Milestones

This week is a big week for us!

Today is our second anniversary! It seems like it's been a LOT less time than that... that means it's been a good two years, right? :) We're going to the restaurant where JP proposed to me for lunch!

Wednesday is JP's last day of classes FOR.EVER.  (Although I have been hearing the word "maestria" passing between JP and his friends... guess what that means...  hehe)  He's graduating as the valedictorian of his major, and probably of the whole class of  2010 in all majors!!!

Classes...

Randomness...

And late-nite taco runs...

It's been a great 3 years of college!!

Tomorrow and wednesday I'm turning in my documents to become a mexican citizen, taking my mexican history and culture test, and being approved for being able to speak spanish well-enough (they guy who's testing me laughed when I asked him if he thought I speak good spanish - that I should hear some people struggle through making full sentences... and he approves some of them!) 
Please pray for that all goes well in this process...  I have two possible SNAFUs - I have two different names on legal documents: my mexican documents have two last names (my maiden name and my mom's maiden name - that's how they do it here) and the USA documents just have my maiden name (haven't changed to Uribe yet); and, my passport is brand new, it doesn't have any stamps in it, and I need to show stamps for all the times I've left Mexico in the past two years - which has only been twice - and those stamps are in a cancelled passport.  These two things wouldn't be a problem in the US, but here they are VERY strict about ALL documents having the EXACT same name/address/validity/etc. 

Anyhow, we have a lot to be thankful for this week!  God has been good!  And will continue to be too!  :)

Happy Day!

About three months ago, a family entered Horizonte and asked about the church.  This family is from Mexico City and was visiting Queretaro.  They have family that lives down the highway from the church.  The Mexico City family brought their Queretaro family members to Horizonte for the second service.  There were three girls - Pam, Karen, and Fernanda.  Pam and Karen are 23 and 20, respectively, and Fer is in elementary school.  Their parents didn't want to come.

Pam and Karen accepted Christ the beginning for 2010 through the influence of their family members in Mexico.  Immediately they were interested in being involved in the young adults' group and coming to the Sunday services at Horizonte.  They are learning a lot about the Bible, and are VERY eager to continue that learning.  

The other day, the three of us went out for crepes (very popular in Queretaro, and VERY yummy!!).  I had told them that Laura, the lady that was discipling me, just moved to the US.  They asked me about eing discipled, what that is, and how they can be discipled.  I'll begin meeting with each of the girls this week!  Unfortunately we aren't able to do a study all three together, as Karen goes to school in the evening and Pam gets off work at 7pm.  

Please pray for Pam and Karen, that they will continue to grow in the Lord.  And for me, that the Lord will speak through me.  I've had some frustrating experiences with discipling in the past year - girls who aren't commited to meeting for a study, or who are too busy going to dance clubs in the evening to meet.  I've been discipling Sandy, and 17yearold for about 2 months now, and that is going well.  And I trust that Pam and Karen will be commited and benefit from our times together!

Both girls were baptized yesterday at Horizonte Church!  I don't have pictures of their actual baptism - I was behind the stage helping them out!  But below is a picture of thir parents (who thanfully came to watch!), aunts, uncles, cousins, and a few friends! 

Mexico D.F.

I'm working on becoming a Mexican citizen.  It's a kind of long process, but the total cost of all the paperwork and fees is about $150, which is tens of times less that it will cost to get JP's US citizenship.  I've had to go to several places in Queretaro to get the requirements for this process, and one paper had to be picked up in Mexico City.  I went on thursday.  It costs about $30 round trip to get to and from Mexico (haha mom, I can pay less to go to the bus station instead of the airport!), so JP didn't go with me, and he couldn't really take off work anyway. 

The Mexico City Metro Area has over 20 MILLION people.  It's one of the dirtiest cities in the world (although they're doing well at cleaning it up), and one of the most dangerous as well (which is also being worked on).  For some unknown reason, I feel a lot safer in Mexico City that I do in large cities in the US, Chicago for example, but I have no idea how to get from one point to another in Chicago or other large US cities.  I feel unsafe taking public transportation in Portland Oregon, which I seriously doubt has a high crime rate.

Anyway, I mapped out my route to the Federal Police building where I needed to get my paper.  Go to Mexico on a nice bus.  Go on the subway (Metro) from the bus station.  Change Metro lines twice.  Buy a MetroBus ticket and go about 10 minutes on that.  Get off and walk 4 blocks to the Federal Police building.  A lot of people look at me and know that I'm a foreigner, but there's always room for doubt - there are many mexicans with my skin, hair, and eye color.  By mapping out my route before I begin using public transportation, I somewhat avoid looking like a lost tourist, which cuts down on the risk of being pick-pocketed or worse.  All credit/debit cards that I don't plan on using stay home, as well as wedding rings, driver's license, and other things that I won't use and want to keep for years to come.

The paper-pickup took less that 10 minutes, which is EXTREMELY rare for paperwork here - I waited HOURS in each immigration visit in Queretaro.  And I had planned to spend hours in Mexico.  So, I went to the Capitol Mall, some free museums, the zoo, and ate lunch a a Burger King across the street from the Angel of Independence.  I think I walked for about 2 hours, counting walking around the zoo.  It was a nice, cheap, day of exploring and recharging.  And I still am weirded out by the fact that I've been to the Capitol Mall and the Capitol building in Mexico like 8 times in 4.5 years...  I've only been to the US Capitol once I doubt I'll ever have the chance to go back...  I like living here!  :)