True Friendship

I got a note in the mail Friday telling me I had a package waiting at the Post Office.  Yippie, my first mail in over 4 months!!

My dearest friend, Kaylee, sent me a happy!  It was stuffed with Easter candy (since the Easter candy down here left something to be desired), hair accessories, socks, tea tree oil, and a few other things....

True friendship spends more on the shipping than the contents.  

Munching on slightly squished, minimally melted, decadently delicious jelly beans....

~Abby

Paradise

That was the name of the first village we went to in Chiapas.  It was a little different than I had imagined Paradise to be, but it was quaint, and honestly larger than most of the villages we visited.  Upon arrival, Jonathan asked where the streets of gold were, to which Inmer replied : "Somebody stole them."  I think that pretty much explains it.  The people there were very hospitable; the church members were waiting for us when we arrived.  We spent the night at Reina's house, a young lady from the church, on an air mattress we had just purchased from Wal-mart in the last large town.  Having been warned that we may end up sleeping on the floors of churches, we decided this minor purchase could make the trip much more enjoyable.  It also kept our hosts from offering their own beds and in turn, them sleeping on the floor.  All in all, a decent purchase.  We should have, however, sprung for the electric air pump because it took Jonathan, Inmer and Bradley 30 minutes each night to blow the thing up with a bicycle pump.  Who knew?

The next morning we went to the church; Jonathan shared a short message and then we gave bags to the children.  It is really remarkable - children who have so little, are pleased with so little.  All the older boys received soccer balls, which made then indescribably happy.  

(A sweet little girl with her pink goodie bag)

The bags are all filled by churches in the States and brought down by Phil and Marianne - the American couple we are working with down here.  For girls, the bags consisted of anything from clothes, Lip Smackers, crayons and coloring books, to soap, shampoo, lotion, toothbrushes & toothpaste, hair accessories, flip flops, dolls, Barbies, stuffed animals etc...

(Happy girls!)

For boys, the bags typically included a soccer ball, pencils and paper or coloring books, yoyos, socks, again hygiene items, calculators, frisbees, toy trucks and so on. 

What a joy it was to see the smiles on the children's faces when they opened their bags.  Some of the children were so sweet, they would just sit there until finally one of us realized they weren't going to open their bags until we told them they could.  You would've thought it was Christmas.  Really, it was like Christmas to these children.  And the farther we got up into the mountains, the less the people had and the more excited the children got!

(Bradley, myself and Inmer in Paradise.  I didn't want to show them up with my massive muscles, so I kept my arms hidden.)

Tootles!

~Abby

P.S. If you are interested in filling any of the bags with treats, please contact us.  We can always use more!

Germ-X

After our stop at Aqua Azul, day 2 of driving through Chiapas to our first village got really long. And by really long, I mean r-e-a-l-l-y long.  We spent the best part of the day in the middle of no where, driving up and down mountains and being stared at since the few people in these parts have more than likely never seen white people except possibly on TV - if they even have TVs? - let alone on their back roads!  I wish I could have counted the double takes.

Anyways, by late-afternoon, our car, which consisted of Jonathan, Bradley, Inmer and myself, was really hurting for a potty.  After walkie-talkie-ing (who named them that?!) Ricardo to ask to pull into the next bathroom and realizing it might be a while, we opted to pull over on the side of the road.  You gotta do what you gotta do, people!  We found a nice trail, probably some poor mountain farmer's drive way, and located the nearest, large trees.  I won't go into any more detail than that, but let's just say I was really hoping Mr. Mountain Man wasn't about to herd his cattle down the path cause that really would have created an extremely awkward situation. 

(Jonathan and me running back from the trail, toilet paper in hand.)

I will give Inmer credit - he did not lower himself to our weird American standard, and must have held it to the next town.

Meet Salvador.  The crazy doctor who Ricardo and Devora somehow know, and needed a ride back to Chiapas.  He believes in clean hands.

He jumped out of the car and came running with Germ-X.

Inmer must have felt he needed it, too, just being in the same car with all of us crazy Americans.

Thanks, pal, for keeping us all de-germified. 

Agua Azul

Early during day #2 of driving, we stopped in the mountains at a popular tourist venue, Agua Azul.  On the way down the road to the parking, there were loads of women and children walking in front of our cars trying to sell us anything and everything they had. 

Here is our awesome navigator, Ricardo:

Pretty water color:

Jonathan looks like a giant.  Really, he was on the highest rock.  Regardless, he's a lot taller than all the rest of us!

