Ok, so on Thursday morning, bright and early, actually dark and early, at 5 am, we headed to take the West Virginia group to the airport. I drove a truck with some of the women and Ray drove the rest of the women plus the luggage. I was super nervous about driving in Tijuana and in San Diego without knowing where I was going. I basically just stayed glued to Ray's bumper though. All was fine until we got in the line for the border. Oh my goodness, it was soo long! It took us a couple hours. We finally made it across, and to the airport. Adalia brought me back across the border so Ray could get some sleep. After lunch, Adalia and I and 2 other women stained a bunch of wood planks. It was a lot of fun!
Friday morning brought a surprise breakfast item: Pancakes! It rained all day, and taught a short English lesson. The kids didn't have school, so it was a day of resting.
Saturday morning, I got one of the women to do my hair in a very pretty braid! In the afternoon, we had a fun event. There was a wedding to go to. A former volunteer had gotten married and wanted to have a second ceremony here too for the women and workers. We all dressed up and slogged through the mud to the chapel. It was very nice, and I was impressed I understood most of the sermon. When it was all done, we came back to the house and I relaxed with the women and children.
Sunday, I got ready for church, and was waiting, when I was told we couldn't go because it was too wet. It was so muddy. So we all just sat and rested, read, or watched tv that day. It was fun and good to relax.
Monday, I helped the manager sort through clothes donations they have here. After lunch, we had bible study, which is a lot harder than in English. :D We even got homework, which I got permission to do in English.
Tuesday, I helped make lunch, under the watchful eye of Maggie, assistant manager. I also started looking for recipes to teach the women baking with, and supplies for canning. Right before lunch, a fellow missionary here, Ruth, asked if I wanted to go on a ride with her. We visited a family who lives in a canyon. We drove as far as we could, and walked the rest of the way. I was so humbled because 8, soon to be 9, people live in this one room house, with just packed gravel for a floor.
Wednesday, the one woman and I made lunch together. We had spaghetti, lemonade, beans, and tortillas. I showed her how to tell when your spaghetti is ready, and she was so excited about that. (For those that don't know how, you take a string of spaghetti and throw it at a smooth surface, like a fridge or dishwasher. If it sticks to the surface, it's done, if it falls, it isn't.) Following lunch, Adalia's friend led bible study on single mothers and Timothy. After bible study, I rode along with the guard/all purpose helper to take the sewing ladies home, and pick up the big kids from secondary school. It was cool, but the city is so huge and there's so much traffic. I thought we'd be gone an hour, but instead it took 2 1/2 hours.
Thursday, I got up early, and rode with Kari, manager, to take the kids to school. I am learning the route, so that I can do it myself someday soon, maybe. After we dropped them off, Kari left me with Ruth at Banati. Banati stands for Banco de Alimientos de Tijuana (Tijuana Food Bank). Non-profit organizations or communities of families can come and get food at a greatly reduced price. We got lots of food, and then delivered some to former families, or families in need on the way back. When we got back to the shelter, Ray and the women were spreading new gravel in the driveway and parking lot at the shelter. We took a break to eat, and Ray, Adalia, Oscar, and I ran for tacos at our favorite taco stand down the street. On Mondays and Thursdays the tacos are cheaper, so it's a good reason to go. When we returned, I sat down with the women and we came up with a weekly schedule for English lessons, Zumba classes, baking, and canning classes. Once we got the schedule made up, I started looking for canning recipes for the food we'd gotten at Banati.
Today, I rode along to the school again. I think I know my way there now, but I don't know how to get home for sure. When we returned, I started teaching how to can tomatoes. The women watched and helped too. We ended up with a little more than a canner load. After that was done, they started making lunch of chiles rellenos (filled chilies). Today's had cream cheese in them. Once all the kids had left, we did a Zumba class. It was fun, but also hard! I haven't done Zumba in almost a year, and I've never taught it before. We had a lot of fun though! Then Ray said he needed help leveling off and spreading more of the gravel. We did that until lunch was ready. Now I'm updating this, and waiting for my laundry to finish drying on the line.
Tomorrow, I think the plan is to can some more veggies, like zucchini or cabbage. I was going to do baking tonight, but I was informed they bought a cake to celebrate one of the boys' birthday, which was on Sunday. Better late than never. I couldn't explain the canning process with my limited Spanish, but they picked it up by watching me, and then they wrote it for themselves in Spanish. It was fun to watch them get so excited about taking turns filling jars and peeling tomatoes.
The sign you see on the way to the border.
My hair for the wedding.
Me all dressed up at the wedding!
The bride waiting to walk down the aisle.
Well that's all I have for now. Happy first day of February! Have a great groundhog's day tomorrow! Please let me know the outcome. I'd like to know if it'll be warm by the time I come home. :D
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