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.