Saying goodbye

We've begun saying our goodbyes. The toughest one was probably with Carmen and Genaro, they have been our closest friends here and we will miss them terribly. We still have a few more visits with them before we go and a dinner out with them (Tortas Kuwait!!) but it has been difficult to say goodbye. Pastor Lupe has been by a couple of times and all of our neighbors have been weighing in and telling us how much they will miss us.

Last Sunday night after two and a half hours of church in a little windowless building stuffed with 60 plus souls and no air conditioning we were all hot and tired and ready to go home. But a very enterprising push cart vendor parked his cart across the street from the church and he was selling ice cream cones for four pesos each. Talk about an entrepreneur! He was instantly overwhelmed and nearly everyone from church got a cone. We just about wiped out his entire supply of ice cream. We all milled about on the street and sidewalk visiting in the warm night air. Jose Miguel and Jazmin had their wedding pictures from two weeks ago so we were passing those around and admiring them and just generally visiting with one another. It was one of those moments when I thought, hmmmm, this won't be happening in Olympia!!!

One of our neighbors, Yolanda, is a tiny, sweet, yet rambunctious little Christian lady and she came by and was admiring our plants on the patio. She particularly loved one of the weird little cactus plants that Ralph had and I would have loved to have given it to her but another neighbor had just bought the whole lot. The next day when Maribel came to pick up all the plants I mentioned how much Yoli liked that particular cactus but she didn't comment on it at all and I thought oh well. Last night Yoli came by and said Maribel had given her the plant as a gift. She was thrilled to death to have it!!

We've been selling things off, trying to get back down to what will fit in the back of the pickup again. That is really our toughest challenge!! We do have most things sorted and many of them packed at this point, essentially just the basics that we are using every day left to pack. I think we'll be okay getting it all in at this point.

The selling of stuff has been kind of a riot. We had several people vying for our living room set and one lady wanted it saying she would return last Thursday with the cash, but she didn't show up so we sold it to someone else. The first lady showed up after that and was upset that it was sold, so I took her number and said if the other lady changes her mind for some reason it's yours, never thinking the other lady would change her mind. But last night she showed up and had done just that. She decided it's too big for her house and could she please have her money back! So we did that and then called the first lady to let her know it was hers if she still wanted it. We should know today if it goes back on the block or not. Too funny.

One lady gave us a deposit on our washer in dollars but said she needed to keep the dollars and wanted to have them back when she came to pay in pesos and pick it up. No problem. Others have paid and picked up their stuff already and the house is beginning to look a little sparse.

And our landlords came by yesterday afternoon and wanted to let us know how much they would miss us...they even wanted us to come over to their house for dinner but we won't have the time to do that unfortunately. When was the last time your landlord invited you for dinner?

Our truck gave us a bit of a scare on Monday too...several of the guys came over to help Ralph get the canopy back on the truck and discovered that transmission fluid was leaking out! And our 30 day warranty on the transmission work was long gone. So we prayed a bunch on Monday night and got up bright and early Tuesday and took the truck back to the Ford dealer. Bless his heart, our neighbor Henry followed along to give us a ride back to the house and to interpret if we had the need of that. Ralph explained the problem to the service adviser and he took a look at all our paperwork and announced that it was likely just a seal but that the would have to keep it for a few days. Turns out it was a seal, praise the Lord, and even though the warranty was expired they did not charge us for the repair, again praise the Lord, and we had the truck back in two days!! Now it's in the shop at Dakota for the road worthiness check, belts hoses, brakes, etc. and we should have it back tonight. One more thing off the checklist of things to do before we go.

Through all of this we've been trying to squeeze in some online job hunting and have both applied for a few things. I even have a telephone interview scheduled for August 13th! Amazing what technology can do! A few years ago this would not have been possible at all due to delays in mail and whatnot. Now they can just e-mail and set things up. Please keep the job hunt and the house hunt in prayer!

Life here is winding down and life in Washington is beginning again, little by little. We are thankful for all we have learned here and all the people we've met. God is good!!

