I've Been In Mexico
Well, muchos apologias (yes, I know that isn't really the word for it) for not posting for so long. My excuse for not posting so far this week is because I went all out doing things with the Church.
Monday and Tuesday I worked with Padre Antonio to dig holes, pour cement, and hang four newly donated signs. Funny story - apparently we commissioned two to be done awhile back, then someone with mad woodcarving/burning skills did two more without us knowing it, and donated them all at the same time. Hence four signs. You can definitely tell where the Church building is though when driving down the street now!
Then yesterday (Wednesday), I went with Padre to the food bank to pick up about 1400 lbs. of food for the food pantry. We loaded, then unloaded the boxes of everything back at the church - meanwhile, even though the pantry doesn't open until noon, in the ridiculous heat, mind you, people had begun to gather outside the doors at 8 am. Because I don't speak Spanish (yet), all I could do was help sort out the food into the boxes then carry them to each person's car. I thought it would be more life-changing than that, because I had assumed the type of people that would come wouldn't have cars to put the food in. Mind you, my week was not yet over.
Today, Padre and I went across the border into Reynosa to a Catholic girls orphanage to take some donated supplies. While driving to the orphanage, Padre thought it good to take me through a bit of the real Mexico. ...Because I don't have the words, I'll just describe to you turn by turn what I saw. We crossed the border with no trouble - which is good, because apparently our government makes a lot of trouble when U.S. citizens are trying to help people in Mexico for some reason. Padre's routine route was a turn to the right, however, we instead went straight, through and around town. The first few blocks were very touristy. A Carl's Jr. (which is the equivalent of Hardee's down here - I'll get into that sometime in another post), Motorola billboards, a HoJo hotel, and three major car dealerships. From there, we got a little lost turning off of the main road into the smaller streets of the neighborhoods. Which, though I was prepared for it, at first sight, the houses seemed extremely small and dirty. We then took another street; this one less paved and more dirt. Then another one that ran alongside train tracks; the road was comprised of dirt, broken concrete, implanted pieces of cinder blocks, and trash. Along the right hand side of the road I started seeing the colorfully painted concrete houses quickly turn into faded brown properties "guarded" by crooked, broken, shabby wooden fences. Seemingly normal dressed people were walking alongside the road, coming in and out of these "homes." A block further, on the left hand side, next to the railroad tracks amongst the rocks and dirt, a freely roaming burro (donkey) is nonchalantly grazing what very little grass is available. A couple blocks further we come to what are known in Mexico as "colonias." Padre wanted to show me where they had done a health clinic/Nativity fiesta this past Christmas. (Some very small photos here If you've ever watched the scenes in Mexico from the movie "Traffic," you might have the slightest idea of what kind of poverty we're talking here. Literally, these homes are built with cardboard and scrap metal that has either been taken from the sides of abandoned warehouses or signs from failed tourist attraction shops. Some of the more affluent families have cars. No, they don't actually run, but rather are being used as spare rooms... Senor ten piedad.
We went to the orphanage, and it was beautiful. The nuns had been given a dirt plot in the middle of these colonias by the government about 25 years ago. Through donations, mucho trabajo (a lot of work) and prayer, they've developed it into a beautifully enclosed piece of safety for the girls living there. Again, I don't speak Spanish (yet), but just listening to Padre and the Senior Madre speak, I could tell the love that had been poured into those girls and that plot of dirt. Just being there, without understanding hardly a word that was spoken, I could feel the peace that surrounded it. Heaven in hell.
As Padre and I came back home, and I got in my car to pick up T for Vespers, I couldn't help but see how clean and orderly everything looked. How excessive the guy tailing me in his Mercedes Benz Roadster, and myself in my name brand clothes and air conditioned car.
I go in tomorrow morning for a third interview for a job. Now relatively I see, an insanely well-paying job. I wonder though, having experienced third world living conditions less than 10 miles from my own residence, will I even change?
Monday and Tuesday I worked with Padre Antonio to dig holes, pour cement, and hang four newly donated signs. Funny story - apparently we commissioned two to be done awhile back, then someone with mad woodcarving/burning skills did two more without us knowing it, and donated them all at the same time. Hence four signs. You can definitely tell where the Church building is though when driving down the street now!
Then yesterday (Wednesday), I went with Padre to the food bank to pick up about 1400 lbs. of food for the food pantry. We loaded, then unloaded the boxes of everything back at the church - meanwhile, even though the pantry doesn't open until noon, in the ridiculous heat, mind you, people had begun to gather outside the doors at 8 am. Because I don't speak Spanish (yet), all I could do was help sort out the food into the boxes then carry them to each person's car. I thought it would be more life-changing than that, because I had assumed the type of people that would come wouldn't have cars to put the food in. Mind you, my week was not yet over.
Today, Padre and I went across the border into Reynosa to a Catholic girls orphanage to take some donated supplies. While driving to the orphanage, Padre thought it good to take me through a bit of the real Mexico. ...Because I don't have the words, I'll just describe to you turn by turn what I saw. We crossed the border with no trouble - which is good, because apparently our government makes a lot of trouble when U.S. citizens are trying to help people in Mexico for some reason. Padre's routine route was a turn to the right, however, we instead went straight, through and around town. The first few blocks were very touristy. A Carl's Jr. (which is the equivalent of Hardee's down here - I'll get into that sometime in another post), Motorola billboards, a HoJo hotel, and three major car dealerships. From there, we got a little lost turning off of the main road into the smaller streets of the neighborhoods. Which, though I was prepared for it, at first sight, the houses seemed extremely small and dirty. We then took another street; this one less paved and more dirt. Then another one that ran alongside train tracks; the road was comprised of dirt, broken concrete, implanted pieces of cinder blocks, and trash. Along the right hand side of the road I started seeing the colorfully painted concrete houses quickly turn into faded brown properties "guarded" by crooked, broken, shabby wooden fences. Seemingly normal dressed people were walking alongside the road, coming in and out of these "homes." A block further, on the left hand side, next to the railroad tracks amongst the rocks and dirt, a freely roaming burro (donkey) is nonchalantly grazing what very little grass is available. A couple blocks further we come to what are known in Mexico as "colonias." Padre wanted to show me where they had done a health clinic/Nativity fiesta this past Christmas. (Some very small photos here If you've ever watched the scenes in Mexico from the movie "Traffic," you might have the slightest idea of what kind of poverty we're talking here. Literally, these homes are built with cardboard and scrap metal that has either been taken from the sides of abandoned warehouses or signs from failed tourist attraction shops. Some of the more affluent families have cars. No, they don't actually run, but rather are being used as spare rooms... Senor ten piedad.
We went to the orphanage, and it was beautiful. The nuns had been given a dirt plot in the middle of these colonias by the government about 25 years ago. Through donations, mucho trabajo (a lot of work) and prayer, they've developed it into a beautifully enclosed piece of safety for the girls living there. Again, I don't speak Spanish (yet), but just listening to Padre and the Senior Madre speak, I could tell the love that had been poured into those girls and that plot of dirt. Just being there, without understanding hardly a word that was spoken, I could feel the peace that surrounded it. Heaven in hell.
As Padre and I came back home, and I got in my car to pick up T for Vespers, I couldn't help but see how clean and orderly everything looked. How excessive the guy tailing me in his Mercedes Benz Roadster, and myself in my name brand clothes and air conditioned car.
I go in tomorrow morning for a third interview for a job. Now relatively I see, an insanely well-paying job. I wonder though, having experienced third world living conditions less than 10 miles from my own residence, will I even change?
