Can you belive that I just celebrated one whole year in Mexico?! How cool is God’s provision & protection? And I’m looking forward to what God has for me this year.
I did have a great Christmas break in Oregon with my family & friends! On January 4th I flew back to El Paso, TX and met up with Amy. Then we spent a day buying supplies for the year, we picked up a friend from the airport to take with us into Mexico, & we had to spend an extra day in El Paso to have new tires put on the car. And then we were finally ready to head back to Mexico & when we arrived home we hit the ground running! We started in on Spanish study again, spent time visiting our friends at church & in the city, and we got back into our regular crazy schedule including English class & visiting the Casa Hogar. I also started learning Spanish with a new friend – Ana, and she is a great teacher.
On February 2nd here in northern Mexico the Big Freeze came to Chihuahua. And the next morning we woke up to snow on the ground and had below freezing tempuratures. For most of us we can handle freezing temperatures & it’s not that weird, but Northern Mexico hasn’t seen that low of temperatures in more than 60 years! The homes here aren’t built with insulation, and are built with cinder block or brick so they aren’t really built to handle these low temperatures. Almost all of our neighbors had pipes break, some on their roofs, & quite a few pipes broke inside the concrete walls! We had three breaks in our pipes on the roof. Our apartment was so cold that we could see our breath & there was frost on the wall by my bed. So we spent Thursday trying to stay a little warm in our house by having friends over and watching movies. Most of the city shut down because of the lack of electricity in certain parts, there was no water, and some people were without gas to heat their homes. The Big Freeze was a natural disaster here in Mexico. Because of all the broken pipes, the hardware stores ran out of plumbing supplies, the gas companies ran out of LP (it’s what we use to warm up our houses a little), places in the city were without electricty for days, & most of the city spent quite a few days without water. Our house was without water for 7 days! But we were able to find a place to shower after 5 days. For me, it was a very eye opening time to see what are the types of things that I can handle, the things that drive me crazy, & what is very hard for me to deal with.
In our Sunday School class that week in the book of John we studied Jesus’ interaction with the Samaritan woman at the well. And it reminded me that during this time of lack of water at our house that I have the true and living water that Jesus offered me.
In the midst of the Freeze, I also had an interview in Spanish & my computer broke. I just received the results from my Spanish interview, and for all the hours I’ve studied I’m right where I should be for as many hours as I’ve studied – Progressing-High! Praise God with me! I am going to start working at the Capable level – which has three sub levels – low, mid, & high. To finish with the Spanish program I need to reach Capable High! And now to the computer. I’ve already gone 4 weeks without it, plus I think I’ll have to wait another 2-3 weeks while it gets repaired. 🙁 It’s currently in the US getting fixed, because we don’t have any computer support here this year.
Praises
:: A great Christmas break in Oregon & safety as I traveled!
:: One year anniversary here in Mexico!
:: God’s faithfulness & protection!
:: An excellent Spanish evaluation!
:: Surviving the Freeze of 2011
:: Amazing friends here in Chihuahua that take care of me!
Prayer Requests
:: Continue faithfulness & amazing times studying Spanish
:: Continued growth in my relationship with God
:: The new kids in the Casa Hogar – Jesus & Angel
:: For the guys at the Home Office fixing my computer
Surviving the Freeze
We found numerous ways to survive the Freeze. July enjoyed sitting in front of the heater, or sleeping under the blankets with us. We had friends over to watch movies, we ate meals together, & then there was the Superbowl to watch! And of course there was some time to study our Spanish!
Birthdays!
We are always celebrating birthdays here! Including Amy’s 27th, Hector’s (Amy’s boyfriend), Jose’s, Edgar’s, Lily’s, & there was probably someone else too! I praise God for another year of life that He has given my friends!
Weddings!
February gave us two opportunities to enjoy two weddings. One was for a couple in our church, Eduardo & Lupita. And the other was a collective one with over 1500 couples that got married in the Expo Center! In Mexico, a church wedding does not count legally. The 1500 couples that got married on February 14th were married in a civil ceremony conducted by the governor of the state of Chihuahua. The civil ceremony is important to receive certain legal benefits. At the collective wedding, there was a raffle for two train trips, a couple of kitchen appliances, living room sets, & even a house! If you took a coupon from the newspaper in to the Expo Center you could even have a free wedding! It was definitely interesting to watch & hear the reasons for why it was important to be married!
Casa Hogar
We are continuing to head to the Casa Hogar every Thursday afternoon for about 3 hours. We have 3 boys that have finished the 35 lessons in the Literacy Program! Over Christmas break I was able to buy some new Christian books for the kids in Spanish. They love reading them, or having us read to them! It’s a very precious time spent each week with these kiddos.Please pray for some of the new ones that have started living there: Jesus Ismael (his picture is below) & his brother Angel. We don’t know why they are living there, but we are praying for their adjustment to their new home.