Things That Are Different in Mexico

The left hand turns are made in the far right lane. It is not even a lane, it is actually called a lateral and is frontage road next to the highway.

The gas is owned as a monopoly by the Mexican government, which means that every gas station charges the same amount per gallon.

The gas attendants pump the gas for you. (Those of you reading in Oregon may disregarded this difference)

The windshields in Mexico are the cleanest we have ever seen. Not only does it rain several times a week, but the gas attendants wash your window while the gas is pumping

At the grocery store, you tip the bag boy and gas attendants when they wash your windows. A tip is 3-5 pesos (or 30-50 cents US). Despite the tip, the meat will be bagged next to the vegetables and canned goods will end up on top of the eggs.

Eggs are not refrigerated here. (This is true through most of the world, I’ve heard. Eggs will last several weeks outside the refrigerator)

Mexican will always share their food with you. If someone is eating and another person is nearby, you always offer you food to them. When Americans eat and don’t share, or eat a piece of gum and don’t offer it to the rest of the people in the room, often Mexicans (actually Latin people in general) will feel slighted.

Contrary to every Spanish book I’ve read/class I have taken, if you go into a Mexican restaurant and order “agua” you will never get water. Never.  Down here agua is slang for Agua Fresca which basically means juice. Pineapple, orange, melon, mango, lime aide, apple soda, horchata (rice milk with cinnamon) or jamica (hibiscus tea). And all of it has sugar added to it. Most things in Mexico has sugar added, actually. The good news is that the sugar is not as processed as the stuff in the States, and they do not, as far as I can tell, do not use high fructose corn syrup in anything unless it is imported. I have heard that if you want water, you have to ask for bottled water, but I have yet to actually get bottled water when I try to order it.

Another thing, Mexican’s don’t really drink water. They never drink it with a meal. Always juice or soda. When you ask for plain water (even with English speakers) they are very confused and double and triple check. Are you sure you want just water? 

People are very family oriented. Here, the whole family goes for walks or sit together outside. They are everywhere. The evening is family time.  If you walk around the neighborhood around 9pm, families are stilling outside on the porch, balcony, or in the road in front of their house. The kids are playing and adults are talking or quiet, enjoying the evening together. It is typical to see three generations of one family together. Being in a family oriented environment is wonderful.

Another thing that is very different from the states is that people are so much more open to God. If you offer to pray for a stranger on the street, they always say yes. They have a deep respect for God that secular America has lost. The same respect is still given to pastors too. Pastor Keith is widely respected throughout the secular community both Mexican and foreign. If a group needs a mediator for a problem, Keith’s name is the first to come up.

There are something that at home are considered basic needs that are not as important here. For example, our apartment does not have glass in the windows. We have screens and bars, but no glass. The few windows that do have glass have slats that twist open and closed but do not seal tight. It is great when it is cool and breezy outside, but when we want to turn on our tiny air conditioner unit, we stuff the windows with cardboard and shut the curtains to try and keep the air in. There is no clothes dryer or dish washer either, which I don’t mind. Our clothes line works great (for free!) and I don’t have enough counter space to let the dished pile up much. We also do not have an oven, just a propane range (which burns very very hot. It is difficult not to burn things, but I am figuring it out.)  Thanks to our friends, the Forgets, we do have a nice big toaster oven that roasts vegetables beautifully. I am going to attempt to make brown bread this weekend.

 Every afternoon when John comes home for lunch (at 1pm which is when the Mexicans eat), John hangs up his cloths to dry on the line, hoping that they are dryer by the time he has to go back to work. When he gets home, he puts his clothes back on the line to dry before he puts them in the laundry pile. It’s that humid.

The white bread in Mexico doesn’t have the same kind of preservatives we are used to in the States, and it tastes so much cleaner and fresher than without them. We buy it from the bakery at the grocery store where they make it fresh every day. Of course, since everything goes bad quickly here, we have to keep the bread in the fridge. The tortillas are also amazing. There is a little tortilla factory near where we live. (When I say little, I mean that the factory is smaller than my bedroom and cannot fit more than the tortilla machine and the two workers inside. All transactions are made on the sidewalk outside.) It is very satisfying to watch the tortillas come out of the press, weighted on the scale, and wrapped up. They are less than two minutes old when I get back to my apartment. I have discovered that tortillas diminish in taste within about three hours which explains why they are so bad from the grocery store. 

