Mexico: New Experiences

A lot has been happening in the past few days. There are several groups of American visitors because this weekend four people are getting baptized. Two elders and their wives are down from the States and the visitors of Grant and Hannah and myself.  So far I have been able to get by mostly with English.

But on Friday I went to the school to observe the English classes and the students were talking to me in Spanish very rapidly.  It was so neat to meet the children but I couldn't always understand which was hard.  In the first class I observed the children would come up to me and ask questions or bring me a picture they colored.  In the second grade classroom one of the girls was hanging around me for a few minutes.  She looks at me and says in English, "I love you, teacher."  If that doesn't melt your heart, what does?

After I observed a few classes there was a break and we played some games with hula hoops.  The children love getting their picture taken!  (I bet I could guess what you're thinking, Leah and Miriam :D)  These children are from random grades and this is only a fraction of the students at the school.  It's been fun because two different times when I've been out and about in Ixtlan a student will see me and say hello.

On Friday I went on a walk with a woman from the Ixtlan church and she only speaks Spanish so it was good practice.  I'm still not sure how much of the conversation I understood.  But it was nice to just be with her, see where she lives, and take in some different sights of Ixtlan.

Grant and Hannah's little girl, Ivory, is my play buddy.  We have a lot of fun together.  Since I haven't had a bunch of duties this week, I've been visiting Ivory when there is nothing on my plate.  Well, I can always study more Spanish! But little girls with adorable grins are just too hard to pass up.

The goat man and his goats making their daily trip down the road, right past the compound.

Today I went for a walk with some of the other Americans.  We went on a street with these colorful banners.  There are actually two streets that I have seen so far like this.  It makes it feel like a celebration of sorts which makes me happy.

Tonight at the baptisms it was really neat to hear the testimonies of four people ranging from ~75 to ~24 years old.  There was a group of us Americans that sat together by a translator so we got to understand most of the testimonies.  Later when I was talking with one of the American visitors she pointed out that even though the Mexican and American cultures are so different, many of the spiritual struggles can be very similar.  Likewise, our bond in Christ closes the gap of culture and language.

So tomorrow there will hopefully be baptisms and then on Monday a 'routine' will begin.  Hope everybody has a great week!!!