Not feeling hospitable

April is hot here....the hottest time of year. By May, the cycle of afternoon storms to cool things off is established and there's some relief. But in April, it's brutal...especially if you're to do school work or inspire others to do school work. There are few "April showers" in Mexico. And so it is on this brutally hot Thursday afternoon that I write. No one wants to work. Everyone wants to sleep, and everyone's terribly grumpy.

But apparently not everyone sees it that way! A couple of hours ago, about 50 people showed up at the school to play or watch soccer. Some are playing, some are watching and others are huddled around the edges of our house in the shade. Every 15 minutes or so, the soccer ball slams into our house, window bars or screen door (which has now been reconstructed to withstand this frequent assault), and from time to time, someone is screaming, crying or otherwise causing a ruckus just outside.

Last night, about 11:30 PM, our neighbor decided it was a good time to crank up the speakers and play mariachi music until about 2AM. Even though I KNOW that "noise pollution" is not considered rude here, I really didn't feel like they were being very good neighbors. I had fantasies of continuously blasting one of those air horns until they turned off their music. It's why I don't think it's good to have guns in your house...you never know when you'll lose your mind and use it! Glad I didn't have an air horn. I wouldn't have seemed very "missionary-like" or like a very good neighbor.

Part of our ministry here is one of hospitality. When people come to the school, we try to greet folks who arrive early for meetings or events, offer coffee, sell bibles and generally act as the welcoming committee for the school. Today, I'm not feeling very hospitable, Maggie's feeling downright antisocial, and my head hurts. I should mix up several pitchers of Kool-Aid and go out to offer refreshments to all, but I just want them all to go away. It's probably because of all that mariachi music or maybe I dreamed of air horns. Who knows? Pray it rains and that God showers me with patience and the desire to welcome all who come.

Is that thunder I hear?