Move in day!

Even though last Saturday didn’t go exactly as planned (which is typical in Mexico) we still were able to move into our new place in La Cruz on Tuesday afternoon.

After fond farewells to our host family, we drove downtown to the TelMex office to order our phone and internet service and made a quick stop at the grocery store nearby to pick up a couple of quick things. We were disappointed to learn that both phone and internet were at capacity in La Cruz, so it will be a couple more weeks before we have access at the house, so we’ll still be relying on the cyber cafes around town for a while.

While at the grocery in Mazatlan we ran into a man named Herman, he and his wife are from St. Louis and have been in Mexico only two weeks. They know no Spanish, and are struggling to get by day to day. They lived in a condo for the first week, and then moved to a tiny apartment in Mazatlan, which his wife hates. We assured him things will get better the more they get out in the community and invited them up to La Cruz. We hope they will come. Please keep them in prayer as they struggle to adjust to life here without a host family to help them through.

Arriving in La Cruz, we got all unpacked and started trying to assemble the house! We hooked up the stove to the gas and got it working and had our first “comida” cooked in our new home. That’s the big mid-day meal! We’ve adopted that style because it’s just nicer to do the big meal in the middle of the day rather than later in the evening. It was wonderful to be in our new place at last, and to sleep in our own bed too!

It’s been fun getting to know the neighbors, and Ralph was thrilled to learn that one of them, Luis, speaks fluent English and is a fishing guide for El Salto, a nearby lake that draws fishers from all over the world! We’ve also met Diana who lives upstairs from us, and Candy, who is farther down the block. Also, Manuela and her daughter America from in town. And Ned, and many others who live and work here in La Cruz.

We are so happy that La Cruz is small enough that we can walk everywhere. It’s great for our health and for our Spanish! We greet everyone, and talk with many of the people that we meet. They are quite patient with our “poco” Espanol, and many people here know at least some English. As with our host family, our relationships here will likely be Spanglish for a while…English, Spanish, and even a little German and Norwegian (Uff da!) thrown in!

And we’ve discovered that this clicking noise we keep hearing, both here and in Mazatlan is actually the call of tiny little lizards…very cute guys, and a mystery solved. Also discovered a beautiful nursery here, and we’ll be buying a bougainvillea for the patio to add a little color!

Please continue to pray for the cell meeting at Carmen and Genaro’s house…they haven’t had any repeat visitors yet, but they are still calling on neighbors and holding the meetings regardless of who or how many show up. It’s a great blessing that they are willing to take on the challenge of evangelism in their neighborhood.

Pray also for Tom and Lidia and the girls, they are adjusting to life with their host family, and we hope to see them here in La Cruz on Saturday (Sabado) for a visit. We are keeping our eyes open for a house for them here. They seem to be doing pretty well.

We ask for your continued prayer for our language and culture learning, relationships with our new neighbors and friends and the friends we have yet to meet.

Love and blessings from La Cruz!!