Mexican police are not our friends!

I have to start off by apologizing for the poor poor job I have done in keeping this blog updated. The more time that I allow to pass between updates, the more overwhelmed I get as so many things happen, and then it leaves me here with 25 days to summarize. Quite a bit has happened in these past few weeks so I'll get going.

September 15th and 16th are Mexico's Indepedence Days and I was able to see the city come alive as everyone decorated their stores and cars and buses with Mexico flags and lights and anything red, green, and white. The kids were out of school and Sarah and I didn't have to go to work both of those days. The night of the 15th, there is a tradition that everyone yells "VIVA MEXICO!!!" over and over at exactly 11:00pm. The kids usually go to sleep at 9 so it was quite a party for them to stay up late. They had TONS of fireworks (miniature explosives that really shouldn't even be considered as fireworks) that the kids went wild with throwing them in the air and at each other watching the victim jump from their seat screaming. It was a fun time to spend with the kids that turned into a really late night. After everyone had finally gone to bed at about 12:45, Sarah and I walked back to our room only to discover that our neighbors that are literally right outside our door were having a party with VERY loud music. They must have been having a really good time beacause the party lasted until about 5:00am!

The past couple of weeks one of our projects has been to make Christmas cards for the kids to write to their sponsors. It was quite an event getting 60 kids to write about 5 cards each and then translate them all but we have fortunately been able to get a large chunk of it done. P.S. If you happen to recieve one of the Christmas cards and it was translated incorrectly, Sarah did it:)

Sarah and I have officially accepted the fact that we have become bus snobs...The regular buses cost 45 pesos and the air conditioned buses cost 55 pesos. We have thoughtfully considered the decision and have decided that for the length of our bus rides everyday, the 10 peso splurge is SO worth it. We have noticed that by riding the AC buses everyday, we have entered into a community of AC bus riders. Everyday we see at least 3 or 4 familiar faces that have claimed themselves as AC bus patrons as well and we know that they recognize us since the two blonde American girls kinda stick out like a sore thumb!

Some of the local people are starting to realize that I am not just a tourist but that I am living here because they see me day to day. A couple have introduced themselves and asked what I'm here for which always presents good opportunities to tell them about Casa Hogar and what it's all about. It also allows me to feel a little more at home knowing that I'm getting to know more and more people that are outside my little world here of the children's home and the church. I've gotten to know some people that are more involved with the street child ministry that is associated with the same church as Casa Hogar and am really realizing that God is no doubt working in Acapulco.

On Wednesday, some very welcome company came to visit. My mom, dad, and grandma are here until Tuesday. They were the ones that made me sit down and update this right now:) Myrtille gave me everyday off of work while they are here which I was thrilled about and I am also staying at their hotel with them which has allowed me to have a little vacation of my own. They have only been here 2 1/2 days and let me tell you, they have been anything but uneventful. They decided to rent a car while they are here to allow us more freedom to do what we want instead of having to rely on buses and taxis and I am so thankful they did except for the fact that we have gotten pulled over by the police 2, count 'em 2 TIMES!!!! The first time was on Thursday right after we had done a U-turn on our way to Wal Mart. We saw a car with a yellow stripe that I thought was a taxi wave at us to pull over. We didn't fully comprehend what was going on until he turned on his lights and got out of his car to tell us in impossible to understand spanish that we had done something wrong. When we finally were able to get out of the middle of the road, the police man came to the window and began speaking as if we were native mexicans. My mind was racing and heart was pounding thinking of whether I should just play dumb and hope he would let us off as silly Americans who didn't speak spanish or if I should try and talk to this guy as best I could. Well, shortly after he said that we were recieving a ticket of 4,600 pesos or 460 dollars for stopping on the yellow pedestrian lines WHICH EVERY OTHER CAR IN FRONT OF US HAD DONE I knew that he was royally screwing us and anything I said to him in spanish probably wouldn't make the situation worse. I explained to him that I live here and told him exactly where the children's home is. I told him that we would not pay the ticket without having our friend with us, which was Myrtille. This make him think a little bit and he called one of the 2 other police that were in the car with him to come and help him out. He told the other cop that I lived here and they ended up letting us go PRAISE THE LORD!!!!! Probably only after they realized that I had connections to Mexican people that would know as well that they were completely ripping us off. We were all pretty shaken up about the whole thing for a while afterwards and never drempt that it would happen again.

The second incident happened on Friday as we were pulling out to go to...yep! Wal Mart again! It was a wierd intersection that did not have a light for the way we were coming from so we waited until the way was clear and turned left as cars followed behind us doing the exact same thing. A couple blocks down the road a man in a uniform waved us down into a parking lot. As the day before it didn't really hit us that we were getting a ticket until he came to our window and told us that a camera in the intersection had caught us running a red light and had radioed ahead for this guy to pull us over. Our thoughts, "There is no way!!!!" This guy wanted to take my dad's license and bring it to the police station where we would have to go to pay over 1000 pesos and get it back. I explained to him too that I lived here and that we would not be doing anything without our friend, Myrtille again, and we decided to call her and have him talk to her. He came back to the car and handed me the phone where Myrtille told us that he had agreed to give us back the license if we paid him 600 pesos and would let us go without the ticket. It was an obvious bribe and Myrtille recommended that we call her husband. We did and he said the magic words because the police man ended up letting us go. Thank the Lord for Myrtille and Tolo!!! So that was our second safe escape from the Mexico poilce. We beat the system twice!!! Needless to say, we're all a little nervous about driving around town now but we decided we probably need to be praying for protection against the police BEFORE the actual incident happens again!

I am enjoying my time with my family here so much and will hate to see them go but I know that God has so much more in store for me here before it is my turn to leave.