Closing Out November

I just wanted to update you all and paint you a little clearer picture of the last month for me. I know I have one my day in November but I have time right now to Blog so I'm going to give you my weekend update now, instead of later. Sorry I don't think my weekend update with be as funny as Seth and Amy's.
First I will start off with the Bad and the Sad news. Ok so as most of you know I've been going through a time of transformation. That's right, no shave NOVEMBER. I feel like I let you guys down but my neck beard was to much. It was extremely uncomfortable, second the mustache was also getting to long. It was starting to collect stray food, I really noticed it drinking my Banana Milkshake and eating my egg sandwiches every night. Seriously Dad, I don't know if I'm supposed to thank you for these genes or if I'm supposed to thank Taylor for showing me the joy of an electric shaver. Either way I wanted to show you some pictures before I shaved the monster off. Some are untouched and one is of my Hitler stash.

That is enough of the Sad and the Bad. How about the Weird, Intreging, and Interesting. I taught 5 classes completely solo in the last 4 months. All of which are in the last 2 days not bad. I only had to give out 8 after school detention slips. It's weird how I had to change when it was actually my class I was teaching. Usually I just aid or help people track along with what we are doing in class. What intrigued me most about this is I think I was very relaxed with the people before it was my class, I really was their friend. But I had to change roles. By my third class I was running on fumes. I had given exams, done projects, collected assignments, and tried to teach as much as I could. What was interest to me was while I was teaching I was constantly asking myself, "Why am I doing this." I have no interest and even more so now being a teacher. I was constantly reminding myself to suck it up and doing what the Lord has put in front of me. This is something that needed to be done. Someone had to pick it up and shoulder the task. But those were that was the tasks that I had prepared myself for. The class the Barb and I prepped for 2 days in advance of me actually teaching the class. Little did I know I would be thrown to the lions again.

Here is my story of rolling with the punches. Yesterday was the second day that the Director couldn't come in. Yesterday was also the day that Barb was not going to be gone. Meaning me and the "Perfecto or Segundo is his name"(Security, Payroll, Billing Office, Substitute teacher,..........) and I where running the school. Or at least trying. He asked me to come back after teaching my first 3 classes because he had to substitute for Director and someone need to manage the office and discipline. Great yeah that is Me. Also his wife who is also a teacher showed up with their little kid that I had to babysit while everyone went and taught classes. His name is Samuel and he's really cute but kinda a handful especially when he knew exactly where mom and dad are. I could get him to stop crying for about 2 minutes and then he'd cry some more. Then I'd get him to stop crying and then he'd cry some more. Then the flood gated opened when Samuel heard the class bell. Luckily the kid was standing next to me not in my arms but the kid choked on his own tears and threw up all over the basketball court. Mind you this is all happening in between passing period and I have to go teach a class. I took him to Segundo and he put Samuel under the hose and then mom took him. Then Segundo and I ran up to are respective classes. I had Second year and I was supposed to be teaching and ethics class that I didn't prep for or anything. Meaning I was the babysitting service for 45 minutes, I didn't have an assignment sheet, or a video or anything. We sang the Hockey Pockey, but the kids wanted to do the Macarena. They tried to get me to do it. Not a chance. Thing where getting out of control. Honestly it wasn't a matter of me giving them to much freedom it was a matter of them taking to much freedom. I had to confiscate a cell phone, a clown nose and give out detentions. Either way it's over and I won't have to teach another class. Hurray.

Mr. Scott (The mean Teacher)

Happy Thanksgiving

This is just a special thank you to all my Blogger friends. Thank you again for you support and your constant prayers. They helped me through the slow times, the fun times and the hard times. Keep them coming for another 12 days and then I'll be sure to slow down just a little bit when I get home.

At least in my family I know we go around the table and say what we are thankful for in our lives. My mom usually has something like candy corn or dried macaroni noodles for us to drop in a dish for everything we are thankful for.

So here is my Corn nut, Walnut, Butternut, thanksgiving in Mexico. Gracias Dios (Thank God)



1. Por mi salud.

2. Porque Dios puso sus manos en mi Vida.

3. Por el plan de Dios en mi vida porque cuando yo le sigo mi vida es perfecta.

4. Por mi familia y mis amigos muy cerca a mi corazon.

5. Para el rostro de Dios y su presencia en mi vida en el viaje.

6. Porque mi vida es la vida de Dios tengo mucho por que darle gracias.

Think of it has Spanish homework. Sorry if you all thought you were done with school but like mom always tells me, your never done learning that is why I'm 22 and still get sent to the "office".


Scott Ekstrom

Who's watching football today.

