Where Are We Anyway?

Las Glorias, Sinaloa, Mexico is located about 500 miles due south of Nogales, Arizona, on scenic Mexico Highway 15. Since we are within the tropical zones, our climate is very mild. We basically have 2 seasons: wet and warm, dry and warm. Temperatures during the winter (the dry and warm season) range from 50 degrees to 80 degrees Farenheit (10-25 degrees Celcius). Absolutely beautiful -- about 8 months of the year. During the summer, the daytime temperature can easily reach 100 F (38 Celcius), but since this is also the wet season, the humidity hovers at about 80-90%, which makes it feel like the temperature is closer to 120F. At night, it cools off to a balmy 90 degrees. Pretty hot and sticky. Generally, though, the climate is very agreeable, and abrupt temperature changes don't happen. Warm in the winter; hot in the summer.

The main industries in our part of Mexico are fishing and agriculture. There is a large shrimp farm less than a mile from our house, and usually seafood is abundant and cheap. Corn is the main crop inland, but also grown are pineapples, tomatoes, beans, peppers, citrus fruits, lichis, mangoes and potatoes. Guasave, our municipio (similar to a county), is an agricultural hub. Migrant workers come from all over Mexico during harvest season to work in the fields. Tourism is beginning to become more prominent, but our colonia (a small village with only a few residents) still has the "small town" feel, and the tourists are usually only passing through en route to Mazatlan or other, more "touristy" destinations south.

Happy Holidays!

Well, it's May 16th. Today is "Teacher's Day" in Mexico. We've decided that May is the most festive month of the year here. Yesterday, Esteban and I were counting the holidays. I'm sure I'm missing some, but here are what I remember: May 3 -- Labor Day, May 5 -- "cinco de Mayo", May 10 -- Mother's Day, May 16 -- Teacher's Day, May 26 -- something else, I think it's students' day. Each of these holidays warrants a day off of school AND since Labor Day and the 5th of May are so close together, they just cancel school for the whole week. And they wonder why the kids here don't read!

Anyway, today I wanted to share a special day with you...yesterday was the first day of hurricane season! Hurrah! Here's a photo of what we like to see when we check hurricane activity online:

Happy Hurricane season, everyone!!!

Rebecca the Web-Master...NOT!

Well, here's a Tackle it Tuesday which doesn't involve housework. I'm beginning to think that I prefer the housework!!! Generally speaking I like projects, but this was a project which just kept growing everytime I turned around!!!

First, a bit of history...

Last November Doug and I began to talk seriously about building a website for our ministry. I searched all over the web looking for domains we could afford (read that: free), but couldn't find anything I thought we would be happy with. Then I ran across a really great Christian web host called Christian Web Host (original, eh?). Their service looked like it would be just what we were searching for. But it was out of our price range. Anyway, I sent a note to the webmaster and he replied that they would be willing to gift us 6 months of webhosting and waive the start-up fee because we were a non-profit ministry. Woo-hoo! Then began the fun of webpage construction. That is also about the time that I discovered how much I DIDN'T know about HTML, HTM, WWW and WYSIWYG. Reading through various web tutorials left my head swimming!

Then I stumbled upon Blogger and immediately fell in love. Point and click! No initials! I love it! So I began to build this blog. It was going pretty well and Doug suggested that I build one for the ministry, too. Still...in the back of my mind...I was missing something...there's just something about having your very own domain name! ;^)

Just after Christmas, I started teaching myself HTML. Well, I couldn't teach myself, so I went surfing and found a couple of great sites. Dave's site was/is a great way to learn basic HTML (hyper text mark-up language...I DID learn something!). The kids are even going through the tutorial and Caleb is having a blast playing with his blog! You just have to ignore all the advertising...at least there weren't any naked ladies! Robert over at self-promotion was another fount of information. [and I might also add that his site is the first web site I have EVER visited where I didn't find a single typo, misspelled word or incorrect verb usage. I'm sure his 8th grade English teacher would be proud!]

Well, the long and the short of it is this: I finally uploaded a working webpage on Tuesday, April 29...2 days before my May 1 deadline! Believe me, it was quite a tackle. I fought and fought with this *site* (bless its heart!) for the better part of Tuesday and to be totally honest it's been a 3 month battle. My biggest problem has just been ignorance (mine!), but at least I can learn! There's hope for me yet!

This blog and our ministry blog have been SUCH blessings because they actually WORK. I've even been able to get creative, thanks to Dave and Robert! I will for sure be keeping the blogs -- I know when I have a good thing! But now I can say that I have built a webpage...and I REALLY appreciate a good webpage when I see one now. Never again will I take those cool graphics and smooth layouts for granted!!!

