Ah, yes. Home in La Cruz. Thanks so much for your prayers!!
We had a fabulous time in Washington seeing family and friends, but have to admit we were ready to come home. We were pretty exhausted but happy to have had so many wonderful reunions with everyone. It was great. Still we didn’t do everything and see everyone we wanted to, but I’m not sure how we could have squeezed in more.
It made us sad to see our grandkids crying as we left…broke our hearts. Savannah has decided we need to move closer so they can drive to see us like before. She needs to talk to God on that one! Thankfully, we’ll get back into our video routine with them to lessen the blow of not being together.
Our travel home was interesting but on the whole pretty uneventful. For the first time since 9/11 our luggage wasn’t searched by the TSA when we’ve flown!! And in Phoenix we discovered (actually the airline discovered) that our boarding passes issued in Seattle were not the right type, so us and several dozen others lined up at the podium to get new passes and have our documents inspected again. All in all it went pretty smoothly.
Arriving in Mexico we stood in a very long line of folks waiting for the three customs agents. When we got to the head of that line they moved us to another line! Then we got to see the customs guy, he stamped and inspected all of our documents, handed them all back and sent us on our way. We got all the way to the end of the hall near the baggage claim when they called us back…seems he forgot to collect the little papers we had to fill out at the airport when we left. He looked at them, dated them, initialed them and handed them back. Oooops. He should have kept them. We handed them over and were back on our way to collect our bags. Then another long line to put our bags through the one giant x-ray machine they have. Then we collected them and entered yet another line. Finally our turn came and Ralph walked up to the little stop light, hit the button and we got a green!! So we were off and running. Thankfully no inspection of our overstuffed bags. My big fear was once we got them open and rummaged through we’d never get them closed again!
The Jackson family met us at the airport and it was great to see them again. We had comida together and then they dropped us at the bus depot to head home to La Cruz. Just as we arrived the luggage guys said we needed to hurry as the bus was just getting ready to leave. They rushed our six bags around to the bus as we ran inside to get tickets and then out the back and onto the bus…just made it. We reached La Cruz just as the sun was setting and took a moment to enjoy God’s handiwork. Then we hauled the bags up the hill from the highway to wait for a taxi or arana to take us home. One came along soon enough and within 10 minutes we were home!!
We unpacked just a little, both grabbed showers, changed the bed linens and hit the hay by about 8:30. We were totally running on empty after sleeping only two hours the previous night and then traveling all day. It was good to get a nights rest in our own bed.
Tom had given us a heads up that our water was mostly just a drizzle still, so we were prepared for that, but were thankful to get even a drizzle of a shower after such a long day!
Candy came by first thing yesterday to show us how much Kitzia has grown! It’s amazing how much that little one had grown in just a month. Luis seemed his same happy self! They were happy that we were home. We mentioned the water problems and she said, it’s fixed…and showed me that Eva was watering down the end of the block. We looked and found that someone had turned our water off at the meter! One flip of the handle and we were back in business! Yippee!
Ralph wandered down to Norma’s to restock his cokes, and she too was happy that we are back! We wandered over to the Tom and Lidia’s and had a good reunion with them and brought them all the goodies they had ordered from the states. It was sort of like Christmas all over for them. They brought us up-to-date on the happenings in La Cruz.
Then we were off the the MZ to pick up groceries and semi-restock the kitchen. It was good to get back into some routines! As we were driving through town we were able to greet several people that we know, and even got a look at the giant Christmas tree in the plaza!
When we got home we couldn’t get the door to unlock!! Try as we may, it wouldn’t budge! And our landlord is in Culiacan and won’t be back until later today. What to do? Ralph walked down to Juan Manuel’s and he came back and tried but had no luck either. They finally decided to see if Juan Jr. would fit through the bars on the windows, and bless his little heart he did slide through just barely and got us inside!! We rewarded him with candy and granola bars. It’s such a blessing to have such great neighbors!
Darwin will be spending Saturday, Sunday and Monday with us and has two fellows visiting that will be bunking in with Tom and Lidia. They will be visiting the camps.
Bottom line is, we are happy to be home and are looking forward to our next year in Mexico. We appreciate your prayers so much and thank you for them! Blessings in the new year!
