Angelina's Life in Motion

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!! Sorry it's a little late. I hope many of you were able to spend time with your families. You know, I was able to talk to several of my family members on Thursday and it was such a blessing. My sister Julianne told me that her Sunday School teacher told her that we should thank God a lot on Thanksgiving, so Julie said she was thanking God every few minutes. If we'd really take the time to stop and thank God, we would have an endless list....even if things haven't been going quite so well for you, God is good! I'm thankful for so many things....my parents, my family, my relatives, the people at LBT who have cared for me every since I was a small girl, for all my professors at IWU who made such a great impact on my life, the library staff at IWU, the people at FIrst Landmark Missionary Baptist where I spent my 4 college years worshipping at, my friends from college and my best friend Jenny at home in Lima, the staff at EBM and many others! I am especially thankful for the opportunity to be here in Puebla and for God's blessing on my life! Well, even though Mexicans don't celebrate Thanksgiving, I was still able to have Thanksgiving with some missionaries here. The Hudsons and Nevins and another single teacher and I had dinner together. It was nice. The whole week was great! It was the most relaxing vacation I've had in years. I spent Thanksgiving break last year working on my student teaching portfolio. My other breaks I'd spend doing projects or working to pay for college. So, to have a whole week to do nothing was great! At the beginning of the week, us EBMers went on a little 2 day retreat to a vacation center. I shared a room with Debbie Hudson. We had fun. The hotel had the biggest pool I've ever seen and we were able to swim (indoors, not outdoors.) We had a beautiful view of Malinche (one of the mountains) and we played games at night and just had fun. Yesterday I went to a hill that overlooks the city of Puebla. It's called something like La Colera. For any of you reading who came with LBT in 1996, it's the same hill we went to. Remember it? We went near dark and watched the lights of the city come on. Well, since then many homes have been added to the hill, but it's still an amazing and breathtaking view of the city. Our neighborhood is the highest point in Puebla, so you can easily identify it. Our neighborhood is called La Paz (Peace.) About 3 million people live in the city and the city goes on for miles and miles....it's the only thing you see when you look out! It reminded me that it's easy to forget the other 2, 999,000 people that mostly don't know about Jesus. There is a mission field here! Please pray for me that I will have the opportunity to reach out to at least a few Mexicans while I'm here. While my main ministry here is teaching missionary kids, as a Christian my ultimate mission is to share Christ with others. So, a challenge to other Christians is to remember your ultimate mission as well! Have a great week. Oh yeah...one more thing....20 days and I'll be home!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hola amigos y familia!
Well, I'm excited to say that.....IT'S Thanksgiving BREAK!!!! I think I'm more excited than my students! We have the entire week off because the mission organization in charge of the school (CAM) has their annual conference for missionaries to Mexico and all the missionaries have to attend, which includes most of the teachers at the school, so we get the week off. Just in case you are wondering, Mexicans do not have a Thanksgiving holiday. However, this week the Mexican schools got 2 days off for Revolution Day. I had a great week. Nothing really big happened, but God was faithful. I have been attending a ladies Bible study and it has really blessed my heart. I am the youngest lady there. The study is in English and it is mainly missionary wives in Puebla. I'm learning so much from the older women there! This week the Lord just really made me especially grateful for my parents. They brought me up in a Christian home and gave me so much love and support. They have had such a strong positive influence in my life. Thank you mom and dad for teaching me to love God and to do what He wants!! Thank you! I love you and miss you!
Well, tomorrow after church, the Hudsons, the Nevins (the other family with EBM) and I are going on a little retreat. We will spend 2 nights away in a place about an hour from here. It will be a nice time of rest and relaxation. Then on Thursday, I'll be celebrating Thanksgiving with them. It will be strange not to be with my family, but God has provided a nice substitute for me! I will miss getting together at Aunt Sharon's! I'll definitely be thinking of you all.
