Mexico!

Fun night at Lacey's with the Bible study girls

My friend Luis

Hi, it´s me again. Yep, who else? This week has been absolutely amazing. Once again, God knows what He´s doing, surprise of surprises. I haven´t been in Mexico City. The day of departure got closer and closer and I was feeling really reluctant and dreading the trip. I think partly because I would have enough money, but just barely...and I would rather stay around here and be able to see a movie or pay for dinner without worrying than barely having enough. Maybe this is a faith issue. Don´t know. But anyway, I´ve passed a beautiful, hot week here in Culiacan. The family I´m staying with is absolutely wonderful. I´ve spent lots of time talking with the mom about my future. Seriously, in my real mom´s absence, God provided me one just like her. But she doesn´t know how to make chocolate chip cookies. Anyway.

We had another cool monsoon rainstorm, and Paulina (a daughter) and I trekked down the street in flipflops with the neighbor boy to go see the rivers forming at intersections. A stray dog wandered our way and I felt kind of bad for it being out in the rain, but I was given firm instructions by Paulina not to go near it. Maybe next time.

Also, joined an aerobics class with Paulina´s mom for three days last week. I still hurt so, so bad, but I´m definitely inspired to search for one when I come home. It was really fun, especially when they started counting in English to make me feel more comfortable =)

Have only had a few run-ins with Mexicans who for some reason can´t immediately tell than I´m not one of them, and start talking 147 words per second. Usually, I just smile and nod, make appropriate noises to signal agreement or shared sentiments until Paulina´s mom rescues me and explains that I can´t understand what they´re saying. Then, in an attempt to lessen their embarrasment, and mine, I assure them in broken Spanish that I can understand some things.

Coming home on Friday, and I´m really, really excited! But also, wondering if I´ll ever get a chance to see these people again. I´ve made some good friends here, ones I hope to keep in touch with after I leave...but missing my friends at home a ton, too. Love you all.

Yay! Today is the graduation for Brisa´s DTS, and then we´re off to Mexico City! I´m really, really, really excited. I´ll be safe, I promise. And I´m in the hands of a mighty God. ´Who by worrying can add a single hour to his life?´ Seems like sound advice to me. Anyway, God bless you all. I don´t know what kind of access I´ll have for the internet, but I´m counting down the days until I come home!!!!!! HUGS, Lacey

...but God hasn´t yet answered my prayer about becoming a Mexican. I´ve been trying, but it´s really, really hard! Mexican females are accessory MASTERS. Matching belts, purses, shoes, hair done up with a color-coordinated flower ponytail holder or something equally as cute, earrings, rings, bracelets and necklaces ALWAYS, toenails painted without chips (Brisa kindly informed me that chipped toenail polish is very gringo)... It´s a good thing jewelry´s so cheap here, or I´d definitely have a plausible theory about the cause of Mexican poverty. Sheesh. Plus, I´m having a hard time overcoming the whole brown eyes, black hair thing in my pursuit to become a Mexican. All things are possible with God, yes, but this one might take a lot of work.

Yes, folks, the world is bigger (or smaller?) than we had expected! Today two groups of people arrived back here in Culiacan. One, a group of four 20-something girls from a month in Thailand, sharing the gospel and ministering to the people there. Another, the other half of Brisa´s Discipleship Training School from a month in Cuba. Both had amazing stories to tell. The best part about tonight was talking with two of the DTS girls, one from Norway and one from Switzerland.  

These girls are amazing. The one from Switzerland knows at least six languages. I lost count. And I feel like I´ve known the girl from Norway for my whole life. I think we could be good friends, maybe...Hearing about their language proficiency and about the places they have traveled made me SO excited and I hope I can spend a lot of time in other places learning languages. I´m sure God hasn´t called me to be a full-time missionary, but I´m definitely stoked to do short-term missions trips. Or maybe more trips like this one, staying in one place for a few months or something. What an awesome, diverse world God has created. And so many opportunities to help people and travel at the same time. I´m grateful tonight for encouragement and excitement.