Probably not me. "Why not Scott, it's Thanksgiving." Because Mexican TV doesn't always show an American football game when they could be broadcasting a qualifier of the world cup or some other soccer tournament. Yes I have seen a couple football games since I've been down here but they really aren't that entertaining to watch when the Mexican announcer can pronounce names correctly Joe Flacco or Ben Roethlisberger or Brett Favre. IT's funny the first time but gets on my nerves. I just want to take some time out from the blogging of mission work and lighten the mood. So I figured I'd try and talk a little bit about stuff that Americans like. Football. Sorry Andy Broadsword I'm not going to talk about College Football or the Bronco's, your lucky I'm talking about football at all. As some of you know I like the Bengals. Yes I know they suck. I know they haven't gotten past their first win. I know they are 1-9-1. The funny thing is if you switch those numbers around it would spell 9-1-1. So hopefully one day they can reach the goal of winning 9 games in a season but I'm a loyal fan, I'm sticking with the ocho cinco. After all I"m in Mexico.

But seriously can some one just recognize that my team isn't the worst. The Lions still haven't won a game since TV land stop airing re-runs of Mr. Ed. And the Chiefs suck too.

Yes we also celebrated Thanksgiving as a family down here it was just a little different. The thing that really jumped out at me was this was one of the first meals down here where we didn't eat tortillas. HAHA

Scott Ekstrom

My new friend Abel

So yesterday I drove down to a little town by myself. Why. Because I love creating situations where I could cause and international incident. Whether that is hitting a car, a pedestrian, maybe a parked police car. No, no, no, just kidding. I actually had to babysit a car that needed to get repaired. The guys that own the car are coming down on Friday meaning we have to get car cleaned up and working correctly before they gets down here. They're flying down in little glider planes. Last time the guys left the car with Tim the AC was working and currently until yesterday the AC was "NOT" working. Everyone who could speak Spanish or could babysit a car was at school, working on homework or working on the septic system. Meaning I was the only person available who knew anything about AC compressors. Granted I only know anything because my AC went out on my Jeep a month before I came down here.

I needed some time or think and read and just be alone so this seemed like a good idea considering it's a 45 minute drive, and a good adventure since I'd only been there once. I've really tried to keep myself occupied with jobs and activities and physically tired over the last week or so. I think it's making the time go faster and I can feel like I'm helping in the Lords work. But it's funny how the Lord works and times he's had to re-adjust my thinking and put me on the right track. It's funny how I can say I want to be in the center on God's will but only half heartily be looking for it. So I experienced God putting me back on the tracks that leading me to his will.

So as I was taking the car down to the machinic I thankful to God for the 4 hours he was blessing me with to be "alone." Then I got into town and found the machinic. The AC machinic works out of his house so I had to drive a little further to his house. I was grateful for the opportunity to relax and let the guy work. Not driving worrying about drunks, not teaching, not anything just reading and being an introvert. So as you probably know I finished "The Barbarian Way" and got back into "Knowing God". God was calling me to be a Barbarian and get out of my lonesome little turtle shell. God had placed Abel right in front of me. Seriously his name was Abel. He spoke very good English for only being in the States for 6 months. He had asked why I was visiting multiple times before he actually even started working on the car. God has a sense of humor, when I decide to hide he decides to pull me out in the battle. I couldn't focus reading, I couldn't get my mind straight so obviously something wasn't right. It wasn't going to be right until I got off my butt and stood in the center of God's will. "Talk to Abel"

Hello, not really in the mood to talk to a guy about God. But I'm still laughing because God put a watermelon the the T so that I couldn't miss. So I got up and stood next to Abel as he worked. I put my book on the electrical box and Abel asked me what the book was about. We started with a linguistics lesson. On what God is looking for. For us to conocer God or saber God (To meet or to know God). Moving from that. What does God want us to do with our lives once we do know him. Then finishing our conversation with Heaven. Needless to say Abel is still confused about what he believes because he still wants to see his brother in "eternity", his brother died saving a little girl and her mom. Good guy just never excepted Jesus's free gift. Or that he honestly has no questions he wants to ask God because right now he is happy with life. Or that eternal life, will be better than what we have on this earth right now.

Abel and I talked for about 2 hours yesterday and it was great to give him a couple ideas to mole over. I promised him that I would send him a copy of "Heaven" by Randy Alcorn. It's great that Randy prints it in Spanish. I'm very excited to send a copy down to him and hopefully one day I will be able to meet with him again in the next 2 weeks, hopefully in heaven as well. After the job was done I didn't find myself thinking about the my life. I found myself praying for my new friend Abel. I'll be praying for him and if the thought crosses your mind you could pray for him as well. God sure has a funny vision of his will, at least from my perspective.


Scott Ekstrom

Monkeys wear sweaters and plans change

So everyone I hope you've enjoyed the blog over the last 110 days. I've done my best to keep you up to date on the happenings of life since I've been here. I've had some funny posts, some serious posts and just about every type of post in between This one is no different but it's more about my life when I get back to Oregon. Most of you probably know, have heard through the grape vine, or may have noticed I'm in a different groove than I was 3 months ago.

