BOB

On Saturday night we said goodbye to the BOB team from Tulsa who had been with us for a week. They were such an amazing group of young people and students it was really great to have them around. They arrived Monday March 18th and spent the week working very hard!

The highlights for me were:

• Asking Hector if some of the team could build bunk beds for the women´s room and hearing him tell us they have been praying for bunk beds!
• Seeing the bunk beds designed and built so lovingly by the team and seeing the gratefulness of the women and men at Hector´s......being part of the answer to other peoples prayers is amazing!
• Sharing lunch and worshipping in the courtyard behind one of the bars in Boystown....I was reminded as were sat there about the 24-7 phrase ´operate in darkness´ and thought about how we were doing just that...in a small courtyard behind a bar where men would come for reasons I don´t need to tell you, only to discover 30+ people worshipping and praising God. He is wild.
• Clearing that same courtyard and creating a garden that became the talk of Boystown!
• Clearing the rubbish from the property (including a dead dog, countless old dolls, part of a hen, a catheter, a chanel bag and much twigs and bricks). The team worked with such servant hearts amidst much laughter and moments of panic as the fire we had lit to burn the rubbish started to rise quite high....pictures of burning down the neighbourhood began to flash through all our minds. Thankfully all was fine and we will still be able to live there.
• Singing and worshipping outside Senor Corona´s house opposite the property as he told us how much he loved it and had made him cry.
• Spending time with the team and seeing how much they loved God and each other
• Praying together everyday to Stop the traffik.

One thing I wasn´t thrilled with (although not surprised by, as those of you who know me well won´t be either) was the fact that we finally left them at the hotel at 1.30am Saturday morning feeling filthy, only to get home and discover we had no water, our washing machine was broken and I had to pack and leave the house again at 4am to fly to Guatemala. Ha ha ha life would be boring if everything went smoothly.

La Antigua Guatemala

So here I am in Guatemala! I've come here for two weeks to go to Spanish school. I'm having five hours teaching a day with my own personal teacher so I'm hoping to return to Reynosa with at least a little more understanding and an ability to have a conversation! Antigua is beautiful....surrounded by mountains, paved with cobbled streets, filled with countless gorgeous coffee shops and restaurants. It really is a blessing to be here, there are so many friendly people around, I'm just smiling and saying hello all day! I arrived on March 25th and have been here for two weeks. I think my Spanish has improved, although Boystown will be my real test! I didn't realise it before I booked but the final week before Easter is HUGE over here. And it seems that during Semana Santa, Antigua is the place to be. Every Sunday during Lent there is a procession from different churches, then during Semana Santa there are processions everyday and in different churches on different days there are velacciones These are like huge murals that people in each church make and display at the front of the church, they depict different times in Jesus' life. The processions are unlike anything I have seen, the men are dressed in purple robes with hoods and carry huge almost like statues but they're more like 3D scenes from Jesus' life, particularly His final days on earth. There is a lot of incense also and bands that play music especially for this time of year. Although the processions wouldn't normally be my style it's been really interesting to see them. I was thinking aswell about how the church is such a hub of activity here, everynight this week people are at the different churches making flower displays, murals etc and also eating and drinking together. It's been lovely to be part of it. On Maundy Thursday there are people out in the streets from morning until about 4am Good Friday morning making alfombres which are 'carpets' on the streets that the processions will come down, they are amazing, so bright, colourful and real works of art. After going to church at the YWAM coffee house just down our road, then for a meal that I had won in an auction at our favourite restaurant on my first day here we wandered the streets till about 2am admiring the carpets and soaking up the atmosphere. It was wonderful.

