Todo bien en Mexico... still.

Hey everyone! Saturday morning we woke up without having talked to Greg or Shelli about our plans for that day, so we really had no clue when to wake up or anything. First a little background information on the situation: Our humble abode was situated in the bedroom upstairs in the church, but Greg wasn't so comfortable with this due to the prison-like treatment that we received there (there are padlocks and heavy-duty bars that locked us inside... so basically we were kept in there like prisoners during the night, without any means of communicating to the outside world). So we woke up at 8:30 and were ready by 9:30, only to find that there had been a miscommunication between us and everyone else that we knew in Mexico. Alas, we waited around in our air-conditioned cellar, scraping the morsels of last night's supper off of the floor (we were actually just eating fruit loops). Finally, two hours later, we found Cesar roaming around the church, and he told us that some of the girls from the soup kitchen ministry were down the road in the building that they use every Saturday morning. We wandered down there and sat in on their craft while trying to communicate with the little chicas whose bright eyes and warm smiles made our long wait well worth it. We all ate lunch together after the craft, which was prepared by some of the local ladies (bless their hearts, but we're not exactly sure WHAT it was that we ate). After this, we went outside and played a fun game of pato, pato, ganso (just a little game known as duck, duck, goose in Canada). This was a lovely start to our first weekend in Mexico.


After returning to the church, Shelli came and took us to her home for a second, and perhaps a more fulfilling lunch. She made us tortilla soup, which was a first for both of us. It was DELISH. At this point it started pouring cats and chihuahuas outside. Miguel (not to be mistaken with the Miguel that the youth met on the previous mission trip here), who is living with the Neufelds, walked with us to the grocery store to get some much-needed snacks (more cereal, some milk, and a HUGE tub of yogurt!! YUMMY!). Miguel has been a great friend to us so far on this trip. He comes from a really rough past, but you would never know it from the warmth of his spirit and all the love that shines through him.  Conveniently enough, we met Greg just as we were walking out of the store. We enjoyed laughing and joking with Miguel in the cab of Greg's truck as we squatted in the attempt to avoid getting our batooties bedraggled. That didn't work so well for Emma (she might as well have sat right in a puddle). Well, off we went to the youth meeting at the church!


The youth did a great job leading worship, and we thoroughly enjoyed the speaker with the help of our excellent translator, Liseth. He talked about allowing people to see Christ in us, rather than having them see only ourselves, the things that WE like to do, the things that WE'RE good at, OUR dreams and goals, and OUR accomplishments. He explained that when it's Christ that people see in us,  that's when we are giving God the glory. If you have never been in the place where you don't want to stop being in his presence, crying out to Him, "Santo, Santo, Santo" (Holy, Holy, Holy), then you haven't experienced the power of Christ living in you. Even with the difficulty of a language barrier, God still speaks.


To end off this most excellent day, we went with the youth to enjoy a most excellent Mexican delicacy... HOT DOGS! This is a treat that we have both missed.


Yesterday morning, which just happened to be Sunday (which, in Mexico, is the day that everyone goes to church... imagine that!), we enjoyed some more singing in the morning service. We heard from others that Greg's sermon was great, but being as it was all in Spanish, and this time around we didn't have a translator, it was a little hard to follow. Instead of suffering through those two hours, we decided to spend our time reading. (Emma - Heaven is for Real; Emily - Mere Christianity). After church we were invited to go to a Mexican seafood restaurant with a couple families from the states, as well as the Neufelds. We liked being able to talk and enjoy lunch with a bunch of English speakers without having to constantly explain everything in half-speed, however the whole time Emma was fairly certain that she was going to die from the foreign shrimp concoction that was goin' down in her taco (this was worse than talking in half-speed). All the "kids" ate lunch together, and we sat across from the two American guys who helped us make our way through the Spanish menu. Crazy live Mexican music, bacon-wrapped shrimp, and swordfish tacos made this a memorable meal.


Back to the Neufelds' house we went to play some crazy rabbid (yes, rabbid) Wii game. Soon enough we were joined by some of the guys from the youth who took us hiking up Cerro Jhonson, a small mountain just a few minutes' drive out of Hermosillo. By this time the sun was setting, so it was quite the task making our way up the hill past all the jumping night critters. One in particular that we became quite familiar with is the locust. For any of you not yet familiar with such a being, we've kindly inserted a photo here for you.

Making our way up wasn't too fun, but let us tell you that the view at the top made it all worth it. 

The two of us came back to the church and were later joined by Miguel Gamez, another great friend, and spent the evening in worship with him. It was awesome singing and praying together in total liberty last night. Definitely another memorable time.

Today Shelli blessed us with the honor of cleaning out and organizing the COMPASSION ROOM (dun dun duuuuh... don't let the name deceive you!) The reason why it's called the compassion room is because people should feel compassion for those who have been chosen to clean it out. Shelli told us that she'll keep us down there until it's finished, that we're not leaving Mexico until it's done, and that she'll deprive us of our meals until our job is complete. Needless to say, we'll be in there every day for at LEAST another day. 

After a couple hours of working in apocalyptic conditions, Greg came and let us out for the day (if it was Shelli's choice, we'd still be in there). He told us that we'd be moving "homes", to the apartment of two missionaries who are out of the country for a while, and that we'd have to pack up our stuff and take it with us right then. We did this, then headed over to Greg and Shelli's for lunch. Lunch for Mexicans takes place at around 2:00, and it is the biggest meal of the day.

This evening we had the privilege of meeting a couple who runs an orphanage of about 22 kids and has three kids of their own. Today it was the first anniversary of the orphanage, and it was their tenth anniversary of being married. Ten years ago they were married by the State, never by the church, so they decided to celebrate their anniversary by re-dedicating their vows in front of the church this evening. We were fortunate to sit in on that. After the wedding, our mini-van crammed full of 11 people (five Neufeulds, two Canadians, Marcela and her daughter, Miguel, and Memo, who is another great friend from a past trip here) rode home with blaring Spanish music, which we all sang along to in both Spanish and English. We were so off-tune with each other, but there aren't many things more beautiful than hearing simultaneous worship in more than one language. 

To end off the evening, we moved all of our stuff to the apartment where we will now be staying for the rest of our trip here. We were blessed with a place of our own that has Internet, running water, and a little bit of privacy. We truly are so thankful to be here with such wonderful and loving people.

Until next time,

Em'n'Em

Marcela, Emma, Memo, Emily, and Miguel

The wedded couple!