In Heaven there will be Tortillas...

  I remember my first real Mexican taco. It was in 2013 and I was in Guadalajara. It was un taco de asada (beef). I remember thinking, I will never be able to eat a taco in the States again. When I finally moved to Mexico in 2014 I realized these tortillas filled with meat and salsa went way deeper than I thought.

Tortillas are the lifeblood of Mexican food and culture. Every Mexican table has a basket of tortillas on it, no matter what the meal is. There are perhaps hundreds of different variants of tortilla. Let me break it down.

There are the flour and corn tortillas. Flour tortillas tend to be a lot bigger and are typically used for quesadillas, a meat and cheese filled creation, there are burritos, when meat, cheese, salsa, beans, and anything else you can think of are stuffed and rolled into a yummy concoction. There are the classic enchiladas, meat and cheeses wrapped in tortillas with a yummy special salsa over the top. And finally the multia. This can be eaten with flour or corn tortillas. Its basically a tortilla hamburger, two toasty tortillas with meats and cheeses inside.These are only a few examples of the many different dishes made with the ever versatile flour tortilla.

Now the corn tortilla is a lot smaller than the flour tortilla and is ALWAYS used for a taco. Asada (beef), pastor (pork), tripa (intestine), cabeza (head), suadero (mixed meats), pescado (fish), camarron (shrimp) ...again you put whatever meat you desire in a taco, your imagination is the only thing limiting you. I ate a cow tongue taco in Mexico City, so like I said, your imagination is the only thing keeping you.

If you want to spice up your taco, there is the quesotaco, easy, taco with cheese (my favorite).

You can also fry your corn tortilla, making a tostada, a crispy corn tortilla typically used for ceviche. If you take two tostadas and add cheese you get a vampiro, a tostada hamburger of sorts. You can roll your corn tortilla, fill it with meat or cheese and fry them into another one of my favorite dishes, flautas.

Now, to go even farther when you make your tortilla masa (dough) you don't necessarily have to make tortillas. You can make gorditas, a thicker tortilla topped with refried beans and meat. Or you can make empenadas and fill them with anything of your choice, sweet or savory.

The classic dish of chilaquiles take old fried tortillas and mix them with a special salsa until they are soft.

Last but not least there is the ultimate party food. You make this amazingly Mexican food when you have any type of celebration, birthdays, funerals, Christmas, Easter, baptism, you name it. They are called tamales. Now, the dough used for tamales is much more wet than the dough for a tortilla, but corn is always the main ingredient. After filling your tamal with meat, cheee, or even fruit or nuts you wrap them in corn husks. Then you steam the tamales for about 4-6 hours until they are soft. Unwrapping your tamal is like unwrapping a present for your stomach.

This was the most basic information you can read about tortillas. I am still in the learning process but I hope your mouth is watering and that each and every one of you can experience a real Mexican taco at least once in your life. If not don't worry, in heaven there will be tortillas. 

Asada (beef) blue corn quesadillas

Egg burrito

Shrimp ceviche 

Chicken flautas 

Beef gordita 

My first time cooking in Mexico in Michoacan in 2014. 

Asada (beef) mulitas 

Birria (shredded beef) tacos. 

Pork tamales 

Asada (beef) tosada 

OXXO

There is a joke here in Mexico.
What color does the moon reflect in the USA?
Green, because there are so many Starbucks.

Translation: "Make all your stops at just one place and enjoy your day!"
This is an ad with all of Oxxo's services. 

What color does the moon reflect in Mexico?
Red, because there are so many Oxxos.

I remember the first time I saw Oxxo. I was on my outreach in Guadalajara. I called it O-X-X-O, spelling each letter. (It is pronounced oh-x-oh) To me it was just like any other convenience store, a Mexican 7/11 of sorts. But little did I know the true importance of those little red and yellow signs dotting the dusty Mexican hills.

