What I've been learning lately

Hope- In Christ alone my hope is found. Without Jesus I have no hope. He that is in me is stronger than he that is in the world. Christ is the light of the nations. This light lives in me. I am to be a light to the nations. I am to be different. I am to bring hope. The nations need hope. People need hope. We live in a hopeless world. In Christ alone my hope is found. If we believe what we say we believe, we have to go. Because the world is starving. The world is dying. The world has no hope. It is stumbling in darkness, and we have light. And we are no followers of Jesus Christ if we don't share it. We have been redeemed by the blood of the Lamb. So go out, and for the sake of the lost, give them light, give them hope. It is Christ who lives in you. The one thing we so desperately need is a Savior.

Feliz Navidad

I miss people today. Christmas is a little different here- no snow, no decorations, no tree, etc. On the plus side, no irritating commercials coming at you from every which way. So that is really nice. I do hate the commercialism associated with Christmas in Canada. And boxing day. But I didn't realize how much I missed snow and all our traditions until now. Maybe it's good to get out of the traditions at least once- then you can a) appreciate them more, and b) realize that they are just that, traditions. They're not vital to life, or to the actual significance of Christmas. I can celebrate Jesus' birth without decorated trees and snow and colored lights and Santa Claus and presents and Christmas carols (which should be sung other times anyway, because they are theologically loaded). Maybe it's good that I only heard the Christmas story (from the Bible) once in Spanish, and then I read it this morning because I felt like maybe I should follow tradition. I can be a Christian without emphasizing Christmas so much. Although we did eat turkey last night, then stay up late playing games. But you know, it's okay. Things can be different. Maybe it just means I'm popping my prairie bubble. I'd like to see it different in Canada, just once. Without the hype. Without the extra church services that were only good because you got candy at the end and the smallest children with the bells every year were cute. Without the Christmas Eve service that drags on when all you really want to do is go home and open your presents. (I do realize I am 21 and saying that I always thought Christmas Eve services were boring. Except for the candle part. Fire!) Without the presents... Without everything we thought we needed. As a good friend of mine once said, "I want to spend time contemplating the theological significance of the birth of Jesus Christ, and it's not even something I get to do very much of in church, because we only sing like 2 or 3 verses of a Christmas carol, and miss all the theology in the other verses of the song." And then we talk about one of 3 passages in the Bible: Matthew 2, Luke 2, or Isaiah 9:1-7.
So despite the fact that yes, I do miss my family today, it's kind of nice, actually, it's really great, that Christmas has been changed up for me. For the better, I hope.
After all that,
Feliz Navidad

21

I would just like to point out that today is my 21st birthday, and it is on the 21st day of the month. And I am very excited about it. Today is also the winter solstice, which means it is the first day of winter and the shortest day of the year, for those of you who, like me, care about such things.

Oaxaca!!!

This week we went to Pinotepa, Oaxaca, for a wedding. If you don't know where that is, google map it. I didn't know. It's a good 18 hour drive from Guadalajara. On the way there it took 19 hours to get there (we got lost in Mexico City for an hour), but the way home only took 15 hours. I don't know why, I slept most of it. On the way there we had 13 people in a 13 passenger van. On the way home we had 14 in a 12 passenger van. Equals 26 both times, I guess. Some highlights of the trip were: driving through desert mountains (with cactuses!!!) listening to Petra's Beyond Belief CD; eating iguana; drinking Coca-Cola like my father does; drinking coconut water out of a coconut with a straw (I didn't particularly like the coconut water, but it was a cool experience); seeing a cockfight (they're not illegal here apparently); wearing pretty dresses; going to both ceremonies (Mexican weddings have two ceremonies: a legal one and a religious one. Both are celebrations); making chocolate covered strawberries for the reception; going shopping in Pinotepa; going to the beach on Saturday, playing Dutch Blitz at the beach; and understanding most of what was being said. On the whole, it was a good week.

Thank you

"One of the most obvious differences between all the poetry I have ever read and all the straight prose (I say 'straight' to exclude prose which verges on the poetic) is this simple one, hardly ever stated: the poetry contains a great many more adjectives. This is perfectly obvious. From Homer, who never omits to tell us that the ships were black and the sea salty, or even wet, down to Eliot with his 'hollow valley' and 'multi-foliate rose', they all do it. Poets are always telling us that grass is green, or thunder loud, or lips red. It is not, except in bad poets, always telling us that things are shocking or delightful. It does not, in that direct way, attempt to discharge or excite emotion. On the contrary, it seems anxious to bombard us with masses of factual information which we might, on a prose view, regard as irrelevant or platitudinous."

-C.S. Lewis, in his essay The Language of Religion

Faith, Christianity, and the Church, A Collection of Essays by C.S. Lewis, page 257

December 1 already?

