On Saturday, the missions were canceled because most of the students went home for Spring Break. So Elizabeth and I set out for an adventure downtown. My main objective was to get special paper, because I think I’ll have the opportunity to do some chalk talks on the mission trip this week. I couldn’t remember the name of the street where you have to go to find the special art store, but thankfully Elizabeth remembered, and she knew exactly what bus to take in order to get there. The street is Pino Suarez. Hopefully I’ll remember that next time. 
We went to the art store first because it was going to close at noon. Then we walked a little way to the fabric store and Elizabeth’s favorite shoe store. By that time it was almost noon and we were hungry! Elizabeth remembered that there was a Super Salads nearby, so we went into the shopping center and asked someone where it was. The girl stared at us like we were from Mars. So we walked a little way and asked someone else, who knew exactly where it was. After struggling to get the attention of the Super Salad employees, who were very busy cleaning, we ordered a panini and a salad to share, and the man said it would be about 10 minutes. So we sat down to wait. After what seemed like an eternal wait, I suggested that maybe we should ask if it was done yet. So Elizabeth went up and asked, and it was just sitting there behind the counter, all packaged up and ready. Apparently they expect you to ask for your food!
On the way home we stopped by HEB to pick up various items we might need on the mission trip, and Elizabeth had a lengthy discussion with the employee in the camera section about what kind of memory card she needed for her camera. When we got home, we discovered it was the right kind of card, but it was 4 gigs and her camera can’t handle one with that many gigs. Hopefully the store will let her return it.
We got home just in time to go to the evangelism training class, which is intended to get us ready for the mission trip. They sold us our mission team shirts, which I think look great— blue and brown! That color combination is one of the new things I recently started liking. The sizes were men’s sizes, but they let us take any size we thought would fit us, so I got a small and Elizabeth got a child’s large. They fit fairly well, although they have the longer sleeves typical of men’s t-shirts. I’m just glad they had enough shirts in small enough sizes for us girls!
We went home for a few minutes, then it was off to a concert with a friend! (I don’t know how to spell her name, so I won’t attempt it here.) I was excited because it was going to be in German. We got on the bus, and I handed over my $5.50, which was what I’d been paying for all the buses all day long, and then I went to sat down. The driver started making weird motions, and the girls told me I needed to go talk to him. I found that pretty humorous since there was no way I was going to be able to really talk with him! I figured when I went up and gave him my blank stare, he’d figure out that I couldn’t understand him. I tried that, but he continued to try to talk to me, so Elizabeth came up to the front and told me he wanted to see my ID card. Of course I’d left that at home. Elizabeth went back to her seat, leaving me to fend for myself. I was annoyed because nobody had asked for my ID all day. Why did this guy have to ask for it now? He didn’t seem to care when I told him it was at my house. He kept pointing at the money. I pointed at the sign on the front of the bus that displayed the fares, and saying $5.50 in hopes that he would realize I was trying to say I qualify for the $5.50 fare, but he still obviously wanted me to pay full price because I didn’t have my ID on me.
It would have been quite simple if he would have given me back my $5.50, and then I could have given him 9 pesos (the un-discounted fare). I tried to communicate that to him, but he was not cooperative. Every now and then he would pick up my $5.50 and hold it out to show it to me, but then he would put it back into his money holder. (And this was all while he was driving and stopping at bus stops!) Apparently I was going to have to do it the hard way and count out all the little coins to make up the difference between $5.50 and $9.00. So I started counting, slowly so I wouldn’t make mistakes. Dig, dig, dig in my coin purse…. 1 peso… $6.50. Dig, dig, dig, dig…. 1 more peso… $7.50. Dig, dig, dig…. 1 more peso… $8.50. Look at the sign again. Is my math right? $5.50, $6.50, $7.50, $8.50… and I need $9.00. So 50 more cents. Of course I don’t have any more 50 cent coins. I gave him my last one. It would be so easy if he could give it back to me and I could give him 1 peso, but I don’t dare just take it from his money holder. He might have me arrested. So back to the coin purse. Dig, dig, dig, dig, dig, dig… No large coins at all except for the 1 peso coins, which are too large…. Dig, dig, dig… fine, I’ll use a 20-cent coin. Now we’re up to $8.70. Dig, dig, dig, dig… 10 cents… $8.80. By this point he looked like he was ready to just accept what I had given him and not worry about the last 20 cents (which would be less than 2 cents American). But no, if he wanted 9 pesos, I was going to give him 9 pesos! I dug around some more and found the last 20-cent coin. I went back to my seat, somewhat annoyed at all the trouble it had taken just to pay a simple bus fare. Just at that moment, the bus stopped and a number of passengers got off. I took 2 seats and sat right in the middle, telling my friends that I had paid double fare and so I was going to enjoy my 2 seats!
