Transportation Adventures...

Ok, so some adventures I have had using the public transit system here in Guad!

1. About a week after I arrived, Jay and Faith came to Guad to do some shopping. They called me up and we were able to put together a time and a place to meet up to go have dinner and see each other since we hadn’t seen each other since June! However, I had only been in the city a week and had no clue where anything was, so I had to take a taxi to meet them—a little expensive, but worth it! The catch was that I met them at Wal-Mart in a large plaza area of the city—no biggie, everyone knows where that is. However, then I had to take a taxi home to my little residential street. The taxi driver new the area of town, but didn’t know where my street was and he wouldn’t listen to my directions once we arrived. So instead of turning left onto my street at the intersection, he did a U-turn and headed back the way we came. Then he turned onto an ally and asked a girl how to get to my street. She told him something completely wrong because here if you ask for directions and the person doesn’t know, they won’t tell you they don’t know; they’ll just tell you something and you’ll end up more lost. Well, he kept going and turned onto another alley that thankfully dumped us out on my street almost across from our condo complex, and I was able to point to where he needed to drop me off….but oh! The stress I felt when I thought he had gotten us lost AT NIGHT in a city I didn’t know simply because he didn’t believe me when I told him to turn left!!!

2. Heading to Cofradia, I had to take a bus. No big deal! You can get direct busses to Penas which is only about 20 minutes from Cofradia! Well, after classes, Lisa, the director, took me and another girls to the bust station, but instead of leaving us in the bigger station, she dropped us in a smaller one next door—none of us realized there was another one. Anyway, this smaller one had about three bus lines that it serviced, and they all went to Tepic. The woman at the counter told me I could buy my ticket to Penas when I got to Tepic, but did not tell me that I couldn’t get it on that bus line. I just thought I had to catch another bus from the same line to get there. No No NO…this bus line has it’s own bust station in Tepic..very small, and does not go to Penas. SO..I had to take a taxi to the central bus station and buy a ticket to Penas there. So, I got to Central Bus station and lugged my two suitcases and my computer bag (one suitcase was going to stay in Cofradia) to the TAP counter to buy a ticket..they definitely go to Penas. But they didn’t have a bus leaving for another hour…they directed me to Pacifica, a couple counters down…more lugging of heavy suitcases, and Pacifica tells me their bus doesn’t leave for another hour. But they also inform me that Sonora del Norte has a bus leaving in ten minutes….so I lug my heavy suitcases all the way to the OTHER SIDE of the terminal to buy my ticket and finally was on a bus to Penas. Faith was supposed to meet me to take me to Cofradia, however the base truck dropped a shock earlier that day, so she couldn’t come for me, which meant I had to take a taxi. However, no Cofradia taxis were there, so I had to pay 100 pesos to get to Cofradia instead of 60 pesos! But I finally arrived, and all in one peace! Getting home was much easier. Taxi to Penas (20 pesos!) and then a direct bus all the way to Guad! And Romel picked me up! Yea!

3. Today I went to pick up Mili to hand out. She’s been here a few days now and today was a free day (no classes), so we made plans to hang out. But she doesn’t know my area of town (called El Batan), though it is very close to hers, so I went for her instead. Angeles went with me first to the bank and then the post office to pick up a package from my fam, and then I took a taxi to Tabachines, where Mili’s family lives, and met her at the Civil Registration building. Then we were to take bus R-641 back to my area of town, only several km away! The first one we took was SO FULL that when we tried to get on, we couldn't get pass the stairs! And the crazy bus driver started to drive off with us on the stairs and the doors open!!!!! So, we precariously jumped off that bus pretty quickly, and decided to wait for another. However, there are several routes for the 641, and we didn’t pay attention to which one we got on, so we ended up heading back to where Mili lives instead of where I live. But that’s ok, we finally got off and got back on a 641 bus that was headed to El Batan, all was well until I realized (as we were about to get off the bus at my street) that I couldn’t find my keys! The condo complex is gated, so I had to have a key to get in, plus I LOST MY KEYS, and had no idea where. Since I had waited a while for Mili to meet me, we thought maybe I had set them down at the Civil Registration building..so we decided to GO BACK to Tabachines to look for them—but no luck..they weren’t there! So, then we returned once again to El Batan, where I called Angeles and she opened the gate for us. Then when it was time for Mili to head back home for the night, we waited for like half and hour for a 641 bus to pass…that is not normal because that bus has a lot of units on each route…we finally got on one, and about 2 stops later, it picked up everyone and their mother getting off from work or coming home from school…when we got to our stop in Tabachines, we almost couldn’t get off because the bus was so packed! But we did finally push our way through and disembarked from the bus. I took another bus home and Mili took her bus to her house and all ended well, but oh the afternoon we had!!!

