Summer 2002: Mexico

8/5/02: Pictures from Colonia Aleman

      

                     it...umm...broke












and all that you do, be it through word
or deed, do it in the name of Jesus the Lord,
giving thanks to God the Father through him.

8/5/02: Pictures from Planicie

8/5/02: Aleman/Planicie combined update

"oh yeah, we had a whole nest of 'em. kept coming back, too. came through a hole in the track in the shower you use...oops...guess i shouldn't have told you that..."


hello all!

yes, it's true: i did, in fact, survive Both work teams, and am now reentering a state commonly referred to as "hibernation" and/or "coma."

before i collapse into that blissful psychadelic wonderland, i thought it best to take the time to finally write another fun-filled episode of "My Summer Under INS Surveillance." apologies, but this is going to win the 'length' prize.
--
Chapter 1: Princeton Presbyterian Church

PPC arrived on Saturday July 20th. We impressed them with our sophistication by loading them into an imported American coach bus, which took them comfortably across the border. We then impressed them with our reality by swapping them into an ancient, repainted Mexican school bus of dubious functionality. The tour bus company apparently preferred not to send their handful of quality busses out into the unpaved suburbs.

Their first night marked my first experience as an actual interpreter -- the members of the church wanted to sit in on the groups devotional, and i had to translate directly. only had to lapse into "creative translation" some of...err...most of the time. ironically the message was on God's strength being manifested in our weakness.

Shortly afterward the water pipe feeding the boy's bathroom burst, just so that i could go on claiming that over half the places i've lived in have lacked running water. yeah bucket-flush.

Day 2 dawned on 24 mosquito bites, Church, and the installation service for their new pastor. otherwise uneventful.

Physical labor began on Day 3 -- as every pick-axe, shovel and wrecking bar available was deployed in ground that did technically contain some dirt, but only because God didn't scale down the pebbles quite enough to fit into some of the spaces between the rocks. We were working on digging the foundation for a fence around a kindergarten -- in the hopes that it would be completed during the year, so that later teams could build them a playground. Apparently playgrounds without a fence have an operational lifetime measurable in weeks -- what isn't chewed up by graffiti and carvings tends to collapse in the occasional game of "pouring gasoline on things and watching them burn really really fast." Ahh, fun-filled Tijuana.

Mosquito bite count held steady at 63 (yes, i Did count, as it helped me to target my ration of the team's anti-itch cream) and the plumbing to the boys bathroom was repaired.

the bathroom promptly clogged and went offline.

Day 4 proved the power of RAID, as total bites levelled off and began dropping (they usually only last a few days). We got the afternoon off and played tourist in downtown Tijuana.

bathroom clog was repaired; septic tank filled and became unusable.

Day 5 gets an actual story -
Some of the local boys came out to the evening soccer game with a baby bird they had found somewhere. it was one of those Really disturbing moments in life, where you get to look at a young animal and Know it will die. not only did it appear too young to fly or even feed itself, but their abuse of it had damaged its tail feathers. some of the girls in our group, not really expecting to be able to do anything with it, but at least trying to reduce its use as a playtoy, had me get permission for them to take it (which was done by asking the local girls, who thought it was a great idea and broached the subject by kicking the boys. Ahh, fun-filled Tijuana). anyway, the first attempt to give it an escape failed (putting it on top of an apparently-climbable fence), so we decided to move it up to the church. on the way over (a rather subdued walk, let me tell you) it gave the girl carrying it a shove, leapt out of her hand and took off.

ok, that was surprising enough -- this was a LITTLE bird. but what really got us was where it landed -- in a faulty septic tank drainfield, meaning the only greenery for miles around -- shade, hiding places from neighborhood boys, and food. i kept thinking of God's promises -- that if his grace is sufficient for the smallest sparrow, what have we to fear? (Mt 10/Lk 12) it's hard to describe, but those who saw the tattered little thing considered the whole situation quite miraculous.

that and the boys bathroom was finally brought online. a good day, overall.

The soccer game on Day 6 got the other shoe -- or rather, ankle. Beau misstepped and twisted his foot something awful. we did what first aid we could, then half-carried half-hopped him up to the church, tossed him into the church van, and began the festivities known as the Mexican medical system.

