More about life in Mexico

The kitchen staff has developed a good routine.  We have 3 large plastic tubs that we fill with purified water and bleach.  We triple bleach the fresh fruits and vegetables (20 minutes for the first step, 20 minutes for the second, and a short rinse for the last step).  We repeat this with bleach and dish soap to wash dishes.

Toilet seats...something we take for granted.  There are no toilet seats here on the toilets.  The gringos created quite a stir in the stores when we began buying seats for our toilets.  They have them in the hardware store, quite old and dusty, but very usable.  I asked the shop keeper for an ´asiento de bano´ but he kept pointing at the toilets they had for sale.  It seems that the toilet rim is of the unit is called the asiento (or seat) of the toilet.  What we were looking for was called a toilet cover.  They got quite a laugh when they realized what we wanted.  As I turned to leave I found locals surrounding the doorway just watching the gringos is a favorite past time when we´re in the stores.

New Years Eve--what a celebration!  The fiesta began early and went early into the next morning.  There was loud music, bands playing, fire crackers, and guns being shot off.  They partied well into the new morning of January.  We spent the evening at our ´compound´ with singing of hymns and a devotional titled Day by Day with David.  We focused on making new years resolutions that would bring us health and happiness (prayer, meditation, Bible reading).  It was a wonderful way to end 2009 and usher in the new year that holds so many hopes and adventures.

The people here are friendly and accepting.  The don´t really have a specific ´look´.  They can have light sandy brown hair, light milky brown skin color, and green or hazel eyes.  Some people have black hair, reddish dark brown skin color, and nearly black eyes.  They are a mostly a mixture of the Mayan and Spaniard cultures.

On a sad note, they treat their animals differently than we do.  We pamper and spoil our pets, but they do not.  The dogs roam in large packs around town and the throughout the ranching community.  They are diseased and starving.  The local dogs are only somewhat better.  It causes us great pain to see these animals suffering, but we cannot do anything for them.  I remind people not to feed them or to touch them.  We cannot start feeding them when they will go hungry when we leave.  And rabies is a very real concern.

As I mentioned in previous entries, we have had numerous challenges.  The weather has been cool which is good for the workers (no sunburns or heat stroke), but also rainy so we have been wet most of the time we have been here.  I believe we are growing webs between our toes by now!

Other challenges have been illness and minor injuries.  One participant has lime burns on his thighs, but our ´Nurse Nellie´is caring for him and he is on the mend.  Many people are having tummy trouble although we consistently urge them to use hand sanitizer and avoid getting the water in their mouth.  We are dispensing charcoal tablets throughout the day and it quickly settles stomachs.  Anyone who isn´t feeling well is taken off the jobsite to rest at the camp.  A little pampering by ´the girls´ gets them up and running in short time.

We are progressing very well on the church site and are currently on scaffolding to do the higher level of blocks above the windows.  The metal windows and roof top arrived yesterday and will be installed later in the week.  We plan to have our next Sabbath service in a finished church.

Israel Torres, the Bible worker we hired, is tirelessly working to share the Good News with the community.  He has met with every family twice so far.  Many are taking Bible studies and some are ready to come to church.  They will join us for the first time this Sabbath.

People desire to meet us and serve us local delicacies.  Wednesday night we will travel to another community to meet the church members there and to have them serve us a Fish Fry.  The people here are not vegetarians--they are farm workers and eat clean meats and fish.  However since we have a couple participants who are solely vegetarian they will also prepare a local dish without meat for them.

We are enjoying the mission trip very much.   Everyone is working well together and new friendships are being created.  The devotionals I put together focus on issues related to mission work, but we are also discussing how we can take what we learn here and put it to use at home.  We feel that God has a mighty work to do in Anchorage and we are open to God using our experiences here to reach people at home.

There is so much to share, but not enough time.  We have hundreds of pictures and will create a slide show to share with our Alaska brothers and sisters.  On January 30th we plan to have a Reporting Back Service to show you how our loving, gracious God has been at work in our lives.

Lynda