I've been feeling a little out of sorts lately and just realized its probably, at least in part, due to the fact that the past few months have been pretty crazy, but now I think things are finally settling down.
Week 1:
This week was pretty much consumed by VBS. We were praying that kids would come and based on previous years were expecting 40 to come the first day and maybe 80 by the end of the week. Evidently, we prayed too hard and 80 came the first day and we were over 100 for the rest of the week. This gave the Lord a lot of opportunities to stretch us way beyond our capabilities. In the end no one died and most kids went home with a snack and craft at the end of each day. Speaking of snacks they do things much differently here. When I think of snacks for 100+ kids I think of easy. Here I don't think any of the 3 ladies working on snacks slept the entire week, they were too busy making individual bags of popcorn, or little cups of jello to go with the fresh fruit water (One day I did convince them to go with Kool-Aid). On the craft side of things we were scrambling a lot to reproduce the crafts we came down with with things found at the markets here. For the most part it worked but I think I ended up with carpal tunnel from the over-use of the hole punch in our daily 4-hour craft prep sessions. There was also a Bible lesson daily and the handful of kids who really wanted to hear will be rewarded one day for their perseverance. So what is my take away? For a few years a big group came from the states to do VBS here in Mascota. And then last year it was just my brother's family and then this year me too. But the cool thing is when the big group came they did something that wasn't reproducible by the people here but this year we set the bar so low that I think they're ready to take over for themselves now. And really, I mean that in all sincerity.
On the Saturday after the camp we went to another town (La Canada) to do a little kids club. I remember going their years ago and getting eaten by bugs so this day I intentionally put on bug spray. The bug spray did nothing and came back with like 20 bites from some invisible mite. Luz told me the common name and I looked it up and well I hate the internet. The literal translation was scabies and I was pretty sure amputation was the only solution. Her sister-in-law, a doctor, told me to put zinc oxide on them (also good for diaper rash) and to take Claritin. So yeah, I never had scabies and my legs are fine now. On another note, one of the goals for visiting this town was to give the youth from Mascota an opportunity to serve. So three sisters came and lead the craft and game portion. Compared to the VBS not many kids came but it's really hard to compete with at 104th birthday party - they had more lively music.
Week 2:
Jeremy and Cristina left and while Luz and I recovered for a few days I did one of the things I do best, organized the craft closet. I also had an opportunity to follow up with one of the girls from the camp, Carmen. She is 26 but with some learning disabilities so connects more with the little kids than with those her own age. We hung out a few times and I'm sure I'll be seeing more of her. On Saturday I went to a baby shower that started at 5, Luz and I got there at 5:15 and were the first ones. At 6 the pregnant lady showed up (she was taking a nap). We played games like unscramble the baby related words, in Spanish. I lost but I did get phone numbers of 2 girls who I might be able to talk into hanging out with me or at least coming to youth group. Yes, I'm in charge of the 12 & up youth group Saturday nights. Last week I would call a bust. Only 2 of 6 showed any interest in the lesson, but the main problem was my inability to process coherent thoughts in English or Spanish.
Other excitement for the week: I discovered Zubma for only 10 pesos a day. One day I went to get money exchanged and the bank was out of money. It's been raining a lot. Luz doesn't really want my help in the kitchen but the other day she gave me the task of browning some pasta to put in soup and I totally failed. She also asked me to peel the celery but I don't even really know what that means. My friend Morgan was travelling through Mexico by bus so she stopped in for the weekend and I got to show her the town. I got an email from the woman who replaced me at my job in New Mexico and it took me a good 30 seconds to figure out who she was.
Week 3:
Now with the Americans gone I'm getting a little more of a routine. One of my reasons to stay behind was to follow up with VBS and informally that's already been happening. As I'm out and about in the town there are always kids calling out to me. One girl Emily stopped to chat and really wanted to know why camp was only 1 week long this enforced an idea I already had about doing something Saturday mornings. The original idea was to go to the town (where I got "scabies") and take the kids from youth group to do outreach every other week. But really there is so much interest here that it makes much more sense to get that going. So this Saturday will be our first go at that.
Yesterday a new aspect was added when I discovered that Luz is now in charge of manning a Huaraches (sandals) store that is co-owned by some of her family. It makes no money but she likes to go from ~11-2 and sit there and talk to whoever passes by, it's been really neat to see how she steers pretty much every conversation towards the Lord. Except for the one conversation today that she left completely to me while this man who used to live in the states (until he was in jail for 7 years for murder then finally deported) wanted to practice his English with me and to make sure I knew he was single. Luz did try to help deter him once by letting him know I'm hear to help with Bible studies, he informed me that maybe God has me here for another reason too. Luz sat behind the counter, silently laughing as he kept trying to hold my hand and pat my shoulder and then decided to share the story with all of her family. On the flip side he's cousins with Mexican boxers Gabriel and Rafael Ruelas, but really who down here isn't cousins with everyone.