The Furtan family reunion

The Furtan family reunion was July 21 in the St. Thomas park and this year increased in number attending to about 90 folks. Loads of fun, visiting and food on a good afternoon!!! Ralph and I couldn't go but thanks to Ralph's cousins Dennis and Ruth we have these pictures to share. The Oby family is missing, Ruth thinks she was busy visiting and missed them somehow. The next reunion is in 2009. Hopefully Ralph and I can go to that one!


Herman, Gwen, Dennis and Ruth


Janelle Tisdale Mucha family


Dennis, Gwen, Janelle, Phyllis, Mike, Carol & Sharon


Trina Lunde Papenfuss and family


The Berg family


Carol Lunde Widme (Sammy) and Sammy's grandchildren


Vanessa and Mike Turner & Phyllis Monson (Violet)


Dennis, Gwen, Janelle, Phyllis and Mike


Lyle, David, Donna, Lynn and Ramona, Mickey in front


Donna with her kids and spouses and Mickey
Lyle & Marlene, David & Jaci, Harold & Ramona and Lynn & Annette


Donna and the grandkids


David, Jaci, Annette and Dianna


Cheryl Widme and Trina Papenfuss

Leaving Mexico

Most of you know that we were pretty discouraged when we went home for vacation last December, so much so that we thought we might not return. However, after a little rest, counsel and perspective we came back with a new attitude determined to make this all work.

Now nearly eight months have passed and we have continued to pray about our role here. We also enlisted the aid of our prayer partners seeking what we should do here next term since we couldn't really continue at the orphanage as our designated work as this is not a ministry of either the Alianza or WMPL. We received a lot of e-mails and letters from folks as a result of our prayers and theirs and have decided to return to Washington next month. When it came to the point of making a decision it came easier than we expected and we have great peace about it.

So now we are busy trying to finish well here and in the meantime pack up the house and sell all the excess stuff again so we can get everything we need to take back into the pickup!! So far we are balancing things pretty well, but we do need your continued prayers.

Please pray for completely uneventful travel. The trip will take us five or six days of driving and you all know that road trips are NOT Ralph's favorite thing! Also we both need jobs and we need a rental house in the Olympia-Tumwater area. We expect to arrive in Washington around August 20th or so. Mas o menos as they say here.

We've had an interesting and educational experience here these last couple of years and we could not have done it without your prayer support. You've made all the difference for us on many occasions and we thank you for it!! Bless you all.

The Church in El Rosario

As part of our additional work here from Pastor Lupe we are to visit the small church in El Rosario a couple of times a month. We got a bit of a shaky start with them however as we arrived late for the first visit, essentially arriving just in time to see them going out the door. Sadly, Lupe had given us the wrong start time for services. But we did get to visit with a couple of families and got an invitation to one woman's home for some ice water which we gladly accepted because it was scorching hot that morning! So we proceeded to the modest little home and found that she wanted to show us a beautiful mirror and mantle that were salvaged from an old house in the area. Goodness, the mirror itself had to be six or seven feet tall and four or more feet wide. It was surrounded by a carved molding about six inches wide. It was balanced on a carved mantle at least a ten feet wide and a foot and a half deep. Gargantuan thing but very beautiful. It absolutely overwhelmed the small home we were visiting but obviously was a great source of family pride!

Smack behind the present church there are the remains of the old church, now just a ruin where iguanas live. You can see how close it is to the back wall of the present church, that's that gray strip in the right of the first picture.





On our second visit we arrived prepared to hear Pastor Ignacio preach but discovered that several members of the Mazatlan church were there doing the service and had brought along a guest preacher! Foiled again. Then we were saddened to learn that they just sort of invaded, didn't ask to come, weren't invited and didn't even tell the pastor they would be there. He was upset but handled it graciously, so much so that we didn't learn of the problem until after the service. When our friend Carmen realized what happened she apologized profusely to Ignacio for the intrusion.

Our third try was this past Sunday and again we didn't get to hear Ignacio preach because the folks from the Mazatlan church were there again with one of the Mazatlan parishioners preaching, Amir. We were determined to get to know Ignacio better though and settled in for a good visit with him and hopefully sometime soon we'll be able to hear him preach!!

