Messages from Monte

I spent some time online today trying to catch up on U.S. news. Apparently the big news is Obama goes on The View. I also found out the next Spider-Man movie is going to to start over with Peter Parker starting high school (what are they thinking?). The children (and their families) and teachers of the school took a field trip today. They were to go to a big farm and see how it is run. Then they were going to a water park (http://www.termosdelrio.com.sv/). They left from La Palma this morning at 5:00. The bus ride was going to be around 3 hours to get there. We were invited to join them, but we elected to stay in La Palma for a couple of reasons. First of all, I was nervous about the security of watching my own two kids in that type of crowded situation. Secondly, Erin had been feeling bad and would not have made that kind of a trip very well. Last night we worshiped with the family here. Except for Erin having to stay in, it was a good evening. At one point during Jose's class...

This morning came early. Up, showered, and going before the school bell. Still have not needed an alarm clock.We had a late breakfast this morning. We all were up doing things, and I don't think anyone even thought about breakfast. But we had a good breakfast of oatmeal with cinnamon apples. We had a guest, too (http://soylori.blogspot.com). After breakfast Jose dropped by and told me that Jorge Rodriguez (the preacher from Ocotepeque) had come to meet with him this morning. A little while later, we got together and discussed plans, activities, and goals for the La Palma and Ocotepeque congregations. I am even more excited about what we can do together than I was after Jose and I met yesterday. They have some great ideas, and I've shared some ideas with them. We hadn't really planned a meeting, but it went very well. We decided we need to have a more formal meeting when we can include Jesus (pronounced Hay-soos; the preacher at San Ignacio) and Marvin (another preacher li...

We spent our first night in the new place. Wow. There is a vapor light just outside our bedroom window. You can read without turning on a light. As of yet, we have no curtains. Mom, you'd love it. And maybe we are not the best at choosing matresses. It was like sleeping on a table with a thick tablecloth. I guess we'll adapt. The sounds are also quite interesting. Various shouts, semi horns, lots and lots of dogs barking, roosters crowing (not just at dawn, by the way), lizards, and last, but certainly not least, some exuberant birds. We were up long before the school bell sounded. Today we continued settling in to the new place. More unpacking and organizing. More finding places to hang drying laundry. We also got our cell phones. This is a first for Nathan, who would not have received one in the States for a long time yet. Christian was very helpful in getting the cell phones taken care of. This evening I met with Jose to go over the current ministries and schedules of t...

This morning we moved our remaining things into the building on the church property. Tonight we stay our first night here. I would like to say a heartfelt thank you to Salvador and the staff at the hotel. They treated us more like family than customers. We felt very welcome the whole time we were there. ¡Gracias por todo durante nuestra estancia! ¡Usted todo es tan maravilloso! (Pardon my poor Spanish if I got that wrong.) Also, to Ruth (not Erin), a big thank you for driving our stuff to the rooms and for taking Lori and Erin shopping! ¡Gracias! The rest of the day was spent getting settled. I spent a while getting the internet set up for us. Rick (Long) had left excellent instructions, but there was apparently something wrong with the router. It broadcast a clear signal but no internet. The Cat5 cables had internet so I dug out my D-Link WIFI router from home and configured it. It seems to be working fine, although Teresa seems to be having intermittant problems with it. It co...

Today was a good day. We got to worship with the La Palma family. After for lunch we went and ate super gringa's at Eric's. Then we had some time to repack our suitcases and rest a while before Romeo (pronounced Ro-may-o) came with his big truck to pick up our luggage to take to what will be our residence while we are here. We loaded them up and then piled the five of us into the cab of the truck (3 seater). Nathan on Lori's lap and Erin on mine made for a long short trip - poor Erin kept slipping off my lap with all the downhill driving. We dropped off the luggage, no problem. Then I left with Romeo and Nathan to go pick up the 2 wardrobes and 2 bunk beds built for the children's home, for us to use while we reside there. ¡No estaba listo para ése! Romeo and Mauricio (who built the furniture) speak no English, and though I can understand more and more, it was not enough and I felt very much like a fish out of water. Mauricio's neighbors had a good laugh at my expen...

I've heard it said that the devil is in the details. I beg to differ. I believe that though God is the God of the "big picture", he is also the God of the minutia. Have you ever caught yourself saying something like, "Boy, I'm glad I chose [fill in the blank] instead of [fill in the blank]!" or "I'm glad I waited just one more day." or "Wasn't it lucky that..."? Well, let me answer that last question for all the believers reading: No, it wasn't luck! In the day to day journey of a Christian, the Spirit is blessing us by directing our choices, if we allow Him. It may be that "huge" decision to take one job over another or may be as simple as... Yesterday, we went shopping for furniture and a refrigerator. We went to a couple different places to price shop. We talked about it later and made our decision to return to one shop for a used sofa and two chair set and a new refrigerator, and we would buy our mattresse...

Over the last few weeks, one thought has kept me from losing hope, "This world is not my home!" I have always loved that old hymn. When I was young, it was just fun to sing. My first memory of it was when Dick Cochran would lead it at Yorktown Road Church of Christ in Logansport, Indiana. As I matured, so did my understanding of that song. As it has been a very hard and humbling last few weeks, the words of that song have not been far from my lips. Packing up or otherwise discarding 38 years worth of worldy possessions and deciding what was really valuable and what was not was a seriously arduous ordeal. Finally determining what was important enough to put into 8 checked bags, 4 carry-ons, and 4 personal items took many hours of packing, repacking, repacking again and sending yet more stuff to Goodwill or storage. We left the States on 21 July, but we were out of our house on 2 July. What a debt of gratitude we owe to Ralph & Carol for their massive effort in transferring...