Angelina's Life in Motion

Dear family and friends,
What a wonderful week I had. For those of you who don't know, I turned 23 this week. In the course of 1 week, I had four and a half birthday celebrations! I was so blessed. Last Saturday was the staff birthday party, which I already told you about. Then, on Wednesday, I had comida (lunch at 3:00) with the Hudsons and Nevins. It was a neat time and they made me feel so special. Then, On my birthday, some students brought gifts in the morning, then 15 minutes before school got out, 4 parents came in the room singing and carrying a cake and gave me some other presents. Then later, my friends surprised me by taking me to Burger King for dinner. It was such a neat time. They made me cake and gave me gifts, then played Dutch Blitz with me (which has come to be my favorite game!) As for the 1/2 party, the next day, (Friday) I went on a retreat with the youth group and brought the leftover cake to share. Well, all the guys (5 of them) sang me the pretty Spanish birthday song before we had the cake. They all stood up and it was neat. So, I celebrated all week long! I also got a special blessing, being able to talk to my family and my aunt Rose. Plus, my favorite gift was a CD my family sent in the mail for me to play on the computer. My dad used a webcam and microphone to record the family singing Happy Birthday to me. Then, they each took turns giving me a message. It was such a neat present. I'll be able to play it whenever I want, too!
Well, besides having a birthday, the retreat was the next biggest thing this week. There actually was a small group, about 10 of us, but we had a good time. We were focusing on how to know God better. It was an enjoyable time. I was actually looking forward to becoming better friends with some of the Mexican girls, but I was disappointed because no Mexican girls came. There were 3 American girls there with me though. We went to a vacation center at the base of Mt. Popo and the scenery was beautiful!
Well, I thank you all again for your friendship, for your prayers and for all those that e-mailed or sent me birthday cards. They were such a blessing! Well, I hope all of you have an enjoyable week! Angelina

Hello to all my faithful readers and prayer partners!
I'm sorry about missing last week's blog. The week went so fast I can hardly even remember what happened! The biggest thing was that Thursday, February 5th was a holiday in Mexico, so we were off school. (We don't get Presidents Day off though.) My roommate and I were invited to 2 of my students' home (brothers) for breakfast. Their mom made Swedish pancakes and they were delicious. Later, we took a bus downtown and just got to spend some time sightseeing. It was a relaxing day. Well, last Friday night, my friends and I had a family over for dinner. It was a missionary family visiting from another part of Mexico. Guess what? They have 7 kids! It was fun. It reminded me of being home. I hadn't met them before, but my friends had. Then, on Saturday night, my church had a Cena de Amistad (Friendship Banquet) for Friendship Day (Valentine's.) I had an enjoyable evening. I got to sit with a lot of the Mexicans that are my age and practice my Spanish. It was at a real fancy restaurant and the food was good. (Of course, I didn't try anything spicy.) The school week was good. I received a blessing on Tuesday because one of my student's family invited me to lunch (Mexican lunchtime) at their house. It was such a neat time. I played Tony Hawk skateboarding on the Game Cube with him and we played another game together. I made a cake to take for dessert, since in Mexico it is traditional and courteous to bring a dessert if you are invited to dinner. Well, the family decided that it would represent my birthday cake and they put candles in and sung to me. ( My birthday is the 19th of this month.) It was neat. I ended up staying there the whole evening and attended a College Bible Study at their house. They live across the street from a major private university, University of the Americas. I actually met some Americans there. One girl is from New Jersey and caught typhoid. So, she's been a little down lately and her and I exchanged phone numbers. We're going to get together sometime! It will be fun to converse with Americans outside of PCS. Well, today I am going to a Friendship Banquet that the school puts on. It's for junior high, high school and staff. It should be fun. Then, tomorrow, I am going to a birthday party. My birthday party actually (along with 2 other teachers whose birthdays are in February.) One family decided to have a staff party to celebrate our birthdays. It will be nice. God has blessed me with loving friends here. Also, I was so excited today because I got 3 birthday cards in the mail! That's about the same amount of mail that I've gotten in the months of October-January put together! It really is encouraging to get letters in the mail. You know, someone asked me this week how often I have communication with people at my church and I told him that I've heard from 5 families at the most from church since I've been gone. Of course that sometimes discourages me. He told me that it is normal for missionaries not to have much communication from home. That has challenged me in that when I am back in the US, I want to be writing/ e-mailing missionaries I know to encourage them and just to keep up with them. So, maybe that will challenge you as well. It reminds me of the apostle Paul when he was in prison. Many times in his letters, he expressed joy and thanksgiving after hearing from the people he was writing to. Paul also knew how great it is to be away from home and be hearing from the people that are praying for and supporting you. Well, thank you again for checking my weblog. Thank you for your prayers and continual financial support! Have a wonderful Valentine's Day and remember that Christ is the reason we have love in our lives! Angelina

