Christmas in Mexico

This is going to be a long one folks. So get a cup of hot chocolate and clear 30 min, at least, to read through this one. And those of you that read through the whole thing, thanks!

Some of you may know, I missed Christmas with my family to go to Mexico.

I want to tell you about my experience.

Sorry about the lack of photos. I forgot my camera so as soon as I get pictures from everyone else I'll share.

The Whetten's have got to be the greatest family living in Colonia Juarez, one of the Mormon colonies in Chihuahua, Mexico.

Ed and Gayle Whetten adopted a handicapped child, Tim. They lived in Mexico at the time. They soon found out that they weren't going to get much help for their child in Mexico. So they started to do it themselves. Tim has since passed away, but they have created a school for handicapped children. They also run monthly medical clinics in the same building. They have a room for dentistry, audiology, eyesight and eyeglasses, they even have an operation room. They have a whole warehouse full of all sorts of crutches, wheelchairs, and everything you'd ever need for any handicap. All these clinics are free to the people that need them. All the doctors and dentists and such are not paid. They donate their time and supplies to come to Mexico and give these services for free to these people.

12 years ago there was a family that contacted Ed and Gayle about doing an eagle project at Christmas time. The Whettons, because of their school and clinic are able to house 80 people. They have bunk houses, heaters, blankets sheets enough for everyone. Gayle gladly irons, cleans, even helps to feed everyone.

So the family came down with a truck full of supplies, food, clothes and toys to donate to whoever needs it.

They've been doing it every Christmas since.

This is how our trip went... :)

So I was sitting in institute in I think it was October, and this kid gets up and makes an announcement about this charity thing in Mexico during Christmas. He was asking for donations but also mentioned that he would be driving down alone and anyone else could come too. At the time, me and my friend Meghan had been contemplating going out of the country to serve. We talked about exotic places like Israel, India, places in South America, even the Caribbean. Well, when I heard about this I figured it was the perfect opportunity!

So we followed Cole in our car to Mexico. Not really sure what to expect. The drive down there was pretty uneventful. Me and Meghan were ecstatic of course. Road trips are always awesome. :) Something that is worth mentioning however... Cole insisted we stop in Tucson at his friends house to sleep a few hours. ...Awkwardest night of my life. We barely met Cole. We didn't know who's apartment we were in. I tell you we put so much trust in Cole. For all I know he was leading us to a hotel! (haha... inside joke.)

We met the Borup's (who have been doing this for 11 years now) and the Ferrin's (who have been doing this for 9 years now) at the border in Demming, New Mexico. They both live in Utah. There was 9 families that came altogether. Most from Utah. One from Payson, AZ. And the three of us singles from Phx. Cory Borup helped us get us and our cars across the border without any problems.

Mexico roads are crazy! Only 2 way roads, NO shoulder. And Jim Ferrin was driving in front. We were going 80 miles an hour, passing people in the opposing lane. Crazy crazy. And then! It was incredible windy on the drive there. There was TONS of tumble weeds hitting our cars! It was like playing asteroids. We were dodging the oncoming trucks, the tumble weeds coming from the side. Okay maybe not exactly like that, but it was SO much fun. :)

The first night we got there I think there was a total of 4 or 5 families. We were some of the first. Got there about 1 or 2 in the afternoon on the Friday before Christmas. We settled in, and started meeting these people. Played on the Whetten's zip line, and spinning teeter totter. :) That afternoon me and Meghan visited the temple there in Colonia Juarez. A small, but beautiful temple on the hill.

That first night, we unloaded the truck into the warehouse down the street. It had 100 lbs bags of beans, flour, potatoes, sugar, cornmeal, oranges, had boxes of water, candy, and a multitude of other things. It was fun getting assembly lines together to pass it to the crates. The flour was funnest of all! It was getting EVERYONE all white. :) At one point, one of the girls my age, McKenzie, was up on the truck passing out the flour to take into the warehouse and decided to throw the bag she had to Jake who was like 20 ft away. Instead, it hit tall Brother Patterson on the head, made his hat fall off, and drop to the ground. It was hilarious.

The next day, Saturday, we separated all the food into individual family's boxes. More families had come by that time. I figure we had about 60+ people there by that time. It worked like clockwork. Everyone separated into separate assembly lines to do everything. Make the boxes, tape the boxes, stack the boxes. Or pour the beans, bag the beans, tie the bag, dispense the beans. It seriously was like machines. It got done SO fast and it was FUN!

