A little bit of everything

Ralph has been ill off and on for most of the last two weeks and he's been very frustrated by it. Missionary stomach has returned and he's also lost a lot of energy. Additionally, he has been suffering from a skin rash on his shins, back and stomach. Pretty miserable time for him. He's beginning to feel better today, but still has a ways to go. Please keep him in prayer.

Pastor Jose has been very discouraged this week, even coming to tears a couple of times during church. We ask him how he's doing, if there is anything we can do and he always says he's fine and nothing to do. Please keep him in prayer as well.

The church will be hosting a team from Minnesota in June and the two small bodies in La Cruz and Ceuta are stretching a bit in an effort to plan for them and to host them. It's a big task, so please be praying as they prepare over the next two weeks. The team will be here June 15-18 and they plan to do some puppetry and some street ministry as well as participating in Sunday services here and in Ceuta.

Two sweet little ones turned two years old this week and we were invited to both fiestas! Ivana, the daughter of our neighbor Judith (the woman who cuts Ralph's hair), had her fiesta last Saturday. She was dressed up as Belle from Beauty and the Beast and she had a great time. Her family had a huge party. There were so many kids there they had two piñatas because one wouldn't hold up for all of them to have a few swings at it! They served a nice meal, soft drinks and cake and jello (no ice cream, melts too quickly). Every party guest got a bag of sweets to take home with them. Ralph was disappointed because our workers were still here and he couldn't even make an appearance at this party.





And even though he didn't feel all that well, he didn't miss Gracie's party on Tuesday! It was Tom and Lidia's first official "do" since arriving in Mexico and they were a little nervous about doing it right. Boy, did they ever do it right! All the kids had a blast and Gracie's party was all about Tigger. Orange balloons, Tigger cake and pinata, even orange jello! They served these great hot nachos too, really fabulous, tasty beans, meat in a great sauce and two kinds of cheese on top! And of course, sent everyone home with the requisite bag of sweets! Perfectly done.




We bought a small air conditioner for use later as the summer heats up and hired Jacobo's handymen to do the installation and to add another circuit and some extra outlets in the house. It was a very long day, the guys were here more than 12 hours, sprayed a small amount of water and concrete into the living room in error, initially hooked up the new circuit incorrectly and generally made a huge mess. But we have the new circuit, six new plugs in the living room, three in the bedroom, one for the air conditioner (and a hole in the wall for the a/c unit) and one for the washer on the patio. We were able to get rid of four extension cords and two power strips! Woohoo! Plus it's so nice to just walk up to the washer and run it...not to have to open the kitchen window and run an extension cord through it for power!





In the midst of all of this we managed to tick off a couple of things for the visa list: we got our lovely black and white photos taken on the way to Gracie's party and also had the same place make the copies we needed of stuff. Slowly but surely we are making progress on this. Also, if we can't get it all together before our tourist visa expires, we DO NOT have to leave the country and come back in. We can either pay a fee and apply for an extension of our tourist visa, or we can apply for our FM visa without all the materials, then they will just wait for the rest of the stuff. We are mostly waiting on Pastor Lupe now, and the letter he had to write to Religious Affairs in Mexico City, and the official response from them. This is a continuing item for prayer.

And, after nearly four months in La Cruz we finally got our first telephone bill! Praise the Lord. Up to this point we've had to wander downtown and give the local payment guy our phone number, he'd call Mexico City to find out what we owed and we'd pay him and get a receipt. Never an itemized bill. If we can get one more paper bill from Telmex, then we can get online and get copies of the bills we missed and view and pay future bills online. That will be great. We've already discovered that we are being charged for stuff we didn't order, and those things are coming off on our next bill. It certainly helps to actually see what you are paying for!

We also got a new pack of Pastor Bill's sermons from Sue and Bob. Thanks guys!! We really enjoy getting these, certainly miss his great sermons!

For the next three weeks WMPL will be training new mission candidates in their Briefing Course in Minneapolis. Please keep the staff and participants in prayer as they complete this important step in their mission journey.

As always, we continue to need prayer for language and culture learning!! With Ralph's illness we didn't get out to practice as much as we would have liked, and any time not practicing is a setback. We hope to make up for lost time as he is feeling better.

Thanks so much for your notes, cards, prayers and support. We couldn't do this without you!

The many languages of Mexico

On being multi-lingual: The language of words

Many thanks to all of you who have sent us cassette tapes so that we can record “Palabras de Vida” (Words of Life) and other Gospel messages to distribute to the families in the camps we visit. Since we don’t own a cassette player/recorder, we asked Darwin to duplicate some for us, but he did us one better!! He loaned us the dubbing machine that is on loan to him from Gospel Recordings (with their permission, of course!). He also brought us many original tapes for the many languages of Mexico. This isn’t all the languages, mind you, but many of them. Thought you might like to see exactly how many languages there actually are! We knew there were a lot, but goodness…when he arrived with the tapes I was astounded.



