Wow. That pretty much sums up what I'm thinking. I have so much to say. Lets see. I came to Mexico thinking that I was going to save the world, yeah, you know, that mindset, I'm a missionary, show me what I'm going to work with, and what not, yeah, well, God had other plans. He usually does, I guess He's always trying to teach us or something. First I'm going to tell you about the past week, and then I'll tell you about my day yesterday. Sound good? Ok. So this past week has been pretty cool. I had three teachings so far and one today. Ironically, I can teach for a long time, who would have thought? I taught on spiritual gifts and strengths, cross-cultural ministries, compassion in your ministry, and today I'm talking about servant leadership. It’s great; I'm actually seeing what I learned in School of Ministry Development. They are at such a time right now, where literally everything is changing. I'm not kidding, so not only do I usually have no idea what's going on, they don't either. I think it's quite ironic that as they are changing their ministries and their focus on ministry, I'm here, helping them, and teaching them how to develop their ministries, it's as if someone had a great plan, GO FIGURE. They are switching up everything! So also, on top of teaching them, I'm teaching a couple people the piano, weird, because for those who have known me for a long time know, I HATED piano, now, I can't stay away from one. So I love music and God has definitely given me a passion for it, now I get to teach something I love! I sang worship, and played the piano, by myself for them because I sang in English, but then Ricardo who happens to have a band, asked me to sing back up for some of his tracks and that I'm going to go to record next week. I'm also playing the piano for a song; my name is already in the credits! I'm learning how to cook, how to pretty much live here and not stick out like an American. I pretty much know my way around outside the base; I could get to the market, the bakery, the plaza, by myself. Hmm, I went to an actual mall, and got a krispy kreme doughnut, it made me miss America. :( But it was delicious. The base director wants to take me to Whitzi, I have no idea how to spell that, but it's more of an indigenous place, so that should be fun. I'm going to work with another youth group this weekend, and then I'm going to go talk at a high school. Crazy plans but sounds like so much fun! I'm also going to the fair tomorrow and 6 flags Mexico City soon, because I have 4 free tickets! :) yay missionary connections!!! Ok on to my day yesterday.
If you get upset about the injustices in the world very easily, I advise you to not keep reading.
Well first off, it was my turn to make breakfast, again for people who know me, I hate cooking, even in American so think about me trying to cook, by myself at 7 am in a foreign country, yeah, I don't see a problem with it either,... NOT. So, the night before I went to the store with the person who cooks everyday to buy stuff to make pancakes, which they call hotcakes here, weird, and unlike America, they have to add other things besides just water. So I stumbled out of bed into the tiny kitchen, to try to find things to make these so called hot cakes. I also had to try to make coffee, which is harder than you think on account that WHY WOULD THEY USE TO THE COFFEE MAKER! THAT'S ABSURD! So, I made some, but it was different, they also make cinnamon tea, my favorite, so I had to make all these hot cakes in a tiny one pancake at a time thing, it was actually quite exciting. I actually succeeded and everyone was happy! Then it was my turn for devo. Now, the last time we had devo we started an encouragement thing and it was continuing so I figured I would just keep going, but as I started, they told me that was only for the days where it was prayer, this was devo. Now let me remind you, this is my knowledge going off the fact those prayer days and devo days are ALL in Spanish, so I think a bit of communication got lost in translation. So I got up, prayed really hard that God would miraculously make me spit out an hour devo off the top of my head, and well, HE DID. It was great! I somehow knew all the verses I wanted too! I love how God can do that. Then it was time to get ready to go to the city! They informed me that I couldn't bring anything valuable, I had to take my ring off, and I couldn't bring my camera, so unfortunately no pictures. The ride was long we live about an hour outside of the city, but the ride was never boring, I still get nervous whenever I get in a car here. Especially after yesterday I almost got in a car crash. Some car went right in front of us and we stopped an inch behind them. Always invigorating driving here. Then I saw another car actually hit another one, nothing drastic, but