Yea for public transportation!!

Celebrations Abound!

Sept 13 was Josue’s 2^nd birthday. So, we had a party! Jeremiah and Kelly (missionaries, and youth leaders at La Carpa, and best friends of Romel and Angeles) came over with their daughters, and we grilled hamburgers and had cake. So, just a little sidenote, apparently Mexicans like to eat their hamburgers with ham as well and also with guacamole!!! YIKES! I had mine with just plain cheese! Lost of fun!

Angeles made the cake. I don't know what kind it was, but it was DANG good!

Josue blowing out his two "candles"...they were actually matches!

The family: Romel, Jair, Angeles, and Josue

The Frey Family: Jeremiah (Jer), Kelly, Emma, and Anna Grace

Friday, Sept 15 was Angeles’s Birthday, and it was also the day of El Grito (“The Shout”), which is the day before Independence Day (Sept 16). I don’t really know the history very well, but at some point in Mexico’s history, some president ended up making himself dictator, and finally someone yelled for freedom—that is El Grito—and the day after they declared independence from the dictator and and began to overthrow his gov’t, etc. They celebrate El Grito way more than the actual independence day—For El Grito, at about 11 pm, the president comes out and gives a speech and yells three times, “Viva Mexico! Viva Mexico! Viva Mexico!” And it’s a big deal!

Well the same day was Angeles’s birthday, so that night, we went out for dinner at a really nice restaurant called El Tango near where the school is. It’s an Argentinian restaurant and it’s in a little plaza. Well they close off the plaza for El Grito celebrations and they have this huge street fair with rides and games, etc. all in the street. They have a beauty pagent type thing for the local neighborhoods and elect a queen of El Grito, and just all sorts of fun things. They also had fireworks! So, I was finally able to use the fireworks setting on my camera, and it worked really well!

The "family" outside El Tango: (L-R) Jair & me, Angeles (in her birthday finery...care of Romel), Romel & Josue, Sally (my US roomie)

Josue as cute as he can be at dinner...those sugar packets were SO entertaining..they saved the evening...YOU try eating at a nice restaurant with active 2 and 4-year-olds!

Sally and I in front of a gazebo in the plaza

Jair riding a ride

I am extremely pleased with the fireworks setting on my camera! Wow!

We really enjoyed dinner and then went out to the plaza to walk around, etc. Jair got to ride on one of the rides, and we just enjoyed it all….LOTS of people crammed in that plaza, but tons of fun. Then we came home and opened presents that Sally and I had for her. Romel had given her money to buy clothes, which is what she wanted, so she bought the dress she’s wearing in the picture. Sally got her the watch she’s wearing, something she’d been wanting for a while, and I bought her the vase, also something she’d been wanting. The only vase she has really only holds a couple of stems of flowers, and her larger one had been broken by the kids some time ago. So, I got her the vase, and we both got her some flowers, and we had a great time watching her open up her presents and enjoy them!

A watch from Sally

A vase (in Spanish = florero) from me.

The girls: Sally, Angeles, and me!

Then on Saturday, we slept in, and spent the day relaxing. At one point we went to a really nice bakery and bought Angeles a berry cheesecake..it had strawberrys, raspberries, and blackberries, and was absolutely delicious…and I don’t even like cheesecake!!! We had a good time eating that up, and that night we played Uno, only to find out that we’re now addicted!

Sept 17 was Romel and Angele’s anniversary! They have been married 7 years! They decided that we should all go to Chapala as a family for the day. So, we slept in late (because church service is at night), and then got ready and headed to Chapala, about an hour away. It’s very close to Ajijic, which is home to the largest population of Americans outside of the US. Lake Chapala is also the primary water source for the entire city of Guadalajara, which has anywhere from 7-11 million people living in it…depending on what areas you count! We had fun walking around an artisan market, and I was able to buy some souvenirs, especially some artwork in a style that I just love! Then we had lunch at a restaurant owned by some friends of the family. That was a lot of fun too!

Lake Chapala....or a piece of it anyway

Yah, in Mexico, they serve fish with heads intact...I took this picture just as Romel was about to eat the eyeball you see on the right....argh!

Enjoying homemade icecream in a plaza nearby...a great end to a great day!