Friday, December 29, 2006
Wednesday, December 13, 2006
Washington in winter
One short year in a tropical environment and you really forget what winter is like in Washington. Cold, dark, gray, windy, rainy, and throw in a little snow and ice. But amazingly, we are adapting again. The rains have been reserving themselves mostly for night, which is good, because the traffic is pretty awful and adding rainy conditions to it would make it worse for Ralph. Yep, I’m still not driving. Thought I might when we got up here, but I’ve decided to continue my role as passenger!
We are having a blast with the kids and with friends and family. It’s been kinda of crazy busy, but good. I’ve had a nasty sinus infection and finally went to the local doc in a box location and got a shot and some humongous antibiotic pills and I’m doing much better.
Our friend Erv had a stroke a few days ago and gave us all a scare, but he’s doing great and is moving today to a hospital rehab where he’ll be for the next three to five weeks. He’s making great progress and has a great attitude about his recovery and we are thankful. Please keep him and his family in your prayers as he recovers.
I’d like to share just a couple of pictures of the trip so far…
The turkey chef
Building the gingerbread house
Snow day…too dry for snowmen though
Hours of playing with Thomas the Tank Engine!
Nick’s third birthday!
We are having a blast with the kids and with friends and family. It’s been kinda of crazy busy, but good. I’ve had a nasty sinus infection and finally went to the local doc in a box location and got a shot and some humongous antibiotic pills and I’m doing much better.
Our friend Erv had a stroke a few days ago and gave us all a scare, but he’s doing great and is moving today to a hospital rehab where he’ll be for the next three to five weeks. He’s making great progress and has a great attitude about his recovery and we are thankful. Please keep him and his family in your prayers as he recovers.
I’d like to share just a couple of pictures of the trip so far…
The turkey chef
Building the gingerbread house
Snow day…too dry for snowmen though
Hours of playing with Thomas the Tank Engine!
Nick’s third birthday!
Saturday, November 18, 2006
Let’s see now…
314 days, 940 photographs, five tropical weather systems, two visas, loads of miles, zillions of bug bites and hundreds of people we’ve met. That’s Mexico in a nutshell so far.
But it’s so much more. We’ve loved some of it and flat hated some of it. We’ve been happy and we’ve been depressed. We’ve been physically sick more than we’ve ever been in our entire lives, and we’re not spring chickens!
We’ve learned language, we’ve learned culture. We have much more to learn. We’ve learned a ton about ourselves, our fellow workers, our community and our God. Amazing that as long as we have known Him we are still learning things about Him. Amazing doesn’t go far enough in describing life with Him.
Tying up loose ends before vacation is always interesting, particularly when you are going to another country for a month! We needed to pay two months of telephone, internet and satellite and happily the light bill just came too so we can take care of that! You can’t just drop a check in the mail here…never that simple. Most things have to be paid in cash, in person. And since we are paying this months rent a few days early our sweet landlord, Jacobo, is allowing us to pay a couple of days late next month, so we can wait until we get back, rather than paying two months now! We had our mail from the states cut off temporarily, so hopefully we won’t get too much in our mailbox while we are gone.
Our calendar is filling up with all the things that we’ll be doing at home: Thanksgiving, two weddings, some birthdays, Christmas and loads of dinners and lunches with friends, former co-workers and family. Worshiping in our home church. Getting our prescriptions for the next year. Doing a little shopping for us and for the Lumppios…we always have a U.S. wish list at the ready!! In fact, we’ve already ordered some things and had them shipped to the kids’ house!
We are trying to take very little with us, as we have a lot to bring back. But in our packing we’ve been unearthing all the winter things that we never use here. Our heavy coats and gloves. My wool hat. Socks. Sweatshirts. Long jeans (well, we do wear those here occasionally, but not often!). Tennis shoes. No more shorts, t-shirts and sandals for a while. We are going to the land of wet, cold and gloomy weather…but lots of sunny relationships to brighten our days.
