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Outside Sounds

What did you hear outside yesterday? You may think my life is surrounded by nature sounds like frogs & birds, but I also hear trucks & planes & “city”. Also, there is no lack of microphones & loud (very loud) speakers around. Even the smallest of churches seem to have a sound system. But not only are they used inside church or the clubs, they are also common outdoors. Here's a few uses I've come across. Stores downtown play music & advertise - someone is hired to entice you into the store by telling of the offers - all day long. Or if you live in a community away from el centro, you will hear the vendors throughout the day as they pass by in truck, cars & tricycles selling water, gas, ice cream, tortillas, fruit... "Uvas, solo 10 pesos 1 kilo, uvas solo 10 pesos hoy!" Sometimes it's an announcer, sometimes it's a song. Or one vendor (water I think) reads the news headlines as they drive the streets.

And it doesn't stop at night. It's very common to hear music & the DJ from the clubs near the beach or private party places in the neighbourhood till very late (early). And if you had a couple lanterns & the wind's right, you could have your own party, dance the night away & not spend a centavo on electricity. In the past our church has had 2 events which they've "shared" with the community. One was a music/worship night, the other was a reading night. We have some good musicians who cover various styles of music with great lyrics & an occasional introduction or prayer to pull it all together. The reading night for me was something new. They got together & taking turns, read the whole book of Matthew. Sometimes we forget the power of the Word of God alone - without all our thoughts added in. What a simple method of evangelism.

And you guessed it, no one (at least not the Mexicans) seems to really be bothered by the unsolicited sharing, no matter what it is.

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