The concert was in a basilica, although when we first walked in I asked if it was a basilica and my friends didn’t know. Later, as we exited, we noticed signs confirming that it was, indeed, a basilica. The first thing I noticed as we walked in was that all the pews had little mats that folded down onto the floor, so you could kneel on them if you wanted to kneel down to pray between the pews. I had seen pillows for that purpose before, but never anything like this. It was a long piece of wood with padding on top of it, attached so that you could fold it down to kneel on it, or fold it up if you wanted to just sit in the pew. It was really hard to get into a seat in the middle of a pew without stepping on any feet and without tripping on the kneeling bar. After we sat down, a lot of people figured out how to fold it up and fasten it with a little hook to keep it out of the way. The problem was that the hooks didn’t hold very well. The one on Elizabeth’s pew was put up several times and fell back down loudly several times. They finally got it to stay. The people on my pew didn’t bother, so I used it like a footrest, hoping nobody would be offended, but not sure where else my feet could go.
As the concert began (noticeably later than scheduled), we heard a loud noise like a gunshot. No worries. Somebody’s kneeling bar had fallen. The singing was beautiful, but I had trouble understanding a lot of the German. The tenor had a very good accent, but some of the other singers were really slaughtering the German language. One soloist was trying to sing “Süße Kreuz,” which should sound like “zooseh kroitz,” but when he sang it, it sounded more like “shoishieua krauis.” I was thankful for the German titles printed in the program, and the Spanish subtitles on the screen, which helped me follow along. The music was the story of the Passion from Matthew. The most beautiful song, repeated several times in different verses throughout the program was, “O Sacred Head Now Wounded.” It just sounded heavenly with the choirs voices harmonizing together on that beautiful song!
About halfway through the program, the kneeling bar on Elizabeth’s pew fell down again. It did not make as much noise as the other one that had fallen earlier, because Elizabeth’s foot broke its fall. Ouch!
We had to leave the concert before it was over, because it was getting late, we were tired, and we really needed to do some packing. So we left right after the choir sang “O Sacred Head” again. It was a great song to end on.
This morning, Elizabeth and I woke up at the normal time to go to church. We were pretty tired! Then we looked at our computer clocks and… oh no! Daylight Savings Time! We had missed Sunday school! So we got ourselves ready and went in time for the second church service. We got there and shook hands with the men who sit right outside the door. Then he informed us that there was no second service. We had forgotten that they only have one service when the students were gone. So we had completely missed church! Oooooops! We went home and Elizabeth played a sermon on her computer.
Click here for photos of the Boston Tea Party.
Click here for photos of my first graders.
Today was the last day of school before spring break. For my third graders, I decided to do something special. We have been studying the Boston Tea Party in Heritage, so I told them we were going to have a Boston Tea Party on Friday. I told them to dress up as Indians and soldiers, and to bring food and old socks. They thought the old socks request was pretty funny!
When I arrived at class, my students were already there. I don’t know if they came up early because of the party, or what, but I was thankful that my fellow-teacher Cathy had jumped in and taken it upon herself to teach them a new game. After the game finished, I let the kids enter the classroom and eat. Of course the first thing they did was spill Kool-Aid all over the floor by trying to pour it without twisting the lid to the “open” position. I quickly moved all the drinks from my desk to a table that I didn’t care about.
After they ate, it was time to reenact the Boston Tea Party. I gave the box of socks, representing a ship full of tea, to the soldiers and told them to head for the door. As they reached the door, I told the Indians to go after them and try to throw the “tea” (socks) into the “water” (onto the ground). Unfortunately, the Indians were so fast that the soldiers couldn’t make it out the door. We ended up with a huge pile-up of children wrestling on the floor and under the desks just inside the door. Two children were already crying by the time I got there to intervene. I kept telling them “Out the door! Out the door!” until they got themselves outside, pushing a desk out with them because some of them were stuck under it. I got them disentangled from the desk, and they continued to wrestle.