A warm greeting to all my cold friends and family members!! Carol Hudson got back to Puebla last night from Ohio and told me that it's been mostly below 0 there. Well, you'll be surprised to here this.... Friday night I was having dinner with my friends when we found out from the principal that the Autopista (the Interstate) that runs from Puebla to Mexico City was closed because it was snowing!!! I'm not kidding.. it was that cold, plus it rained all day! I happened to have my Mexican friend, Elizabeth, over for dinner and she is probably close to 30. She said it's never snowed near Puebla before, except for in the mountains. And the rain is very unusual too! So, it was crazy! I didn't see the snow, because it was a little north of where I am, but it wasn't far away! Speaking of crazy, it was a crazy week! First of all, my students had a Poetry Party where they recited poems they'd memorized and used props to go with them. They had to dress up, and use a microphone. We had it in the chapel and invited their families along with the other elementary classes. It went well. Everyone enjoyed it! I was very proud of my class. I, however, forgot a line in the poem I wrote for my class. I had a line about each student and said their names in it, so when I forgot the line, I left out a student. His mom told me afterwards. So, I felt really bad about that. He forgave me though. Well, now comes the really hectic and crazy part. On Wednesday, we planned for me to go to the immigration office and get my visa renewed. It really is no big deal, or else, it shouldn't be. So, I had a substitute for that morning and went with Rick Hudson and another teacher up to the office. I was 2nd in line and thought, this is going to be simple. However, it was not. Not at all. Because I only got 30 days coming in to the country, the man at the office said he couldn't extend it for more than 30 days. He said I probably could come back at get it renewed 30 days at a time until my 180 days is up. But, I'd have to pay about 20 dollars every time and get a substitute once a month. Plus, I don't even know for sure if they would renew it. (They kind of make up rules as they go down here, or so it seems.) So, after some frantic checking (because my 30 days would end in 3 days) Rick Hudson contacted an immigration lawyer in Mexico City who helps missionaries and she agreed to help us the next day. (She told us that the man had every right to extend my visa 150 days and that he was just being stubborn.) However, we had to go to Mexico City to do it. So, we left early in the morning on a bus to Mexico City, then took the metro, during rush hour to the side of the city where the immigration office is. WHen I was on the metro, I saw a pick-pocketer. He was directly in front of me and I saw him fishing around in another guy's jacket pocket. Fortunately, it was empty. After that, I moved down to another section. I didn't want him trying to pick my pockets! I have to admit I was very nervous on the metro. It was wall to wall people and I know about pickpocketing and such things, plus I was the only American as far as I could see, so that made it more awkward. Also, Rick Hudson and I got on separate cars because when we first got on, they were segregated, guys on one end, girls on the other. Halfway through, it was no longer segregated. So, that made me even more nervous. Rick said he was really worried about me getting off at the right stop, but I did. After the metro, we took a bus to the immigration office. There we met the lawyer and another missionary couple she was helping. We were both waiting on her for quite some time. As it turned out, the man in the car in front of her had a seizure and she had to take him to the hospital. So, she was late. After about 2 hours, she had everything taken care of, and I am now legally allowed to be in Mexico unitl July 7. Praise the Lord. We got back to Puebla around 4:30 that evening. Finally, another interesting experience I had this week was going to a village in the Sierra mountains. The mountain range is actually at a lower attitude than Puebla, but is very hilly. After driving about 3 hours, we spent nearly another hour going up 5 or 6 miles from the interstate around the side of the mountain. It was a beautiful view. It had rained there the day before and the dirt roads were pure mud/clay. So, it was an interesting ride up. The village is an Indian village. Half the people speak Totanok, and the other half speak another Indian dialect. There is a clinc there where the principal's daughter-in-law wants to volunteer dental service once a month. (She lives in Puebla.) So, we went with a group to check out the clinic. The people there speak very little Spanish. We only saw 1 car and that belonged to the doctor at the clinic. THere is a Christian church there, which in the past has gone through many trials. The Catholic priest in the town told lies about the evangelical couple there and they actually were planning on killing him one night when a few other Catholics defended him, refuting the lies that had been told about him. So, there are about 150 people who attend the church every Sunday now. However, the men that accept Christ will often times abandon there families and move to the big cities to work. (They become prosperous after their Christianity and then desire material things, and often times they learn how to read in the church and then go off to make a better living.) So, it's very sad. We saw women washing clothes in the river. The houses are mostly made of wood and have dirt floors. There is not much running water. Their houses are built randomly on the side of the mountain. There are dirt paths, but no roads. Some do have electricity though. The clinic is a very modern building with running water, bathrooms, appliances and is made from concrete. I thought about how different that life is from mine....it's very peaceful there, but so removed from modern civilization. However, they too, are in need of Christ. It makes me remember that nothing matters to Christ, except if you have put your faith and trust in him!! Well, I hope you have enjoyed reading about all my adventures this week! God has been faithful (as always) and has broadened my horizons once again! Have a great week! Love, Angelina
P.S. I hope you enjoy the Superbowl. I'll be watching it in Spanish. :)