Full Rewarding Day

Busy day!

 I went to men’s Bible Study at church at 7:30. I had a hard time following the conversation, as I understand many words but few sentences. The discussion was on the importance of accepting the death and resurrection of Jesus to our lives. I had told myself I would contribute to the discussion, but after the opening statement, the discussion was off to the races and I couldn’t keep up to contribute in a meaningful way, so was content to listen. 

I took the kids to Oansa (Awana), and then went to the gym to work out, though I am feeling a bit worn out, but it was OK once I got started. I am trying to get to the point where I can play with kids or play pickup basketball at the park without getting sore. If I wish to be involved in sports ministry in a few months, I hope to be in shape to do so without limitations. 

At 2 Carlos (friend from church) came over for 1.5 hours of visiting in Spanish, and we got our vocab homework questions done, as well as I did an interview. It was about values of Mexican people, but there weren’t any big surprises in there. Family is the greatest value, #1 in the Mexican culture. 3 generations often live in one house, and they spend a lot of time together. This is something to keep in mind as we minister to the hearts of people in Mexico.

We then made some food for a picnic, which we brought to the park to share with Nadie (a lady from Keyana’s Ballet classes Karlene got to know) and her family. Her husband came along too, apparently somewhat begrudgingly as he was wondering how he would converse with us if he didn’t speak any English. It went well though, as I was able to visit with him in Spanish without much trouble, lots of stops in starts in my sentences, but it was good. We talked about family, farming, living in cities, safety and more. We had potato salad, quesadillas, gringas, chips and nachos. We played soccer in the park on artificial turf that is falling apart so that we had bits of black rubber in our shoes just walking across it. Josiah scored 3 goals, but his ball handling skills are weak. He needs a breakaway to be able to do something. Sort of like me when I play with adults! The smallest boy on the other team was 5 or so, but was quite good considering his size. Most of the Mexican boys can play quite well. I got deked quite often by the young ones on the opposing team.

We came home and played some cards, 7 up 7 down. Card playing was limited to UNO for them, so this was a change. We then had a late Mexican supper at 9, they left at 10 pm. They seemed to have a very good time. We know we did. As Karlene said on facebook, our brains are tired (thinking in Spanish for 6 hours does that), but our hearts are happy!