Once the desks were safely back in the classroom, I ran outside and showed them that I wanted them to throw the socks at each other. Sock war! They loved it! Every now and then one kid would pretend to be King George and I would try to get all the kids to gang up on the king. One time they decided I was the king or queen and they all attacked me!
As the sock war gradually petered out, the kids got more creative. One kid decided to use the box as a shield, and soon we had several kids trotting around with the box over their heads, reminding me of a Chinese dragon as the back of Samuel’s “red coat” billowed behind him in the wind. After the excitement of that wore down, they decided to give each other rides in the box. That was great until they took Oscar over to the stairs and prepared to send him down. That was when I decided to intervene. “Time to go! Go to Spanish class!” I had run into the classroom for a glance at the clock, and seen that it was half past. Time to go, and just in time to prevent broken arms and legs!
After the kids left, I cleaned up the classrooms and the patio, and then I waited for my first grade… and waited… and waited… and waited…. At one point I was sure they must be partying and not planning to come to English class. Then I looked at the clock. 15 minutes until they were due to come. Wait a minute! Did I let my third grade go an hour early??? Whoops!!!!!
I crept downstairs and peeked into the third grade classroom. They were all busily working away. I went back upstairs to await my first grade. I was surprised that the first graders were all present, and all willing to work. Toward the end we played a game with answering flashcards for candy. Some of the kids, the ones who never pay attention, had to just sit there staring, unable to participate, but I was amazed at how many kids were able to participate! I showed a picture, and they had to say the word and then spell it. If they could answer three or more correctly, they got a piece of candy at the end of class. The kids were excited about it, and even some who don’t usually answer the flashcards gave it a try. I am just amazed when I look back at how little they knew, and how undisciplined they were, when school started last summer. They have grown and learned so much!
I can’t believe it’s been a week since the Rally and I’m only just now writing about it! The Rally was a beautiful day, perfect weather for being outdoors all day. I managed to take over 700 photos throughout the course of the day. I had originally signed up to be a photographer, but the leader of the children’s meetings asked me to help with the music at the children’s services. I love kids, so I was glad to help. Later I found out that the ladies’ group I sing with in church was scheduled to sing at the teens’ service. There were a few minutes when I wasn’t sure if I would be able to be in the right place at the right time for both the teen and children’s services, but the timing worked out just right and I was able to do both.
The first children’s service was just crazy! There were many more children than chairs, and about halfway through the service they got so tired of sitting still that some of them just started running wild around the edges. Soon more and more children started making their break for freedom and running all over the place, while the people on the stage tried in vain to keep their attention. The fact that it was an open-air meeting with no walls to keep the children contained made it worse. I felt like we needed a team of pro football players to tackle the kids and herd them back into place! I stationed myself in the front near the stage and intercepted those who wanted to run back behind the stage, but many of them escaped in other directions.
The second children’s service went much better. The group was smaller, and the workers seemed to have better strategies for holding the kids’ attention and keeping them in their seats. They did some very creative skits. At one point they said a special guest was flying in all the way from Germany just to teach them to sing “Jesus Loves Me” in German…. That was me! I came in and started talking in German, and one of the students made up “translations” in Spanish of what I might be saying, and then I taught them the song. We divided them up into two groups to see which half could sing the loudest, and they liked that!
At the end of the day, after everyone left, it was time to take the tent down. It was fascinating for me to see a huge job getting done through mass teamwork. It took a lot of people pulling in unison to move the huge pieces of the tent, but everyone did a great job and it all went smoothly. It seemed like a good object lesson of how the body of Christ functions, with everyone working together to accomplish great things that no one person could do alone.
Click these links for photos:
Photos from the Rally, Album 1
Photos from the Rally, Album 2
Most Repetitive Moment: Bus Breakdown
Yep, it broke down before we even got to our first church, and we sat on the side of the road for so long that we ended up having to miss the concert at that church and actually going back to Monterrey for supper before setting out again in another bus. And the new bus had its own problems. Pulling over because of bus problems was not unusual. We even got stopped by the police and told that it was dangerous to keep driving the bus because it was leaning so far to the side, but Hermano Pedro talked to the police and they agreed to let us finish our trip since we were only about 2 hours away from home at that point.
