Oranges

I love fresh fruit. These mountains and vallies are full of it! Some that I have had before, while others are a new experience. Yesterday, for the second time, I went to this particular village. The road there is one of the prettiest I have ever seen. Water falls. Banana trees. Rolling hills. Streams. Rich blue skies.

The particular I have enjoyed the most, though, are the orange trees. A warm, freshly picked, juicy orange is simply divine! I had four just yesterday! The boys climbed the tree while I waited to catch the fruit.

I thought this young fellow was particularly creative in his attempt (and success!) at reaching the oranges. His legs are still a bit too short for climbing the tree.

Delicously Refreshing

Six years ago was the first and only time I had ever been to Mexico before moving here a couple of weeks ago. I went for a short one-week missions trip. It was to a city far north of here, close to California. We went in July, so it was warm to say they least. Every afternoon a group of us would make our way to a corner store for cokes. Manzana Lift was the favorite. Yesterday I rediscovered this marvelous drink. With the first sip, so many memories from that week came to mind. It was grand.
Oh, and I also managed to buy the drinks all by myself. But not only that, but I understood all that the lady in the store said and was able to answer. Yeah. I left with a smile.

Caroline!

Captured from Skype this morning. :)

What's in a meal?

Yesterday Madame Patience* and I took a couple of buses and walked some to get to a location in the mountains. This place is actually the place I went to for a wedding the first day I was here. I have been there a few times more and am starting to get to know the people. They have meetings there every night, so Madame Patience and I went up to visit a few different families before the meeting. It was late afternoon, so everywhere we went they offered us something to drink. After the fourth house, I was stuffed off of liquid. By the time we got to the sixth house it was after seven so they offered us corn and "soup" stuff.
Let me just say, I have never been so grateful for the lack of electricity and communication. Because it was getting dark, I could not really see what I was eating, and because I could not communicate, no one could tell me what I was eating. And that.was.good. If I was able to see and know what I was eating, I am not sure I would have been able to make it through! Smelling and tasting it was enough for me!! I kept telling myself, "Just pace yourself and in fifteen minutes this will all be over." I think it had some type of cream base to it. And well, milk turns my stomach anyways, and this was warm milk so that did wonders. I ate spoonful after agonizing spoonful. But I was right and in fifteen minutes we were on our way up the mountain to the church.
Sir Count* met us there and we held the meeting. After the singing Madame Patience and I took out all the kids 10 and younger. There were almost 40 of them! Besides the turning in my stomach, it as great!
Later that night we were on our way back to town, when Sir Count stopped to truck, said he would be back in a minute, and ran down a hill. He came back so excited. I mean, downright giddy! Madame Patience said I needed to come with them, so I did. We as we walked down the hill, I recognized the house we had been at for dinner earlier that night.
*Sudden dread*
But Sir Count as still elated, and we went in. Of course, they served us more corn and soup. But this time even the corn was cold. And it was green. And undercooked. But I thought, "There is about to be a revival here, and I am NOT going to allow my dislike of this food to hinder that in any way!"
Well, we ate and there was a little talking, but nothing serious. By this time I was STUFFED and my stomach was in knots. And then they brought out tortillas and cold black beans. I knew I had to have one, so I did. But then they said something to me about it, so I had another.
Then Sir Count told me it was time to go. I thought, "WHAT?!? Time to go? You have to preach to these people and win them to Christ! There is no way it is time to go!!"
But go we did.
I discovered on the way home that those people where already Christians, and Sir Count had not eaten all day, so he wanted something to eat. I thought "Why not wait 45 minutes for us to get back to the house where you could have had something descent to eat?!" Of course I could not say that because I did not know how, but if I could have I do believe I would have. Instead I offered him an apple and he ate at the house once we got back there at 11:30.
And then there was this morning.....
I had to ask my God for forgiveness, yet.again. Forgiveness for not being grateful for what He had given me. Forgiveness for my righteous pride. Forgiveness for thinking that I knew what was best instead of allowing Him to show me HIS best. I also thanked Him for making it impossible for me to do anything except keep my mouth shut. I also realized that we went through all of that for me. Not for the people who's house we where at, or for Sir Count, but for me.
Umm, yeah, talk about humbling.

*Names changed. Obviously.

Just Becasue I Like Them

A Trail of Death

In Mexico things do not run on the same time clock as where I grew up. For instance, if I say I will be somewhere at 7 and I am not there by 7:30 something is wrong and you better give me a call. Well in Mexico if you say you are going to be somewhere at 7 you are basically on time if you are there at 8 or 8:30. Its just the way life is. There are places to go, people to see, and things to do, but it just all works differently. So sometimes there is a good of waiting around. This afternoon as such a time....
Three of us where waiting on the side of a road to be picked up. Naturally we had been waiting a while, so I decided to make the most of my time and get a siesta. A few minutes later, a flock of people came around the bend. They had flowers and a tent thing and where carrying something that looked like a shrine. They were also chanting something that I could not make out. (My Spanish has gotten better, but it is not THAT good. *Yet*) I asked the girl who was with me if it was a funeral. When she said no, I figured out it was a religious ritual. A ritual that was nothing but tradition. It brings no hope....no LIFE.
All it has to offer is death.
I wanted to jump up from my observation spot and say, "It's not true! You can have hope! Jesus Christ is life itself. He has come that you may have life and have it more abundantly!"
Of course I could not, so I prayed for those people, thanked God for the life He has given me, and said to my friend in Spanish, "It is sad. Very, very sad."

[Note: The picture is of the flowers they left behind as they continued down the road.]

Moon

I was up early this morning. This is what I saw when I looked out the window.
Completely full, I do beleive. Ahh. Perfection.

God is Love