Bugs, Cocos, and Hurricanes

Saturday school.

MaryChuy and Lenn and Debbie's youngest, Jeffrey.

The view of the plaza from the clocktower.

Marlen and Stacey after wading through the river to the rock.

Janessa's 14th birthday. L-R: Kyle, Suzanna, Maria, Janessa, Kedric, Regina, and Caleb.

Stacey, Marlen, and I with our coco...Yuck!

Stacey and I joined the group traveling to San Pedro for the Sunday morning service. The morning was hot, but the wind in our hair on the ride helped to chase away the mugginess. We squished in the backseat of Loren’s truck traveling over bumpy roads and smooth roads, slowing down for burros and cows. Driving in Illinois was never this exciting! Julian, a man in San Pedro, hosts the service on his front porch every Sunday. We unloaded chairs and set up for the service while exchanging “Dios le bendiga”s. Meeting an entirely new group of people was exciting and a little overwhelming. While Loren gave the message from Matthew, I consoled myself that what I missed in this service, I would be able to catch in Choix. After the service, three women accepted Christ as their Savior. Stacey and I weren’t able to communicate or understand everything, but we were blessed to witness this event. In the evening after the service in Choix, Marlen, Magda, and Mari came to visit as well as Julian and his family. We ate really good popcorn and drank really good lemonade and talked (the best we knew how). I went to bed very exhausted and itchy.

But I didn’t realize just how itchy until Monday morning (my Mom’s 45th birthday…hee hee). Apparently I have an allergic reaction to San Pedro bugs…especially with eighty bites on my lower legs. My legs itched like crazy and swelled up so that eventually my toes no longer touched the ground. I’m sure I looked hilarious, although it didn’t feel hilarious. Monday at Loren and Donna’s we sorted clothes, studied Spanish, and wrote out Spanish songs on poster board. Thankfully, the day was not too stressful for me as I tried remedy after itching cream after remedy. On Monday nights, Ian Miller started a Spanish verb class for the gringos who need help with their conjugations. Unfortunately, I had to send my regrets… Monday night was a tiny bit restless; okay who am I kidding? It was A LOT restless.

Tuesday was fairly uneventful, I believe. Stacey and I cut out quilt blocks for comforters, made lunch, and studied Spanish… very uneventful for life in Mexico. So uneventful, in fact, that we had to walk home on a different street just to add some excitement to our day. However, I maintain that our day was still more exciting for us than for the ants that incessantly meander along our walls and build forts behind our pictures.

Wednesday morning I got to make cookies. Donna quoted some verse about not muzzling the ox when he is treading grain(or something a little more biblical sounding). I figured that verse gave me adequate (and biblical) excuse to eat as many cookies as I wanted. Only the fear of another stomach ache held me back. After prayer meeting that evening, I was attacked by three little girls who didn’t want to let me go when they left. Alma, Carla, and Tita smothered me as I tried to put them into the back of Loren’s truck. I could hardly breathe, but it felt good to be so loved. One of the Mochiqui boys asked “What is your name?” (in English). I answered, “Me llamo Tricia.” He laughed and laughed because he had asked me a question in English and I had answered him in Spanish. Ah, life’s simple pleasures. When Stacey and I walked home, we met our neighbors who mistakenly thought we knew Spanish. I caught the words “cortar, arbol, arriba” and proudly deducted what he meant (but had no clue how to answer him).

Thursday was our day off. Stacey and I had water so we did laundry and cleaned our house. I’m not sure if I mentioned before that the city turns off the water probably about 50% of the time. We have yet to figure out a schedule to be able to work around. Also, we now understand why every house has a tank on top of its roof. I fried hot cakes (pancakes in the States) for brunch. In the afternoon, we bought ice cream at Oxxo, and spent the hottest hours at our apartment. Rod and Christa Swartz got back from Tucson in the early afternoon, which meant that Stacey got her laptop. Hooray!

Friday was Janessa Yoder’s birthday, our day to go to Mochiqui, and fun night at the orphanage. Stacey and I made cookies for Saturday school the next morning. Suzanna, Regina, and Maria came over to help celebrate Janessa’s birthday. We had ice cream cake…what a marvelous way to celebrate! In the afternoon, Stacey and I walked uptown and ran into two girls that Stacey knew vaguely. We invited them over to our house next week… hopefully they come; the girls in Choix need positive role models. In Mochiqui, Donna brought along her used clothing items and shoes for the families. Lots of people came; people I’ve never seen before and whose names I will never remember. It was almost dark when we headed over to the orphanage, just in time to eat with them. We ate, talked, played piano, looked at books, and watched a Creation Museum video. I rode home in the back of Loren’s truck, with the wind in my face, fifty pesos in my pocket, and a happy heart.

Saturday, the air was thick with the smell of rain. Every Mexican was talking about “llover.” We gringos were excited that God was finally going to cool the earth once again. At Saturday school, Leobardo and Carol sat beside me. Carol played with my watch while Leobardo gave me shy looks and waited patiently for my approval of everything he did. After the children left, Stacey and I made lunch—potato and egg burritos (no fears, I was true to my taste buds and skipped the eggs). Marlen visited us in the afternoon and we walked to the bank and JLR. We practiced our pathetic Spanish once again with our little tutor. On the way home, Stacey got the brilliant idea (notice that I’m giving her all of the credit…or blame) to stop and get a coco (coconut) at a little coco stand. Hooray, right? First the lady chopped it open and drained all of the juice into a little plastic bag with a straw. Then she chopped up the coco meat and put it all back inside the shell. Marlen ordered everything on it…which we soon found out meant lemon juice, tomato juice, chili sauce, cold hot hogs, little pieces of sour candy, and nuts. We brought it back to our apartment, realizing that we were experiencing the Mexican culture. So we ate it and took lots of pictures to prove to the world that we are some serious missionaries.

*I’m sorry this was so long in coming. It was almost finished in a Word Document while the hurricane blew through and knocked out the Internet and phone service for several days.