Most Nail-Biting Moment: The First-Note Disaster
At the beginning of one song, Enrique had to come in with a note all by himself on the cello, with nothing but memory to help him find the note and play it in tune. Then Kim and the choir had to come in on that same note. During one performance he came in way off, and then Kim came in on the right note, but the choir came in on Enrique’s note, and there was a bit of a clash! But everyone kept their cool and adjusted, recovering quite well. We had some good laughs about it later! At the next performance we waited anxiously for that note, ready to adjust if it was wrong again, but there was no need to adjust because it came out just right!
Most Odoriferous Moment: The WC on the Bus
That was just another one of those things that happen on bus trips sometimes, especially when it’s a cheap bus company. The bathroom odor was really pretty strong. It was a constant smell, stronger at some times than others. Gotta keep that Febreze handy!
Most Touristy Moment: Late-Night Stop in Mexico City
As we were leaving Mexico City to return to Monterrey on Sunday night, on a whim we decided to stop for a little bit of sightseeing. So we all piled out of the bus and walked around in an interesting area of town, taking lots of photos. All the married couples obliged by kissing for some of the photos. It wasn’t the conventional type of tourism that we had originally planned for, but it was a lot of fun!
Most Innovative Moment: Jonathan’s Shoe
At our last concert, Esther’s cello kept sliding away from her. Jonathan responded by loosening his shoe and kicking it toward me. I kicked it over to Kim, who kicked it over to Esther, so she could put the end of the cello inside of it.
Most Photogenic Moment: People Sleeping on the Bus
As with any trip, you always get some interesting shots of the other passengers sleeping!
Most Interesting Food Moment: The Purple-Tortilla Cow-Stomach Tacos
One morning, our breakfast/lunch/whatever-meal-you care-to-call-it was accomplished by a walk down the street to a taco stand. The tortillas were a strange color, which they said was from the kind of corn used to make them, and the meat was inside what appeared to be a cow stomach or some other organ that you don’t see every day on your table. But the tacos tasted really good! Just goes to show, looks can be deceiving!
Most Predictable Moment: Flying Objects on the Bus
Especially as the bus began to tilt more and more to the right, it became increasingly common for objects to come raining down from the overhead storage area. The dvd player took multiple dives, although only one person actually got hit by it. Other random objects fell with increasing regularity, but none were so heavy or easily damaged.
Most Chivalrous Moment: The Saturday Night Van Drivers
It was around 11:00 pm when two guys from the church drove a van full of nine of us girls to someone’s house. We were tired, and it seemed to take forever to get to the house. It was going to be a very short night for us, because we needed to leave at 6:00 the next morning to get back to the bus for our journey to the next church. As they helped us unload our stuff from the van, one of the girls asked the driver about what time they were picking us up in the morning. He replied that they were going to stay there and sleep in the van so they would be ready to take us back on time! It was one of those moments when I felt for sure we must be in a movie, because nobody is ever that thoughtful in real life!
Most Inspiring Moment: When Things Went Wrong
It was wonderful to see how everyone kept such excellent attitudes when things went wrong. We had planned for a lot of sightseeing time, most of which ended up getting cut due to lost time from bus problems. But nobody complained! Everyone just made the most of it and enjoyed our time on the bus.
So, you might ask, what was my favorite moment? I didn’t really have a favorite moment. The entire trip was wonderful. I was so glad I went, despite the things that went wrong. It was wonderful to be a part of the group, getting to know the other people better as we ministered together, seeing the results of people coming to know the Lord and youths taking interest in Christian education. Praise the Lord for giving us a wonderful week!
After an evening of working on grades, I am ready to pack for the big trip tomorrow! From what I understand, we will be driving down the east coast of Mexico in a tour bus, stopping at churches along the way. I am very excited! I plan to bring my camera and keep my eyes open for photo ops.
