Mexico, Day 4

July 6, 12:45 pm
I'm alone in our room and it's just about lunchtime.

I don't remember falling asleep last night. I woke up and it was dark and I was disoriented, so I think the light must still have been on when I fell asleep.

Before breakfast I ran and had a very quick shivery shower. The bobby pins have been trying to escape from my braid all morning.

Breakfast was scrambled eggs with something red in them, refried beans, and flour tortillas that some of the girls sold us. $8 for 4 dozen. And I found where the coffee is! I like it. It tastes like a cinnamon dolce latte, Destiny says.

Before Sala and after breakfast I went with Destiny and Michelle and Carissa to get babies from the nursery. The others got little girls, but mine was a little boy and he was SUPER cute. [This was Elias, Nancy's brother.] He was playing with may camera and figured out how to turn it on, set it to camera, and take about 10 pictures.

Brb lunch.

Back (1:20 now). Anyway, I managed to turn off the flash so it wasn't disruptive , though he did get squirmy so I had to take him back to the nursery. The guy in charge of work assignments [Uriel] advised us to sit near the door when we have babies so that it's not so disruptive when we leave with them, which made me feel kinda...eheh oops. I have pretty cute pictures with the little boy, though.

Then they gave out work assignments. Bob talked some about how it's important to be willing to dp anything, which made me feel guilty for not volunteering to clean toilets. I did go to the kitchen with Bryan and Joel and Zack, and a short Hispanic man named Manuel gave us stuff to do. We figured he must understand English pretty well, just not speak it, because we managed to communicate decently (right at the end he told us to go wash the car in the kitchen, which was perplexing, but he thought it was hilarious and showed us where the car actually was. BEHIND the kitchen). We washed a bunch of dishes, big ones, and put dishes away, and cleaned tile and wiped down all the tables and chairs with water and bleach.

At break the gift shop was open and I gave in and bought a bracelet. I'll be back there later, to buy tons of macadamia nuts, because they are SO good.

Also, they were selling sticky buns, with nuts, which were AWESOME. [On the trip back through Ensenada and Tijuana, July 10, we had more sticky buns. They were not as epic cold as they were hot, but Laurent still ate, like, four or something.] I bought M&Ms, two granola bars, two bottles of lemonade, and gum for $2.85. It was a happy thing.

After break we washed the van behind (not in) the kitchen, which Manuel thanked us for profusely. He kept saying, "New car!"

Joel and I headed back for the Connect 4 tournament, but no kids were signed up, so instead we swept a bunch of the paths until lunch, and I discussed Mayans and Aztecs with Joel and Zack.

I'm annoyed that I didn't bring more hoodies. I have my blue American Eagle one and my Canada one, but the Canada one isn't as warm and the sleeves aren't long enough. What annoys me more is that I was warned to bring more and ignored it. I wonder if it's stupid to pay $30 for one from the gift shop.

Oh, Debra enlightened me on last night. Apparently I was out like a light. I'm amused.

Going to the Sala for more work assignment now.

10:40 pm
I got to go to the Nuthouse kitchen! It was fun - I made Lemon Loaf mix, and doubled an already huge recipe, which was nerve-wracking since I kept losing count of things. [24 eggs in that thing! And 18 cups of flour!] Also, I attempted to make roses with icing. They turned out semi-okay, though Dorothy (the cook) made way better ones. I wish I'd gotten a picture of me making them, for Mom.

Dorothy intrigued me. She came here as a non-Christian, after her husband died, and was told she could stay if she came to Sala every morning. She eventually converted. She runs the kitchen almost like a drill seargent but at moments she's almost startlingly kind. I think I like her. There was a girl helping her, a guest who's here for the wedding this weekend, who's from England and had an AWESOME accent. She kept to herself, mostly. [This was Katie.] She's REALLY pretty.

When they were giving out assignments Dionne mentioned how much she enjoyed working at the Nuthouse in the morning and Bob told her she could go back with two others, so I jumped in the air waving my hand :P. But it worked! I was thrilled.

I was fairly intimidated about Adult Evangelism this evening. Supper was idyllic, sunny and happy, but I kind of felt the evening looming. (Re the sun: Chelsea, in the gift shop this afternoon, said it's freakishly cold in the Baja right now. Should be 30C.)

The drive there was a good 50 minutes. First we changed into (hysterical) skirt-pant-runner-hat get-ups, and there was a lot of giggling, and boys commented that they felt lucky. Ha ha. [We were supposed to wear skirts below the knee, have our hair covered as much as possible in case of lice, and wear long pants under the skirts and hoodies because it got cold. Is not an attractive combo.] Then we stood in a circle and prayed.

Anyway, the drive was fun. At once point I told Debra that I didn't feel like I wanted to go home, and she said she had moments like that too, but also GET ME OUT OF HERE moments. I concur.

When we drove into the work camp, kids swarmed the vans. SWARMED. They climbed onto the back and the sides and held on to the bumper while it was still moving, and at one point a boy opened the side door from outside and climbed in going, "Hola!"

That was intimidating, but it was okay once we got out. Little kids don't much care about language - I used "Hola", "Como te llamas", "Dios te bendiga", and they grinned and some gave me high-fives [some of them I had to teach how a high-five worked] and a lot demanded piggybacks right off the bat.

Being there with this swarm of kids was overwhelming. I want to remember this while it's still fresh in my mind, before I move too far away from the emotional impact of it.

These kids had clothes, but lots had very dirty shoes, or bare feet, or dirty clothes. There were also runny noses and a few kids I saw crying. They were also TINY. Near the end I held a little girl, 3 or 4 years old, for a long time, and she hardly weighed anything. It might not all be malnutrition, it might be that these kids are just smaller, but it still shocked me.

I walked around visiting briefly with kids for a while. Some were very shy, but one (Rosa) would NOT leave me alone and was constantly wanting a piggyback. They got a little crazy when they lined up for the picture-taking team and one girl got pushed around a lot. I gave her a hug.

When it got dark they turned on a movie (The Prodigal Son, in a weird animation-style interpretation) and the one little girl sat on my lap/got a piggyback ride for a long time until a boy I think was her brother came to get her. [Her name was something that sounded like Amalinda. A lot of the time I gave up trying to understand them when they said their names.]

I felt really sad. Have to go to bed - will finish about this evening tomorrow. The girls want to turn the lights off.


[On the topic of the mission, and how when their cup overflows they give out to the community]
"When my cup overflows, I buy a bigger cup, and put the old one in my garage, and then three years later I sell it for 25 cents at a garage sale, and someone gives me 10 cents for it." - Nathan