The language of worship

The work in the camps is certainly winding down for the sultry summer months. Campo Santa Lucia is completely shut down for the season, but we were blessed to be invited to a send off worship there last Friday night. Jose, Ralph and I went out and said our farewells to the families we’ve been visiting as they head back south to their homes and families in Guerrero. We then we attended an outdoor worship with the small band of believers in that camp singing and praising the Lord. As an added treat for us there was a US missionary visiting from a tiny town in Jalisco (9 hours south) and we were able to visit with him for a bit too. He was happy to see us, he hadn’t spoken English in months!! We gave him our e-mail and Skype information and hope to keep in touch with him.

The language of service

We walk by these mural walls as we walk to the post office, and they were really beautiful, but had become quite faded and dirty. This week as we were driving through the neighborhood we saw teams of youth cleaning and restoring the murals. They are now so vibrant and beautiful again that they brighten up the entire neighborhood! Not sure who got this all organized, but God bless them for a lovely bit of work!



The language of music

We both love music, which is a good thing because we are pretty much surrounded by music much of the time here. We hear it in our own house, of course, at the camps, in the stores, at the plaza and in church. We also hear it from the cars and trucks that pass by, from the dances at the nearby social club and from the neighbors’ homes as well. You know I’m fond of the banda style of music that was born and bred here in Sinaloa, but I have discovered that I do have my limits!

Dia de La Cruz, May 3, we were awakened at 4 a.m. by loud banda music coming from La Cruz Plaza up the hill. By 8:30, they were still going strong so I walked up to see what was what. Turns out it was just a celebration by construction workers before heading out to work for the day. They had placed a nice bouquet of flowers at the base of the cross near the fountain and they broke up shortly after I arrived and went off to their various jobs. We also noticed many of the construction sites around town had fresh flower crosses to celebrate the day too. Nice music, but a tad too early of a start for us! These kids were at the plaza watering the flower arrangement when I went by again later in the day and they posed for a picture. Now whenever we see them in town they all greet us! (This group falls into the language of friendship and learning below!)



Then this week our three neighbors across the street banded together and had a huge party, every parking spot for blocks around was taken and they hired, guess what? A huge banda group to play for the party. At first we thought it was great, we thoroughly enjoyed the front row seats to the free concert, and we had the Lumppio girls that evening, and they were dancing and enjoying it too. But after more than five hours, we’d had enough of the music that I otherwise enjoy. Overdosed on the language of music!

The language of friendship and learning

Jose and Ralph continue to practice language with each other and it is amazing to hear them communicating and laughing and learning together. Jose is even picking up a bit of English along the way.



In the last two weeks I’ve been visited by both the Avon lady and the Jafra lady. I’m allergic to so much stuff that I’m chicken to try perfumes, lotions and makeup, but I had wonderful long conversations with both of these women and had a blast. Even got a compliment on my Spanish from the Jafra lady! Yes! I am encouraged when even strangers can understand me! Praise the Lord for the gift of language learning!

We’ve also met a couple more ladies in town during our visits. Sylvia and Letty. Two more people to visit with in our travels and practice our Spanish with. Although our other practice people still visit with us, it’s nice to expand to a couple of new folks too!

The language of love

This is one that we are intimately familiar with! The love of God and fellow Christians. The love we’ve shared in more than 34 years together. The love of our families, friends, prayer partners and fellow workers. It can be quite overwhelming at times, and is metered out in perfect doses, just as we need encouragement! Praise the Lord!



The Mexico Field Team in front of the downtown Mazatlan church: Mary Ann, Pastor Lupe, Chris B (HQ), me, Cristina, Lidia, Ralph, Gracie L, Tom, Darwin and Gracie J!

In Him,

Ralph and Chris

Quick update!

Thanks so much for your prayers for Francisco and his family. After more testing and a visit to specialist, the new doc could find no sign of the heart and kidney difficulties that had been diagnosed earlier (which resulted in the referral to him!). Praise the Lord! He does, however, have TB but that is treatable under a free government program, and he can get the treatment here in La Cruz. He lives in Tayoltita, a few miles south of here, but it shouldn't be a problem to get in and get his meds.

Also, our friend Ted's surgery on his knees was reschedule to July when he came down with pneumonia, however, our friend Carolyn's back surgery is still scheduled for May 17, so please continue to pray for her and her husband and for the health care folks who'll be caring for her before, during and after the surgery.

Please continue to pray for the visa situation. We found out on Tuesday we needed to pay an extra $400 pesos for the two letters that Pastor Lupe needs to write to get the ball rolling. That's been paid, but it just begins the process really.

Praise that Maria Luisa seems much better and is up and around more. She and Jacobo are getting ready to take off for her doctor visits in the states soon, so her improved health is a plus for their travel time. Pray that the doctors will find a solution for her health/vision problems.

Praise that Presidente Fox did not sign the new drug legislation. He had previously told the congress and the media that he would be signing the bill, but after intense pressure from other countries, including the US, he decided not to sign!!

Last, but certainly not least! We have happy news to report on the home front: two of our nieces have announced their engagements!! Billie Jo and TJ will marry on July 7, 2007 in Olympia, and Amy and Dan have announced their intent to marry during their winter break from school this coming December!! Amy and Dan are both in Bible school in Portland, Oregon, but the wedding will take place either in Shelton or Olympia. So, two unexpected but happy trips to the states coming up. We are so happy and thankful for these two matches made in heaven!! Praise the Lord!!

Love and blessings,

Ralph & Chris