Learning New Things

I see I’ve managed to let the blog slide into silence for a couple weeks.  It’s been busy.  Real busy.

Glad to report that after over a week of not having a window on the van (from the break-in…see the post from April 1), the local repair shop finally had the glass and installed it quickly.  The job took an extra couple hours because I needed the after-market tint removed.  The tint came with the van when I got it at auction back in 2011, and technically the front two windows were illegal here with tint, and the new window wouldn’t have any tint, and it just wouldn’t look right with the other side windows tinted.  Yeah.  First-world problems in a second-world country.  I’m debating looking in to having new tinting because it’s noticeably hotter inside the van now.  I doubt I’ll have time to mess with it.  Our home assignment is less than one month from cranking up.

I turned in the big 6-8 page paper (that turned into a 10 page paper) for week 6 of 7 of my Hermeneutics class.  I’m working on the readings for the final week (7 chapters instead of the usual 4 chapters…so lots to read and think about).  This has been my favorite class so far, and I’m sorry to say I don’t see any other Hermeneutics course on my list of future classes.  I’ll just have to keep reading and learning on my own.  I am enrolled in another class starting on May 12 and running all the way through June which is not a happy reality.  Living on the road and making visits and speaking engagements while trying to study is something I can’t envision.  I do hope the prof will be flexible given my circumstances.  I may not be able to turn assignments in on time.  Unfortunately, I can’t retain the Timothy Scholarship without taking this class, and without that scholarship, I wouldn’t be able to continue since it ultimately covers 2/3 of the tuition.  More first-world problems.

Easter service went well and we had almost full attendance for our small house church.  We enjoyed a brunch together and a special Easter message with kids involved too and then took communion together.  It was lovely.

Last Sunday we only had one family come.  Jason and Kristin are the original members and the reason why we started this small work.  Kristin didn’t really understand Spanish well enough to attend the other church, so we started in English here and kept it in English for about 2 years until non-English speakers began coming.  So, we switched to Spanish.  Since it was just them this past Sunday, I changed back to English.  Since they had missed the week before, I gave that lesson which I hadn’t prepped in English.  It wasn’t too hard to make the switch, and I really enjoyed being able to teach within my linguistic comfort zone (a rare thing).  I even made a quick search on YouTube for some music we could sing in English (with words on the video), and so we even sang in English.  They didn’t know any of the songs, but they enjoyed them!

Speaking of music, I learned something new today.  If you play a tortilla on and old record player, you’d be surprised at the sound it makes.  Here’s a sample: