Exploring the City - June 25, 2013

The moment I stepped out of the metro station I fell in love. El Zócalo, el corazón de la ciudad - the heart of the city. The voices of people selling food, the sound of footsteps everywhere, the vrooms and honks of cars on the street, all create a euphonic symphony that gives the city life. A grand and proud Mexican flag stands in the center of the roundabout with cars driving around it like a parade, celebrating a people and history.

Splitting into three groups, my teammates and I explored the city that has been present for more than 300 years. We hit the main parts of the city - the Cathedral, el Palacio Nacional, Templo Mayor, and Bellas Artes. Many of these places close on Mondays so we weren't able to look inside some of these places, but we still had the opportunity to observe and be a part of the culture around us. I found myself challeneged to do things I am usually too afraid to do - speaking in Spanish to fluent speakers, ordering food I've never heard of, walking among people who can clearly see that I am not a native.

With all the joy and excitement of being in a place I've never been, there were also moments of shock. We passed by quite a few people begging, some with missing limbs, some with no limbs at all. Knowing there was nothing at the time I could do to change their entire lives for the good, I felt helpless and I couldn't even raise my head to meet their eyes. Questions arose.

Who cares for them?
Does God even care?

It's moment like these that force us to question the justice of our societies and we can do one of two things: blame God, or look at what we have been given and figure out what we can do to help break the chains of poverty.

Incarnation - bringing ourselves lower to raise up the impoverished. It's a word we've been hearing a lot about the past week. I'm excited to be going to an impoverished community and living with a host family in the next few days. It's in these next few weeks, with my pride thrown away, as I walk alongside my new neighbors, when I can share and experience the love of God dashing the pain away.

-Jane Che