Week 3 Blog

For this week in Family Relations, we were discussing a family that lived in Mexico. The father had a really great job, he was making pretty good money and the mother was a stay at home mom with their two kids. They were trying to cross the border into the United States but they were also having some complications with that process. One of the problems that they were encountering is not having the money necessary to get a Visa or a passport of those sorts, instead their only option was using a "Coyote", a person or group that helps those across the border but it is a very expensive and dangerous option though. The whole family couldn't go along at the same time so the father had to go first and get established so his family could come shortly after. The father used the "Coyote" and he was able to get across to experience the American dream but it wasn't quite that way. He had to live at a hole in the wall place with other immigrants who are in a similar place. During this time, he was also not making a lot of money and his wife had to go back to work in Mexico. There had been a lot of time that has past before then and when his family joined him in America, the mom and the daughter had become closer and the son had become very distant with no male influence in the house. The wife and kids eventually were able to join him and they also had to do so with the use of a "Coyote". They were all now living in a similar situation as the dad before, they were living in a small place with families in other situations. With the absence of the father for so long, the mother and father had become distant from each other and they did not see eye to eye, this caused a lot of friction in the family unit. They all eventually became closer as a family and they were able to live in harmony.

Learning about this experience, it has reminded me of a family while as a missionary in Ecuador, they were all in a similar situation as this family. They were in the process of relocating to a different country so that they could have a better life. They were also not in the best financial situation too, they had to find a way for all of them to gain a better life, like the other family, they had to hire the assistance of a "Diablo" or "Coyote". They also went through similar times with employment, housing arrangements, and other aspects of life. They all eventually moved to their new country and had the opportunity to start a "new life".  They went through a lot of trying times in their new digs and the father and mother were fighting a lot and it wasn't helping the situation at all. The kids involved were also having a hard time adjusting to their new life and were not making friends as easily as they thought they would. The son of this family eventually stopped going to church and became very involved with drugs and the drug community. The daughter also stopped going to church but was not involved in any illegal activities like her brother. After some time had passed, the family became closer and they began to love their new life together and gained experiences that allowed them more time together and become closer.

Through learning about the experiences with these families, I had the opportunity to get closer to my family and my spouse and grow closer together and develop a deeper love of each other. Hearing and learning about these experiences will give us a better perspective in life and we will not take advantage of our situations and gain a better understanding of each other.