Loco Moco

It has been raining here pretty much every night for the past 3 weeks. This is undoubtedly the most rain I have personally every experienced. It just doesn't rain very much back home in LA. I had no idea that the rainy season here was July and August.. I was thinking the summer would be SUMMER! Good thing I always try to stay prepared though. I have ample jackets and even brought my anorak just in case. And of course I always have many flashlights with me because of my fear of not having light. This has come in handy during the blackouts. And it's not just rain, it is heavy heavy rain while still staying warm.

I've also had to experience DSL techinical support recently. The DSL modem stopped working. I called TelMex and they sent someone over the next morning. Amazing response. The phone support was better than the phone support I get in the US. Amazing! I was afraid I'd be without DSL for a while, but it was only for one night.

Estoy solo. I have been living at the house by myself for about 3 weeks now. Juan went back to the States and Gabriel went back to the ranch for the summer since school is out. It's sometimes lonely at night in a big house by myself in a foreign country. Thank God I have internet though.

It has been a busy week so I haven't had a chance to post pics or blog. A team from Harvest Church came down to Jerez for a week for a week long event. They did a medical mission the first weekend and throughout the week were outreaching. The last 2 days they held a big crusade at the gym. it was like having our own mini Harvest crusade. I met some really great new friends.

We found out about it pretty much a week before but we wanted to help out of course. So we decided to make dinner for them every night. We spent all last week cooking pretty much. it was fun but very tiring. We made chinese food, burritos, and other dishes. One night I folded and made 100 burritos. I can fold burritos like nothing now. I've also have had time during lunch to experiment with cooking. Pictured above is a loco moco I made. I found some gravy powder and decided to try and make some loco moco. I used hamburger patties for the meat. No rice, so toritllas were the substitute. It turned out pretty good.

I spent some time hanging out with the Harvest team. We went to Zacatecas and did a taco run. It was fun and great to meet some awesome people. I have a feeling we will be working with them again soon.

High and Low

On Tuesday and Wednesday we went on an amazing trip with Pastor Martin. Every month Pastor Martin goes to the Sierra mountains about 5 hours from Jerez and ministers to the natives that live in the mountains. Jerry, Mical, and I went along with him and Brother Roberto. The scenery there is jaw droppingly beautiful. I had no idea that we were so close to such beautiful landscapes. There were some points where I felt like I was in Yosemite. The drive up was fun. We stopped by Valparaiso for some groceries to bring up. Then we stopped by Huejuquilla for some amazing tacos. At this point we were already pretty high up in the mountains. The village was about 20,000 feet high.

When we got up there, we were greeted by 2 missionaries. One of the girls has been there by herself ministering for a year and a half. Amazingly brave considering it is dangerous up in the mountains and pretty much like the Old West. We were told by Pastor Marting that everyone has guns. We then went on a very long hike to visit one of the natives. He was a real cowboy rustling cattle and with a gun in his back pocket too. His house was on top of the mountain with an amazing view. We spent some time there playing with the kids and talking to him. Then we hiked back up this very steep hill (our calves our killing us) back to the missionaries' house. They have no running water there, nor electriticy. Jerry had to go number 2 but wanted to wait for a nicer outhouse. I don't think the outhouse he finally went to at the school was any better. Pastor Martin also borrowed a rifle from the cowboy. He wanted to find some squirrels to fry up. They are apparently very delicious. We didn't find any squirrels, nor rattlesnake for that matter. Apparently fried rattlesnake is really good too. Oh, and so are rat brains. I'm glad we didn't find anything to hunt this time, but as they say, when in Rome, do as the Romans do.

They had a service that night, so we joined the service. It started hailing during the service. The roof of the church is made of sheet metal so we had to stop the service because hail and metal is really loud. It was a very inspiring service and the passion the natives had for Jesus was a great sight to see. After the service one of the native women gave us some delicious bread. I ate it all right away. We went back to the missionaries' house to have some coffee and were on our way afterwards.

