I'm home, the end of my Sabbatical

My 3 week trip to the orphanage in Mexico has come to an end (luckily I get to go back in 4 weeks with my church group for another week!).

I've been wearing this mask for 11 hours straight. I've never worn a mask that long. Boy does it feel good to be home and mask free.

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Here are a few final thoughts from my trip...

What's a sabbatical, I was asked. 

I guess a dictionary definition of sabbatical includes: A break or change from a normal routine. A purposeful time of rest. 

Sometimes the grind of daily life can be very repetitive. We have an example from God Himself that even He rested after creating the universe. “Then God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done.” Genesis 2:3 NIV

There are several other Biblical references about resting. I think it’s not only a good thing to do, but is needed for us to recharge and become stronger.

I’m reminded of what I was once told. When you're exercising, it’s not the lifting of the weights where your strength is built. But rather, it’s when you’re at rest that you are getting stronger. WHAT? That doesn’t make sense! I always thought that as you ripped your muscles and stretched them beyond their normal ability that they became stronger. NOPE, when you work out, you are damaging your muscles and hurting them. It’s when you’re resting that the body actually has time to heal the damaged muscles and makes them stronger. Rest is an important and necessary part of growth.

This is one of the paradoxes of this world. Resting is where you heal and become strong (oftentimes without you even knowing it). We can't neglect rest.

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For me this sabbatical was not just a vacation. When I vacation, I try to fill my day with interesting places and activities (because I just spent a ton of money to get there). Or some feel that you should sit on the beach and do nothing. The idea of doing nothing has never appealed to me. 

During my 3 week stay at the orphanage, I was able to just “be”. There were many purposeful things that I did, however I didn't fill my schedule up so that I couldn’t help when needed. At home my schedule and “to do” list is massive. I have the ability to fill up my schedule and have things waiting that need to be done. Call it overbooking. In Mexico, I was able to just wake up, show up, and see what God had for me that day.

Of course there is no way that I could live that way, but it was sure nice for a few weeks.

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Best thing about my time there:

For the last 10 years, that I’ve been going, each year I've notice that there seems to be more laughter there than where I live. Not only do I end up laughing, but everyone I’m around is laughing. It’s a joy to be in a place and see God at work in so many lives.

I was reminded that God wants good for every single person. He is actively providing good things for each of us. When I'm there, I see it through the love of the people and even how the basic necessities like food and shelter are being met.

Hardest thing about my time there:

When you can’t communicate with people, a close relationship with them is harder to achieve. It was often that I just sat and listened and didn’t understand a single word that was said in a group setting.  Even when I was alone with someone, it was always a struggle to understand what they were trying to say. Thank goodness for modern electronics to translate. That helped me communicate however language is more than just words, it's context and the emotions that the words involk that were not always understood and limited my ability to fully understand and form relationships.

Additionally as I would drive around town, I saw many people that were in need. There were so many people that were in need and could use help. I’ve always been of the opinion that government should provide very basic things (like roads, police, military) and that their control should be very small and keep out of people's lives. However, without government intervention, the strong will prey on the weak and systems will be setup to keep the poor poorer and the rich will be allowed to get richer. A strong leadership in Mexico could really help this economy. My prayer is for Godly leaders.

How I saw God work:

There are dozens and dozens of adults that have given their lives to care for these orphans. They are paid little, because they are considered missionaries themselves. When you go into ministry, there isn’t much money for you personally. I saw people that answered God’s call to feed and care for the orphans. They are incredible people that care less for their personal comfort and more for the thing that God called them to do. And that’s admirable.

I saw children that have had a past that was hard and included massive pain. But yet somehow, they were brought to a place where they can hear the word of God several times a day and have the opportunity to glorify Him.

My takeaways: 

Honestly, when it comes to my life, I have no problems or worries. It’s probably wrong to compare my life with others, but I can’t help it. My life is full. I have no problems and nothing to worry about when I consider all that I have. I live in a tremendously wealthy country, with liberty, medical care, a quality way of life and just incredible freedoms. I have absolutely nothing to complain of and I must live my life in gratitude for all that I have.

