The rainy season begins tonight. Thunder and lightning awakened me at four in the morning; a great time to recall the past 6 months.

 Many times, in the past six months, I’ve thought, “this is what it feels like to be an alien,” and our experience has given me a fuller understanding of the scripture, “our citizenship is in heaven.”

 Philippians 3:20 (NIV)

20 But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ…”

 Ephesians 2:20 (NIV)

19 Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of his household, 

I’ve heard preachers expound on these verses with great pomp as they marched up and down the aisles and across the front of the church, but never really understood the concept. My brother-in-law and sister-in-law lived in China for 30 years, and I often wondered whether they had a deeper understanding of what it means to be an alien on this earth. I had no idea that one day Phil and I would experience “being an alien” in a foreign land, and yet here we are, almost six months living on the southern Pacific coast of Mexico.

 We spent the better part of two years preparing to leave our homeland and become aliens in a foreign country. As with most things, the preparation can be more fun than the reality…at least initially. We are grateful for good teachers and friends who helped us prepare in many ways. I’ve lived in five different states in the US; each with cultural differences, however, Phil and I had only been out of the United States twice on vacations.

 Our friends met us at the airport, took us to a great (and now favorite) spot for lunch, set up a hotel for us that was close to our home and the bank, drove us around and showed us important places. They were so kind!

But it was ALL so new we didn’t retain it!

A week later when we walked from our home to the bank, we were shocked, it was only about 2 blocks away and the hotel we stayed at while waiting for our home to be ready was about a fifteen-minute walk. Everything seems so close now, but the first week felt like we were in New York City. 

Here we are, boots on the ground, masks, hot weather, and all our wordly goods…4 suitcases, 4 carry-ons, one guitar and one guitar amp!

We began jumping hurdles after landing at airport in Mexico. The minute we stepped off the plane we knew we were aliens in a foreign land. We didn’t speak the language and we didn’t understand the currency.

This caused much stress and many mistakes. How do we tell our taxi driver where we live, oh! Where do we live? How do we get to a bank? How do we tell a taxi driver we want to go to the grocery store? How do we…The first few days were very stressful!

 Now I’m aware of what it must feel like when someone comes to faith in Jesus Christ. They have friends who help them prepare, they are excited about the newness in their lives and the potential. They “land” in a church, which may be a foreign experience and are immersed in a new language and a new currency. If they are in a church led by the Holy Spirit the language is love and currency is faith. If they are in a ‘religious organization’ the language may be judgment, and the currency may be rules. Either way, it is overwhelming, and it takes time to adjust, be comfortable and able to function.

 

We finally felt comfortable as we learned enough language to get around through Duo-Lingo, our taxi drivers and our Spanish-speaking church. The Mexican people enjoyed helping us, correcting us and affirming our attempts to learn their language. I took Spanish in high school – 45 years ago- that helped me some. The only Spanish Phil knew was “I love you mucho,” taco, burrito and si! He was not afraid to try though. I often burst out laughing as he had this funny “Italian accent” way of speaking Spanish and it often came out all wrong. We both laughed when we found out he had been telling everyone I was his wife but instead of saying wife he was saying “handcuff.”  We’ve both improved and our taxi drivers often say we speak good Spanish, he he. They are just being nice!

We learned the currency by using it. This was the most difficult for me because we rarely used real money in the United States, most transactions are done with a debit or credit card. In our Mexico ‘Cash is King’. We only use our cards to get cash. Our first few weeks we were continually running out of pesos. Pesos for the taxi, pesos to buy food, pesos to tip a waiter. Pesos in coins and pesos in bills and then how much of our US dollars are we spending? It was crazy!

The ATM usually gives us $500 peso bills, which is a lot in Mexico. Cash goes much farther here. A typical taxi ride is only $35 pesos so you really don’t want to hand your taxi driver a $500. We walk about a block to buy our produce at a ‘patio store,’ a family run store created on the patio in front of their home. When I buy a lot of produce, you know enough for the day, my bill might be as high as eighty-three pesos. Once I just picked up 3 tomatoes for a salad and my bill was six pesos and I only had a $500. Since we shop there daily the owner, Olga, said “pay me next time.” I love shopping there.

In the same way, when you come to faith in Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior you have to learn the language. You can easily do this by reading God’s Word for yourself. Start in the book of John, the Psalms and the Proverbs. You’ll learn about the Kingdom of Heaven. Who Jesus is. How-to walk-in faith – the currency of God’s Kingdom. In God’s Kingdom ‘Faith is King’…and you don’t need much. Jesus said only as much as a mustard seed, which is very tiny will move a mountain! If you are in a church or have friends who are led by the Holy Spirit, they will help you learn the language and the currency. The more you are around them, the easier it will be.

Standing at the Fed Ex office last week while waiting to pick up my new bank card we realized it has taken us six months to feel confident and comfortable in this foreign land. There are still hurdles, we definitely don’t have it all together, but we are no longer anxious or fearful. We can understand the language, sometimes with lots of hand signals. We have people whom we love and love us, a wonderful home, good neighbors and the currency is no longer a barrier. It’s a good life, even as an alien.