CTT

This past week we went through Community Transformation Training (CTT). Basically, this involves training nationals in basic, preventative healthcare lessons in order to improve the health of a community and establish relationships in order to tell God's story. This is a great way to model Christ's approach of making disciples by meeting needs and teaching truth. The purpose of this strategy is to function as part of an overall, comprehensive church planting plan.  

We learned how to incorporate health lessons into stories so that we teach applicable health prevention in a way that the listeners can easily understand and relate to. After telling the health story, we can then segue into sharing a story from the Word of God. 

I'm very excited about getting started using CTT this week. We will be holding a CTT event this coming Saturday in one of the nearby villages. We hope to gain some interest from nationals that can partner with us in reaching these communities and the results of this event will likely impact the rest of the work we do over the next few months. Please be praying for us as we prepare for this event, for interest among the locals, and for hearts to be won over to Christ.

We did get to do some touristy things as well this week. On Monday we went out for breakfast and several of us got our first cup of leche de chocolate (Mexican hot chocolate). It was absolutely amazing!

Then, we went out to Monte Alban which are some ancient Zapotec ruins in Oaxaca.

My roomate, Jasmine, and me

Natasha, Hannah A., Hannah B., Shelley, Jasmine, and Kat

We went to La Churreria for my first ever Churro one evening and made a new friend! Please be praying that we will continue to have opportunities to meet locals and build relationships.

Words cannot express how happy I was when I found a Paleteria (Popsicle Store) in the Zocolo (main plaza). These are real Steel City Pops! Although it didn't taste exactly the same as a strawberry cream pop from Steel City, it was delicious! It was like finding a little piece of Birmingham right in the center of Oaxaca. Culture shock is real you guys...and I'm so grateful for little glimmers of home!

We also had the opportunity to act as tour guide and hang out with a short term team from a church in South Carolina. These guys were great and it was a blessing to get to know them and learn from them. We were thrilled to realize we are familiar enough with the city to show others around!

Dinner on the Zocolo with the South Carolina Team

Training and Tortillas

This week we were blessed to have ESL training from a missionary named Susan who lives in this area and has a background in teaching ESL. She was so sweet to take time to teach us about learning styles, language theories, literacy, pronunciation, and how to evaluate goals for your class as well as come up with lesson plans/themes. This is a picture of us with Susan on our awesome rooftop/classroom:

We won't all be teaching ESL each week in Oaxaca, but I am grateful for the knowledge she shared with us. Some of it is applicable to any situation in which we may be in teaching positions, and it will also be useful for future ESL opportunities we may have in the States.

Jenny, one of our supervisors, drew a picture of the day's activities for our visual learners...pizza was an important part of the day! We have come to treasure pizza here because it is one meal that pretty much tastes the same as in the U.S. and reminds us all of home.

Kat and I in our first ride in a Colectivo, which is a car that functions as a bus in that it follows the same route through the city. We are finally learning our way around the city using public transportation!

Friday evening we had the opportunity to attend an event in one of the villages nearby. We were warmly welcomed! As soon as we arrived we were taken to a table for dinner where we ate Barbacoa...Lamb! Another first for most of us! Lamb is a special meal here usually served on important occasions or at special events. Our field contact pointed out that the preparations for the meal probably took all day and began early that morning with live sheep going "baa". Talk about fresh meat!

Where the sweet ladies cooked all day!

Saturday morning we went to a lady's house in a nearby village where she taught us how to make tortillas! It was such a fun experience! This is the fire pit. The metal pan on top is called a comal.

This is a picture of the dough which is called masa. The ladies take the corn kernels in baskets on top of their heads to a place where they grind the corn and make it into this dough. They knead it out on a large stone and use portions of it to make the actual tortillas.

They place the dough between two pieces of plastic (usually bags from a store that they cut up), and then use a press to flatten the dough.

Once the dough is the right thickness, the plastic is peeled off of each side carefully so the dough doesn't tear.

The dough is then placed on the comal for a few minutes and flipped periodically.

I had so much fun learning this process and our friend even invited me to stay in their village and help make tortillas. And check out the cute aprons! All the ladies from the indigenous villages we've seen wear these.

This family usually makes about 20-25 tortillas every other day.

Isn't she precious!?!

This is a cradle they have rigged together so that the ladies can watch after their babies while they cook tortillas. I love their thriftiness!

The group with our maestra (teacher).

After our Tortilla class, we helped teach ESL to some kids in one of the villages. They have been learning about body parts.

Saturday evening we had some free time so we went downtown and strolled down the walking street, a street blocked off to cars and for pedestrian use only.

It has been a great week and I feel blessed that the Lord has given me the opportunity to call this beautiful place home for the next few months. 

"The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork." Psalm 19:1

Bienvenidos A Oaxaca

Welcome to Oaxaca! My team and I arrived in Oaxaca, Mexico, on Tuesday, August 20th. The city of Oaxaca is located in a valley and it is absolutely beautiful here. This picture is a view from the back porch of our apartment.

This is a view from the front of our apartment. It is currently the rainy season, but it usually only drizzles a little bit.

We were welcomed with open arms and lots of smiles by our field contacts and their families. They took us to this awesome Taco Stand called Taqueria Maxitablita for dinner when we got in on Tuesday night. I ordered Tacos al Pastor con Queso which I've been told is unique to Oaxaca. The pork is layered and then hung up and cooked slowly all day. 

Here's the whole team at dinner.

We have a beautiful apartment. Ours is the 3rd floor and there is a super awesome roof that we are quite enjoying!

Here we are in our apartment on our first night in Oaxaca. From left to right, Hannah Marie, Kat, Shelley, me, Jasmine, and Hannah B. I'm so blessed to be working with such sweet girls and I'm looking forward to growing with them over the next months.

On Wednesday we made our first trip to the grocery store. It was a fun and somewhat exhausting experience. They have many of the same things we have in the U.S. We made it out of the grocery with a buggy and half full that amounted to the equivalent of about $150.

Wednesday night our field contacts threw us a welcome party on the roof. We ate some pizza, met some neighbors, and played with these precious kids.

This is the room I share with Jasmine.

Our first bus ride. We will be using public transportation to get around over the next several months.

On Thursday we went downtown and toured a few of the old churches. This is in front of El Templo de San Domingo.

We got lunch at a restaurant called Restaurante Importador. I got tostados with quesillo which is a special Oaxacan cheese.

On Fridays we have team meetings and free afternoons. So, we went downtown to a market that they have in Parque Lleno every Friday. We kept seeing ladies holding bowls of this red chopped up food. I asked one of the ladies what it was and she spooned some into my hand. To my surprise they were grasshoppers! These Chapulines are a common food here in Oaxaca so of course we had to try some! They actually weren't too bad..very flavorful and crunchy.

We got these yummy drinks called Aguas Frescas at the market. I got the Crema de Coco which is Coconut and it was so good!

On Saturday we went to a village with our field contacts where we taught an ESL class to a group of kids.

After the ESL class we went to the house of one of our field contact's friends. They weave wool and cotton for a living and were gracious enough to show us how everything works. They make the most beautiful rugs, blankets, curtains, scarves, and bags. 

It's been a great first week. We are still getting acclimated and learning our way around. It's been a lot to process, but I can see myself really loving it here. We will be spending the next couple of weeks learning how to teach ESL and going through Community Transformation Training. I'm so grateful for the love that our field contacts and the locals have shown us, as well as the grace they have shown us with language barriers. The Lord has been so good and it's comforting to know that He is sovereign over these next few months, the people we meet, the work we do, and the things we experience.