Marbella

Marbella means “beautiful sea,” and that’s such a perfect name for the little girl that we met recently. We first saw her about two weeks ago when we were visiting a small community called Cerro Blanco (White Hill).

 

Rosa and Marbella

 

Our friend Rosa (a nursing student from the States) was with us and her first thought was that little Marbella had chicken pox. On that first visit two weeks ago, we didn’t have a chance to talk to her but two days ago we visited again. Poor Marbella was still covered in sores on her face, arms, and legs. After talking to her and her sister, we learned that Marbella had been covered in these sores for over a year! They had taken her to the clinic where she was given a cream, but she was not recovering.

Rosa's Village Clinic

Rosa did some research and talked to the doctor at our clinic. The girl was diagnosed with impetigo. Basically, she had been bitten by mosquitoes and then she scratched. The scratching broke the skin and bacterium was introduced into the open wound. A basic skin infection went untreated, and poor Marbella suffered unnecessarily for over a year!

 

Rosa with Marbella & her Dad

I thank God for that skin infection though. Sounds strange, but because of it, Rosa was attracted to this little girl. She listened to Marbella’s heart and lungs and heard an abnormality in the girl’s heart. Today, we took Marbella and her dad to their local clinic. The doctor has written up a referral for Marbella to be taken to Tuxtla for further tests and hopefully she’ll receive the treatment that she needs for her heart.

 

Pray that God will continue to open the doors! Pray for Marbella and her family.

Water

Recently we were without water for four days…or more accurately, we were without water pressure to fill our big tank that sits up on the roof. Fortunately, we still have a tank just outside of the bathroom so we weren’t completely out of water. But it was a good reminder of the things that we take for granted.

I have a beautiful kitchen where Clay plumbed in the water. As long as there is water in the top tank, I have water to wash dishes…or to wash my hands while cooking. (I never realized just how often I wash my hands while cooking until I had to go to a different room to wash.) I also use that water to fill our water filter for clean drinking water.

 The top tank is also where the water comes from to fill our washing machine. With six in our family (plus one adopted Rosa), we produce a lot of laundry. On the fourth day, (and not knowing how much longer we’d be without water pressure) I decided it was time to wash clothes by hand, using the water in the bottom tank. Luckily, I had lots of help!

Ellie, washing clothes

 

Mathew and Levi, "helping" hang the clothes!

 And then there is the blessing of hot showers…the top tank allows us that treat. Without it, we have a cold shower or a bucket bath. Depending on the time of day, a cold shower or cold bucket bath is actually kind of nice. Our temperatures are in the 80s inside and outside of our house.  And interestingly, our kids usually prefer a bucket bath to a shower. (Bathtubs are VERY rare in Mexico, and the kids miss taking baths.)

 
It’s interesting to me that during rainy season we didn’t have enough water pressure to fill our tank. But it has caused us to reconsider how we use our water. Obviously we have been cautious by American standards, where clean water is plentiful. Here we live in a rain forest and still don’t always have water, let alone clean water that we can drink. (That’s a whole other rant on water pollution, but I’ll not go there!) There are days when we can’t even fill our lower tank because there simply is no water.

Today I am thankful that I can breathe a sigh of relief. I can wash clothes in my washing machine. I can fill my water filter from the sink. I can wash dishes in the sink without hauling water from the back room. I can take a hot shower. In essence, I am more comfortable today.

But I am reminded that the people around us don’t even have these same “luxuries” of a hot shower, or a kitchen sink. And they probably wouldn’t even know what to do with a washing machine! (And they also probably wouldn’t trust a machine to get their clothes clean anyway.)

ROSA

A few months ago, we were contacted by Rosa, a friend from our home church in Idaho. She’s a nursing student and was wondering if she could come to Pine Hill and see how she could use her nursing skills within our ministry context. There are many awesome things about Rosa…

 

She likes to run.

She knows how to make amazing refried beans…

            And tortillas…

                        And Mexican rice!

Rosa, teaching me to cook!

 

My kids adore her! (Matthew can’t say her name, so she’d been nicknamed “Ocha.”)

Rosa, studying with my kids!

She has so much nursing knowledge.

Rosa, playing in the tree house!

She’s bilingual! (Her parents are from Oaxaca, Mexico.)

I'm not sure, but I think Levi kissed Rosa!

She plays board games!

Rosa, playing monopoly with Ryan!

She LOVES a good adventure...like exploring caves!

Rosa in the cave!



Ants...yep, Rosa even ate one!