According to Wikipedia, there are over 13,000 Oxxo stores in Mexico. (Just if you are curious there are over 11,000 Starbucks all over the U.S.) There are literally hundreds of Oxxos all over this area and every area I have been to in Mexico. Here in Mexico the gasoline is privatized by the government so pretty much the only gas stations you see are called Pemex. I thought the convenience stores might have been privatized too, given there so many Oxxos.
Now, walking into Oxxo you notice it is just like any other convenience store, of course there are big ones and small ones, there even Super Oxxos that sell more grocery type items (they are rare). They have the hot dogs rotating on a spit, dripping in grease. A whole wall of refrigeration for beverages. Cookies, chips, toilet paper, dish soap, cheese, milk, eggs, a small area with tomatoes, avocados, onions, chilis....remember we are in Mexico, the produce differs a bit in comparison to the U.S.
However, here in Mexico Oxxo serves you in a different way than any other convenience store. I didn't realize this till I signed rental papers with my roommates and began having water, electricity, and gas bills. We learned you can take your water and electricity bill to Oxxo! How helpful is that? We love it. I also refill my phone with minutes at Oxxo whenever I run out.
It gets better! At Oxxo you can buy bus tickets, send money to a far away relative in Mexico City, you can even get a Oxxo debit card! Around here, Oxxo has pretty much all you need. Most are open 24 hours 7 days a week too.
In the future, Oxxo wants to begin to offer even more services. We aren't sure if it will happen but they want to begin to provide marriage certification, divorce papers, funeral services, etc. Around here it is a bit of a joke because we already know how many services our Oxxos provide and providing government issued paperwork seems extreme. But hey if you want to get married, pay your electricity and eat a roll of yummy Emperador lime cookies, go ahead be my guest.

Andatti coffee is a well known coffee here in Mexico and can only be found in our beloved Oxxo.
Whether you want regular blend or a concoction of sugar, cream and flavor Andatti cafe has what you want!  

Translation: "You could lack love in your life but you will never lack an Oxxo on the corner."

Chambeando en Mexico:

I watched my mom for the past years try and attempt to make Ethiopian food for my brothers Sammy and Zem. She probably made injera (a sourdough type of flat bread that is floppy and a staple food for all Ethiopians) at least 20+ times since we adopted Zem in 2011. Needless to say, she did not master it. There is something about being an Ethiopian woman who was born and bred to make injera, it's in her blood.

I have learned, much to my dismay, that Mexican food is the same way. One does not learn to make tortillas in one try. Salsa making is more like chemistry than cooking. And I just happen to have a (future) mother in law who might be the best cook in all of Mexico.
So what is a guera (a nice name for white girl in Mexico) to do?
I keep moving forward. Practice makes perfect right? 

I have had a constant uphill battle with a popular breakfast dish called chilaquiles. In basic English, tortilla chips cooked in salsa till they are soft. You top the dish off with shredded chicken, a fried egg, avocado, lettuce, cilantro, queso fresco (a crumbly dried cheese) lime, and Mexican cream.
There are two kinds, chilaquiles verdes (green) or chilaquiles rojas (red). When making chilaquiles you must know your ratio of tomatoes, garlic, and peppers. There are also many different kinds of peppers one can use, depending on the flavor and spice you are looking for.
Most recipes I have seen and tried to duplicate use the common jalapeno, or chipotle chiles.
If one is making chilaquiles verdes, you use jalepenos obviously because they are green and tomatillos (a green tomato). The other day I was feeling so confident in my chilaquiles. The night before I had a long talk with a good friend who is Mexican and has "chilaquil" making in her blood. I told her my problems...it was pitiful. But she encouraged me. "Well, how many people are you making it for?" "Oh maybe 4 or 5." I say. "Do you want to make them green or red?" "Lets go with green." (There really isn't too big of a difference I have found, but my taste buds aren't Mexican.) "Okay green. You will need 8 tomatillos and 4 jalapeno chilies." I had it! It was easy, how could it not? She just said how many to get, tomorrow was going to be the long awaited day, the day I beat chilaquiles, the day I truly became Mexican! (Not really but it my head this was going to happen.)
I arrive at our local Oxxo to buy the necessary ingredients with all my friend's advice in mind. I walk up to the produce and see one small tomatillo all alone among the bright red tomatoes. My world was shattered. How was I to figure this out. Red tomatoes are a little bigger than tomatillos, the ratio would for sure be off. So I gulped and grabbed 5 red tomatoes and 3 jalepenos. I guessed. That's right I guessed. My white girl, American brain guessed at how many tomatoes to jalepenos just like I had been the countless times before.
The next morning I fried my tortillas in the pan, roasted the tomatoes, garlic, and jalepenos and then blended them. I shredded the chicken. Fried the egg, cut the lettuce and prayed. I really did pray, I prayed this meal would bless my fiance whether or not they were good. I pray a lot about that these days as I struggle towards my goal of expert cook.
Well, my chilaquiles got an 8 out of 10 that day. Not bad! Next time we will aim for a 10. Next time I will beat chilaquiles. And once I master these soggy tortilla chips I will move on to another dish, and then another and another until my finger tip nerves are burned off from flipping tortillas and I don't have to look at a recipe book.  

Chilaquiles Verdes 

Chilaquiles Rojos 

Thoughts on Community Living

Today is my day off, we will see if I can keep it like that for the whole day. I work in hospitality here on the base in San Antonio del Mar in Tijuana. We have housing here on campus that can house up to 400 people (I think, don't quote me but it is a lot of beds). Needless to say with 2 schools being run here right now, Homes of Hope teams coming multiple times a week as well as my other ministries and social life, I am very busy. I have been pondering my life a lot these days, I have become very thoughtful on the concept of how we operate here at YWAM. 
Youth With a Mission teaches us a lot on community living. It's the first thing we learn about when we enter into YWAM on our first day of our DTS (discipleship training school). Like, how to be a good roommate and respect others around you. Our base is like a giant body, working, moving, everyone with their own function, just like the Body of Christ should be. It is really a beautiful thing. There is a thought that comes to my mind nearly every day, whether something good or bad has happened, and that is "Well, I live in community." 
There are some perks to living with 50-60 other people. 
1. There is always something to do! Let's get a group and watch a movie, go to tacos, go to the beach, go evangelize, you name it! 
2.The extrovert side of me is always satisfied. Going to bed to the sound of my housemates, waking up to the sound of my housemates, hearing the meeting going on outside my trailer, the DTS worshiping in their classroom. For me it is great to be surrounded by people 24/7. 
3. We get to eat all our meals together! What is more bonding than food?
4. I live with my best friends! It is practically a sleepover every night here in the staff girls trailer. Always sharing stories, clothes, food, movies, music etc. 
5. We worship together. 3 times a week or more! 
6. We pray together. I love the fact that spontaneous prayer throughout the day is a norm for me and everyone here. 
7. We are a giant family, we lift each other up in the good times and the bad. I know I am cared about and that my opinions, worries, joys, my entire life, is cherished and cared about by my YWAM family. 

I would say the perks outweigh the cons, but there are some cons. 
1. You are constantly surrounded. Having a bad day? Wanna get away? Good luck with that, not too many places you can go to be alone. One needs to be creative. 
2. You are living with 9 other people, in a double wide trailer. The kitchen is a battle ground of cleanliness versus dirtiness. Or let's play the "Guess what's in that container that has been in the freezer for 6 months." The bathrooms are a free for all. Have to go to the bathroom at peak bathroom hours? Do a little dance and hope they are almost done in there. 
3. There are opinions. Opinions on how to do your job, how to do another persons job, how to do ministry, how to cook, how to clean, how to communicate, how to worship, how to dress, the list could go on but you get my point. Opinions are everywhere. 
4. Sharing. We have to not only share living space, but we have to share our,cars, food, work space. I go through a lot of pens, scissors, and tape. Need a car? Cross your fingers and hope they aren't all checked out.  
5. People always ask you do something. This isn't a bad thing! Except when it's your day off. That's why, if it's your day off you really need to not leave your house. 
6. We live in a incubator. If one person is sick, it doesn't take long for a plague to break out on the base. Survival of the fittest applies around here. Hand sanitizer is our friend. 

I count it an enormous blessing to be able to live and work and worship among my YWAM family each and every day. God is good. 

"If you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like minded have the same love, being on in spirit and purpose." Philippians 2:1-2    

The Wall that Separates Us

There is this really distinct smell to Zona Norte. It's weird how garbage, smoke from taco stands, cigarettes, marijuana, and diesel can create such nostalgia in me. By now, the lights and sounds are somewhat calming. It is such a supernatural feeling to be compelled and driven by the Holy Spirit while down there. It is such a freeing feeling to walk these streets every Saturday night with absolutely nothing on the agenda but open ears and soft hearts. Zona Norte could be considered one of the darkest places in the world. It definitely is to me. But something God tells me each time I go, each time I see the men filing into the strip clubs, each time I see a woman walk off with a customer, each time I see a homeless deportee, God tells me "this place is MINE." It might appear to to look like the good guys lost, one wouldn't say Zona Norte is a happy place full of happy people. But the earth is the Lord's and everything in it, Zona Norte is HIS. He has claimed victory over sin and death and the power of the Devil, so we must walk out in this victory. 
Last Saturday we met a man who had just been deported. He was so sad, he kept saying over and over again how sad he was. His wife and kids were still in California. He said he had just talked to his wife, and that she now had a boyfriend. His voice was desperate, "And we are still married." My heart breaks for him. He told us how his kids are growing up without him, how he found a job and house here in Tijuana but it doesn't matter. "I have food, money, a house, but I am still hungry, empty." We were standing on a street that faced the border. From Zona Norte you can see the border, it is the part of Tijuana that touches the States. He looked up and pointed at the border, "And they are just over there!" He kept saying how sad he was. It was really difficult, he was so desperate. 
I think because of his desperation he was in a good place to believe that God could work a miracle in his family. We prayed for him and encouraged him. My prayer now is that he can have peace and hope in Christ Jesus. That his hunger can be satisfied by the Bread of Life. 

