Here, you really need to shower at least 3 times a day, just to be able to stand the heat! By the time we looked presentable, it was time to meet Sheyla (who little Sheila was named for) at the mall. I think Sheyla is like a director of a branch of Intervarsity here in Mex, called Compa, but I could be wrong. She travels all over the world, speaking, etc. In anticipation of a meeting she has coming up in Singapore , we met at Starbucks for an English class for her, Spanish class for us. We all were pleased with how much we learned in 3 hours! We took a taxi to the mall to meet Sheyla, a rare thing for us, since we’ve been walking everywhere, but it was a divine appointment. Our taxi driver was unusually chatty and it turns out he has children in the states, in Omaha , NE where I was born. We chatted about nonsense for a while, but then he started telling us about Jesus. He told us how he sees his job as a double job, to drive people around and share Jesus with them at the same time. “If I had know you to güeras spoke such good Spanish, I would have started evangelizing you as soon as you got in the taxi,” he said. I think we were able to encourage him as much as he did us. As we left him, he asked out names and told us his, Salvador . Savior.
Leaving the mall at 9, we decided to walk the 5 miles home so that we could stop by Dona Pali’s on the way. She was sitting at her table, Bible opened in front of her. Her eyes lit up to see Marlene and she listened intently to all the updates on Marlene’s dad. Her occasional interjection of, “paratopera” into the conversation let us know exactly what she wanted it to. What an incredible woman!
Arriving at home, so tired and so ready for showers, we found that the kids had accidentally locked our door, the only one in the house without a key. I tried to apply some of the skills I had learned in Honduras (breaking and entering and such), but to no avail. Fortunately, the family was out of town last night, so we slept on the girls’ bed. Marlene was in a talking mood, so I heard a bunch of her stories from all over the world, prompting me again to beg her to write a book. This morning, we got a locksmith to come open the door around ten, watched a movie, and are now at a café. Shakira is singing “Hips don’t lie” in the background and behind her I can hear Mariachi and Norteño bands walking around the center playing there songs to the mothers who are out today (it’s Mother’s Day in Mex). There are horns honking, quiet conversations buzzing around me in Spanish, a nice little Mexican bird hopping on the wall above me. I feel at home, but missing all of you muchly. Thanks for reading, thanks for praying, thanks for being in my life.
Love, Mandie
Posts
2 comments:
Wow...you have a fun writing style! I like it!
Hope you don't mind if I link to you from my blog. =)
Not at all, twin! : )
Post a Comment