Meeting People: "Getting to Know You"

Kay Miller (the lady w/ whom I live & coordinator of the fundraiser)
& Donna (founder of the daycare & pretty much awesome)

So this week has been a bit unconventional. Saturday we had our big fundraiser, which was a silent auction. They started out with bare, wooden boxes & asked local artists to decorate them as they desired! If you look closely in the picture, one was converted into a Chanel purse! Anyway, basically most of this week was dedicated to logistical planning, setting up, etc. for the big event! And thankfully, it was pretty successful!

Live music group, Tuna Tradicional, that performed at the fundraiser.
They play traditional Spanish music.

Making Connections

This week has been especially relational and God has been making so many connections for me as I feel more and more "plugged in" to the community here in San Miguel. A summary of sorts:

Christine & I manning the merch table @ the fundraiser

Met Christine this week, who's been a volunteer since August of last year. And yes, she is Taiwanese..and yes, she learned English in the U.K. (How odd it is to hear an English accent with a Chinese accent at the same time!) I've had the chance to talk to her quite a bit & hear her story. She's a very interesting person.. On the weekends she sometimes goes out to seven bars in one night, not returning until seven in the morning; she loves to meet people--just very different from me! Surprisingly, though, she accepted my invitation to go to youth group on Friday and asks me questions about being "religious." (Do they forbid you to drink? What about sex?) She's very warm, friendly and open. Looking forward to getting to know her better!

At conversation practice at the library I met a young man named Alejandro, who's practically fluent in English already! His dream is to go to film school at USC and is currently creating an epic romantic movie in order to get in. The coolest thing, though, is that randomly today I bumped into him walking in his neighborhood in Malanquin. That was a really cool feeling to be able to see someone I knew--made San Miguel feel smaller and more "home-y." :)

This past Wednesday I went to the Church's Adult Bible study. It was so neat to meet more of the leaders in the church: Alberto, Arturo, Fernando & their families, and to be surprised once again at how God is the same God in all parts of the world. I am inspired at their wisdom and desire to follow the Lord wholeheartedly. The Bible study is based out of Hebrews, the beginning of chapter six, which talks about the fundamentals of the Christian faith.

Friday at youth group I saw Jose, whom I met last week and Vanesa, whom I met on Wednesday. It's great getting to know these young people and their backgrounds. Jose was born in the U.S. but lived in Texas for seven years so it's completely fluent in English. He happened to meet the Martinez (the pastor's) family only a few weeks ago but has been coming to youth group ever since. Vanesa is a talkative and lively young girl who is hoping to go to the U.S. for college, but legally, which is a lot of work (she said they test you to see if you can sing "The Star Spangled Banner!")

This past Sunday I was able to spend a lot of time with Cristina & Tomas (the pastor & his wife), who now call me their hija japonesa (Japanese daughter) and consider themselves my padres mexicanos (Mexican parents). Cristina shared about how she became a Christian her first year of college through a pastor from Texas, how she grew up with a father who was violent with her mother, who was herself absent and distant. She shared about a near-death experience she had when recently married to Tomas, and how the Lord spoke to her about her rebellious heart, how she was not really following him--and how from that point onward she was never the same.

Ministry in All Places

Although this week I didn't have much time with the kids, I still felt like in a lot of ways I was ministering to people by listening to them, getting to know them! I still felt like I was doing God's work--that my time here and my service here is in all places, not just when I am at Hogar de los Ángeles. And that's something really incredible and beautiful to me. Every moment is an opportunity to love someone, whomever the person you're with at the moment. :)