Okay, so what about you? Do you want to go somewhere? Will you take me?? =)

It´s been quite awhile since I wrote! I tried to access this page at an internet cafe, but for some reason it wouldn´t load. These last few weeks at the base have been extremely busy and (almost) always fun. Northlake´s team left this afternoon and I´m sad to see them go. It was good to speak English for awhile, but now it´s back to Spanish and I have three weeks to become fluent!

Spent today in Mazatlan, and it was beautiful as always. Didn´t get my hair braided and didn´t get a tattoo. But I did buy a mug! Yeah, not as exciting, I know.

How about some stories for you? Last night a huge thunderstorm raged outside and the power went off for a minute. I was sitting at a table in the kitchen and got kind of freaked out. In completely darkness, I stood up and pictured the kitchen in my mind. Nope, I thought, no obstacles between me and the bedroom door. So I started walking (I could have sworn I wasn´t running) and ran STRAIGHT into a large wooden post. I smacked my face so hard Brisa heard it in the bedroom and when she came out I was holding my nose, which by that time was turning purple. An ice pack helped the swelling go down, but it still hurt everytime I thought about what just happened and laughed. Today, only a small lump remains on the right side of my nose as a battle scar, and a minor case of whiplash, I think. Prayed all day that no one would ask me what happened.

Earlier this week I spent time with the team in a small village outside of Culiacan. I was standing with the audience as the team performed skits and dramas and made friends with some girls my age. I was so sad to go, knowing I would probably never meet them again or learn anything else about them! I keep with me a picture and prayers. The town is predominantly Catholic, but not anything like US Catholicism. They worship the Virgin Mary, and have an alter to her up on a hill where they take offerings of food or flowers if someone´s sick or they want to ask for something. I pray that they come to know that Jesus is the way to God and that he doesn´t ask for sacrifices and offerings, only for their hearts! This way is much easier and much harder at the same time.

To end, I have a set of amazing stories about healing. Two weeks ago in church, I prayed that God would use me to bless people and I felt like he told me he would use me to heal people. To hear this, I was very excited and a little nervous. I pictured myself in a small village laying my hands on a poor old lady and speaking in tongues and watching her walk away when all she could do before was....limp, or something. I don´t know. Anyway, as time went on I started to get frustrated because this scenario didn´t play out and I questioned if I heard God right. I spent this last week in the base. I didn´t even get to go out to the small villages! (except for the one mentioned above, and there wasn´t any miraculous healing passing through my hands there as far as I could tell.) No, instead of sharing my gift with the world, I stayed at the base all day and all night, cleaning and cooking and taking care of 12-year-old Katherine, who was sick for two days because she didn´t drink enough water. As I sat on the edge of her bed and fed her one more browning apple slice, I questioned my purpose in being in Mexico. By the end of the day I was getting tired of hearing how her stomache hurt and got the idea that I should fast until she recovered. This turned out to be a God-sent idea because it made me much more invested in getting her better and far more eager to pray, because I got really, really hungry. Well, she did get better the next day (before breakfast, thank goodness!) and went with the team. Sammi Moran, however, stayed home very sick and I got to sit with her and rub her back until I thought my arm would fall off. While I was sitting there, I asked God if I should fast again, and he said no, but pray. So I prayed. And spent the day by her bed and at the hospital with her holding her hand and encouraging her.

So if you´ve got any bit of sense in you, which I didn´t, I´m sure you can see where these stories lead. Which I didn´t. God did use me to heal! But definitely, definitely not in the way I thought He would. In His wisdom, he knew that performing a direct, miraculous healing through me would cause my head to swell up so big I´d never come back down to earth again. But he used me behind the scenes, in an ordinary way, and did extraordinary things in my heart. Moral of this story? God is still smarter than me and answers to prayer can be surprising. So be on the lookout.

That´s all for today. Please pray for decisions about my future. Love you all!

 

Hi there!
 
Since the team got here last Friday I haven´t been able to check my email. Today, though, I´m back at Brisa´s for the afternoon. Pretty slow day, and to be completely honest I don´t know what to do with myself!

