Friday, October 9, 2009

Updates and Prayer request

This has been a busy month both physically and mentally. Since my last post Heidi has been in a car wreck, we've got a new Spanish tutor, I've preached again, Hudson has become an excellent swimmer and has had ups and downs at school, Brooklyn had 103 degree temperature, and we've gone in and out of culture shock.
Now to go into more detail.
Heidi picked up Hudson from school 3 weeks ago and wanted to take him with her to the market, he didn't want to go so she dropped him off at home. Shortly after that I received a phone call, "Ryan, I've been in an accident!". So my wife is by herself, not being fluent is Spanish, with our only vehicle, in the middle of an intersection. I quickly called Allan, (Josh Sanchez cousin who lives a couple of houses down, is bilingual, and well be going to Central Christian College in Jan.), he hopped in the church van and took our Mexican insurance papers, while I stayed home with the two kids. An hour later I still hadn't heard anything. I call Heidi and she says she's at the police office and she'll call me back. Finally she get home with the car. SO what happened was that Heidi was driving and came over a hill with a red light, she didn't notice the light and hit the back side of an old truck caving in our bumper. Fortunately we had insurance for down here. The insurance agent showed up only 20 minutes after being called, took pictures, did paper work. The cops decided not to give her a ticket since the other man involved in the accident wasn't hurt and neither was his vehicle. (We are very fortunate that there was no one riding in the back of the truck, a common sight down here.) We will only be responsible for the $500 deductible. Not the greatest news in the world, but could be worse. We took the car to the mechanic that night, he took pictures and said the part should be in by Friday, if not Monday..... That was almost 4 weeks ago. The parts still haven't arrived, but at least we still can drive the car. Please pray that the parts will arrive soon and when they do that the car will be fixed well and quickly.
We also begin classes with a new tutor this month. He takes a different approach and focuses more on the speaking than learning the grammar. We decided to try it out for a month and then evaluate. I'm not sure what we think yet. The tutor says we are doing well and should be fluent in another month or two. We don't know whether to buy into this or not since we don't know how to judge ourselves. This weekend is the last weekend of classes that we paid for, please pray that we make the right decision in choosing a tutor that's best for us and that we learn the language quickly and efficiently.
Like I said earlier in this post, I've preached again with Allan translating. This time on the life of Joseph and how no matter the circumstances God was always with him and he always did the right thing. Also how he responded to being seduced by his owner's wife. "How can I do such a thing and sin against God?" I think it went well.
Hudson has been practicing his swimming and now can swim the length of an Olympic sized pool above water without stopping, pretty impressive since he couldn't swim above water at all 2 months ago. At school he has kept a good attitude, but it's hard for him since he doesn't speak Spanish yet, and the other kids know very little English. When he has tried to play soccer with the other boys at recess they get mad at him if he does something wrong, and he doesn't know what he's doing wrong because of the language barrier. The kids don't know a whole lot of words in English, but they do know name calling words, so they use these on my son sometimes. He tries to play "tag or chase" with the girls, but when he catches them, other boys ,(not understanding what Hudson is trying to play), step in and try to protect the girls by pushing him. As a result he has started to play by himself a lot at recess. He doesn't seem to be bothered by it, but it's hard for us a parents to know what's happening. On the bright side though, he has made lots of friends in our neighborhood. It seems like everyday either kids are coming over to our house to play with him, or he's playing outside in the park with the kids. Please pray that he learns the language quickly and makes good friends at school.
Brooklyn is doing good down here, her health hasn't been a serious issue. She did have 103 degree temperature last week, but she never coughed or had a runny nose. And the next morning it was gone. She is talking more and picking up Spanish words, (She is behind on her speech development). Everyone she sees she greets with "hola". Please pray that her health doesn't become an issue and that she continues to catch up to where her speech should be for her age.
Heidi and I have been on a roller coaster this month with our stress and culture shock. It's little and big things that make it seem hard some days. Anything from not knowing the language to driving over a speed bump every half block. There are days that we miss our friends and family, and other days that we are laughing and having a good time with the people that we've met here. There are days we miss having a yard, 2 cars, going out to eat whenever we feel like it, and other days that we feel so blessed that we have more time with our children and that Heidi gets to stay home with them. There are days that I'm so frustrated with my neighbors loud music late at night, and other days when I am so happy that I am building relationships with them. There are days that we wonder, "what in the world am I doing here?" and other days that we feel honored and privileged to be able to serve the Lord here and wouldn't want it any other way. They say the first year on the mission field is the hardest. We have been uprooted from everything we know and are familiar with and have been replanted in a totally different environment. And it just takes time for those roots to settle into the new soil and become healthy and strong. Please pray that our family continues to adjust well and that we will always put His will above ours.