We have finally assembled all the materials we need to apply for our FM1 visas and hope to begin that process within the next couple of weeks. Darwin really wants Tom and Ralph to handle the whole application process, and I'm not sure either one of them is looking forward to going downtown Mazatlan and dealing with government officials all day, plus loads of paperwork. There's a list of 11 things that need to be filled out, photocopied and/or paid for, plus we'll need 12 photos!! Goodness. They don't make it easy, and this process needs to be repeated each year. Some people have said that the process itself can take up to a year, so you finish just in time to begin again! Too exciting. Please pray that the process goes smoothly!!
This week brought a noticeable change in the weather as well, it's definitely getting warmer!! We are now brushing up against 90 most days, but it is quite tolerable. They say as the rainy season approaches we'll look back on these balmy days and wish we could go back to them. It will be interesting to see how rainy the rainy season actually ends up. There has been a drought here for some time with much less rain than normal. We'll see if that pattern continues or if the weather returns to it's normal, much wetter pattern. As native northwesterners we are used to tons of rain, and should be able to tolerate warm rain for two or three months, as opposed cold rain for six!!
Pastor Jose stopped by with a new taste treat for us this week, he brought us hot fresh tamales maiz de Elota! What an amazing treat! They are tamales that can only be described as sweet cream corn in tamale maza. My, were they ever good and he brought enough that we had them for cena two nights in a row! When I saw Gloria at church today I thanked her for them and she told me that they also could make tacos with that same sweet taste. Lots to learn about food here, but also lots of time to learn, thankfully.
When Darwin, Mary Ann and Gracie were up this week we decided to go out to the town of El Salto and check out the church building there. The town itself is a pretty little village, complete with schools, homes, sports fields and a little Catholic chapel and our small church. The church is situated on a nice property with an absolutely HUGE tree providing tons of shade. That's Mary Ann, Gracie and me standing in front of the tree, Ralph taking the picture trying to get us and the tree all in. Impossible!! The church itself is a great building, built many years ago by volunteers from the US. There is no pastor there now, and no congregation meeting there either. Please pray that the Lord would raise up a Mexican leader for that church.
It's funny because we've been out that way before, but didn't know exactly where the town was, we were so very close, but drove right by it!! The town was moved from it's old location just a few miles down the road in 1986 to make way for the lake, El Salto, which I now know means The Jump! They dammed the Rio Elota to form the lake, then stocked it with bass and it's become one of the premier bass fishing lakes in the world. $1,595 USD for 4 days/3 nights at the lodge there!! Big bucks, considering that doesn't count your gear or your flight to Mazatlan!
We got the first of the tracts we ordered this week, and though we had to pay duty to get them from the PO, it was reasonable!! Ralph was able to use them for the first time when he and Darwin visited Campo Santa Lucia this week. The guys were hassled by the new crop of guards, and saying the magic word "Imelda" (the head lady) just started a bunch of phone calls to Campo San Juan. Darwin fixed the problem by handing over a couple of his copies of the Jesus video, and with that they were on their way. Please pray that the camps stay open for us to go and talk with people about the Lord.
Also, some of you are wondering why there are no photos of the camps on the blog. It's because cameras are not allowed. The big farm companies have taken some heat from photos that have been published by others and therefore no longer allow cameras in.
Our medicine order is five weeks out and no sign of it, so we contacted the pharmacy. They feel we should have had it by now and also think that it's likely lost so they have reshipped it. Hopefully we should have it in about three weeks. But that means that we'll have to be on the hunt for a months worth of meds when we go into Mazatlan tomorrow. Please pray for the safe arrival of the meds we've ordered (and low or no duty!!) and that we can get the month worth of meds we need tomorrow. I never would have dreamed that this would be a hassle for us!!
One of the people that we practice our Spanish with, Beatrice, surprised us with a visit to the house this past week, a first! Sadly she came by to tell us that the restaurant she had been working for was locked up and when she inquired she learned that the owners had not paid for some things and that until they did the business would remain closed. So that left Beatrice, a single mom with six kids, out of a job. Amazingly, she was as upbeat as ever, completely confident that she'll land something else soon, and we did see her downtown applying for jobs later in the week, still hopeful she'd find something. Please pray for her and her family.
When we were out exploring some of the back roads south of town the other day we ran across this hilltop shrine, Maria Guadalupe del Cerrito. We've seen many roadside shrines, some just tiny roadside crosses, some small doll house size buildings, some just paintings of Our Lady of Guadalupe on rock faces and some large family shines at people's homes. This one was by far the largest we've seen to date and it's really kind of out in the middle of no where!
And our little lizard in the palm tree has been so active and so quick, we haven't been able to get a picture of him until this week. I think he trusts us more now, as he was way down on the trunk, not more than four feet from the ground and he just sat there while I approached with the camera!
Please continue to pray for our language and culture learning, relationships with our fellow workers and our neighbors and for all the people in the various camps around us!
Thanks for your prayers and your support...we appreciate it so much and our honored to serve the Lord here.
Love and blessings,
Ralph & Chris
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