These last few weeks before vacation have been interesting. We got pulled over for going the wrong way down a one way street in town. We were beeped by a cop in a car and then waved over by one of the street corner cops. Thankfully, the cop who pulled us over is one of the Christian brothers we’ve met along the way here and we are friendly with all the street cops. This particular street cop was one who ended up with a balloon critter when we had the team here in June. And when Oscar got out of the car and saw it was us he just said “it can be confusing here brother”! Case in point: only two blocks of the street we were on are one way, the rest is two way, and the corner we were stopped on had a stop sign for us, even though traffic is only supposed to go the other way!! Thankfully they both just blessed us and sent us on our way. Yes, it can be confusing here and we aren’t talking just about traffic!
We’ve been out to Campo San Juan two more times and actually made it past the guard barricade the second time, only to find out that Benny was gone for at least a week and to come back “mas tarde”. Mas tarde is getting to be like manana. Always mas tarde or manana. Never anything too specific, even when pressed. We are praying about what this all means in the scheme of our work here…if we can’t get in to see Benny, then we can’t get into Campo San Juan or Campo Santa Lucia. Then what?
On the way to one of our visits out there we ran into another Christian brother who’s truck was broken down. We looped around and went back to see if we could help. He couldn’t get the truck started and needed a push. We parked, Ralph got out to push, laid his hands on the vehicle to give it a shove and it started! The brother was so thrilled…a healing! We stood by the roadside and prayed together, then each went on our way. This brother has a church about 7 miles north of here and has services twice a week there. Plus he has a service at Campo Tayoltita and at Campo Santa Lucia once each week as well. It always does our heart good to see the Mexican church take an interest in the camps. Many don’t even acknowledge that they exist, let alone visit.
Had a thoroughly wonderful 45 minute chat via skype with Dave McMullen a great Christian brother from Arizona who has been coming to northwestern Mexico for more than 30 years, working in the camps spreading the Gospel message via the Jesus video and Gospel Recordings tapes and CDs. What an amazing faithful man! He and his lovely wife will be coming through our area in February sometime, and will be stopping in to meet us. We are really looking forward to it. What an inspiration these folks are!!
Our water system is still struggling along more than two month after Hurricane Lane sent it into a tizzy. Water only from 10 pm to 5 am. Nothing like doing the laundry in the dark!! Therefore, we were pretty thrilled to have water all day and most of the evening for the last week and a half, but then today…nada!! This is a town-wide problem affecting the whole system, although some areas are doing better lately than others, it’s obviously still not fixed. Please pray that this would be resolved soon as it makes everyone in town nuts.
I decided I was long overdue for a haircut, so I wandered over to Judith’s across the street and got my cut. Her mom and auntie were there, and of course her little daughter Ivana, so I got a haircut and a nice long visit in the bargain. When I was finally ready to head on home I twisted my ankle on a big stone in the road. Thankfully it is not a severe sprain. I hobbled around a bit for a couple of days and it is much better now. I still can “tweak” it once in a while and then I hobble for a while, but all in all it could have been much worse.
We were blessed by a visit by one of my former bosses, who also happens to be a friend and former neighbor to boot. Marie arrive last Monday on a cruise ship in Mazatlan and she and her friends spent the day with us sightseeing, visiting, shopping and, of course, eating. We had such a blast. It was wonderful to see her and catch up with her and to meet her traveling companions. We have worried a bit after they left us as Hurricane Sergio formed off the coast in the areas they were sailing. Hope all is well with them.
We’ve been blessed with the use of a car while we are home. Greg’s in-laws have offered up their truck. Praise the Lord. And we’ve been blessed by a work fund donation that will give us a little extra cash as we head out on vacation. We’ll be staying with the kids, and the grandkids won’t be going to the sitter the first week we are there just so we can have the extra time with them. Video is good, but there’s nothing like live and in person when you are talking grand babies! What a blessing. God is good.
As we prepare for a month away we ask that you would pray for completely uneventful travel for us. No flight delays (weather, mechanical or anything else) and a green light at customs going and coming. That all of our luggage would arrive with us. For good rest and good visits with family and friends. That our home and vehicle here would be safe and sound for our return. That we have ample time for reflection on our first year in Mexico and for God’s clear direction for this coming year.
