Community Development

Last week, the MTSers learned a few 'community development' ideas. We devoted a day to learning about and how to use different tools and strategies which can be (and need to be) passed along to the indigenous peoples in many parts of the world. First we learned about a method of cooking which requires no electrical energy, no gas, and no real oven to speak of. It's called solar cooking, and it is aptly named as this method of cooking harnesses the energy of the sun, and uses a small device made of plastic to heat food  up to temperatures of 250 degrees Fahrenheit. Solar reflecting panels can be added to the sides to increase cooking temperatures up to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. The device is just a small black box with a clear plastic top. We, of course, tested this method with a chicken and vegetable pan and also a cake. Both cooked up in just a couple of hours, and tasted great, you'd never guess that they were not cooked in a conventional oven. We also learned of a few other fireless cooking options and techniques. Very interesting, and very appropriate and relevant among indigenous peoples and those living without most modern conveniences--since cooking over a fire is a certain health hazard. Some statistics claim that cooking over an open fire for 3 meals a day is the equivalent to smoking 15-20 packs of cigarettes per day! Along with lung problems, cataracts develop in the eyes of those who cook over an open fire long term, not to mention the great, and ever-present burn hazard. If anyone would like to look up the solar cooker we were using, you can find it online, it is called the SOS Sport Solar Cooker. They are marked up for sale in the States, so that they can be sold inexpensively to the people who are in real need of them. I, for one, think it's a great idea for people everywhere--it uses no electrical energy whatsoever, or gas, so it is environmentally friendly and "green." 

Prospero Año Neuvo Para Todos!

That means Happy New Year to all you non-Spanish speakers!  ;) 

I arrived back in Tlaxiaco at 1:30am Saturday night after three weeks in the States for Christmas break. Although, I have to say that it wasn't much of a 'break,' as we were so busy the entire time--although I don't mind, I enjoy busyness, and it was great seeing my family and catching up with them all! We had a wonderful, blessed Christmas and turn into 2009. It was hard to leave my family and John, but it was so great to get back into Mexico!

Now we are all re-adjusting and getting back into the swing of things. It was also great to be reunited with my GFM family here in Oaxaca! The girls I live with and I have a lot of fun in our room, and we've been missing the good times and togetherness! :) Today is Dia de los Reyes (Day of the Kings) which is just as big as Christmas in Mexico, it represents when the Wise Men found baby Jesus in the stable. So, the gringos threw a party for the Mexicans in the Colonia in which we live (Aldolpho Lopez Mateos) today! We made 350 tamales for the party (so that is the first authentic Mexican dish I know how to make), stuffed piñatas, made stove popcorn, and displayed Chronicles of Narnia in Spanish for the crowd. We had about one hundred people show up for the celebration; it was a success!

Eye Clinic

Aware of the fact that I have slightly been neglecting blogging, I am going to write about something that happened back in October. It was an amazing weekend; here's what happened:

We were visited by some ophthalmologists down here in Tlaxiaco at GFM! They had been planning on coming down to do an eye clinic in October, and we were all excited to see how the clinic would work out. The ophthalmologists brought barely any clothes because they filled their luggage with an eye machine (to calculate the degree of myopia or hyperopia of each patient), and hundreds, near one thousand, of pairs of eye glasses (no exaggeration here, both various prescriptions and readers). We were praying that all of this gear would make it through Mexican security at the airports on the way down to Oaxaca. It didn't. At least not right away. So for the first part of the week they were here we were unable to do the clinics because they didn't have any of their eyeglasses, or even the machine to read the prescription needed for each person. After four trips to Oaxaca, and a lot of empty promises from Mexican officials, we were finally able to recover the goods! We ended up doing three days worth of all-day clinics, each in a different village. We would have each Mexican sign in, and take a seat. Then one by one we would measure their eyes with the eye machine, and give them a prescription. They would head out the the boxes full of eyeglasses (which we at GFM all sorted through and organized for 3 hrs, actually it was 10-1am). We would help them find their correct prescription, chosen from all of the previously-donated eyeglasses. Then we would have them read a passage from the Bible or look out into the distance to make sure their eyesight was better with that particular pair. Some individuals could barely see anything and the transformation was dramatic! It was so great to see the appreciation and excitement that some of the locals experienced upon the being given the gift of sight again for the first time in many years.

Sorry for the Hiatus!

Hello! So sorry about that hiatus from blogging...I've had a whole lot going on lately. But I am back on the Blogspot now! A brief recap of some highlights from the past month:

In doing some community service, the entire GFM MTS went to the Agencia to work with the locals. The Agencia is our colonia's something like a recreation center. We were working  on constructing a new building. Before any construction could be done, however, there was a pile of rocks (and by rocks I mean boulders) that we had to move. This mound was about 4 feet high and about 25 feet long. We moved these rocks and also moved the dirt in between them into separate 'rooms' in order to fill up some of the spaces with dirt and rocks rather than concrete, which would save money. It took us hours in the morning...we took about four 'Coke breaks' by suggestion of the Mexicans with whom we were working. We had some lunch, and then started on the NEXT huge mound of rocks and dirt. That day I did the most exhausting, toughest physical work of my life as of yet! We were all tired and filthy--and to top it off, Heather and I were in the midst of an annoying cold, so we were schlepping back to the truck bed every few minutes to get another cough drop and blow our noses with the two rolls of toilet paper we had brought for such purposes. The most exciting part of the day had to be when I found a centipede on the ground. It intrigued me, as it was a vibrant blue color, and as I asked if it was poisonous, I bent over and touched it with my index finger. The Mexicans around me, seeing what was going on, were shouting advisory warnings such as, "don't touch that!" "that is poisonous!" "those have killed men!" "it could kill you!" BUT, I was not comprehending any of these cautions spoken in Spanish. When someone finally translated the messages, it was too late, and I had touched it. I lived in fear for about ten minutes thinking that at any minute I could be taken ill and die! But after a short amount of time had passed, and I wasn't dead, I considered myself safe.