I would urge you to consider how you could have a sabbatical, “a purposeful time of rest”.

I've been forever changed by this experience. Put another way:

A mind stretched by new experiences can never go back to its previous dimensions.

A hike to Cerro de la Cumbre and a peaceful rooftop meal

WOW was today a lazy day. It's been 2 1/2 weeks and I've finally perfected laziness! Most of the day was spent just sitting around and doing absolutely nothing. However by 5:00pm the lazy was over and a friend and I took a 5 mile drive south to the base of a hill called "Cerro de la Cumbre" (Summit Hill). We parked then walked a 1.6 mile hike up a cobblestone road to the summit. You could see the whole city of Colima (it's metro area is home to 400,000 people) and we could see the surrounding farmland and mountains. 

View from a few miles away

It was a nice and easy walk. When we reached the top, of course there were 2 couples making out (hmm, guess that's normal for the top of all hills around the world).

I took some photos, however I think this video does it more justice than my photos could...

Then afterwards we went downtown to a rooftop restaurant that overlooked the main square. It was a perfect 75º night with a slight cool breeze. 

What a relaxing day

Blackberries, Water Heaters, More Coconuts and Diverticulitis

 There were tons of blackberries donated to the orphanage today. They were a tasty treat. I'm always amazed at how much it takes to run and maintain all these houses and all these kids (as well as the adults and leadership). It really renews my faith in humanity to see how these kids and adults are taken care of by the community, our God and others.

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Today we replaced a water heater. Of the three that they had on this half of the house, only one was working. We were able to replace one of them with a used one that was from another house. The one we replaced was 20 years old and parts were no longer available for it. I would've just thrown it away, but that's not what we do here. Everything has value. It was taken in to get scrap money for it. Hot water heaters that we are use to seeing do exist here, but these heaters are so much better because there's a ton of sun to heat the water. The water will actually get so hot that it will boil. This picture is deceptive, because we are assembling it on the roof, so you can't actually see how the final product looks.

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There were more coconuts eaten and this time I was able to drink the coconut milk! It was very refreshing after spending a couple of hours on the 92º roof (the high for today was 99º).

There are all kinds of yummy unique drinks here, like this one...

The drink was good and fortunately, Diverticulitis was not a word I had to learn in spanish!

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And yes, there were more toilets to repair.

I'm probably telling too much about my time here in Mexico. However there are a few people that this catches their attention. Namely people that have been here and experienced the same or similar things as I've been experiencing. There are also over 30 people (between the 2 different trips, 2 different weeks) that will be coming in a month as part of our church group. I thought it would be nice for them to see some of the things and places that they will be part of. If you would like to be part of that trip by praying for us or donating toward our projects and the kids, let me know!

Clean clothes and the thing that I absolutely hate about being here...

 It was another easy day in Mexico. I made a trip to Home Depot today. It's the most expensive hardware store here, but they have so many things that it's very convenient. It did take 4 people to help me find the correct basic parts for a drain. It's funny to watch them all discuss what I need and interact to try to help. I've found that people here are overly helpful. 

I was also able to get my laundry done. Ok, a bit of a confession. You can drop off your laundry in the morning and pick it up in the afternoon all clean and folded for $6. And that's exactly what I did!

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Manuel is 17 and he's been my friend for several years. Here's a picture of the machete he used to get and open a coconut. You can see the coconut in my hand. Colima is the 2nd highest grower of coconuts in all of Mexico. When I tell Mexicans in the US that I'm going to Colima, they always say "oh mucho coconuts". 

Of course I wanted to share some of my favorite foods with him, so off to the convenience store we went. Honesty, mine were more tasty.

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Now, a subject I'd rather not talk about, but I'm trying to be honest and upfront on this blog. Here are some things I don’t like about where I’m at...

I have a friend here that we do a lot of things together. He is always telling me to be careful and watch. I used to carry a money clip which necessitated whipping it out and fanning all my money while I tried to translate in my head how much the woman at the store said the total was. My friend would scold me and say "put it away, hide it" in a stern voice. He has told me this so many times I can't count them on both hands. I now carry my money differently. No more money clip, now I carry two wallets. One with a small amount of spending money and the other with my “just in case money of 10,000 pesos ($500) or more. 