SOOOO...
I have a favor to ask --
If you're bored and feel like spending a few minutes looking at more photos of red-headed missionary kids, would you go check out our site and search through it for broken links, typos, errors or things that could be better. For example, looking at it last night I noticed that a photo on the Las Glorias page was doubled. How did I do that? I don't know. I also noticed that our Oregon mailing address on the contact page is the same as our Mexican mailing address. I do know how I did that. I'll fix those on Saturday. Just post a comment here if you find any other oopseys. I've looked at it so much that I no longer see anything. It's all a blur.

My other problem has been our connection speed. We have dial-up. We have dial-up like what we had in Po-dunk, Oregon, 15 years ago. So, getting websites with lots of photos or graphics to load in anything like a reasonable time is a challenge. I finally got our site small enough that it at least loads here...slowly. For most of the world, that isn't an issue, but if it is sluggish to load for anyone else but me, I'd like to know that, too.

Thanks ahead of time to those valientes who will dare to check us out on the world wide web! FLOW international

All comments and constructive criticisms welcome!!!

Wordless Wednesday

A definite "perk" to having mission teams come down from the States: PEANUT BUTTER!!! Jessee has the creamy and Seth is lovin' the crunchy.

A Six-Word Tag

Marina from "Daughter of the King" just tagged me with 6 words or phrases about myself. AND since I do love to multi-task, I'm doubling it up with My Walk Monday (finally!).

Well, I tend to talk more about stuff going on around me than I do about things going on in my head or heart. I thought maybe I should use this tag to share a few things that God is working on in my life right now.

So here are 6 things that either God is planting, growing or pruning in my life...

Hospitality -- I have always loved to invite people into my home. I've found it easier to do that here in a place where it's not so important that the house be decorated correctly and the food "fashionable and expensive". Hospitality is about the home, not the house.

Teacher -- I've been a teacher forever (feels like!) and probably always will be. But God is showing me that #1 I'm teaching every moment -- even when I don't realize it and #2 Teaching is more than preparing my kids to enter college. Sarah just informed me a couple of weeks ago that she's not sure that she even cares to go to college. Gulp. Well...what was my point in teaching her all these years? Was it so she could go to a great university, graduate with honors and go get a high-paying job? No. Definitely not. [although, face it, isn't that in the back of every moms' mind at some point?] Our purpose in educating our kids is that they would learn discernment and have wisdom to know the plans God has for their lives -- and the faith to pursue those plans! As a teacher, I need to remember that purpose.

Learner -- Lest I ever become proud and begin to think that I've learned all there is to learn about anything!!! Last week I was humbled by a little girl who stated bluntly, "You don't speak Spanish really well." Like I needed to be told that! Well, bless her heart, I don't. I try, and I can make myself understood, but if you're comparing me to any native Spanish speaker that you know, I don't speak Spanish very well. Out of the mouths of babes...

Faithfulness -- God teaches us His faithfulness by allowing us to go through deserts and remaining faithful. By that I mean both that throughout our time in the desert we learn to remain faithful to Him, and also that while we languish in the wilderness, He remains faithful to not abandon us.

Quiet -- Now, this is not to say that I am quiet. Anyone who knows me, would not put "quiet" as a description of me!!! This would be one of those areas in which God is doing some pruning! The verse that is popping into my head is the Psalm which says, "Be still and know that I am God." Normally we see that verse printed as a caption for a photo of some guy in a fishing boat on a placid lake. Well, that's not the context of the verse (and it's not the whole verse, either!). In reality the context should read more like this: "Shut your mouth and listen up! Know this: I am God. I will be exalted among the nations." This is the way in which God is using the word "quiet" in my life today.

Joy -- I am learning to find the joy in every day -- just the way God made it! There is definitely joy in the journey! Some days, I have to scrape the junk off the top to find it, but I know that the joy is there if I dig deep enough. "This is the day that the Lord has made! I will rejoice and be glad in it!!!" That's not a suggestion! That's a commandment!!!

OK. There are my 6 words. Yeah!

Hmmm....who will I tag? I think I'll tag a couple of Mexican missionaries I know: Michelle from Ensenada and Sarah from Las Glorias (that would be my daughter!).

Have a blest day everyone!

Silent Sunday

Wordless Wednesday

Tackle it Tuesday -- Tuh-maters

This tackle was actually a couple of weeks ago, but I actually have time to post today, so...here ya go!