We finally headed home, but too late to go to church, so we ate dinner, and then decided to play more Uno…only this time I taught them Killer Uno….we have all decided we like Killer Uno better and we’re seriously addicted. We played again tonight, and I believe there are plans to play again tomorrow….so much fun!

Visiting Cofradia...

Well two weeks ago I went and visited Cofradia! We had a free day on Sept 8 (no classes), so after classes ended on that Thursday, around 12:30 pm, I headed to the bus station to go to Cofradia for the weekend. It was about four-five hours before I arrived, but it was wonderful to be there! I was shocked speechless to see how different things look there in the rainy season! It was seriously like a tropical rain forrest! Everything was green and lush and just beautiful! There was grass and bushes where there had not been anything but dust before! Whole streets looked completely different! So different, in fact, that a couple of times I was walking streets I new pretty well, wondering if I’d taken a wrong turn! It was marvelous!

These two are of a hill between the base and Jay and Faith's house

This is of the view between Cofradia and Arrayanes...I really do enjoy the view on that drive even if the road is terrible!

Thursday night I arrived and had dinner with Jay and Faith and their kids, and then Faith took me over to the base where my apartment is. We opened it all up and made sure now strange or dangerous animals had taken up residence and then she headed back home! It was very strange to be there truly alone! Dave and Kathy are on furlough right now in Canada, so everything is off and empty and locked! It was a little eery at first, but oh well! On Friday morning I headed to a store to buy some food because there was NOTHING in the apartment since it has been empty since I left in June. None of the local people knew I was coming so it was so fun to walk down the street and see them do double takes and then shout out, “Hola Ambar!” as they realized that their eyes were not lying and I really was there in front of them! I got so many hugs and had some fun conversation catching up with friends that I’d made during my internship!

I then headed over to Steve and Gena’s to talk with Steve about the youth events going on that weekend. He and Gena were in the states while I was there before because their second daughter was born in the April/May time-frame. I communicated with them some over email and blogs, but this was the first time we’d gotten to sit down and talk about the youth and what is going on this year and ideas, etc. Anyway, Friday night was the Youth Family Group, and Saturday was El Reto, which means “The Challenge”. It’s kind of a mix between Amazing Race and Survivor, but this particular time it was set up like Amazing Race. You can read more about it on Steve’s blog. So, we talked for several hours and I had lunch with them and just enjoyed catching up with them! Then I headed home to shower and get ready to go surprise the girls in Arrayanes. They had no idea that I was visiting, which was the whole plan. In fact, two weeks before I had called and talked some with Sandy and told her I wanted to try and visit but had no idea when; directly after that I called Faith and began to make plans. She spoke with the girls’ mom and got permission for them to spend the night with me on Friday night, but the girls had no idea.

So, Faith and I headed to Arrayanes to pick up the youth for family group, but we went early so as to have some time with the girls before we had to participate in a group event. I arrived at the door, and Lupe was the first to see me. Her cousin had come running to tell them that I was there, but they didn’t believe her. Anyway, Lupe’s eyes almost popped out of her head and she screamed and jumped up to hug me. Mili and Sandy were in their bedroom and heard Lupe’s yelling and came out to see what was up. They saw me but it took a minute for it to register that I was standing right in front of them. They had looks of shock on their faces for about 10 minutes and Sandy kept saying, “Am I dreaming? Am I dreaming? I can’t believe you’re right here!” We sat out in the yard and talked some, and I told them about the slumber party. So they packed their things, we picked up the rest of the youth, and off we went back to Cofradia.

The overnight was tons of fun! Lots of talking and catching up until 3 in the morning! And then we did more on Saturday until it was time for El Reto. I was able to have some really great conversations with them corporately about what the Lord was doing and challenging them in some things, and I was also able to have some one-on-one time with Sandy! Oh it was so good for my hear to see them and spend time with them again. I have talked with them throughout the summer by phone, but nothing beats personal, face-to-face time with those you love! What a blessing that trip was!

El Reto was a blast, and it ended in Arrayanes. This particular one was modeled after Amazing Race. I had an activity to monitor, which was that the teams upon arriving at the base had to count all the bricks that make up the sound closet for the church palapa. The answer was 577. Steve had thought this would be the activity that took the least amount of time...it ended up taking the most! One team was there for almost an hour before I finally just gave them the answer..they were within 2 of the right answer anyway. But there were several times when other teams had come to me with answers of 575 or 576 or something else really close, and I had to tell them NO...but it was a lot of fun and the kids seemed to enjoy it immensly. From everything I hear it was a time of lots of growth both in numbers of kids coming to youth activities as well as personal and spiritual growth. I even found myself being challenged in certain ways!