AND one procession that I did love was on Palm Sunday. I had decided not to church but to go for a coffee and a read instead. I was just wandering up one of the streets by the main square when I heard lots of shouting and saw palm branches waving in the air. I was curious as it seemed to be different to the other processions. As the shouting got louder I could see about 30 people heading towards me all dressed like they were living in biblical times, they were dancing, waving palms, shouting hallelujah. I was drawn in, I didn't know where they were going but I wanted to follow them. I started to walk behind them as others did the same, we wound our way down to the main square and everynow and then as walked around, the 'procession' would stop and act out different times from Jesus' life and the Gospels. This wasn't a procession with cordoned off streets or big organisation like it needs to be at home though, this was just people walking through town, drawing a crowd, just like I imagine it was in the Bible....by the time we had reached the main square there was hundreds of us! As we were walking someone from the crowd would shout 'Jesu, Jesu' and it was the man with a sick daughter, another lady touched Jesus' cloak and everyone stopped, then we saw a mad man running towards us but Jesus healed him.....it was amazing, I couldn't help but follow these people, the words that I had read that morning from the Gospel of matthew were coming alive in the streets of Antigua. I started wondering who I would have been if I was a girl when Jesus was alive, would I have been amongst those who welcomed Him one week and crucified Him the next? Or would I have given my heart to Him and been amongst the women who went to anoint His body with oil. I wish I would have been the latter but I guess I'll never know, I do know that it got me thinking about all the times I have welcomed Jesus into my heart or areas of my life with shouts of hallelujah and then days or hours later I have stolen them back from Him and crucified Him all over again. It also got me thinking about how I don't want to be someone who believes God only when He has proved Himself I want to trust Him for who He says He is not just what He does. I want to be someone who never takes back my welcome to Him.

I'm really looking forward to getting back to Reynosa but I'll be sad to leave Antigua too, a few highlights have been:

• Wandering around (not driving!), having coffee in lots of lovely coffee shops with courtyards full of flowers and friendly people reading and writing in my journal.






• Staying in the same house as a girl called Jenni from Dallas....we got on really well and had a lot of fun together!






• Going to 'Pena de sol latino' a cafe/restaurant I went to on my first night with other people in my house, they were so welcoming, had live music every night and great cakes!






• Meeting an English guy who lives in New York now and told me that there was one word American's don't understand when he says it......do I need to tell you?!






• Going swimming three or four times....it felt great.






• Sitting on the balcony of our house overlooking the volcanoes that surround Antigua. Almost felt like I was in Wales.....almost! Ah.

Feliz Cumpleanos Karina!

Friday night was party night! When we found out last week that it was Karina's birthday we all decided it was time for a fiesta! We went to pick her up at 9pm and she was so excited she said her heart was going crazy! Kelly and I were excited too although also a little unsure about how the night was going to go. No need to worry though, Erin had invited a few of her friends along, including two who play the guitar and sing beautifully and I mean beautifully! It was such a great night, eating, drinking, singing and listening to Mexican music. It was even greater knowing that it is just a taste of things to come, a glimpse into the future of community life here in Reynosa. I may or not be part of that future but it's wonderful to be part of the beginning of it now. To pray into, and dream about a place that doesn't exist physically yet but at the same time is very real and alive in so many people's hearts and in the heart of God.

Walter

Since arriving here in Mexico/USA there has been a few, very funny, moments regarding my English accent and the way I say things. For example, when we were in Madison, sitting around the house one night, we were in the middle of conversation when Rebecca (our host) turned to me and said, totally out of the blue 'would you say Cadbury's eggs?'....so say it I did, much to her satisfaction and our amusement!
The funniest however was last night when we were at the building Erin works at welcoming a new team that had just arrived. I got chatting to one of the girl's mum's who was very sweet with her silver hair tied back in a bun. She had a little difficulty understanding some of what I was saying and was apologising but I laughed and said 'don't worry that's happened a lot since I've been here. In fact one of the most difficult words for American's to understand has been 'water'' (I have to put on an American accent everytime I ask for it in Texas). She looked a little confused so I said again 'water' as slowly and clearly as I could, to which she replied with a smile and a pat on my arm 'well, don't worry dear I'm sure there's not many people called Walter round here'.

I've cracked this blog thing

At last I hear you cry! Those who know me well will not be surprised to hear that my blogging absence has been because first of all I couldn't work out how to use it and secondly because I forgot my password....hence the new address. But now Jo Jo Wells is here and ready to blog her socks off.

I was going to write about the whirlwind of a 3 weeks my life has been since I left home but I think I've emailed you all to let you know what's been happening, the people I've met, the wonderful gals I'm living with and the rythym my life is beginning to take on here in Mexico (tacos, prayer and sun cream playing a large part) so this is just a wee post to say hello and send you lots of love.

I'll try and get some photos on here as soon as poss....although that could take another 3 weeks, I may try and borrow some from people who've been to the same places I have. oo here goes. Yes! These are some photos of snowy Madison......a beautiful place and a fun time x