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Yesterday my church and another went to Tijuana To deliver shoeboxes for kids from a sister church down there. I was really excited to go down there, until everyone started in on how there would be no toilets and all this icky stuff. I got over it and decided it would add to the "experience". The city isn't bad at all and everything was decent, so I was getting happy that it wasn't as poor as said to be. but it just got worse as we drove. OH MAN, do people drive bad. 1 road no lanes, and really fast driving. Buses were passing our bus and you were like an inch from other cars. At one point if you looked to the left and to the right, there were cliffs straight down. I was very impressed with our driver (the Pastor from the other church) he was calm the whole time, never hit anything and was able to drive under everyone yelling "were gonna die"
We got lost a few times, and as we drove up the hills we passed an old pig farm and it smelled like death. Then we passed a tree where someone had tied a noose around an old doll and hung it. This I think is the thing that broke my heart the most. A really small old trailer was leaning over the cliff, the 2 windows were broken off so a chain could fasten it to a pole...just so it wouldn't fall down the hill. AND people lived there. I worry at night about my windows being open...I could imagine worrying about my window breaking off and my house tumbling down the hill. Anyways the house were just tin nailed together, with itty bitty outhouses next to them. Trash everywhere, dirt and just not pretty. We finally got to the church and it was the cutest thing I've ever seen in. They had a water troth for a baptismal, it was cute. Obviously poor, but so happy. There was 2 messages and even though they were translated they were so good and convicting. Usually when you come back from that you're thankful for what you have, it was different for me. I looked at these people and they were so poor, but they were so joyful, so happy and so thankful just to be living on God's earth. It was so beautiful. During worship the men belted out the hymns, just singing to God. They didn't care who was listening and what people thought. They were thankful just to be able to openly express their love for their Savior. I had no idea what they were singing, but it didn't matter because I was so moved that by that I was able to worship God in my own way. Afterwards we ate and fellowshiped I didn't know what I ate but it was really good, I'm iffy about the rice water...and aquired taste. It was so funny a boy was knockign on the bathroom and I kept telling him someone was in there and he looked at me and I was like you have no idea what I'm saying. Then everyone taught me occuapado (sp?) obviuosly occupied. Then Jess and I learned excuse me, and I asked what sorry was and as soon as I ran into someone I had to ask her again, the man just laughed. I was a great experience. I loved it.
We got lost a few times, and as we drove up the hills we passed an old pig farm and it smelled like death. Then we passed a tree where someone had tied a noose around an old doll and hung it. This I think is the thing that broke my heart the most. A really small old trailer was leaning over the cliff, the 2 windows were broken off so a chain could fasten it to a pole...just so it wouldn't fall down the hill. AND people lived there. I worry at night about my windows being open...I could imagine worrying about my window breaking off and my house tumbling down the hill. Anyways the house were just tin nailed together, with itty bitty outhouses next to them. Trash everywhere, dirt and just not pretty. We finally got to the church and it was the cutest thing I've ever seen in. They had a water troth for a baptismal, it was cute. Obviously poor, but so happy. There was 2 messages and even though they were translated they were so good and convicting. Usually when you come back from that you're thankful for what you have, it was different for me. I looked at these people and they were so poor, but they were so joyful, so happy and so thankful just to be living on God's earth. It was so beautiful. During worship the men belted out the hymns, just singing to God. They didn't care who was listening and what people thought. They were thankful just to be able to openly express their love for their Savior. I had no idea what they were singing, but it didn't matter because I was so moved that by that I was able to worship God in my own way. Afterwards we ate and fellowshiped I didn't know what I ate but it was really good, I'm iffy about the rice water...and aquired taste. It was so funny a boy was knockign on the bathroom and I kept telling him someone was in there and he looked at me and I was like you have no idea what I'm saying. Then everyone taught me occuapado (sp?) obviuosly occupied. Then Jess and I learned excuse me, and I asked what sorry was and as soon as I ran into someone I had to ask her again, the man just laughed. I was a great experience. I loved it.