it's a small world

Dad & Mom W. and Seth & Addie arrived on Saturday for a week. Here's a reflection from Mom on their first few days! 

"It's a Small World": this is a song I remember learning in elementary school - and my family used to sing in rounds in our station wagon on road trips. It came to mind as I thought about our time here with Grant and Hannah - and certainly has more meaning to me now than it did then...

It's a world of laughter, a world of tears -
Well we've had lots of laughs as well as tears being around Ivory and Titus for a few days.  We've enjoyed just spending some daily life here, trimming trees, doing some cleaning and sewing, having a little birthday party for Ivory, taking a bike ride out on the back roads to see what crops are growing, and going to the plaza, the park, and the Guadalajara zoo.

It's a world of hopes and a world of fears -
It is always very touching to me to sit in Ixtlan church and hear familiar hymns sung in a different language - and especially watching/listening to the children stand in front of church and sing the children's songs.  Even though I don't know the language, the tunes and actions are so familiar - and so good to hear from the children that God's love is everywhere.  We were reminded in the morning service about being attached to the vine of Christ and bearing fruit for Him.  In the afternoon we read Psalm 139 about God knowing all about us - He knows our hearts and our thoughts and where we are - and we can't hide anything from Him. Thankful for the believers here - both young and old - and the hope we share in Christ.

There's so much that we share that it's time we're aware, it's a small world after all -
I think when I'm in Mexico, I realize how American I really am - but despite the different cultures - we share similar needs - the main ones being food and shelter. There are a lot of beautiful red strawberries right now!  We took a walk to get some strawberries from a lady from church that she had just picked that morning.  She handed us a 3 gallon bucket full that were quite tasty.  Hannah said that Hermila wouldn't want us to pay her for the berries, so she took her some soup in exchange.  Our bucket of berries was quite a bit emptier by the time we got home. As we walked, Addie pointed out how colorful Mexican homes are in comparison to our rather neutral colored homes in the states. Purple, pink, yellow, orange, lime green, etc... paint the homes here, which in many cases double as a family store where we purchased things like flour, eggs, etc...  Loved having those fresh strawberries on waffles for breakfast the next morning.  While we have a lot of noise in the U.S. also, I'm always amazed at how noisy it is here since windows and doors are open most of the time, animals (crowing roosters, bleating goats, barking dogs) live in the middle of town, and there seem to be a lot of especially loud motorcycles.

There is just one moon and one golden sun -
The other evening on a walk home from the plaza for quesadillas, we were pointing out the moon to Ivory.  Addie mentioned how Leah, back home, is seeing the same moon we are - that brought her just a little closer - as we are all missing her since the rest of us are here.  (Love you Leah!) I think my favorite part about being here right now though is the amazing warm weather - the 80 degree days have been beautiful - especially when we hear it's been in the 30s at home!  That one golden sun is truly powerful -  us fair skinned Americans are a tad sunburned.

And a smile means friendship to everyone -
Well, yes I wish I knew more Spanish - but since I don't, I have been doing a lot of smiling.  Once again, I appreciate the slower pace of life here - many people walking to the market, or sitting outside selling something, or just sitting along the road outside their house, watching what's happening.  In church I always wish I could communicate better with the people here, but... thankful for smiles and greetings and hugs and handshakes... that fill in for the missing language.  I also always get a smile when the local goat herder brings his herd of goats right past Grant and Hannah's house on his way to find some green pastures.

Though the mountains divide and the oceans are wide -
The area around Ixtlan seems sort of mountainous to us coming from flat central Illinois, but it  is what Hannah says they call "the hills."  Streets and roads around here can be fairly steep, but what we notice the most is that we are very spoiled in the states with nice roads.  And.... thankful we don't have to cross oceans to get here... only a 4 hour non-stop plane trip.

It's  a small world after all -
On our plane here, we met a Mexican man who lived in Indiana and was traveling home to Mexico to be with his family for a couple months.  He actually lived near South Bend, IN, and yes he knew someone from our church there.