Big News

Hey friends and family.

We have a big announcement.

No, we aren’t pregnant. Let’s get that out of the way right now…

We have decided to stay in Mexico to complete all four levels of our program. That means instead of coming back in April, we won’t be back in Springfield until August.

This decision didn’t come easy. We spent the better half of our first 7 weeks here trying to decide if it was the right thing to do. We kept coming back to the same thing, though. In 10 years, would we look back and say, “We’re glad we left in April,” or, “We wish we would have stayed longer.” In the grand scheme of things, taking four more months to really learn Spanish made more sense than coming back four months earlier not being able to speak it well at all.

We feel very good about our decision, but we know that means we won’t get to see all of you sooner. We miss everyone and will continue to update you on our crazy adventure! We don’t know what God has for us next, but we are sure it will be amazing. As soon as he fills us in on the details, we’ll let you all know, too.

See you all in August!

The Good, The Bad, The Ugly, and The Unexpected

We have now been in Mexico for 5 weeks! Crazy, right?!? I never knew just how much a person could experience in such a short time. Let’s start with

The Good…

1.      We got to go take a history tour in the mountains and learn all about Mexico’s history. It was pretty fascinating to learn more about the culture and the way certain things are the way they are. 

Catholic cathedral in Tututapec

Murals depicting Mexican history

2.      We are sleeping at night! Despite the animals’ efforts to keep us up at night, our brains have learned to tone out the dog fights, goats, and rosters. 
3.      Walking home from school, a person (who we knew) came up to us and said, “You have to come and release sea turtles with us!” So we did and it was AMAZING! 

Sea turtles!

4.      We (in theory) can now talk in the past tense! After 4 weeks of asking our host family only things in present tense, we now have 2 past tenses in our minds (this will, however, later lead to the ugly…).

The Bad…

1.      Drinking your body weight in water EVERYDAY is much harder to do than you would think, haha! 
2.      Bugs…  no need to say more. 
3.      And more bugs!

The Ugly…

1.      I (Natasha) had my first real big mental break down last weekend. In three days we learned two past tenses and when I went to translate them in class, I missed literally almost every single one of them! My brain snapped and I thought, “What are you doing? You can’t learn Spanish! Spanish is dumb, it doesn’t even make sense. Why would a language have 14 tenses!!!!” and so on. Then, after our 5 hours of classes, we were reading our homework and literally my brain just stopped being able to make sounds… I might have broken down and cried just a little… then Levi decided we were done with Spanish for the night. It was ugly. The next day we went to a friend’s house to watch the Superbowl in English. By Monday my brain was back up and running! 
2.      Levi had a melt down too… it sounded quite a bit like mine, so I won’t retell it ;)

The Unexpected…

1.      We knew we would be learning Spanish but I don’t think we expected to learn as much about ourselves as we have. Being so far out of our comfort zone has been so hard but really good for us.

Keep us in your thoughts and prayers! Session 1 is almost over and we will be testing most of next week. Things will be a little crazy, but it will soon be over…

…only to start all over again, ha ha!

Expectations

Hey everyone!

When we came down to Mexico, we had certain expectations of what we would encounter. Some of those expectations have been right, but some have been wrong or there have been things that have occurred that we could have never prepared for. Here is a list of just a few:

THINGS WE THOUGHT WE'D MISS, BUT DON'T
1) Driving instead of walking
2) AC (don't hold us to that one, the hot season hasn't come yet...)
3) Having instant access to the internet
4) A dishwasher
5) Not being able to flush your toilet paper
6) American food (again, that one might change in a few weeks, ha ha)

THINGS WE DIDN'T EXPECT TO MISS, BUT DO
1) An automatic washing machine/dryer that isn't the wind
2) Windows that are made of glass and that aren't just a screen
3) A life where scorpions and ants lived outside
4) Being able to pronounce words correctly when reading
5) Having two Wal-Marts and an Aldi's with a two mile radius (nearest market is a 45 minute bus ride away)
6) Along the same lines, being able to buy everything at one store.
7) A sermon that had three points and lasted under 3 hours (it is really funny to watch Natasha try and sit through a "big kid service")

THINGS WE WEREN'T EXPECTING TO LOVE, BUT DO
1) Fresh food for every meal
2) Not having to cook any of our meals (our host mom cooks amazing food!)
3) Fans
4) Learning (as weird as that sounds, ha ha)
5) Not paying taxes on any purchase ever
6) Mexican prices (example: a tasty chicken panini as big as our faces is 12 pesos which translates to roughly $0.90)
7) The people here (we were expecting to really like everyone here in Mexico, but everyone here is so incredibly nice that it is a little overwhelming!)

Here are also some pictures to give you a better idea of our life in Mexico:

Part of the route we walk to school every morning.

 

 

Our room and literally EVERYTHING we own here in Mexico

Our saving grace in the morning. We named the coffee maker Ms. Hughes. And don't judge out mugs. They were literally the only ones in town!

