Lent / Easter

Please excuse the lack of updates recently. Between the internet difficulties and the kids being on spring break, I haven't had a chance to write.

We just finished the Lenten season with our Easter celebration last Sunday. The entire season is very unique in the house. On Fridays, instead of giving up meat, the entire house gives up tortillas. The logic is that the kids wouldn't notice the meat missing anyway.

Holy Thursday is the night we remember the last supper and in the house we honor this with a special dinner for the whole family.

Good Friday is a silent day, which means we can't play music or watch television all day.

Last Saturday, we celebrated Sabado de la Gloria and remembered all of our baptisms with a giant water fight for three hours.

Sunday was Easter and we celebrated with a sunrise Mass, dougnuts, hot chocolate, chocolate eggs and an egg hunt with a grand prize of $50.

I will update again soon. My parents are coming to visit this week and will be offering wrestling clinics to the kids. I will be sure to post pictures.

Peace

No Internet

Right now we are having technical difficulties with the Internet. I will update when it is more consistent.

La Pijamada

Saturday night we had a giant sleepover for ALL the girls in the house. It was really fun to see them just being kids, especially after all the hard work from the Junta and exams. We put out mattresses and blankets in the school and had a BBQ and played games and watched movies all night. We also had a fogata (bonfire) and roasted marshmallows. The girls love their marshmallows lit on fire and charred. So imagine 200 or so girls with sticks and flaming marshmallows. And as everyone wanted to roast my marshmallow for me, I had to try very hard to describe the fine art of roasting marshmallows. One of the older girls roasted it for me and it was nearly perfect. But of course, one of the younger girls saw that it wasn't black yet and proceeded to "fix" this for me.

After the bonfire, some of the girls from my section were dancing on the soccer field to the music from the town dance. I joined them and have started to learn cumbia.

It was a great weekend, but exhausting and I am looking forward to relaxing on descanso. I think my Spanish is improving and I am learning a lot every day. I think the biggest thing I am learning is to put others first. It doesn't matter if I like my marshmallow golden brown; if a kid wants to roast it for me, I should let her. If the girls want to play chess for 3 hours, I should. And sometimes it means that you get up early, even though the extra sleep would be amazing because someone else is depending on you.

Peace

Pizza fiesta

Last night we had a pizza party for the girls that didn't receive reports from school. This week only 10 girls had reports, so I guess that is an improvement. It was a lot of fun. It was my descanso weekend so I just bought the pizza and soda and met the girls at dinner time. The girls were amazing. They helped me carry over all of the food and waited patiently for me to arrive before they started eating. Nobody took more than they were supposed to and they were all very polite. (I consider this very successful for 19 teenage girls)

Everyone had a great time and it was fun to do something special for the girls. We had a few birthdays over the weekend and so we were able to celebrate that as well. The girls sang the traditional Mexican birthday song, "Las Mananitas." At the end of the dinner they all thanked me and gave me hugs. It was really sweet.

By Archbishop Oscar Romero

It helps, now and then, to step back
and take the long view.
The kingdom is not only beyond our efforts,
it is beyond our vision.

We accomplish in our lifetime only a tiny fraction of
the magnificent enterprise that is God's work.
Nothing we do is complete,
which is another way of saying
that the kingdom always lies beyond us.

No statement says all that could be said.
No prayer fully expresses our faith.
No confession brings perfection.
No pastoral visit brings wholeness.
No program accomplishes the church's mission.
No set of goals and objectives includes everything.

This is what we are about:
We plant seeds that one day will grow.
We water seeds already planted, knowing that they hold future promise.
We lay foundations that will need further development.
We provide yeast that produces effects beyond our capabilities.

We cannot do everything
and there is a sense of liberation in realizing that.
This enables us to do something,
and to do it very well.
It may be incomplete, but it is a beginning, a step along the way,
an opportunity for God's grace to enter and do the rest.

We may never see the end results,
but that is the difference between the master builder and the worker.
We are workers, not master builders,
ministers, not messiahs.
We are prophets of a future not our own.

Descanso in Teotihuacan

Language barriers

My girls after lunch: We want to pray.
Me: Okay. See you Monday.
My girls: No. (Make the sign of the cross)
Other encargada: You were confused.
Me: Yeah, most of the time.