Some of you have asked about mail down here. It is basically nonexistent. It is so unreliable, no one uses it. I was trying to ask my English speaking friend how to say “mail” in Spanish, and she had no idea what I was talking about. I tried to explain it to her, but the concept was totally new. That same friend bused to Guadalajara and back in one day (about 7 hours of travel) just to pick up some paperwork she needed for college. That is how bad the mail system is. If you need something from the states, you find someone who is flying down, and mail it to them. They bring it to you once they arrive. Everyone does it that way. The expatriate community is very friendly and helpful with that sort of thing. In the English service every week, they have a mail call announcement to see who is going to the States or Canada soon and would be willing to take mail back to the states.

Since the housed don’t seal up well, we have all kinds of critters in and out. Our favorites are the geckos. (They eat the mosquitoes) We have at least two geckos that live in our apartment full time and several others who live on the balcony. One of them stays behind a picture we have hanging over our dining table. If we come in the room unexpectedly after dark, we catch him scurrying behind the frame.

The roads are basically trails or dry riverbeds, especially in the residential areas. Sand and rock and rusy nails. Actually, most trails are easier to walk down.  If it is raining hard, the roads become rivers, moving the sand and rock around. It is basically like hiking to work, which might help John Mark meet his backpacking quota for the summer.

Probably the most important thing that I have learned since I have been here is to be thankful. There is a culture at La Fuente Riviera of thankfulness. No matter what is happening, if it is great or rough, the pastors are thankful.  It is really inspiring and humbling. Even though our lives are stripped down of material things right now, we still have way more than we need.  We might prefer one or two things were different, but our lives are just as full without those things.  When we have prayer at church, the first three to ten sentences are prayers of thanksgiving. I am learning new ways of praying and thinking about my life and my circumstances. I am really grateful to be learning this lesson now.

 John and I though a post like this might be fun, but we really don’t notice most of these differences anymore. Things are much more the same than they are different. Just like anywhere, some things are fabulous, and a few are inconvenient. More and more often I forget that we are in a different country. I feel comfortable here as we work hard and build relationships with people.

Blessings to you,

Moorea

 Organizing the donated school supplies to give out at all four missions

We had a great day on Saturday at San Ignacio. We had a breakfast that morning. Some of the older American and Canada couples come to La Fuente at 6:30 in the morning on the Saturdays we do breakfasts. They make 250 sandwiches for the four missions. John and I picked up the sandwiches and Pastor Keith's daughter who came up to San Ignacio with us. We served sandwiches and green oranges (not unripe, just a different kind) pickled jalapenos and lime tang. We were also suprised by four more of the La Fuente youth showing up to help with the breakfast and hang out with the kids.

 La Fuente youth leading worship for San Ignacio

 Eating together

Playing at the park

 We didn't have classes for the kids that day, so we all went to the park to play soccer, volleyball, and jump rope while the adults had Bible study. After Bible study, we returned with the kids and handed out school supplies, used clothes and shoes. School started here on Monday. Most of these kids come from very poor families and would not have had many school supplies, or any new clothes for school. It was fun to see how excited they were to get some new things. It was a really good day.

New school supplies

Picking out shoes

Monday, our day off, John and I were invited over to lunch at our downstairs neighbors/La Fuente pastors. It was really fun to spend some time with them outside of our daily interactions at church. It is one thing to work along side someone, it is another to have good, uninterrupted conversation. We went to Vallarata in the afternoon and walked around El Centro (downtown), got some ice cream and watched the waves. It was a nice time.

 On a swinging foot bridge to Isla Rio Cuale, Puerto Vallarta

The famous Catholic church, Our lady of Guadeloupe, Puerto Vallarta

 

Today, I started helping Pastor Keith and Maya home school their 13 year old son, AJ. I am teaching History and Geography to him for an hour and a half twice a week. The curriculum they bought is in English, so I am helping him with pronunciation and comprehension as he reads English out loud. He is a fun kid to be with, and I am happy to help.

