living in the mountains

I really like living in the mountains. There was so much fog this morning that you couldn't see anything - and somehow, I thought it was beautiful! It also storms at night, which is actually quite relaxing and makes the next day really comfortable.

"The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handiwork."
Psalm 19:1

"two roads diverged..."

"Two roads diverged in a yellow wood
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent into the undergrowth;

Then took the other, just as fair
And having perhaps the better claim
Because it was grassy and wanted wear
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same.

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no steps had trodden black
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence
Two roads diverged in a wood and I -
I took the one less traveled by
And that has made all the difference!"

(The Road Not Taken, Robert Frost)

You can continue to pray for our group this week... Emily, Hillary, Rachel, and I have been meeting to do a Bible study and today a couple of other girls from our group expressed interest today in joining us, which is very encouraging! Sometimes it's hard to be walking the narrow path - "the road less traveled by" (that's what made me think of that poem), but when something like that happens it's easier to see why God needs us to be set apart - so that others can notice and seek Him too. It's so neat to see God working... pray that we can be examples and that all of the glory will go to God!

Once again today was a pretty typical day - I got an A on my test for my language class so that was exciting! Tomorrow I have another test in my culture class so I will be studying for that tonight.

On a more random note - I got an email from Addie the other day that said "dad patched the big hole (in the pool liner) with a softener salt bag" so I was glad to hear that all is normal around home. :) I told someone earlier this week that there are some moments when I think I could stay here forever and then many, many days when I'm ready to hop on the next plane home. I'm so thankful for what I'm learning and what God is teaching me here but I hope the next month goes by very quickly!

some new discoveries

I was up really late last night studying for a mid-term that I had today... but other than that today was a pretty typical school day. I have, however, made a few discoveries in the last couple days...

1. the market, besides the food, is basically like a giant garage sale. and I really like garage sales. this is actually a very dangerous discovery, but also quite fun.

2. I think I have officially adapted to the Mexican eating schedule because I pulled out a tortilla and some stuff to put in it last night at about midnight. I also just really needed to go grocery shopping and didn't have anything else to eat.

3. I changed the power setting on my computer and it's working much better! never mind the fact that it runs really slow - at least it stays on!

4. to say "that's cool!" in Spanish, you say "Que padre!". they must have been thinking of my dad when they made that up. ;)

And, one of my most important discoveries as of late...
Change is one of God's ways of keeping me close to Him and trusting. I wish I could say I can always count it as a blessing... I don't. But I know that when things are unsettled, I often look to Him more. I'm praying that I can learn to maintain that same trust and confidence in HIM even when things are "normal".

Thanks for your prayers!

"for where two or three are gathered..."

"For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them". (Matthew 18:20)

I got to go to church today! It was wonderful. And we sang "Más Alla del Sol" so I was really excited that there was at least one song I knew.

So going back to Friday - we did indeed get tickets on Friday morning and headed out of Taxco on a bus bound for Toluca at 8:45 a.m. It was a beautiful drive, but also contained a lot of hills and curves. It was quite interesting - you would look down below you and see a road parallel to ours, and then you would realize that that's our road, but it doesn't appear like there's any way that we're ever going to make it there, and then you see a sign that says "curva peligrosa" (dangerous curve) and you realize that that curva peligrosa is going to be our method of getting down to that part of the road... anyway, it was interesting, like I said. :) It's about 2 1/2 hours to Toluca and then we bought new tickets there to get the rest of the way to Morelia and hopped on another bus 45 minutes later. We got to Morelia and bought tickets for a taxi, and we got in the taxi and gave him the address where we were going. Emily's brother Matt lives in Ixtlan and married a girl named Ruth Cervantes and her aunt and uncle live in Morelia, so they were meeting us there. So we had the address for Ruth's aunt and uncle. And would you believe that the taxi driver did not know where to find the house! I was very thankful we had a phone number... we ended up calling Ruth's aunt and had her talk to the taxi driver to give him directions to their house.

Rogelio and Fernanda (Ruth's aunt and uncle) were so kind and welcoming - they gave us a place to stay and excellent food all weekend! On Friday night we had a Bible study at their house and on Saturday, Fernanda and their son, Booz, showed us all around Morelia. We went to the central plaza, the cathedral, an exposition of art and stuff (which was actually really cool) and this really cool museum called "el Museo del Dulce" (The Museum of the Candy, roughly translated... although dulce generally refers to anything sweet). Definitely my idea of a great museum. It was pretty neat. Also, at this place, Emily and I dressed up in old-fashioned clothes and took one of those old-fashioned pictures... pretty classy, if I do say so myself. :) It was pretty fun.

This is the cathedral in Morelia - every town has one, it seems, somewhere around the central plaza. There was actually a wedding going on in this one. We were not invited, but observed anyway. :)

The entrance to the 'Museo del Dulce' - which is, like I said, a great museum. They even give you free samples! :)

Emily and I posed for several pictures next to signs by cultural places in hopes of extra credit upon showing them to Dr. Alstrum. We shall see... :)

Us with another sign... and Booz, our tour guide of sorts. :)

Also - on Saturday at some point we found this place that sold really big ice cream cones, so we bought some of those (see below). Dad, Mom, Leah, Seth, and Addie - I thought of you all as I continued our ice-cream-cone-buying tradition... :) Today at the bus station Emily and I bought cones again for only 5 pesos (less than 50 cents) and they were pretty great too.

