Door to door sales

Lots of things are sold door to door here: newspapers, cosmetics, fruit, veggies, fish, pottery, wind chimes, ice cream cones and mattresses all come to mind. Yes, mattresses. This floors me every time the guys come around. I just don't think of mattresses as an impulse purchase! Oh yeah, I've been meaning to get a new mattress. Thanks so much for stopping by! I mean, who buys these? We have loads of furniture stores in town that will sell you a mattress and deliver it to your house, most of them are open seven days a week and delivery is free and same day normally, so it's not that mattresses are difficult to come by. One of those things I'll probably never understand. But someone must be buying, they are paying for three guys and a truck to roam around town and that's not free. Just an oddity from my point of view.

Romans 8:28

"And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose."

Earlier this week as we were leaving for Mazatlan the gate of our cochera swung shut in the wind and hit the passenger side mirror breaking the glass…bummer. But we thought, okay we are going to Mazatlan anyway, we'll just get it fixed there. We couldn't find anyone who had just the mirror, which was all that was broken, the mechanics of the mirror were fine. One place did have the whole mirror, case, wire harness, etc., but it was $600 pesos, plus we'd have to find someone to install it at additional cost. Bit over budget this month. So we did our errands and came home with the mirror mostly gone. We've been praying about what to do about it and yesterday God led us to one of the three glass shops in town. The guys there were happy to replace just the mirror for us while we waited and for only $30 pesos…woohoo! And we discovered it is a Christian owned business, and all of the guys (Juan, Augustine and Hector) there go to a small church over near the MZ. They invited us to come and worship with them and are interested in maybe working together in the camps. What a tremendous blessing!! Pray with us as we explore this new relationship.

Neighborhood stuff

Our upstairs neighbors, Luis and Diana moved away. They are a really cute young couple pregnant with their first child, a little girl. The apartment above us is really small, and I must admit I wondered how they would manage with the new addition to the family. But they had a plan in hand!! There was space with Luis' family on their ranchero about 40 minutes from here so they made their move. The baby is due in about six weeks, so Diana will still need to come to La Cruz for checkups and for the birth of the baby. She promised to let me know when their daughter was born. So, now we have a "casa se renta" above us. Please pray with us for a great person or couple to move in there.

Speaking of babies: Our other neighbors Luis, Candy and Luis pequeno just returned from three weeks vacation visiting Luis' folks in Sonora and during that time they found out their second child, due October 14, is a girl! They are thrilled. They have an apartment about our size, so they should manage fine. Their biggest problem is their only mode of transportation is Luis' motorcycle that he uses for deliveries for work at Rin Rin Pizza. It's fine transportation for three people, not so good for four. They are thinking there is finally a car in their future. Pray for something cheap, safe and reliable for them please.

One of the other neighborhood couples are Theo and Lupita. They live next door to the church and in the evenings they run a little food stand in front of their house. Once in a while we'll head over there to get a snack in the evening and visit a bit. Additionally, Lupita works during the day at Comida Mary's…one of our favorite places to eat in La Cruz. Theo is a painter.

When we were over visiting the other night Theo announced that he has landed a job as a painter in the states and will leave for a year beginning in December. He'll be working in the LA area painting all kinds of new construction houses. And he's waiting on his visa…and waiting, and waiting. He had to go to the US consulate in Hermosillo, quite a ways north of us to apply and pay. He had to pay a lot, just like us, and do a ton of paperwork just like us, and now he's waiting, just like us. Seems the visa thing is universal. Hurry up and wait.

A little minor surgery

Most of you who know us know that the sun in not our friend…we both come from Scandinavian backgrounds and are fair and freckled. Ralph has way more trouble with this than I ever do and before we came to Mexico he had a lesion on his scalp that our doc in Washington froze off, twice no less. But the thing has come back again so a visit to the doc here was in order. He took one look and wondered aloud why on earth the doc in the US didn't cut it off to begin with, and he proceeded to give Ralph a bit of a funny haircut and then cut the lesion out and stitched him up and sent him home. He'll get the stitches out next Thursday, and while the doc doesn't really think its cancer he sent it for biopsy to be sure. Those results will be back in two or three weeks.

