thoughts and things that I did

Some of my thoughts and things that I did from my week in Mexico:

First, we arrived in Ixtlan about midnight Friday night. On Sat. night, we had Grupo de Jovenes. On Sun., we went to church, and at 5:00, we had a singing. After that, Grant and Hannah had a fire, invited some people over, and we had s'mores. We also went to Uruapan National Park, which is 2 hours' drive from Ixtlan, and ate at a Mexican Restaurant afterwards. On Tues., I went over to the school during their recess and helped Grant and Hannah some by cleaning concrete off of their doors and window frames. Then I went with Grant to take Roberto home and we visited his grandma, his mom, and siblings. On Wed., I went to the school again and did P.E. with them as well as recess. That afternoon, G.&H. and a few of us went to Zamora to do a Bible Study with some young adults. A couple evenings, I played with the kids who were at the school for classes later in the day. Also, on Tues., some children from the church came since their mothers were in a Bible Study. On Thurs., I spent a lot of time at the school. One new experience I had was trying to type with a Spanish keyboard. A while after school, I ate lunch with Marshall & Jan. Tonight, we had church, and after that, we went to Matt & Ruth's for a while.

Some of the things that I tried this week were some exotic fruits from the market. For example, mispero or vispero and guanabana or chilimoya are some of what I tried.  Also, I tried raw sugar cane for the first time. It wasn't as sweet as you might expect. I even tried applesauce from a can for the first time. In addition, it was nice to see and spend time with Ivory since I haven't seen her very much. I enjoyed interacting with the children and meeting new and former acquaintances from the church, Ixtlan, and the surrounding communities. Coming down to Mexico for a week shows you how difficult it is to learn another language because it was difficult for me to understand and speak it, which was kind of discouraging but is the reality of it. It was especially hard to understand the children. I can read a lot more Spanish than I can speak. The part that I enjoyed the most was interacting and playing with the kids in a Spanish-speaking country and practicing my Spanish. I also enjoyed experiencing new things, namely, new foods. I definitely look forward to the time when I can return to Ixtlan. The Mexican people hold a special place in my heart.

Greg