First few days in Tlaxiaco

I arrived in Tlaxiaco, Oaxaca, Mexico on the 6th of September after a long day, I left my house in Fenton, Mi at 4:15am and arrived at the base at about 9:00pm local time, which is 10:00pm standard time, that would make nearly 18 hours of travel, after which I was exhausted! I have to admit, it's jut as I pictured it to be down here...it's kind of stereotypical Mexican. As soon as I got into bed that first night, I caught movement out of the corner of my eye. It was a very large spider. Very close to my bed, could have easily crawled in. I smashed it with a shoe, then slept with one eye open. Just kidding, I didn't sleep with one eye opened, just reminded myself that it's all part of the experience (albeit, not my favorite part). I live in a big, open, tiled room with 6 other girls, we have three toilets, down which toilet paper CANNOT ever be flushed otherwise you go fishing with a coat-hanger. We have three showers, out of which normally only cold water flows. Our showers must be 2 minutes or less since there is always a water shortage down here, but I don't think I'd want to take a shower longer than that, it's so cold.  For breakfast this morning we had Granada juice, which was so good-it's like an orange fruit with black seeds, very sweet, very fresh. So far the food has been great, some of it is authentic Mexican. The people all seem wonderful, too, so I am excited to get to know them. I saw the medical clinic during orientation, but no Hours have yet been held. The internet connection down here is very spotty, and very temperamental. It's more a source of frustration than it is a source of information-but, at least it is accessible at some times!

About my daily schedule, every morning we have Prayer for the Nations at 6:30am, where we pray for the Unreached People Group of the day, according to joshuaproject.net, then we have Worship and a Bible study from 8-9:30am. We have Mission Training classes from 9:30am-1:30pm, then Lunch, then we have daily chores. On Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays we leave the base and go into the town of Tlaxiaco and do ministry after chores. Mondays are going to be our Sabbath days. We had our first visit to Tlaxiaco last night, we were oriented to the town, and then had tacos at a local establishment. Everyone stared at us...like we were a bunch of white folks in a Mexican city or something! :) While at dinner in town, the topic of discussion at my table was intestinal amoebas and parasites, how ironic.

The flies are rampant down here...everywhere you are, they are. We had a pig slaughter the other day, one of the pigs on base was sick, so they had to kill her, and we have been eating her for the past couple of days. We keep all of our left over food for pigslop. There are also some chickens and roosters on base. I think the roosters are a bit confused. They call out at all times of the day, not just in the morning. We have two guard dogs here, both German Shepherds, they are huge. Names: Adrian and Junior.

So, the weather down here is all over the map. The days here are normally pretty warm, the nights get chilly, and it rains every afternoon. I try to read in the afternoons, as we have 2-3 books to read per week, and weekly book reports on those books. There are about 20 students in my class, some singles, some married with children (families live on base as well).

Well, that will be all for my first post! I do not know how often I will be able to update this, as you never know when the internet is actually going to work and I am new to this blogging idea!

Blessings,

Missy