Cool Photo Thursday

I see so many interesting sights here. Thought I'd share one today.

Wonderful old tree outside the church in Tamazula, Sinaloa, Mexico.

Preparing for Rain

It's that time of year! Hurricane season is upon us, so we're battening down the hatches and trying to finish up some outdoor projects we've been putting off since last rainy season.

Here are some pics of Doug, Andrew and Sarah tearing down our tejaban (awning) and replacing the palm fronds and the old, shredded tarp.

Sarah pulled down all the old fronds -- including the buckets and buckets of concrete debris from all the construction we've done over the past two years.

Doug and Sarah hauled the old tarp away from the house -- you should have seen the dust cloud when they pulled that thing down!!! That's why Doug looks like this:

Doug Vader

The city workers had just trimmed the palms lining the boulevard, so Doug and the boys went out and gathered what we needed.
Then up went the new tarp.

Carefully.

And then they were done! Hopefully, this means that when the rains come we won't have a lake in front of the house. That is, at least, the plan!!!

Lord, bring the rain!!!

Attention Grabber

We were in Home Depot a couple of weeks ago and I noticed this near the checkout...

I watched the crowd grow for a few moments and wondered what everyone was looking at. No one was moving...

Wanna guess???

Mexico vs. Italy

The World Cup is such a big thing here, the schools dismissed classes or brought TVs into the classroom so that the students (and, more importantly, the teachers) could watch the games. At least they have their priorities straight. :^)

Guasave Campaign

Last night we went to a compaña in Guasave. The word compaña translated directly to English is “campaign”. It’s not, however, a campaign the way most Americans would think of a campaign. No politicians make speeches and no one passes out “VOTE” buttons. There were “campaign posters” around, since Sinaloa is preparing to elect a new governor, but the compaña was not a political meeting.

The Guasave Alliance of Pastors hosted a large prayer and praise outreach in downtown Guasave. And the city gave permission for them to block off one of the main boulevards to do it!

The banner says, “Guasave, Jesus is your answer!” You can tell by the speakers that the band came prepared to praise!

I’m not sure what the final head-count was by the end of the evening, but when the music started there were at least 200 people seated. The location was perfect. In addition to chairs and benches, the park next to the street was full of people who had wandered past and stopped to listen.

It was good to gather with believers from all around – many of whom we hadn’t seen for ages. It was also good to see many new faces, since church members were asked to invite non-believers to this event. We packed 18 people into our van (some from the church and a couple from the community, too).

The theme of the night was that Jesus Christ is the answer for all of our struggles. Only God has the power over despair, fear, loneliness, illness and whatever else is threatening to overtake you. It was a very timely message!

Like we shared in our last newsletter, the gospel message should never become old news to us! When we have an opportunity to hear it again, we should, and when we have a chance to share it, we should do that, too!