Fresh

This would be freshly squeezed orange juice in a to-go bag. Of course the oranges are green on the outside, but what difference does that make? The place is just a couple of blocks away and I went for the first time today. I say "first time" because I intend to be a regular. I think the total for two of these came out to a couple of dollars.

An Unexpected Benefit...

....of living in a country where I do not know the language. I will DOMINATE at Charades from now on! Gloria Dios for my hands or I would be a mute.

Gracie Strikes. Yet Again.

So it would seem like gracefulness and my ever so tender way with words, or rather the lack there of did not leave me when I went south of the boarder. Aren't you glad to know?! I am still very good at the usual.....tripping over my own feet, spilling things on my clothes (gotta love salsa!), and bumping into random people. But, yes my friends, there is a big BUT, I have had some oh-so-radiant moments. Take yesterday for example.....
* One of the girls asked me if I had paper. I has proud of myself for understanding her without having to think for 30 seconds. I responded with a resounding "Si!" and pulled out my notebook. I heard laughter all around....then I realized she had said "Papel del bano." Yes, that would be toilet paper.
* Then there would be the MUD. Its the rainy season here, so there is lots of it. Actually it is red clay, so that makes me feel at home, of course I managed to somehow get it all over my shoes and half way up my legs. Everyone else just had it one the tips of their toes. Oh, and I wore my kakies too.
* Speaking of mud and mountains (you know, the place with many small, curvy, even paths?) You guessed it! Landed on my bum. Twice. Within three minutes. It created a nice splatter paint look to my pants.
* We were in a small home in the mountains, the fire was going inside. There was no electricity. I was standing near the fire to try to get warm after my little *spills* on the path. They lady served us hot chocolate. I was basking in the warmth of it when someone asked me something. I responded in Spanish, with "It's hot." Well, um, come to find out, they had asked me if it was alright if the prayed.
Yes...those were just a few of my shinning moments in just one day.

But there were also truly glorious moments too....
*Eating at a little restaurant outside a house while waiting for a bus. The kids inside where watching Ratatouille. Silly as this sounds, in that moment, I realized these kids where just like other kids I know. Oh, of course their circumstances are different, the look a little different, and the speak a different language, but they are lives. Lives with a story to tell and also one to write. Whether they know it or not, that story includes, "Christ died for you. He loves you. He wants to give you real life."
*Watching a beautiful Indian girl look at the bud window. Then her turning around and giving me a hug smile.
*Walking up a mountain in the rain. Sharing a scarf with one of the girls here to stay semi-dry.
*Singing "Amazing Grace" with said girl. Her in Spanish, me in English.
*Having prayed that I would enjoy whatever I was offered to eat or drink, then having that prayer answered.
* Watching children and adults alike singing their hearts out to my Savior.
Yes...those were just a few of my glorious moments in just one day.

Los Ninos

I read this the other day....
"Children are the only earthly treasures we can take to heaven."

God-Man en Espanol.

For those of you who also happen to be my friend on facebook, I am sorry for the double-take with the pictures.

A Post with Pictures

The weekend was an interesting one. On Saturday, we went to a wedding in the mountains. The people there speak Spanish and another completely different language. Needless to say, it was the most unique wedding I have ever been too. I loved it. If you look up at the mountains from town, it does not look like anything is there, but as you go up a winding road further into the mountians, you see little homes tucked away. Eventually we got to a little village. We had to walk up a path to get to the wedding and from where we had parked, I could hear people singing. As we got closer and closer, more people began to appear.

On Sunday, we went to the chapel. I could not understand too much of what was going on, but they put all the words to the songs up on the wall, so I could look at it while listening to what they were saying. Plus, I understood what some of the songs where from the tune. I think I will learn a lot of vocabulary this way. The people there were super nice and took the time to come up to shake my hand with a smile.

