The Language School
Nopales (not my picture)
Tortas Ahogadas (also not my picture)
Just today we went to the market. We bought all this for less than 100 pesos! That's less than $8. Amazing, eh?
Saturday, January 28, 2012
Language School in Guadalajara (without pictures)
Note from Matt: I've been having a horrible time trying to include pictures, thanks to Blogspot's new broken picture uploader. Here's the text, and the pictures will hopefully appear later.
Dear family & friends,
We hope this letter finds you well! We are doing quite well ourselves and are thankful that the Lord has worked out most things for us. We are still working towards getting a car, which has been occupying a lot of my time lately, but we are hopeful about that too. We thought it would be good to tell you a bit more about the language school this week.
The school is almost 45 minutes away in the mornings due to traffic, so we have lots of time to listen to the radio and to try to decipher as much as we can. Some radio announcers talk very fast! We are also enjoying listening to some sermons from Canada during the drive. Those ones, at least, we have no trouble understanding. :-)
Here are two pictures of the language school. The first shows the whole house (the school just rents the bottom one-and-a-half-levels). The second shows the court inside, which is quite nice. Note that we're both wearing sweaters! It can actually get down to 10 degrees in the mornings, which is quite cool considering that there is no central heat. It's very common to see more winterish coats, scarves, and even touques in the mornings. But we're not complaining about the weather at all. The days are absolutely beautiful. Blue skies, warm sun, but still cool in the shade. We love it!
Anne-Marie is all by herself in her class. Apparently there used to be more students, but with the violence elsewhere in Mexico, enrollment has dropped a bit. But this way Anne-Marie gets lots of practice! I have two others in my class, Deb from Texas and Courtney from Oregon. We've really enjoyed getting to know them as friends and sisters in the Lord. We've gone out a couple of times already for ice-cream and tortas ahogadas, and are planning to make a trip down-town sometime. (If you don't know what tortas ahogadas are, you'll really have to try some if you ever come to Guadalajara. It literally means "drowned sandwiches". They're really quite good!) Deb and Courtney will be working in a little place in Autlan, Mexico with a Baptist church there.
The language program is really put together quite well. The subjects we deal with each day cover quite a wide range: Christianity, Catholicism, food, health, the judicial system, etc. Did you know, for instance, that the nopale is useful for everything from making adobe stick better to nourishing cows during drought? We're looking forward to trying some (it's used in some very traditional dishes), though we haven't quite decided how to use it yet. :-)
As Anne-Marie mentioned before, part of our Spanish homework every other day is to go to find people to ask a couple of questions of. Something else that works well when you're trying to learn the language is to try to find something that's hard to get. You often go on a bit of a goose-chase, but it's a good way to meet people. People are generally very helpful too, which helps a lot. I went into the Santa Ana center today to try to find a new sink drain plug. I asked first one man, who sent me to another store, who sent me to another store, which I finally found after some false turns. But now we have two shining new enchufes in our fregadero, and I've also met some new people! So little by little, you begin to get to meet the people here.
So that's it for now. We've got lots of plans on what to write on, but we're going to try to write on one topic a week. Thank-you for your letters and thank-you especially for your prayers. I can say that without a doubt that God has been very good to us, and we are very happy to be here. We've even had some pretty funny happenings lately! (But that will have to wait for another time.) Until then,
Love in Christ, Matt & Anne-Marie Van Dyken.
Dear family & friends,
We hope this letter finds you well! We are doing quite well ourselves and are thankful that the Lord has worked out most things for us. We are still working towards getting a car, which has been occupying a lot of my time lately, but we are hopeful about that too. We thought it would be good to tell you a bit more about the language school this week.
The school is almost 45 minutes away in the mornings due to traffic, so we have lots of time to listen to the radio and to try to decipher as much as we can. Some radio announcers talk very fast! We are also enjoying listening to some sermons from Canada during the drive. Those ones, at least, we have no trouble understanding. :-)
Here are two pictures of the language school. The first shows the whole house (the school just rents the bottom one-and-a-half-levels). The second shows the court inside, which is quite nice. Note that we're both wearing sweaters! It can actually get down to 10 degrees in the mornings, which is quite cool considering that there is no central heat. It's very common to see more winterish coats, scarves, and even touques in the mornings. But we're not complaining about the weather at all. The days are absolutely beautiful. Blue skies, warm sun, but still cool in the shade. We love it!
