I will just start typing and hope I say something that will interest you! I have some pictures to upload that will show you some of the things we have been doing lately. Recently Greg took some of the men from our church group to mexico city for the first time ever in their lives. They took some of their kids with them to see one of their favorite soccer teams. They all had a wonderful time and enjoyed a once in a lifetime experience.
Greg has been traveling to our new area of work twice a week and some weeks the kids and i go with him. i have included some pictures of the work that is being done on our home. It has a lot of work to go, but in these villages, you don't find homes to rent, so if you can find one that is vacant and try and finish it, that is your best bet. however, as Greg is finding out, it can prove to be a very stressful job! oh, Greg hasn't been dizzy for 4 days now! Thanks for praying! Missy
i have started a prayer group with some women and some of the things i am learning from them truly breaks my heart! i have never really understood the marriages here. most people from the past were either arranged marriages like lupita or they were "robbed." I had a talk with a friend of mine the other day and she explained just how her "marriage" began. She said she was 13 years old and she was walking to a store with a friend. A group of boys that were friends of one of her girlfriends, called to her and asked her to come over to the door of her friend's home. So she willingly went. Once she got to the door, they grabbed her and threw her into a room and shut the door behind her. Inside this room was a 26, yes, 26 year old man waiting for her. He wanted her to be his wife. So she became his in that moment. She said she was so scared and had no idea what was happening. She said,"I didn't know whether to be more scared of him or my dad." She said soon after this happened her mom and dad came looking for her b/c her friend had told them what had happened. However the family wouldn't open the door. She said, "All night I lay in this man's bed, listening to my dad beat on the door. When they wouldn't let him in, he started to beat my mother, right outside of the house. All night I cried as I listened to my dad beat my mother as he blamed her for what had happened." (he blamed her b/c she had let her go to the store) She said the next day the man's mother brought her back home and and asked her parents for permission for her son to marry their daughter. She said they drank together and this calmed everything down. 2 months later they were married just like Lupita was. She said that when it came time for her to sign the papers they had to call her over to the table b/c she was off with her friends playing dolls. 9 months later came her first child. Four children and 35 years have passed now and she said she thinks that he started loving her when she was about 30. That is a lot of time to live with someone who doesn't love you. However, she assured me that her story is not uncommon for women her age. Thankfully marriages don't happen quite like that anymore. Anyway, just thought i would share with you some of the things i have learned. My people are so precious to me. I really love them and my heart truly breaks when i hear how much they suffer. Many of them suffer every day in other ways. I will try to touch on more of those ways in my next post! For now, i am off to my prayer group! love you all!
i have been trying to upload the pictures to go with this post and have failed. I will keep trying. I wrote this 2 days ago and decided i would wait until i could post the pics with it, but now i think you would be waiting a loooong time! So, i will post pics when i can! love ya!