We can’t thank you all enough for all of your prayers, cards, letters, e-mails and financial support. We are so appreciative of all you do for us. We thank God for you all.
But it’s so much more. We’ve loved some of it and flat hated some of it. We’ve been happy and we’ve been depressed. We’ve been physically sick more than we’ve ever been in our entire lives, and we’re not spring chickens!
We’ve learned language, we’ve learned culture. We have much more to learn. We’ve learned a ton about ourselves, our fellow workers, our community and our God. Amazing that as long as we have known Him we are still learning things about Him. Amazing doesn’t go far enough in describing life with Him.
Tying up loose ends before vacation is always interesting, particularly when you are going to another country for a month! We needed to pay two months of telephone, internet and satellite and happily the light bill just came too so we can take care of that! You can’t just drop a check in the mail here…never that simple. Most things have to be paid in cash, in person. And since we are paying this months rent a few days early our sweet landlord, Jacobo, is allowing us to pay a couple of days late next month, so we can wait until we get back, rather than paying two months now! We had our mail from the states cut off temporarily, so hopefully we won’t get too much in our mailbox while we are gone.
Our calendar is filling up with all the things that we’ll be doing at home: Thanksgiving, two weddings, some birthdays, Christmas and loads of dinners and lunches with friends, former co-workers and family. Worshiping in our home church. Getting our prescriptions for the next year. Doing a little shopping for us and for the Lumppios…we always have a U.S. wish list at the ready!! In fact, we’ve already ordered some things and had them shipped to the kids’ house!
We are trying to take very little with us, as we have a lot to bring back. But in our packing we’ve been unearthing all the winter things that we never use here. Our heavy coats and gloves. My wool hat. Socks. Sweatshirts. Long jeans (well, we do wear those here occasionally, but not often!). Tennis shoes. No more shorts, t-shirts and sandals for a while. We are going to the land of wet, cold and gloomy weather…but lots of sunny relationships to brighten our days.
These last few weeks before vacation have been interesting. We got pulled over for going the wrong way down a one way street in town. We were beeped by a cop in a car and then waved over by one of the street corner cops. Thankfully, the cop who pulled us over is one of the Christian brothers we’ve met along the way here and we are friendly with all the street cops. This particular street cop was one who ended up with a balloon critter when we had the team here in June. And when Oscar got out of the car and saw it was us he just said “it can be confusing here brother”! Case in point: only two blocks of the street we were on are one way, the rest is two way, and the corner we were stopped on had a stop sign for us, even though traffic is only supposed to go the other way!! Thankfully they both just blessed us and sent us on our way. Yes, it can be confusing here and we aren’t talking just about traffic!
We’ve been out to Campo San Juan two more times and actually made it past the guard barricade the second time, only to find out that Benny was gone for at least a week and to come back “mas tarde”. Mas tarde is getting to be like manana. Always mas tarde or manana. Never anything too specific, even when pressed. We are praying about what this all means in the scheme of our work here…if we can’t get in to see Benny, then we can’t get into Campo San Juan or Campo Santa Lucia. Then what?
On the way to one of our visits out there we ran into another Christian brother who’s truck was broken down. We looped around and went back to see if we could help. He couldn’t get the truck started and needed a push. We parked, Ralph got out to push, laid his hands on the vehicle to give it a shove and it started! The brother was so thrilled…a healing! We stood by the roadside and prayed together, then each went on our way. This brother has a church about 7 miles north of here and has services twice a week there. Plus he has a service at Campo Tayoltita and at Campo Santa Lucia once each week as well. It always does our heart good to see the Mexican church take an interest in the camps. Many don’t even acknowledge that they exist, let alone visit.
Had a thoroughly wonderful 45 minute chat via skype with Dave McMullen a great Christian brother from Arizona who has been coming to northwestern Mexico for more than 30 years, working in the camps spreading the Gospel message via the Jesus video and Gospel Recordings tapes and CDs. What an amazing faithful man! He and his lovely wife will be coming through our area in February sometime, and will be stopping in to meet us. We are really looking forward to it. What an inspiration these folks are!!