He works full time at Citrofruit, a huge concern here in Mexico with plants in three states (Sinaloa, San Luis Potosi and Veracruz) and one in Texas. They produce nothing but frozen fruit juice concentrate and are in their busiest time of the year right now. He's presently working seven days a week, so he doesn't mind having the folks from Mazatlan come and help out at least until September when things will settle down a bit for him at work.

Citrofruit produces juice from just about any kind of fruit you can name and 70% of the frozen concentrates they make here end up in the US used in all kinds of products marketed under all kinds of brands. Pretty amazing enterprise!



He is married to Mari and they have two kids who are completely adorable. His mother-in-law is also part of their family. They live in Rosario, close enough to walk to church. Which is a good thing in that town because it has the most confusing street structure we've seen yet in Mexico and that is saying something!!

We've gotten lost in one way or another each time we've gone there, and likely will for a while. One of our team members says people joke about even the devil getting lost there it is such a confusing and confounding little town. Very narrow streets, lots of one ways, very little in the way of signs. This is the one way street the church is on, at the end it turns left into an even more narrow street where no parking is allowed and because straight ahead they have turned the street into a plaza. Complete with trees, flowers and a non-functioning fountain. Just beyond that little plaza is the small centro mercado with it's own little plaza surrounded by shops and including a strange statue that even Carmen could not explain and she went to school in El Rosario!







On the highway going and coming from El Rosario you pass through prime mango growing country, but we've also discovered it is also the prime area for cireula, a small, sweet plumb no bigger than the end of an average thumb. There are red and yellow varieties, but they tasted exactly the same to me. They are only available from the very end of May to the middle of July. Roadside stands are set up to meet the demand from passers by and from those who make the trek just for them. They are also sold on a limited basis here in town. They are good, but extremely perishable. The roadside stands also have big bags of mangoes dirt cheap too!





And on the way there this last Sunday we saw our first snake since arriving here. We'd heard tales of big snakes, five six feet or more, but haven't seen nary a one in nearly 19 months. Can't say that anymore. This guy was very long and slender and dark. He took up three quarters of the traffic lane on the highway before he retreated to the shoulder as our truck approached. Let's see, if a lane is about a dozen feet across or so that would make him very long, like 8 or 9 feet. Glad we were in the truck! There is always something interesting in our travels here.

The haves, the middle class and the have nots

I guess most communities are divided by economics, everyone pretty much knows where the rich folks are in their towns and where the poor folks are. America and the world now have tons of not just millionaires but billionaires. The Forbes ranking of billionaires each spring sort of seems like a competition...who will beat out who? Who'll be number one?

Mexico certainly has those economic differences and in fact local media are now reporting that the guy who was #3 on the last Forbes billionaire list is now #1 bypassing both Bill Gates and Warren Buffet! He is Carlos Slim. This guy owns Telmex, Mexico's national telephone company, a chain of restaurants, bars and stores called Sanborns, all the Sears stores in Mexico, a cell phone company and a bunch more. He's definitely a "have" and yet he doesn't have the philanthropic side that the other two big US billionaire guys have and his attitude is that it's more important to make jobs than to give things to people. Plus there's pretty much no incentive to give under Mexican tax law. I don't know, maybe giving from the heart hasn't occurred to him yet. Perhaps it will someday. I find myself praying for Carlos Slim sometimes. He is definitely among the "haves" in Mexico.

Mazatlan is known world wide as a resort city. It's also home to many wealthy Mexican families. But it's also a working city. An extremely active port, fishing fleets, commercial canning, coffee roasting (the bus downtown goes right by the coffee plant, the aroma is great even though I can't stand to drink the stuff!), a brewery and tons more. Lots of jobs here, therefore lots of houses being built to accommodate those families coming here for jobs. And of course those houses being built make even more jobs. The folks who work in these jobs are mostly among the middle class. They live in neighborhoods similar to ours. Sometimes a little nicer, sometimes a little less nice, but usually good homes in good neighborhoods.

Some of the nicer homes here, there are many more that are much bigger and nicer, but those communities are gated and guarded and you can't get in there!!