Guess what??? 4 weeks from right now, I'll be getting into the Columbus International Airport, anxiously waiting to see my precious family and 4 Sundays from tomorrow, I'll be with my church family. What a blessing it will be to see you all! My heart is full of gratitude to all those who gave for me to be here and for those who prayed consistently for me! You all mean so much to me! I'm so blessed to have grown up with you people from LBT!! Thanks so much! Well, have a WONDERFUL time of THANKSGIVING this week! You'll be in my thoughts and prayers! Love, Angelina

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?

Hola todo el mundo!! Here I am again, ready to tell you about my most recent adventures and thoughts. The days are flying by and it's hard to believe that in 5 weeks and 3 days, I'll be flying home for Christmas! I can't wait to see you all and talk with you! That's definitely something I'm looking forward to! Well, I said I'd let you know about my weekend, so here it goes...... We left PCS around 12:30 p.m. on Friday afternoon. We arrived at the campsite around 5:00. During the trip we climbed a total of about 3,000 ft in altitude, going from 7,000 to 10,000 ft above sea level. Well, guess what? There are clouds at 10,000 ft. So, Friday night the clouds were covering our campsite and it was so thick that we could barely see 25 ft away. Someone told me that right across the street was a cliff that we'd be climbing the next day, however I didn't see it until the next morning when the clouds were gone. It was a beautiful sight! Well, anyways, Friday night we unpacked, set up tents, had a worship service around the campfire, ate dinner and then played some games. We played Capture the Flag in the dark! It was a lot of fun. I haven't played that in years. Debbie Hudson was on my team and she captured the other team's flag, so we won the game. After that, we played Mafia. This is a mind/strategy game that we'd play a lot after Bible study in Chi-Alpha at LBT. So, we had almost 20 people playing and it was fun, especially because two of my friends, Hiram and Leandro, from my church here went along to help with the climbing and they had never played before. Neither had some of the junior high students. So, we had a good time. Friday night, I slept in a tent for about the second time in my life. I've only been camping once before. I was miserable...it was very cold there and it rained nearly the whole weekend. The next morning when people asked how I slept, I'd say...."Well, I'll put it this way, a little sleep is better than no sleep." But, God was good and I was able to enjoy the day and have enough strength to do all the activities. After breakfast, we walked across the street to the mountains and began our climb to the top. Now, this wasn't an extremely high mountain peak, it was along the edge of the Sierra Madre Oriental mountain range. However, we did climb up approximately 1,000 ft to a place called, "the eye." It's a little hole in the side of the mountain that looks like an eye if you are far away from the mountain. When we got about 15 ft. below the eye, we had to use a rope to climb up the side of the mountain and through the eye. Once through it, we could walk around on the top of the mountain. It was gorgeous. Everywhere I looked were green trees and mountains. It was neat to think about the Biblical references about mountains, like in Psalm 114 where it says that the mountains skipped like rams in the presence of God and the earth trembled! I also thought about how Moses climbed up to the top of mountain and God hid him in the cleft of the rock so His glory would not kill him. It's one thing to read about someone meeting God on a mountaintop and another thing to experience being on a mountaintop. To think how humbled Moses must have been to look around and see God's magnificent creation after a long, tiring and probably dangerous journey up the mountain. I know what's it's like to climb a mountain now. Then after Moses experienced God's glory, to climb back down the mountain and find such a contrasting atmosphere, where the people were worshipping idols. I can't imagine how much that must have broken Moses' heart. Well, anyways, these are thoughts I had as I spent time on the mountaintop. My friend also reminded me about how Jesus took some disciples to the mountaintop to be transfigured before them. I know God is going to use my experience climbing and being on that mountain to give me a better understanding of Him and His word. Well, as we were climbing back down, the clouds got really thick and all we could see was white! It was pretty cool, I'll have to admit! After I got back down to the 10,000 ft. level, I went to a climbing route that was set up and climbed up the side of the mountain. There is a metal hook at a certain point up on the side of the mountain and a rope is run through it and down to the ground. So, I'm attached to a rope that goes through the hook at