Phil in Japan

Mexico was an amazing experience.

I will be heading out to Japan now, so continue my journey at philshen.com

La Banda

I've been hanging out with Sam and Josh lately and we've been having a blast. When I was here for my first 3.5 months, they were back in the states so we didn't get to hang very much. They are MK's (missonary kids).

Our most recent adventures have included jamming. We've been jamming all week and practicing. Our first performance is probably going to be at the Coffee House Night that we are going to have at the office.

The coolest part is we've been attracting a lot more people to the office because of our loud music. We finally brought the drum set from the house and there is a not a single car that drives by or a person that walks by that doesn't stop to see what we're doing. Yesterday a bunch of girls came in and started taking pictures of us. I guess it doesn't hurt that we are also 3 foreigners.

I have also started working out regularly with Joseph who is really cut. We will see what results come of this. The gym is very nice and it is only 10 pesos each time.

Back

I am back in Mexico! Chris and Nancy came back to Jerez with me for a week and we were able to make it here for Independence Day. It was a crazy people filled night. I have never seen Jerez that packed before. It was a lot of fun having them here. So far I have been just settling in and getting back into the groove of things. Honestly, it feels like I never left. I had been battling in my head whether or not I should come back, but in the end I feel like I had to come back and give it another shot and finish what I started. I hope that this is where God wants me to be and do work, but if not, at least I gave it another go at it.

Visiting

It's been a while and I know it. What's been going on?

I am back in Los Angeles visiting friends and family. I am planning on heading back to Jerez in a month or so. I am definitely missing Jerez, but I definitely needed this time to think about what I want to do and to make sure I am listening to what God wants me to do.

To be continued . . .

Grads, Class, Trips

Sorry. I guess it was inevitable that I would post less and less huh?

Some quick updates. Lots of graduations the past month. Mical, Jerry's wife, graduated from high school. Luceralba graduated from Middle school. And Rulis graduated from elementary school. The only thing missed out on was a college graduation. They were all fun but very long. Each of them were very elaborate with lots of performances and such.

We also went to Tepatitlan and Guadalajara over the weekend to get a visa for Mical. We visited Luis (whom I met from the Harvest church) and his Aunts. They make really good food. He has 9 aunts and the 3 that we've met are super nice. It was fun visiting my first big city in Mexico. Felt like home more than anywhere else, which I don't know if I like. Although we did have KOREAN food. It was really good. Fun trip overall and good to spend more time with Luis who I feel like I've known forever.

I've alsot started teaching English classes. They are going well. Chris bought me some nice materials. I think I have the most fun in English class. Ok that was a quick update that I made in between classes. I have English class in 10 min.

We are also going up to the mountains again this weekend for one of the natives' wedding. That should be good fun. Also went to another quince. Check out pics here.

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.

Beauty

There is so much beauty in this world. When I see a beautiful landscape, I always try and capture it with my camera. It never really does come out the way I see it. I don't think pictures can do the beauty of God's creation justice. It doesn't mean that I won't try and show people a fraction of the beauty that I saw in person.

I love rays of light and I love seeing them shine through. Everytime I see a beautiful landscape, it reminds me of God and his creations. It's hard to not believe in God when you see something so beautiful. How can something like this be by chance or random luck. I think I can stare at his wonders forever.

More Ramblings

Everything you eat here in Mexico has to have some sort of salsa on it. Even if it is a hamburger or a hot dog.

Tuna salad on crackers with some salsa is amazingly good.

For some reason the only thing I am craving from home is Tito's Tacos.

Teaching guitar is hard when you don't have the fundamentals down yourself.

Teaching guitar is even harder when you can't fully express yourself in a foreign language.

Here's to the cuñado's of the world! Your plight is the same no matter where you are in the world; especially when your wife has a younger brother.

Here's to my cuñado, without whom I think my life would be very different.

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We had another Youth Night yesterday. It was fun. Jerry and I came up with some fun games and used some games we've played in the past. A lot of youth that didn't come to the movie night came tonight. Check out the pics on my flickr here.

On Monday we went to Zacatecas with Mical and her friends for her birthday. We watched Spider Man 3. The theater in Zacatecas is really nice. I actually very much enjoyed the movie. Definitely more so than I thought I would considering the feedback I have gotten from the movie.

I have started teaching guitar classes this week. I have 2 students. I also have a new computer student. My Tuesdays and Thursdays are now going to be packed with classes.

Check out this video of us passing out food here.

I feel like I have a lot more to say, but I just haven't processed what it is I want to say yet.

Photography

On Friday we had an awesome Youth Night. We watched another movie. This time we watch a Jackie Chan movie called Little Thief. Afterwards we played 3 games as well. We had a good turnout and everyone seemed to have a lot of fun. Youth Nights are going to be awesome and I can't wait for the future ones.

