Mexico Day 7 - Freezing In Mexico

¡Hace frío!

The past few days have been quite chilly here, probably around the lower 50s or upper 40s. Unfortunately I did not envision Mexico being so cold DURING THE MONTH OF FEBRUARY so I did not pack much cold winter wear other than a couple hoodies and a windbreaker so I am currently suffering for my ignorance. Today has been the first warm-ish day in the since about Friday and I am thanking the Lord for it. Here we have air-conditioning, fans, etc. for hot weather but when it gets cold you feel it…everywhere. Because of the lack of heaters when it is 40°F outside it is 40 inside as well. Up until about yesterday I had no idea how to close two vents that sit 12 feet up a wall in my room so my room has had the past four days to absorb and retain all the cold air it possibly can. Because of that I am currently sitting in my room, covered in three blankets with all the windows, doors, and vents open trying to air out the cold to make room for the warm.

In reality, I certainly prefer the cold to the warm no questions asked. Hot weather is an inescapable disease and one can only take off so much before getting arrested for some pretty sketchy stuff. On the other hand, cold weather is easily escaped by putting more and more clothes on and bundling up more and more. Simple. But in the rare event that you are unprepared for the arctic tundra that is about to ensue, you feel every degree.

Yesterday I went to one of the homes to do some reconnaissance for future piping we plan to put in and boy was it intense. La Casa Hogar Douglas is the largest children’s homes Back2Back serves with around 70 children living in a very confined space with limited food, water, and shelter to go around. As we walked the grounds, the B2B Captain of Douglas told me the story of some of the kids and how the home got to be the way it is now and to put it lightly, they’re luckily Back2Back found them. My heart sank when I heard that one of the kids I had gotten to know in the past had left the home in search of work with only a 3rd grade education. He is currently around 17 years old and has three younger siblings still at the home. I had been to Douglas before on mission trips but it is only in the off-season when you really see the pictura grande. It is truly a blessing that God has brought Back2Back to this area because sometimes there are God-sized problems that need to be fixed.

Once we got back I had some craving for art so I just went outside and just kind of drew what I saw. Unfortunately, however, later that night when I brought my sketchbook to the grocery store I left it in the cart on accident so the only remnant I have of my artistic ventures is this picture:

"The View"

Later that day I got my longboard out and shredded some gnar with some staff kids and to my surprise they are pretty radical \m/ The family below me has a younger son no more than 8 years old who hopped right on and was doing some pretty sick dancing moves considering that the board is about as tall as he is and probably weighs as much too. In my opinion skating has got to be among the top 5 universal languages in the world by which people communicate right behind fútbol, art, and music.

Going to Douglas today made me excited for the future because I know that God is doing and will do many more great things here in the future. We’ve already built a church, new office spaces, and a library there and I’m sure there is much more to come.

-N8

The church is literally a shining building on a hill