the top and back down to a person at the bottom of the mountain. That person is also hooked up to the rope, so it's very safe to climb. Anyways, it's such a challenging sport. It takes thinking to look for rocks sticking out to stand on and hold onto, and also flexibility and strength to pull yourself up. The route I climbed was about 75 ft. long and I completed it! It was such a neat feeling to make it! I really enjoy rock climbing. Anybody know any good climbing places around Lima??? (That was a joke!) I'm going to miss the scenery here when I go home. Well, climbing the mountain to the eye and then the climbing route took most of the morning and afternoon. In the evening, we ate dinner, had another bible service and again played Mafia. Saturday night I slept much better!!! Sunday, we packed up, had a worship service and left the campsite around 12:00p.m. We stopped for lunch at McDonalds and then got back to the school around 5:00p.m. From there, Debbie Hudson and I cleaned up and went to a party at our church. It was a celebration party for anyone who had a big event happen during this year, so I got a certificate for graduating. :) The weekend was definitely exhausting, but was an incredible experience. God has been teaching me about Himself in so many different ways. I challenge you this week to look for Him in a new way. You will be blessed! Thanks for reading and letting me share my thoughts with you all! Angelina

Hola everyone! This is just a quick note to say that I will not be able to write my normal weekly blog until Tuesday. The reason is that tomorrow, school gets out at 11:45 and at 12:15, many people from the school are going on a camping trip to El Chico, a town around 4 1/2 hours north and 3,000 ft higher than Puebla. So, I'm going to be up around 10,000 ft for the weekend. It will be my first real camping trip. It's also a kind of spiritual retreat as well, so I'm looking forward to that! I've been busily getting everything in order for next week because I won't have time this weekend. I will be getting back Sunday evening and going straight to a party at church. They have an annual party to celebrate any big events that happened that year, and well, I get to celebrate graduation, so I really don't want to miss it. The pastor's daughter (Debbie Hudson) will also be on the trip and the 2 of us are going to go to the party together. It will be a fun and exhausting weekend. I'll be doing some hiking and more rappelling on the trip! I'll write about my weekend next week! Have a great weekend and enjoy time with the Lord! Angelina

Hola everyone! I'm not sure where to begin today. I have a lot to share with you. Perhaps I'll start at the beginning of the week. On Monday at Bible study we did another fun activity. We did a video rally. We were given a list of things to do and a videorecorder to prove we did them. There was nothing even close to being dangerous this time. Many of the things were what Mexican people do to make money. We had to go to cars stopped at a red light and ask if they wanted to buy candy. We had to sell candy for a total of 5 pesos ( about 50 cents). I donated some "american gum" for this part. We had to all climb a tree. My most exciting thing is that I had to juggle for stopped traffic and earn 2 pesos. Well, I do know how to juggle but I only had 2 tennis balls to do it with, so that was interesting. (You see, at a lot of street corners, you'll find Mexicans juggling or selling things, or washing windows during the redlight. That's how they make money.) So, it was interesting to be "on the other side of things." So, the next time someone was juggling, I gave him 5 pesos. Well, that was a fun activity, even though my team lost. The other team not only found clowns to help them juggle, but they brought the clowns back to youth group. YOu can't really beat that one.
The next big event of the week was yesterday. My class went on a field trip with the other elementary school children. We went to a place called, "Africam" and it is what is sounds like.... a taste of Africa. Well, you know the African Safari ride at the Ft. Wayne zoo? Well, it's kind of like that on a greater scale. You drive through the "zoo" in your vehicle and it's like driving on a road in Africa. There are no gates or wall between your car and the animals. We saw Rhino's, tigers, lions, bears, ostriches, antelope, giraffes, flamingos, buffalo, monkeys, etc.etc. It was really neat! The animals may come within a few feet of the vehicle. There are safety precautions such as rolling up all the windows in the lion and tiger section, but it's perfectly safe as long as you stay in the vehicle. The kids and I really enjoyed it. It was a beautiful day- about 75-80 degrees. Yes, I know you're jealous. :) So, it was nice. Last night, I went to the mall and to Burger King. It's only the 2nd time I've had a hamburger since I've been in Mexico and the 2nd time I've had French Fries and boy was it good!!!
