Getting back to 'normal'

After 2 weeks of swine flu lockdown and a week of 'all over the place', we feel like we are slowly getting back to normal. (Just in time for the summer holidays which are rapidly approaching!)

As you can see by the picture a new item has been added to the school uniform, although most of the kids take it off after walking through the front gate. Swine flu is still a big topic of conversation here, and many end of year school events like concerts, presentations and sports finals have been cancelled due to the government restricting gatherings of people.

School has been extended by a week to try and make up for lost ground, and I (Pete) am having extra classes at Uni to make up for the ones that were lost during the lockdown.

At church we have stated the Rick Warren '40 days of purpose' program, which means small groups have been formed for the 6 week period only. Sarah's group is on Monday night, starts at 9pm and finishes with a massive meal! Mine is on Tuesday nights  - and our pastor makes a guest appearance each week via video! Its been interesting to see how they 'do' small groups here in Mexico.

Tomorrow we welcome Grahame and Patty Scarratt to stay with us for a week or so, and we'll also be hosting Rico Tice (of 'Christianity Explored'). The course has been translated into Spanish and there is a conference here this week promoting it, and the Moore College courses. We're really looking forward to having the Scarratts here - it will be great see have some familiar faces around.

We're also getting back to 'normal' in that we're both feeling overwhelmed and inadequate in our language proficiency. Its going to take a long time!

The terror of hospitality

In my Ashbury days, this was a completely foreign concept. What could be terrifying about hospitality? Well now I know.

Inviting someone to do something with me is the scariest thing in my life at the moment. Who will I invite? What will I invite them to? What time should I make it? What food should I serve? What are the right snacks and drinks to get? What will my kids do? What will their kids do? How can I help the kids to play together when their languages barely overlap, let alone knowing each other as friends? Will it be too unpleasantly hot to feel comfortable sitting and chatting? Should I try and speak in Spanish, and have this awkward, frustratingly slow, superficial conversation, or do I try and build the friendship more and use English? And how do I arrange it - am I brave enough to use the phone?

Can you see why I find hospitality terrifying?

Fortunately, God in His kindness has shown me a way through the terror. Notice I said "through", not "around". I still experience the terror, but I can do the hospitality as well. The way through has been in small steps, and to trust that being obedient to God is the right way to go. I know that hospitality, and serving people, and building relationships with people to love them, is what God wants, and so I do it.

Apart from hosting a birthday party for Miriam (which kept me awake at night!), the first thing I initiated was an activity outside my home. Then I invited a school mum to come for the afternoon. This gave me confidence to invite another mum for the afternoon. She and her whole family ended up staying for a spontaneous dinner. This gave me confidence to invite another family for lunch (which ended up being dinner at their brother's place with a pool).

I still feel the terror. I still feel that I get lots of things wrong. But I do it. And I'm learning as I go. And God has never let me down.

Still in lockdown

The school closure has been extended to Monday. The vibe in the home school is getting a little strained and hot nights making it difficult to sleep is not helping.

Pete goes back to his language school tomorrow (Friday) and Sarah is very thankful that her language tutor is brilliant. After two lessons I'm starting to feel like I'm making progress again.

God is kind.

A week on...

We've been in 'lockdown' mode for a week now. Each morning has been school at home for the kids, then various activities in the afternoon - none of which include going and seeing people. Sarah and I both feel like our Spanish is suffering, because we're not seeing anyone.

Today we had family church at home. Each of the girls presented a Sunday school lesson, then we prayed for our fellow missionaries around the world. Good fun - and we even got to do some craft.

We are expecting that in the next 24 hours the government will announce whether we all go back to school and Uni on Wednesday, or whether the lockdown is extended. My hunch is it will be back to work, as the number of cases here is leveling off and I think the economy is suffering as well! Its all very well for the government to say 'everyone just stay at home for 5 days', but in a country where a lot of people are on the breadline, that's a tough ask.

