Great Service Week!

This week was GREAT! It was superrrrrr busy but awesome in service.
Heres just a few experiences from this week:
On Friday we did a return visit that a visiting brother found in our territory a few months ago, I had returned a few times but hadnt be able to catch, so my conscience had been nagging me to go back and finally on Friday we did. He is a doctor raised in US, whose parents are from Israel, but migrated to El Salvador, and then to San Francisco. He speaks Hebrew, Spanish, and English fluently, and enough Tsotsil and Tseltal to get by! He begins to tell me and Lacey how thankful he is that we havent given up on him and decided to come back to visit him because he is very interested studying the Bible with Jehovah's Witnesses. His daughter and son are attending the Kingdom Hall in San Francisco. The only thing he tells us is that he wants to make sure that he is serving the right God, he says he wants to be convinced that what he is learning is the truth. So he asks us about God's name. Although he tells us he is not an easy one that he will make us think, he makes sure we know that he is not trying to be difficult or just test our beliefs but that it was a sincere desire to learn. When me and Lacey smiled after he said this, he said he appreciated the smiles but wanted us to know that it was very serious. That if we could convince him of this, we would be saving his soul. Right now he admits he is confused, frustrated, and disatisfied with his beliefs and wishes to know the truth, mainly where the name Jehovah came from. He has a book that a man recently brought him which claims that Jehova' in Spanish is a feminine name and is an inaccurate translation. Also this book claims that the name Jesus means horse. (What a nut job wrote that, am I right?!) So this morning at 7 am, I went to call back on him after doing some research of my own. He works at a clinic on Sundays and told us he could schedule one hour for us to "make our case". I figured I should arrive with my guns loaded so to speak so I brought Josias, the Divine Name brochure, the Awake from 2004 about Jehovah, the Insight book, and Reference Bible with the Appendix 1A, and some personal notes I made from a questions from readers article in 2008. He decided he wants to read through the material himself when he can absorb it and we are to return next Sunday to see what he thought of it, so we will keep yall posted and let you know how it goes!!

Also this week I had two new Bible Studies!! One was handed over to me by, Sofia Anderson, the sister visiting from Oregon, and the other is a girl I found in my territory that lived in Florida the first 11 years of her life. She is really really sweet and we have already made a return visit twice in the same week and she agrees to study. Lately we have had an increase in the interest found, it is incredibly uplifting and I hope now we can cultivate what we have found.

Betania

On Friday of last week we were invited by Josias, our elder and friend, to go in the ministry with the congregations in Betania. Betania is a small town about 25 minutes south of San Cris. There most everyone speaks Tsotsil, which is one of the indigenous languages of Chiapas. We met with the group at 9am. Although they have recently finished a beautiful brand new Kingdom Hall they are still meeting across the street in a small room with dirt floors and wood slat walls. We sat down very anxious and excited to be meeting a new congregation and a new language at that. The brother conducted the service meeting in a mix of Spanish and Tsotsil. We were assigned partners and into two separate groups with about 10-11 in each group. We were all sent to different parts of the same neighborhood high on a mountain with a spectacular view! The group I was in rode a Cambi, which is the public transportation here in Mexico, and Lacey drove with group, ending up with 11 people riding in Jairo (the name of our Ford Explorer :)). That was quite a sight!

My partner for the morning was a sister named Suleima. She was raised speaking both Spanish and Tsotsil making her an asset to the congregation because she speaks both languages fluently. I quickly found out why there is so much growth in the indigenous languages, at every house she was able to read a scripture, and we did not have one not at home all morning! The branch is translating the Watchtowers, Bible Teach Book, and some tracts and brochures in the language but they do not yet have a New World Translation. Not everyone was willing to accept literature but most listened respectfully. After several houses of listening to her speak Tsotsil we came upon a house where the girl spoke spanish, Suleima looked at me and said, "Okay you can take this house." I was not prepared to witness in Spanish, but who knew the day would come when Spanish felt like home in a morning of a more foreign language.

I got through the presentation I quickly whipped up and was glad that the girl was really friendly. On one other occasion during the morning I had to witness again in Spanish, this time I made a big mistake because I asked her if she had a bible or if her family owned a bible, when she said no, I simply said "Oh que bien" (which means Oh, thats good, or thats nice) and went on talking! I wasnt meaning to say that! I now have even more appreciation for those that step out of their comfort zone and witness in another language.

Lacey was in another group and was assigned to work with a sister named Andrea, her sister is at Bethel and is on the cover of the Enjoy Life Forever brochure in Tsotsil. Andrea taught her to do a presentation in Tsotsil and Lacey read the brochures title and a paragraph from the brochure to the householder and she accepted it! To read in Tsotsil is not easy. The language is very guttural and some letters dont have the same sound as they do in english, for example an x makes the sound sh. The sister told Lacey that my name in the language is Korixma which pronounced is Korishma. Some other words we learned is "Li'ote" which is the greeting for morning, afternoon, or evening. This is what was said to get the householders attention if they didnt hear the knock on the door or gate. Also to say thank you is "Koloval", and to say Whats your name is "Kusi abi' ".

