Monday 30 November 2015

Adventures in Mexico

Why, yes,  I DID say I was in the US. But you know, a 12 hour car drive later, and what do you know? I'm in Mexico! My organization takes their new trainees on a 3 week trip to Mexico, and we spend our days visiting little old lonely/handicapped/poor Mexican people in their tiny adobe homes, and doing prayer meetings out in the ranchos in the middle of the hills surrounded for miles by nothing but cactus and cold winds. Also eating a lot of fresh, hot tortillas and beans. Yum.

Fun things that happened:

1. I almost got arrested at a police checkpoint on our way back from a rancho, because apparently random Indians with nose-rings driving in a vehicle of Americans in the middle of Mexico is an unusual sight. Also, we had forgotten to carry our passports and visas. Oopsie. I also blame team member V who was driving- he is Mexican- American, and has a man-bun. They sniffed his hands, and smelled my breath (that was a first). We were saved by V's cute 1 and a half year old twins who waved "Ola!"from their car seats to the scary police shining a flashlight at them, and broke the tension.


Didn't see THAT coming, did you, Officer?

2. Our van broke down at a rancho in the middle of Nowhere, Mexico at about 8 pm one cold evening... No phone service, and no repair shops in the tiny community. We prayed for a miracle for our van (our organization sees plenty of those), but it wouldn't start. A chilling mountain wind kept us company as we- V, his wife, D and little twin girls and I, took shelter in the tiny chapel. Most of the people who had attended the prayer meeting eventually made their way home, but two sweet Mexican ladies and seven children wouldn't leave us. "Why is God keeping us here?" I wondered, as I amused myself and the kids with my ipod. And then we found out. After an hour and a half of small talk, one of the ladies timidly asked my team mate V how to read the bible we had just given them. He was thrilled to explain. As soon as he wrapped up his explanation, our Mexican friend came in and said "We fixed it! Time to go!"When you ask for divine appointments...

On our way to the rancho

3. I landed up staying at a (semi-abandoned) decrepit Mexican mansion for two weeks- complete with a courtyard INSIDE the house, in the center of which was a stone fountain, a bathroom big enough for ten people to live in, doors from bedrooms leading to surprise extra living rooms, a garden outside with ORANGE TREES with REAL ORANGES growing on them!! (City girl excitement)

 


4. We went out once a week for a morning of quiet prayer to some of the most beautiful corners of God's creations. Who knew Mexico had spots like these?



5. I also for the first time in my life started the grand adventure of... CROCHETING. I used to visualize myself as a very pregnant wife cozily knitting in the comfort of my living room, maybe thinking that was the only time I would have the luxury of doing nothing else. But you know, time is passing, and why wait? A bunch of my community members, from 10 year old girls to mothers of six all started learning how to crochet, so I thought, "NOW is the acceptable time!"(I always think in bible quotes.) So instead of being a pregnant wife knitting in a living room, I have been a contented bundled up single woman crocheting and soaking up the sun in Mexican courtyard on a wintry day, not to mention crocheting away furiously on a loooong road trip from Mexico to Louisiana. And I love it every bit as much as I thought I would. Dreams do come true.

Yes, I crocheted that.

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