 

Pulling up the bricks

  John working at La Fuente

Construction on the sanctuary/multipurpose rooms is continuing. Up till this point, they were using a rope and a pulley to move thousands of pounds of gravel, sand, concrete, etc to the roof of the second story. I have never seen John Mark as tired as he was on the days that he was manning the pulley. And he is used to working hard. Some of the other guys aren't used to manual labor and were having an even harder time. In order to conserve their labor resources, Keith came up with another way to move the material three vertical stories. They strengthened the pulley supports and rigged up a few wheel barrows to hang from hooks. They are now using the truck they bought from the Plumbing Doctor in Yuba City to pull the rope that lifts wheelbarrows full of gravel and sand to the roof.The extra costs in gas will be worth it because they will be able to move so much quicker now that more material is being moved with less man power. John is pretty happy about the change.

Iguana at church

We are doing well. It rained hard last night, which cut the heat. It is very nice when it is cool. Tonight, we are headed out to San Ignacio to help with kids classes for the little ones. My Spanish is getting better poco a poco, as they say here. Thank you for your prayers and support. We have not suffered from the digestive problems that are common to foreigners who live here, and the allergic reaction I was having in my (many) mosquito bites has gone away. We appreciate all of you who think of us and take the time to keep up with our lives.

Blessing to you,
Moorea

Hello,
Below is a copy of our newsletter we recently sent our to our email mailing list. If you would like to be added to that list, please email me at moorea.holmes@gmail.com with that request.


To see an enlarged version of the newsletter, double click on the image.

Contribution Information
A tax deductible donation to support us while we volunteer with La Fuente Riviera may be sent to
John Mark & Moorea Holmes
c/o Church of Glad Tidings
PO Box 1630
Yuba City, CA 95992
Please mark your contributions with "Holmes"

Thank you for your prayers.

Peace Be with You,
Moorea Holmes

Last night, we had an especially noisy rain storm. John and I were woken us by several loud cracks of thunder around 3am. We love when it rains. The air is surprisingly less humid, and the temperature drops fifteen degrees. We had to ford a couple of streams in the three blocks between our apartment and the church this morning, but we don't mind being wet if it means being cool. When we arrived, we were reminded why the building project is so important. The plan is to begin construction on a sanctuary building very soon.

An example of the flooding that is common during a big storm

Most of the Americans and Canadians who live in Bucerias, only stay nine months out of the year. For those nine months, the weather is supposedly perfect. It is warm, balmy, and dry. Having an outdoor service is idyllic during those months of the year.

During the summer rainy season, however, things are a little different. It rains a lot, flooding the yard, awning, and fellowship areas. Sometimes, even the classrooms have a few inches of water on the floor. The pastors and volunteers (like us) spend the first few hours sweeping the water in to the gravel and out of the meeting areas. The chairs need to be wiped down one by one for most of the services during the monsoon season. The chairs also need to be soaped down every month or so to wipe off the accumulated grim from being stored under the awning outside. The plastic chairs also becom brittle over time and break from being in the sun. Being outside creates a lot of work for the pastors who are already streched thin between pastoring, working on construction, and their families.

 Pastors and laborers work on the second story roof

This morning, gravel had been washed from a pile in the construction area, to a thin layer covering the awning's concrete foundation. Not only did we need to sweep the water out, but we swept the gravel too.

Second story construction

When I first arrived, I didn't understand the need for a new building. Since I have seen how much extra time it takes to keep the premises clean, I am looking forward to the completion of the new sanctuary. Time and resources will be better spend when they don't have to clean leaves and water out of the rooms or roll out the sound equipment and projector screens every service.

The construction project has become John Mark's new primary job. Pastor Keith is hoping to get started on the main sanctuary as soon as they have finished the second story structure. They are planning to move the awning that they currently meet under to a different part of the yard as early as next week. They will begin pouring the foundation for the main support pillars where the awning currently stands.

