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
No comments:
Post a Comment