Right now, Gloria Gonzalez from Ixtlan is living in Morelia and working at an orphanage there that is extremely under-staffed. This weekend, her sister Claudia was visiting her, so they spent some of Saturday morning with us and then we went to see them on Saturday evening at the orphanage. This picture was taken at the orphanage - there was a peach tree, with really good peaches, so we all ate one... or two... :) From left to right it's Gloria, me, Emily, and Claudia.

Today was such a blessing to have church. The service is held at Rogelio and Fernanda's house, and there were not very many people but it was wonderful to be together. It was Rogelio, Fernanda, and Booz, two other ladies from the area and two younger boys, Gloria and Claudia, me and Emily, and Matt and Ruth and their little baby Caleb.

After pictures and good-byes, Emily and I barely caught a noon bus out of Morelia (as in, we walked in, bought tickets, rushed through "security" - which involved us flashing our 12:00 tickets at 12:02 at the guard and him permitting us to go through without checking a thing) and enjoyed an uneventful ride back through Toluca to Taxco. We got back around 7ish. As exhausted as I am, the weekend was such a blessing and I feel very refreshed and strengthened going into this week.

Girls, this weekend was so special. Thanks for being such wonderful friends - I am so thankful that we share a love for Christ! Many prayers and blessings...

"You know a dream is like a river, ever changing as it flows.

And a dreamer's just a vessel that must follow where it goes.

Trying to learn from what's behind you and never knowing what's in store

Makes each day a constant battle just to stay between the shores.

I will sail my vessel 'til the river runs dry

Like a bird upon the wind, these waters are my sky

I'll never reach my destination if I never try

So I will sail my vessel 'til the river runs dry

Too many times we stand aside and let the water slip away

'Til what we put off 'til tomorrow has now become today
So don't you sit upon the shoreline and say you're satisfied

Choose to chance the rapids and dare to dance the tide.

There's bound to be rough waters, and I know I'll take some falls...

But with the good Lord as my captain, I can make it through them all!"

(The River, Garth Brooks)

apparently, a line is still the shortest distance between two points

Taxco is not that big. (and with that, anyone who knows me really well knows where this is going) In fact, it's probably smaller than Mahomet. But when Emily told me to meet her at the bus station yesterday to check out schedules and tickets for this weekend, I had not a clue where to even begin to find it. Dr. Alstrum and I discussed a map of Taxco for probably 15 minutes, in Spanish, and I still couldn't even figure out where my house was. It makes me wonder how I've been getting around the last few weeks.

Emily graciously agreed to meet me at the center of town, although it was completely out of the way, and so last night we met there to go find the bus station. It was definitely an adventure and a half. And I apologize in advance because this story is super unorganized, but I didn't quite know where to even start. First, we took the combi to what we thought was the bus station. It was, but there they told us that we should go to the other bus station because there we could buy all our tickets at the same time. So we walked to that bus station. The problem with this, is that it required us to walk down the street. Anytime we walk around here, it feels like we're in a parade. I might as well have been throwing candy or something. To get into the first bus station we had to walk through a group of guys who were just loitering around outside, and when you just barge through a group, I guess its sort of polite to say "Buenas tardes" or something to that affect. So we said that, which was followed by a chorus of "Buenas tardes" (I think they all must have said "good afternoon" like eight times) and many, many stares. Then, en route to the second bus station, we had this guy come up to us and in very loud and choppy English said, "How are you?" Umm... NOT impressed. We don't talk to boys around here. :) And then we finally got to the second bus station, only to realize that after we had taken the combi and walked on cobblestone sidewalks for at least a mile, the bus station was right next to both of our houses (well, Emily already knew it was right next to her house, but I didn't know it was right next to mine). What we DIDN'T know was that we lived that close to each other - I had literally been walking in a circle to meet her in the past. (It did seem a little odd that I always took two sharp turns left twice, but I've taken stranger routes). So it turns out, mathematics is still correct and a line is still the shortest distance between our houses. Anyway, Dad, I'm sure you're not surprised about any of this but I personally was quite astonished to discover that my direction skills were THAT bad. I think they must have gotten worse. Even Dr. Alstrum told me that I need to start carrying a GPS. I don't think that was a compliment. Today in class, though, he asked me if I got lost yesterday - so I thought it was really nice of him to care. :)

Anyway, so we arrive at the second bus station, and I tell the people that we need tickets to Morelia on Friday, and the guy was like (all in Spanish, of course), "You need three?" and me and Emily just stood there and looked at each other for a few minutes counting ourselves and trying to figure out where he was coming up with three... and then we were like, "um, no, two", and he was like, "two for you and one for me right?" ha. ha. sigh. I should start wearing a t-shirt that says, "No, gracias". Emily says that if one more male with a big cheesy grin asks her where she's from, she's going to tell them that she's from Spain, and that they should obviously be able to tell that by her accent. :) We are welcoming any suggestions for ways to get people to NOT pay attention to us. As it turns out, after all that, we couldn't buy the bus tickets yesterday because the lady had already left.