I've found yet another reason to love living in Mexico: canning tomatoes in April. I've been a "canner" for ages. Growing up in the midwest, I used to watch my mom preserving jams and jellies and tomatoes and pickles. I just naturally inherited the desire to preserve foods for my family. Honestly, I love to process fruits, veggies and even fish, because at the end of the day, I can look at what I've done and see PROGRESS! So much of a mom's life is dishes and laundry and other jobs which have no end. Canning, on the other hand, has a beginning and an end and best of all -- a reward!

So, we come back to why I enjoy canning tomatoes in April. Well, tomatoes are a hot weather crop. In Oregon, they really start to ripen in the warm summer months of July and August. Tomatoes are at their best and cheapest for the hottest weeks of the year. Water-bath canning requires holding gallons and gallons of water at boiling for hours (since I usually put up over 100 quarts of tomatoes) plus the tomato sauce has to boil for hours before it's ready to process. I've done it for years, but MAN is it hot in the house during canning season! In Oregon, I actually had an old, ugly stove on the front porch specifically for canning. It helped, but it was still hot.

Now we're in Sinaloa, Mexico. Tomatoes are in season all year long! In the morning, it's still cool enough to want a sweatshirt and long pants. Running the stove and boiling water for hours actually felt good! Ah, no more processing gallon after gallon of sauce in 100 degree heat! I can stock up in the spring and beat the heat!

Just one more benefit of missionary life! Thanks, God!

At my feet you can see two of the wooden crates of 'maters I was processing. Each crate is about 50 pounds.

I really love my stove. I've never had one large enough to have a canner, stew pot AND small saucepan boiling all at the same time.

Can we say "oxidation"? Love that humidity!

NOT an extremely flattering photo. Anyway, we ended up with about 50 quarts of sauce. It was great to be able to share with our pastor and the school of ministry, too...and we had to have a pizza party since we had all that pizza sauce ready!!!

Motoring Missionary Chicks

I was digging through and organizing photos on my computer the other evening and I ran across this picture of a couple of missionary sisters. I just had to share!

The two girls are Mavil and Melissa. Mavil is driving the motorbike and she's one of the two young ladies living with us and preparing to serve in Africa. Melissa is on the back of the bike. She pops in and leaves comments here and at our ministry blog from time to time. Right now, she's in Japan working with believers there. You can see what she's up to by checking out her blog at United in Christ.

Sorry, Melissa! Beg all you want, but I'm not taking this photo off! It brings back too many good memories! Miss you, Sister!

Private Tutors

Two girls from the school of ministry moved into our house a couple of weeks ago. It's been a real treat having these young ladies living with us! In addition to evening the "score" (it's now 5 girls and 5 boys in the house), we've been blessed with "authentic" Mexican food and an added bonus: private tutors for the twins!!! Seth and Jessee have really struggled with those pesky Spanish verbs. Over the past three weeks, though, I've watch their confidence build with every lesson and now they are reading the Bible in Spanish!!! Wa HOO!

For quite some time, they've been able to understand what is said around them, but I know from experience that it's harder to turn it around and express yourself. It's so wonderful seeing them make real progress. They see it, too, and are excited that they are finally getting somewhere in their Spanish lessons.

Sometimes, I guess it's just nice to have a teacher besides mom! Sniff. I won't take it personally, though!!!

So, why did Karen and Mavil join our family? Well, these young ladies have missionary hearts. They graduated from Calvary Chapel's School of Ministry in March and are planning to go to Africa within the year to serve at an orphanage in Uganda. One requirement, though, is a basic understanding of English, since there are translators available for English to the national language, but not for Spanish.

English is a troublesome language to learn. Even with a good ear and good teachers and good materials, American vowels are a pain! Who ever heard of one vowel that has 4 different sounds when it's by itself and another 7 different sounds depending on which other vowels or consonants accompany it? And that's just the letter "u". The "e" is worse, because it also has the honor of being silent for 5 different reasons, and one of those reasons is "Just because". Ugh. Add to that the fact that most Americans talk really fast! Wow. I have great respect for folks who have learned English as a second language. Hats off to them!!!

So, next time you're in a grocery store and you hear someone speaking English -- and it's obvious that they're still learning it -- encourage them!!! I gripe about Spanish verb conjugations...a lot...but I still think I would prefer to know English and be learning Spanish than vice versa. I think I'd be throwing up my hands in frustration by now!!!

Also, whenever you think of it, pray for Mavil and Karen. Living with us is challenging for me sometimes! ;^) We've got a lot of bodies in our little house! Pray that these girls would be able to conquer English soon! Their hearts are ready to be in Africa!!!