I spent Sunday in Chihuahua, the capital city, with the students, the director, and a long-time family friend (also my interpreter) who works for the missions organization that founded the school. We attended 2 church services hoping to meet prospective students. The first church service, at the most missions minded Methodist church in Mexico, lasted two hours. "Es normal," I thought, we're in Mexico, church lasts longer. I had no idea what we were in store for: a 3.5 church service that started at noon at one of the largest protestant churches in Chihuahua, including a 90 minute praise and worship session and a show and tell for a 6th grade Sunday school class. We were hoping to sneak out right after the director spoke but the pastor asked us to stay to speak to people after the service.
We drove the three hours to Matachi last night and passed by the largest Mennonite community in North America. Apparently, during the 1920s a mass exodus of Mennonites from Canada arrived in Mexico. The Mexican government assured that they would be left alone. This is one of the most bizarre things I have ever encountered! To think of a group of 80,000 Mexican-passport holding Mennonites living in the middle of Chihuahua, complete with beards and long dresses.
Classes began this morning. A Mexican pastor who planned on teaching about church history didn't show up today so I might have to teach the entire six hours a day for the rest of the week. I have a lot of prep work to finish but I'm looking forward to it. I'm reading My Name is Asher Lev by Chaim Potok and Transforming Grace: Living Confidently in God's Unfailing Love by Jerry Bridges and I hope to finish both by the end of the week. I'm also planning on befriending a rancher and riding some horses. We'll see how that goes.
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