Good thing, too, because I got home and was talking to Soledad y Abel about it and they were like, "oh, no, you should take this other route, it's better." So today, we went back to the bus station and went to a different ticket counter. I almost laughed out loud when I saw that the young guy that came up to us was wearing tingleys - you know, those one rubber boots that they have out at the farm - and he was like "do you have any questions?" and we asked him a lot of questions and eventually figured out that we can't actually buy our bus tickets until TOMORROW MORNING 15 MINUTES BEFORE WE LEAVE. So we were like, "is there going to be space on that bus?" and he was like "mas o menos" (more or less). Not much of a guarantee. Anyway, we asked enough questions that he was finally like, "you're not from around here, are you?" Um, no. What was your first clue? But we politely responded that no, we were from the United States. And THEN. As me and Emily were standing there discussing what to do and how to go about things, the guy goes over to his friend and tells HIM that we're from the United States and he starts attempting to speak to us in English, and we said a quick "hola" and then walked away. We only waited a few seconds before we started laughing.

If this is any indication of how our whole weekend is going to go, we're in for a ride. :) All that said, I'm definitely looking forward to it and Emily gets to meet her nephew for the first time so I know she's excited about it too. We're skipping class tomorrow morning and heading out around 9ish (if there's space on that bus) so we'd appreciate your prayers for safe and uneventful travels. And I get to go to church on Sunday! I am very excited.

The other event of the day was that we got to go to a Bilingual Elementary School, which was so neat. I'll post about that sometime next week when I have pictures. I loved it.

Anyway, that's my story for the day. Thanks for your prayers for this weekend! Leah, I hope you and Claire have a wonderful and very blessed weekend at Girl's Camp! I'll be thinking of you!

love,
hannah

this post is dedicated to all my zehr cousins...

... because they are all on vacation together and I miss them all! In honor of this event, I had a friend take a picture of me wearing my Zehr Family Door County 2010 t-shirt at school today so that I could match everybody... even though I'm in Mexico and they're in Wisconsin. :)

much love to all of you! I hope you're having a wonderful trip and I cannot wait to see pictures.
love,
hannah

today is tuesday...

... and I had to do everything that I put off doing on Monday! :) After school I went swimming, walked home, caught up on my "cultural diary" that I have to write for my culture class, did laundry (which is still drying on the clothesline), balanced my checkbook (with entries and reciepts in random combinations of pesos and dollars, which makes this a rather tedious chore - but I found myself very thankful for online banking!) and made enough rice to have it for every meal this week. It looks like a lot less until it cooks!

In case you were uninformed, Mexico played Uruguay in the World Cup today, so they actually cancelled our classes this morning to watch the game. (I told you, it's a big deal!) The Mexico team lost, 0 - 1, which was quite sad. I actually thought it was pretty fun to watch soccer. They didn't miss passes! After almost a week and a half of the World Cup, I think I know the Mexico National Anthem and the World Cup theme song almost by heart. :)

la ciudad de méxico

This weekend, we went to Mexico City. It is about a 3-hour bus trip from Taxco and it's a beautiful drive. I really wish I could have stopped and taken pictures about every few kilometers (um, actually, I have no idea how long a kilometer is... but they don't do miles here!) The most important thing I learned on this drive was to always carry a peso in your pocket. Believe it or not, at the place we stopped in Cuernavaca to use the restroom, it cost a peso for toilet paper. Guess who left all their pesos on the bus? Lesson learned. Thankfully, my friends are more responsible and were willing to share pesos.

As we were driving into the city, it was very eye-opening to see how some people live there. I wish I had pictures of some of the "houses" because it really made me stop and be thankful for what I have. Pictures wouldn't even be able to do it justice.


We left on Saturday morning and got to the city mid-morning. Our first stop was the ruins of the Temple Mayor - the engineering that went into this place is fascinating. I didn't quite understand how everything worked or what purpose everything served, but it was still very interesting to see. My pictures from this aren't that great because we were looking at, well, ruins - so I just posted this picture of us. :)


This is the Palacio Nacional - a government building. This part of our tour kind of reminded me of Washington, D.C. Mexico City is the center of government in Mexico, so there's some correlation. We also went to the Palacio de Bellas Artes and saw some art there.


My favorite thing we've done so far as a group is definitely Teotihuacan (above). This was an ancient Aztec city, pyramids, etc. That's me and Emily standing there in front of it, although really the point of the picture is to show how big this pyramid is. :) We climbed it and there's a great view from the top. The history about this place was also really interesting, but I wouldn't be able to reproduce it here because we haven't reviewed it in class yet - and I need to hear everything like this in Spanish about three times for it to make any sense.
On our way back to Taxco, we stopped at UNAM - the Universidad Nacional Autonomo de Mexico. This is the National University of Mexico and has over 300,000 students - which is quite a few. The University is essentially the only public university in the nation and is entirely government-funded. Our guide, Marco, was a student here and did not pay anything to go to school for six years. The catch is that you have to pass an entrance exam to get in, which is very difficult. This building that I took a picture of has a mural on it by a former student, and the mural was actually really cool. But it's hard to tell here. The school for language-learners that I attend in Taxco is a division of UNAM.

We also stayed in a nice hotel and I got to take my first consistently-hot-and-full-water-pressure-shower in several weeks! Also, random note of interest about the hotel room - you had to have your room key card in this little slot in order for the lights to work. We had neat hotel rooms on the corner, though, so we could see two streets (filled with lots of taxis, police officers, and people walking around in the rain with ponchos and umbrellas).

Mexico City as a whole is a very fascinating place that I would probably never travel to again by choice. It was good to experience it once, but it's very loud, very dirty, and five times the size of Chicago, which makes it very overwhelming and a little scary. As in any big city, you see poverty and business both, but I have never seen such a combination of the two as Mexico City. It's impossible to explain.