Today I went into the shopping area of town with one of the girls who lives here as well. She doesn't speak too much English, so it is fun finding ways to communicate with her. A couple nights ago it was just us at home and we managed to kill a couple of spiders together :) I think during the couple of times I have spent alone with her, is when I have learned the most. She is so very patient.

As far as my Spanish is concerned, I understand much more than I can say, but that does not mean I understand a lot. :) The past few days I have learned a lot of vocabulary, but I know my grammar is horrible. Oh well, in time, in time. For those of you who know me, patience has never been my strongest suit.

Tomorrow will be the first "normal" day, as in routine, but I have a feeling life here will never be normal or routine. Ahhh! Just the way I like it!

The first picture is of a river we walked down today and the second is a picture of the mountains taken from the back door of the house.

More than enough...

Well, I made it! And without any problems too. Well, did you know that you should not fill out a customs card in pencil? And when you do fill it out in pen, make sure it is black. Yeah, I had to fill out the same card three times. But if that was the only problem I had, then I am doing good, right?
Everything is so new, meaning there is much to say, because much has been observed, but time is lacking to even really begin. I will share my first language error, though. We were talking about some guy, and I said his name....well, I thought I did, but really I said "beak" as in a birds beak, and apparently, that is not very nice. He was not there, so I was off the hook.
And now a verse that brought me great comfort this morning...

"Thus saith the Lord, Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither let the might man glory in his might, let not the rich man glory in his riches: but let him that glorieth glory in that, that he understandeth and knoweth Me..."

Nothing makes you feel quite as dumb as having no.idea. what is going on around you. I really want to learn Spanish so I can communicate with this people! But even if I did know Spanish, it would be nothing to glory in. But, I know the Lord! And that is more than enough!

Some Details

As promised earlier, below are some of the limited details that I know about my upcoming exhibition...

* I will be living in Rio Blanco, which is a city in the state of Veracruz. It is approximately four hours south east of Mexico City. It is not some small town. I have heard that population wise, it is about the size of Augusta and sustains the villages around it. I have also heard that you feel like you have stepped back in time 50 years when you are there.
* The couple that I will be living with where discipled by my grandfather's uncle and aunt, (that would make them my great-great-uncle and aunt), who where missionaries in Mexico for over 50 years. We discovered this little detail after all the arrangements where made. I guess you could say it is a small world, but I think it is God blessing the faithfulness of his servants to the 3rd and 4th generation. They said I can stay with them as long as I want....till the end of my life even. I wonder if they will still say the same thing after I have been thee re a few months.
* The church I will be a part of there has 300+ believers, many of whom are have dedicated there lives to ministering to the people up in the mountains through evangelism, follow-up, discipleship, and church planting. The website for this place can be found here.
* I am not sure how long I will be staying. Different groups come from the States in the summer for short term missions trips. Once I get there, more than likely, I will pick a group to come back with.
* I will be expected to be up by 6:30, which I have no problem with.
* A missionary from my chapel will be taking me down there and staying a couple of weeks. We are flying from Atlanta to Mexico City, where someone will pick us up at the airport.
* Rio Blanco is far from the boarder and all the drug related activities.
* I have been to the doctor and I am in perfect condition to go. I had to get a few shots, which was no fun. I also have medications for any strange thing I may encounter, like H1M1 or stomach problems. (and if you know me, you know I am going to have those!)
* The mail system is very unreliable there.
* For those of you who do not know, my sister will not be going with me at first. She is hoping to come around the new year.
* One really cool thing that happened to me last week is that I lost my debit card. I got a temporary one and they sent me a new one in the mail. How is that a "cool thing", you may ask? Well, my debit card would have expired in May, but because I got a new one, it does not expire until 2013. I should still be in Mexico in May. Do you know how much of a pain it would be not to have my debit card?! I think God gave me the absentmindedness so that He could work out that little detail. Well, that's my story and I'm sticking with it.
* I have a camera to use while I am there. And I also have a laptop. All of that worked out in the past five days. Crazy? I think not! The Lord being in control? I think so.
* There is this really neat thing called Skype. It is basically phone over the internet, so I can talk to my family (and others!) for free, if they have it too.