Levi went on a hike and found a bridge. This is the only way to get to one of the nearby villages.

The beach at Roca Mar. One of our favorite weekend hang-out spots.

The rest of the beach. The grass hut on the right is a restaurant owned by one of the host families, so we get all the awesome off-menu specialties no one else knows about!

Hope you enjoy! Please keep praying for us! Hasta luego!

Week One Complete!

It's been one week since we left for Mexico. How crazy is that???

For the most part, things have gone really well. We had the typical stress-filled travel days. We nearly got bumped from our flight to Chicago, one of our bags got separated from us because the airlines didn't have enough room for it on the plane in Springfield (it somehow got to Mexico City, thank ya Jesus), our plane to Mexico City was delayed 6 1/2 hours due to a mechanical problem, and our plane out of Mexico City was delayed an hour. BUT, for all those problems, we had no other issues and made it to Puerto Escondido in one piece. A lot more things could have gone wrong and we are thankful that they didn't!

Levi on the lawn of our school.

As for Mexico, we are adjusting well. It is the "dead of winter" down here with temps only getting in the low 80's during the day and in the low 70's at night. Brutal, right? Don't start hating yet. When March, April, and May roll around and it's 100 degrees in the shade, you'll be the one's laughing :)

The hardest thing to get used to is all the night noise. We are surrounded by chickens, dogs, pigs, and parrots that are all either pets or livestock of the people in the homes surrounding us. Wednesday night, some random dog barked from 10:00 PM until 4:00 AM. Needless to say, we got no sleep. By the grace of God, another student here had several extra pairs of industrial grade ear plugs and gave some to us. We have slept well since then.

A cool tree we pass every morning on our way to classes.

As for Spanish, we are moving right along. Week one was all terms and concepts we were familiar with, but that will change soon. We are learning a lot of new things, too, and are excited to learn more. The people here are all very understanding and helpful with our limited understanding of Spanish. They just smile as we butcher their language to pieces. Everyone is so friendly and we feel very safe in our village.

Our school!

Keep praying for us as we continue to learn the language and assimilate into the culture. We still can't believe that we are here and are so excited to see what else is in store!

We're Moving to Mexico!!!

You heard right. We are moving to Mexico.

Now for the explanation (as told by Levi).

We have never been the couple whose lives are predictable. We always have plans and those plans are constantly changing. If you're reading this and have known us for any amount of time, you know that the answer to the question, "What are you guys up to?" is never the same twice in a row. Our original plan after we got married was to be in Springfield for maybe a year and then move on to something different. Surely we would have some direction by then.

Well, we didn't. So, I decided to start taking classes for a master's degree in the spring of 2012 to pass the time. We were still planning on moving in the fall and were anticipating on knowing what we were supposed to do by then. August rolled around and, sure enough, we knew what we needed to do.

Stay in Springfield.

It wasn't what we expected, but we both knew that staying in Springfield (so I could finish my degree) was what we needed to do. We felt complete peace over the decision. Natasha had a great job working at Central with Pastor Justin and I had received an opportunity to teach as a graduate assistant at Missouri State. It wasn't what we expected, but we felt so good about the decision that we never questioned whether it was the right thing to do.

That being said, we never stopped looking forward. We made a deal that since we focused on me for two years to get my degree, Natasha would get to pick what we did next. We both still had the desire to go overseas for an extended period of time. For those of you who followed this blog while we were in Europe, you know that we both LOVED our time there. Natasha has always had a passion for the Spanish language, so we started researching language schools.

But everything we tried was a dead end. This school was too expensive. That school required a residency visa that would take 6 months-12 months to receive and was neck deep in red tape. Another program would let us join, but we would be placed in different parts of the country. Nothing we did was working. Confused and a little discouraged, we gave up and decided that language school must not be what God wanted for us and that we should just start looking for other things to do.

No joking, ONE WEEK LATER this opportunity in Mexico fell into our lap. It was affordable, visas were easy to get, it is located in the safest part of Mexico (a must), and the program was exactly what we wanted.

Now, you might say, "See, as soon as you stop trying so hard, God will answer your prayers. You should have just had faith and known the opportunity would present itself."

My response to that is, "Nay, nay."

You see, we knew that this was right for us because of all the research we had done on Spanish schools. We knew, because of all the searching, that this school was on par with other more expensive schools and would be precisely what we wanted. Our looking had nothing to do with a lack of faith. Natasha and I know that God is always there to guide us and give us the wisdom we need to make decisions. But I also know that God appreciates our tenacity. He made us that way!

That's also why he refuses to let Natasha and I know what we are doing until the very last second. We are planners and while that is a great trait to have, it can get in the way if we are allowed to run free. So God works with us and we are in agreement that if we wait it out and constantly look to him for guidance, he will always let us know what we need to do just in time.

