Domingo

27 Jan 2013

It was a most unusual Sunday around these parts.  Bob McDowell always hold a church service for all the volunteers here as most of them cannot understand Spanish well enough to attend a church service in town, but first thing this morning Yvonne was loading Bob up in the car and driving him north to the border.  He’s been feeling kinda low the past few days but I guess his coughing got worse in the night and Yvonne was worried he had something bronchial.  She was certainly stressed out when she left before the sun came up.  So we were told we were on our own for holding our own devotions, which we did.

Afterwards, we wanted to show Kory the nature trail surrounding this place so we all went for a walk in the glorious sunshine and looked for wildlife or traces of it.  We just saw bunnies and birds but evidence of coyotes and the wild pigs that live around here.  It rained hard last night so it was strange to see drops of water hanging off cactus needles.  Talk about an oxy-moron.

After we got back, Kory decided to go into town with another guy and attend a service at the small Free Methodist congregation of about 15, so he spent a few hours there this morning while Kaleb and I did a few loads of laundry and hung everything out to dry. 

While Kory was gone, one of the other retired guys here offered to take me to town to an ATM machine to get some pesos and to go buy some produce.  We were nearly out of fresh things to eat so it was a real treat to load up on local fruits and veggies.  It was hard to believe I got four huge bags of produce for less than $20.  I got oranges and tangerines, pineapple, avocados, papaya, mango, potatoes, cucumber, cilantro and bananas.  I also bought some instant ice tea that’s lime flavored that is my new favorite beverage.  Yum.  I’ll be stocking up on that before we leave town, for sure.

The town we are near, Santa Ana, is not as poverty stricken as other places I’ve seen.  There are some really nice houses and no one seems to live in cardboard shacks like near the orphanage we go to on the Baja.  Even still, Tom stood guard over me while I took cash out of the ATM and escorted me very closely in the store.  Nice guy.

This afternoon the sky was mostly cloudy with a cool breeze blowing so it wasn’t conducive to working on my tan when I got back, so I sat in the RV and organized files on my laptop.  That’s a job I’ve been meaning to do for over two years, so it’s kind of nice to have no other to-dos that must be attended to so this one rises on my priority list.

A tradition here is that all the volunteers go out for a late lunch on Sundays so we were invited to join the others at a Sushi restaurant in town.  It was just too funny to be in Mexico eating Japanese food.  I kept waiting for the bowl of chips and salsa to show up.  Even though my Spanish is limited, I was able to tell the waiter Kory had dietary restrictions.  He looked at me funny when I said, “Vegatariano sin gordo…” but I knew it was wrong when I said it… because I literally said “vegetarian without fat” but the word “gordo” is used only for “fat” when describing something large.  Fortunately Kory knew the word for “oil” so he was able to get stir fried veggies and rice with no oil - standard fare when we go out, but at least he got to eat something.  The restaurant was super swanky too, which was also a pleasant surprise, and all three of our meals, plus lemonade all around was less than $25, which is expensive for here but I’m not complaining.

Not long after we returned back to the camp, another couple here offered to take us to a Sunday night church service at a larger church in town.  Kaleb and I opted out, but Kory went and really enjoyed it.  It’s amazing he understands Spanish as well as he does.  Kaleb and I just sat in the RV, he was reading and I was still organizing files on my laptop.  It could take weeks to get that job done.

The quail and the jack rabbits are providing lots of entertainment around here as the quail beep all the time and the rabbits crack me up when they run as they look like they have rear end hydraulics. Their back legs rise up high and rather than hop, they just run like a deer.  It’s so funny to watch.

I spent a good deal of the day in prayer today, not just for Bob, who we found out was admitted to the hospital with fears of pneumonia, but also for friends back home that aren’t doing well. Makes me so thankful we are all healthy and blessed beyond reason.

Kory didn’t get home from church until 9pm.  It started at six, so he was gone far longer than anticipated and dinner wasn’t too warm by the time he made it back.  At least he got food, for which he was most thankful.