In the events department, there´s not much to report. Been working around the house with chores and cooking mostly. Last night I got to speak for a few minutes to the team that´s here about why I came and what God´s teaching me and stuff. I was nervous, but I really enjoyed it. You know me, always need to be at the center of attention =)

Which brings me to my current state. Things have been difficult lately because God´s been doing some serious breaking down of walls and sin built up in my heart. I think he´s using this time and place do do the deep cleaning because I don´t have friends to run to and things to distract me. I´m glad for what he´s been showing me, but it´s very difficult emotionally and I´d really appreciate your prayers!

Can´t stay too much longer because I want to go chat with Brisa´s mom. But I´m thinking about you guys. Adios!

Yay!!! It´s been a long time gone, and I´m glad to come home. My flight gets in tomorrow around 11pm. A 12-hour travel day...can´t live with em, can´t live without em. So much to tell you! I can´t wait to catch up with everyone. Thank you so, so much for your prayers and comments on this blog these past six weeks. I pray that I would never take you for granted. God bless, Lacey

Hi everyone...turns out I´m staying here in Culiacan for the next two weeks instead of going to Mexico City. I was starting to feel very reluctant about going for some reason, God knows why, and was dreading it so much that I finally told Brisa and her sister. They made arrangements for me to stay with a friend from Brisa´s church for the next week, and I´m very relieved! Even as I inconvenience everyone, all have been extremely kind and accomodating. Please pray that I would know God´s purpose for me this week and why He wants me to stay in Culiacan. It doesn´t make any sense! But I guess that´s the point of God being God, right?

Hi =) Thanks so much to those who have replied to the posts. It makes me feel less lonely! Brisa and I might be going out to La Cantina...a club, I think?...and listen to regional mariachi music. I´m really excited and I hope it works out for us to go.

When we stopped at an intersection today, a Mexican kid came up to the car and started washing the window. He couldn´t have been more than 12. I caught his eye for a second and something about him made me really, really sad. I asked Brisa what the background of these people are, because there are people at almost every intersection washing windshields and selling things and doing tricks for money. She said they aren´t necessarily poor, but a lot of them don´t want to steal money to buy drugs, so they work for it. I don´t know who this kid was, or what his story is...but his eyes said it was very sad, and this whole afternoon I have been noticing new things and asking questions. Why are the old people the ones doing menial labor that doesn´t require skill or experience? Has their whole life lead up to this? Why are there so many men sitting on the sidewalks doing nothing? They can´t all be waiting for a bus... Why are there kids washing car windows for drug money?

But on the other hand, I also ask...Why don´t people here carry the stereotype that all doctors are men and nurses are women? Why do all the neighbors know and help eachother? Why do families eat together every night and so few couples, it seems, are divorced? I think they are also more insightful in that they don´t get married young. They wait and go to college and work... 

I don´t know. I am looking forward to observing and knowing more about all this. I want to sift through all these ideas to find out what´s true. And I really, really want to help the people who need help.

A really cool opportunity I´ve had here so far is to see up-close and personal what the lives of missionaries look like. I have asked a lot of questions of the full-time YWAM missionaries and a lot of stereotypes and misconceptions I had have been replaced with new ideas. More on that in another post if I remember. But the one thing I do want to tell all of you back in the States is this...if you are a Christian or have any heart for people who suffer and want to help out, the missionaries really do use the money down here soley to survive. It´s amazing how easy (relatively) money flows for us in the States and how valuable and well-used it is down here. It´s an amazing investment. Always invest in people. That´s what I´ve learned. Anyway, enough of my rambling. I love you all.

New link on the left side of this screen if you want to donate to YWAM or missionaries.

Not much new to report today...for breakfast, though, I had a taco made of cow stomach. It was really sick, actually, and pretty slimy. Yeah, I don´t think I´ll be trying that one again anytime soon. I had a bite of a cow intestine taco and that one was really good. It tasted like turkey. When you come to Mexico, remember...intestines good, stomach bad. Next on my list is brain taco. Yum, yum, yum.

Why I should stay in Mexico forever: No one is ever on time, which means that no one gets mad when I´m late. Why I should not stay in Mexico forever: Mexicans like to keep the inside of their houses very, very clean.