If you come here and only stay at your posh resort you'll probably never get see the other side of Mazatlan. It's tempting to stay at the resort, it's quiet, green, clean and serene. Not to mention beach front. You'll miss the trash and graffiti, the people on the street corners risking life and limb in traffic trying to beg a few pesos or dollars from folks. You'll miss the folks who live in pallet houses and those who have no homes at all. You'll miss the "have nots".







I know there are probably extremes like this pretty much everywhere, but in a town with this much money floating around you'd think it would be better. Lots to pray about here every day!

Blessings,

Ralph & Chris

Missing the grandkids!!!

One of the hardest things we deal with here is missing our grandkids. When we were on the mission field before we didn't have 'em, and this time we figured it would be a struggle not seeing them as we wanted to and we were right. We have video cameras on our end and theirs so we do have video chats from time to time and that is a blessing. But lately their camera is on the fritz and so they can see us, but we can't see them. Bummer. Darane' has been just awesome in keeping the photos coming though. Here are some of the latest and greatest.

Savannah's ribbon and flowers for placing second in her group in her gymnastic mini-nationals!



Nick with a slug on a stick, every young northwest boy's dream



Savannah and Nick at Pioneer Park at the site of Ezra Meeker's original Puyallup home



Nick climbing



Helping dad mow



Savannah's last day of school



Not only was it the last day of school, but it was warm enough to run through the sprinklers!

Flashing, booming, pouring, flooding

We’ve had cloudy days of late and nights with thunder and lightning, all signs of the coming rainy season. About midnight Friday morning a huge storm broke and lasted about 90 minutes…it was a lively one. We lost power twice and the thunder was so loud that it shook the house. Not an easy task with a concrete house! Even our telephone service went out.

We noticed that water was leaking in around the air conditioner in our room and wondered how that could happen, but it was too dark to see. And the ceiling in our room was dripping…not a good thing either.

When daylight dawned we first surveyed the damage upstairs and there were leaks not only around the air conditioners, but in the ceilings in the upstairs bath, the stairwell, our bedroom and the big unfinished bedroom in the front of the house.

When we went downstairs we were looking a what remained of a little thin river that ran from the dining room, through the kitchen, bath, living room and then out under the front door. Not a pretty sight!

That is about a half an inch of water stuck in the dining room.

Notice the water marks on the wall behind the fridge and in the downstairs bath!

It was enough water to float the wastebasket!

We called the landlords and they came out within the hour and found the drain on the service patio in the back was hopelessly clogged, so the water had no where to go but into the house and also into the beauty salon next door. They started working to clear the drain and had the worst time of it, it just wouldn’t clear out, so they went next door to the beauty salon and opened up a foot square access in the floor and found it clogged with roots and mud. As they started digging away trying to find the opening for the drain several dozen rather large cockroaches zoomed out of the hole and into the beauty salon setting the girls screaming and running for their bug spray. Ralph stomped the ones that came our direction!!

As they worked away they finally got a hold of a large root from the bougainvillea in the neighbors back yard that had worked it’s way into the pipe. They yanked and yanked on the thing and finally dislodged this huge four foot long, three inch wide glop of root, mud, garbage, a yellow bouncy ball and more cockroaches…yuk! The debris from the pipeline filled two five gallon buckets! They then started on the much longer length of pipe from the beauty salon under our cochera to the road…and it was stuffed with tons of dirt, leaves, plastic bottle caps and mud. But at last they got it free flowing.

They returned on Saturday and put a protective coating all over the rooftop to prevent further leaking and to investigate how water could have leaked into the bedroom via the hole for the air conditioner. Turns out the house next door (which has been under construction for more than three years) added a vaulted roof that forces all their rainwater right down on to our patio wall and also right inside our bedroom!! Our landlord couldn’t believe it when he saw it. Guess it’s completely illegal to build that kind of roof unless it drains onto your own property. Can’t have it drain on anyone else’s. So looks like he’s going to make them change the roof, and he has his property rights behind him to make the change happen!! It will be interesting to see what happens with that!

In any case, we were blessed with just some wet and muddy floors, walls and ceilings and they are already drying out quite nicely. We are so thankful that none of our furniture or electronics were ruined by the little river!! God is good!