For pics of the Youth Night, click here.

Yesterday I also went to my first quinceñera. It was a friend of Gabriel's. It was really fun. It's pretty much a wedding without a groom. I will upload pics from the quinceñera soon. I was thinking to make some money for the mission, I could photograph quinceñeras here.

I definitely have enjoyed eating the food here in Jerez. This is a pic of Jerry's favorite quesadilla stand. They had great tacos too. Today we also went to the seafood restaurant that I've been waiting to go to forever. It was amazing. I had a fish and shrimp combo that was fried and garlic flavored. I have to make sure I know where everything is so when people come and visit I can take them to the best spots.

Not much to say lately. I think I've settled in alright and feel fairly comfortable here. The Spanish is improving. I think it's still a bit too early to tell how things are going on my journey. It's been up and down sometimes. But I just have to be patient and see what God has in store for me.

Sing

Nothing much to report lately.

We've opened up the Boba shop the past 2 days. We still think this is the only Boba shop in Mexico or at least one of the very few. Business has been slow since the store has been closed for so long, so people don't know we are open again. The purpose of the store is to gain income for the mission.

Jerry and I sang for Mother's day at the Ermita church. It was a Spanish song called Espérame. It's actually a lot harder to sing in Spanish than in English. It's not so much the pronounication that is difficult, but the intonations and how the words flow. I learned the song pretty much a couple of hours before the service so I was a bit nervous. It's also a lot more tiring to sing here in Jerez. I run out of breath really quickly because of the thin air. I think if i were to lead worship here, I'd only be able to sing about 3 songs.

Madre

Yesterday was Mother's day here in Mexico. We went to Mical's ranch to eat dinner and watch the fiesta. Jerry marinated some chicken and some steak. The chicken was amazing! Everything was bbq'ed with real wood and charcoal. I think they cut down the wood from the backyard. You can totally taste the difference.

Mical's mom also requested boba milk tea from Jerry so he made 5 gallons of milk tea. Everyone loves Jerry's boba milk tea here. I think we were the only family in Mexico drinking boba milk tea on the Dia de Las Madres. it was all gone real quick too.

The fiesta was awesome. There were a lot of performances from the children of the Cargadero ranch. Sunni and Rodrigo (Mical's siblings performed some dancing. It was a fun day. I really love spending time at the ranch. It is so relaxing and so homely. You cannot beat that feeling.

Yesterday, I saw one of the most odd things I have ever seen. I went outside of the office to catch some light and to stretch and all of a sudden I saw many goats, sheep, dogs, and cows just strolling along down the street. I ran and grabbed my camera and got a couple of shots.

Tonight we are celebrating Mother's Day at the Ermita church. I also made some business cards today for the office.

Ermita

I got a sim card and some minutes set up so I can use my cell phone down here. It is mostly for receiving calls and not for calling out since it's not that cheap. Text messaging is the way to go.

I originally wanted to buy a bike so I could get around town more efficiently. The ministry office actually had a bike already, but it didn't have any brakes and it was stuck in a high gear which made me have to pedal a lot more than I would like to. We took it to a bike shop and they fixed everything for only 10 bucks. Now it's like a brand new bike! It's a lot easier than driving since I don't have to park and you can only really go about 10 MPH anyways since there are speed bumps everywhere in Jerez. On bike, It only takes me about 10 minutes to get to Centro from mi casa. It's also fun and good exercise and I get to experience the city more. I'm definitely getting more and more comfortable getting around town now. At first, it's quite daunting since there are pretty much no street names and a lot of small one way streets.

We had a wonderful youth service on Saturday Night at the church in the Ermite. I played guitar during worship. Jerry was on the keyboards and Lucerlaba sang. It was a very powerful service. Juan gave a message that was specifically targeted towards the youth. Afterwards, he invited people to come forward so we could pray for them. Many people came forward. Lots of people were crying. It always makes me very emotional to experience moments like these. You can really feel God's presence.

Jerry plays in a basketball league here and I will be joining his team. The team had a game yesterday so I went to go play with them. It was a very close game that we lost in overtime by 1. I heaved a halfcourt shot with 0.8 seconds left in overtime that was way short. It was fun to play competitive basketball again. The last time I played competitive basketball was when I played in a community league in high school. The air is thin here since we are in a mountainous region and I am way out of shape since I really haven't exercised much since I hurt my achilles tendon. That means I could only play for about 5 minutes before I got really really tired. I'm still a bit scared to do anything physical for fear of hurting my leg again. It's totally psychological but hard to get over. I've played more basketball in the past 3 days than I have in a year.

Tomorrow I will be teaching my first computer class. I feel good. I'm getting exercise and I am eating much better than I did back home thanks to the fresh juice I have been drinking everyday since I got here.