And that is all I can think of for now.

Contact information:
Email: kathleenboudet@att.net
Skype: kathleen.boudet
And of course, facebook.

Up A Ladder

[Note: To see a couple more pictures and to give credit to the photographer, please go here.]

Conversation with a Sibling

"Kathleen, I do not want you to go to Mexico."

Me: "Come here."

*A hug and some silent tears*

Me: "You know I love you and I am going to miss you?"

"Yes."

Me: "And you know this is what Jesus wants me to do, right?"

"Yeah. I know. But that does not mean I am not sad about it though."

Me: "You know Jesus loves us, and only wants what's best for us?"

"Of course."

Me: "I am going to be sad to be away from you too, but I think we would both be more sad if I stayed here."

"I guess that's right."

Me: "Besides, I will have Skype, so you can see still see my pretty face."

"Hahaha. Yeah right."

*Hops up and moves on with a smile*

Just tabs?

When he was younger, my younger brother Andrew was very passionate about saving the taps of off cokes. Sometimes it got to the point that I thought it was obnoxious. I mean, they were just coke tabs. But why was he collecting them? Because he could give them to a lady from my church and she would take them to Mexico to give to native missionaries who worked there. They in turn could turn them in for money. Andrew had people everywhere saving these for him. And who could deny such a cute four-year-old? Five years later, people are still saving tabs to give to him.
You know that song that goes, "Thank you for giving to the Lord. I am a life that was changed"? I remember stepping back, watching Andrew count out those precious tabs, crying, and thinking, "He is going to have a crowd of Mexican Indians come up to him in heaven and say, 'I am here because of your faithfulness as a young boy.'" I can hardly wait to see it!
But I may be able to catch a glimpse of it sooner than I thought. I am going to be living with those same missionaries who Andrew labored so faithfully for. Lord willing, I will meet some of the fruit of their work, and realize just a bit of the impact that Andrew has already had for eternity.
And you know that it can only be the Lord when faithfulness in collecting coke tabs is turned into changed souls for eternity! Just tabs? I think not!

*Edit: Andrew read this and told me he thinks he was five or six, not four when he started.*

Another Bridge

I leave for Mexico Friday.

Downright Giddy

"Disposing of property by voluntary transfer without receiving value in return."

"I have found that among its other benefits, giving liberates the soul of the giver."

"No one has ever become poor by giving."

"Think of giving not as a duty but as a privilege."

"We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give."

"It is more blessed to give than to receive."

I was talking with a very dear friend about the reality of the above statements, particularity the one directly above. As I was expressing, I love gifts. Especially the unexpected, random, "just because I love you", sort of gifts. The are so much fun and most of the time make me speechless (um, yes me, speechless!) and leave me in shock.

But giving, not being given to, is a different story. Many times it just seems foolish, because well, the nature of giving, is that you really have no good reason to give that person anything. You make like them or think they are cool, but since when is that a basis for giving. Yet, that is what makes giving so darn wonderful. I friend told me today that it just makes her downright giddy to give. A good way to describe it. And it is especially grand when you know it is exactly what the Lord would have you to do. There is just something freeing about completely thinking about another person and not myself. Isn't it that the way we were designed to be anyways?

And now I am getting to the point where I am just rambling, but these truths are ones that God has impressed on me in many ways over the past several weeks. In fact, it is at the very core of who He is....

"For God so loved the world that He gave..."