This last week has been full of slow days punctuated by busy points. At least, that is how it feels. It is hard to believe we've been here for almost a month already. Standing at the crest it looked interminable, and some days it still feels so. Part of me wishes I was doing puzzles at my parents' kitchen table, negative 30 degrees outside and Christmas lights reflecting in the window. Don't get me wrong, so far I love it here. But this will be my first Christmas without snow, and it doesn't feel December without snow.
Anyway, what have I been up to? Well, I have been attending Spanish school, doing homework for said school, watching movies (mostly in Spanish), and spending time with the youth (and other people) at the church I attend. On Saturday night, after youth group, the ladies of the church had a bridal shower for one of the girls who is getting married this month. It was a lot of fun, even though half the time I didn't really understand what was going on. It's cool because by living with a Mexican family, I get to experience so much more of the culture than any tourist ever would. Just because one has been to Mexico for vacation does not mean one knows Mexico. I am not claiming by any means to know a lot of the cultural stuff, but I do think that I have a unique chance to experience more than the average visitor, as most visitors to a country don't spend weeks merely living and learning from a family. I say mere, but it is really anything but.
God has been teaching me humility these last few days. Every time I go out, I have trouble with the simplest things, mostly because I don't speak the language. But I also get looked at a lot, mostly because I am a white girl. I dislike being looked at. But that's life. I can't do the simplest things easily, I get looked at, and I'm awkward and make lots of mistakes. I can't be proud anymore. There is no place for it. People who can't surrender their pride can't learn language. Because you will make lots of mistakes, and people will laugh. And if you can't laugh at yourself, you can't do anything. The other day I tried walking home from school. Partially because I didn't want the people on the bus to look at me. But I ended up getting lost and walking for two hours. I did get home, but I got looked at by an awful lot more people than would have looked at me on the bus. On the plus side, it was a lot of fun, it was really nice out, I got a good feel for part of the area, I got a lot of exercise, and on the whole it was a great experience. But I think I hopefully learned my lesson. Humility is, if not everything, a heck of a lot. "...walk humbly with your God..." (Micah 6:8)
On a different note, I would love to hear from people, whoever reads this. What you think, anything you'd like to hear about, anything you'd like to know about my life or what I'm learning, anything. Feel free to comment. Sometimes I don't know what to write about, so tell me, what would you like to read? This could be an interactive thing.
A couple prayer requests:
Energy and desire to do homework; I've hit that slump right before the holidays where I don't actually want to study anything, let alone learn how to use "this" and "that" correctly, so officially studying Spanish has become harder, and I still do want to learn.
Opportunities to intentionally spend time with people, build relationships, and learn from them.
That I would set aside time to listen to God, spend time with God, and learn to listen to Him.

Ultimately, translation

Apparently I live in Mexico. A lady who was giving me a ride home told me that. I think what she meant was that where I live, it's a lot more stereotypically Mexico than where she lives. But I have also realized that I have not told you where I live. I live with a wonderful Mexican family on a little deadend street in the Constitucion section of Zapopan, which is one of the cities attached to Guadalajara proper. Our street is just off the street with lots of stores. You can get basically anything within 10 blocks. We are 8 blocks away from the market. Which is probably a lot like you would picture an outdoor market in Mexico. Again, everything you could possibly think of in little booths lining the street, along with in the buildings themselves. And everything's a lot cheaper than it would be in Canada. It's pretty cool. Guadalajara is a beautiful city. Lots of beautiful architecture, plus lots of row houses. I have loved row houses since I went to Philadelphia in 2006. If you don't know what a row house is, it means all the houses on the street are attached. Like a townhouse, except for picture the whole street, and not all the houses are the same structure. There are a lot of different structures. There's also no such thing as a yard here. If you do have one, you're probably selling stuff on it. Houses have little courtyards though (picture quite little), and those are used often for hanging laundry in.
I've fallen into a sort of schedule, and this is it (in case you were wondering what in fact I am actually doing here):
7:00 (ish) wake up (to a palm tree outside my window, please note), get ready for the day
8:00 eat breakfast
8:30-45 catch bus 636, which takes me to school
9-12:30 Spanish school
catch bus home
eat somewhere between 2 and 3
do stuff, sleep, answer emails, etc.
eat again sometime between 8 and 11
Of course, there are variations. On Wednesday, instead of coming home, we go to Jen and Sandra's (our missionaries) house for lunch and the afternoon, and then go to soccer at RETO church in the evening. On Thursday nights there is church, which is really good. It's like a prayer meeting, but actually interesting and interactive. Saturdays and Sundays I wake up later. Saturdays we do assorted things, and Sundays we have church and then family time. Today we spend several hours making bags. If you've ever wondered where gift bags come from, I can tell you. I live with the lady (or rather, one of the ladies) who makes them. I get to put the strings in. We also watch a fair amount of television, usually in Spanish. Tomorrow I get to have Thanksgiving dinner with some of our missionary team. One day I went to the fair. Some days I miss Saskatchewan, winter, and the people there. Other days I don't.
It's a good thing God speaks all languages. Learning a language without knowing God would suck. Imagine having most of your personality unavailable to you, and then get to know a lot of people. And you can talk in little more than present tense. My sarcasm, my puns, my big words, are all useless here, because no one understands them. And you can't make plays on words in a language where you don't know half the words. I don't know how to express lots of who I am (Hay muchas cosas quiero decir, pero no puedo.) And on the flip side, my hosts can't yet express lots of who they are. But praise God because He is greater than languages. All reflect some of His glory and He can speak through all. God, not Google, is the ultimate translator.