I imagine it has been evident from my blog that I have changed a lot during this mission trip. This adventure has been quite a trip and a trial for all of us involved. We are all growing and unfortunately some of us have grown apart. That is why Bri and I are no longer together. Yes I know what a shocker. If you have any questions don’t hesitate to email or call me. Either way I’ll see you guys on the December 9^th

God has placed me on a different track in the last 3 weeks and I'm trying to adjust to the change of pace here and also plan for when I get home. Sorry if I'm sounding melancholy or bummed. It's been difficult to adjust to this 180 degree change but the Lord is my Refuge and my Rock. I’m just trying to get in the center of God’s will.

Scott Ekstrom

Quick update about the book club

So I finish "The Barbarian Way" yesterday. It's a very encouraging book, that really slams home the topic of living the life God has called you to do. To trust that God will guide, provide, and protect to his will. It may not be the flashy, razzle dazzle life style that we all hope for but what could be better than being in the center of God's will.
We could come out a little broken, but still breathing. We could come out a little beat down, but still able to fall into the arms of God. We could experience some real trials and failures, but your not growing unless you experience some pressure, some stress, or some pain. BUT if an all knowing, all powerful, God says those trials will glorify him better than any other fluffy future we've planned. I'm willing to bet he's got better perspective than little old me. I'm willing to bet that God didn't want Paul to slip into a mold of Christianity Or John, Or Stephen, Or Mose, Or David, Or Saul, Or Daniel, Or Samuel, Or Scott.
After reading the book in 5 days here is what I've come up with. It's a simple read. It's not super intellectual. It does feel repetitive after 70 or 80 pages. I think that is the goal in the book. It's a call to move where God calls. A call to shake out the cob webs and be a threat to an enemy again. To wallpaper our walls with scripture so it can saturates us and can do nothing but motivated us to action. To sell out completely, and seek the sweet spot of falling in line with a General who will fight along side us. To "Fight for the heart of your KING". To find God's will and get in the center of it. It's a good book. It's sounds kinda silly but if you want a heart surgery go to a heart surgeon. If you need a machinist don't go to a hair stylist. If you want to get re-pumped up for Christ, read or talk to someone who sold out to Christ a long time ago. I needed a pick me up, I needed to get pumped up, I needed to confirm what was in my heart.

Feels good.

Look out hello

Scott Ekstrom

I'm too serious

I need to get back to my roots everyone is probably thinking I'm depressed or something. If you've ever lost you wallet you are going to understand what this feeling is all about. So you think you've lost your wallet. What is the first thing you do. You grab both butt cheeks thinking maybe I just don't feel it. But have you ever stopped and wondered what if you didn't find you wallet but you something else on you butt. No I"m not talking about you sat in gum or your pants are all crackly because you sat in paint. Something much bigger, something that really separates us from the animals.

#1. What type of tail do you think you would get?


#2. What type of tail do you wish you could have?


I'm giving you a couple example you may not of thought of and I think the question my be way off alot of peoples radar but I"m interested to find out. I think my only other insight into this question before I release it to the world would be, I wouldn't want my tail to be fluffy.


Scott Ekstrom

Quick change in the book club

So I started reading Erwin Raphael Mcmanus again. You'll have to scroll all the way back to August if you can't remember the last book I read of his. That is actually the book that started me off on this book club. Last week I was really trying to draw as close as possible to God. What better way to do that than to read "Knowing God". I mean how can you find Gods refuge if you don't know anything about his. You don't even know where to look. Well life has change speeds and I'm find myself with a lot of open time to just think about my future. What is God going to teach me in the last 20 of this amazing journey. God has had this trip on my heart for almost 4 years. WOW. The best part is his he's been planning this trip, and been planning all it's life changing experiences on the dawn of Adam and Eve. I mean how powerful is that. Could he have any more time to turn this trip into a launching pad for my ministry. I don't see how it couldn't.

Back to the book club. THe book is called "THE BARBARIAN WAY" and I just read a very interesting thought about ministy. I'm going to butcher this I know but try and fallow me. "Do you think John the Baptist felt sage being in the center of the will of God.........." "If the safest plave to be is in the center of the will of God then how do you explain the life and ministry of Stephen-- one sermon and then stoned to death." What that a full ministry. Acording to God's will for his life, you bet. I think you can guess how long the chapter dug into the ministry of Paul. In the word of Zac Gardner, "I've got a fire in my bones." When life gets hard and you have to dig down really deep to and pray "Jesus take the wheel" (Carrie Underwood). What do we do next. Do we thank God for covering our butts or do we click over and say God is there a reason this happened, what ministry are you guiding me to. What "Barbarian vision" is placed in front of me and how many time have I ignored it.

This might get a little long but this short little history lesson in the front of the book gave me a little motivation to read more. Like any guy, I was pulled into a sub story of William Wallace, come on Braveheart, Mel Gibson.