Our next destination was down the mountain to the valley to visit Pastor Domingo who ministers in a small village. The road to the village was insane. There was really no road. We basically drove on rocks for 2 hours. It was only less than 30 miles away but took 2 hours since we could only drive so fast. At the very end of the road we had to cross a river that had rocks on it to act as a bridge. Thank God the car held up during this trip. We drove Jerry's old old Explorer with no spare tire and bad breaks. Once we got there it was midnight and the Pastor's wife made us some Mexican noodles and fresh homemade corn tortillas. Great food. The weather here was a stark contrast to the mountains. It was hot hot hot. They had a room that I tried to stay in, but could not sleep in because it was just too hot. So I slept outside on a cot with the farm animals roaming around. I think this was the first time I woke up and saw a chicken right in front of me. The roosters crowed all night long and the donkeys were not very quiet either. It was a great experience nonetheless. We are truly blessed to be able to do missionary work in Jerez and have the internet, water, electricity, and other things.

We are going to see what we can do to help these other missionaries out. We have met a lot of people in the past 2 months that are really faithful to the Lord. Pastor Domingo is ministering in a pretty rough place. They can pretty much never leave the village since they have no car and the road is very long and rough. Every morning the oldest kid (10 years old) goes out to the small river to get water and bring it back on a burro. The Pastor's wife made us a lovely breakfast of fried eggs and beans. The salsa she made was also one of the best I've had. I must learn it from her the next time we are there.

After the trip we were all very tired. This was definitely one of the most amazing and unique experiences I've ever had. I wish everyone was there with me to experience it.

For more pics, click here.

Wow

What an amazing trip. A big post is coming up very soon. We took a 2 day trip to the mountains to visit the natives that Pastor Martin ministers too. We also spent the night at Pastor Domingo's house in a village in the valley beneath the mountains. We were 20,000 ft up so I was told. The road to the village in the valley was a non existent road. I've never seen a need for an SUV until now. I cannot wait to share my adventures and my experiences. It was amazing. I don't think my pictures can do any justive to what was really out there. Stay tuned. I know I haven't been blogging very much lately. =)

B-day and Susticacan

We had a busy week last week. I won't say too much because you can follow the stories through pictures and my descriptions on my flickr.

First off, we had a fun fun birthday party for one of the little tykes that is part of a family that we help out. Baby Juanito turned 1, but looks more like a 2 year old. We had lots of kids come over to the office. I had a lot of fun taking pictures of the kids and playing with the kids. I think I was the clown for the day. I blew up balloons for them and we fed them lots of good food. A lot of these kids were from very poor families too. Some of the little girls who were no more than 4 years old ate more burritos than I did. And for those that know me, that is unbelivably amazing.

Next up, we took a very fun trip to Susticacan. We went to the campgrounds there next to the lake. It was a beautiful drive and I very much enjoyed just sitting at staring at the beautiful landscapes that God has created for us. Zacatecas is starting to remind me a lot of the beautiful changing landscapes of California. We had 51 people in total! It started raining really hard too. I don't think I have ever enjoyed rain as much I did that day. It was just fun to stand underneath the rain , close your eyes, and just enjoy the moment. The drive back was interesting too since we had 4 trucks and it was really raining. I must thank my awesome first aid kit that came with an emergency blanket that probably kept me from being sick.

Go through all the pics for the entire story.

Juanito's Birthday
Susticacan

YES!

For some reason, I have not felt like blogging lately. I am always updating my flickr though. So check my flickr here for photo updates in case the blog is stalling.

It's been a crazy busy week so I haven't time to update as well. First off, I found a PING PONG TABLE in Jerez. I love ping pong and I have been playing after church every week for 2 years. This ping pong table belongs to Pastor Martin at his rehab center. He is a pastor here in Jerez that we are going to start working with. He made that table himself. That is wood painted green. It's a bit smaller than normal too, but better than no ping pong table. I hope I can find time to go there and play ping pong.

We also started sponsoring a soccer team here. They proudly sport out Omni office logo. They are they only team I've seen so far in the league that has jerseys. I want to start practicing playing soccer. it is really fun. The kind of soccer they play is called futbol rapido, which is like arena football in a sense. Smaller field and walls so the ball can bounce around. Higher scoring and higher excitement. The team is really good too.

That is it for now. Until next time.