Real

It's Cinco de Mayo. I thought it would be a big deal here. But apparently it's only a big deal in certain places in Mexico. I think it's a bigger deal back home in LA. Oh, well. Regardless, we are going to have an awesome youth service tonight. We went around visiting families and inviting them to the service, so hopefully we will get a big turnout. Juan will be speaking and Jerry and I are going to lead worship with Luceralba.

We also had some amazing shaved ice yesterday. About twice a week we go to Mical's (Jerry's wife) parents ranch for dinner. I love the vibe there. It is totally a small town ranch feel. Very homely. Right down the street they have a shaved ice stand. It is REAL shaved ice. There is a guy with a block of ice shaving it. No machine! The flavors were awesome. I had rompope (which is a leche kind of flavor) and vanilla. It was only about 35 cents. They put a block of the shaved ice in a cup and pour the syrup right on. Simple yet delicious.

There are a lot of stray dogs in Jerez. It always makes me sad to see stray dogs. I'm especially afraid they are going to get hit by a car. Which makes me start thinking about how the dogs in America are treated way better than humans in other parts of the world. They get food, shelter, and even massages in some cases. I've seen a lot of nice dogs that would be very expensive in the US. I saw a German Shepard, a Chow Chow, many Chihuahuas, and a black Lab. There are also a lot of mutts. I see a lot of Daschund looking dogs (really short legs and long body, always makes me laugh - not in a mean way) that do not remotely look like a Daschund. I guess the Daschunds here get a lot of action. They are all really cute and I want to go up and pet them but usually do not for fear of diseases.

Please help us pray for the families we've been visiting. We visited Flor and Perlita's house and are going to see if we can get them a better place or help them remodel. We also visited a lady that is almost completeley blind. We are going to see if we can get her some medical care. It's been really tough to see all these people in need. You want to do your best to help them out.

Learns

Ferretaria is not a place that sells ferrets. For a moment I thought, wow, that is a lot of places that sell ferrets. Ferretaria is actually a hardware store.

People in Mexico are really nice. We've been going to a great fresh juice place and we want it iced. So the owner goes and buys ice for us everytime we go. Today I had a mango, strawberry, carrot, and a hint of honey concoction.

I hope I can learn Spanish. In the 2 weeks I've been in Mexico, I think I've made ok progress. We will see where I am at in 2 months. Learning Spanish is helping me remember English grammar again. I just know how to say and write things in English. I totally have forgotten why things work the way they work.

Amazed

Wow, what a day. I don't even know where to begin. Today I set up the Mac Lab so we now have 5 macs all connected to the internet. I will start teaching computer classes next week. Juan will be translating for me until I get good enough to teach computers in Spanish on my own. I am excited and I really hope the kids enjoy the classes. We will be offering classes covering everything from video editing to word processing. Thanks to all who made the Mac Lab happen. We are always looking for more donations too. Wink, wink.

Today we also passed out food. Every 2 weeks we pass out food to about 10 familes. The food bags consist of tomatoes, potatoes, beans, meats, and other essentials. We also help support some familes with rent as well. Some of these familes really needed help. The family pictured didn't even have enough money for gas so they couldn't cook. We covered their gas bill as well.

It is amazing what 20 dollars can do for some of these familes. Rent for one family was 23 dollars a month. That is a meal for me back home. One meal is rent for a month! It makes you think doesn't it? 20 dollars can also buy lots of food for these familes. If you want to help support some of these familes, please visit the Mission in Mexico website and contact us.

We are having a movie night tonight for the youth at the office!
My lunch today cost me $1.30. Amazing.

Miracle

I guess one of the cool things about doing mission work is just talking and meeting as many people as you can. This guy is the owner of a restaurant in Camargo we ate at (great steaks) and he was really friendly and nice to us. We spoke to him for a while. It turns out his parents live in Zacatecas.

Juan tried to minister to him and his testimony usually involves how he got shot and survived. It didn't work as well this time since the man had gotten shot 18 times and survived. He showed us his scars and said that he will be in the Guinness Book of World Records next year for most gun shots survived. What a miracle. Thank God or else I wouldn't have been able to eat that awesome food. I love how restaurant owners always tell us if we don't like the food, its free. So far everytime they say that, the food is awesome.

The girls that worked in the restaurant also wanted to take pics with me and Jerry. Ths is going to be a common occurrence Jerry says in Jerez since we're Asian. This is true since the last couple of times I went to Jerez, a lot of girls wanted to take pics with Bert and Fred. Hopefully we'll meet up with the restaurant owner again someday. He is a living miracle and even said to us that if we ever don't have any money, his restaurant is our home too! We've met some amazing people on this journey.