The weekend went very well and I felt all of your prayers. Sunday was very different without the opportunity to go to church... I cannot wait until next weekend when Emily and I are traveling to Morelia!

Today I decided to walk home from school instead of taking the combi and I found all kinds of neat shops and things, so that was fun. It's hard to believe that I have exactly one month left here. I have so much to learn... but I cannot wait to go home. :)

"this is my commandment: that ye love one another, that your joy may be full!"

It's Friday! I only have one class on Fridays (the other one doesn't meet) so that was a nice change of pace.

After my language class this morning, I went with Emily to the Super Che - and told her to remind me next time to go by myself. :) No, actually, it was quite a fun adventure - she dropped all her bananas, apples, and tomatoes on the street right as we were getting on the combi, and then later asked me why on earth I didn't get a picture of that? Never mind the fact that I was chasing after her rolling apple. Anyway, there was lots of laughter and a significant amount of discussion about, "how are we going to get back off the combi if we had that much trouble getting on?" You can think of us the next time you go to the grocery store and pull your car right up next to the door, and then right into your driveway. :)

Anyway, tonight some girls in our group are doing a Bible study and then tomorrow morning at 7 a.m. we're off to Mexico City for the weekend! I would definitely appreciate your prayers for a safe trip and that I can show love even when I run out of patience. I've been reading through the book of I Corinthians, and last night I was at Chapter 13, and verses 4- 7 really stood out to me: "Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil; rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth; beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things."

"A new commandment I give unto you, that ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another." (St. John 13:34) We are called to love others as Jesus loved us, and it is a very high calling. Please pray that I will have the grace to do so! God is good.

goal!

I repeat, soccer is a big deal around here. (By the way, today I learned how to say 'big deal' in Spanish - 'gran cosa'). Anyway, Mexico just won in the World Cup and people are pretty excited. :) It is kind of cool to see everybody unite around a cause, even if it is soccer.

prayers

I know you are all praying, and I am so thankful! I just wanted to let you know that we especially need them in the next few days because there were some shootings in Taxco yesterday morning and a lot of people in our group are very concerned. I don't really feel unsafe and I'm not that worried, as my host parents have said that this is very rare.

I have come to a new realization of how thankful I must be for the peace I have in God - that I know I can put all my fears and worries in His hands - and leave them there. There are some people in our group who would like to find someone to blame the situation on, and there is simply not anyone specific to blame. It is difficult to understand and reach out to people with this constantly negative attitude who do not have a security in Christ to help comfort them. Please pray that our program director will have wisdom to deal with people who are upset, for safety for the remainder of our trip, and that God will be glorified - the world is in His hands.

thanks!
love,
hannah

right now...

... I am:
making soup
eating supper
browning some hamburger
updating my blog

... all at the same time. I should probably go before something starts burning. But it is great to finally be able to do something with all that food I bought yesterday - even if I am extending my limited cooking knowledge half in Spanish, half in English, and on a gas stove. :)

It was a mite chilly today in Taxco - I wore a sweatshirt to school!
And... I got an A on my test. It was a pretty good day. :)

Thanks for your continued prayers!

market day

Today was grocery day - I went to the Super Che and the market. It took forever, my head hurts, and I don't really know exactly how much I spent, but it was certainly an adventure! :)

There are essentially six types of places where you can get food here. In no particular order, they are:

1. the street

2. the market - which I really love. I wish you could all just come see it! I put some pictures below, because I can't really describe it.

3. the Super Issste - a little hole in the wall type store - I'd compare it to CVS kind of - with really, really nice people who recognize me and always help me find what I need

4. Super Che - something between IGA and County Market, only a lot less expensive, and everything is in Spanish

5. Bodega Aurrera - Wal-Mart has unfortunately invaded even the colonial town of Taxco. I do not like this place at all, really.

6. restaurants

I have actually bought food at all of these places, although on the street the only thing I've bought is fresh-squeezed grapefruit juice, which is amazing.

Today, though, I just went to the Super Che and the market. The Super Che is on my way home from school - I just walk there and get my groceries and then hop on a combi for the rest of the way home. Unfortuantely, I am not an efficient grocery shopper in the States, much less in Mexico, so I spent a significant amount of time wandering around considering the possibilities and trying to figure out just exactly what everything was. I mostly got along fine, but when it came to the meat department... I needed ground beef. And I found the package that looked like ground beef. But then it occurred to me that I didn't really know how to say 'ground beef'. Thankfully, there were no other packages that looked like ground beef, so I just bought it. I told Mom last night that I was unintentionally going vegetarian simply because I haven't had time to buy meat or figure out what to do with it, so hopefully my purchases today will end that trend. :)

My favorite part of the Super Che is definitely the bakery - or the 'panadería'. They have every type of bread, roll, doughnut, etc. that you could possibly imagine and you just walk around with this little tray and pick out what you want. I really want to find a little store that is just a panadería because they would have even more!

Anyway, about an hour later, I finally got to the check-out counter and paid my $400 pesos for groceries there (that's actually about $32, in case you're wondering). :) I left the store with a lot of groceries and the "Super Che cuesta menos" song running through my head. Think "Save big money at Menards" only a lot more annoying.

I rode the combi home and dropped off all that stuff, and then I headed down the street to the market. I spent about $7.50 and I got a papaya, a mini watermelon, some peaches, a bunch of carrots, limónes, some type of squash that I need for some soup, and several tomatoes, so I didn't think that was too bad.

This is a picture of the "entrance" to the market. Essentially, there's this little circle at the end of the street, with stairs going up into winding hallways and tents. That's the market.