Please pray that the job goes really quickly to conserve resources. They are paying for all the labor and materials out of pocket, which at times is tough on the church's finances. They have a lot of vision for other projects and ways to help the community, but this project needs to be finished before they can move forward with their other ideas. They are really excited about the new facilities, which will be very nice by Mexican standards.

Please also continue praying the the Mexican Government will give La Fuente Riviera a piece of land in San Vicente for a church. The La Fuente youth did an outreach there this week and several people were saved.The part of San Vicente they were in was very very poor. People were living in houses made of tarps and cardboard. That is not common around here. We are excited to see God moving in that area and would like to have a place to minister to the people there.

The youth lead worship for kids' camp

Thank you for all of your prayers. John and I love living down here and feel very privileged to be a part of something that is making a difference in the live of the local people. We often hear stories of people who are giving up drugs and alcohol (which are huge strongholds down here), kids who are choosing not to follow their parents in self-destructive lifestyles, Teens who are choosing abstinence (teen pregnancy is another big problem).

La Fuente puts a lot of emphasis on breaking cycles of poverty. They encourage people to get jobs, to marry the people they are living with, and generally move from a life of chaos to order. The result is much more profound than one would think. The culture in individual families changes when they bring their lives into order. They have hope and stability for the first time in their finances and relationships. It is amazing. The youth especially are experiencing a revival. We can't wait to see what God does next.

Grace and Peace to you,
Moorea

This is the newsletter I created for La Fuente Riviera in Bucerias. Double Click on the image to see an enlarged version.

We had kids' camp this weekend at the church. It was super fun. We had kids from three or four of our campuses attend. I think we had about forty kids in all sleeping and eating at the church. I had a lot of fun getting to know kids that I had seen around, especially at the San Ignacio mission, but hadn't really connected with til now.

 Putting up decorations

 None of the kids spoke English, so communication was a challenge at some points, but I have learned enough Spanish to get the most important information across. They understood me most of the time (I can't say I understood as much of what they said to me) Most of what I missed out on was the fun banter. In that kind of sink or swim environment, I was trying to pull out every Spanish word I knew. I am getting more confident at trying to put together sentences, even if I know that my tenses are off. Fortunately, some of the leaders, including the leader of the team I was on, spoke some English. So if I was lost, I could lean over to someone and say "Okay, so what is happening? My friend, Daniel, speaks good English and likes to translate, so he and his sister, Wendy, helped me out a lot. Fortunately, worshiping and dancing does not require a lot of Spanish.

 worship

Most of the leaders at the camp were high school aged kids which added an element of fun and energy. One thing I have noticed since being in Mexico is how self sufficient kids are here. Even young ones. The high school aged kids at La Fuente run organizational meeting, organize dramas for VBS, designed all the decorations for VBS, and attended all of the VBS sites. Wendy, who ran the camp, is younger than I am. It is really interesting. Another example of how independent kids are here is that little ones only 3 or 4 years old came to camp and stayed the night.

During camp, we went to a local park and did field games and relay races some of which included water balloons. It was pretty warm, but we had a lot of fun. Before we went out, I noticed that all of the Mexican kids slathered on the sun screen which made me feel better about my own sensitivity to the sun down here. I’ve only had one bad burn so far, which better than John Mark is doing. It doesn’t matter how tan you are: everyone burns.

 The little ones passed the water balloon, the older ones tossed them.

John Mark and I went with our friends, the Forgets, to the beach on our day off yesterday. We went about 30 min north to a tide pool and beach. It was the first time we had been outside the bay since we arrived. It was nice to relax after several days of running around with the kids.

We are doing well. We celebrated John Mark's birthday this week with dinner. It was fun. John Mark has been suffering from allergies or a cold. We are not sure which. We are still studying Spanish, hoping to have a grasp of at least the basics before we return (date still undecided). Please pray for health for both of us, especially John Mark. Pray that we pick up the language and are motivated to put in the time it takes to learn it. We are also still praying that the Governor will give La Fuente a piece of land for a church in San Vicente which has a huge new development and no Christian churches. Please join us in praying for a piece of land.

Blessings to you!

Moorea