Skip to main content

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.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Roadside Assistance

The clanking of metal bouncing over pavement caused me to brake, move from left to right & make a sudden stop on the shoulder of the newly widened Mexican highway.   As I prepared to get out of the car to check on the cause of the noise, one meter didn’t feel like a particularly safe space between me & the cars whizzing by.   But then continuing on wasn’t really an option either.   So, I said a quick prayer, took a deep breath & hopped out.   Well, that distressing noise was the result of the decorative bar across the bottom of the car coming loose at the back end, driver’s side, traffic side.   Every time I bent over to check how I was going to fix it, another car or semi caused me to question the sanity of what I was doing.   My prayer was short & to the point, not panicked but with a concern that comes when one is alone on a Mexican highway with no obvious solution to the problem.   “Please send someone to help me.   And please ...

A New Water Feature

  I had just moved into a different house.      It was a house with a few needed repairs which the landlords were less concerned about as soon as I moved in.      But… it was home.   This fixer-upper did have new paint, a new toilet & … new sounds.      One morning, I suddenly awoke thinking “Ahhh?   That’s not rain I’ve been listening to.”      Sure enough, the “rain” was pouring off my roof.   Having experienced this in other houses, I knew it was the tinaco (water tank) on the roof overflowing.      So, I got dressed & went out to turn off the water at the street.      I wandered the yard, got sandy slippers & drew blood hitting my head on a tree branch (no glasses & still dark) only to find that this house didn’t have a street level meter & shut off tap.      Huh… Now what?      Not only was it wasting water but the water was...

CULTURE

This culture isn’t completely new to me, but I have so much to learn or get accustom to. Especially important are some of the relational things like greeting others. In Canada when I arrive at a gathering, I will greet everyone as a group “hello everyone!” or greet the first person I see & greet others as I see them or wave from across the room or maybe just slip in quietly. Here when someone arrives they greet everyone in the room personally with a handshake & a hug or pat on the arm or kiss on the cheek. While I like this custom,this Canadian tends to feel like I’m disrupting conversations & drawing attention to myself by doing this, especially in groups that I’m new to. One solution I've discovered is to arrive first, which isn’t usually too difficult! And I'm hoping it comes easier when I know more people & can speak the language better. Spanish has formal & informal words for addressing others. “You” & all the verbs that go with it can be for...