Its also been a tough few days because its starting to get really hot. Over 40C every day now, and the nights don't cool down much. We do have a/c in the house, but only in the bedrooms, and electricity here is pretty expensive so we can't run them on and on. We're drinking heaps of water - about 20L between us every two days. We know that because we have to go to the shop and keep buying it. Fortunately, water is cheap - about $2.50 for 20 litres.

So now we wait - to see what the government will say.

A word from Sarah

We are feeling well sustained by God through people's prayers. It's wonderfully amazing to notice the number of times a day that God provides just the right strengthening, provision, language skill, friend, helper etc, at just the right time. Even trivial things like today i went to find a clothes shop that Karina had won a voucher to. I found the address, but it just looked like a suburban house. I was about to drive away when someone pulled up who clearly looked like the owner of a dress shop. Sure enough, she caught my eye, spoke to me in English, and in I went. It didn't really matter if i never went into this shop, but God takes care of the details.

There are far more valuable ways that God is caring for us, but I think the trivial demonstrate the breadth of God's care of us as individuals.

I had my best and worse language experience last week. On Tuesday I climaxed by bursting into tears on Miriam's teacher when she asked how I was. On Friday I walked along the river to talk to a stranger to practice my Spanish. The first lady said no, but the second was perfect. (There was much terror and prayers between the first and second!) She spoke to me clearly and slowly, was patient to correct me and help me to get things right, and she only used English to help me over a hurdle every now and then. We walked and talked for 40 minutes - and it was in Spanish all the way. I'm sure God gave me the gift of tongues just for the morning to give me a lift, because he knew I needed it!

The swine flu is having a huge effect on Mexico and Monterrey in particular. To cancel all schools, unis and public gatherings,  for almost two weeks, in about 6 states (more than 30million people) is a huge deal. The streets here are very quiet like very early on a Sunday morning. Shops are open, but there's just about no-one in them. Some people are wearing face masks, but not everyone.

We are perfectly well and are trying to make the most of the time that we have. We're being proactive in home schooling the girls and helping them progress in English, Spanish, maths, violin, basketball and art. Although this afternoon we all went to a friends house and sat around chatting and eating icecream in the back courtyard while 6 kids played in a huge paddling pool! (A good option when it's 32.)

Thanks again for your prayers. They are a delight to God, and sustenance for us.

Latest on the swine flu

Hi everyone,

I guess you've heard about the swine flu outbreak by now. It started in DF (Mexico City) but has now made it here to Monterrey. There have been 10 cases and 1 death so far (although that lady had come from DF).

Now, at 10pm we have just heard that schools will be shut for the next 2 weeks - including Universities - so there will be no language school for me. I  think that decision will be reviewed in a couple of days but we have to wait and see. We are being urged to not gather in large groups, have personal contact etc.

There doesn't seem to be a great deal of worry amongst the people around us - I think they are looking forward to a bit of a holiday from school - but we'll see how that mood changes as and if the situation gets worse.

We'll certainly be praying that things don't get worse here in Mexico - perhaps you could join us in that.

Pete

The calm before the storm...

We were woken by a very unusual sound today - thunder, accompanied by rain! This is very unusual for Monterrey - at this time of year the maximum temperatures are around 35C and the humidity is around 20%. The dust blows in from the desert and its generally hot and dry.

We've been enjoying a week off from school and all the usual routines this week - but it all starts again tomorrow. The girls will go back to school and Sarah and I are starting at a new language school. We'll be in class for 2 hrs, 3 times per week and will be trying to find regular conversation partners outside these hours. Sarah will be in the Level 1 class to try and get some grammar basics cemented to complement her growing conversation skills, and I'll be in Level 3, building on the intensive month class that I completed in March.

School, and language school will go until mid-June, when we have the long end-of-academic year holiday - almost two months. This is when it gets seriously hot in Monterrey, so we don't know what we'll be doing in that time.

If you have spare prayer time, perhaps you could be praying for us all as we get back into the routine of early mornings, driving to school and classroom work. It's been a luxurious two weeks of sleeping in and enjoying some rest.