One of my little friend's gave me a early Valentine's Day sucker at Zone Kids last Tuesday.
She had a matching sucker so we took a picture. 

This month at Zone Kids we are doing a series called Heroes of the Bible.
We talked about trusting in God the way Abraham trusted in God.
We made super hero masks afterwards.
 It was a very popular craft.  

True and Faultless Religion/Fighting for the Cause

The Bible students here at YWAM San Diego/Baja are working chronologically through the Bible. Right now they are in Isaiah. I thought I would read Isaiah too, of course they read it in a week, I think it will take me a little bit longer than that. However there is something that stuck out to me right away, orphans and widows. 

God really drives this topic home. He chastises the Israelites over and over again about their rebellion and wicked ways. And nearly every time when he says what they must do to repent, he says something along the lines of, "learn to do good, seek justice, correct oppression; bring justice to the fatherless, plead the widows cause." (Is. 1:17) This is something incredibly close to God's heart. 

Something that grieves the heart of God is not caring about the widow's cause, not bringing justice to the orphans. God lists among the thieves, robbers, adulterers, and idolaters, people who do not care about the widows and orphans. Yikes this is deep stuff! This is important!

I am not saying sell your belongs and move to Ethiopia to start and orphanage (although if you do, I will visit you in a heartbeat.) But I am saying, are you being sensitive to the Holy Spirit and what you CAN do? 

Here in Mexico, we are all daily slapped in the face with the reality of the human condition, its very prevalent here. The reality is there are lonely, neglected children, abused wives, hungry widows, sick men, dying babies. No one understands this more than our God. So let's trust in him to lead us to these people! 

God has placed me in the lives of many of these kids, mothers, fathers, women, and men. My heart breaks for them, and their justice, their cause has become my cause. My desire is for them to experience the intense love and saving grace of their Heavenly Father and through that they can have everlasting hope. What will your cause be?

Just Shake It Off

I refuse to watch The Passion of the Christ. That kind of thing really effects me, human suffering, pain, torture, I can't handle it, even if it is the reality, even if it is what my Savior did for me. The other day I was scrolling through my Facebook newsfeed and I came across a picture of a Nepalese Christian pastor being burned at the stake for his faith. The look of intense pain and anguish as his legs are being burned off is forever etched into my brain whether I like it or not. Now, when I say these things effect me so much I can't bare to see it, I am not saying I am indifferent. I UNDERSTAND, I KNOW, what Jesus did for me on the cross, I do not need a movie to remind me. I have compassion, I am compelled to pray for the persecuted believers all over the world, I don't need to see pictures to remind me. I am not indifferent, I care so much it hurts. 

Working in the red light district of Tijuana, Mexico is another thing. I have heard the deportation stories, the stories of loss, violence, heartache, pain. I am faced with them every time we step into the park to do Zone Kids, every time we go to La Roca and visit with the people, every time we go to Zona Norte and talk with the people in the streets there. There is intense loss and heartache all around us. Some of the kids in my group at Zone Kids are neglected and abused, they have endured and seen things they never should at such young ages. We see so many women working in prostitution, the amount is staggering, and that is just in Tijuana. 
We could all list the pain we see daily, but it would take too long. We live in a broken world. It is our reality. 
After ministry, we often pray that we would not carry anything unnecessary back home with us, the burdens and sadness are not ours to bear. 
You might be thinking, wait Ellie, the Bible says, "Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn." Yes! Do that! But Jesus also says “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” So, yes, have compassion! But lay those burdens at the foot of the cross, do not carry them around. Intercede in prayer for people who are hurting. I was once convicted, if I prayed for the kids I work with as much as I worry about them what a difference that would make. Turn that anxiety and worry into fervent prayer. Jesus already has the victory over sin, death, and the power of the Devil. I am compelled to stop acting like sin has won, we need to walk in the Light, in victory. Romans chapter 12 is great and I leave you with this, "Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer." Amen.