Fall in Sinaloa

Well, we haven't posted much lately, have we? You know it's been a long time when you can't remember your username and password! Sorry about that. With the cooler weather here, I should be able to find more energy and time to keep you all updated!

It's late October in Las Glorias and the heat has finally rolled out to sea. Hurricane Rick blew past us last week and it looks like he took all the humidity with him. Thank you, Lord!

Now we begin preparations for our winter mission teams who will be coming down soon. In fact, our first team should arrive next week. Keep them in your prayers! They are a family from Sacramento.

In the meantime, we've been doing some "yard beautification" during the past week. A friend gave us some laurel branches to plant. They say that all you do is plant them and water them and in a few months we'll have trees. We'll see what happens! It will certainly be nice to have shade on the house when summer comes back around.

You have no idea how wonderful it is to be able to work outside -- in long pants, no less -- without sweating...too much! The kids are still splashing around in the pool, but it's pretty chilly now when the breeze picks up. The evening temps inside the house now are in the upper 70s. Brrrrr! ;^)

Fishing season is in full swing. While the quantity of shrimp leaves a little to be desired, the quality is out of this world! One of the brothers brought these little beauties over last week. They hardly deserve to be called shrimp!

Continue to pray for the fishermen of our village. With the small amount of shrimp coming in, one would expect the prices to go up. This hasn't been the case, though. The selling price is lower than ever, which makes life very hard on these poor fishermen -- fewer shrimp and lower prices for the ones they do catch.

Sarah continues her work at the deaf school in Los Mochis. Practically the whole school came over last weekend for a day at the beach. We had a blast! It was so good to have Sarah home -- even if only for a couple of days! You can click over to her blog to read her weekly updates. She is adjusting well to life as Teacher and is excited to see what God will do in her next weeks there. She will be at the school full-time until Christmas. After that, well, we'll cross that bridge when we get there!

Meanwhile, kids' classes continue at the church in Boca del Rio. We started the new year in October with new teacher and a new system. God is growing our children's ministry. Hurrah! We've been averaging about 50 kids per week for the Saturday classes and many of these kids have been coming on Sunday morning and Wednesday afternoon church services, too. Wow! Last week, for example, we had 28 kids at the Wednesday prayer service...and only 14 adults showed up! Pastor Ricardo quickly adjusted his message to suit a younger audience. Flexibility is definitely a key to life in Mexico!


Please pray for the children of Boca del Rio. There is so much lack and despair in their lives. Pray that the church would be able to reach out to them and demonstrate God's love for them.

Well, it was a short update, but at least you know that we're still alive and kicking here in Sinaloa!!! More posts will follow -- and, Lord willing, with more regularity!

Que Dios les bendiga!!!

Guided Tours

The fishing here in Boca del Rio is wonderful in November and December. The locals have been pulling in 10 pound red snapper, sea bass and a lot of others that I don't know the names of in English for the past couple of months. Pat and Gary, our friends from Oregon, like to fish as much as Doug does, so they managed to kidnap Esteban (who was pretty happy to be dragged along) and hired one of the men from La Pitaya to take them out fishing while they were here.

The guys got up early (twice, actually, but that's another story) and headed to the canal to catch some bait. The big fish only bite on live shrimp or small fish.

Esteban demonstrated the proper techniques for throwing the taralla (hope I spelled that correctly) and explained how to hold it...and why. He said that some guys tie the net onto their wrist or thumb, but the experienced person will tie it to the middle finger or pinky. Why? Well, many times a person will throw the net into the water from a boat. If the net happens to get caught in the propeller, the appendage tied to the net will get taken off. It's better to lose the pinky finger than the thumb or your whole hand. Pretty effective object lesson, I must say.

The guys then went to La Pitaya to meet up with Chabelo, who wasn't the only early morning fisherman out!

After being on the river a few hours, they then headed over to a place near the mouth of the river to fish from the shore. No pictures, sorrry! The photographer dropped the guys off at the boat!

At the end of the day, the guys had a 5 gallon bucket full of fish and were headed home. Since we women had the van, they were on foot. They met guy on the beach who looked like he could use some fish and asked if he'd like them. "I don't have any money, though," he said. Doug explained, "No!! We just want to give it to you!" He was happy then!

The younger boys went out with the dads the next day and did manage to bring in a few good-sized fish.

Lunch!!!

No, that's not a fish on Christian's plate. We served pigs-in-a-blanket for those who don't "do" fish.

So, they didn't catch as much as they wanted, but I think that's why they call it "fishing".

Fishermen of Boca del Rio

Doug, Ladis and Ladis’s brother Guedo went out shrimping. They left at 5 a.m. At 9 p.m. I got a message that they were back at port and ready to come home.









I headed over to Boca to meet the boat, not knowing that the guys still had to empty the nets and descabezar (dehead) the shrimp. For the next hour, they guys plus all the wives pulled shrimp, crabs, small fish, starfish and debris from two 100 meter long nets. Then Mavil and I popped heads and separated the big shrimp from the little. The guys’ final tally was 90 kilos of shrimp – 200 pounds. Wow.


















After the first few days, however, the shrimp count dropped drastically. Yesterday’s catch (an 8 hour day) was only 9 kilos for one of our friends. At $10 per kilo, that barely covers the cost of gas.

When he got home the first day, Doug was absolutely beat. Sixteen hours in the blazing sun in a small boat full of dead fish had taken its toll. Over the next week, Ladis and Guedo went out a couple more times, but they struggled with the boat motor a lot. Doug decided that a better (and MUCH less physically draining) use of his time was to do some work he’d been hired to do for an American family here in Las Glorias.




The life of a fisherman here in Boca del Rio is not an easy life. The pescador struggles against his flesh in the daily, back-breaking work of hauling in lines. He struggles with the equipment which is so quickly destroyed by the salt and the water. He struggles with corrupt authorities who steal his profit for their selfish gain. He struggles with the storms that roll in unexpectedly and fish which stray from their normal migration paths and tides which seek to capsize his boat and take his life. With these conflicts day after day, many men turn to alcohol and drugs as a sedative or a pain-reliever. Our prayer is that the men of Boca who are believers would be able to shine out and show a better way to deal with these struggles. Pray that they would not lose heart!

Cast-aways?

Caleb has been taking "casting lessons" from his friend Abimael. He's gotten pretty good! Actually, he's gotten REALLY good! He and Abi are looking forward to shrimp season opening!

The net the boys are using is called a taralla (tah RYE ah). They wrap the net carefully into a bundle and then toss it with amazing finesse. When the net hits the water, it is a perfect circle -- weighted down to the ocean floor. Then they haul it in with the rope which is attached.

This net is perfect for bringing in shrimp and bait for larger fish. The boys are hoping to be able to catch bait and sell it to the tourists during tourist season. Should be quite the lucrative (and fun) business!

Caleb got a taralla of his own for his birthday, so I would expect to see more photos on his blog soon!