[Sunday, November 16, 2003]
Hello ! I hope everyone is well rested, spiritually armored and ready to start a new week! Well, my week was good. It went by very fast! I enjoyed being with my students this week and we all had a smooth time. Well, today I'm going to tell you about 2 things that happened this week. First of all, I had my first substitute teacher. I wasn't sick or anything, but I had to be away from school Friday morning. I came into Mexico with a tourist visa, which expires after 90 days and my 90 days is almost up, so I had to go and get it renewed. It was actually quick and easy and I got permission to stay here in Mexico for 90 more days. I'll get a new visa when I come back from Christmas. So, that wasn't real exciting, but it's the first time in my life I've had to renew a visa. It made me wonder if the US renews visa's so easily.
Anyway, the second thing I have to tell you today is that on Saturday (yesterday) I did something that was the most physically challenging thing I can ever remember doing in my life!! Yes, in my life!! At 5:30 a.m. Saturday, I got up and left my apartment at 6:15. I walked about 8 blocks to the seminary where I met a girl from church. Then from there, we walked to a shopping center in Puebla. At 7:00, we met 2 other people from our youth group. (We should have known better than to be on time because we didn't leave until 8:00.....in case you didn't know, most everyone is late to things and most things start 1/2 hr to an hour late here in Mexico!) Anyways, at 8:00, a group of 10 of us drove north alongside the mountains Popo and Ixcta, until we got just a little ways past them. We parked the truck at a little store on the side of the mountain range and walked through the people's back yard, up the side of the mountain. For nearly 3 hours we hiked, up and up and up!! First of all, going up the side of the mountain was a little steep. Secondly, if you don't know anything about high altitudes, it's harder to breathe here because the air is thinner. The people who live here can handle it because their lungs adapt and become stronger. Well, the altitude was very hard on my weak little Ohio lungs. (I did some altitude checking and found out that Lima's altitude is around 600 ft., so here I was hiking from 7,000 to 13,000 ft.) Well, it was very hard for me to breathe at first. Although, for some reason after about 1/2 way up, I did much better. It was a long way up though! However, when I got to the top, it was muy buenita!!! (very beautiful) I was higher up than I have ever been in my life (around 13,000 ft) and everywhere I looked were mountains. How beautiful it was!! I could see a different view of Popo and Icxta, which was really cool! I was much closer to them than I'd ever been because the mountain we were on is in the same mountain range. I looked down and could see the road where we parked and it was amazing to think how far we'd come! 3 hours is a long time to go up! At the top we ate lunch, took some pictures and rested. The way down was much much easier. I practiced my Spanish with my friends Christian and Iliana nearly the whole way down. It took around 2 hours to go down. Oh, yeah, we saw some torros (bulls) and vacas (cows) on the mountain. I assume they were wild. It was interesting. I am glad I was able to go. I was so wiped out though and filthy from all the dirt on the mountain. It was a neat day. One of the best parts is that I was the only American, so it made me feel like I am becoming more accepted by my Mexican friends, and I had to speak more Spanish because only 1 of them was able to speak good English. Well, my weekend is over now....time to get rested for the start of another week. God is so gracious to faithfully greet us with compassion at the beginning of every day. Lamentations 3 says that God's compassion and mercies are new every morning. I'll leave you with that thought this week... God will be faithful, merciful and loving to you this week! Will you find the time to see it and thank Him?
Anyway, the second thing I have to tell you today is that on Saturday (yesterday) I did something that was the most physically challenging thing I can ever remember doing in my life!! Yes, in my life!! At 5:30 a.m. Saturday, I got up and left my apartment at 6:15. I walked about 8 blocks to the seminary where I met a girl from church. Then from there, we walked to a shopping center in Puebla. At 7:00, we met 2 other people from our youth group. (We should have known better than to be on time because we didn't leave until 8:00.....in case you didn't know, most everyone is late to things and most things start 1/2 hr to an hour late here in Mexico!) Anyways, at 8:00, a group of 10 of us drove north alongside the mountains Popo and Ixcta, until we got just a little ways past them. We parked the truck at a little store on the side of the mountain range and walked through the people's back yard, up the side of the mountain. For nearly 3 hours we hiked, up and up and up!! First of all, going up the side of the mountain was a little steep. Secondly, if you don't know anything about high altitudes, it's harder to breathe here because the air is thinner. The people who live here can handle it because their lungs adapt and become stronger. Well, the altitude was very hard on my weak little Ohio lungs. (I did some altitude checking and found out that Lima's altitude is around 600 ft., so here I was hiking from 7,000 to 13,000 ft.) Well, it was very hard for me to breathe at first. Although, for some reason after about 1/2 way up, I did much better. It was a long way up though! However, when I got to the top, it was muy buenita!!! (very beautiful) I was higher up than I have ever been in my life (around 13,000 ft) and everywhere I looked were mountains. How beautiful it was!! I could see a different view of Popo and Icxta, which was really cool! I was much closer to them than I'd ever been because the mountain we were on is in the same mountain range. I looked down and could see the road where we parked and it was amazing to think how far we'd come! 3 hours is a long time to go up! At the top we ate lunch, took some pictures and rested. The way down was much much easier. I practiced my Spanish with my friends Christian and Iliana nearly the whole way down. It took around 2 hours to go down. Oh, yeah, we saw some torros (bulls) and vacas (cows) on the mountain. I assume they were wild. It was interesting. I am glad I was able to go. I was so wiped out though and filthy from all the dirt on the mountain. It was a neat day. One of the best parts is that I was the only American, so it made me feel like I am becoming more accepted by my Mexican friends, and I had to speak more Spanish because only 1 of them was able to speak good English. Well, my weekend is over now....time to get rested for the start of another week. God is so gracious to faithfully greet us with compassion at the beginning of every day. Lamentations 3 says that God's compassion and mercies are new every morning. I'll leave you with that thought this week... God will be faithful, merciful and loving to you this week! Will you find the time to see it and thank Him?
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