Jeremiah 17:7-8 "Blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD, whose confidence is in him. He will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream. It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green. It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit."
The Nichols Family-Morelia, Michoacán, Mexico
October 1, 2023
Weslee: This Fall, Wes has finally found a magical place where she can explore the world of modern dance. Twice a week, with two of her Christian friends from church, Wes is learning international hip-hop style dance. Compensating for her loathing for walking and running, she has really enjoyed navigating this new activity! She is also involved in youth Bible Study at NOE and likes to attend Prima, a large group monthly youth event at our church, Más Vida.
From Brevard Bearacudas to the Unidad Venustiano Deportiva Carranza
Weslee Nichols
Harmony, Selah, and I started swimming at the beginning of July. There are three levels; beginner, intermediate, and advanced. Selah and I are in the advanced level, and Harmony is in intermediate. We go to swim every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday while Levi and my dad hang out and exercise together.
The first few weeks were rough. We had to learn the names of the strokes in Spanish and I kept on getting two of the names mixed up. After a couple weeks, it got so much easier. We learned our coaches' names and we learned to like them. Selah is really competitive, so our coach assigns her more to do than everyone else. I am the youngest person in the advanced class so my coach takes it easier on me.
We will be stopping swim when school starts because this was just a fun activity for the summer. We will not be doing swim next summer because we will be visiting all of you guys. But I cannot wait to do it again next next summer!
A TCK Update - March 6, 2022
What God has shown me is that He can make things great at any possible time. God makes my life amazing in the hardest times. He has me in a pre-teen group at my church with some girls and a leader that I can really connect with. He gave me a wonderful house to live in. He gave me wonderful friends and family. God compares with no one. I love that God has given me everything that I need!
A Day in the Life of a TCK (Third Culture Kid) - January 16, 2022
Every day is different…school days or weekend days. Because I’m in a new culture with new people, a new school, a new church, and new expectations with people doing things differently than what I am used to, every day is different. I’ll start with my Saturdays.
Sometimes on the weekends, I get to sleep in. After I wake up and eat, I begin my Saturday with my “deep clean” chore morning. We have a lot of people coming into our home, and although we clean throughout the week, by the time Saturday is here, we really need to do a little scrubbing. After my chores are complete, I may get to talk to friends or cousins in the US while Mama and Daddy are busy, or we go adventuring. Sometimes I will draw or read. On Saturday nights, my bedtime is flexible, depending on how busy we have been during the day. Sometimes we play games as a family or have people over the house until late. Sometimes we go out with other people for tacos or hang out at their house.
I get up the next morning, on Sunday, get ready for church service, and we go to a church service to worship and learn. I am learning Spanish and can now understand some of what is being preached. I feel I am growing in my relationship with Jesus by worshiping and learning at our church, called Más Vida.
After service, we come home or go to someone else’s house for lunch. After our afternoon time with other people, I usually have a free day or family day. At the end of the day, we get ready for bed and most of the time have Sunday Sundaes (which is our weekly Ice Cream night). I brush my teeth and go to bed.
On Mondays, I have to get up at 6am because our school starts at 7am. I eat breakfast and leave the home by 6:40am. My school time begins a little later than Selah and Levi’s, so after they are dropped off at 7am, I sit with Harmony and either Mama or Daddy and we listen to an Adventure in Odyssey episode.
In school, I go to about three classes per day and have some breaks during the classes. I have music once per week and computer two days per week. For my snack time, I get to choose from a menu; usually I chooses molletes, which is bread with refried beans and melted cheese. I LOVE THEM! My school ends at 2pm, and either Mama or Daddy is there to pick me up. In the afternoons, I get home around 2:20pm, and we have family “comida”. This is my real lunch time; this is the way they do it here in Mexico.
On Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, we leave the home at 4:15pm to go to one of the NOE sites where I am a part of some of the ministry options there and Mama and Daddy teach some classes together. On Tuesday and Thursday afternoons, I work on homework with Mama for 2-4 hours, depending on what homework I have for the week. On Thursday nights I am a part of the NOE kids program called Exploradores. I might start their drawing or music program next week, too!
In general, I feel like I have normal life other than not being able to speak Spanish and communicate well. But I am getting more friends and am learning more Spanish so I can talk with them more. Mama and Daddy have been busy recently because of some immigration stuff they are trying to get done. I wish could spend a little more time with them, but I know God told them to do what they are doing and know they won’t be this busy all the time.
I love our family time together and love when we play family games, watch movies, or look at and re-live family times through looking at pictures we have taken that Mama shows on the living room TV.
That’s what my days look like as a 3rd Culture Kid! They are exciting days and many days I never know what I am going to experience. Daddy says, “Life is an adventure, and we need to live it while we can”. I feel like I’m living an adventure because I never know what excitement is just around the corner.
Date Day with Daddy!
PreTeen Life
Every Friday evening at 5PM, I have a PreTeen youth group at our church, Más Vida. When I go there, I get very excited because these are girls my age and I can relate with them because they are also Christians. Some of them go to my school, which is a Christian school, and some go to NOE. We have a lot of fun together!
This past Friday, we had a Christmas party. We each brought food, had two piñatas, and played UNO. Ester is our leader, and her assistant speaks a lot of English and helps to translate for me. When we don’t have parties, Ester shares a Bible lesson with life application.
I was really worried about making friends since we only go to school every other week, but I’m grateful for this group and the friendships I have there!
School Highlights - Nov. 7, 2021
At my school, Colegio Libertad (Liberty), we are on a hybrid schedule. This means that half the school attends in-person classes one week, then virtual the next. Then everyone switches.
Although virtual classes are more boring for me, I love going to school in-person. The people in my class were Zara, Yara, Samuel, Luis Baruc, and Isabella. I can make friends there, and the teachers are nice and are trying to help me learn Spanish.
We have many different subjects, some that I wouldn’t have if I were in Brevard: English, Spanish, music, P.E., computer, history, geography, math, and civics and ethics. English is clearly my best subject. Spanish is clearly not my best subject. My favorite class is P.E. because our teacher is so nice. We already knew her because she is the founder of NOE’s daughter.
There are many similarities to school in the US/Brevard. We get to play with our friends at recess, we have P.E. class in a gymnasium (not enclosed, but covered), I have teachers that care about me and want to see me learn, and we learn many of the same subjects.
There are also many differences. All the schools in Mexico wear uniforms. I like ours! We start at 7:45 and are done at 2. Then, we go home to eat lunch with our family. We eat a small snack like gorditas, tacos with the most amazing barbeque meat in it, spaghetti, etc. around 11 (but this is NOT our lunch). We have the doors and windows open all the time because there is no heating nor air conditioning in the buildings. We don’t use chrome books in our classes – only when we do things in the computer lab. We also take a lot of small breaks throughout the day.
On Thursday of last week, one of my classmates asked me to draw in her notebook because she liked what I was drawing. Of course, I said yes! I feel like I’m making friends and fit in at school. Please pray I can learn more Spanish and have good friends at my new school.
Heyo it’s me Wes we are officially on our trip to Mexico! Mama and Daddy decided to bring us kids, so we traveled about 7 hours today to get to Alabama. We are staying with my Missy and Papa. And my Aunt, Uncle and one of my cousins are still here but they have to head out soon. We are going to Houston, TX. We will be traveling for about a week, but it will be an amazing adventure. Mama says that we will see more of the world than she has ever seen. We hope to cross the boarder on Friday and that night we will be at Anna’s house!! For the people that don’t know who Anna she was our exchange student for 10 months. She was super nice and super fun. We hope to be in Morelia by Saturday or Sunday. I think that is all for tonight. Have to go to bed. Good night!
Me loving the View
Morelia is Awsome
I love Morelia
M O R E L I A what does that spell Morelia