Beware the roaches...

Cockroaches.

Yes, this is a story about a cockroach. I didn't give him a name in real life, but perhaps we can call him Roachie.

Cockroaches, while not any sort of threat to life here in Ixtlan, do exist. Ask Jodi. One interrupted our Skype-chat conversation one night when it went crawling across my desk and I had to wage an impromptu war. I won that one. Raid spray is my favorite, then I don't have to deal with crunching exoskeletons and just sweep up the roach a couple of days later.

Anyway. Roachie.

Today I went to plug my iPod into the speakers I have in the classroom. The textbooks we have use quite a bit of audio and so I use my iPod during class. Well, I had a problem. The speakers weren't getting any juice. No matter how many times I pushed in the power button, nothing happened. No power light. No sound. Nothing. This can be frustrating, especially when you need sound. Thankfully I didn't need it today, although it came close.

Anyway. Speakers.

So I had class and went back to trying to figure out what was wrong. After trying different electric outlets and being generally confused, I shook the speaker to see if any parts were loose.

It sounded like a small etch-a-sketch. This made sense. It's been windy lately and dry. I just didn't think that much dust and sand could have gotten in the speaker while being in the school.

'Ah, well' I thought, 'Time to do surgury.' Of course I didn't have the screwdrive that I needed in the house so after borrowing one from Marshall and Jan, I proceeded to commence operations on my speaker. The operation was pretty typical. They put the screws in the deepest holes so you can never really tell what you are doing. You just have to have a long skinny screwdriver. I think the electonics companies are working with Craftsman.

Well, I got the speaker open and the 'sand' started to fall out. It looked familiar. It looked like the aftermath of a roach. By aftermath, I mean fecal matter. Not cool. So, with greater caution and over the trash can, I continue opening the speaker and, there, scared to death (with good reason I would think), staring back at me was Roachie. Roachie had made home amongst all the wires of my speakers. Considering that we haven't had classes for three weeks. I have no clue how long he had been living there.

I proceeded to do the only logical thing. I knocked Roachie out of the speaker and into the trash can and went for the Raid can.

That took care of Roachie, but what about the speakers. Allowing for the fact that I know nothing about the inter workings of electronics, I feel like I gave things a pretty good looking over, but I don't think Roachie like the way things were organized and had done his damage. Thankfully we didn't pay much for those things.

so I swept things up and and am ready to move on now. Excitement for the day is now over. I think, who knows what else may happen.



Here is Roachie on his way out. Poor guy. Wrong place at the wrong time.


Prayer:

1. We started classes again today. We have six more weeks. Pray that these weeks would be productive academically and in relationships. Pray that God would use this year for His glory and that He would do His work. Pray that we could finish strong leave these kids thinking about more than just English.

*By the way, I'm coming home June 29th and will be home until the 20th of July. Woohoo!

**Oh, it rained last Thursday and Friday night. Yea!!

We had one day of school on Monday before schools, at least what would be elementary and middle schools, were told to shut down again as precautionary measures and to clean the schools. So here I sit again.

I am not blockmaking this week. I have to catch up on some other things. I finished an online course for teaching English and am going to try to get some more things figured out for the next year. Not much going on really.

I will say this. I am looking forward to rain. It's like a game right now. A really bad waiting game. It could rain any day, but you never know when that will be. I miss the peacefulness of a good soft rain and the power in a good storm. So I wait for the rain. Maybe today, maybe not.

Also, Grant Herrmann is coming back for the summer. He will get her the 22 of May, in about a week. So there will be another person around here. The summer will go fast I know and soon I will be teaching again, but that's okay. That's why I am here, no?

Prayers:

1. Pray for the last couple of weeks of English classes and praise God that we have been able to make connections with many kids here in Ixtlan. Pray that we can continue those relationships.

2. Pray for the continued work on the school. We still have a lot of work to do and there are still many things that need to be pulled together. Pray that we would have wisdom as we work through these things.

Swine Flu and blockmaking

So, because of the Swine Flu here in Mexico, schools have been shut down until at least May 6th. Although we are not an official school, that means us too. No classes at the Colegio de las Americas until next Tuesday. So I have this short little vacation. So instead of teaching, I suddenly have all this free time. So...