This is the little place where I usually get most of my vegetables. This is on the corner, and you can see behind it basically there are just really narrow little walkways, with a bunch of little stands made out of plywood and two-by-fours.


The first time I ever went to the market with Soledad, she took a picture of me buying my meat and cheese. It's kind of like the deli at home - you pick your stuff and then they slice it for you - on a much smaller scale.

She also took a picture of me with the guy at the Super Issste - he is very helpful and this little places is right up the street from where I live if I ever need anything quick.

So that's my shopping experience. I wanted to take more pictures in the market but I already stand out because I'm American so pulling out the camera doesn't really help my case. And flashes aren't very discreet. :)

On another note entirely, before any of you start worrying too much about Seth, he actually did not break his finger. I called last night, all concerned about him, and Mom just laughed and she was like "oh, he didn't actually break his finger..." but he was conveniently in bed sleeping when I called. Ugh. His left pinky finger. I should have known. I can't believe I believed him! And put it on here too. It was so believable. Here, this is the email he sent me:

"Yo!!!!!! What's up?

Boys camp was soooooo much fun even though I broke my left pinky finger... thats why im having a hard time typing with it.... but its lightening now so i gotta go... ill talk later.
seth"

Seth, if you do something dumb like that again, I'm going to bring you home a dead cockroach as a souvenir. Actually, they sell these one things that are like this glass dome with a dead cockroach entombed inside. Me and Emily saw them the other day. Maybe I'll get you one of those. Anyway, you should probably start thinking of ways to redeem yourself right now. That said, after I got done being mad, it made me laugh a lot and I love you. :) Mom says you've been walking around the house with your head in a pillowcase, though, so I guess I should count my blessings that I only have to deal with a limited amount of your 'creativity'. :)

Ok, well, sixteen pages later... I think that's it for today. I can't believe it's only Monday. Have a blessed week!

"let your whole life be an offering..."

"Be ye therefore followers of God, as dear children; and walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling savor." (Ephesians 5:1-2)

It is a beautiful day in Taxco - cool and sunny after rain last night. I listened in to services in Fairbury this morning and afternoon - thus the song and verse reference. I liked that I could tell who was preaching. :)

A quick update on what's going on...

Yesterday I went with a few of my friends for a ride on the "teleferico" - these little cable car things that take you up to this mountain on the outskirts of Taxco. There were some really neat views and a restaurant/hotel at the top where we got some wonderful Mexican food! After that episode, I came home and did all my laundry and homework for a while, and then met Emily at the Galeria Caffe - one of our new favorite spots - and we talked for a while. It was a good day. Here are a few pictures:

From left to right, this is Hillary, Rachel, me, and Emily on the side of a hill overlooking Taxco.

To get there, we rode in that little yellow cable car thing. Well, maybe not that exact one. But it looked like that. How I took the picture, it looks like it's attached to that house - which it obviously is not - sorry about that. :)


If you look at the second story of this building, where the windows are arched, kind of, behind the pool, that's where the restaurant is that we ate it. It had a great view and great food!

I also got to talk to my family on the phone last night, which was great. But it sounds like I might have to call again tonight because Seth, while I'm glad you made it home alive, it is not ok to email me and tell me you broke your finger without offering an explanation. :)

I'm looking forward to another week of school and learning and growing. I have my first test on Monday covering a significant amount of information, so that will be a challenge. Hopefully later this week I will post some more pictures of where I live and where I go to school. Please keep praying! God is good.

¿Qué hombre es éste, que aun los vientos y el mar le obedecen? (San Mateo 8:27)

"But the men marvelled, saying, What manner of man is this, that even the winds and the seas obey him?" (Matthew 8:27)

It is a rainy night again in Taxco. But what a blessing to know that God is in control of every drop that falls and every strike of lightning. He is truly all-powerful, and continues to be faithful in my times of need. Earlier today I was struggling with a situation, wondering about God's will in it, and opened up my Bible to Jesus' words in St. Luke - "Are not five sparrows sold for two farthings, and not one of them is forgotten before God? But even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not therefore: ye are of more value than many sparrows." (St. Luke 12:6-7) God knows each one of us better than we know ourselves. I am so thankful.

Psalm 135:7
He causeth the vapours to ascend from the ends of the earth; he maketh lightnings for the rain; he bringeth the wind out of his treasuries.

in case you're wondering...

... today was the first day of the World Cup in South Africa. If I was in the United States I would have no idea this was going on, but here, it's kind of hard to miss everyone's TVs blaring the opening ceremonies at 7 a.m. and the green soccer jerseys everywhere. Soccer is, to put it mildly, a big deal in Mexico. In fact, as we speak, I can hear soccer commentary in Spanish. In fact, I think I now know more about soccer in Spanish than I do in English (which would not take much).

So we had school today. Two of the girls arrived at school with reports of 30+ cockroaches running around their place. Needless to say, they were less than enthusiastic about the situation. I am very thankful that my house is, to date, free of all insects except mosquitos. After school we went swimming and Emily and I treaded water for 10 minutes! My hair is turning blonde because of all the exposure to the sun. No need for any comments on that detail, thanks. :) This evening I met some friends for supper at a restaurant near the center of town. We ate basically up on top of the roof, which had an awesome view!

