My new friend. He didn't have a lot to say.

We were serenaded by these fellas!

This one in a suburb called Tonala. The  streets were filled with local art.

One of the people we saw hoping to make a few coins.

We took a horse drawn carriage ride through the city.

We invited Patricia to sit with us when we noticed her sitting in this courtyard struggling with an English homework assignment.

A three story market in Guadalajara with lots of activity.

We are off! We flew out of the Hermosillo airport on February 9th to the Guadalajara airport.

Guadalajara

We returned to Guaymas early this afternoon after 12 exciting days of site seeing, eating, shopping, laughing, and prayer. The photos posted here are just of the first 3 or 4 days in Guadalajara and surrounding areas in the state of Jalisco. This historic area has incredible architecture from hundreds of years ago. I believe that I was told that Guadalajara is the second largest city in Mexico, Mexico City being the largest. We met lots of people and our great tour guides, Tito and Judy, made it possible for us to communicate our needs. We were serenaded several times by mariachi musicians. One was a very talented all women group with trumpets, violins, and guitars.  From there we went on to the state of Guanajuato to several other cities, one being the city of Guanajuato. We will post photos of that part of the journey later.

I brought this feeder from home. It hangs right outside our kitchen window and this little guy visits regularly.
We have been blessed with the opportunity to travel to Guadalajara, Guanajuato, Leon, and a couple other cities with Tito and Judy. Tito's father was from Guanajuato and Tito has not had the opportunity to visit where his roots are from until now. The area there has much of the history of Mexico and of course, lots of art! We are taking nothing more than a backpack with a few clothes and a camera, so there will no posts until we return on Feb. 20th. We are leaving at 5:30 in the morning to fly out of Hermosillo. We feel this is probably a once in a lifetime opportunity.  

Fatima

Monday morning we went to an area called Fatima. It is a very poor part of Guaymas and was the hardest hit area when Hurricane Jimena hit here a couple of years ago.  The rains stalled over Guaymas for 36 hours. Fatima sits in a valley surrounded by the mountians, so all of the water coming off the mountains raced through this small town, destroying homes and property.
There is a team of doctors here in Guaymas/ San Carlos from Montana. They set up a free clinic in Fatima for the day on Monday.





These people are waiting to see a doctor at the clinic.

Prayer was offered to those who desired. Bibles were given out to those who accepted one as well.

A sample of what you see for homes in Fatima.

Waiting for the doctor to check out her beautiful baby.

Preliminary checks were done before seeing the doctor.

An area was set up for people to find a pair of reading glasses if they needed some.

This couple had a powerful faith story. He had been in a hospital after having had a colostomy along with 5 others who had the same surgery. He was the only one who survived. He had no doubt that it was the Lord who kept him alive!  

Another home.

These same doctors were here a couple of years ago when we were and set up a free clinic in the Los Cerritos village.

Los Cerritos village church



Aaron, Adela, and their daughter. They live in the village. We stopped and visited them while out in the village this morning checking the progress on the church.



Rows of garlic in Aaron's garden. He has a large beautiful garden with amazingly straight rows.
 Aaron has been totally blind for many years.

The fragrance of this orange tree in Aaron's garden was almost intoxicating. The hummingbird loved it also!

Water reservoir/baptismal tank at Centro Cristiana church- Los Cerritos

Looking out the church window towards water reservoir.

The metal doors are in. Raul, the contractor, will now start work on the metal grates in the windowsto secure the building from any theft.

The wall is back up! We were so excited today to see this and to see that the steel doors were built and in place. This church and village are very dear to us as Jeff has been a part of this project since its beginning when the land was originally purchased for the church.

As I was walking around the church property I could hear the faint sound of a very familiar song playing off in the distance. Between the crow of a rooster, the bark of a dog, or the baaa of a sheep, I heard Simon and Garfunkels "Sound of Silence" playing. I wondered where it was coming from and who was listening to it. Who might be living out in this remote area?

There are many produce fields on the way out to the village. Notice the tires at the ends of the rows. They are there to burn for heat to keep the crops warm, as the early morning temps have been very near freezing.

Migrant workers in one of fields.

There were lots of ranchers out on horseback today herding their livestock. This is always of interest to me as it brings back memories of my Dad doing this same thing with his cattle.

Fishing at Piedras Punta on Monday



Fishing for Jeff has not been real successful. He got a little wet chasing down lost tackle. Pastor Arturo was a bit concerned about him being in the cold water!



Myrna went with us. She is quite good at skipping stones. " Lanzar piedras."