From her first day here, she was helping people with her medical knowledge. She’s been able to teach about “basic” prevention techniques. (Sometimes what we consider “basic” has never been taught here.) She is volunteering at our local clinic where she has administered vaccines and given talks to the moms about nutrition and healthcare. And all along, she is sharing the Gospel!

 We are blessed to have Rosa’s help and encouragement.

Please pray for the rest of her time in Mexico

• That she’ll stay healthy
• That she’ll shine the light of Jesus everywhere she goes
• And that God will work in Rosa’s life too

Our Own Little Jungle

I often forget that I live in the rain forest. Life has become mostly “normal” for us, for which I am thankful. We know that we should carry an umbrella in the afternoon. And we know that the lights can go out at any moment…or that the water might not come back on for a few days.

 Recently I was looking at a science book with the kids and decided that we should make a terrarium with the jungle life in our backyard. So, with Daddy’s help, we grabbed a shovel and some plastic jars and headed to the backyard!

Matthew, getting the dirt ready!

Ellie, holding a lime plant.

 

 

Adding dirt...

 

 

Ryan, digging up a small plant.

 

Levi, adding a tiny amount of water.

 

Isn’t it amazing to be able to go in your backyard and find tiny lime trees? I learned something that day too…lime trees send out a lateral root which will sprout a whole new tree!

 

Now, to observe the growth of our little plants!

Depravity

What would your life look like if you had no hope? Every day you go to the campo to cut firewood, or harvest the beans and corn. You come home just in time for the rain to begin, and then you sit and watch it rain.

Or maybe you own your own business! And you hope to sell 50 pesos (or FOUR dollars) worth of goods so that you can afford to feed your family of four that day.

Would you lose hope? Would you feel overwhelmed? Would you look for something better? Something easier? Something to take away the pain? Something to make you forget?

We live in a community where the people have little hope. There is very little to make the people smile. Our neighbor boy is about 8 years old. He doesn’t go to school and he doesn’t go to the campo to work alongside his dad. He just hangs out on the streets during the day. When we talked to his Mom, she said, “He doesn’t want to work.” 

We wonder what will become of this boy. Will he grow up like so many others in this town? Will he learn to sniff paint thinner? Will he start drinking and smoking? Will he rob from his neighbors to pay for his vices? Will he eventually make the dangerous trip north and cross the border illegally, hoping to find a job that pays more than 70 pesos a day? (The average DAILY salary equates to less than SIX dollars for men in our community.  Girls who work as maids typically make just over THREE dollars a day, for a full 12 hour day.)

 

Please pray that the Word of God will transform the lives of the ZK people and that they'll find HOPE.

Afternoon Visits

This afternoon we had two young visitors at our home. Norma is 9 years old and lives next door. We see her often, sitting on the step in front of her house. Today, she was hanging out with her friend Dulce who is 10 years old. They asked if they could come in to play, so we invited them to sit on our front porch and Ellie got out a few dolls.

It was a fun visit. We practiced speaking ZK with them and they taught us a few new words. They were adorable as they went back and forth in ZK discussing how something should be said.

As we chatted, I shared the story of Creation. Dulce said that was her favorite Bible story because she liked hearing how God created Adam and Eve. Norma said her favorite Bible story was the Prodigal Son, so Clay shared that story with them.

 It’s encouraging to see young people who have heard the Word of God. We pray that through the Word these young girls will grow up with HOPE, that they’ll have relationship with their Lord, and not merely a religion.

Lessons Learned--Part Two

As we finish up our first month in our village, we’ve learned A LOT!

 

1. If you only pay the equivalent of $1 for a haircut, you must be willing to accept how it turns out…or walk around with your head tilted to one side until it grows out. (We chalk it up as a worthy ministry expense…Clay has a captive audience for the duration of the haircut…which might explain why it was so crooked.)
2. I had my house helper hang my laundry on the line. She turned everything inside out, which we attribute to the fact that they don’t want clothes to get bleached in the sun. This is good. I asked her to fold the laundry and she didn’t turn it right side out…okay. The next day I asked her to fold clothes that came out of the dryer, and therefore was not inside out. She turned it ALL (including the socks) inside out as she folded. I realize that sometimes I need to take a deep breath…and then re-fold all of the laundry. The day after that we explained that we like our clothes folded right side out. Lesson—don’t expect things to be done the way we’ve always done them, and be willing to patiently teach.
3. While living in the land of internet, I realize that I dream of making all of the amazing recipes on Pinterest.  Living here, I have been baking a lot more than normal. Lesson—Pinterest recipes are fat free until you actually bake them. If I plan to bake, I need to plan to exercise.
4. During rainy season, which they say is 10 months out of the year, plan to do things when the rain stops. And carry an umbrella.