"I was standin in the middle of the Paisley Abbey where Wallace was educatedas a boy. I took my time as I looked reverntly at the stained glass that remains a memorial to Wallave's heroics (he didn't look anything like Mel Gibson), yet it was a story about Robert the Bruce that struck me most and has stayed with me ever since. Robert the Bruse was a Scottish noble whose character is most remembered for betraying Wallace, but he later rose up to lead Scotland to freedom after Wallace's execution. WHile we were standing in theabbey, Scottish pastor James Pettigrew shared a tale of Robert the bruce that is a mixture of history and legend. He dued ub 1329 at the age of fifty-four. Shortyly before his death, Robert the Bruce requested that his heart be removed from his body and taken on crusade by a worthy knight. James Douglas, one of his closest friends, was at the bedside and took on the responsibility. The heart of Robert the Bruce was embalmed and plaved in a small container that Douglas carried around his neck. In every battle that Douglas fought, he literally carried the heart of his king pressed against his chrest. In the early spring of 1330, Douglas sailde from Scotland to Granada, Spain and engaged in a campaign against the Moors. In an ill-fated battle, Douglas found himself surrounded, and in thie situation death was both certain and imminent. In that moment Douglas reached for the heart strapped around his neck, flung the heart into the enemy's midst, and cried out. "Fight for the heart of you king!" ............

That is why I'm reading this book. It's only down here for 10 more days so I'll be back to J.I. Packer in 10 days or less. But sometimes you just need to get pumped up. I don't want to carry around heart, but I don't want to wash off the dust of me getting down and dirty down the ministry and will of the Lord. The ministry does'nt stop when I get home it's just going to be different. I've had 4 month to prepare for battle, and fallow the will of God for my life. He's had to starighten my path so many times maybe I should just go straight to begin with. The book is called "The Barbarian Way" and if No Shave November turns into a success I may have a carreer working for Gieko if it's God's will.


Scott Ekstrom

Mom now you can tell the truth

It was supposed to be a surprise but the cat is going to need to come out of the bag sooner or later. I know a lot has been happening in little G-town. A lot has been happening in the church. A lot has been happening with the presidency. A lot has been happening in my life. A lot has been happening in every ones lives. I'd like to take this opportunity to say slow down and think about whats really important. Think about you family(they love you), think about you health(don't eat that cookie), think about you friend(they'll always have you back), and think about a missionaries your supporting as he does the Lords work(Hello I'm still in Mexico).

But only for 3 more weeks. Yup I'm coming hope just a few days early. It's to close to Christmas I need to spend some time with family. I'd love to talk to you all and show you some pictures. I'd love to go out for coffee or make you some tacitos or Chili Reinas. Maybe we can all have a mexican fiesta when I get back. Either way I'll coming in on the 9th of December. Can't wait to see you all soon.

God bless and know I'm still plugging away doing the lords work.

On a personal note = I'm learning alot about myself in these closing weeks as well and learning how to let the lord work in my life.


Scott Ekstrom

What is God's Refuge

I've had some interesting conversations with people in that last week. As you know I've been reading Psalms. Which isn't the Lord great. He has perked my heart to read Psalms and that is exactly where I needed to be soaking up God's word. The best part is the 2 month before that I was going through a bible study with Gavin. Wouldn't you know it we read 1&2 Kings and after that we read 1&2 Samuel. Is the lords timing perfect! Could I have gotten a better perspective of David over that last 3 months. Just in the last couple days I've moved out of David's letters in Psalms so I've done some refection on David. David is quite the amazing character in the bible. God's chosen one, correct, who had to go through Hell to get to kingdom that God promised him. Then he lost his wallet half way through hell, he had to go back and get it in hell. You can never be to careful you have to protect yourself from identity thieves. Not even in the first centuries

OK back to the topic. What does it mean to be in God's refuge. The Psalms that David wrote were constantly about David asking God to be his refuge. David was feeling beat down and broken, I'm betting that he might have thought Samuel was some crazed mountain man speaking gibberish after Saul tried to kill him for the 800th time. What was the one thing that God was for David during this time (A REFUGE). This is the dictionary definition of refuge. Shelter and protection from danger or hardship. Or A source of help, relief, or comfort in times of trouble. So try and wrap you head around this. How do you sit in Gods Refuge when your life is falling apart like Davids was? How do you push yourself through to the next day when your wheels are still spinning in yesterday? How do you wait for God to do the perfect and impossible when David could have escaped by the skin of his teeth.? How do you sit willing in front of the tsunami wave that is about to crush on you? Shouldn't we avoid those crushing blows? David found this comfort during the struggles in his life. I finished off most of David's letters I remember a portion of John Pipers sermon about the Prosperity Gospel. Now I don't think David was combat the Prosperity Gospel, but he was combating the same issue that we deal with today. Finding true satisfaction in God, and being able to freely say "God is enough".

