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To Wake the People Up…

To Wake the People Up…

Last night we studied again with Agustina.  We were reading many of the parables that Jesus used to teach the people.  After reading about the lamp on a stand and talking about the nature of light, I said: “Jesus was also called the light of the world.  Why is he a light?” “He came to […]
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Playing Aunties, Conclusion

Playing Aunties, Conclusion

Friday 10:00 am: We discover that Dario has been “hiding” his favorite toys and the socks I’ve lent him in the basket that holds the dog treats.  That way he doesn’t have to share them with the other kids who come to play. Friday 12:30 pm: The kids are hungry and lunch isn’t ready yet.  […]
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Playing Aunties, Part II

Playing Aunties, Part II

In case you didn’t catch the last blog entry, Rachel and I are taking care of our friend Agustina’s two older children while she’s out of town.  Many of the experience are new to these two tribal kids, and Rachel and I are learning about their culture, too.  Here are a few highlights from the […]
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Playing Aunties

Playing Aunties

Rachel and I are pretending to be aunties this week. Our friend Agustina had to go out of town. She set off on foot Saturday morning carrying her 1-year-old son to a village about 15 miles away. From there she will see if she can hitch a ride to the town down on the coast. She left […]
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Meet Andrea

Meet Andrea

I’ve talked about Andrea in other posts, but I wanted you guys to be formally introduced. Andrea is about my age, but I usually think of her as much older. I think she thinks of me as younger, too, since she suggested I marry her 18 year-old son. Like many people in this relatively new […]
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The One About Tubes

The One About Tubes

A few days ago some little boys came to our house to borrow a movie.  “We want the one about tubes,” they told Rachel.  Rachel, needless to say, was a bit confused.  She asked the boys what the tubes were like, what people were doing with the tubes, and other pertinent questions, but the boys […]
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Digging in Deep

Digging in Deep

A few months ago we decided to pen up our chickens.  During a conversation about why, I asked my language helper how to say they were digging up our plants. “Oh,” she said, “say: tatahtáh hiyero.” They dug ugly. “Seriously?” I thought, “a word that sounds like a fake drumroll?”  I dutifully copied her until […]
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Who Except God…

Who Except God…

Agustina is a young, single-mother with three children.  She is intelligent, witty, and works hard to give her children good things.  Although she speaks Nahuatl, her first language is Spanish.  She expressed interest in hearing what the Bible had to say and we have begun to teach her.  Twice a week she comes at night […]
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If You Do, I’ll Give You Candy…

If You Do, I’ll Give You Candy…

Part of speaking a language is understanding the culture of those with whom you want to communicate. Knowing how to conjugate every verb is handy, yes, but it doesn’t ensure that people will track with what you want to say. Take the idea of persuading someone to do something, for example. In our culture we […]
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The Well

The Well

Those Who Will Make a Hole For months now we have been talking to the Nahuatl about “yehwanti del takoyonaski” or “those who will make a hole.” On the 18th two workers from Living Water arrived in our village with a huge well-drilling rig in the back of their truck. We praised God for their […]
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