As I finish up my grades, I have to say how proud I am of my students! I knew it would not be easy for them to cope with their first time having a teacher who does not speak Spanish, and at times it has been difficult both for them and for me, but most of them have really risen to the challenge. They are learning so much! I gave the first graders their very first Phonics test last week, and one girl missed only one question. The test had one section of pure phonics (not easy for kids who are also learning Spanish phonics in their other class), and there were two sections of comprehension. I was very impressed at how many of my little first graders were able to read the questions silently and choose the correct response. I’ve known American kids who would struggle with that test, but my students did admirably. I am so thankful for how the Lord has been helping me as I strive to help these children.
They sang beautifully.
It was cute, how some of the kids got so into it!
The Christmas program: an evening of fun!
A few days ago Elizabeth organized Christmas caroling for some of her English students. It was a cool evening— jacket weather, not too hot and not too cold. First they stopped by the Chapmans’ house, where Nathan joined them, and then they came to my house, where I joined them (after snapping a photo from my window). We then walked to the homes of all the other American missionaries, and ended at the dorms where we sang a few more carols. It was fun to see how the missionaries’ enjoyment of our efforts. Most of them had been warned that we were coming, so they were expecting us, but we completely surprised the Raymers, and they were so delighted. They woke up their little girl and brought her out so she could hear us. What better way to enjoy the Christmas season than by spreading Christmas joy to others?
I watched this little girl in the church nursery one evening. Her family was down from Texas for our missions conference. Later, after one of the services, I went out for tacos with Perla and Sandra, and this family was there along with a lot of other people from our church. The little girl’s brother was doing sketches on napkins, and it inspired me to do a sketch too, so I pulled out my sketchbook and did his sister. The mother was delighted and asked if she could have the sketch, but I didn’t want to destroy my sketchbook, so I wrote down their email so I could scan it and email it to them. It’s amazing how a simple sketch can make someone so happy. It warmed my heart to know that I had made their evening by drawing their daughter.
I have been spending a lot of time with third grade teaching them about the Pilgrims and Indians. I made a list of historic Pilgrim and Indian names, and let each child choose a character to be. Then, on Thanksgiving, we had a party and I told the kids to come dressed as their characters.
One boy, Joseph, chose Squanto. He didn’t realize at the time that Squanto was any more important than any of the other Indians. He just wanted to be an Indian because it sounded like fun, and Squanto was the name he happened to pick. So imagine his surprise when we acted out the story of the Pilgrims in class, and he had a starring role!
I also own a book about Squanto— a book written from a Christian perspective, and with beautiful illustrations. It’s a kind of long book for their age, but I gave them pictures to color and went ahead and read it to them, figuring some of the more advanced kids would understand a lot if they tried, and for the rest of them it couldn’t hurt to hear more English, even if the only benefit was hearing my American accent.
Well, of course Joseph was very interested in the story since it was about his character, and I think he was able to follow it fairly well since he’s one of my more advanced students. I was pleased that several kids seemed to be really paying attention to the story, and that Joseph especially was interested enough to make the effort to understand. But I even surprised myself when I got near the end, to the part where Squanto helps the Pilgrims. In the story, the governor is telling Squanto how God brought Squanto to them in order to help them in their time of desperate need— and he draws a parallel with Joseph in the Old Testament, who suffered many hardships which prepared him to save many people’s lives later.
I was skipping some of the more difficult paragraphs as I read, in order to make it easier for the kids to follow, and I almost skipped the part about Squanto being their Joseph, when I suddenly realized… Joseph… Squanto… I had to read it exactly as it was written!
As I read that part, Joseph perked up visibly. He kept repeating, “Squanto is Joseph!” It was so cute to see him so excited about the story… is it okay to call a third grade boy cute? Maybe I should say it was inspiring.
Do you know the story of Squanto? Did you know he was kidnapped and taken to Spain to be sold as a slave, rescued by monks who taught him about God, sent to England where more delays prevented him from returning to America, and finally made it home ten years after he had been kidnapped… only to find that his entire tribe had been wiped out by a plague…. And then the Pilgrims ended up settling right where his tribe had once lived…. Like Joseph in the Bible, Squanto suffered much, but it was all part of God’s plan. I don’t know how much of this my students understood, but I enjoyed re-reading the story anyway. It’s always nice to remind yourself of God’s faithfulness and sovereignty.
