Mexico: Leaving and Arriving

"Go in peace." II Kings 5:19.

About a week before I left for Mexico, I began to wonder if I was doing the right thing.  It's not uncommon for me to doubt that I'm following God and wonder if I'm really doing His will.  I wasn't doubting leaving like I have doubted some other things in my life, but I was still not holding on to the perfect peace of God.

Then Monday or Tuesday morning when I opened the Bible, the first words I saw were from the verse in II Kings 5:19.  What choice did I have?  What more could I ask for?

This doesn't mean I didn't cry when I said goodbye to my family.  On Tuesday just the thought of saying goodbye brought tears to my eyes.  After I said goodbye at the gate to my Mom on Wednesday, it was hard to get on a plane all by myself and go somewhere I had never been.  But it was also nice to have that reassurance that this is God's will.

The traveling experience went quite smooth.  I had two 2 hour flights broken up by an 1.5 hour layover in Houston.  There were some pretty sights on the Houston-Guadalajara flight.

Not sure which mountains those are but they were beautiful!

Grant and Hannah Herrmann picked me up in Guadalajara and they took me along with Ben and Hannah Herrmann, some friends from the States that had flown in an hour or two before me, to Chile's for lunch.  Two hours later we went back to the airport to pick up Mike and Deb Leman.  Then we got in the van and bumpety-bumped our way to Ixtlan.  While it was still light out the drive was fine and I enjoyed the sights.  But once it got dark I started feeling sick and was very glad to arrive at the compound.  Jan had fixed some delicious stew we ate for supper.  After a full belly and a big day of travel, I was ready to hit the hay.

I slept great but at 4:30 I woke up briefly, did the same thing at 5:30, then was up for real around 6:45.  Jan assured me that since it was my first day we would take things easy.  While I was unpacking my suitcase the children started coming to school and at 8:00 they all stood outside and had opening.  It just melted my heart to see them laughing and playing.  Several times throughout the day they have a break and the happy sounds fill the air.  I love it!

Around 10 we went to the market which is just a few blocks straight down the road.  It was an experience to go in and out of the small stores and say hello to most people we passed.  I learned that they use the term 'adios' for hello when saying it in passing. Hmmm, why did I even try to learn Spanish? :D

Later today Jan showed me around several buildings on the compound and filled me in on a few things. Here are some pictures of the compound...

The main area of Marshall and Jan's home where I am staying.  The door to the left leads to the two bedrooms and bathroom and the door to the right leads to an office.  Straight out the window is the school.

My bedroom.  This would have been the window I saw the kids from this morning.

The view from the bedroom window on the left side of my bed. The building is the church.

The next picture was taken while I was standing at the door hiding behind the tree in the above picture.  It is of Grant and Hannah's home and Marshall and Jan's is only a few yards to the left of it.  Tonight I went there after church (midweek services are on Thursday and begin at 5).  Here the big meal is lunch and supper is usually more like a snack.  So around 8:30 they made delicious quesadillas and got some enchiladas from a stand or restaurant in the plaza.  They have company here this first week but kindly invited me in to play games and hangout anyway.

The courtyard at the church.  This is kind of the congregating area before church begins.

                                     

I tried taking a video but it had a hard time downloading.  Right now I am using my dad's old computer from work that I have affectionately named T-Rex due to it's largeness and ancientness.  Hey, it was not cost so I'm not complaining!  But pictures do take a while to download so there will be few.

Hopefully this makes you feel a little closer, Mom.

This is all for now.  Dios te bendiga! (God bless you.)