God is enough. What does that mean? God NEVER promised us that when our lives came into alignment with him, that our lives would get easier. Just ask David, Daniel, Moses, ............, or even Jesus. Jesus never said it either, he said to keep are heads up ane be ready because the water was going to rise up fast and strong against the followers of Christ. That we will experience trial after trial and suffering to the max as we seek to fall in line with God's will for our lives.

This is a direct quote from Piper "I'll tell you what makes Jesus look beautiful, it's when you smash you car and your little girl goes flying through the windshield and lands dead on the street and you say through the deepest possible pain. GOD IS ENOUGH, GOD IS ENOUGH HE IS GOOD, HE WILL TAKE CARE OF US, HE WILL SATISFY US, HE WILL GET US THROUGH THIS, HE IS OUR TREASURE. WHOM I HAVE IN HEAVEN? AND THERE IS NOTHING ON EARTH THAT I DESIRE BESIDES YOU. My flesh and my heart and my little girl may fail but you're the strength of my heart and MY PORTION FOREVER


THAT MAKES GOD LOOK GLORIOUS

WE can't reach that until we seek God to be our refuge. For you hurting heart, your brokenness, your sin, your loneliness, your struggles, and more. The christian church needs to be littered with suffering for Christ. Because God is most glorified in you when you are most satisfied in him in the midst of LOSS. Talk about being different from the rest of the world. Talk about having a ministry. When you are hurting, where do you run? If you are honestly running to the arms of the lord seeking his refuge you will be able to say "God is enough." That is a tough pill to swallow and believe me I've put down some elephant sized pills.

What makes God's refuge so Good. We don't have to do a thing. Say you a hurting and wounded soldier on a spiritual battle field. And you ask God to pull you into his refuge. That is you green light to sit back and let God work. HE is going to do a better job than you anyways. That is you green light to relax and let God impact the world while you heal your hurts and hang-ups. You don't have to call anyone, you don't need to do anything. If you feel like you need to do something or help God out, your not resting in his refuge. God is saying "As your general, I will go out and fight for you on the frontlines and I will win, and lay everything perfectly out for my perfect will." WE don't have to do a thing. God will put the actions on people hearts that need to move. God will take our burdens and carry them to the foot of the cross. It's tough to be in God's refuge, because we are in this get it fast problem solver world, for me and most it's almost impossible to say "GOD IS ENOUGH". Let God solve the problem perfectly to his will and when we have given time to heal and rest. THEN we can come back and fight for him in ministry and in the new found wisdom that God spills into us as we wait in the loving arms of his "REFUGE". Maybe that is the refuge David was talking about not some hill in the dessert where he was hiding from Saul.

Could that be "REFUGE". The trick is can we get ourselves out of the driver seat and get into the ambulance bed in the back. Because we can't even be trusted to ride shot gun because we'll want to start giving God directions when he already knows where he's going.


Scott Ekstrom

So I have school for one more day this week and then the kids are going to Oaxaca City for the week. Meaning I'm not going to shave for a week. But wait I didn't shave until early last week. Meaning I will have not shaved for soon to be 2 weeks. Then I remember that I don't have to worry about kissing Bri right now so poof great IDEA. Since I've never had enought facial hair to join a No Shave November and Bri Hates my Mexi stash. Thank you dad for that wonderful gene. It's great I really love it. But I'm down in Mexico and you all haven't seen me for some time. So at the end of the month I will reveal what mother nature has been able to grow. I'm not sure if I can handle the neck beard I may keep it for a while but once school starts again I may bring in the weed whacker.

So if you haven't joined my book club, and haven't join my pest/ insect of the month club try this club on for size. The Join No shave November late club. IT will be loads of fun and we will have are first meeting at the end of the month. Also I haven't gotten as good of a response as I wanted for my fruit survey so scroll down and fill out the questionaire in the comment bar. It will only take a moment.

Have a great day

Scott Ekstrom

Sorry I forgot 1 more thing

Wow, I'm so sorry for not keeping you guys up to date on the book club either. I really have been a poor blogger in the last 2 week or so. A lot is happening and life is crazy crazy. For all the people who still think I'm reading "Sam I am Green Eggs and Ham". Let me tell you I've up graded last week. Although it's a delightful late night reading. My mistake I should have done this a long time ago when I started it but time didn't allow it. I started J.I. Packers "Knowing God" before I left for Mexico City. I didn't read it much will I was in the big city because I was to tired and time didn't allow much for reading. But now that I'm getting into a nice habit again I have been pounding out about a chapter or half chapter of "Knowing God" every day. It's been great. Also bible reading has been very refreshing. I'm going through the Psalms.

New big bug of the month club

Ok so last month we learned that you could find a Scorpion in the bathroom. So I've been careful when I walk in late at night. I've been careful not leave my bed sheets dangling on the ground. You never know what type of creepy crawly bugs could come visit. I was thinking about doing an pest updated but then I met this guy.

