Highs & Lows of 2 Years in Mexico

This is our second official anniversary blog since moving here to Mexico as missionaries. What?? Can it be? Yes! Two years already! Praise the Lord for bringing us this far and sustaining us every step of the way!

We have a dear friend who introduced us to, and convinced us to love, the concept of “highs and lows” conversations. By “highs and lows” of course I mean when you discuss a certain experience and reflect on your “highs” of that time and your “lows” as well. It always makes for a good way to look back on something and for that reason we are gonna do that very thing via this blog to celebrate our two year anniversary. We’ll try to keep it brief. Ha!

Tom:

Highs- This past year I was able to go with a group to Mexico city to visit some of Mexico’s historical sites. That was pretty awesome. Seeing the Pyramid of the Sun and the Pyramid of the Moon were the funnest things to see for me. I would say more in general, though, the friendships I have had and been able to build on here have been one of the biggest highs. In some ways I think these relationships have gotten us through some really difficult times of discouragement. The people who have helped us learn Spanish at different points have been so wonderful. Relationships were hard for us when we first came because we were hurt and closed off I think for a while because of our transition from Papua New Guinea. Our friends have been super patient with us and I am so thankful for each of them.

Lows- Aside from our transition to Mexico and first year of ups and downs here, I had a period during this past summer where I was pretty down. I was tired a lot, unmotivated in my Spanish studies, there were a lot of interruptions (some were good) and coupled with battling some interpersonal conflicts, I just felt discouraged a lot. This ended a few months ago when I began taking a Spanish Bible class,  making some new friends to get out and spend time with and I started exercising more regularly.

Overall, I am aware and thankful for how good the Lord has been to our family, in not only His continual provision, but in His presence along with us on this hard road. He has been a faithful companion and friend.

Beth: (I’m going to start with 2 lows because I am a “save the best for last” kinda gal ;D)

Low #1- One low was just the harsh transition we went through living here. Mostly it just had to do with not understanding what it would be like living in houses that don’t keep the cold out. That was new for us and for me especially it was brutal! A month after moving here we got our own house and went through several issues with the house that made me despair at times that we would ever adjust. We were freezing cold inside wearing coats etc. everyday, we didn’t have hot water to bathe and we ran out of propane on Christmas Eve! Among other things! It was a very low low not thinking we could ever know how to be warm and just live!

And those were problems just with the house, we also struggled with the transition of knowing how to do just about anything in the city! From pumping gas to taking a trip to the grocery or hardware store-things are done very differently here and it was daunting and discouraging. (Of course totally normal but none the less hard)

Low #2- This low also has to do with the cultural learning curve and that was the relational adjustment time we went through. There are a lot of complexities with cross-cultural relationships that are challenging to us as Americans and it was really difficult going through a time of not understanding well how we should be going about relationships. Of course we learned things through some unfortunate trial and error, were given some bad advice from people, then got good advice from others and so on. Naturally having no language ability at first in Spanish compounded ever problem too. 😛

Oh good, time for my 2 “highs”! 

High #1- On the opposite end of my last stated “low” I have to say that my greatest encouragement after two years here in Mexico is most certainly our relationships with Mexican friends. We have slowly made a good group of friends who have become so dear to us. Seriously. The value of having genuine friends here who are willing to share life with us, be in our home, be honest with us about what we need to change (whether it be a problem in our Spanish or something we are doing wrong culturally) and just accept us for who we are- the weird foreigners who are like adult babies bumbling around in their language and culture!) no strings attached is priceless to us. We give so much thanks to God for these precious people and only pray that our ability to minister to them and come alongside them can only grow as we reach fluency in this beautiful (and challenging) language! <3

High #2- Travel in Mexico. I have not had the opportunity to travel too much yet here in Mexico but the few places I have seen have been splendid. This country is truly incredible in terms of it’s vast array of landscape and climate. I pray that the Lord will provide for more opportunities for us to travel as a whole family because I  want to see so many more areas of this amazing country!

Bonus! A wee interview with the kids!

Jude: 7 yrs old, in 2nd grade

What do you think about living in Mexico?

Well, I just think that it’s great. I just think it’s a great opportunity -for me- to be in Binimea (that’s his school). Also! I really like the fact of how amazing they (meaning Mexico) make their money! It is really cool! I mean seriously! How do they get the coins so gold in the middle!!??

What is your favorite day of the week and why? 

Saturday! Because I always have a free day off of school and we get donuts!

Do you have good friends here? 

Yes! And those friends are, well, I like to play them and they are great because they prefer to play with me!

What is your favorite food here in Mexico?

That’s a hard decision but… I like quesadillas from restaurants. I sometimes like tacos with just the orange meat. (He is referring to taco’s “Al Pastor” which is seasoned in a way that turns the meat orange)

Where is your favorite place to go here in Mexico?

I have a ton of favorite places! The dam first of all, because they have tons of play grounds. And another one- the big slide park because it has a really fast slide that is really really big! Oh! The mall! With the Mexico sign! (that is a gigantic sign that’s big enough for the kids to play on) 

How is it going learning to speak Spanish?

Great! (Really?) Yeah! Because I have Spanish class! My teacher explains it in English and then she lets us bring papers home and we learn. I think we have been learning about the human body… well I mean I already know about the human body but what I mean is that we are learning about it in Spanish! I always tell my teacher, “Hola maestra!” 🙂

Iris: Age 5, in kindergarden

What do you think about living in Mexico?

It’s fun. Sometimes we do things with our friends..

What is your favorite day of the week and why?

Saturday donut day?

Do you have good friends here?

Yes! But one moved away and that was hard. I miss her SO much! Um, I can play with my friends. My cousins and.. at E’s house I think her room is cool. And I can have L over and at my birthday party I had my friends come over. Oh! And S came over and we played three little monkeys jumping..What is your favorite food here in Mexico?

Strawberries! Ice cream! Quesadillas and ‘al pastor’ but nothing else!

Where is your favorite place to go here in Mexico?

The big slide park, the dam… because it just has the ducks. That was SO much fun feeding those ducks!

How is it going learning to speak Spanish?

Uh… I haven’t been in a real Spanish class so I don’t really know. I can say some things but I don’t remember when I learned them, I just learned them.

Do you like it when ladies touch your face and pinch your cheeks? 

Well, not very much..no, I don’t like it. I should smile and say hola but it is hard to learn that!