Hola friends and family!

We have set-up camp and finally feel at home.  The work is progressing nicely, so much so that we are rotating workers off the jobsite to help at the base camp and to take side excursions with the local people.

We have been beset by illness, injuries, torrential rains, and other miscellaneous frustrations.  Our team nurse, Janell, has been kept busy tending to minor health issues day and night.  The sick and injured team members are on the mend and we praise God for His loving care and tender mercies.

The team is held firmly together by our faith in Jesus Christ and our commitment to do the Lord's work.  God has protected us as we traveled from far and wide to serve Him in Mexico.  We are very excited to see His hand in our lives.

We have enjoyed communing with the local people.  They are very gracious to us!  They are also very patient as we try our limited Spanish on them and use our Spanish dictionaries to search for the right word.  We, the team members and locals alike, have spent hours laughing at our attempt to communicate.  However, we are doing it and building friendships as we go along.

Cheryl, Janell, and I are followed down the street by the locals as we walk to the near by market.  I am told we are the first white people many of them have seen and may possibly ever see.  In fact the friend of a Penitas church member, Lino, told him that if the gringos came to Penitas he would get baptized! Guess where Lino is tonight?  Yes, talking to his friend about getting baptized. 

Also I heard that when the gringos come into a shop it attracts more business because everyone wants to come in and find out who we are and what we are doing.  The shopkeepers become celebrities! 

The church members where we are staying are open and  loving.  They have embraced us as fellow believers and opened their church meetings to include us.  They are currently having 40 days of fasting and prayer meetings and we are greeted at 5am by the sound of Spanish hymns as they begin their day in worship.

In addition to the heavenly music of our Spanish friends, we are kept awake at all hours of the night by our neighbors roosters, turkeys, ducks, chickens, dogs, and cows!  Very few team members have actually slept all night long due to the downpours, the animals, the sick team members, and of course, the ever present snoring of certain unnamed team members.

So in conclusion, we are exhausted, soggy, and saturated with all the new things we are encountering BUT we are totally thrilled to be experiencing every moment of this mission trip!

We request continued prayer support.  See you in one week,

Lynda