After service, at noon, I met Lacey and Josias back at a sisters house for lunch. A friend of Josias' named Jefte and his roommate Fabian were also in service and joined us for lunch. They are two brothers assigned to the Tsotsil from MTS school. They were really fun to be around, especially with the language barrier it made for interesting conversation. Something I've learned though, is that laughs dont need to be translated.

We ate lunch at the sisters home, it had a leafy plant really similar to spinach in a soup with meat in a really tasty limony broth. We had fresh corn tortillas and of course, Coca Cola. Afterwards we got a tour of the new Kingdom Hall. I had the opportunity to help on the construction about a month ago, so it was such a treat to get to see it finished finally. It was truly beautiful with the most amazing view over the mountains. I think the entire community is in awe of the structure that will bring so much praise to Jehovah. In view of the previous meeting place, this new building was very much needed. There are two congregations with about 30 publishers each and attendances well over 100! There is so much potential for growth, and now everyone can fit comfortably in the new Kingdom Hall.

After a brief photo shoot in front of the hall and with our new friends, we had to head back to San Cris. We enjoyed another spiritual blessing, which seem to come so often for us here in our life in Mexico, and felt priviledged and joyful to spend this time in Betania. We hope to return soon!!

Grocery shopping

Summer and I recently went grocery shopping with our friend Judith and her mother Esperanza. We have been trying to conserve our budget as much as possible and I thought it would be a good idea to go to the market with Judith and her mom because we know they too are on a tight budget yet eat well. Plus, they would know all the best places in the market to buy vegetables and what not. So this past monday we met up with them and started our trek through the outdoor market. It's crowded and bustling with vegetable displays galore, chickens skinned with their heads being chopped off before your very eyes, live chickens hanging from women's arms will brush your own as you try to squeeze by, and bartering, always bartering. Its one of my favorite places. Well, Esperanza led the way. We learned who to buy our lettuce from and bananas. I enjoyed watching her shop. The way she would scrutinize the vegetables, how she checked if they were ripe, the way she rubbed the beans in her hand to tell if they were fresh. I felt like a little kid following her every move. What she bought, I bought :) It was fun. Judith said that morning on their way to meet us that they were running late and her mother told her in spanish "Hurry, I don't want my daughters waiting!" We have become very close to Judith and her family, so we loved that Esperanza said that. Now during our morning of grocery shopping I brought my camera to document our day. But since I had a professional in my presence I asked Summer to snap a few shots. There was a really pretty bean stand, all different colors. So Summer decided to snap a shot of it. We continued on our way when all of a sudden Summer belted out while grabbing onto the back of her head "SOMEONE JUST HIT ME WITH A BEAN!!!" I immediately began laughing due to the indignation in her voice and on her face, because of a bean! So we kept walking and not 3 seconds later she yelled again "I JUST GOT HIT WITH ANOTHER BEAN!" this time clutching her back. It was all too much :) I told her it was just a little bean and she replied "A bullet is little too!" I suppose the beans had such force and accuracy due to the way the young boy at the bean stand propelled them with his spatula. I secretly thanked him for the entertainment :) I included some pictures of that day as well. All in a good day at the market....and if you're wondering what I am posing next to its a large bowl of pork fat/grease, yum :)

An Intro

I suppose we should begin by giving a little history of our time here in Chiapas. The first time we came to Mexico was 3 years ago. We served in a new congregation in the capital of Chiapas, Tuxtla Gutierrez. We helped in that congregation for about 3 months. Summer proceeded to return for months at a time helping in the english need greater work in that city along with Nicole Camacho. By 2009 a neighboring city, San Cristobal de las Casas, Chiapas, formed an English group. Summer and I had heard of it and the both of us had the desire to help out where there was a need. So after writing the branch for directives, we received the green light and headed south of Mexico to San Cris, as we call it for short. We have been serving here since January 2009. As of December 1, 2009 it has become a congregation. We have 34 publishers, over 20 pioneers, and 4 elders. San Cristobal has a large population of foreigners, mainly Europeans. We have RVs and bible studies with both foreigners and bilinguals. Our territory is in town, up mountains, up some more mountains, and beautiful. The climate is cooler since our altitude is about 7,000 ft. The local brothers are humble and hard workers. We have learned much from them and the simpler way of life is something we welcomed. We decided to write this blog, or online journal, not just for ourselves to remember this wonderful experience, but also for all our friends back at home to see what our life is like down here, maybe encourage ones to come and help in the english work here in Mexico as well. We will include experiences in service, at play, and just of our life in general. We hope all enjoy and comment or ask questions. We welcome it all. With all our love, Summer and Lacey

(By the way, the title, Las Coletas, is the term they use for ones who were born in San Cristobal. As in other parts of Mexico names of animals and bugs are given to different regions. Since we are often referred to as the "San Cris Girls" we have dubbed the name Las Coletas)