Now, to end today, I want to share with you a burden on my heart. I'll start by explaining that today is La Dia de la Muerte ( the day of the dead.) Well, many people who have heard about this would say it's the Mexican equivalent of Halloween. If only that were true. It is much much more siginificant than just a night of dress up and trick-or treat. It is celebrated mainly in the lower class areas and by the less educated people. Many people believe that on the night of October 31, the spirits (dead friends and relatives) come back to their homes, after roaming around the earth. The way they find their homes is by following the trail of marigolds. Here in Mexico, marigolds are used only for the day of the dead. They buy marigolds and make a path with the petals from the road in front of their homes, up the sidewalk, through the gate and into the house. They believe it leads the spirit home. Also, they leave out food and "ofrendas" (offerings) for the spirits. This belief mainly came from the Aztec Indians. Today, a small group from the school drove around to see this tradition of people putting out flowers and food for the spirits. In doing so, we learned a lot more about Mexican history and culture. The Aztec Indians were extremely mythical. They believe in so many gods and spirits. They held human sacrifices to please the sun god, so that the sun would keep rising. The pyramids that stand so mighty in Mexico were the sights of human sacrifices. The Aztec Indians would conquer other people, not for possessions or power, but to use their captives as sacrifices. Then the Catholics from Spain came over. Today the country of Mexico, especially where I'm at is a mixture of Spanish and Aztec culture. The city of Cholula which is about 10 minutes from where I live was a religious center for the Aztec Indians (that is where the pyramid I went to earlier this year is at) and there are a lot of Indians living there. We went to CHolula again today and went into a Catholic church. It was filled with gold and statues. I was like such idolatry. I wonder how people could possibly worship God in that place. A statue of Mary was positioned in the direct center of the altar area. It breaks my heart that the truth has been twisted so much by the people of the Catholic church, and then to see the Aztec influence. This land is truly in need of Christ. They are so deeply rooted in tradition that they make themselves slaves to deception. They are searching for hope, for truth and their cultures points them away from it.
Finally, I want to tell you about some other sights I saw as we drove around today. As I have mentioned before, I live in Puebla, which is a city of several million people. It's growing at the amount of about 50,000 new homes every year. There are parts of town where 40,000 homes are in a 15 block area. These aren't even the poor areas. (Well, to Americans they'd be considered poor and run down, but compared with the poor of Mexico, they aren't poor.) Well, today, I was able to see how about 94% of Mexicans live....in extreme poverty. We went outside the city of Puebla and out into the surrounding little towns, called pueblitos. We saw men riding on their carts on straw pulled by horse or mule. We saw adobe (mud) houses. Most of the homes are about the size of my living room in Ohio. We saw people making bricks. Some of the roads are just mud paths. There are little stores here and there. There are elecric lines running through the town. SOme houses have electricity, some don't. SOme houses don't have doors. They use wells instead of running water, which means they are drinking the contaminated water that makes you sick. (Here in Puebla, not even the Mexicans drink tap water. Everyone buys pure water.) Now, I can say I have truly seen poverty. We drove by one of the homes of a family that attends the church I go to on Wed. nights.) It had no electricity, no door. The family rides a bike miles to get to the church. The wife works 6 days a week making bricks and gets paid 300 pesos a week ( a little less than $30) And yet, they have found the Lord. It really makes me think about what I have....what I could live without....truly honestly, what I don't need. Those people who are born into poverty have very little chance of ever getting out, but if they have Jesus, they are richer than the richest people in all the world!! This is something my mind is going to dwell on and I hope yours will, too.