Friday was the day; the day we would move into our new homes. I was excited for the experience, yet so nervous for not knowing what to expect. We were to spend Friday to Monday with our families. Tuesday and Wednesday we worked, but would return to our families in the evening. Then Thursday to Friday afternoon we were in San Diego. Returning back to our families for the weekend that afternoon.
My family consisted of: my parents, three sisters- two of which were married, two brothers- both married, two nephews and two nieces- two of which were babies. A total of fifteen people- myself making it sixteen. That's a large family! They were so welcoming though and made me feel at home right away. My home was pretty small. If you walked through the door you would see the living room and then the kitchen to the left. There would be two rooms on the right of the kitchen- one was my parents and the other my brothers and his wife's. There was another room to the right of the kitchen and that was one of my sister's rooms. The bathroom consisted of room about 4x10 and was just straight cement walls. There was a curtain between the shower and the toilet and then a curtain outside of the toilet. It was much different than anything I was used to. I slept on the couch in the living room and one of my other sisters slept on a mattress on the floor next to me. The youngest of my siblings was the same age as me, but she had a baby which made me feel like we were in different areas of our lives. Throughout the days there were always members of the family coming and going from the house. They all lived right down the street from each other, so it was easy to stay close.
The language barrier. Talk about hard to understand. Walking into that house I quickly realized how little Spanish I knew. I could barely even create a sentence to talk with them. Thankfully they understood that I knew so little and were willing to work with me and laugh with me. They had lots of questions for me and tried to include me in on conversations, but it was so hard to fully understand them. I really wish I had known more going into it because as connected as I do feel with my family, I wish I could have gotten to know them on a better level. My family seemed to know quite a few English words and would try to use them when Spanish would fail. It was always broken Spanglish though. We enjoyed being together and were always laughing at the silly moments. By the end of the week, I felt as though I could communicate a little better and I even learned a few new words.
I was thankful every time I got to see my American friends and the one Canadian. It is hard when you are not able to speak your own language. It is testing on your patience and frustrating when you can't communicate. I was lucky to have lived down the road from another guy on staff and therefore could see somebody who I could have a quick conversation about what was going on through my head during this time. Overall the experience was the best of the fall here at Caravan and really has changed my time here in Mexico. It feels great to have connections with people who live here, other than the people that we build for. The church I attended was incredibly welcoming and yesterday we had a gathering among our staff and the youth of the church. It was a small party where we were pushed out of our comfort zones and participated in activities were we got to know people on a deeper level, even though they spoke a different language. We had a couple people that could translate enough that we could understand each other. It was really nice to be among a body of believers that are all focused on bringing glory to God.
Only a couple weeks left before break and before I head back home to Michigan. Pray that these last couple weeks would be centered on Christ.That as a staff we would be encouraging to one another and enjoying our time together. Prayer that we would all be servants to each other and to the community. Also prayer for us as a staff to have more opportunities to serve the community and to get connected with them.