After supper we took the combi back to school for this "cultural event" that was so not worth my time at all. But anyway, en route to school, the four of us (me, Emily, Hillary, and Rachel) were talking and (attempting) to use as much Spanish as possible. At one point, we had the entire combi laughing at our feeble efforts, which was a little bit embarrassing but mostly just hilarious. And then we got done with this event and it was pouring down rain - thunder, lightning, the whole works - and we somehow needed to get to this restaurant in the middle of town. So we piled plenty of us into a taxi and off we went, to get cheesecake at this cute little cafe - while the rest of the group was going to some bar. I have great friends! Here's a picture of us at the cafe.

Anyway, besides that... nothing much going on. :) Tomorrow I think we're going to the silver market so that will be interesting.

Oh - exciting news of the day - we have an international plan now - so I can talk to my family! In order to activate it on my phone, though, I had to listen to this whole menu procedure - and would you believe it was in Spanish - which was great practice but also vocabulary that we don't just learn all the time - and I got to the end of it and it asked me for some key code or something that I obviously don't have. So now I'm waiting for Leah to get online so I can chat with her to have Mom and Dad email me the code, or I'm waiting for someone to get online that wouldn't mind calling my family at this hour and having them give me the code (because I can't call them yet because my international plan isn't activated yet) or I guess I'll just have to wait until tomorrow so they can email me the code and then I'll call them. Yep. Probably that one.

Also, I have discovered that my computer, which was having issues before I even left the States, now works better when it is not plugged into the wall. Enough said about that. Whatever it takes.

Anyway, as always, thanks for your continued prayers! This weekend, you can also pray for Seth, who I think is at Junior High Boys Camp, because the words "junior high", "boys", and "camp" all in the same sentence always make me a little nervous. :)

¿Cómo cantaremos cántico de Jehová en tierra de extraños? (Salmos 137:4)

"How shall we sing the Lord's song in a strange land?" (Psalm 137:4)

Mom sent me this verse in an email the other day and its something that I've been thinking about a lot lately. It's such a comfort to know that God is with me always, and every day I pray that I can testify of His love and faithfulness daily!

Right now I'm at an internet cafe with Emily - it's such a blessing to have her here, to have the support, encouragement, and accountability of another Christian. Not to mention a wonderful travel partner to Morelia and Barra Vieja for church in the next couple weeks! :)

I don't have much new to report... it's hard to believe I've been here a week as of today! Thanks so much to all of you for your continued prayers. God is good!

taxco from (almost) every angle

I have a few pictures that uploaded finally! :) School is going well... every day is definitely an adventure. I changed the last of my cash into pesos today, so hopefully the next place I find to exchange money at will accept debit cards. Otherwise it might be an interesting few weeks! :)

This first picture was taken from the top of a mountain near Taxco. Sorry its a little blurry, but you can see how the houses are just kind of all packed together into the mountains.

Here's a closer-up picture of how the houses are - this is kind of what it looks like from my balcony, although I don't know where I was when I took this picture.

This is a picture of me and Emily Gerber in the front of the combi on the way to the top of the mountain. Her brother, Matt, lives in Ixtlan.


And yet another picture of the streets - I'm trying to give you an idea of how different it is, but no picture seems to do it justice.


And this is a picture of me and Soledad when we were making pico de gallo. I'll try to post a picture with Abel in it too at some point.

I hesitate to post this next part, because its not as bad as it sounds - and Mom, Auntie, and Grandma - I don't want you to worry. :) But it was interesting, so I'm going to post it. This afternoon, I had just got off the combi and I was walking around to a couple shops in search of a watch when I suddenly found myself between two trucks. Not blocked in, or anything, but they were not ordinary trucks. In fact, they both contained about 15 or 20 "policia municipal" in the back - wearing uniforms and masks and carrying guns. I quite honestly felt like I was going to get shot just for standing there. Usually when I'm walking here, my motto is "keep moving" no matter who gets in your way - whether its some random street vendor or, in this case, la policia municipal. So I kept going... I went on my way and they went on theirs and all was well. I don't feel unsafe at all, but it is a little different to meet up with 30something gun-toting police all at the same time. Anyway. You can continue to pray. :)

my first day of school

Today was my first day of school in Mexico. I have my language class (with a Mexican professor - her name is Lydia) in the morning from 9 - 12 and then my culture class (with the ISU professor that brought us here, Dr. Alstrum) from 12:30 to 1:45. And then I went swimming because our school has a pool. :) So it was a pretty good day. I like my Mexican professor a lot... my ISU professor is very liberal and I'm conservative so that makes for an interesting relationship, but I know that God can use it in some way. On my way back to the house I sliced my toe open getting off the combi and proceeded to almost run in to a moving (yes, moving) taxi, who opened his window and said to me in plain and very syllabilized English (he must have thought I looked American or something): "open your eyes!" and if I hadn't been kind of mad about my toe that was like gushing blood, I probably would have laughed but instead I just felt really dumb. Anyway. Tomorrow is a new day, thankfully.

The other day Soledad made pico de gallo with me... sadly, I never knew how to make it before... and it was awesome. You can buy vegetables really cheap in the market here, so I think I'm going to try to have fresh pico de gallo all the time! :) That said, it's kind of wierd to be buying my groceries and cooking for myself for the first time in Mexico. It's not that I don't know how to cook, it's just that... I don't really know how to cook, actually. I have cereal a lot and I'm pretty good with tortilla, meat, and vegetable combinations. So far, anyway. We shall see. I also eat papaya all the time. That same night, Abel gave me a geography lesson on Mexico. I learned a lot! Both of them were former teachers but are now retired, so they really enjoy helping us learn.