Yep, you never know who you going to meet down here. Pati found him. I was grabbing the phone and looked right over him. After I had the phone in my hand already Pati was like "Scoot" what is this. She pick it up and I was like "Oh, no se". I looked right over it. You know when something is bigger then expected or out of place you can look right over it. That was this bug. I usualy don't find bugs that big hanging out by the phone. Maybe and adventureous ant, not a "land crab." Sorry I can not identify the insect my insect ID class at CCC never covered jungle bugs like this.
Next topicAlso we have a Rat in the Wood house. I can't seem to catch him in stick traps but I've seen him 2 and heard him rumaging around the place many times. Although on the sticky traps I've set out we've caught many little mice and 1 toad.
Also I don't think the rat at our house is as cute as the Disney Pixar. I will try to give you a better representation of the rat we have. HAHA. Did you really think I was going to put up some grose rat. I just would like to give fair notice to this rat. That if he doesn't leave and stop eating my last bananas I'm going to catch him.


Scott Ekstrom

Makes you wonder what's really important.

Welcome the the jumbled mess in my head. Take a tour it won't take to long.


I have one question for the day. I feel like my blog post have just been kinda of a downer or something. People have lost interest in responding. Or maybe people are just really busy I know November can get really crazy. It only has 30 days in it. How can we be expected to do everything in November when we really need 31. It's just not fair.

So today we are going to try something new.

Questions of the day:

1.) If you could talk to any fruit or vegetable for 1 day what would it be.
2.) If you could only ask it one question what would it be
3.) After talking to it would you
(A) eat it
(#) let it rot
(3) put in in a jar and pickle it

I know they are very thought provoking. But things get kinda lonely down here some times I like to hear about the happenings of G-Town.

Example: I would want to talk to an Orange. Bri and I were talking when I got back from Mexico City and this question has stuck with me. Sorry, I know this is random. Why is the orange the only fruit or vegetable named after it's color. Bananas aren't called yellows, Grapes aren't called purples, and Artichokes aren't called greens. Or How about Green Beans......... They are close but I don't think that counts. Does it make you wonder what all the fruit are thinking?
This is Wilson the orange not the volleyball. He like long walks on the beach talking with his fruit friends and he has the dream is to be a jar of coconut relish. Yes it's possible I checked Wilson's source it's on Google.


Scott Ekstrom

LIfe Water

David has an amazing ability to communicate. He can speak 3 languages. The other guy in the back could speak Spanish but because Musco is his native tongue David could jump right in with his native language. Talk about breaking down barriers and sharing God's love. A lot of people in Mexico have never even heard of Musco unless they have lived with a Musco village near by.
This is David, Pati, and I post pumpkin dessert. So good. I think that is why we are so happy. But are you surprised pastries and pies bring people together. It's what makes the world go round.

So this is the reason David came down this week. It wasn't to encourage me and talk about dirt and eat dessert. Sorry, I know that is what you were all thinking because my blog hasn't give to much information about why he's really here. For all you Good Shepherd people that feel like your getting overloaded with Advent Conspiracy, here is just one more added plug that may change you mind. If you don't know what Advent Conspiracy is all about then check out the website and watch the video. http://www.adventconspiracy.org/ This is the website address, you can just click and go straight to it. My next story won't be the exact example of what Advent Conspiracy is all about but it will give you an idea of the value of water. People in America don't really tend to think about water the same way the world thinks about water. I've learned alot about what clean and safe water means to a community. For the last 3 month I've been here I've take the responsibily of getting water for the Wood's and I. When I first came down I was more than happy to do this job. They've maybe gone to get water a hand full of times in that last 3 month because I wanted to try and remove a burden. Lugging around 6 or 7, 4 gallon jugges once a week seemed like it would be a annoyance. It was for me, I much rather prefer water that come straight out of the tap.

But that is exactly why David is here. He came to help translate and get thing moving for a group that was coming down to install a water purification system. They don't need to drill a well they have the water supply in the village they just don't have anything to properly clean the water. Using Iodine is expensive and isn't good for long term health. Our water purification system is actually broken at the moment so I've had to run in to town every week to get water refills. But this is where things get tricky. The people who have the water purification system have one of the only clean purification centers in town. So they have control over pricing. 2 weeks ago I was charged 46 Pesos for 5 jugs. Yesterday they tried to charge me 56 Pesos for 5 jugs. You can only imagine what type of balancing act everyone else goes through to get water. That was without the delivery fee because we have a car to do pick ups. Just think of what people may be getting charged for delivery. Last week I didn't have time to get the water until Sunday so I had to splurge and pay for water off a delivery truck. I was charged 10 Pesos for 1 jug. Barb said that last time she bought water off a delivery truck she payed 12 Pesos. That may seem like nickels and dimes put that how prices fluxuate. Depending on the driver and the deal he got at the purification center. It's all a crazy game and can really strangle peoples budgets when dealing with price fluxuations and a semi-monopoly on the water market. The school that I teach at has a water purification system but it's not function at the moment. Water really is a key lossening the burden of life. By lossening the burden of this Musco community ministries can continue to bring the living water of Christ. This is just one way of getting peoples minds of the pleasures and burdens of life here so that they can focus on the importance of a future home. I think you know what I mean.....HEAVEN........ wate

