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| Updates for 2008 - September
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| I had only planned on doing one update today, but have a
pleasant surprise that I needed to share with you. We
received our end-of-month financial reports from our mission agency
today and while reviewing them I discovered that we have 2 new
supporting churches! These are Grace Independent Baptist Church
in Bridgeport, West Virginia and High Point Baptist Church in
Meadowview, Virginia! With these two new churches our support is
now at 60.27%. We also received a $200 gift from Grace Baptist
Church in Woodstock, Virginia, to help with the cost of repairs
associated with the recent flooding. The Lord continues to
provide, and we are thankful that He is always in control!
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| Another month is about to end. As in the last
letter, still not much to report. Everyone is well, and we
continue with our normal daily schedule. The 50+ mile one-way
trip each day is somewhat taxing, but the Lord is being overly good to
us, so we certainly can't complain about this small requirement in our
training. I'm personally looking forward to the men's retreat
this coming weekend. I found out this past Sunday that we can
bring our guns and do a little target shooting (as well as varmint
shooting, if we desire). So, that should be interesting.
Since I have a lot of space left I'll tell you a couple of other
interesting valley facts. First, I discovered some information
about illegal border crossings down here. In the past year
(October 2007 - September 2008) the border patrol captured nearly
75,000 illegal aliens here in the valley alone. That's about 200
per day. That's a lot of people. That also leads into the
second interesting fact, and that is the border wall. It is very
slowly being built down here, but it sure is expensive. They are
building a section right now in McAllen and it is costing around
$1,000 per foot to build. I think I need to go into the wall
building business!! Well, I guess I'll close this post and get
back to studying Spanish.
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| Not much to say today, but I figured I'd share some
interesting "stuff" with you. First, we've found one
thing that's very different about life in the valley. There are
a lot of rocks on the road. We knew that 75% of the roads in
Starr County were not paved, but we didn't think that would affect us,
since we travel only on paved roads currently. We were
wrong. Apparently all those people that do drive on the other
roads bring the rocks with them. Then, when they hit the
pavement rocks start flying everywhere. We've been here for 8
weeks now and have already cracked our windshield 4 times! Two
of them are still very small. One is about 10 inches long.
The last occured today and is in the exact middle of the windshield
and has short cracks extending in about 8 directions (that one will
probably be really ugly in a week or so). But, you drive around
a while and you begin to notice that everyone has cracked
windshields, usually multiple cracks running all different
directions. Such is life in the valley! Second, our little
county keeps making the news. Lots of drug busts have netted
amazing quantities of drugs. From Oct-Dec of last year there
were 71,939 pounds of marijuana captured, worth a total of $57
million! This year I've seen specific reports of 17,158 pounds
worth a total of $14 million, but those are just some of the most
recent big news busts. They also caught someone smuggling 756
pounds of cocaine worth $23 million as well. So, in just 12
months they've caught at least $94 million worth of drugs in
Starr County alone! As I was perusing the news stories I saw
that at least 3 of the busts ($3 million total) occured within just a
couple miles of our house. It's certainly an interesting place
down here in the Valley. Third, you may have noticed that our
prayer letters were starting to look a little grainy. Our poor
printer travelled with us all during deputation, and all the bouncing
took it's toll. However, our next letter should look much
better. I bought a $10 printed at a yard sale the other day and
put some cheap $4-per-cartridge ink in it and it prints MUCH
better! The Lord provides yet again. And finally, as I
wrote the last update on the 23rd I mentioned that I could not roll my
"r's" in Spanish. Of course, I continued practicing
that evening and within an hour or so I rolled a few of them! I
guess I have to give Jennifer Jewell-Navarro the credit, since she
told me to keep saying "butter" over and over (sounds crazy,
but it works!) I'm still by no means good at it, but the ability
is certainly there and I know it will continue to peak through in the
coming weeks.
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| Time seems to move quickly here in the Valley. It
seems like we just arrived, and yet it's been almost 2 full months
now. Things are going well, and we are finally getting settled
into our routine. The kids are busy with homeschooling, and
Melissa and I continue to make progress with language training.
I find myself able to pickup new words more frequently, and to
understand even more of what is being said during church
services. Now, if I could just figure out the Spanish trilled
"rr". I really don't like that letter!! I
found out today that my attempts at the "rr" either sound
like a Mexican with a speech defect or a Puerto Rican who can't speak
very well. That was encouraging news! We're also making more progress here around the
property. I've managed to get the yard completely under control,
and am starting to work on some improvements, such as a future
flowerbed along the walkway leading back to the casita (our main
ministry building). We of course want the approach to that
facility to be attractive, as that is the first thing people will see
when they arrive. I'm also making progress on the inside of the
casita. We no longer have a roll-off dumpster available, so I'm
disposing of debris 1-week at a time in a 50-gallon trash can.
