Just Another Ordinary Day in Mexico

Sometimes, my life here is not that different than life in the States. Other times, it is quite distinctive. Usually, it's a combination of the two. For example, today...

-I drove the van and helped David (one of our national workers) take a dead dog way out to the furthest outskirts of the colonia. (We found the dog between two of our ministry buildings.) We left the dog there on the ground inside two, black garbage bags, in an area that looks more or less like a sparse landfill. It made me really sad to see the poor dog lying there before we picked him up by the church, but perhaps because of the task we had to do, I did not cry.

-Today was our first Club after a month-long break. It was wonderful to see all the kids again and reminded me of the excitement that first day back each January after Christmas break with all of my students in the past.

-As we took the kids home after Club on our walking route, one of the boys just stopped and relieved himself right by the side of the road near someone's house or store.

-My roommates and I cooked tacos for dinner and enjoyed a great dinner together full of laughter.

All in a day...

Feliz Navidad!

This year I celebrated my first international Christmas here in Fresnillo, and I am delighted to say it was a great one! Since it was also my first Christmas away from my family, I was a little worried about feeling homesick, but the Lord was so faithful to provide me with lots of joy and contentment. I could really tell people were specifically praying about this for me. Here are some "holiday highlights"....

Christmas Eve-In the morning, we handed out cookie plates to church families in the colonia. That evening, we had a Christmas Eve service at our church. Afterwards, Meredith, Felicia, and I went to different families' homes to celebrate. First, we went to our teammate and friend Ruth's house. We had both "rojo" and "verde" tamales and ponche (a delicious, hot drink made with fruit). Then, we went to Olga (and family)'s house. At Olga's, I chose to eat pozole (a yummy, red soup that has chicken and lots of other good stuff in it). Since "La Nochebuena" or Christmas Eve is the day more Mexicans celebrate than actual Christmas Day itself, it was lots of fun to visit with dear friends on this night.

Christmas Day-Felicia and I opened a few presents together by our quaint Christmas tree at the Patio and both enjoyed talking to our families on the phone that morning. Then, we went over to Meredith's for a delicious Christmas Day brunch--breakfast casserole, zucchini bread, pancakes, and pineapple. Later that afternoon, we went over to the Jones' house and were greeted by Sammy and Eric who were SO excited about their new dinosaur toys! :) We had a scrumptious feast Christy had prepared, complete with ham, potatoes, rolls from the U.S., a green salad, and a jello/fruit salad. After dinner, we read the Advent book, sang some Christmas carols, and had a birthday cake for Jesus. We also played cards and Catchphrase after the kids went to bed. What a great day!

The Day after Christmas-Saturday was a busy work day as usual, and I was on Torta (our free, weekly feeding program we have for kids and youth). That night, however, my mom was coming to visit. She had flown in to Guadalajara and then taken the bus from there. It was about 10 PM when she finally arrived, and she had quite the surprise with her...my dad and brother!!! I wish you could have seen the mixture of shock and excitement on my face or heard it in my voice, but those of you who know me well can probably imagine. ;) They didn't even know that they were all three coming until just a day or two before Christmas, and it's a neat story in itself (for another day) but full of God's sovereignty and the generosity of our sweet neighbors.

The Week After Christmas-My family stayed in Fresnillo from Saturday night to Thursday morning. On Thursday morning, we went to Guadalajara together. I spent Thursday night with them there and then came back on the bus Friday afternoon, and they flew home early Saturday morning. I am SO thankful they could all come--it was such a blessing and gift! Some of my favorite memories from their visit include: taking them to church and introducing them to so many people, us all going to a party at the house of one of my favorite family's from church, eating at the Italian restaurant in Zac, showing them the abandoned convent and throwing the frisbee with Paul there, having good talks with them individually and together as a family, and eating at Chili's on New Year's Eve and watching U.S. college football!

Club Christmas Drama

I put a few pictures of our Club Christmas Drama on my blog for kids. You can go to www.fieldtriptomexico.blogspot.com if you want to see them.