The program we are in is a language school. It is on a non-denominational mission base in Roca Blanca, Mexico, but we will not be there for evangelistic reasons. We just want to learn the language. We will have an opportunity to help out with different events at their medical clinic and their outreach teams, but the focus will be on learning the language. We are currently signed up for the spring semester with the opportunity to extend out stay. We will be in classes for 6 hours a day, 5 days a week, with at least two hours of homework a night. Needless to say, we had better be bilingual when this whole thing is over!

We do have a Google number that will work while we are down there and are on Skype. Just let us know if you want to contact us and we can get you the info.

Thank you to everyone who has supported us in this decision. We have such a peace about it and we are so thankful others have been so supportive. Our lives are never normal and we couldn't say thank you enough to all our friends and family who stick by us no matter what. Please be praying for us that our minds would be like sponges and we won't get too homesick (or sick at all, for that matter!). We'll be updating the blog as we go along, so be looking for pictures and stories.

Mexico, here we come!

Italy and Spain Pictures

Here are the last of the pictures! We'll start in Venice....

 This is St. Mark's Square....

Here is the start of Rome. I think you might know what this place is....

This is The Vatican....

These are pictures from the Vatican Museums...

Leaning Tower!!!!

At the beach in Nice...

In Monte Carlo looking like a couple cool kids....

The Sagrada Familia. Started construction at the end of the 19th century and won't be completed until 2080. What's taking so long?!?

Park Guell (very cool place)...

Supposedly where Christopher Columbus first stood after discovering the New World...

That's it folks!

WE"RE BACK!

We did it everyone! We made it back. Now, I know what you're thinking..."Levi, Natasha...what the heck? What happened to Italy pictures and Spain stories?" Before you work yourself into a fit, calm down and take a deep breath. We couldn't find a good computer in Spain so we are updating the blog now that we are in the states. So, here are the stories!

We got to Barcelona and quickly discovered it was going to be more of a challenge than previously anticipated. Our hotel was waaaaaay out in the Spanish equivalent of the middle of nowhere and our commute just to get into the city was 45 min by train. That didn't stop us, though, and we made our way around Barcelona to see the Sagrada Familia (great big church), Park Guell (great big park), and the Monument a Colom (great big statue of Christopher Columbus).

Our travels have shown us that the world is a pretty big place, but we also discovered that it is small at the same time. I (Levi) discovered that one of my old classmates from high school was living in Spain while we were traveling. On a whim, I Facebooked her and asked if she was anywhere near Barcelona. Next thing I know, we are planning dinner with her and her family and we got to meet their two little girls (who were AMESOME) and her husband who was equally as awesome. We caught up on life and she filled Natasha in on what I was like as an awkward middle schooler. It was really cool to have such a random encounter while on the trip.

Then came the trip home. If I learned anything on this trip, it is this...NEVER SPEND THE NIGHT IN AN AIRPORT TERMINAL! Our flight left very early Monday morning and I thought, in all my wisdom, that staying the night in the airport wouldn't be a big deal. So we got to Barcelona's airport at  7PM on Sunday evening. We were then informed we could not check out bags until 4 the next morning. Looking like homeless people with our bags and our luggage cart, we looked for places to nest for the night.

Well, airports are not very comfortable places to find rest and after getting bustled around by security guards, we were finally able to check our bags at 4 in the morning. By the time we get off the ground in Spain, we had been awake for a full 24 hrs. We then had 2 1/2 hour plane ride to Frankfurt, the 10 hour long hall to Charlotte NC, then a connecting flight to Chicago and finally our stop in Springfield. Amazingly, everything went better than expected. We got to Frankfurt on time, passed through security which took awhile and was very thorough, and started our flight over the Atlantic Ocean. We had TV's in our seats, so we passed the time easily. Customs was a breeze in Charlotte and, even though we had been awake now for almost 45 hours, we were still feeling good. We had gotten a little sleep here and there and we would be home soon! We got into Chicago early and we were ready for our last flight.

Chicago O'Hare Airport ruined everything.

As soon as we stepped out of our gate, our next plane came up as delayed by an hour. This meant that instead of waiting an hour for our flight home, we were now waiting for two. Now two hours might not seem like much, but for two very tired people who haven't gotten any rest in almost 48 hours, two extra hours was deflating. Now, instead of getting into Springfield at 10 we would be getting in at 11. We were both exhausted and since we hadn't had a good experience in O'Hare ever, it didn't make it any better. I started to loose consciousness, Natasha started to get a headache and now all we wanted to do was get home.

Well, despite all of O'Hare's evil efforts, we finally got off the ground and back home. We both had never felt anything so wonderful as our own bed and pillows when we got to our apartment and are now recuperating from a very long two days of travel. We both go back to work tomorrow and start preparing for our next adventure :)

Thanks to everyone who was praying for and supporting us while we were gone. We could not have done it without you!