That took all day. We did stop at a place for tacos in Casas Grandes for lunch. Good stuff. :) We got to meet Pepe, a wonderfully fun mentally handicapped man. The Whetten's care for him and his brother, who is also mentally handicapped.

The Borups and Ferrins invited us singles to go with them to Chihuahua City on Sunday and Monday. Both the families had a trailer full of the boxes of dispensers of food, along with blankets, clothes, hygiene kits, toys and candy they had gathered themselves to pass out. We took Cole's car. And brought Mandy Whetten, who is our age, along with us. It was fun to spend the 3 hour drive with them. :)

On Sunday, we went to THE poorest neighborhoods I've ever seen. These people were living in these tin huts slapped together. No heaters. Barely enough blankets. Some had holes covered with mere tar paper. It gets down to the 20's at night! I don't think I could imagine that people could live like this... It's incredible. Astounding. Heart-braking.

And there was house after house after house. Dogs everywhere. No yards. No fences. No grass. Just dirt. Everywhere.

Some of the other neighborhoods were block homes. Some were renting their homes. I couldn't believe they couldn't even afford to buy these. And sometimes out of no where we would see a fenced in home with a yard in the middle of all this.

I got to see inside some of these houses. Dirt floors. Small stove, if a stove at all. Beds filling every spot possible. Dark. Smelly.

Children grow up in this!

We passed some stuff out Sunday night. At least until it got dark, then passed out the rest on Monday.

As soon as we started passing out stuff people started gathering around the trailers. Cole started passing our everything he could. All the kids gathered around him, he was like Santa Clause! At one point, he was getting warm, and took off his sweater and gave it to someone. Then it started getting cold and he missed his sweater. But at least now he can say he gave them the clothes off his back!

Mandy and Jim both spoke Spanish. So they translated for the people at each trailer. Some kids were, instead of asking for the toys or candy we had, were asking for coats, or blankets. Or a coat for their little sister. Or baby brother. It was sad to hear.

The children LOVED the toys though. And the candy. At one point, this little girl, had to be about 2 or 3, had quite a dirty face, had dried snot all over the place but still adorable just the same :) came up to me to get me to open a candy that someone from our group had given her. I opened it, and handed it to her. And then she just stood there looking up to me with her lips puckered. She wanted to kiss me on the cheek! It was the most adorable thing I've ever seen!

At another point, a woman probably at least 60 looked up at me, I was standing in the trailer, she took my hand warmly in both of hers and just smiled at me, with her gapped, imperfect smile. She didn't have anything to say, just smiled.

We met a family that made a living from cock-fights (yes it's illegal in Mexico too). The father had his finger completely sliced open from the birds. But they had two month old twins! They were the most DARLING little girls (at least i believe they were girls) I've ever seen. And they were happy. Living in this tiny, block home. No heater, no floor. Just the essentials. And happy.

At one point, this completely drunk man came up, after receiving food and such, with a little guitar with only one string on it, kneeled on one knee, and belted out a song in Spanish to show his gratitude. It was hilarious! :)

We passed Book of Mormons's out also as we were impressed to do. Shared the gospel with a few people. One woman, Cory was impressed to leave a Book of Mormon, and come to find out she had already read some of it... hopefully we planted another seed.

Also, as we were slowly driving around to the different areas, me, Meghan, Cole, Mandy, and Jessica stayed in the trailer, and then we started coming up with games. We decided we were going to stay standing up while we were moving. Couldn't touch the side or you were out. Then we passed a ball around while we were standing. Couldn't drop the ball or you were out. It was fun. We lost 3 balls that way. :)

I did get to see an entire pig, completely gutted and cut apart lying on someone's table. Astonishing. And it made me kind of queasy. I mean it's head was still there. Hooves too. But It wasn't all in one piece, I'll tell you that much! That was the same family that had two handicapped children. It was wonderful to get to help them!

We met a lady who was limping around and she told us that she had been fixing the wiring to her house (yes, some of these tin houses had some kind of electricity) and a cement block landed on her foot and broke her foot. And there was nothing she could do about it but wait for it to heal. She was very grateful for the food.

