Medical Missions team at Torim

On Friday we went with a medical mission team here from Montana to the village of Torim, approximately one hour and 15 minutes south of here. The Yaqui Indians live here and this is the first time that the medical team has visited their village.
Some of the men of the village curiously watching as the team set up for the day. 

Part of the ministry was giving reading glasses to those who needed.
This was checking out her new readers.
 It amazed me that most who came for services were dressed in what appeared to be their finest clothing.
 Many of the women had the beautiful shawls on and wore them over their heads.
 I assume partly to protect themselves from the very hot sun, mostly it is a customary article of clothing.

Parts of the homes are built differently than I have seen before.
 They have walls woven out of branches that we thought could possibly be bamboo.
 We also noticed that there are not satellite TV dishes on the houses as we have observed in other villages.

One of the areas set up for the clinic was where blood pressures and temperatures were taken.
 They then went on to see nurses to get a history and what ailments they may have before going on to see the doctor.

This is Sara, my new friend.
  She came up to me so excited about the new Bible she had been given and was praising God like I have never heard before.
She hugged on me and chatted away as if we were long lost friends.
 It is awesome how God breaks down language and cultural barriors.  

Some of the Yaqui children with a young lady from Minnesota who is in San Carlos teaching English at a school there.
She and some others from the team had set up a children's ministry across the street.
 It looked as if they were having a great time.
 We teased her and told her that the paint they put on her face was probably permanent. 

The medical team, translators, and some of the women from the village who helped with the ministry.
I think that the Montana team told me that they have been coming to this area doing medical visits to the villages for 6 years. They come for about 10 days and visit many villages while they are here.
What dedication on their part and what a need there is here.
 It was a long, hot day, but we are so thankful that we were able to be a part of it.
God is good! All the time!

Hanging on the walls of Centro Cristiano church are flags from 20 some countries.
 These 3 hang in the front of the sancutary. When I see them, I pray for unity between these countries.

Last night I got my lesson in tamale making at Candy and Beto's. What a project!
This is Candy's mother and her sister Techi, who we rent our house from.

My first tamale!
 They told me that I make them a little to small.
The contents wanted to fall out of them as I was wrapping and tying the ends. 

The growing pile of tamales.
They will be cooked today in a large pot with a little water in the bottom.
We will enjoy them tonight at a party at Candy's mothers.
What a great time with lots of laughs!

This picture should have been first in the tamle making.
 Candy mixing the dough that is spread on the corn husks.
 It is a corn meal and lard mixture and it took her a very long time to get it to the right consistency.

Picking oranges at Casa de Esperanza.

Then Itzel and I juiced them.

The concrete was being poured on the roof of the new dormitory at Casa de Esperanza the same day.
The concrete was pumped onto the roof by the largest pumping machine I have ever seen.
So different than how we build in Iowa.

The guys working hard to pump the concrete.
 This is the roof now, but will be the floor for a second story someday.

Sunday we had shrimp and ceviche at Juanita's.

Our dining companions. Great good and fun.






PRAYER REQUESTS
Please pray for health and heeling for our neighbors, Alicia and Jesus and their family. They have had illness in their home since shortly after we arrived here. Both of the children have been sick with colds, bronchitis, and their son has had a bout with pneumonia. Alicia is now ill and has been to the hospital twice for intervienes antibiotics. She had been in a terrible car accident this past summer and is not completely healed from her injuries.

Also, Jesse and Jenny need prayers. They run an orphange up near San Carlos. An arson set fire to their pickup last week and it was destroyed. By God's grace their home was not damaged, nor was anyone injured. They need prayers for a new vehicle and safety. I have not met this couple, but understand that they are doing a wonderful ministry.


PRAYERS OF THANKSGIVING
Tito and Judy have informed us that the finances have been secured to transfer the van's title to Mexico.
This is huge Halleluia as we have been told it is approximatelt $1000!
Thank you Lord!

We are well here and enjoying our time.
 Tito and Judy will be here on February 14th.
 Our friend Molliann will be joing us on March 1st for about nine days.

God bless you!
Dios te bendiga!





We helped Oscar in picking up some metal roofing pieces for the pastor of the Methodist church. It had been paid for by a team that was here awhile ago, but they had no way to haul it.