The youth counting bricks to the sound closet

Since Favi had been working with her husband all day on Friday and Saturday, I tried one last time while El Reto was finishing up in the church. Finally, she was home, and when she saw me, she screamed and came running out the door. She hugged me so hard and she started crying! Apparantly she had not realized way back when I told them I was leaving that I was also coming back and for two years! She was very glad to hear that on Saturday night, though! She wouldn’t let go of me the whole time we were walking and talking! Oh how I missed her too!!! She made me a tortilla cloth while I was gone, too! So, now I have one from her too. This one however, is an actual tortilla cloth and it is stitched rather than painted! So beautiful!

Check out the stitching on that! It's so beautiful!

Then Sunday morning I headed back to Guadalajara, tired, but filled with contentment! I’m very excited now to return, but I’m also excited because Mili is visiting Guad right now for a month or so!! I’m really looking forward to getting some time alone with her. For some reason it was much more difficult to get time alone with her during my first months here—I spent more time with Sandy and Lupe individually, so I’m looking forward to getting lots of quality one-on-one time with Mili while here in Guad. In fact today, she came over for the afternoon, and we had a wonderful time catching up and talking about “stuff” etc. We also laughed a good deal over our bus adventures! I’m looking forward to meeting her family here and just hanging out!

God is good!

Update on the Fam...

For those of you who have been praying and asking, thank you. My family continues to “hang in there”. The last couple of months have been extremely tough in all ways: emotionally, physically, spiritually, etc. My uncle finally passed away on Friday, September 8, and the memorial service was on Sept 14. The same weekend that my uncle passed, my youngest brother was in crisis mode, and ended up in ICU for several days. However, praise the Lord, he is out of the hospital and seems to be doing ok: taking it “one day at a time”. He is talking with one of my aunts and her boyfriend about possibly moving out to Chicago

Thank you for your prayers. Please continue to pray for them. I heard that my grandmother has also been sick during this time which is also hard—for her as I know she hates to feel burdensome, but also for the rest of us because every time she is sick, we worry! My step-mom tells me that my aunt is continuing to recover from the last couple months since my uncle’s accident. His son will continue to live with her for his senior year of high school and then plans to attend VCU. Please keep them in your prayers as they continue to grieve and learn to go on with life. My uncle David was a wonderful man, and he will be sorely missed, but we are all rejoicing that his suffering is over and he is with the Lord now, waiting for us to join him one day in the huge party up in Heaven!

Introducing....

So sorry I haven’t updated in quite a while! I have not been able to use the internet on my own computer, so it’s been a little tedious to do the whole blog thing. But I have finally found an internet café where I can use my own puter, so here goes!

So, I arrived in Guadalajara on Aug. 23, and was wisked away to my new home (until October when I return to Cofradia). My new family is named Garza: Romel and Angeles, and their two sons Jair (4) and Josue (2). I also have an American roommate: Sally, from Nashville, TN. All of them are lots of fun, and we have a good time. Our most recent passion is Killer Uno! Man, watch out, cuz when the four of us get going, the going gets ROUGH! Romel and Angeles LOVED Uno before, but now that I’ve taught them Killer Uno, they tell me that Killer Uno is “la onda”, which is basically slang for “it’s the bomb diggidy!”

Romel and Angeles
(the g sounds like an h)

Jair

Josue

The House...Interior C-7 (the door on the right)

My room
I'm on the bottom and Sally is on top

The living/dining room and kitchen
There's a second floor too, with 2 bedrooms a 2nd bath, and a little sitting room

Language classes began Aug 28. The school is about a half-hour drive, and almost an hour away by bus. Normally Romel drives us all in the morning—Angeles is one of our teachers—and then we take the bus home—or rather two busses! It has been quite a challenge for me to learn the bus system, but I think it’s finally starting to click! One of the girls from Cofradia is here in Guad visiting family—Mili, the youngest—and I had to meet her in order to bring her to our house to hang out, and I did it ALL BY MYSELF! This was the first time, and we did alright! There was of course adventure involved because I can’t seem to leave the house by myself without encountering adventure, but we enjoyed it anyway! I’ll write a separate blog about transportation adventures!