8:55ish -- arrive at hospital for x-rays, redirected to cash register. stand in line.
9:00 -- pre-pay for x-rays. in cash.
9:05 -- ankle x-rayed; radiographer offended when asked if he speaks english. of course he does.
9:10 -- sent back to cash register to pay for someone to read x-ray
9:20 -- doctor offended when asked if he speaks english. of course he doesn't. john attempts translation of 2-minute stream of high-speed medical jargon. doctor does not repeat. luckily pastor of mexican church understands, promises to explain later.
9:25 -- sent back to cash register to pay for treatment.
9:30 -- sent to local pharmacies to find someone who carries materials to build a cast, as the hospital pharmacy has run out and not bothered to restock. what do we look like, a hospital?
9:45 -- cast (actually removable plaster splint) applied.
10:00 -- pharmacy found to also be out of crutches. local stores already closed for the night. beau gets to use shoulders until next morning.

total price? $83. what mexico lacks in supplies, care and compassion, it certainly makes up for in economy.

Day 7 -- end of week fiesta, the women from the school (including one who had made her lack of a need to ever set foot in religious buildings eminently clear) all came over to the church to cook a thank-you barbecue. the church members end up witnessing to them; some express interest in coming back for future bible studies. many hugs, little sleep.

week declared a success.

---

Chapter 2: Edgemont PCA (Tennessee)

Picking up this group involved a healthy 8 hour wait at the airport -- their flight was cancelled. We eventually wandered to a little park on the waterfront, which made for good walking -- heading north offered a view of playing children and sailboats, walking south offered a view of one of San Diego's THREE carrier battle groups currently stationed for refueling and whatnot. those suckers are...umm...huge.

anyway, we eventually collected the team and portaged them down to their worksite -- working on building a basketball court for a middle-class church.

they made for a quieter week -- 7 people instead of 23; meaning lots of sleep for me. that and the fact that their facilities included working bathrooms (!) and lacked mosquitoes.

food was wonderful, too -- from chicken tamales to carne asada (barbecued beef). i have somehow managed to Gain weight while working my tail off. ahh well. there's always Montezuma's Revenge for the ultimate instant weight loss plan (though i'm hopefully home free by now -- 6 weeks of exposure to Mexican "water" and no major problems yet).

posted some pictures of pouring concrete for the court; not much to say about that. pour, mix, pour, level...repeat as necessary.

the other project that week was hosting a Vacation Bible School; or, rather, helping one of the local girls run it. she turned out to be the best natural teacher i have ever seen -- managing to maintain the interest of, and control, a group of 30-40 hyperactive mexican children -- without once raising her voice or looking in the least bit flustered. all we had to do was hold up song sheets and hand out crayons -- which she chose to limit to only one box for every two children, as "they need to learn to share" -- which they then DID. the bitter ending, though, is that she'll probably never be a teacher -- there are 250+ people in line for 30 positions in the school where she lives, and she doesn't want to move or wait -- so she works the night shift in the factory and attends college for a communications degree.

that does segue nicely into a tangent (she was quite a bit younger than me and had a fiancee) -- the infamous Mexican intern marriage conversation: "nope, no children.....no, i'm actually still single.....20.....no, no girlfriend, either.....uhh, i dunno; maybe 25 or 26 or so.....yeah, that's pretty normal in the US.....you were married WHEN? 17?!?!.....eep.....yes, i have met the girls in your youth group. and that's not funny.....no, really, it's not.....stop laughing.....you're still laughing......why are you laughing?!?!?!......" repeat daily.

[pause in writing to listen to announcement truck driving past...nope, nothing important -- just selling Tamales]

overall, a fun week, and the Mexican church was thrilled both with the physical results and with the time they had to bond with the American volunteers.

-----

Chapter 3: Back Home

got back on Saturday, then took the city bus Back to the Edgemont worksite on Sunday, to be present for the VBS closing ceremony. yeah city bus (Playas 1, 4.50 pesos).

Saturday night we went down to Enseñada for a baptism/communion service (which are rare in mexico, as there are not many ordained pastors). upon arrival i was adopted by Yeseña, a 9-yr-old who came out of nowhere and introduced herself. turned out to be a chatterbox/hyperactive (but extremely intelligent) kid who had wandered into the church about two years earlier, on her own, and decided she liked it -- so she had been coming for two years, without her parents, to hang out. she insisted on knowing everything that went on -- what communion was, why they celebrated it, where i'd come from, how to read music, how to say things in english, etc etc etc. i basically missed the service.

what got me, though, was that this girl had been a chatterbox bundle of curiousity for two years without ever having anyone explain anything -- ie, nobody had adopted her. so i ended the night by hunting down both the teenagers and the pastor and making my gringo opinions known. at the time i was leaving the pastor was talking to her about finding her a ride to come to their Vacation Bible School the following week. gave hope.

