God has stretched me so much this past week. We are currently back in Palenque just for a few days and then we are going back to Aroyal Palenque about an hour away (where weve been this past week). We take little Con Vie which are just little vans pack full of people (typical for Mexican culture). If you see a car full of Mexican dont think its wierd its normal for their culture.
Aroyal Palenque is a very small villiage in the middle of the mountians. Its has breath taking views but is a very poor community. At first impression i thought are you serious is this where we are staying? There is dirt for their floor and the only privacy we have is a curtian to seperate us from the family were staying with. There are chickens, ducks, turkeys, dogs, pretty much any animal you name its there. We get waken up in the middle of the night but roosters , dog fights and drunk men. The place we are staying is on the main road. The house we are staying in is gated with the church right there.
The family we are staying with is amazing. Pastor Marcos is our contact and his family consist of his wife Flourentina, his 2 daugheters Ghadhi who is 2 12, Carla who is 5, and son Adrian who is 9. The kids were really shy at first but now wont leave us alone. I love it but its hard to have personal time alone.
The people of Aroyal Palenque are very intriged by us. It seems like everytime we go out the whole village is outside staring at us. The children are kind of afriad of us. The will follow us but when you try and get close they all run. I even try to get into there soccer games but they dont want me too. At night the men stand outside the gate and stare at us. There nice people so it doesnt scare me anymore.
Besides culture like i said God is stretching me. Its hard to not know the same language. My spanish is really bad but they dont even really speak spanish. A handful of them do but they speak chole. I am a relational person and not being able to communicate is hard. I have had to learn to communicate using motions and just love on people. Sometimes words arent necessary.
Also im learning how much i take for grated. In America things are so easy and we have so much. In the villiage things are hard and they have close to nothing. They wake up every morning and spend the day cooking for us. Marcos pours his life into his work and that is what he does. He doesnt spend all his time doing task his ministry is his prority. Also they live such a simplistic life. They shower in rivers, dont have much, and are grateful for what they do have.
Ministy here is hard. We have spend the last week praying for people and doing church services. Praying for people is nothing like i have expericed back home. we `pray by the spirit and it drains so much out of you. We prayed for a cripple woman, a woman who had a stomach infection, and a sick baby. we have also prayed over many more asking for a miracle. We prayed for a man the other day who was mentally handicaped. I looked into his eyes and i believe he is possessed by a demoned. I have never seen anything like that. We are going to his house wen. of this week to pray over him again. Pastor marcos told us people are to afraid to go into his house people of that fact. IF you keep that in your prayers that would be great.
I preached the other day. I gave a little 5 minute testomony about my life. Its funny because if you know me you know thats way out of my comfort zone. I want God to transform my life so stepping out of my comfort zone is the first step for that. I talked about love. I spoke it in english then jess translated to spanish and then marcos translated it from spanish to their language. It was cool to see how that worked. ONe lady feel asleep but thats ok haha. I also lead worship with isnt like me either. I dont have a great voice but God used me. I kind of secrely like being out of my comfort zone.
me preaching, Jess tranlating, and Marcos
Im also learning how to live with 4 other people i barely know but they are great. It is a process and hard becasue this is my first time out of my house alone. Anyways this is a bit about the culture and how God is moving. Im learning so much and being strethched so much already. I will post more later with pictures when i have more time. Love yall and miss you.
me and the kids drinking coke
our home
pitching our tent
me attempting to make tortillas
me and Carla
