"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!