Anne-Marie is all by herself in her class. Apparently there used to be more students, but with the violence elsewhere in Mexico, enrollment has dropped a bit. But this way Anne-Marie gets lots of practice! I have two others in my class, Deb from Texas and Courtney from Oregon. We've really enjoyed getting to know them as friends and sisters in the Lord. We've gone out a couple of times already for ice-cream and tortas ahogadas, and are planning to make a trip down-town sometime. (If you don't know what tortas ahogadas are, you'll really have to try some if you ever come to Guadalajara. It literally means "drowned sandwiches". They're really quite good!) Deb and Courtney will be working in a little place in Autlan, Mexico with a Baptist church there.
The language program is really put together quite well. The subjects we deal with each day cover quite a wide range: Christianity, Catholicism, food, health, the judicial system, etc. Did you know, for instance, that the nopale is useful for everything from making adobe stick better to nourishing cows during drought? We're looking forward to trying some (it's used in some very traditional dishes), though we haven't quite decided how to use it yet. :-)
As Anne-Marie mentioned before, part of our Spanish homework every other day is to go to find people to ask a couple of questions of. Something else that works well when you're trying to learn the language is to try to find something that's hard to get. You often go on a bit of a goose-chase, but it's a good way to meet people. People are generally very helpful too, which helps a lot. I went into the Santa Ana center today to try to find a new sink drain plug. I asked first one man, who sent me to another store, who sent me to another store, which I finally found after some false turns. But now we have two shining new enchufes in our fregadero, and I've also met some new people! So little by little, you begin to get to meet the people here.
So that's it for now. We've got lots of plans on what to write on, but we're going to try to write on one topic a week. Thank-you for your letters and thank-you especially for your prayers. I can say that without a doubt that God has been very good to us, and we are very happy to be here. We've even had some pretty funny happenings lately! (But that will have to wait for another time.) Until then,
Love in Christ, Matt & Anne-Marie Van Dyken.
Thursday, January 19, 2012
At Home In Guadalajara
Dear family & church family & friends.
A week has gone by and we certainly are owing you an update. We are settling here in Guadalajara and have lots to share! God has been good.
A week has gone by and we certainly are owing you an update. We are settling here in Guadalajara and have lots to share! God has been good.
Going all the way back to last Friday, our departure date… We made our Toronto flight without incident on the morning of the first winter storm of the year (…and were welcomed in Guadalajara with 28C and sunshine!). We arrived in Houston after the departure time of our next flight, and so were sure we missed the flight. But thankfully our next flight was delayed too, and so we just made it. We got on the plane, and just two minutes later the doors were shut! This was after running through terminal A, catching the shuttle train to terminal B, and another run through that terminal. Although Matt was carrying 3 of our 4 (heavy!) carry-ons, I still lagged behind, discovering that for some reason I am less fit than say a year ago. But we made it. Though needless to say that we were not surprised that our luggage didn’t arrive in Guadalajara with us. We were so thankful to have made the flight as we really did not know if there would be another flight that day. We were not surprised when our luggage did not show up in Guadalajara. But we were very happy to be able to pick them up the very next morning.
We received a very warm welcome at the airport. It was wonderful to see Richard & Angela and the girls (Jessica, Christianna, and Rebekah). They took great care of us those first days, feeding us, and showing us around our new place and the city. Lots of great talks too!
Matt turned 30 on Saturday! This is a birthday we will not forget too quickly – our first full day in Mexico! We were greeted with balloons and streamers in the morning, many thanks to Christianna and Jessica. And Angela had a birthday cake for Matt too! [Matt here: The best way to have a birthday is to have it right when you're about to leave the country. I had cake five days in a row in a different place almost every time! :-) ]
The Bouts took us back to Tepic Saturday afternoon and we were welcomed there by Rev. & Mrs. Bout and the boys. We had a wonderful Sunday. Pastor Richard had an excellent message (so Matt told me) and we really enjoyed a time of food & fellowship with the congregation afterwards. It was so nice to see many familiar faces, and also just as wonderful to see a lot of new ones too. [We were welcomed with open arms... such a blessing to see the church.]
We were generously lent a car from members of the church (Alfredo & Maria) for a few weeks while we look for one to buy. Such a blessing, as we have a 45 minute drive to the language school in the mornings (half an hour in the afternoon).
We have not been seriously lost yet! Which is actually quite something! I have never yet been so thankful for my husband’s good sense of direction. Getting around is a challenge. Just because google maps says you can go a certain way, that does not mean that there won’t be a big pile of rocks blocking the entire street. And street signs are often unclear (to us) or absent. “Turn by the green house…” or “Look for the building with the odd-shaped windows…” And all those deadly speedbumps! [Well.... we have taken a lot of wrong turns and so forth. I guess it all depends how you define lost.]