Our water system is still struggling along more than two month after Hurricane Lane sent it into a tizzy. Water only from 10 pm to 5 am. Nothing like doing the laundry in the dark!! Therefore, we were pretty thrilled to have water all day and most of the evening for the last week and a half, but then today…nada!! This is a town-wide problem affecting the whole system, although some areas are doing better lately than others, it’s obviously still not fixed. Please pray that this would be resolved soon as it makes everyone in town nuts.
I decided I was long overdue for a haircut, so I wandered over to Judith’s across the street and got my cut. Her mom and auntie were there, and of course her little daughter Ivana, so I got a haircut and a nice long visit in the bargain. When I was finally ready to head on home I twisted my ankle on a big stone in the road. Thankfully it is not a severe sprain. I hobbled around a bit for a couple of days and it is much better now. I still can “tweak” it once in a while and then I hobble for a while, but all in all it could have been much worse.
We were blessed by a visit by one of my former bosses, who also happens to be a friend and former neighbor to boot. Marie arrive last Monday on a cruise ship in Mazatlan and she and her friends spent the day with us sightseeing, visiting, shopping and, of course, eating. We had such a blast. It was wonderful to see her and catch up with her and to meet her traveling companions. We have worried a bit after they left us as Hurricane Sergio formed off the coast in the areas they were sailing. Hope all is well with them.
We’ve been blessed with the use of a car while we are home. Greg’s in-laws have offered up their truck. Praise the Lord. And we’ve been blessed by a work fund donation that will give us a little extra cash as we head out on vacation. We’ll be staying with the kids, and the grandkids won’t be going to the sitter the first week we are there just so we can have the extra time with them. Video is good, but there’s nothing like live and in person when you are talking grand babies! What a blessing. God is good.
As we prepare for a month away we ask that you would pray for completely uneventful travel for us. No flight delays (weather, mechanical or anything else) and a green light at customs going and coming. That all of our luggage would arrive with us. For good rest and good visits with family and friends. That our home and vehicle here would be safe and sound for our return. That we have ample time for reflection on our first year in Mexico and for God’s clear direction for this coming year.
We can’t thank you all enough for all of your prayers, cards, letters, e-mails and financial support. We are so appreciative of all you do for us. We thank God for you all.
Monday, November 6, 2006
Day of the Dead
We knew this was coming up, had read about it, heard about it. The stores in town were filling up with flowers and bread of the dead. We’ve seen Day of the Dead arts and crafts both here and in Arizona, and the little skull candies, etc. but never experienced it ourselves before. This was our year.
For weeks the shops in town were gearing up. Never have I seen so many flowers in so many shops!! You could buy ready made floral coronas and crosses, or you could buy the floral foam and artificial flowers and make your own. The coronas included a picture of either Jesus or Our Lady of Guadalupe, or you could provide a picture of your departed loved one for the center.
There were altars set up in some stores, even in the WalMart and cathedral plaza in Mazatlan and in the our plaza here in La Cruz. The one in La Cruz was dedicated to Christopher Columbus and the one at Walmart had flowers, candy, food and bottles of liquor and it was stacked high with containers of pan de muerte, bread of the dead…
On the actual day, which is a national holiday, the road to the cemetery was completely blocked off. It was lined up and down with food vendors of every kind. The streets and vacant lots around the cemetery were teaming with cars and people.
Walking through the cemetery I was stuck by how the grave sites had been cleaned up and in some cases even painted. There were flowers everywhere, balloons on the graves of children, lots of candles and lots and lots of people eating a wide variety of food and drinking everything from sodas to beer to booze. Friends and families had their lawn chairs neatly arranged around the graves, they had shade structures up to protect them from the sun. Boom boxes were blasting favorite tunes. One large family grave area had a big tent with a banda band. There were balloon and ice cream vendors wandering through the graves. I avoided taking pictures of family celebrations, focusing on the quieter areas of the cemetery. Interesting and beautiful.
Tuesday, October 31, 2006
Discouragement
Gosh, I can be such a Pollyanna sometimes. Our water is back to only being on at night again. Would be nice to have it during the day when we are up.