Dr. Maldonado is an interesting guy. Born and raised here in La Cruz, finished school here and went off to university to become a doctor. Upon graduation he had offers to work elsewhere, including a big hospital, but in the end he decided to come back to La Cruz and help his people. He has a great practice. No insurance forms to fill out, no three weeks waiting for an appointment to see him. No appointments at all actually, just come on in. He does his own triage as to who gets seen first, first come first served if there's nothing serious. Efficient office too, two exam rooms, waiting room, bathroom and his small office. He has one woman to help him out. No nonsense cut to the chase kind of guy. Funny too. Works 9 hour days, six days a week. Office visit, surgery, biopsy, three kinds of medicine and another office visit for stitch removal. $2,000 pesos!! Less than $200 US. You won't find that in the US.

Visas…who needs 'em

We do, but the saga continues. We were supposed to get them this Thursday, but they called us and said they didn't have them yet. We were thankful they called, it was a very nice courtesy that they didn't have to do. They weren't sure when we might get them, though, and said we should just check back occasionally. We will and will let you know when we finally have these rascals in hand.

Mangoes are the zucchini of Mexico!!!

I love mangoes. I'm fairly addicted to them. That's a foregone conclusion. In Washington, they were an expensive treat. But they are grown here by the zillions commercially for export and in nearly everyone's yard. The growing season is very long considering the climate and the many varieties that come on at different times. It didn't take long for the word to get out in the neighborhood that the American lady loves mangoes. Over the last several weeks this luscious fruit has arrived by the bag and bucketful!! Our two neighbors across the street have trees, plus our neighbor behind and all three families have been quite generous.



Two other ladies several blocks away that we have a nodding acquaintance with also arrived on our doorstep with grocery sacks full. Then Eloy, Jacobo's handyman, arrived for a job here with guess what?? A bucket full of mangoes for me. Have I had my fill yet? NO. Not sure I ever will. I never turn them down, partly because I enjoy them so much I could and do eat them every day. Partly because it would be rude to turn them down. But I haven't been totally greedy either. I've shared the wealth with the Lumppios and have stockpiled some frozen chunks and pureed mango in the freezer for the future.

To say life is sweet here is an understatement!

It finally dawned on me though, mangoes are the zucchini of Mexico. Why you ask? Have you ever heard the joke about zucchini season? Can't leave your car windows down or your sunroof open regardless of how hot it is because you'll come back and find a "gift" of zucchini in your car.
I never grew zucchini in Washington because I knew so many others who did who were thrilled to unload them once they started coming on. If you ignored them for a day or two they'd be the size of a small dog. You had to be constantly vigilant and get them out of your garden. People would bring them to work and church to share. They were everywhere. But, I loved them too…made tons of zucchini bread, a great zucchini casserole (thanks Ginny) and even a killer zucchini chocolate chip cake from a recipe from Ralph's Aunt Donna. Froze them in batches for these treats later in the year when the harvest was over. God is good to provide such a variety of things from his bounty. Could have just been all Brussels sprouts!!

Pastor Jose

It's been an interesting month or so for church here. For some reason, the two or three other women that used to come sporadically haven't been here in weeks…don't know why, no one seems too. And then Gloria and Mimi left for several weeks of family visits all over northwestern Mexico. Not only does this mean no music for the services, but it also means Pastor has been alone at home for the better part of a month. I think he was pretty happy at first, having the house to himself, no real schedule with the family. But I think the novelty has worn off now and he's looking forward to them coming back. Should be mid-August sometime. He's not quite sure.

He's also cancelled church a couple of times, and the other times it's just been us, him and Adolfo. One Sunday it was just us and him and he gave a 45 minute sermon on the evils of alcohol and drugs and sex outside marriage. Huh? Must have been practicing that one for another audience!

Plus, his foot has been bothering him quite a bit again. It got all discolored and funny looking, even getting a bit of fungus on it. He went to a specialist in Culiacan, who told him it was really nothing to worry about. So he's not worrying. I should probably follow his lead. Please keep him in prayer, as he has been lonely with his girls gone and also for the healing of his foot. Thanks.