Date: Fri, 30 Jun 2001 14:49:29 -0700 (PDT)
From: Joy McMasters <maestrajoy@yahoo.com>
Subject: Saludos de México (3)
I only have a few minutes left after reading the many emails I received from friends and family--what a wonderful encouragement to have so many emails with so much information about what´s going on with you.
Here´s a rundown of my past week:
Sunday: I had to take a quick cat nap in church as the cold that has finally left me and the lack of sleep the night before wouldn´t let me keep my eyes open. Fortunately, after a couple minutes of rest I was wide awake for the rest of the time. That afternoon, I ate the best turkey ever (roasted somehow) for lunch and took a good long nap at abuelita´s (Mexican grandmother´s house).
Monday: Since it was my day of rest, I got to finally spend an afternoon with Jon out in the city. We didn´t go far, but tomorrow we plan to go to the Palacio de Bellas Artes (the fine arts hall) this next Monday. I´m not sure yet if it´s OK to let Mexicans know that I´m going out with Jon alone, even though we are dating. Males and females don´t tend to hang out in public unless they´re married, dating (not as common for Christians), or in a huge group of friends. Last week, I told them where I was going, but let them assume that I was going alone. I hope to be able to talk to them about this soon so that I don´t feel like I´m being deceptive.
Tuesday through Thursday: Days were filled with Spearhead meetings and time spent learning our clown show. Afternoons and evenings I prepared for and taught ESL. Class size has hovered at around six, but at least that way students get individual attention. This was the first time I had ever taught three days in a row, and it´s good to have that milestone under my belt. Next week, I get to be the assistant as my roommate April teaches the class. I´m looking forward to observing someone else teach again. After classes, we ate dinner with our family and stayed up late talking. I love that part of Mexican culture and I hope that when I´m in charge of family meals someday I will be able to get everyone to stick around at least for a little while talking.
Friday: The whole Spearhead group boarded two busses and visited the Basilica of the Virgin of Guadalupe and the pyramids of Teotihuacan. Since I had already seen both those sites, it was good to walk around with Jon and see them afresh through his eyes. Once again, I was deeply saddened to see the way Guadalupe is essentially idolized and Christ is forgotten, or only remembered as bleeding and powerless. For the second year in a row, I climbed both the Sun and the Moon. My team built a human pyramid on top of the Sun pyramid. It was nice to have to freedom to show Jon around and look at all the smaller points of interest with him, translating some signs and sharing the information that I had learned at both places on previous visits.
Saturday: So far, I have rested a lot and had lots of time to spend reading my Bible and praying. It has been nice to spend this time in the morning while I´m awake rather than at night when it´s all I can do to keep my eyes open and concentrate. As I have read through the New Testament multiple chapters at a time, I have been able to learn things that never really stood out before. This afternoon, we have a team activity with the jovenes (young people) from my church, and I´m looking forward to it.
Now it´s time for praises and prayer requests.
Praises:
Prayer requests:
Joy<><