Goodnight World

I am writing for the sake of writing. Sometimes it is just helpful to get thoughts out of the brain and on paper (or a computer). It always makes things seem clearer, so hopefully t will work this time. I have lots of thoughts in this wee little brain of mine, but they all seem kinda muddled and the ones that are clear seem pointless. How is that for a great combination?
This past weekend I went to camp. I thought I was going to set tables and clean bathrooms, but it end up that they needed a couple more chaperons for the weekend. When I told my older brother what I had done for the weekend, he said "I guess they are taking and anybody now a'days?" SO encouraging! Basically it was my job to make sure nine thirteen and fourteen year old girls made it where they were supposed to go without harming themselves in the process. Oh, and make sure they got to bed at a decent hour. Easier said than done with them being away from home for the weekend, packed full of sugar, and what is that over there, but a BOY!! Yes, we were an easily distracted bunch! It is amazing how the good Lord still works in our lives, constantly drawing us to Himself, despite us being ourselves. That is just one of the many reasons why I am fond of Him.
For work right now, I am doing odd jobs for people and teaching swim lessons a few hours a week at the Y. Before now I has never really taught a swim lesson, but I learned a good bit working in aquatics camp this summer and I am learning as I go. Some people had told be that teaching was a pretty horrendous job, but I am actually pretty fond of it. My last class of the night is helping in an adult beginners class. There is one male and he is seventeen. The rest are female and I would guess they are all over thirty-five. If I was a comedian, I would forever have material from this wonderful group of people. They are all coming over for dinner after class on Thursday. Praying for a way to tell them of the abundant life they can have in the Savior.
Other than working here and there, I have been traveling a good deal, spending time with people, other odds and ends(like doctors visits with lots of shots! but good news is I am healthy and have prescriptions for meds I might need over the next year.), and packing....
My plans for going to Mexico right now are thus....
Will be leaving sometime between the 18th and the 23rd of this month. It depends on what is best for the people down there and a couple of other little things. That is as early as ten days from now or two weeks from tomorrow! I will fly from Atlanta to Mexico City and more than likely take a bus from there to Rio Blanco. I will be traveling with a missionary, so praise the Lord I will not be going alone! Although, I am never really alone, right? Yet another reason to love my Lord.
I have come to the conclusion that I may finally learn to watch my tongue over the next few months. I mean, I will not really be able to carry on a conversation for three months and whatever I do say, I am sure I will have to think long and hard about. Most of the regrets I have in my life are from saying whatever I think before actually thinking. You would think that I would have learned my lesson by now, but alas, it is not so. Makes me excited.
Right now I am listening to a message in Spanish from the chapel that I am going to be a part of down there. I only catch a few words here and there, so I have no idea what is going on. Maybe I will listen to that same sermon a year from now. Hopefully the conclusion will be different.
Well, I think I started this post a couple of hours ago, stopping here and there to get other things accomplished. So, goodnight world.

Random Winner

One evening, a few weeks ago after work, I went to the grocery store to pick up a few things. It had been one of those days at work, and I was just plain out.of.it. I got up to cash register and was off in a daze when the lady said something. *Darting my gaze upward, and shaking my head* "Ummm, what?" She repeated herself and said something about giving a dollar to dying kids, or something like that. At that moment, I could not have cared less about dying kids, but I did not want her to know that (because my worth is defined by what the cashier thinks of me) so I said, "Uaaa, sure. I mean, of course."
Well when I was on my way to Michigan last week, I got a voicemail, that said, "Congradualtions, Kathleen, you won our drawing for a charcoal grill." And then I rembered that the buck I had spent the few weeks before entered me in a drawing. I was unbelievably excited. More than an average person would be about a charcoal grill, becasue, well, I had WON something! I hardly ever win anything! I mean, it is not like I enter drawings and the like often (only when caring about my repuatation, obviously), but I actually won. It was a pretty great feeling.

Buuuutttt, I had no idea what I was going to do with it. Becasue, well, I am going to Mexico pretty shortly here. I asked around to see if anyone wanted it. All answers where a negative, so the guy who was going to load it into the car took it off my hands. And I think he was pretty stoked. I still was. Becasue even it is not in my possesion, I won it.

80. Go to Michigan

Check.