And our potential new landlord not only didn’t have the house finished as he’d said (for the fourth time!) but he wanted us to give him more money and wait more. We talked it over with him and told him we couldn’t do that. He said he’d give us our money back and we could part friends, but he didn’t have it just now. Of course. So we are trying to be optimistic that he’ll give us the money back.
Then our truck got burgled and we lost a flashlight, Ralph’s new sunglasses and six of our favorite Christian and Gospel CDs. Bummer. Our landlord, Jacobo was appalled…said nothing like that had ever happened here before. Lucky us, we get to be first. Noticed today that his iron fence is all caved in, wonder what happened there, but he’s gone, so we’ll have to wait to see.
Discouragement is hard to deal with anywhere, but we seem to have more trouble dealing with it here and we can’t really put our finger on the “why” of it. Just try to stay focused on why we are here, keep praying about what God would have us do push forward day by day.
On the good news side, Tropical Depression Paul turned out to be a total non-event…just light rain, no flooding, no damaging winds. Praise the Lord.
And we’ve gotten to watch Candy’s new little daughter while she took Luis to the doctor for a couple of shots. What a blessing to sit and rock that little wonder, beautiful little child of God.
Thanks for your prayers.
And our potential new landlord not only didn’t have the house finished as he’d said (for the fourth time!) but he wanted us to give him more money and wait more. We talked it over with him and told him we couldn’t do that. He said he’d give us our money back and we could part friends, but he didn’t have it just now. Of course. So we are trying to be optimistic that he’ll give us the money back.
Then our truck got burgled and we lost a flashlight, Ralph’s new sunglasses and six of our favorite Christian and Gospel CDs. Bummer. Our landlord, Jacobo was appalled…said nothing like that had ever happened here before. Lucky us, we get to be first. Noticed today that his iron fence is all caved in, wonder what happened there, but he’s gone, so we’ll have to wait to see.
Discouragement is hard to deal with anywhere, but we seem to have more trouble dealing with it here and we can’t really put our finger on the “why” of it. Just try to stay focused on why we are here, keep praying about what God would have us do push forward day by day.
On the good news side, Tropical Depression Paul turned out to be a total non-event…just light rain, no flooding, no damaging winds. Praise the Lord.
And we’ve gotten to watch Candy’s new little daughter while she took Luis to the doctor for a couple of shots. What a blessing to sit and rock that little wonder, beautiful little child of God.
Thanks for your prayers.
Okay, okay…here are some pictures of Mazatlan
We go to Mazatlan about once a month, but normally just have a meeting and/or shop and head home. We’ve been trying to change that pattern of late and take a day off and do the tourist thing. Here are some pictures we’ve taken over several months of the big city to the south of us.
The Mercado…a very cool place to shop.
Loads and loads of fresh fruit and veggies.
Sweets too!
My personal favorites: agua frescas!
Pork anyone?
Perhaps fish?
Even more fish
All the clothes and doo dads you could ever want
Cerca the cathedral in centro Mazatlan:
The biggest bougainvillea I’ve ever seen…it has a metal structure supporting it’s weight
Plaza Republica
There are vendors at each corner of the cathedral plaza entrance selling all kinds of stuff
Various views along the beach:
A crazy platform diver, working for tips from tourists!
Yep, they are truly nuts!
Tourist stuff, Ralph bought the hat he’s wearing!
Fishing boats
More boats
Dolphin fountain
Sea lions
Valentino’s disco/bar/restaurant
Plaza Machado in the historic centro:
The Mercado…a very cool place to shop.
Loads and loads of fresh fruit and veggies.
Sweets too!
My personal favorites: agua frescas!
Pork anyone?
Perhaps fish?
Even more fish
All the clothes and doo dads you could ever want
Cerca the cathedral in centro Mazatlan:
The biggest bougainvillea I’ve ever seen…it has a metal structure supporting it’s weight
Plaza Republica
There are vendors at each corner of the cathedral plaza entrance selling all kinds of stuff
Various views along the beach:
A crazy platform diver, working for tips from tourists!
Yep, they are truly nuts!
Tourist stuff, Ralph bought the hat he’s wearing!
Fishing boats
More boats
Dolphin fountain
Sea lions
Valentino’s disco/bar/restaurant
Plaza Machado in the historic centro:
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