I have to say my favorite was passing out to the children. I would be putting necklaces on these little girls and they loved it so much! Or passing out stuffed animals to the younger kids. Or putting beanies on these little boys. Or giving the boys these hotwheels cars. It was DEFINITELY Christmas to them.

Many of the children were trying to get as much as they could from us of course. But there was the few, that when we tried to give them more, they would say things like, 'but i already have this.' How amazing.

And of course the children LOVED to get their pictures taken. They always wanted to see the pictures after.

There was an old man, probably in his 60's, that was so grateful for what we gave him, he just hung out with us for the longest time. He started teasing Sister Borup. (with the aid of Mandy's translations of course) And she teased him right back.

We came across young mothers, or pregnant mothers just wanting clothes for their babies.

It was hard to say we didn't have anything but blankets for their babies.

But these people were happy. They smiled at us, they thanked us, they were warm people.

Monday afternoon, after giving out all our dispensas, we all drove back to the Whetten's in Colonia Juarez. Christmas Eve was awesome to get to spend with everyone. We had a Christmas program where songs were sung, a skit was performed, I played piano for everyone, which they were all astounded by my skill. :) It was fun.

Everyone that came was SO welcoming. We made so many friends. The night we spent in Chihuahua City in the hotel with Mandy, the three of us stayed up talking and laughing for 3 hours. We met Nate, and Mark, and Travis, and Sarah, and Jessica, and McKenzie, and Valerie, and Taryn, and Carly, and Madison and a multitude of other people. There were a ton of kids our age. That last night we were there, on Christmas eve, all the teenagers crammed into a suburban, and drove up the hill nearby. We laid out some blankets and went star gazing, saw 3 shooting stars, and laughed and simultaneously froze ourselves away...

It was an amazing experience.

I knew I was blessed before but this was the icing on the cake. I now know that I am truly blessed. I am blessed to have the family I have. I am blessed to be born into the gospel. I am blessed to be born in the United States. I don't care what anyone says, the United States of America is a free country. It is a blessed country. I am truly blessed to have the mere conveniences that I have! I have a warm bed, to myself every night. ...I have a full stomach every day. We have a heater. We have A/C! I'm able to work and earn my own money. I can afford and have the opportunity to go to school and earn a degree. I own my own piano. I own my own car. I have a computer even. I can afford to go down the street and buy ice cream for myself. How many people can't. Countless people don't have ANY of these things.

Count your blessings. Truly count your blessings.

We sped all the way home on Christmas to meet our families, getting there around 1 in the afternoon.

Definitely puts a perspective on things. I didn't care if I got any presents at all. I just wanted to be there with my amazing, blessed family.

the grades are in!

Well, after a very hard semester for me, I pulled off good grades!

First off, I had a 7:30am class. Now I am NOT a morning person. It wouldn't be so bad if I just had to show up for tests every now and then, but for a class that attendance is required, and especially a class like Communications that I don't like in any way whatsoever... it was hard. It was really hard. I was allowed 2 absences. I was absent 5 times. The teacher was a little short with me after that last one but I stuck in there and did my absolute BEST in the final project and pulled off a B!

Then ENGLISH. Okay, when I went to ASU, I tested into ENG 105. This means instead of having to take 2 semesters of English (101 and 102), I only had to take one. It was awesome. But when I decided to go to PVCC and get an AA, I needed 2 semesters of English. Retarded. So I had to write another 10 page research paper. Ugh. I am NOT a writer. I ended up getting an A on my first essay, F on my second, and D on my final paper. THEN I find out that if I get a 77.9 on my final I'll get a 70.0% in English EXACTLY. I need a C for it to count. And the final exam was BRUTAL. There was stuff on there that she mentioned in class months ago and didn't bother to mention was going to be on it. And it was WAY more than multiple choice. It was tough tough tough. I was definitely praying for that one! And I ended up getting an 81! So I never have to take English ever again! woot!

All of my grades are as follows:

Aural Perception: B
Music Theory I: A
Piano: A
Piano Ensemble: A
Communications: B
English: C

And I pulled off my AA with a 3.5 GPA. How do you like them apples? :)

Bug me

I have always wanted a VW Bug. A red, convertible bug.

It's so adorable! Can't you just picture my hot self cruisin around in this hot car?