Indepth update

Wow I have just been a lame blogger this month. When I do write a post I don't write much and it's usually not presented in a very fun or unusually way. So if my post just keep getting lamer and lamer but as my language abilities advance I seem to be able to do more jobs. In addition to doing more jobs, this month and next month are turning into a made dash. Possibilities for projects and area where I can help abound. We just got so much to do in the next month. It's great I'm loving the challenge and the opportunity to go in so many areas. One thing you can be praying for is my Spanish. I seem to have hit a wall in structure and in verbs. I know I've made a lot of progress but I want to be able to speak and communicate even better. Just pray that I push myself in new ways to really grow in my last full month here. Time is running out so quickly. Learning the language was very important 3 months ago, and now that the end it in site I wonder what I'm supposed to be doing. I still want to learn Spanish but I need to find that spot and reason why God has me down here right now. I'm still going to be teaching and coaching but what is going to be the capstone. What is going to be the thing that God will say " You've run the race, well done good and faithful servant." I really want to finish strong and with me feeling like I've hit a wall I wonder if I need to be focusing a little more energy on language or people. Just my thoughts, I'm learning and having a great time anyways, I just need to find that sweet spot.The guy in the jeans and the orange shirt is on the soccer team I play in. Really nice guy he was Catholic but just last night excepted Christ.

Scott Ekstrom

Kind of a WIN

So we had a great game and I'm very much in sever muscle pain. I played mid field for most of the game and man are my legs sore. This is the first game we've won so that was a great thing. This is also the first game we've started with a full team. Granted we didn't end with a full team. But we at least started with a full team. It was great had nine players about 2 minutes before the whistle. Then we did team prayer and then came the rest of our team in a taxi. Hurray, we have a team. WE played great we didn't have to do as much running as we've had to do in the past. But that is on account that we had a full team at the start.

I say at the start because for the last 30 minutes we played man down. Stupid Red Card. It wasn't stupid like the ref made a bad call. It was stupid we got one because it could have been so easily avoided. One of our guys got a yellow for a hard foul. We were up 3-0 so we could relax a little bit. Then because we had some extra guys on the sideline we subbed out the the yellow. But he was kinda frustrated and tired I think so he walk off the field very slow. So sadly we played man down the rest of the way. It was a red that could have been easily avoided. The league we are playing in has a few rule about red card. So we actually lost the game on paper, and we lost our next game on paper. Regardless of the score. Kind of a bummer :(.

Making Cake

I'm writing this blog post first before I get to in depth about the projects and our special guest visitor. WE made a cake or dessert or a delicious treat today. I don't know exactly what you call it but it's muy rico (Very Delicious). I say We because I was just the translator for the recipe. Pati can't read English so I had to make the tansition for her. Also she wanted to do all the steps in making my mom's famous pumpkin dessert. Pati is an amazing cook which I think I've already mentioned in a couple blog posts. But she also learns new recipes from people that come down. Most people that come down don't spend a high frequency of time talking with Pati. Mostly because the people that come down for a week mission trip don't have time or possibly don't have the spanish knowledge to talk for extended periods of time. Pati has been one of my great aids in teaching me Spanish. Even though Musco is her first language she is going to school and because she is learning so much spanish there we are able to practice quite a bit. She really is a great blessing to me expanding my vocabulary and and the many hours I've spent practicing with her. She is very patient and forgiving of how many times she has to repeat thing over and over and over and over. Although I feel like she does like to poke fun and make with me to. I know I can always make her laugh, but that is very easy to do, she is a very happy person.

And because try to push myself more and more everyday. I really ended up getting out side my box a couple today. I've been hanging out in the kitchen alot with her and learning all the words I can. Like grapefruit, Limes, Carrots, Pumpkin, Beans, Corn, and Squash. Yesterday I was mentioning to Pati that the Squash she brought in was HUGE. I asked her a bunch of question about it and cooking with it. It cooks very similar to Pumpkin. So I said my mom has an amazing recipe with Pumpkin and that we might be able to try it. Well Pati's face lit up with excitement. She love learning new recipes, she is quite the wiz kid in the kitchen. But she very busy with life this week so our two options were to wait of till next week or do it today. Luckily the Super Che(New supermarket had exactly what we needed) Usually we would have to wait for the next 3 hour trip to Acapulco to find something as exotic as Betty Croker white cake. But lets get on with the story right.