I was once told here that if you're in an car accident, it should be handled between the two of you right then and there and the police should not be called (because they have better things to do). It’s a good idea to carry extra cash just in case you're at fault. 

The other day Gabriel and I passed a broke down car, on a hill, on a 2 lane road with 4 women and a man. They were all out of the car and the man was flagging people by. I suggested that we turn around and help. My friend said "no, never". He had the most serious face I've ever seen him have. He said, "you will die that way".

Later that day, we were driving on another 2 lane road and noticed that a motorcycle was on the side of the road. To me it looked like he was just pulling out of his farm where he had just closed the gate. My friend said "watch" and pointed to the moto. We passed as the man started his moto and pulled in behind us. I could see my friend constantly checking his mirror and the road in front of us. Soon the motorcycle turned and there were no issues.

Gabriel was trying to teach me: Don’t trust anyone and you must keep your valuables guarded. 

That isn't how God made me to live! I hate worrying and not being able to help others. 

Yesterday a young woman was crying outside the orphanage. And I mean wailing as she was crying, just really bawling! She had her face hidden in the corner of a building and wouldn't look up, she would randomly fall to her knees from the weight of her sorrow, then regained just a little bit and stand up and then again drop her height. 

My immediate reaction was that it’s a ploy to get me out into the street and that I must fear the situation and not help. 

I hate that feeling!!!

I watch for a minute, then decided to tell one of the kids to hurry and get an adult. I figured my basic spanish wouldn't work in this type of a situation. By the time the adult came, the young lady noticed that we were watching her and her pain and scooted down the road. 

There never was any danger and I'm positive that it wasn't a ploy for anything bad to happen. I really hate that my first impression was one of fear for myself, when obviously she was the one in pain.

My takeaway is: Yes be cautious, but listen to the spirit and do appreciate things.

Now in defense of my friend, he does have a past (as one of my other mexican friends would say "it's a long history") that would make him feel this way of not trusting anyone. I hope I never have a reason to develop fear to that level.

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On a positive note, Covid cases are down here in the state of Colima.

However this playground at the kid's school is still a victim.

The most dangerous place I've been in Mexico and I'VE BEEN SHOT!!!

 The day started like any other Sunday here, get up at 6, leave for church by 7:30am.

It's always a good sign when they need to bring out more chairs in church. Church is held on the school property, I really like the outdoors feel of church.

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After that we picked up some donations of bread on the way to a house that I would visit. 

It reminds me of the verse:  Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Matthew 6:26

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After that I went to Casa de Adolescente (the house for adolescent boys 13-18 years old). At one point, the house mother started making bacon. Oh, my favorite smell! I told the house parent that the smell was like love, oh do I love the smell of bacon frying. They proceeded to finished cooking and asked if I wanted some. Here I never turn down food, one because I don't know when I'll get offered some again, and two because I don't want them to think that they need to make something different or that I am ungrateful. They gave me that plate and it was so much, so, so much. I graciously accepted it.

There must have been at least 6 pieces of bacon, eggs with ham and a full avocado. I eat about half of it, then I realize that there is no one else eating. Fear sets over me, why was she cooking bacon, then I make an off the cuff remark about loving bacon and now I'm the only one eating bacon. Oh no, this food was for more than me! Oh no, I was suppose to take what I wanted off of the plate and instead I took the WHOLE PLATE! Oh no, no, no! Oh, I'm so embarrased! I gave the rest of my plate back and they took it. I'm still not sure if I took everyones or if they meant it just for me. This is where the language barrier is a huge problem. Either way, I was super embarrassed.

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Luckily we moved right into arm wrestling to distract my mind. I beat 3 of the kids, but let me tell ya, it was very, very tough! My arm hurt bad enough that I didn't try any others.

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Then the most dangerous part of the day happened. We drove to the Northern part of the city and POP, POP, POP, SO MANY SHOTS WERE FIRED! This was a dangerous place and that's what makes it fun!