Clouds

Maybe sometimes when I don't feel God, it is not that He has gone away. Perhaps He is like the sun, and has only gone behind a cloud. It doesn't matter what the cloud is made of, for clouds bring rain, and without rain there is no growth. God is still there, and evident, behind the cloud, but is harder to feel (and sometimes, to notice). Clouds don't last forever, and the sun always comes back out. When you bask in the sun, it leaves marks on you, a suntan, so a) you remember where you have been, and b) other people notice as well. When we have been with God, others should notice. Moses had to put a veil over his face so the Israelites could look at him after he was with God. Clouds happen. They are necessary for life. But they do not mean that God is farther away. The sun is, after all, closer to the Earth in January than it is in July.

You are a child of God
You are loved by God
You are not God
You are not in control of anything
You have a lot to learn
You are not stupid
But neither are you wise

1Corinthians 1:20, 23-25
Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?... But we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Gentiles (and German Mennonite girls), Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than man's wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than man's strength.

Fun Facts

I really like where I am currently living
Crosswalks are only a suggestions and pedestrians never have right of way (it's bigger, faster, and can hurt you, so let it go first)
A bottle of Coke on the corner is 5 pesos (about 45 cents)
The street that I live off of is a market street: basically an outdoor mall, there's everything you want in open shops that close with garage doors
If church prayer meetings at home were like the one I went to here, I totally would have gone
I miss Tristan
I think you will only really be fluent in a language when you can write poetry and do crossword puzzles in it
I saw a taxi with five seats and ten people in it (the car was smaller than Elmer)
Seatbelts are generally only a suggestion for people in the back seat (although that's how it was in BC too)
Tripitas= intestino CRUNCH; but they taste good
It's never quiet in Guadalajara except around 4 in the morning, but I kind of like the big city feel
There's a palm tree outside my window that I wake up looking at every morning
I will fear no evil for the LORD my God is with me, and if the LORD is with me, whom then shall I fear?
Starbucks does not have peppermint mochas at Christmas here, but they have other good things, and snowflakes on the windows, which is odd because it doesn't snow here
God is patient
Buses are quite the adventure here, and I love it
There are times when I didn't know a car (or bus) could fit in that space
I've been drinking a lot of instant coffee
I'm doing really well, for those of you who are reading this list to find out how I am.

Home in Mexico

Hola! Me llamo Teri. Yo hablo Espanglish. Which means... my Spanish is coming along oxymoronically: slowly but in leaps and bounds. I already know a lot more than when I got here, but it is still painfully slow for me (and probably for the people talking to me too). Spanish is a lot easier than English, but I still feel like I'm in kindergarten. I am in level 1 in the SSL (Spanish as a Second Language) school. (I just made that abbreviation up.)
For those of you that will be shocked, I now have a cellular telephone. I carry it in my pocket and people text or call me on it. It is a very strange sensation. But everyone here has one and I need it, because Guadalajara is a big city.
I live with a wonderful lady and her daughter, and a variety of other family members that are visiting or live nearby. It is very good. We speak slowly. It is good. I am learning. (Yo estoy aprendiendo.)
There are a lot of cultural differences, and more as you get to know people. So far my favorite is the greeting: a kiss on the cheek. But only for girls. Guys don't kiss guys. And when you enter or leave a room, you greet or say goodbye to everyone. (If you don't know someone, you shake hands.)
There is a palm tree outside my window. I see it in the mornings when I wake up.
Prayer requests:
fast learning of the language
rest (learning another language is very tiring)
Gracias.

I was born for a reason
I am here for a reason
I was called for a reason
I am breaking for a reason
Breaking, broken, emptying
God disciplines those He loves
I trust God for a reason
However faint it seems at times
He is the one who calls the stars

Isaiah 40:26: Lift your eyes and look to the heavens: Who created all these? He who brings out the starry host one by one, and calls them each by name. Because of his great power and mighty strength, not one of them is missing.