Yesterday I listened in to services in Bloomington and Gridley. I really take for granted the opportunity to go to church every Sunday. I really missed it. I also went with my host parents to this soccer field where they walk so I could run. I can't really run on my own anywhere else because the roads are so steep and its a workout just to walk to school. Seth, I'll definitely be able to run your pace when I get back. :)

Last night Soledad y Abel went to a surprise birthday party for one of their family members at this restaurant in Iguala (about an hour away) so I went with them. The party wasn't that great because there was this band there that was SO loud (I never knew trombones and trumpets could be THAT loud) that I couldn't really talk to anyone. But the drive there and back was very interesting. First of all, there was not a single stretch of road for that entire hour that was straight for longer than a 1/4 mile. It was all curves and hills. Mom, you definitely would have gotten sick. I almost did. Furthermore, we were coming down out of the mountains, so it got hotter as we went. I mean, it was roasting. Seriously. I thought it was hot here, until then. And also, you know how we have animals, sort of, well, organized in the States? That is not the case here. I saw pens, but most of the animals were roaming outside the pens. In fact, we had to stop, ON THE ROAD, to let this big 'ol cow go across. He took his time, too. And there were random goats and donkeys everywhere. Oh, and, guess what?! When we got to Iguala and were driving through town, I saw two John Deere places (like where they would sell parts, I think, not equipment... at least I didn't see any equipment) Obviously a little... different... than those we're used to, but the John Deere symbol was definitely present. All in all, it was a very interesting experience, and I was highly disappointed that I had left my camera card in my computer. :(

The more Spanish I learn, the less I realize I know... which is very good for my pride. If I learn as much in the next six weeks as I have in the last three days, my head will run out of storage space about halfway through. :)

I appreciate all of your prayers - I can feel them! God continues to be faithful, and I am very thankful that in a town where I feel like I am the only Christian and the only conservative person, He is here too. God is good!

donde vivo (where I live)

This morning our group met at the Zocalo (central plaza area) at 10:30 to go tour a couple places in Taxco. We also took a combi to this huge statue of Christ at the very top of this one mountain where we could get a view of the whole city. It's really interesting, because there are so many figures of Christ and others from the Bible, but there seems to be little faith involved. Life is very different.

Here are three pictures to give you a little glimpse of life in Taxco. It took approximately an hour for these to load, so I probably won't do this very often unless I find a stronger internet connection at an internet cafe. But anyway, just to give you an idea...

This is what the streets look like, except there are a lot more people and taxis and combis, usually. People don't drive cars, they either ride the combi or the taxi. All the taxis look like that white one there in the forefront of the picture - they are the coolest cars ever. :) But anyway, those are doors to shops on either side of the street. Like I said, Taxco is famous for it's silver, so most of the shops are for that.

This is the street where I live. That big black door on the left is essentially the garage door, and that's how you get in. I'll take some more pictures of the inside later.

And this is my bedroom. :) Definitely the tiniest place I've ever lived (and I've lived in multiple tiny places...) but I absolutely love it. I'm standing in the doorway that goes to the hallway taking the picture, and the door you see leads out to a tiny balcony that looks out into the city.

By the way, Addie, after I sent that email - it rained. Just a little bit... but guess what?! There's thunder in Mexico too! :)

"mi poder se perfecciona en la debilidad"

Despite the fact that I am totally overwhelmed and completely amazed that life can be this different, I have to preface this whole entry by saying that God is incredibly faithful. He has demonstrated His provision and love time and time again throughout the last day and a half and I have never been so aware of my own weakness. I'm so thankful for the reminder in II Corinthians 12:9-10 - that God's strength is made perfect in weakness. (That's what the title of this blog entry is, by the way - in Spanish).

Before I even start - this is going to be so long. I'm kind of sorry - and I promise they won't all be this long because I won't have time. But right now everything is new - so it all seems noteworthy! :) Also, sadly, I do not think that I will be able to post any pictures. I've been waiting for them to upload... and waiting... and waiting. But I'll try again later!

Random note of interest - Google switches to Spanish automatically. Nothing like suddenly feeling completely computer illiterate. I couldn't even figure out how to sign in for a while. Oh and also, Dad, I think you would be interested to know that I'm currently laying on my stomach, half on my 4' by 2' balcony and half in my room so that my computer can sit outside and won't overheat and shut down. It sort of felt like a solution you would come up with.

Anyway, so starting with yesterday morning. I don't know if you've ever been in the International Terminal of O'Hare Airport before but it is quite the place. Using Spanish began even before we left the States because Aeromexico is a Mexican airline. Therefore, everything is in Spanish. Also in kilograms. Anyway, I got on the plane and I had a window seat at the very front, which was incredibly exciting. But really the best part was the two boys that were sitting next to me. Their names were Juan and Pedro and they were brothers, ages 14 and 12. They were traveling to Mexico along to visit their family that they hadn't seen for six years. It was an incredible blessing to have them as traveling companions. I think one of the neatest thngs was when we were served our meal, I noticed that they, like I did, prayed before they ate. They asked me what religion I was and we eventually proceeded to play Hangman with names of the books of the Bible in Spanish. :) It was so fun - we played games and talked and stuff. And Grandma, I shared the gingersnaps with them. They thought they were great too. :) Anyway, it was a wonderful way to start my trip and such a blessing.

