Back in Merida

I arrived in Merida, Mexico, on the 3rd of this month and began teaching The Epistles of Paul and Homilética IV the next day. Nancy joined me ten days later and will be here for half my time—grandchildren duties prevents more. But the grandchildren and family will be coming to visit for a few days in just over a week, which will be great.
The class I am teaching on Paul has 18 students and is the largest I have ever had. As such it presents some interesting challenges. My Spanish seems to be holding up, but responding to questions, which are hard to hear in the particular room I have for class, is always difficult. I probably am answering questions the students are not actually asking, but they are gracious enough and seem to be attentive. I am experimenting with different media, primarily Powerpoint, and have eliminated most paper. My goal is to give the students something that will keep them from constantly having to write furiously to keep notes on something that I could have (and now have) provided to them in writing. I upload the lessons onto memory sticks that each of the students has, and then we go through the lessons together. It seems to work, but only because every student either has a laptop with them in class or easy access outside class time. When you think of Mexico remember that—the country is very far along on the tech trail.
My sojourns to Mexico are timed to fit in with the school year at the seminary, but also they just happen to come at a time when the winter weather is worst in the north and the sun is shining brightly, but not furiously, here. This time, though, the cold in the north is making it across the Gulf and people are suffering. I mean suffering as the temperature drops into the 60s at night and only goes up to 80 in the daytime (only 3 or 4 days in the 90s so far). Such frigid conditions mean people are walking around with coats, hats, scarves and whatever they have to keep warm. I have to chuckle at it all, when it is below freezing in Greensboro, but as none of the homes has heat (never needed) it does feel at times like a bit of a chill even to me.
I get out on my bicycle almost every day, which makes for a good change from preparing lessons, presentations and web entries (lessons are on line at wacklescp.blogspot.com). The roads are not trafficked where I am so an hour of riding makes for a very good breather. And even though I have now passed my 66th birthday I am still able to make the journey in pretty good time and shape. There is hope yet!
Last weekend Nancy and I went to a village about an hour outside of Merida. We were guests of a couple who were celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary in the typical Mayan Christian way. There was first of all a church service, and our host, Dave Legters, participated as the officiating pastor. During the service all 8 of the children of the couple were introduced, and the Christian commitment and active church participation of each was noted. After the service we adjourned to the home of the couple where we and about a hundred others were fed a turkey based kind of soup with tortillas, typical of the area, and some mariachi music. The table we sat at was set under a thatched roof, while most were out in the open, on dirt and rocks and under trees. It was a wonderful time.
It is of such things that we are blessed here in Mexico. As I meet students, some of whom I have taught before, go to villages, am invited to preach in small and larger places, and experience the faith of this people I am challenged. In many ways they have much less than we do, but in some ways they have more. And they have the same Lord, the same church, and the same hopes. What a blessing!

The past month has been a month of wonderful family time and regular preparation time. Living almost next door to Emily, Steve and the two grandchildren gives Nancy and me plenty of opportunity to spend time walking and playing with a 3 year old (when asked her age she says she is 18) and an 18 month old. Countless words have been spent describing the difference between being a parent and being a grandparent, and I guess many of them are true. You get to enjoy the best and avoid some of the problems. And that makes it a good time—a very good time. I often take Colette to preschool, we take walks and she plays with the same toys our girls played with when they were the same age. Jacques and I walk around our pond (I carry him most of the way), he throws rocks in the little stream that empties out of it, and we throw a ball back and forth—actually he rolls it in random trajectories. Lots of hours and lots of joy.

The preparation I have been doing is for the class I begin teaching in two days, at Seminario Teólogico Presbiteriano San Pablo in Merida, Mexico. Once again I will be teaching the letters of Paul and Preaching, although repetition does not mean doing the same thing again. Each time I have this opportunity it feels like the material is fresh and new. I look at what I have done before and, while it is pretty good, it is never what I want to present this next time. I always learn more myself, and toy with new ways of presenting the material.

Another activity that has taken time this past month is culling through and digitizing old photos. Like many people Nancy and I have boxes of old photos and slides, just sitting in the attic. These boxes contain treasures, but treasures that are seldom enjoyed. So I have taken stock of the photos, thrown out many, and turned many of those I have kept into a rotating computer slide show that plays on the television. As it goes on we see much of our life and many of our friends and are reminded of how good God has been to us. One of the things the Scripture often commends to God´s people is to remember. And that is what this helps us do. Remember the people who have impacted us, the events that have shaped us, and the ways in which God has worked in and through us. I still have a box of albums to go through, but that will have to wait until I return from Mexico. Before then, though, I thank God for those events, those people and those places that parade across the screen…