I think I´m heading to Mexico City in about 3 and a half weeks! I guess it´s so huge it takes 4 and a half hours to drive across the city one way. Very exciting. Yes, I´ll be very careful =)

Missing my home routine a little bit. Today, I wanted to walk back to the base and eat and take a nap but couldn´t because I needed to stick with Brisa. I am realizing over and over that I´m not on my own schedule and I´m becoming used to a small sacrifice of personal freedom. If you can call it that, when I´m by myself in a foreign country =) Trying to make the best of the downtimes. When I get bored, I find a Bible to read (we´re usually in the YWAM office) or remember Spanish words I wanted to look up. The Spanish-English dictionary has become my best friend.

How I am with God right now...I kind of feel like he´s some rich uncle who lives far away but gets wind of what I need and sends it to me. I can´t even begin to count how many gifts God´s given me since I´ve been here and he´s answered every single one of my prayers. But I want to know him, personally and intimately.

Please let me know how you guys are doing, whoever´s reading this. I don´t want to hold a one-way conversation =)

No...put the lime in the everything. And chiles, and salt. My next eating endeavor is a taco de cabeza (taco made with meat from a cow brain). Sounds yummy! I guess they have eyeball tacos and all sorts of other weird things.

I moved into the base last night. Did I say I wanted to work? Really? Yep, it´s recorded, and I was eating my words today. I think I sweated more as I swept and mopped the floor than I have in my entire life. Combined. But it was great to do it for God. 

I met some Americans who speak wonderful Spanish. They´re going to translate the staff meetings for me from now on. My m.o. up until now has been to nod and smile and pray to God that the conversation doesn´t turn onto me. It´s a very humbling way to live for the moment, and I think it´s a good way for God to break my pride.

Two nights ago at 3am I woke up to a loud, 9-piece band band playing outside the window! They were serenading the house across the street. I was all excited, Brisa was just really annoyed. I asked if I could take a picture and exercise my tourist rights, and she said no. She explained in the morning that the people across the street are drug-dealers and they might get mad. Glad she told me!

More later. Love you all.

Hi! I found out that Brisa and I will be living at the YWAM base and I´m totally excited I´m looking forward to not feeling like I´m on vacation anymore and doing something productive, but it´s probably good for me to relax a little. Anyway, here you go!!

JUCUM - Lacey Kirkendorfer
Apdo 2291
Centro 80000
Sinaloa, Culiacan
Mexico

Octopus in a glass, toilets without seats, mayonnaise on chips, late night gunshot outside the window. Fingernails called "pineapples"???

So far, it´s been great to be here =) My flights went wonderfully. Completely nice and uneventful. My guitar stayed with me the entire time, thanks God! It´s really good to finally be here, but I feel completely out of my comfort zone and frustrated that I can´t understand a word they´re saying. It will get better, I know. Please pray for patience!!! I forgot the most important thing when I came down here. Arrived in Mexico with five US dollars and a debit card. Pray that I´m not a burden on this wonderful family. I´ll write again soon!

Hi everyone :) Well...I guess this is it. Everything's ready, I think. I'm going to try and sneak my guitar on the plane as a carry-on. What are my chances? Even if they make me check it, I'll still get a cool sticker on my case that says "FRAGILE" or something like that. It will make me seem sophisticated :) I win either way.

Practiced Spanish today with a lady from Mexico and I'm a little (okay, a lot) overwhelmed. There are a lot of words in Spanish, and I don't know very many of them...even more reason to rely on the One who created all languages.

He's been soooooo good to me today as I've been trying to get ready. You know that commercial for American Express (I think) with Seinfeld? How everything just goes right and easy when he has his card? God was my American Express today. Thanks for your prayers. It's rad to know He answers them.

I'm missing ALL of you already. See you in five short weeks!

Here's how you can reach me by REAL mail:

Srta. Lacey Kirkendorfer (sorry, I had to do it:)
Av. Estatuto Juridico #1220
col. Fovissste chapultepec.
C.P. 80040
Culiacan, Sin.
MEXICO

Nope, I'm not gone to Mexico yet, but I'm glad you're checking out the site =) I'll be gone to Culiacan, Mexico from July 23 through September 3. I'm staying with my friend Brisa and her family, and we'll hopefully spend a lot of time playing with little kids and reaching out to the people in the city. Take care and keep checking the site for loco Mexican stories. God bless.