Friday August 19th 2011

Buenas tardes desde Cuernavaca, Morelos, Mexico. There has been a lot of traveling and moving around the past week or so sorry for the lack of updates. At El Monte, we had a work team from North Carolina come and do some work projects with us. We spent a good amount of time mixing and pouring cement for the palapa grande. The palapa grande is a big pavilion that will be used for hosting more events and camps. We already have a smaller one where a lot of the games, worship times and meals took place. But as the camps grow, there will be a need for a bigger area and this palapa will help us in that. Another big aspect that our organization and leaders want us short-term missionaries to experience is the cultural aspect of Mexico. So this past weekend 3 friends and I went up to Mexico City to experience a city with a population close to 115 million. On our first day we visited ruins of a different ancient pyramid city called Teotihuacan. Teotihuacan is an enormous archaeological site that has some of the largest pyramidal structures built in the pre-Columbian Americas. Besides the pyramidal structures, Teotihuacan is also known for its large residential complexes, the Avenue of the Dead, and numerous colorful, well-preserved murals. The sites were beautiful to look at but what the ancient Aztecs practiced there was not. They built massive temples to their gods and made many human sacrifices at this location. We also experienced quite a bit of the city and met up with some of the other counselors that were from Mexico City. We saw sites including the Palacio National, Plaza de la Constitución, El Ángel de la Independencia, Basilica de Guadalupe, Estadio Azteca, Xochimilco, Catedral Metropolitana and Palacio de Bellas Artes. It was quite an eventful, long, but fun trip that I will never forget.

This week began Spanish lessons at a Christian family’s home in Cuernavaca. Part of the trip and program involves furthering my knowledge of the Spanish language. It’s interesting because many of the Spanish words I had learned in high school are not the words they use here in Mexico. So for the next few weeks, I will be learning much more Spanish and experiencing life in a Mexican home. This weekend is the wedding of my roommate Gerardo, the one many of you have been praying for. He has completely healed from his illness and will be getting married tomorrow.

And now for a little game I am starting called “You know you’re in Mexico when…”
You know you’re in Mexico when there is a traffic jam and its not because of traffic. It’s because a herd of donkeys, horses or cows choose to graze on the roads.

Billy