Spa Day at the Rio

A few weeks ago God laid on my heart a message about holiness in Christ to share with the Rio women. I began sketching out the lesson with the help of my Spanish teacher and friend, Priscila. I wasn't sure when I would share the message until Priscila came up with the idea to have a women's day with the Rio ladies. We began working and planning and soon after went to the Rio with a group of college folks to host a spa day for the women.

The men in the group cared for the kids and did some work around the comedor while the group ladies helped the Rio women with the spa day. We brought with us various cleansers and makeup items for the ladies to use. Priscila led a class where she taught the ladies how to clean their faces, moisturize, and apply makeup all the while connecting what they were physically doing with what God is capable of doing spiritually in their hearts. After the makeup I shared with the women about how Christ sees them; about how they are called "holy" when Jesus dwells in their lives. After helping them understand that Christ calls them Temples of the Holy Spirit, clean, pure, and beautiful I challenged the ladies to begin treating themselves according to this truth... and along with that, to treat others according to this truth.

One big problem I have seen in the Rio community is a mentality that does not see value. Many of these ladies do not see themselves as worthy of being treated well or with honor. As a result they often let themselves be mistreated by husbands and boyfriends and even mistreat themselves. Often they cannot love their neighbors because they do not love themselves. The spa day turned out to be a great success!!! The ladies had TONS of fun putting on makeup, cracking jokes, and just being pampered. Having the kids entertained by the men in the group was also a welcomed break to these moms. Several of the group ladies shared testimonies about keeping their lives pure and holy... and I can only hope the Rio women were affected. I didn't see much response while I was teaching, but was encouraged by the way they listened and am praying that the truth of how Christ sees them continues to sink in. Please continue to pray for these Rio ladies.

The Rio ladies cleaning faces.

Tere laughing as she scrubs and moisturizes her hands.

One of the group gals helping to apply eye shadow.

Here I am teaching!!! (Praise Jesus for sooo much grace with Spanish!!!)

Goin' to the Chapel...

... Well maybe more like goin' to a quinta :) Two weeks ago I had the awesome privilege of participating in a traditional Mexican wedding. My novio's sister, Maru, got married in a very small town 9 hours from Monterrey in the middle of what seemed like nowhere... or like what you would imagine Columbia to look like :) The town, Tamazunchale, was quaintly nestled in lush, rain forest covered mountains. The drive there was breath taking... in two senses of the word; both beautiful with amazing flowering trees and also terrifying with treacherous roads spiraling up and down the mountains!

Over the past year and a half I have gotten to know Maru quite well. Her and her now husband, Emmanuel, have helped at the Rio soup kitchen for the past year and Maru has lived on the B2B campus for the past 2 years with her family. I was very honored when she asked if I would be a "madrina" in her wedding. Padrinos and Madrinas are a part of every Mexican wedding. These couples present the bride and groom with various symbolic gifts during the wedding ceremony. The gifts include rings (to symbolize unity), coins (to symbolize provision), a lasso (to symbolize the binding together of the bride and groom), a pillow for kneeling (to symbolize prayer), and a Bible (to symbolize a marriage founded on the Word of God). Cheque and I presented Maru and Emmanuel with the Bible during the ceremony.

Maru and Emmanuel decided that they wanted to have a "charro wedding". This type of wedding is not super common today in Mexico, but was very common years ago... the closest thing I can tie it to in the American culture is if a couple decided they wanted to have a wedding reflecting the styles during the Civil War era... this is close to what a charro wedding is, but still not the same. Not only is a charro wedding traditional it also reflects the style of the national sport of Mexico known as Charreado that is still very active today, especially in central and southern Mexico. Both Maru and Emmanuel grew up participating in charreados. A Charreado is similar to a rodeo as we know it. Women compete on horses in various exercises that show control of the horse and on teams doing routines with the horses. The guys compete in events such as bull riding, bull roping, cow flipping, lasso exercises, and horse control exercises... it is really pretty interesting (see the pictures and videos below). The dress for this sport is very similar to the outfits we all wore at Maru's charro wedding... guys in sombreros, girls in flouncy dresses known as "escaramuzas". Here are some pictures of the wedding day and the day after when we went to an actual charreado.

This is my huge orange escaramuza dress that I got to wear in the wedding! ... good thing I tend to like bright colors :) Definitely a chance in a lifetime...

Emmanuel the night before his wedding day. It is traditional for the groom's family to place these flowers above the front door to notify the community that their son is getting married. The bride's family places flowers in the shape of a star above their front door. ( It is also tradition for the groom's parents to go to the bride's parents, after the boy has purposed, to ask permission for the girl to marry their son. I witnessed this two days before the wedding.)