More highlights to come...

Canadian Thanksgiving

 So, here at the GFM base, we have quite a few Canadians. And, October 13th marks the Canadian Thanksgiving! When asked what the reason for the Thanksgiving celebration is in Canada, the Canadians will tell you that they celebrate the big harvest, the harvesting of their crops for the year. So on Monday, the 13th we had a traditional Canadian Thanksgiving meal! It was great, the tables were decorated with 'Fall' favors and we had more food on the base than we'd ever seen since we've gotten here! There was a little bit of turkey, a little bit of ham, and a lot of chicken, sweet potato casserole, broccoli salad, some kind of noodle salad, strawberry jello, tea biscuits, mashed potatoes with carrots mixed in (apparently that's how they eat mashed potatoes...), pumpkin cookies, pumpkin pie,  butter tarts, and a traditional Canadian bar of which I have no hope of remembering the name. One of the Canadians even made a funny powerpoint "Quiz" about famous Canadians. It was a great and fun day, and a nice little reminder of home!

Mexican Church

Each Sunday, all of the Americans here on base split off and go to a local Mexican church. We are all supposed to be accompanied by a GFM staff member, but this  Sunday the staff members that go to our church couldn't make it, and neither could three of the other attendees. So, it ended up being me and one other girl and a guy who were attending church yesterday. It was a special day for our church, it was an outdoor service with a guest speaker and then a picnic! We brought some muffins and Coca-Cola. We had some neighbors from our barria (a Mexican neighborhood) come to the base and pick us up. The Mexicans are so hospitable, the parents had their four kids get out of the car (yes, car, as in seats five total, but rarely here are cars not over-packed) and had us three gringos get in, their children took a taxi to the site of the service/picnic. We tried to tell them that we would just take a taxi, that we didn't want to put them out, but, oh wait, none of us three speak Spanish! So, we graciously accepted their ride, with broken and probably grammatically-incorrect-to-the-point-of-comedy Spanish.

We arrived at the site, found seats and patiently awaited the commencement of the service (yet another Cultural tidbit, when Mexicans say something starts at noon, that means they stop what they were previously doing and start thinking about getting ready/going to the event at noon, not actually beginning the event at noon. This isn't the easiest adjustment for us punctual Americans.). So the service starts and the guest speaker begins his sermon. He spoke for 3 and 1/2 hours! It was a seemingly good sermon, I understood a few words here and there, he spoke for a while about his mother and something having to do with a time period of 8 years. The funny thing is, he would continually make eye contact with us three gringos, we think that he thought we could understand him, he constantly asked questions and pointed, and the church members (particularly the woman directly behind me) would answer by shouting, "Gloria Dios!"

After the service, the eating began. We were a little nervous, because it is offensive here to not each food which you are served, so that means if you are served pig intestine (which happens!) you must eat it-not taste it, but eat it in its entirety. Luckily, we were served black beans, minty rice, chicken, hard eggs and tortillas--astronomical portions, and of course we had to finish it all. Something else about chicken, you have to eat the whole piece chicken, the skin the fat, the gristle...everything but the bone. Luckily, I was able to finagle not eating the fat and skin and gristle, I hid it underneath my cup on my plate and quickly threw the entire think away. Aren't I sneaky? Once we were ready to go, we started making our way on foot to the main road to try and catch a cab back to base. Little did we know that cabs don't really run on Sunday, so we began the miles walk back to base, about 1/3 of the way three members from the church picked us up, so we again piled 6 people into a little car and accepted their offer. By the time we had made it home, we were gone for six hours! That's a long church service, but it was a great day and a great experience!

"Freedom Camp"

This past week, the MTS (Mission Training School) students were surprised to find out that we were to go on a camping trip in the mountains of Mexico. "Freedom Camp," as it was dubbed, lasted for a total of three days; we fasted from all food and drink (but were allowed water) and slept in tents in the mountains. It was a rough three days for me, my body didn't respond well to the deprivation past day two, but we all made it through! Even one of the staff daughters (she was 11!) made it, we were very proud of her. The camp was designed to be a 'death to self' experience, and we read Bondage Breaker by Neil Anderson and went through some worksheets to in order to find full freedom in Christ. Each  night we had a camp fire (which really wasn't the same without marshmallows, graham crackers, and chocolate) before bed, and we talked about how we wished we were roasting something over the fire! When we arrived back at base on Thursday night we broke our fast with Mexican Ritz crackers and Gatorade as communion and then had a meal of chicken soup. Needless to say, those were the best crackers and that was the best soup I have ever had! And although we tried not to get gluttonous that night, we gave in a little bit and ate some of the powdered sugar "donas" (donuts) from the Bimbo delivery the base had previously gotten--we all agreed they were worth it! So, overall Freedom Camp was a learning and growing experience, but one that I do not have the immediate desire to re-live any time soon :)