Anyway, Angeles is one of our teachers, and then we have Lisa, the director and our grammar teacher; Chayo, and Moi (short for Moises—Moses in Spanish) who is also the pastor of the church that we as a family attend. It is called La Carpa, which means The Tent. Chayo’s oldest daughter, Erika, also works at the school. She teaches classes to young children, when we have them (usually when there is a family attending classes), but since we have none right now, she is taking care of Lisa’s 2-year-old, Valerie, as well as Josue.

My Level 4 class
Front L-R: Sandra (Missionary in Guad) & Alyssa (living in Tepic after school--near me!)
Back L-R: Caleb, Jen (Missionary in Guad), Josh (Photographer in Mexico), Me

Pastor Moi with Josue
Moi is my Translation teacher and pastor of La Carpa, the church I attend

Me and Erica in the kitchen at school
She is QUICKLY becoming a VERY good friend! We each finally found another as crazy as we!

The Lord has really blessed me by putting some stellar people in my life here in Guadalajara! I’m enjoying their company, their laughter, their teaching, and their encouragement! This has definitely been a time of relaxing for me in many ways, and I feel as though the Lord is filling me up as well as building up a solid support system that is bigger than just Cofradia! I am so blessed!

Aug-Early Sept Update

Hey everyone!!

Well, I´m in Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico, and things are going well. Thank the Lord my trip went really smoothly, and I´m now in my second week of classes. I am living with a wonderful family and another American student from Nashville. My ¨family¨members´names are Romel and Angeles Garza and their two sons Jair (4) and Josue (2). I am really enjoying getting to know each of them. They have been such an encouragement and a blessing to both Sally and me in the last couple of weeks, and they are very easy folks to live with!

I am sorry it has taken so long to send out a decent update email, however, I´ve had issues getting into the internet cafe in order to do so. However, here I am, and here is the update!

Classes are going well, and I am beginning to slowly figure out this city'--orient myself, that is. It´s VERY large, and we use the buses, something I´m not used to, so it is taking some time for me to figure the whole thing out, but it´s all beginning to find a place in my mind, so that is good. I have been attending church at La Carpa with Romel and Angeles and their kids, and I really enjoy the services there. In fact, the pastor, Moises, is one of our teachers at language school! We also work with Awanas on Saturday mornings in Coli, on a different side of the city...some of the American Missionaries from La Carpa have started this program in Coli as an attempt to reach out to a different area. They have about 30 kids each saturday morning, and then on Wedensday nights, they have bible study for the kids AND their parents. It´s been pretty neat so far!

Between that and school and church, there´s not a whole lot of free time, but I´m enjoying every minute of all of it.

I will be visiting Cofradia this weekend, and I´m very excited to see everyone after about four months of absence! The girls right now do not know that I´m coming, so it will be fun surprising them. Faith is also going to talk to their mom to help me try and plan a pajama party without them knowing ahead of time! We have a free day at the school on Friday, so I will take a bus to Cofradia on Thursday after classes, which end at 12:30 each day, and arrive several hours later. This means that Friday I will be able to attend the new youth family group they have started up this year, as well as the youth activities on Saturday night, called El Reto. This is sort of like a combination of Survivor and Amazing Race that they have done with the youth last year and now this year. It seems to be very popular amongst the youth and effective in getting kids to attend youth events. I´m looking forward to being there this weekend and experiencing all this for myself! Please pray for a great time of visiting and catching up as well as safe travels...

Also, please keep my health in your prayers and today I have not felt well at all due to a cold starting up. The first couple of days are always the worst, with sore throat and low-grade fever and just all around feeling miserable. But the cold has been going around, so I guess it´s my turn. Please just pray for it to pass quickly and be my only health speed bump for quite some time.

I also wanted to give anupdate on my uncle. The reports I keep getting from my family go back and forth. Most of the doctors say that David is not doing well and there is nothing more they can really do for him; however, the one surgeon that has been holding out great hope this whole time is still hopeful that David can recover almost fully and wants to continue treatment. Please pray for miraculous healing in David´s brain as well as comfort, rest, peace, and wisdom for his wife (my aunt, Sharon) and his son (Michael). This has been very tough on them, obviously, and use all the support we can give them. David is still being medicated and kept in a coma. He has a catheter to try and drain fluid off his brain that continues to collect and cause increaded pressure in his skull, and there have been issues with infection and inflamation. This is still quite a rough road in the process to getting David to a stable condition. Please keep it all in your prayers. Thank you!

I wish I could post pictures, but I am not able to use internet on my own computer at this time. But I promise that as soon as I am able, I will post pictures as well.

Well, blessings to each of you and thank you for your prayers and support!

FACE TO FEET
ams :)