My mom sent the recipe down in an email. BUT mom isn't going to send the recipe down in Spanish so I had to translate it for Pati. Pati and I battled on word confusion for quite some time today. And it wasn't just in the making of the cake it was also the shopping list. So I went shopping. That was a mistery in it's own. I'm not a big fan of the Super Che. I get so confused about the organization of the story. But I can't explain it well enough to do it justice. Also try asking for a white cake mix when you don't know the word for mix. Every employee I ask kept sending me to the bakery. I was kinda frustrating but finally I found a guy to help me. Who would have guessed the butcher spoke just enough Englsih to fill in my missing pieces. Or try cooking a recipe from scratch when you usually just get all the materials from a can. Cooking completely from scratch is very satisfying but also terrifying. Or try cooking in a world that thinks in the metric system when your recipe is geared to the American style of cooking. Or translating thing in your head on the fly. OOPS. That was my big error today. I put to cans of evaporated milk in the dessert instead of 2 cups. Don't worry things turn out fine. It was delicious. I welcome the challenge, and even though I felt liguistically defeated for most of the day. Every one was very encouraging and loved the desser, at least Pati and the 14 7th grade boys, Sally, Barbara, Susi, Me and some parents really liked it.

It was a great day and sorry if the picture make you drool a little bit. I've been dreaming about this dessert for quite some time and I didn't think I get it till I got back in December.

Scott Ekstrom

Bringing back the Musco

I just have few things to say tonight before I pop off to bed. I think I will have more time to explain this later. (Tomorrow) But a guy named David Stuart came down yesterday from North Carolina. His parent help translate the bible into Musco. They were Wycliffe Translators for over 45 years. I mean WOW, Talk about devotion to a language. David is one of 5 people in the world who can speak Musco to English, English to Musco. David can't write it and can comprehend but not rapidly or fully read it but I give him credit for even know what he does. He's got quite a bit of history here in an indian villiage about an 90 minutes away. I'll explain more about the projects that are going to be going on while he is down here. If you don't remember my mentioning about my first experience or attempts to learn Musco check out my blog post on September 27.

Aso, I just wanted to say how great it's been to have him down here. Crazy thing but this afternoon I found myself learning about the grammar, the dialect, the tone, and the developement of the Musco language and NT bible. Then later in the day I found myself taling dirt. Nitrogens, Phosphates, Potassium, Lime, Acidity, Annuals, Perrennials, Dogwoods, and Oaks, Erosion control, soil stucture and more. It's was an amazing afternoon and more. But I was just tickled to be able to talk dirt with someone. I haven't been able to do that since Bri and I used to go over and Hang out with Nick and Sara Sirriani. (Nick doesn't know anything about Dirt but he was always willing to learn) Nick and I have a special bond. :)

I'll try and be more indepth tomorrow but you never know I think we're having 10 little 7th graders come over for a Mcgee movie and a rousing game of Kick the can. But I will try to keep my friends and family in the state informed of the all the exciting things that are happening this week and the coming weeks.


Scott Ekstrom

Recapping the past

Wow, just look what month we're in. Time is really flying by. Can you believe I started this blog in late July. Maybe it doesn't seem as fast for you but, WOW. I've been learning so much Spanish which was my goal of coming down here. Also I've learned alot about myself, Bri and I have learned alot about each other. I was surprised at some of the things I got homesick for.(Mainly BRI, but others like family, and Daisy Mae, driving on clean paved roads, church serves in English) That last one is a tough one. Bible Spanish can be a little different compared to conversational Spanish. Culture shock has been fairly minimal but it has creeped up occasionally. I don't think I have experienced as much as I could have because I did have enough Spanish to get by. I had enough to introduce myself and then explain "Estoy aprendiendo hablar espanol. - (I'm learning to speak Spanish.)" That way people wouldn't try to move to fast and know to use their hand or use example to explain things better.

Seriously, I come home next month can you believe that. But life will be so busy up until the day I leave. WE are finishing up the 50 day of faith series at the church. I have one more trip planned to go to Oaxaca City this coming weekend. Then I get back, and a team of eye doctors is coming down to work out of the school. The school won't meet for class because all the class rooms will be converted to opperating rooms, Then one of the Wood's kids is coming down to visit and work for a couple weeks, then lace into that we will have a sports camp / tournament for kids on one of those weekends. I will still be doing my soccer teams. Also playing on my team. (LOTS OF SOCCER) Also Christmas will be coming into swing. People don't wait down here for the after Thankgiving Sales. Mainly because they don't celebreate Thanksgiving down here. Although by then I will have some much to be thankful for. Thank you all for you support of my trip. That is one thing I am very thankful for right now, and have been for the last 3 months. It's been great to talk and communicate with you through the blog and I hope I made this as enjoyable for you as it has been for me. By the way Thanksgiving is on the 27th., just in case you forgot.

Scott Ekstrom