This morning I was wondering how it could possibly be so hard to find the time to sit at my desk for eight hours a day, when supposedly that is the main thing I am here to do. I wondered as I chatted with the neighbors while we helped each other hand our garbage up to the man in the back of the garbage truck. I wondered as I did my morning chores, including sweeping a 75-foot stretch of the street that was very, very dirty and littered from a party last night. I wondered as I took a break from my sweeping to walk a little old lady (complete with high, quavery voice) to the water company so she could pay her bill. I still wondered as I walked downtown to three different stores to buy denim, a zipper and a button, to replace a pair of jeans that tore. (It’s not that you can’t buy factory-made jeans here -- it’s just that they don’t come close to fitting me and also they seem expensive to me.) I was beginning to wonder less as I walked near the edge of town to a seamstress who said she’ll get around to making me a new pair in about three weeks. As I arrived home just in time to hang the laundry and start making dinner, it hit me. I have a hard time finding eight hours to sit at my desk because I am too busy WORKING!

I do put in many hours translating Sunday School material. I work hard on it. I take pride in it.

But sometimes I have to remind myself that those other things that take up so much time are also part of the work God has called me to do. With my personality, I would love to just sit at my desk all day long! Fortunately, God uses circumstances of Life to interfere with that. I find myself forced to interact with people, and I find myself blessed in the process.

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We got our clothesline back! This happened several weeks ago, but what with the tumors and being healed and everything, I just didn't get around to mentioning it. :-) I was quite grateful! It had been long enough for me to become convinced that a clothesline is not a luxury. (I suppose technically it is, since there are people here in Jerez who don't have one... but it sure is hard to get by without it!) I think I had taken it for granted before I lost it. I'm glad to have it back.
(The white arches are not our house; the belong to the house across the street.)

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About a year ago, I was washing blankets one windy day, and one of the blankets on the line billowed out like a sail and snapped the clothesline. That clothesline was old and a little frayed. Today I washed blankets and hung them on lines that are relatively new and strong. I figured that today, the lines wouldn't break even though it was windy.

I was right. :-S

One of the blankets billowed out like a sail, and... pulled up the stake to which the line was tied, which pulled with it a chunk of the side of the roof and top of the wall, to which it was anchored. Oops! That was actually funny, the only real problem is that now it will be difficult to dry our laundry until we get that repaired.

It took me the better part of an hour to clean up the mess, and the neighbor lady across the street helped me scrub the red brick marks and white cement marks off of the street and sidewalk. It is actually illegal in Jerez to let any part of your house fall into the street, so we had to clean up all the evidence. (Jerez is about four hundred fifty years old and some parts of it are better maintained than others, so part of a house falling into the street is quite a normal occurrence. The result of this law is that when it does happen, people are in a hurry to clean it up.)

I am thankful:
- That no one happened to be walking by at that time -- they could have been killed!
- That some of the laundry was dry already.
- That the neighbor helped me clean the street.
- That it is the owner's responsibility to fix it, and not ours!

So... laundry turned out to be an exciting chore today!

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We were travelling along, and God saw fit to remove us from the highway for a few hours. I'll tell the story in the prayer letter that I intend to send later today. Here is a little of what we missed. (Well, we saw the vehicles... but that was before the action.)

This photo is from an online newspaper called El Mañana and this is the url: http://www.elmananarey.com.mx/reynosa/h ... 1_0_C.html

I also want to post a photo that we took of us riding in the van on top of a tow truck, but it is on my brother's camera so I will have to wait until they return from running errands.


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Here we are at Melody Lane Christian Renewal Center once again. This time, we have the money to stay here! Yay! God is very good. He knew that we all needed a break from the work, which though fulfilling really is wearying. He provided for us all to come. He provided the money, the drivers' license and the necessary papers for us to drive out. Now my brother and his family can go "out" and do stuff every day, which helps them relax, and I can stay in my trailer most of the time, which helps me relax!

Sometimes I think it's a drag to have to leave the country every six months in order to apply for a new visa, but this time I am very glad of that requirement!

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