I am now a bolqueador, a block maker. Mario and Efrain are starting a a block making business. I mean blocks like construction blocks. So today I went and helped them. I officially made several blocks and threw around a lot of sand and concrete. It was a good time and I enjoyed the time with Mario and Efrain. I think that tomorrow I get to play at being a abanil, an mason (bricklayer). It should be fun.

I'll fill you all in later.

Prayer:

1. Keep praying for those suffering throughout the world because of the swine flu. More pray that God calms the fears of people throughout the world.

2. Pray for continued growth here in the church and in each member and new believer. Pray that each one can grow in the word and in prayer.

Maybe that's why they were called unclean...

So, I don't know what you all have heard of the swine flu up there. Probably more than I have. Apparently I am right in the midst of the excitement. Rumor has it that schools in Mexico are all closing until May sixth. I have my suspicions about this though since they already had this Friday and next Monday off, so it might just be a good excuse to have a couple of more days off.

Actually, it isn't really a laughing matter to a lot of people. The last statistic I read said that there are 140 deaths being blamed on the swine flu in Mexico with thousands of suspected cases. We haven't seen anything around here, but people are starting to put on the masks. As far as I know most of the cases are still centered around Mexico City, but I am sure it will be spreading. It brings good reason for prayer.

1. Pray for the people suffering from the sickness. Flu is never fun, especially, I imagine, when it's connected to something of this proportion. Pray for fast recoveries and God's provision for all the care providers out there.

2. Pray for the families of those who have already lost family members to the sickness. Pray that they would feel God's true comfort and come to know him through the pain and loss.

3. Pray for those who are working to stop this. Pray for the scientists and the many who are working to contain and prevent the further spread of this flu.

We know that the world is fallen and because of that things like this happen. We also know that God is in control. God loves us and He is working his wonders and mercy in the midst of this pain and suffering we have brought on ourselves.

It may sound bad, but we are all doing just fine here and look forward to continuing to serve the community here in Ixtlan.

Also, pray for the school. We are being inspected tomorrow. Hopefully this will be the last step for getting the incorporation for the school. Pray that all goes well and that we can move on with the school for next year.

First, official appologies. Water came back on day 12. That was a long time ago, so if you were still worried about the water. We are doing fine now. (Although it still isn't raining and won't for another couple of months probably.) And while I am at it. Wow. It has been too long since I posted here. A lot has happened. Eye Clinic. Jeff visited. Went to Barra Vieja. Abe came and visited. Classes started up again.

So, first things first. Eyes.

Bryan and Kara Stoller were here with their son Derek for an eye clinic. They brought along their neice, Lynette, as well as Corey and Beth Steffen and three of their kids, Tiffany, Tammy and Ryan. Bryan worked with in the eye clinic all day. The kids helped to give out glasses and did a very good job. There was a lot of help from the church as well since there was a lot to do. Corey did some work in the guest house and Kara and Beth prepared meals for all the help. It was a great week and everything went really well.

Around 250 glasses were given out in the course of 4 days. It was a great opportunity provide for the people in the Ixtlan community. Pray with us that the generosity of Bryan and so many people back in the states that have given glasses would result in people seeing spiritually for the first time here in Ixtlan.

Here are the visitors: (Front: Derek, Lynette, Tammy, Tiffany, Ryan Back: Bryan, Kara, Beth, Corey)



More visitors....

Jeff came on the 30th of March to visit. We left on at about 5:00 in the afternoon on April 2nd for Barra Vieja. There is a small group there of 4 believers that the church has been discipling for some time now. (We are hoping to have some baptisms this summer.) It was about 15 hours by bus to get to Acapulco and then another 45 minutes to get to Barra Vieja. It was great to have a break and to relax a little for a couple of days. It was also great getting to know the believers there and discuss the Easter story with them and the great work of Jesus for us.

Abe Habegger met us in Acapulco and we shared a great week there. For all of you stuck in cold weather. It was VERY warm there, but we survived. Here is a picture looking out at the ocean from the roof of the house that we stayed in.



Here are Jeff and I on the bus on the way back to Ixtlan. Abe really was here, but he didn't leave me any pictures of himself, so I guess you just have to take my word for it.