that's all for old news. the next three weeks will be spent around Las Playas, helping Gary plan for next year and Francisco plan for his church plant. then i go home for a day, then it's off to school for RA training. hi mom... :-/

entertainment will largely consist of watching the Canonization of Juan Diego. a product of a fairy tale (scholars are virtually unanimous on that point -- there is exactly Zero evidence that anyone had ever heard of him before a Monk told a story 100 years after his supposed death) that earlier resulted in the conversion of an Indian goddess into the Virgin of Guadalupe, he will soon, in response to popular demand, become a Saint. this is roughly the equivalent of the Catholic church claiming Uncle Sam was both a real person and could now answer prayers. secular news agencies are rolling on the floor, protestants are rolling their eyes and Catholics are dancing on the street -- well, except for the Bishop who tried to remind people that the whole thing was only a story and the infallible See in Rome was making a terrible mistake -- he almost lost his post.

on that note, this is gonna be my last mass update -- i'll keep going back and forth with everyone who has/will email(ed) me -- but the rest of you are getting cut off. ;-) whatev. i'll see you all in the fall.

anyone who feels like praying -- discipline/obedience, as always, is a failing. other than that, prayers of gratitude for grace are recommended -- not for me, but in general. one of the advantages of getting out and Doing things is that God's constant presence becomes eminently obvious even to jaded skeptics like me. he's there, he's working, he's Good. thank him for it.

that is all.

-j

7/15/02:

training Vacation Bible School teachers in Ensenada.

7/10/02:

well...been a while, though deceptively little has happened.

i'm halfway through the easy middle of the summer -- with no work teams in town, my responsibilities are minimal.

so i've been doing what i do best: sit on the couch and read. i'm averaging about 2-300 pages a day, and have just about exhausted Gary's stash of books that are both interesting and relatively simple: ie, basic stuff on the life of a Christian, creation/evolution literature and stories/advice from missionaries.

which means i'm back to John Calvin -- cracked open the Institutes again; still only about a sixth of the way through, maybe less. it's slow going, but surprisingly interesting. contrary to popular belief, he was a remarkably warm fellow, and much of the work has the feel of a practical guide to the Bible, rather than the Aquinas-like systematic theology i was expecting.

Gary's comment was that most people pick up a poor translation, read a chapter and give up. importance of good translation rears its ugly head once again.

when not installing permanent bottom prints on the Nantt family couch, i've generally been tooling around town with Gary. we've crossed the border twice; once computer shopping and once to purchase a very manly array of tools for the princeton work team: 2 narrow shovels, 6 full shovels, a concrete tamper, a post-hole digger, 2 five-foot rock picks and 2 pickaxes. add those to the sledgehammers and other equipment down here and testosterone runs high. all we need now is some beef.

we also intermittently stop in on pastor's meetings and the like, i generally just plant myself in a corner and "listen."

Friday is graduation for the tijuana seminary -- three students. one of them, Francisco Cordero, is being assigned to the neighboorhood i'm living in, to attempt to plant an upper-middle-class church from scratch. since i got caught on the couch one too many times, i'll be helping him with anything he needs.

in the short term, that means spending tomorrow with him on a walking tour of the entire district (lots and lots of miles), praying and otherwise preparing to start the ministry. 30% chance of blisters forecast, possibly turning to cramps towards midnight. expect advil in the morning.

in the long term, that probably means footwork on preparing a meeting place and reaching out to interested community members. my phobia/dislike for door-to-door work just might get tested; hopefully not, but i can't image how else they plan on starting things off. we'll see.

July 4th was interesting; we walked down to the ocean and watched the fireworks over San Diego. somehow the whole scene was eerie: sitting on a grubby mexican bench on a grubby mexican beach in the shadow of a menacing Berlin-esque wall with heavily armed Border Patrol guards and watching distant yuppies using tens of thousands of dollars to make pretty sparks. it was one of my less patriotic moments.

in other news, russ hightower (youth pastor at my church) proposed to amanda alcantara (youth staffer at my church).

and that's about all. gradually growing comfortable down here; Gary turned out to be quite a mischievous tease and punster. one of these days i might even be fast enough to return fire more than once every fifth shot. but probably not. and Carol's a very good cook, though she begins to despair of ever being able to make more food than my stomache will hold.

July 20 through early August will be spent onsite with work teams from Princeton Pres and Tennessee; i'll be largely out of contact during that time. i'll post a big ol' update with some pictures when i get back. if you're lucky, and i have something worth saying (both doubtful) i may even write something before i leave. actually, that's reasonably likely -- when the only things to do around the house are read and wash socks, writing letters to friends becomes very tempting.

prayers for growing up would be appreciated as always; this summer's been good for me, but i have a long way to go.

7/1/02:

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