it's normal here. So we finally arrived at Ricardo's, (my base director) mother's house. She was super sweet and fed us the BEST food I've had here so far. Then we set out. We walked to a place with fountains, I have no idea what it was called, but on my way there I learned some things. We walked past a huge statue where I saw people laying underneath it, and a park with people sleeping on the ground, and now I'm not talking about a nice picnic and a nap, this was their life. I asked about it, Neil (staff at the base) informed me that almost all or at least most of the homeless people used to live underneath that statue but the police told them they couldn't because of all the tourists that come, they want to make Mexico cleaner. ARE YOU KIDDING ME? YES PLEASE LET’S JUST HIDE ALL THE HOMELESS PEOPLE, THAT'LL FIX THINGS. So we started praying at the fountain place to ask God what the base should do, because they have been doing ministries there for 3.5 years, should they move on, or keep going. We were praying, as I was looking at the fountain watching a homeless person try to sneak a bath really quick before anyone could see. I'm already at the point of tears but yet we keep walking. We went to the place that the homeless called home since they were kicked out of the other place. It was behind a cement wall, with a tiny, I mean for like one person opening. I wanted to see, they warned me, I still wanted to see, but first we bought soda to give to them and just tried to talk to them and hang out with them. We sat on the sidewalk outside the cement wall, and talked and watched people "work". One of the main ways to get pesos here is by cleaning windshields at stop lights. They get one or two pesos, which are about 10 to 20 cents, my friends. That's what they do,... for their work... As we were just sitting there, I asked Neil to take me in. He did, I walked in, and was heartbroken. They had made tent like things with sticks, blankets and tarps in a dump. Yes, I'm very serious when I say a dump, all of the trash was there, but it was their home. Their home sweet home. I couldn't help but to cry. I watched as a mother was caring for her baby in her shack. They inhale paint thinner, it's the main drug here, really cheap, and I watch as every person is "huffing". It kills the pain of being hungry, so instead of trying to find food, they kill away their feelings, even better. We hung out with them for a bit. They we moved on to the prostitution areas, need I tell you we stopped and prayed about every half an hour for all this, just to really seek God out. They warned me once again. Prostitution isn't illegal in Mexico, so coming from the states where it is, this was all very new to me. There are rules though. REALLY? RULES ABOUT PROSTITUTION,... WHAT IS THE WORLD COMING TO? They can't prostitute past a certain time and can't have too much skin showing at a certain time. I walked past maybe 20 to 25 prostitutes in one block. They just stand there, waiting for someone to come take advantage of them for money. They sell themselves, and they look dead in their eyes, no life, only shame. They all wear shoes that look like they kill your feet, and little to no clothes, and I was cold yesterday, so that must mean they were too, I was actually wearing normal clothes. We prayed a lot for them. It kills me that they are ok with that life, but also, some of the homeless people have chosen that lifestyle as well. I watched as the next building to the homeless the police we standing on guard with their giant guns, and how the police were just watching as the prostitutes just stand,.. and wait,.. and wait... There was a place they called the "cat walk" where the girls would line up, strut themselves off, and guys could just take their pick. Absolutely disgusting. We started to head back, but first we hung out with another family the base had known for a few years. A man and his wife and their three kids stood on the corner washing windows. I sat on the sidewalk wondering how people live this way. I look at another statue that looks so beautiful on the outside, yet behind it, there was another shack, if you can even call it that with people sleeping in it, what else can they do? How can something that looks so beautiful up front be so ugly in the back? I thought the jungle was hard; yeah well this is the concrete jungle. We headed back to Pachuca. I was pretty shooken up. Then oh goodness, silly me, I was cold last night, I felt horrible thinking about all the cold people in the streets right now, as I snuggled up with my blankets. All I could do was pray until I fell asleep.
Please pray that the base here will have clear direction in their next step and for me to continue with my outreach here with strength and wisdom :)
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