I've already stuffed 2 cans and am waiting for the trash to be picked
up so I can fill a third. I estimate another month or so and
I'll be rid of all that material. I still need to strip the old
laminate tiles off the floor (they were glued, and 1/2 the tiles are
loose). That should be a fun process. I've also been
checking on a new roof for the garage, and believe that I can install
a metal roof myself for about $400. It seems like a
straightforward process, so I'll probably be tackling that in the near
future, since any heavy rain threatens to soak stuff inside the garage
(and my future office). This past Sunday I registered to
participate in a men's retreat to be held at Camp Loma de Vida next
month. It is being hosted by several of the local Hispanic
Independent Baptist pastors, and will be conducted entirely in
Spanish. I know two of the pastors personally, and look forward
to meeting the others, as well as fellowshipping with the other men in
attendance. I also look forward to having an opportunity to see
the camp, which is probably where our children will be attending this
coming summer. Other than that, not much to say.
Below are some recent photos. Hope they are a
blessing!
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| Poor
Bo. Addie and August have decided that it's fun to dress him up. |
Bo
wouldn't be much of a Texas dog if he didn't play soccer! He's
actually quite good at it, but is more of a defensive than an offensive
player.
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Okay,
it's kinda gross, but it's for science class. Every year the kids
study Dung Beetles, and now they finally got to see one. |
One
of Bo's favorite things in the world is to sit on you. Or, perhaps
to chew on your arm...or knee...or foot....or elbow....or head....or
anything else that he can reach. |
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| August
discovers one of the joys of pet ownership....scooping! |
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| Well, Ike has gone. Technically, he never
came. He was a no-show here in Rio Grande City. No
rain. No wind. Nada. What a blessing! I'm
sorry for all of those that did find themselves in the path of
that storm, but thank the Lord that He saw fit to spare us this
time. My father called me from Ohio this evening, and they
actually got hit very hard by the remnants of the hurricane as it
crossed that state. I find that incredible.....several thousand
miles away, and the storm still had that much power! Things are
very good here. We are still busy with school, but getting by
(barely). The weather was absolutely beautiful today.
Highs just over 80 degrees and lows down in the 60's. Made for
perfect weather to get out this afternoon and catch up on some (much
needed) yardwork after school! Tomorrow I have an appointment at
the local USPS to get my passport process started. Melissa will
probably start her's later this week or sometime next week. I
would like to receive it by December 1st, as I now have an opportunity
that month to make at least one (possibly more) trips over into Mexico
to help another missionary with some work they will be doing in that
area. It should also be a good opportunity for me to practice my
Spanish, since by then we will be 1/2 way through our language
school! Not much more going on at this time.
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| Just a quick update. First, Ike is looking more
favorable to us now. Currently we are OUT of the expected
landfall area completely. That is definitely a big praise!
If it keeps it's current track, we may actually receive NOTHING from
this hurricane, which would not bother us in the least. Other
than that, everything is good down here in sunny Texas. We are
staying extremely busy with normal day-to-day activities in addition
to the kid's schooling and our language school. We are looking
forward to a shift in the weather next week. Their is supposed
to be a high of 83 on Tuesday, which is about what our lows have been
some nights (the low that night is 69). So, a break from the
heat is welcomed. However, we are keeping the isolated/scattered
thunderstorms, which hampers any outside work, but that will all clear
up in time.
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| I was just checking in on Ike, and he's getting closer and
closer to our area. As of 6:12pm tonight his projected path is
still widely unknown, but the southernmost range of possibilities
brings him precariously close to our home. Please pray that he
would turn more northward and leave us alone! We're still
getting rain every few days (we returned home to find our driveway
flooded this afternoon), so a hurricane is not something we really
desire at this point! School continued today and is getting
harder. It's amazing how much we knew that was wrong, and how
much more we just didn't know! My poor brain doesn't know what
to do with all this information, and my mouth is about to revolt from
trying to say all these unfamiliar sounds. But, the Lord is in
control and we know that He will continue to give us the ability in
this area. Also, I wanted to mention that we are looking forward
to a church anniversary celebration at Iglesia Bautista Betania this
coming Sunday. They will have a special morning service,
followed by dinner on the grounds. They were working on plans
for it this past Sunday evening, which included 60 pounds of beans, 20
pounds of rice, 6 gallons of salsa and enough chimichangas to feed
500+ people. It should be an interesting day! Well, back
to work with us....have a great day!
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| Well, one week (almost - we didn't have school on Monday) of school is done! We
started Tuesday, and everything seemed to go well. This is the
first year for the Independent Baptist Language School of Southern
Texas, so things are all still being sorted out, but we are making
steady progress. Ms. Alicia is a very capable teacher, and is
doing a great job. Even Melissa, who already had a strong
foundation in Spanish, is learning quite a bit. The children are
also doing well in their school, and I think we are starting to get
settled into our routine. Today we are "taking it
easy". Saturday's are our only day for real relaxation, as
weekdays we spend at least 2-and-a-half hours in the car driving
back-and-forth to school and on Sunday's it's more like 5 hours total,
driving back and forth to church (2 round trips).