Language school started on Monday. We are impressed so far with the program and are getting into some routines with homework. Every other day we have to go out and interview a local with a prepared list of questions. Yesterday was our first time doing that. The guard at the front gate of our complex was happy to speak with Matt and I met a lady washing her car. So yes, in many ways, we are being pushed out of our comfort zone. As I headed out the door to go and find someone to talk to yesterday, I said to Matt with a smile, “This seems to be the theme of our new life – being out of our comfort zone.” Although, I’m confident that at least some of the newness will wear off sooner or later.
Our first visitors came yesterday… Wilf & Sharon Bout & children. They were traveling through the city and stopped in for a visit before rounding off their trip in Tepic. (For those who don’t know, Wilf works with the migrant ministry in the Niagara area. In January, most of the workers are back home, so the Bouts spent a few weeks traveling around the country and visiting the families of those they minister to). It was great to see familiar faces and hear of their past few weeks first hand. A very blessed time!
We just returned from meeting some of our neighbours. Richard & Angela introduced us to a Christian lady named Flora last weekend, and we stopped in to say hello. She took us on a walk and introduced us to another Christian family and another Christian couple who will be married in August. We feel very encouraged to meet other believers here, even in our own little complex.
We are doing well. That is not to say that we haven’t been overwhelmed at times. It has been a challenge, with so many new things! And trying to balance language school and homework with unpacking suitcases, cleaning the house, grocery shopping, car shopping, finding a doctor, figuring out where to buy water and how to get more gas for the house and what kinds of food to cook, and many more things. Yet, God has been faithful and we continue to look to Him, our refuge and strength. And so, in all of this, we can learn more and more what it means to be still and know that He is God.
We are grateful for your love and support and prayers. [We will get around to answering all of your emails at some point, but it might be a bit, as we need to focus on making a home here first. Thank-you once again, however! And thank-you for the birthday wishes too.]
A few items for prayer…
- Please pray that we will find a vehicle to buy in the next week or so.
- Please pray that we can be a blessing here in our neighbourhood and that God will give us opportunities to develop relationships here.
- Please pray for physical strength and good sleeps at night!
- Please pray that God may keep before our eyes why we are here, so that we may also focus on this. It is so easy to get lost in the details and the logistics!
Some Pictures: Welcomed Warmly by Richard and Angela (and the girls, who were not in the picture).
Welcome at Church in Tepic
Goodbye Pictures
Open house with some good friends.
Dear Oma Blokker.
On the Thursday before the flight, we got to meet Julia Joy, Curt and Jen's beautiful little girl, a sister to Phillip and Jesse.
Dear Oma Blokker.
On the Thursday before the flight, we got to meet Julia Joy, Curt and Jen's beautiful little girl, a sister to Phillip and Jesse.
Ordination Pictures
Rev. Anema (Messiah's Reformed Church of Holland, Michigan, sponsoring church) opened the night.
Dad Van Popta (pastor of Ottawa CanRC) gave the congregational prayer.
Rev. Bouwers gave a stirring and heartening message on Psalm 67.
My dear wife and I.
Rev. Tony Zekveld (missionary to the Sikhs in Toronto) gave the charge.
Laying on of hands.
Psalm 67
To the choirmaster: with stringed instruments. A Psalm. A Song. May God be gracious to us and bless us and make his face to shine upon us, (Selah) that your way may be known on earth, your saving power among all nations.
Let the peoples praise you, O God; let all the peoples praise you!
Let the nations be glad and sing for joy, for you judge the peoples with equity and guide the nations upon earth. (Selah)
Let the peoples praise you, O God; let all the peoples praise you!
The earth has yielded its increase; God, our God, shall bless us.
God shall bless us; let all the ends of the earth fear him!
Praise the Lord for His goodness!
Dad Van Popta (pastor of Ottawa CanRC) gave the congregational prayer.
Rev. Bouwers gave a stirring and heartening message on Psalm 67.
My dear wife and I.
Rev. Tony Zekveld (missionary to the Sikhs in Toronto) gave the charge.
Laying on of hands.
Psalm 67
To the choirmaster: with stringed instruments. A Psalm. A Song. May God be gracious to us and bless us and make his face to shine upon us, (Selah) that your way may be known on earth, your saving power among all nations.
Let the peoples praise you, O God; let all the peoples praise you!
Let the nations be glad and sing for joy, for you judge the peoples with equity and guide the nations upon earth. (Selah)
Let the peoples praise you, O God; let all the peoples praise you!
The earth has yielded its increase; God, our God, shall bless us.
God shall bless us; let all the ends of the earth fear him!
Praise the Lord for His goodness!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)