Jumping back to the wedding day... In a charro wedding the family, wedding party, and some friends, ride on horseback in a parade to where the wedding is going to take place. I passed the parade in my car when they were still about 2 miles away. The guys rode on horseback for a mile, then stopped to pick up the girls who rode the rest of the way (another mile) to the wedding sight. The bride is in the buggy driven by her dad. The groom is riding the horse to the right of the buggy. The groom's dad is on the horse on the far left and my boyfriend (!!!) is on the horse to the right of the groom's dad.... all the guys wear sombreros :)

Beautiful Maru being escorted by her dad in the horse-drawn buggy.

After the bride in the buggy and the family, then comes the charros! These are friends of Emmanuel's family who paraded in. There were probably about 30 charros celebrating in the escort that day.
During the wedding ceremony, Maru's other brother, Antonio, and his wife place the lasso around the bride and groom as the pastor talks about its symbolism.

Here Cheque and I are presenting the Bible to Maru and Emmanuel during the ceremony.

Some "charros" we know! These are B2B friends and Maru's family who came to the wedding. This is what the guys wear to a charro wedding.

Maru's sister, sister-in-law, and me! This is what the girls where to a charro wedding.

Cheque and I looking VERY Mexican :)

The B2B staff who were present at the wedding.

The day after the wedding, Emmanuel's family hosted a Charreado for all the guests. This is a picture of a charro grabbing the tail of a cow before it is flipped. This is one of the events the guys compete in. Emmanuel is actually a really good cow flipper... I was surprised!

Click on the arrows below to see some wedding scenes and to see how to girls compete in a Charreado in what I call "synchronized horse dancing". Maru has competed in this sport for most of her life. Recently she was featured on the front of a magazine in Monterrey for abilities as an escaramuza (the name given to these girls).

FYI: sometimes you have to hit the play button a few times to get it to work. Enjoy! :)

Mariachi's singing at the wedding.

Games at the wedding reception are very common in Mexican weddings. This video shows the guys playing a game.

Escaramuzas. Usually they compete in flouncy dresses like what we wore for the wedding, however this is just a practice, not the real thing. Emmanuel's 2 sisters are among these girls.

My Novio

I think it is about time I officially introduced you all to the WONDERFUL guy I am dating. This is Cheque Garcia Espinosa. Cheque (pronounced CHECK-ay) lives on our B2B campus with his family. His parents are house parents to 6 teenage girls. I met Cheque when I first came down here and back then never dreamed that I would date him someday :) Cheque is finishing up a degree in visual art at a university here in Monterrey. What I love most about Cheque is his heart for the Lord and his passion to pursue Christ no matter the cost (he is also pretty stinkin' cute :)! Cheque goes with me to the Rio every Saturday to lead worship at the soup kitchen. He plays the guitar and is also a very talented drummer. You have probably seen him in several pictures on this blog because he is constantly helping me out! Several of you have been asking about him, so I thought I would put up some pictures! I am very blessed to have him in my life.

Cheque and I before a day of ice skating this past winter.

Being weird!

Milagros

Through the generous support of a family in the States Milagros is able to go to school. Milagros is a compassionate, intelligent, and confident teenager who lives in the Rio community. Her name means "Miracle" and often she is nothing shy of that! She was born deaf and grew up communicating with her self-made sign language. One of the things I love most about Milagros is her fearless ability to try. She will attempt over and over to communicate with me despite my sometimes baffled looks. Milagros is very determined. She knows what she wants and what she is capable of and sets out to do it. I like that in a person who would have an easy excuse to do nothing at all. About a year or so ago a family came down on a mission trip, met Milagros, and had a heart to help her. With their support she was able to attend a school for the deaf where she learned sign language and some trade crafts. Not satisfied with just this education, Milagros approached us a few months ago with a flyer from a cosmetology school over in the next neighborhood. We met with the director who was eager to take on Milagros with her challenges and Milagros has now been enrolled for several months. Just a few days ago I got the privilege to go with a co-worker to Milagros' school to see her in action. There Cathy Huffer get a trim and Milagros gave her mom some new layers in her hair. It is nothing less than a miracle to see someone like Milagros, born with limitations and into an impoverished community, grow, thrive, and pursue what some would say is impossible. Praise Jesus for His miracles!

Milagros in her class.

Milagros putting layers in her mom's hair.

Cathy getting her hair washed.