by Tara Hurford, current IWM serving in Mexico City, Mexico
This past Saturday, Emma and I reached the two month mark of our new lives here in Santa Fe, Mexico City. As Emma mentioned in our last blog, the majority of our time is spent at a local Guardería, or daycare, which was opened for low-income families. I have spent my time with the classes for two and three year olds. If I received a peso for every time I heard, ¨Tengo mocos¨ (I have mucous), I would have no worries about being on a ´missionaries´ salary here for the next two years. And if I received another peso every time my little darlings wanted to ´re-gift´ their kleenex to me, I´d be filthy (and) rich! Very fortunately, I took a vow of poverty for the next two years! But if handing out kleenex and wiping dirty noses is the worst part of my job, then I count myself very, very blessed, indeed. The two classes of fifteen to twenty children that I help out with have brought me joy incalculable and their affection helps to cure any homesickness for the life I left behind in Nova Scotia -- in a heartbeat.
If someone would have told me that I would be subbing for a class of two-year-olds three months ago, I would have looked at them like they had two heads. But here I am, ready (or not so very much) every day to possibly be ¨maestra¨ for the little munchkins. At first, I was totally overwhelmed by trying to balance tending to the unending bathroom parade and keeping the children from jumping off their chairs, screaming, crying and hitting each other. I felt totally unprepared, and as a result of this and other things going on in my life a well-known feeling of insufficiency returned. ¨My Spanish is not good enough;¨ ¨What good am I doing here?¨ ¨What difference am I making?¨ ¨I´m simply not enough . . .¨ These are the familiar tapes of negativity that often return to me when I´m having a rough time. But the truth is, I will never be enough, save for the grace of God, if I allow Him to work through me. As they say, ¨God doesn’t call the qualified; he qualifies the called." This time forced me to re-evaluate what my goals were here both personally, spiritually, as well as practically and how I am spending my time. It also forced me to re-commit to daily prayer. It is so easy to get caught up in the busyness of daily life here and forget to ¨be present´ to the one who is forever present to me - to all of us.
This too then helps me to be more present to the children and to my environment. I soon discovered a box of giant legos that (thanks be to God) keeps them occupied for a good half hour, while I make sure no one pees their pants, take attendance, translate some kids action songs from English, and figure out what the heck I´m going to do for the rest of the day. Personally, I discovered that I need to let go of the feeling of the need to accomplish and let things develop as God wants, not how I will them. This brought some fresh new ideas to mind about other projects I would like to start here, ones that fit my skills and talents more. God willing.
Apart from our totally exhausting, yet fun and love-filled days at the Guarderia, Emma and I recently started ´work´ with the Jesuit youth here, who do everything from weekend retreats to working with the indigenous and immigrants, to name only some activities. We were able to attend an ¨Encuentro¨ two weekends ago of the Jesuit youth representatives from all over the country. The enthusiasm and excitement was contagious, and we hope to bring some youth from Santa Fe to their next camp, near the ancient pyramids of Teotihuacan
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