(Tarzan 1 and Tarzan 2)

Empanadas come with potatoes, beef, cheese, chicken, or pretty much anything else you can think of to put in a tortilla and fry.  They are very popular in these parts - delicious with a little extra cheese (aka fat), drizzled with a little half and half ( more fat), and a little spicy green salsa (healthy cause it's made with jalapeños, right?)

(Nevermind Tarzan in the background, he's still looking for Jane.)

Bradley decided he wanted to risk his life walking across the falls.

(For all you worriers: It's not really as high as it looks.  Although, there's no need to worry since it's already taken place.)

And behold, he made it across safely.

Beautiful! 

-Abby

CPK

I have a lot to tell about our 2 week trip to Chiapas, but until I get a chance to weed through all the pictures and let my creative juices start flowing, I figured I'd give you something to drool over....

Mmmmmmm.....

Did you know that I love barbeque chicken pizza? It's something about the sweet barbeque sauce, or the smokey chicken flavor, or the soft, floury crust - or maybe just a mixture of all three - that makes my taste buds unreasonably happy.

We frequent this joint, California Pizza Kitchen, to devour two of these mouthwatering, lip-smacking, delectable pizzas! 

But, first, we stop by the Oxxo to grab a few drinks. The 50 pesos (approx. $4.25) is about what we save by just getting Jonathan's and Brad's drinks at the quickie - I bring my H2O from home. The drinks are insane at this place - 32 pesos (~$2.75) for a fountain drink and they'll only give one refill! I think not....

Okay. On to the grub...

Oh. My. Goodness. Heavenly!

Hangin' out with my boo.

Bradley trying to connect to the internet to catch Hannah - his boo. :O)

Now for the real reason I come. Not really, but kinda.

Okay, really.

Caramel, fudge, pecan cheesecake. I'd like to order a whole one of these babies as a welcome gift in my heavenly mansion. 

The only way I can justify the calories (I dare not ask how many!) is that my wonderful husband helps me eat it. 

Hey, thanks! It's a tough job, but somebody's got to do it.

-Abby

Los De Pescado

¡Bienvenidos a Los De Pescado, donde siempre comes más que necesitas!

(Welcome to Los De Pescado, where you always eat more than you need!)

A couple days after we arrived in Cancún, our friends took us to Los De Pescado for lunch...And my, oh my, was it good!  I'd say we're regulars...

See if you can figure out the menu:

No, fish tacos don't cost 20 dollars.  20 pesos is about $1.60 and each order comes with two tacos!  Can't beat it - not even at McDonalds!  They come on corn tortillas (like everything else in this part of Mexico) with shredded cabbage.  I like to doctor mine up with a little bit (a lot) of their chipotle barbeque sauce yummy goodness! 

Also, if it strikes your fancy, you can visit, as Jonathan calls it,  the 'Way to Ruin a Good Taco' bar as shown here:

If you do choose this route, your tacos may end up looking something like Inmer's:

(¡Qué feo!)

Where's the fish?

None the less, here I am, catching some sun, happily stuffed from two fish tacos that only cost us, with a bottled water, approximately $2.75.

It's a sweet life...

-Abby

Born to be a Missionary

After ten days back home in Aiken for Millbrook's Global Impact Celebration, we are back in warm Mexico.  We had a few days to try to rest up before....

.....a youth group from Oklahoma came in for spring break.  The timing of this has worked out nicely, as this is the first week my brother, Bradley, is here to work with us.  He has been able to get a sense of the lifestyle here, going into the villages doing film evangelism and feeding programs.  Let's just say, he is going to fit in just fine! 

We have gone to a few different areas of town so far, passing out tracts and balloons in the mornings and inviting families to an event that night.  At night, we show an evangelistic film, give popcorn and Tang to everyone, as well as "goodie bags" with candy and a copy of a Christian children's book.  Last night, we fed everyone spaghetti made with elbow macaroni after the movie and the gospel was shared.  It is really encouraging to see all the people who come out and are able to hear God's plan of salvation.

After tying countless balloons for the children, Brad and I have perfected : dogs....dogs....dogs....swords, kind of, and the occasional flower turns out....something like a flower.  I must say, by the end of the night, my fingers are sore. 

I could never be a clown.

 

None the less, it has been wonderful to watch my brother adjust to life here, try to communicate with the people, and get sick of tortillas.  We have done a few Spanish lessons already, on the roof, of course.  I have no doubt he'll pick up the language easily, and be blabbin' away in no time.  He really is a natural with kids, and an eager helper.  As you can see, the boys flock to him.  I am excited to see what the Lord has in store for him, and I'm stoked to have him here with us for a few months!

It's rainy today, and we're whipped, so we're going to rest for a bit before getting lunch.... I'm thinking barbeque chicken pizza.

Adiós!