I have a lot to be thankful for this year. From wonderful friends and colleagues to opportunities and adventures, this year has been full of goodness. Since my last post, I celebrated an ex-pat style Thanksgiving, kept a few Christmas traditions, and went on a retreat with the MCC Mexico team to Durango, Mexico to visit the old-order Mennonite colonies. Here are pictures from the last few weeks:
Chris and Lindsey, other MCCers here in Chiapas, invited me to their home for Thanksgiving. I decided to bring cran-apple sauce, or as we call it in my family, crapple sauce. However, I had to get creative when I couldn´t find cranberries in the market.
In my haste at the grocery store, I didn´t notice that I purchased crasins with “chile and salt” flavoring. As it turns out, some mistakes lead to new creations, and spicy crapple was a hit!
When I first learned about Teotihuacán in my 7th grade Spanish class, I knew that I wanted to visit. I recently got to check that dream off the bucket list!
I love how the architects of Teotihuacán created structres that resemebled the natural beauty around them. It reminded me that as people “made in God´s image,” we are made to be creators who imitate the Creator. (Gen. 1:26)
Me, Soleab, a fellow MCCer in the YAMEN program, and Erica, our MCC supervisor, baked gingerbread cookies for the MCC reatreat. The Sufjan Steven´s Christmas album especially helped inspire the Christmas spirit.
Feliz navidad from the MCC México family!
The views from the Mennonite colonies in Durango, Mexico reminded me of some kind of combination of rural Indiana and Arizona. If those large irrigation machines are any indication, the Mennonite farmers have seen somewhere between a 60- and 70- foot loss of annual rainfall in the past two decades. The weather is more unpredictable, making farming and livelihood equally so. I´ll leave the facts to explain climate change for themselves.
Mennonites arrived to Mexico in the midst of centries of fleeing countries that wanted to force them to take up arms and fight in wars. Staying true to Jesus´teachings of peace and nonviolence, this small religious group chose instead to migrate to new lands. The families we visited have a family migration route that spans central Europe, Russia, Canada, and Mexico.
The MCC retreat felt to me like a family get-together. We sang Christmas songs, did a gift exchange, the kids played with the dogs outside… Can´t you just see the fun in these faces? (Thanks for the picture, Oscar!)
In this season of thankfulness, I often think of this group of people that serves in different capacities all over Mexico. I am thankful for the work they do, the hearts they have, and especially for the times we have together.
Quinn Brenneke 