Hola Amigos, All is well south of the border here at Pilar de Esperanza. It continues to be very warm, this week with added measure of humidity. We have been having late afternoon showers (down pours) this week to accompany the temperatures of 95-98 degrees. Needless to say, it gets to be pretty uncomfortable late in the day. I’ve experienced new levels of sweat over the past weeks making me think about the cool fall evenings of Minnesota and Wisconsin. I did get wind of several complaints from the Minnesota State Fair about hot weather and humidity for a couple of days. Most people in Reynosa live it every day without air conditioning. The temperatures here are very consistent, highs near 100 degrees, lows around 78 degrees. The variable is the wind; if it blows strong things are good. If there is no wind it gets to be a very long day. Fortunately the wind blows 10-20 mph most of the time. As I mention, it has been very rather wet and humid the past week or so. When there weather is wet, some sort of insect tends to come out the ground and become a nuisance. In July we had a lot of spiders, some were very large including some softball size tarantulas. In August the hormigas (ants) really came to life and thrived. They are everywhere all the time and are my nemesis. I may have mentioned them in an earlier update. They were particularly bad last month. A mouse I had killed in a trap was cleaned to the bone in less than three hours by these tiny eating machines. With our current rain, the moscas have come in force. Although they are just ordinary house flies, there are so many that it makes you a little crazy. I have never seen so many flies, and they are everywhere too. We have bug bombed the concina twice to rid the food service area of them, but in a matter of days they are back. In the pig pens the flies are so numerous it is a bit frightening. The really scary part is that I’m getting used to them. When I stop brushing them off my ears, nose, face and food, then I may need some professional help. I am glad that they are ordinary house flies and not the horse flies or black flies that are so bad in northern Minnesota and Wisconsin. I tried to explain to the kids that they are a combination of a mosca and a hormiga, but they didn’t believe that such a creature could exist. I’m just happy they are not here. We have been very busy the past several weeks which included a visit from our friends Rick, Leslie and Kylie Ross, cleaning out the storage unit in McAllen, getting ready for school to begin and making final preparations for the wedding of Roberto and Paty here at Pilar. The wedding, which was this past Sunday September 1st was a great success. The weather was hot, but breezy and comfortable. There where around 200 people in attendance, including friends from Lexington Massachusetts, San Francisco California and Minnesota. Check my face book page for pictures of the event. The boys all have tuxedos and the girls are in beautiful dresses. I had the honor of escorting the bride down the aisle. It was a memorable event, filled with Mexican tradition and beauty. Our friends Rick and Leslie Ross and their daughter Kylie visited a few weeks ago. They came to south Texas to bring Kylie to the University of Texas, Pan-American in Edinburg Texas to begin her master’s degree program. She is studying for a Master of Arts in English as a Second Language degree. We hope to see Kylie often in the months ahead. We spent the afternoon showing them around Pilar and introducing Rick and Leslie to the kids. Kylie has been to Pilar many times on mission trips with Crossroads Church and is no stranger to anyone here. Rick has also been to Pilar on a mission trip a few years ago and is involved with missions at Crossroads. We are beginning our third month here at Pilar; we have finally brought all of our belongings into Mexico and found some space here for everything. We are beginning to feel at home in our new location. Of course we have the usual home repairs to do, fix the sink and countertop in the kitchen, find and repair the leaks in the corrugated steel roof, repair the bad spots in the ceiling created by the leaks in the steel roof, those types of things. Dawn is finding her way around the garden again, only using plants that won’t die in the sun and heat. I didn’t realize there are so many variations of cactus. The trees in the yard are primarily mesquite and palm, and nearly everything growing has thorns, some have really big thorns. We are adjusting to the lack of green in the landscape. What people call grass here is the stuff I spent many summers in Minnesota trying to remove from my lawn. We encounter something new every day. We have been trying different things in the kitchen, trying to find a balance between what the kids like and what we are able to do. Kids are kids, so corn dogs and French fries are always a hit as well as pancakes, French toast and any chocolate flavored cereal for breakfast. We are always looking for good deals on fresh fruit and vegetables in Mexico, but have found that the produce is fresher in the US, even though much of it is grown in Mexico. We purchase most of the staples needed in Mexico, bread, eggs, flour, sugar and milk, while buying any type of frozen food and meat products in the states. Frozen items such as ice and ice cream tend to be much more expensive in Mexico, but tend to melt quickly during transportation from the US. Most of the donations of food from various people and organizations consist of eggs, beans, rice and potatoes, mostly beans and rice. We have lots of beans and rice. Fortunately the kids like beans and rice, but rice more than the beans. We eat rice every day. The donations are very sporadic and in unusual quantities. Monday a church from McAllen gave 200 lbs. of beans and 200 lbs. of rice, the week before it was 150 eggs, 900 lbs. of broccoli, 150 pieces of bola bread (Mexican bread) or 50 cases of Lincosa milk in individual drink boxes. The donations are always welcome and always used; some items just take longer than others. We received some good news last week, the IRS has granted our 501(c)3 status. This makes Serve HIS Kids an official tax exempt nonprofit corporation, granting us tax exempt status on purchases and making all contributions tax deductible for the donor. It also opens doors for us in regards to grants and similar opportunities. It is a big hurdle to clear and was much faster than expected. Please continue to pray for us as we continue to adjust to a much different life style than we have been living. The days are very long and there are times that we wonder what in the world are we doing here? God is faithful and provides answers for all of our questions. Just the hugs we get every day from Victor and Michel are enough for us.
Posted on: Thu, 05 Sep 2013 04:24:46 +0000
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