We had so much fun playing paintball! It was challenging because we all got camo shirts and matching vests and face masks. Without the ability to communicate with my team and even recognize who was actually on my team, I struggled severely. However when we were done, all the boys were laughing and reliving the fun that they had through the stories that they each told (of course I understood none of it). 

At one point I had run out of ammo. I hatched a plan, I'd make a suicide run to where I knew an opposing team member was. I gathered all my courage and ran as fast as I could, I rounded the corner and found him sitting in a resting position while he waited for the firefight to calm down. I stuck my gun in his chest and yelled "do you surrender?" My plan was to make him surrender and then take all his paintballs. Well, there were a couple of problems with this plan. First off, he spoke no english so as I yelled at him to surrender, it meant nothing. The second and bigger problem, that I hadn't realized, is that he had a teammate about 6 feet away from him that I failed to see. As I stuck the barrel of my gun in the first boys chest, I suddenly heard the pop, pop, pop of his teammate drilling me in the side with massive amounts and with increadible forces of paint. I had failed in my mission, it was in fact a suicidal act.

But the good news is that I now have a souvenir to take home from Mexico that can't be confiscated in customs...

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Then back to the house that I'm staying at to play with the kids a little longer before lights out.

Today was a day that was filled with "mucha drama"

Morning devotional, God provides a snack and just sitting around

 Every morning at 7:30 the kids have singing and devotional time. Today was no different. It's so nice to see them praise God and learn about our Savior each and every morning.

I wish I could wake up and sing every morning with these kids, it's a ton of energy!

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Today we worked on the solar panels again. We had given up last week because the squirrels were eating the wires on the partially installed panels. After a quick YouTube search, turns out that wiring in cars and other products are using less oil based products and more environmentally friendly soy based material. This and the fact that squirrel's teeth grow 10 INCHES PER YEAR causes them to need to always be chewing on something. This causes a major problem in several areas of the world. We replaced and taped up the bad wires, then bolted back down the panels. It was a few hours of work in 90º sun, on the roof to boot. That was definitely the most challenging part of my day. The overhanging trees have been cut down, so we hope the problem won't continue (at roughly $250 per panel and there are over 30, this could get real expensive, real fast).

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During one of our breaks, of course I got the very long pole and pulled some Guamuchil down from the tree. It's a great snack that God provides for free.

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When we got back to the orphanage there was a lot of sitting around on the benches in the courtyard. We do that a lot and I love it. Just sitting around, speaking and laughing with the kids.

A Cave that we couldn't enter, Beach and Why I love this trip

My friend and I sat off to "Grutas de San Gabriel" (Saint Gabriel's Cave) today, but when we got there it was closed. We drove over an hour with a lot of it on cobblestone roads and at slow speeds. We did get a picture of the entrance, but that was it, jajaja (in english it would be "hahaha", but because the "h" is silent in spanish, it is spelled "jajaja"). Perhaps next year I can return and see it.

Because the cave was a bust, we decide to go to the beach. We sat by the ocean and had fresh fish. While being sung to at one point by this blind man.

When I come to Mexico, there are things I like to do. First of all, it takes me a good week to get comfortable and relaxed. As an Enneagram #1 (more on this later) it can be difficult for me to just relax.

A few things that I love about Mexico include:

#1 Time with the kids. Kids are carefree when the conditions are right. These kids have the pure love of God in them. You can see as they get older that the world sucks it out of them and most become more serious about everything as they age.

#2 Selfishly, it's a bit of an escape. Every day, all day long, I have responsibilities at home. I must lead the volunteer board at Thanksgiving Point, I must lead the Cleaning Teams at church, I must lead my family in purposeful monthly activities, I must show up to classes and assignments, I get calls all day from customers and the day is no longer mine, I must go and fix their problems. Please, please don't get me wrong! I love each of those things or I wouldn't be doing them. Once I was given the question "Are you a human-doing or a human-being?". At home I must do, do, do (because I agree to those things). In Mexico, I can just be a human "being". Sure there are things that I do, but mostly I can just "be".

#3 I'm around incredible adults that have purposely decided to give their lives to the Lord and care for some children that have very real social, psychological and physical needs. These adults are an inspiration. Here is a picture of Mama Cecy leading worship songs.

