Finally a real update

I have experienced some interesting things over the past several weeks that I just haven´t had time to write about!

1. Moving into barrio San Miguelito has been one of the coolest parts of this summer. My apartment building has a spectacular view of the neighborhood and I have some of the coolest neighbors. Life in the apartment is a lot different than at the missionary base - no showers, no toilet seat, and our concrete water trough is full of tadpoles and mosquito's ...but it´s worth it to really experience a different culture and a different way of life. My barrio is full of niños and the kids wander up to our apartment just to see what´s going on. For most, it is the first time they have seen a white person; one little girl even said her favorite part of the day is seeing what the new Gringos are doing. The same girl also thought I can´t afford zapatos (tennis shoes) because I always wear sandals. She´s blunt, so I like her a lot!

2. The "Eat what you are offered" cultural rule has once again pushed my boundaries. One of my neighbors invited two friends in for flavored water on a particularly hot day. Mind you, we have tried to avoid this situation the entire summer because of Mexico´s lack of sanitary water. I accepted the water, fainting happiness, and proceeded to feel like a horrible person for wanting to reject the best my neighbor had to offer.
...Then I discovered there was a tadpole in my water. Believe me, it was quite hard to disguise this so the woman wouldn´t be embarrassed. And harder to realize how uppity I was being. So I picked out the tadpole, chugged the water and decided to honestly thank to woman - it really broke my heart to realize that she was offering the most extravagant hospitality she could and that I had decided in my head I deserved better. This moment really struck me - I don´t want to be the middle class American that assumes they deserve better just because they´re from the US where clean water is easier to find. My barrio reminds me every day that the facts of life for most of the world are much different than what Americans are accustomed too. And I also realized for the first time how far society is from being able to provide clean water for everyone. So I am pretty fired up to help make water purifiers and dig wells this next week!

3. I was shepherding sheep again in Yucanama on Wednesday with my friend Kenny. We counted the sheep and said, "Oh no, there are only 28 sheep - shouldn´t there be 29?!"
Juana just smiled. The missing sheep was in the soup we ate for lunch.
Thanks to living on a farm, I know this is life- this is how a farm works. Kenny however is from LA so she insisted on having a moment of silence. Which wasn´t actually to mourn the ewe but more so she wouldn´t ralph up her lunch ... :-)

4. The Christians that came for the Youth Conference were easily some of the coolest people I have ever met. Almost 120 people from all over Oaxaca state, and they honestly live out their faith in every aspect of their life. My favorite part of the weekend was the talent show. A group of 4 guys sang spanish rap about bible stories. It may seem lame to think 'christian rap?' but honestly - it was GOOD! I bought the CD they made so when I get home if anyone is interested in hearing just let me know. These guys just learned about Christianity a few years ago - and decided instead of saying rap is evil (like some people unfortunately think) that they would rap about problems they´ve had and how faith gets them through. My other favorite competitors in the talent show was a group of 2 guys and 4 girls that break dance to christian rap and reggaeton. SWEET!

5. My clumsiness did not stay in America. In the matter of one stinkin day I managed to
-lose my grip and partially slide/fall off a rope from 12-15 feet up and land on my bum
-slide down a 20 foot incline of mud to fully submerge myself in the river
-trip and fall into a mound of lodo (mud)
-fall up a set of stairs made of tires
AND spill food all over my pants at dinner.

On a plus note, the Mexicans really liked me because I am laid back and I constantly cracked jokes about my clumsiness. They´re a blunt culture, I´m a blunt person; happy combination.
The conference this weekend helped develop my spanish skills a ton, and I got the correo electronico of some people I met so I can email them my pictures from the weekend and continue to work on spanish once I return to the states.

Monday begins my final week of ministry work and will bring some very sad goodbyes. It will be my final time to see Ophelia in Yucanama and Lucy here in Tlaxiaco.
These final 2 weeks will fly by, but I have some pretty awesome things planned for the months of August and September and this is helping me look forward to heading home! Plus, we know I honestly miss everyone!