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| Braden
working on school in the morning, before we leave for our language school. |
Addie
getting ready to start her school day. |
Language
school at Ms. Alicia's home. Since their are only the 2 of us this
semester, we are meeting in her home to reduce overhead for the
school. |
Addie
plays with Bo. He's a BIG baby, but he's also effective. Every
repairman that comes to the home is scared of him (even though right now
he'd only lick them to death). |
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| Just a little note to give you an update on our progress
with the casita. Braden and I spent a couple hours working in
there today (after working outside all morning) and were able to make
steady progress. We tore out the molded drywall, as well as the
vanity in the bathroom (it was destroyed by the flood). We also
were able to treat the entire area with a Bleach/Water solution to
help kill any remaining bacteria. We were greeted by a variety
of creatures living in the walls, including ants, giant cockroaches,
snails and even a frog. It was interesting. In at least 2
places you can see directly outside of the building due to the rotted
exterior siding, so a lot of work still needs to be done, but we're
making progress. I'm also going to "work" on the doors
to see if anything can be done to salvage them, since all of the
damage is in the lower 4" or so. Unfortunately, the mold
may prevent us from being able to keep them, as a health concern.
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| One
of the areas where drywall was removed. You can see a large hole in
the exterior siding on the left side of the photo. |
Another
section, showing more removed drywall. We took out the bottom 2',
which was just enough to clear the mildew, and will maximize the usage of
the new drywall sheets. |
Work
in progress in the second room. |
A
photo showing the mold. It doesn't show up as well on camera as it
does when you're standing in the room, looking at it. |
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| One
of the doors that swelled. We may be able to use something to bring
the sides back together, not sure yet. We also still need to figure
out how to get them to "fit" back in their frames again. |
A
small mountain of debris is forming in our side yard. We have no
locations in Starr County that accept this type of material, no services
that haul it out of the county, and we're in a burn ban (funny,
considering we're drowning in water)....so, for now, it sits. |
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| Welcome to September! Some have been curious about
how we are doing with Hurricane Gustav. Well, we are more or
less fine. I saw "more or less" because we're not
getting a drop of water from it (we REALLY don't need any more
rain). However, I checked and today we are under a "Severe
Weather" advisory for another reason, which they are attributing
to Hurricane Gustav. They are calling for "near record or
record" high temperatures for this time of year. Ugh.
It's supposed to be around 100 degrees today, but at 93% humidity the
heat index is going to be 110 or more. That's supposed to
continue for the next couple of days and then maybe we can get back to
normal. We've been having afternoon showers every single day, so
we are also battling swarms of enormous mosquitos (since their pools
can't dry up)! We tried to go to the Bentsen-Rio Grande World
Birding Center on Saturday, but after about an hour of feeding the
mosquitos we gave up and left. We had services again yesterday
with Iglesia Bautista Betania, and are truly enjoying getting to know
these folks. In the evening service I was approached by a man
named Ricardo. He seemed to be extremely friendly, and we had a
somewhat brief conversation, but it was akward since he spoke
absolutely no English, and I speak very little Spanish. I look
forward to being able to get to know him better as we learn the
language over the coming weeks. Speaking of that, between
services we met with Alicia Gilbert, who will be our language
instructor for the next few months. We are looking forward to
getting started on that process TOMORROW. Please pray with us
that we will quickly and completely be able to learn the
Spanish language, so that it is not an issue in our attempts to reach
this area with the Gospel. In my last update I mentioned that I
was going to be checking the casita more. Hopefully, today I
will be able to remove all of the molded drywall. Unfortunately,
it looks like all of the interior doors will have to be replaced as
well (they were installed new about a month ago). The bottoms
have split open and curled out, and the doors are molded as
well. They also are no longer closing and seem to have
"shifted" in their frames. The front door is the only
door still working properly. Only other news is about the
dog. Mocha is gone and Bo is doing absolutely wonderful.
He's a very smart and friendly dog, and he's wonderful to have
around. His training is going very well, and he seems to catch
on quickly. We're looking forward to him leaving his
"bashful" puppy phase, so that he is a better guard dog, but
that is normal and will come with time.
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| Walking
down the trail at the Bentsen-Rio Grande World Birding Center. |
Bo
takes a drink from a mud puddle. On the way out he decided to lay
down in the puddle. Yuck. |
Bo
with his bone. |
Bo
nibbles on Missy's hand. |
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| Hiding
from the camera under the table. |
Gnawing
on his bone. |
Bo
went for the bone but slid on the tile. His only problem in the
house is the slick floors (so he loves his big pillow). |
Addie
loses yet another tooth. |
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