However there are some minor setbacks to having/buying this car.
1. No A/C. As I live in Arizona, this is a must.
2. I really like to be able to give my friends rides. I don't think they would like to be stuffed in the back of this.
3. Buying one this nice, costs upwards of about $7000.

My first car was a mustang convertible.
I always imagined fixing it up so it would be a hot convertible to hang out in with my friends. But truth was, my car only dreamed of looking this good:


Pluses:
1. It only cost $1500
2. It's hot stuff
3. It only broke down once
4. A speaker was working
5. It had a radio
6. It had a cd player
7. Guys were constantly complimenting on me having a 5.0 V8.
8. The A/C worked
9. I could fit 3 friends in it.

Minuses:
1. It didn't run when I bought it.
2. It was a piece of crap. Dents, scratches, holes... everywhere. Had to practically shove the top down.
3. It broke down once, causing me to miss a quiz and therefor get a B in the class.
4. Only one speaker worked.
5. It was constantly overheating.
6. The A/C was cool, not cold.
7. When it overheated, the A/C stopped working.
8. The back seat was a squeeze.

It was still awesome, though. I still loved it.

But sadly, last spring it retired. It retired right into a little red car. And damaged itself. And damaged my heart... *tear*

So now I drive this sweet little number:

It's a 2001 Chevy Cavalier bought for a steal of $2300. It's pluses far out weigh the minuses. And with the installation of a new radio, thanks to my good friend Gerrit, it's going to be bomb.

My all time dream car is a new Mustang GT convertibles. This one:

But as it is entirely unobtainable to me, I try and keep my mind off of it. But you better believe the day I turn 25 I'm going to be renting that thing, yes indeedy.

And yes, I like convertibles. I always envision me and my friends in the car with the top down, cruisin, laughing, music blaring, hair in the wind... hey it could happen.

So with the first car I got the convertible aspect down. And with the second I got the non-ghetto-ness taken care of. I'm getting there. Maybe when I'm rich I'll get my bug. I use it just for cruzin around with my homey G's. Well... maybe just homey G.

random

Ok no one tagged me but I still want to do it.

So... 6 random things about me:

numero uno. I know the ENTIRE soundtrack to Prince of Egypt... Every. Word. Even the Hebrew stuff. I'm not even kidding you. I love love love it.

two. Me and Melanie have taken up the habit of blasting Shiny Toy Guns or something to that effect in the kitchen and dancing our little hearts out, whether the curtains are open or not. Let it be known that Melanie is the master of coming up with the SICKEST dance moves. Yes indeed.

three. What was once NSYNC to some is now Fall Out Boy to me. I follow their moves, I know their birthdays, I have their autographs, I have a picture with them, I have every magazine they've ever been on the cover of, I have every vinyl, I have every cd of theirs unopened... I have found Pete Wentz's myspace, livejournal, and blogspot. I seriously would marry Patrick Stump hands down no questions asked. I love Fall Out Boy. The music, the lyrics, Patrick's voice, the concerts, EVERYTHING. I would follow them to the ends of the earth *sigh* ...sadly I am also 21.

four. One time I backed my mom's minivan into my dad's truck. It was straight on, and the collision was LOUD. It left no marks so I told no one.

five. I broke my mom's mickey mouse earrings from when she was a kid. I borrowed them ONCE when I was like 12 and she told me to be really careful with them but I think cause they were so old they both broke. I was afraid to tell her. They're still sitting in my old jewelry box.

six. i fall asleep in my clothes ALL the stinken time. Usually doing either homework, or something to procrastinate homework. So I'll often wake up around 3 or 4 am to find my pillow is a bunch of papers. And the light on. And my arm asleep. And my computer on. You think I would learn from it but no... it happens night after night.

So there ya go.

As for life...
Looks like most of my grades will be decent. I still have finals next week but most of them are pretty easy. I'm holding out for my English class though. I don't know if I'm going to pass it. If not, then no Associates this semester. And if that's the case, I'll take an online English class next semester. It's ridiculous having to go to class just to work on my paper. I can do that at home.

I made the sickest video for my final project in my Communications class. Everyone thought it was bomb. Unfortunately it's over a gig in size so I don't think I can upload it anywhere to share it. :( If anyone has any ideas let me know.

PS. Sorry mom. Love ya ;)