So the flight went. We arrived in Mexico City at 7 p.m. to be greeted by Immigration and Customs. That was all pretty smooth, except at Customs they pulled aside my ba because they were concerned about what my gigantic Spanish dictionary ws. Anyway, after they zipped mybag and my heart resumed beating, I joined my group and we headed to the currency exhange and eventually boarded this little bus for Taxco with plans to stop in Cuernavaca en route for something to eat. This bus. Let me tell you about it. First of all, it was stick shift. A lot of things are here. And the driver. He spent a significant amount of time with that bus stradded between two lanes - but then, I guess, so did everybody else. Roads in Mexico City are basically totally unexplainable in words. They come out of nowhere and into everywhere, they are never flat and they always contain at least three cars in the allotted two lanes. From what I observed, honking your horn can mean anything from "get out of my way" to "hey, I know you!" to "hey, I'm bigger than you, so you should move" to "I just felt like honking my horn" to everyone else is honking so I guess I will too". Seriously. Oh, and the Metro (which apparently only costs 3 pesos - less than 30 cents!) runs between the two lanes of traffic going opposite directions. Yeah. It was chaotic.

Oh and Addie - amidst all this I had "We all live in a yellow submarine" stuck in my head. I finally decided to at least try and sing it in Spanish but "todos nosotros vivimos en un submarino? amarillo" doesn't have quite the same effect. :)

But here's the other thing about Mexico City. As we were driving, I was able to get a glimpse of how the people live. I don' know completely how to describe it - some of the houses were just kind of like holes stacked on top of each other surrounded by concrete block wall and backing up to the road. If there were lights on inside, you could see bare walls. It was very sobering to think about how sheltered I am to poverty and want and how much I take for granted. I realized, though, once again, that God is everywhere. I spied several little churches tucked into these concrete block walls and I remembered that God is not limited. He can work everywhere.

Once we got out of Mexico City, the drive was actually a little comparable to the drive between Tucson and Magdalena - road-side stands, quick speeds, and a lot of curves, tunnels, hills, and darkness. I loved it, though, because the whole region is very mountainous and as you're driving you can look down and see the lights of random cities and towns tucked into mountainsides and valleys. Eventually, we did make it to Taxco, which is an adorable town at night and even better in the daytime. (By the way, about 100,000 people live in Taxco, and its very famous for its silver industry. Obviously, that's why I came here... :)) Anyway, the town is literally built into mountains and the arrangement of the roads and houses prove it.

Oh, and in case you're wondering what the rules are for driving in Taxco - there aren't any. In fact, two "lanes" of traffic (going the same or opposite directions, depending primarily on the situation), multitudes of people, four-wheelers, motorcycles, taxis, and "combis" (buses) share a space about the width of our driveway. I'm not kidding. I have yet to see anyone use a turn signal and basically, if you can fit there, you can drive there.

Anyway, the couple that I'm living with - Abel y Soledad - came to pick me up at the school and took me to their house. It was probably about midnight by the time we made it to their house, but Soledad sat me down in the kitchen and cut me up a papaya to eat and offered me some (room-temperature) milk and just sat there and chatted with me for the lonesttime. She is really the sweetest lady, so patient with my incresingly, it seems, limited Spanish and incredibly hospitable. Then she gave me mini-tour of the house and told me she would wake me up at 9:30. I told her I could set my alarm but she told me she would wake me anyway. :) There's also several girls living here from the Carribbean, but I do have a room to myself. They're all very sweet too, although they tend to speak English.

This morning I actually woke up before my alarm! Soledad served me breakfast (including fresh-squeezed orange juice!), and then she gave me a key and walked me to school. Actually, I walk part of the time and ride the combi part of the time. I went to school this morning (we had to be there at 11 for our placement exam) and then our professor took us on a mini-tour of the school and the town. In case I haven't already explained this, I'm actually here with a group of 10 other ISU students and a professor who has been bringing groups here for over 20 years.

Our group ate lunch together and then we split up to go to our respective houses. I actually walked successfully back to the house all by myself after that, so that was good! :)

Soledad also took me to the grocery store and the market (which I loved) today. The whole experience was incredibly interesting. I'll blog about that sometime when I have nothing else to talk about. ha. :)

I'm so thankful for God's provision as I have found that I can do nothing on my own here. I have come to understand a new meaning of total reliance on God and I feel so blessed and undeserving - that He is willing to care for me. God is good!

my little experience

My bags are (almost) packed, my room is (sort of) clean, and my bank account is in a (very) sorry state, but I'm leaving tomorrow morning for my little... experience. :)

Dad, Mom, and Addie (who is going to skip report card day - *gasp* - but is "sure that she got all 'S's anyway, like she always does") are driving me to Chicago tomorrow morning and I'm meeting up with the other ISU students at 12:30. And then we'll wait... and wait... and wait... like you always do in airports... and then I'll fly to Mexico! So you can be praying for safety and a smooth trip... and I'll post again when I'm there!

I almost forgot...

... to tell you that I leave on Thursday! We fly out of O'Hare at 2:55 p.m. and it is about a 4 hour flight. Taxco is in the same time zone as central IL.

Until then, I've just been doing all those last minute things, like a last-minute fishing trip with Grandpa and Seth this morning (which unfortunately also involved a last-minute, 5:45 a.m. trip to Wal-Mart for a fishing liscense), my last run with Seth before I leave (blacktop is rather hot on days like today), a last minute load of laundry (which has turned into about 15 last minute loads of laundry), and things like that. :)