#4 I get to do what God made me to do. I believe that each of use have gifts and talents. Each of us are very good at somethings and when we are working in our sweet spot, it's one of the ways we can enjoy heaven on earth. I was made to physically fix things that are broken or need improvement. In Mexico at the orphanage, I get to use my God given talents most every day and that is super rewarding.

#5 The people here are so incredibly nice and humble. They never tire of helping me learn Spanish (even though I make the exact same mistakes repeatedly). They laugh a lot more than we do in the United States. They are happy with what they have and they don't need More, Bigger and Better like I tend to do.

I could go on for days about the things and the people here. There are so many wonderful things that God has made in this world, most of which can be missed when we are performing the daily grind and just getting by day-by-day.

My prayer is that you can find a little time to be a Human-Being and not just a Human-Doing.

Soccer, Tiny banana, Donations, Driving and a little reading

 It was a simple day today at the orphanage.

There was some soccer played by 4 of us in the courtyard (yes there is a volleyball net there, we just duck under it).

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Also in the morning we were fortunate enough to have some bananas. These were the smallest bananas that I've ever seen.

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Tony (18) and I went to pick up tortilla donations from 2 different businesses. These businesses give weekly (or more) to the children of Hogar de Amor (House of Love) Orphanage. You can see I'm weighted down by a backpack full of tortillas.

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Here is another statue found at a roundabout. 

By the way, the stop sign you see in the picture is merely a suggestion. By NO MEANS does it mean to stop, unless you are about to get into an accident. That, perhaps, was the hardest thing to get use to in driving here. Mexican drivers are... let's see... I wouldn't say aggressive, I'd say they are "purposeful". They do not dilly dally around. They know where they are going and they go there. On the contrary, the American drivers are the problem here. We do very unexpected things, like stop at stop signs. It can really mess up the flow of traffic. Also they have roundabouts that are often 2, 3 or even 4 lanes around them. They have stop lights in the middle of them, so it can really, really get confusing!

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This afternoon was lazy for me. I took a 2 1/2 hour nap, then finished the book I was reading. I never have time to read a fictional book at home, they are always of the self help, improve business or organization books and typically they would be audio books, cause who has time to just sit and read?

This book was about a 24 year old woman that decides to die, she is placed in a mental hospital and meets different people. I'm not sure that I would recommend it, but it did give me some perspective on mental illness, mental hospitals and being purposeful with life. You know me, always trying to get a "take-away" from a book. It's hard to just read for pleasure, but I'm trying.

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Tomorrow will be super exciting. My friend and I will travel 1 hour south to a cave.

Stay tuned...

Pop-Eye eggs, The rabbits must die, I almost die, Always buy the candy, My new gang name is Dirty Dan, People are missing

For decades our family has been eating what we call "pop-eye" eggs. You simply cut a hole in a piece of bread, butter the bread, slap it in a pan and fry an egg in it. It's been a favorite of mine since childhood.

Simple and delicious. But wait, the mexicans may have improved it...

Scrambled eggs, cut up hot dogs and cheese. I'll have to try it sometime and see.

I was right! I was told in confidence by this young man, the bunnies will die in May. It's good that they know where food comes from.

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At Casa Famosa (another house that is part of this orphanage) they don't use the garage doors and thought that it could be a break in potential. So they had us weld them shut.

There were sparks! As I felt the sparks hit my back, I almost died (well, ok is was just scary). As I was holding the doors shut, the sparks flew out of the windows at me.

A couple of the kids at the house had set up a store on the front porch.

Of course I had to buy some things. My personal feeling is that I should never pass up a lemonade stand (or in this case a candy store) set up by kids to earn money without making a purchase.

A friend and I went into town and were goofy...

Because someone spray painted "Dirty Dan" on this fountain, I thought it appropriate to take a photo while throwing my best gang signs (I don't know any, so they were lame).

A picture in the plaza downtown with old buildings (and an old person)

It was so exciting, we saw a famous news reporter! Nevermind, ignore her, I have no idea who she is! But notice the tree to the left.

Each item has a photo and information about a missing person that the family is searching for. Imagine, each of those families are worried sick about the loss. There are hurting people everywhere.