Lalo y Saul

Lalo and Saul are two brothers on my Thursday afternoon Club route for pick-up and take-home. Lalo is 6 and is also in my Club class, and Saul is 4. The best way I know to describe them is as "such a mess," but they have a very special place in my heart. They are both mischievous and always ones you have to keep a close eye on, but they are also so endearing and adorable. I think one reason that I love them so much is that they remind me of my brother when he was little, both physically and personality wise. :)

Things That Made Me Smile This Week...

• Elizabeth's breaded and seasoned chicken (and salad!)
• The electric radiator/heater in my room that makes it warm and comfortable
• Remembering Jesus' heart for children and what the CFCI vision is during team meeting this week
• Christy's yummy turkey soup
• Chicles climbing up to a high part of the church and using a spotlight to bring Gabriel's announcement to Mary more to life for the Club kids
• Jazmin coming back to Club after a 3 month absence! Yay for answered prayers!
• Karen's homemade sock/rice heater that she made for me
• Singing Christmas songs in Spanish
• The way some of the kids on my Thursday afternoon route really make me laugh
• Listening to Erik's Vision 2010 sermons and being so encouraged and inspired by how God is continuing to lead Four Oaks (my church in Tallahassee)
• Watching the Four Oaks "Rodney videos" online :)
• Practicing for the Club Christmas Drama this morning and seeing how excited the kids are about it
• When I turned on the CD in the van tonight on my way home and it was one of my very favorite songs ("When You Come Back Down" by Nickel Creek)

Rain and Reflecting

It's cold and rainy today in Fresnillo, one of those days where you just want to curl up with a blanket and not leave the house. Thankfully, today is our day off so I am able to do just that. So as I sit here contentedly with a hot cup of tea and leftover Thanksgiving apple pic, in my warm sweatpants and favorite Samford sweatshirt, listening to A Charlie Brown Christmas music, I thought it was a good time to catch up with some blogging and share some reflections...

Over the past several weeks, I have experienced some hard times and challenges. I won't go into all of them here and I recognize that "hard times" is always a relative term, but there have been several times when I just wanted to say, "Seriously, God?! This too?" However, in each challenge, I am trying to see what God wants to teach me from it, and there is certainly an abundance of lessons to be learned from each trial, big or small.

As I was thinking about my thanksgivings for the year and how exceedingly blessed I really am, I was reminded of an important truth: God is ALWAYS sovereign. This is one of my favorite attributes of God, and there have been many times I have joyfully seen the Lord display His sovereignty in my life...from placing me on the perfect hall freshmen year, taking my "unassigned position" and putting me in exactly the school and grade level I would have chosen in the school system, and even the story of how I ended up here at CFCI in Mexico. I love retelling these stories and countless others of God's sovereignty. However, God is sovereign in the tough times, too. While these "negative" examples are not as much fun to remember, they are just as much testimonies to the Lord's faithfulness. God is never looking away and nothing is outside of His hands. I am so thankful for this fact and encouraged by it.

Another lesson I have been learning is that I only have to live one day at a time. While I desire to always be full of praise and a heavenly perspective such as mentioned in the above paragraph, the truth is I do struggle with each challenge that comes and often do not react that way. When I think about the future sometimes, I get overwhelmed because I know there are more challenges ahead always. God recently really encouraged me just to trust Him for TODAY. He will give me the grace and strength I need one day at a time, for whatever challenges arise.

So, today I am thankful for the simple pleasures of today. Tomorrow, through God's grace, I will handle whatever comes... be it a "crisis" or not.

Can you help solve it?

As a way of keeping in touch, some of my former students email me. I always love hearing from them, especially since I don't get to see them in the halls or lunchroom this year like I have been able to in the past. Recently, I received an email from one of my old fourth graders. In the email, he told me about a situation with another (older) student whose mom and dad had both abandoned him. It was obvious that he was really concerned and worried about this situation. The part that gripped me was this though: He wrote, "Could you help him solve that problem?" Never mind that I live in Mexico right now or that the other student's parents had moved very far away, just a simple "Can you fix it, Miss Sloderbeck?" It made me feel both good and bittersweet that he thought I could and reminded me of what a privilege (and also heavy responsibility) it is to be a teacher. I also thought about how we are to have faith like a child. I can see why...