happy bday shoutout

It seems like April (or almost April) is the month to have birthdays. While it doesn´t rank as high as some months (cough July) a lot of important people were born this month! So Happy Birthday, Feliz Cumple, and Hoffentlich Geburtstag to…

Wyath
G-ma Esther
Aunt Marcia
Jodie
Dad
Petah!

Now we have entered the “transition time” at Centro Menno. One couple left in early February, and now the second couple, Hans and Elma and their family, will leave June 1. A new family is coming next week and have about a month of overlap and training with Hans and Elma before they have language school. A couple who normally live and work out in the county have come in to the city to work in Centro Menno through June. Then my last 4 weeks here will be just me and the newbies. So in the next three months I will be the constant variable in Centro Menno. Kind of freaky since I can´t speak Low German. I am getting to the point where I can understand and then reply in Spanish, but most of the time I have to run and get help. So the people of Centro Menno could use some prayers for assistance in guidance, patience, courage, understanding, and peace of mind.

We have been bouncing from cooler, dry weather to hot and humid. Sunday was a really hot and sticky day but with wind that smelled like fall. I slathered on the spf 50 and headed off to the pool with my host mom, who swims like a fish. Upon arrival, we realized that the whole place was shut down and had no choice but to turn around and drive the dusty road home. My host sister in a very “uh duh” tone commented of course the pool was closed, it´s the cold season. I may have reached the point where I wear a sweater when it´s in the low 60s, but 90 degrees is not cold. The forecast for Friday is rain and 75 degrees! Can´t wait!

A few weeks ago, we had a reporter and photographer from MCC in North America come to give interviews and take pictures for a series of articles. Here are a couple of pictures that the photographer, Silas Crews, took of a normal day in Centro Menno.

checking out books with Elma

sending out the POST (german newspaper from Canada) with Vicky, a Bolivian who owns 2 stores with Mennonite clientele.

yo quiero taco bell

ok, not really. but i was ferociosly barked at by a rat, i mean a chihuahua ¨dog,¨ the other day and that over-used commercial line popped into my head. this is not a segway into the pervasiveness of tv into our lives (garbage in garbare out right dad?), but instead my realization that i understood the phrase. really understood it, not like ¨oh i know what that means in english¨ but i don´t have to translate it in my head. the spanish word just seems to describe the situation or feeling right. i find myself muttering spanish words as i´m working on the computer ( buscar...inciniar...ay! no funciona! caramba.) or sometimes when speaking in english the spanish word just makes more sense, like tranquillo (calm, relaxed, chill yo) or no se (i don´t know). my grammar may be horrible and i am always forgetting past tense, future, whatever, but i can kind of function. huzzah!

last week was ¨semana santa¨ or holy week, and i was excited to see what traditions and worship styles go on here. i asked my host mom what kind of things would be going on at church, for maybe Thursday or Friday night, and she looked kind of surprised and said nothing was planned, only for Sunday. and even that was whacked because el presidente made Easter Sunday election day for the govenor and mayor of the department and city of Santa Cruz. and the rules for election day is that no one is allowed to meet in groups, people can´t drive, micros don´t run, until after 5 or 6pm. And a huge tradition here is to have a sunrise service Easter morning in the soccer stadium. it usually starts around 2:30am and goes til 6am. so they moved it to thursday night/friday morning instead and i totally missed it. bummer. but on sunday night we did have a church service (sparsely attended) where we sang songs and had a sermon about the resurrection. just because it didn´t ¨feel¨ like Easter because I didn´t attend my ¨normal¨ services or eat my Cadbury cream egg, that doesn´t mean a thing. Jesus died and rose again not because I do all the right things, but because of all the wrong I do. hallelujah. thank you so much for your sacrifice and grace, Jesus.

on a shallower note, on friday i went to el campamento with the jóvenes (youths from my church. another spanish word i love more then the english one). we played soccer (reluctantly), swam, and played beach vball (hurray!) then for the reason that ¨my name came up¨/ let´s make the gringa sing! the jóvenes were demanding that i sing them a song. one guy knew how to play the backstreet boys´¨i want it that way¨ so they wanted me to sing that. while i love that song and know all the words, i cannot possibly do it justice being a one woman show instead of 4 (or 5? oh does it matter?) dancing/singing popsters, i told them i would sing it for 100 pesos. dealbreaker! i finally caved in and sang ¨Lord I Lift Your Name On High¨ with guitar accompaniment and only about 7 people watching as opposed to the whole group of 40.

and a new development...someone pointed out to me that i have weird white spots on my neck...and shoulders...at the hairline of my forehead...and at the collar line of my back. i have heard ¨que fea cardy¨(how ugly corrie) plenty of times now. right now the running speculations are sun allergy, sun damage, lack of Vitamin A, and fungus (what the what?) any other suggestions? so i have bought spf 50, will try to always walk in the shade. drink plenty of water, and get me some Vitamin A. my host dad held up 3 fingers with a shake of his head (as in sorry corrie, you only have 3 more days to live) and that was on Monday. welp we´ll see how tomorrow goes!