5 Surprises from Mexico Ministry
- The effect of the altitude.
I thought it was an overrated thing. I really did not expect to have negative effects from the altitude. I’m not in great shape, so I expected to be short of breath, but I thought the answer was to sit down and rest a while. There are a lot more factors involved.
Aguascalientes is 6000-6500 feet elevation. That is higher than Denver. People experience odd effects even in Denver. The biggest thing for me was in the middle of the night, I would wake up feeling like I couldn’t breathe. That’s a panicky feeling. Part of it was that I was suffering with a bad cold I picked up in Michigan before we traveled to Mexico, so my nose was stopped up. Another factor is the fact that it is extremely dry in Aguascalientes, so your throat dries out quicker if you must breathe through your mouth.
I also acknowledge that I’m out of shape, and that doesn’t help. But the first two weeks I was here, I didn’t sleep well, and the night panic was quite intense a few times. After two to three weeks, your body adapts by producing more red blood cells to carry more oxygen and the symptoms abate. I’m doing fine now and am glad to be! I can walk a quick mile with no trouble. (For more interesting info, head here: http://www.webmd.com/a-to-z-guides/altitude-sickness-topic-overview.)
- The cold nights.
Mexico is blazing hot, right?
Not if it is the winter and you are at a high altitude! The days can get up to 70 degrees, but the nights really drop down. When your buildings are made from brick and cement, it can get extremely cold. I was working in the office past midnight, and I realized the temperature had dropped to 48 degrees! Just a bit cold.
Of course, those cement buildings are a relief during the hot days, so I wouldn’t change it if I could.
- The amount of Spanish you can absorb unconsciously.
I am a communicator by nature. I find it extremely frustrating to be in a situation where I cannot communicate! Perhaps that motivation in even the simple life situations is a subconscious help to me. I have learned much simply by going to the store, getting gas, ordering items, being a guest in the homes of people, and such like. I’ve barely been here a month, and the sentence structure makes sense to me.
I was at a church about an hour away last Sunday, and the men and ladies divided up for prayer. We all received 3 note cards with lists of prayer requests written on them. I understood all the requests well, with only one or two words misinterpreted. That’s a major reason that we’re down here because it isn’t just the book learning of vocabulary. It’s actually talking with Spanish-speaking people.
I was told the story of one individual who had studied Spanish for 4 years and was extremely confident that they could communicate on an upcoming mission trip. The first Mexican they met rattled off a paragraph and the confidence of the “studied” student vanished. They couldn’t understand a thing! Book learning and “on-the-ground” learning are not necessarily the same thing.
I understood 80% of last Sunday’s message. I was excited.
- The “home” feeling.
It really does feel like home. Don’t get me wrong: I do miss folks in the various places we travel. And I’m pretty sure that when our time here is completed, I’ll be ready to see folks we haven’t seen in a while and minister in churches where we have meetings scheduled in the fall.
But that is going to feel like a trip. Like a trip “away from home” where you go see family or friends. It is home here.
- The difficulty in singing authentically in Spanish.
Call me crazy, but I thought that I could start singing in Spanish with a believable sound. I thought this because I’ve sung in other languages in the past, and you can learn to sing in Italian, German, etc. by simply learning how to pronounce the words, even if you don’t know what each individual word means.
I’ve tried several songs in Spanish, and I’m terribly dissatisfied with the results. I realize that I hold myself to a very high standard in music, and my in-laws and my wife have been encouraging by telling me I’m a great deal ahead of the average American who comes down to learn Spanish. But to my ears, telling me I’m “miles ahead of the average” isn’t good enough. I desire to produce music in Spanish that sounds authentic.
I guess that’s going to take longer than a month.