So we all came back to Ixtlan together and had a nice weekend to finish everything off. Now I am back in the groove of things and ready to tackle the last couple months of classes before summer and a trip home!

Prayer:
1. Pray for God's continued work in the lives of the believers here. Pray especially for the new converts that we have. We had five people start repenting in the past month and a half. Pray for their continued growth and for their sincere desire for a new life with Christ.

2. Pray for God's continued work in the community of Ixtlan. Pray for the many, many people who remain decieved. Pray that they would see the light, that they would be thirsty for the truth and that blind eyes would be opened.

Buckets

So, today is day 11 without water. I officially ran out of 'tinaco' water today, so I am relying on buckets. This makes for a very interesting and different lifestyle. I am very spoiled by the 'tinaco' and haven't had to live out of a bucket before, but I think this will be a good experience.

Here is the the funny part. Yesterday they fixed the pump. Today rumor has it that the pump is pulled back out. They are apparently still working on it, so we're now going for the record. Marshall says the longest they have ever been without water is 18 days. That is a week from today.

To make things more interesting, Bryan Stoller is coming tomorrow with a group to do an Eye Clinic here in Ixtlan. That means 9 more people are moving into the house and we will all be living out of buckets. Things will be very interesting.

Prayer:
1. Pray for the Eye Clinic and the work that will be done during the week that Bryan and group are here. We will be working on Saturday (21st) and Monday - Wednesday (23-25). Pray for the people who come for glasses, pray that they will be touched by the spirit in some way while they are here.

2. Pray for each of us here in Ixtlan, that we would take advantage of the next week to get to know more people and to challenge ourselves to reach out to them during this week when we have so many people coming to us.

Water, water (not) everywhere...

Not only has everyone given up hope that I will ever post again on this blog, but I have also failed in my resolution to include a picture of all the visitors that pass through Ixtlan. Sorry to Loren and Besty Shrenck, Julie Haerr, and Mike and Sharice Reinhard. Also, my deep apologies to Mike and Deb Leman.

Loren and group were here for an eye clinic. Loren does examinations on Monday and then does surgeries on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. I believe he did 13 surgeries this time. I am not sure exactly. He does a great job and has helped a lot of people over the past 6 or 7 years.

It was nice to have people in the house for the week and to get to know them better. They were the last visitors for the month of Febuary. They left the 28th. I am always guaranteed some great treats when they are here (they made some tasty strawberry jam this time which I am enjoying a lot).

I had a couple of days off to regroup and to get used to being alone again and then Mike and Deb came from Denver. Mike is our elder, so we were able to take advantage of the time have Communion. We appreciate his willingness to share with us here in Ixtlan as well as Barra Vieja, Morelia, and Magdalena. Pray for him and his work here in Mexico. It is demanding but so rewarding.

In other news. We have been without water from the city since Monday. That means this is day six without having my little black water holder on top of the roof filled by the city.

I am having company this weekend, so I just decided to climb up and see how much what I have. (Climbing up to the roof is a little more difficult than one may think. Of course, on could get a ladder, but that would take too much work, so I have to literally pull myself up onto the roof.) Anyway, I was pleased, and I am sure Jan will be as well, to find that I have about half a tank left. That should get me to next Friday, but I certainly hope we have water again by then. Here are some pictures from my trip to the roof.



Here is the 'tinaco' as it is called here in Mexico, otherwise know as the 'little black water holder' on top of the roof. Turns about to be about as high as my chin, so 'little' might not be the right word here.



Here is a picture of the inside. You can see all the nice clear water, just waiting to be used up, just not too quickly.

So, hopefully the water comes back soon. Until then we practice a life of conservation. It is probably good practice for me. You would be surprised how little water you actually need for dishes, bathing, brushing your teeth. A little can go a long way. And no, this isn't the water we drink, otherwise there would be some bigger problems.

Enjoy the abundant water up there.

Prayer:
1. Pray for our perseverence here. Pray that we don't let Satan get us down. Pray that we keep our eyes on the cross and that we don't loss track of the reason we are here. Pray for strong purpose in our work and in our lives.

2. Pray for wisdom in seeing how God is working in the the community here in Ixtlan. Pray that we would wouldn't fight against God's work, but be willing to go where he is leading us.