Punctured Tires

Tuesday morning I got up to enjoy a delicious breakfast of oatmeal with cinnamon and crepes with strawberry marmalade that Leslie’s mother made. Leslie and I later went to their old house in Chapala to pick up some gifts for my mom and sister. While we were driving over to the other neighborhood, suddenly my car ran over something and made a terrible horrendous noise, but because my tire did not go flat, I assumed it was OK.

After we went back to Leslie’s house in Lerdo, I packed up everything and said my final goodbyes to all the family (lots of extended family was there eating at the restaurant). I loaded into my faithful old car and headed out on the Boulevard Miguel Aleman. Thousands and thousands of people were lining the boulevard at that hour for a huge parade that was soon to began. I had a vision in which all those people were anxiously awaiting the Messiah instead of the parade. I long to see the day in which metropolises like the Laguna will in unity seek the coming of our Savior.

I continued on to Torreon to meet Brother Ernesto Lomas (a friend of my grandfather’s since the 1940’s). We met and went to get gasoline, and while I was filling up, he started checking my fluids and tires. One tire was 15 lbs. low, so we inspected the rubber. To our surprise there was a huge piece of metal sticking out of the tire! I praise God he showed us that before we set out for the endless deserts of northern Mexico. Although almost everything in the city was closed for the holiday, we found a small tire shop that was open. The quiet old man repaired my tire for $8, and Ernesto and I set out on the road only 1 hour later than we had planned.

More adventures to come… and hopefully some pictures.

In a Small Town

Thank all of you guys who were praying for my preaching last night. I was feeling a little out of place to be back in the pulpit, but the Spirit gave me the words and the fluency I needed. Many people expressed that they were edified and encouraged, and I praise God for glorifying his name through me.

I gotta go meet Leslie now. She gets off of work in a few minutes.

Finally in Mexico

Well, I finally made it to Mexico. I drove down in to the border on Friday, but I had to return all the way back to Coleman because at the Mexican immigration chech they demanded that I bring back my old car and cancel the permission before I register another car to go into Mexico. That was extremely frustrating, but I trust that God had a reason. Needless to say, I made the trip twice.

I have been having a great time here, and I am preparing to teach tomorrow night about Mission. I hope to get you more news soon. I have neither internet nor telephone where I am staying, but I will do my best to catch you all up soon.

God bless!

Friday Night Fiesta

Last night several of my dear friends and I gathered at Jorge and Peggy's house to hang out and have a good time. Probably about half of the people that came are from FountainGate (my church family). We started out just chatting and laughing together in the living room. Scrappy (the dog) was really excited when I got there. He has really missed his parents since they traveled, and I am a familiar face (or smell as it may be for a dog) to him.

After a while they turn on music and the girls started to have fun moving to the music (most of the music was Latin, my favorite). I was in the other room talking to Leslie on the phone when this started, and when I came back to the living room, all the guys were just sitting around, so I joined in the middle and began moving too, even tough my ability to choreograph moves is basically non-existent :P haha

After that the guys came along, and we all really enjoyed ourselves. It is nice to be able to dance in an environment that is clean and safe. That is one of the few environments in which I have actually danced (moving the body to music) outside of a congregational praise setting (not counting when I just get after it when I am all alone).

In my opinion dancing, just like all other activities in life, should be an act of worship to God, even if we are not in church. If my dancing is not bringing glory to the King I represent, I better just give it up.

After the dance session, four of the guys gave us a musical performance as a group, and then I performed my whole repertoire of one song. It was hilarious.

Well, I took some pictures for you guys just as we were about to go home. Sorry that I missed most of the action. Enjoy.

I fell out of the chair while shooting this.

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The band adoring the pictures from their photo shoot.

That is an awesome bag of chips Eddy has!

_____ Esmeralda & Megan ____ _________ Marcela _________

My Sister Sarah

My sister Sarah came to see me today. She lives in a small town an hour away from Abilene (where I live). She is so special to me! I cannot even describe with words how dear she is to my heart. I think the intensity of the feeling of love is similar to intensity you would feel toward the one you love, but it is a brother-sister love.

Sarah is a young lady who loves the Lord and desires to please him. She is friendly, pleasant and just about everybody loves and respects her. Even though she is only 13-years-old, I can talk with her about deep spiritual matters, and she understands and is able to engage meaningful conversation at those profound levels. I have no doubt that she is, and will be, a power servant of God.

...oh, did I say that she is BEAUTIFUL !!! ???

(note: the shade of brown that you see in her eyes, that is the color my eyes were until I started college. Then they started turning green.)

Day in ISS

Tuesday night I was called back for an interview with Teach for America. I am thankful to be considered worthy of an interview. I will travel to Austin the weekend of March 25-26, and my interviews will be held all day Monday the 27th. The prospects are exciting, but also quite humbling considering the task.

I spent part of a day in an ISS (in-school-suspension) class today as a substitute teacher. I felt like I was trying to maintain order in a juvenile detention center, but with no arms and no recognized authority. It was like a madhouse, but none-the-less, an important learning experience for me. I had kids laugh at me, threaten me, smoke in the bathroom connected to our room, and more... There were only about 30 suspended students in my class.

I started taking students to the office to try to bring order, but I had to quit because the principals were not in their offices to deal with the students. One young lady even ran out of class without my permission. I ran after her and escorted her to the office.

When the coach who regularly babysits in ISS finally came to class, the students suddently returned to their seats and showed respect. I had been had. After a few minutes, I asked to be excused, and I left to recover the lunch that I had missed to babysit the discipline class. I have been reflecting on that experience all afternoon.