Wednesday's service at Centro Cristiano was multi cultural. There were 2 teams at Casa de Esperanza here. One from Minnesota and one from Canada. A Spanish-English service. Beautiful worship music.

We went out to the village of Los Cerritos one afternoon this last week.
Ramon and Petra's tomatoes. The plants were covered with green tomatoes. 

Aaron and Adela's future dinner!
 He was tied around one of the fruit trees and they move him from tree to tree.
 What a way to fertilize! He liked having his ears scratched.

 DeColores!
 Tonight's sunset. Please take time to soak in the beauty of the creation around us.
We love you and miss you.
 Be blessed! 

Another week has gone by since our last post. It has been a busy week, although I haven't taken much for pictures. We have attended the Saturday night service for 2 weeks at San Carlos Community Church. It is an English speaking church and has been a very welcomed worship time for us. We met the pastor who serves there last winter at the Dream Center. He asked us where we were from and when we told him he laughed out loud. He and his wife lived in Estherville for a number of years. Small world!

We reunited with David, the gentleman who was on the bus with us last winter when we had the small accident. David is from Texas, has a place in San Carlos, and a boat. So guess who finally is going fishing? They left early this morning to head out on the big water to try their luck at catching yellowfin tuna! I see the camera sitting here, so I hope that David has one for when "the big fish" is caught.

The village of Los Cerritos church. The van has made its way out there a couple of times. All of the equipment and people going from the city fit in one vehicle. What a blessing! 

The first Saturday night that we attended church in San Carlos was a recognition for all of the missionaries that the church supports. The missionaries have many different services in the surrounding area here. When those in attendance went to the front of the church, there were 36, and they weren't all there that evening!

Go Cyclones!
 Notice his cap. this is Angel, Socorro's grandson.

We went to Casa de Esperanza a day this past week to see if we could be of any help.
 Jeff got to do a bit of plumbing work, which he enjoyed helping with.  

Socorro giving out some clothing at this weeks Dream Center.

The moon was incredible out at the village, the biggest yellow moon that I think I have ever seen.
 Petra told me that it was luna de queso, or something like that.

Rosca

This Techi, the woman that we rent our house from. The bread is called Rosca. January 6th is called Dia de Reyes. Day of the Kings. It is celebrated as the day that the wisemen came to see the baby Jesus. It custom to serve this bread on that day. The bread is a sweet bread with cinnamon, dates, and a jelly like topping. Baked inside the bread is a small baby like toy, maybe more than one. If your piece of the bread contains the baby, you are required to make the tamales for Febraury 2nd. I'm not sure what the celebration on that day is, but will let you know when I figure it out! I don't think it is the groundhog!

The baby.

I got not just one slice with the baby in it, but 3 out of  3 different loaves of this Rosca. I don't have any idea how to make tamales. I'm sure that someone will teach me. I guess I shouldn't eat so much bread.



Centro de Suenos, Dream Center worship on Saturday. The location of this ministry has been changed as construction is going on in the previous location. I'm not sure if they will be able to return to that location. It really is a street ministry now.

Waiting in line for breakfast.

Breakfast.

One of the beautiful children at the Dream Center on Saturday.

Juanita ministers by cutting hair there.

One of Socorro's ministries is handing out some of donated clothing items at the Dream Center. She also prepares a huge kettle of frijoles and other food that is served.

Many caps were given out. A gift that the men are very grateful for.


The Dream Center ministry is every Saturday morning in Guaymas. It has been in action for more than nine years. Many of the people who have come to receive the word and the meal have received Jesus and are very active in the church. Fernando, who preached on Saturday, came to this ministry as one who came to the Dream Center hungry for both the Word and food a few years ago. The people there can relate to his teaching. 

Last year we visited Fatima, a small poor town adjoining Guaymas. There was a home being built for a Pastor and his family and also a medical team from Montana was there doing a free clinic. This is the church being built this year right next to the pastors home. The team that was working on the church the day that we visited were from Manitoba, Canada.
The mission group responsible for the construction is Casa de Esperanza San Carlos or Koenes Ministry, led by Brenda and Art Koenes. You can google this and check out their ministry. They are doing great work for the Lord all around this area. 

This is the completed Pastors home with the church being constructed right behind it. They have a growing ministry here, children's ministry and meal ministry. It was very exciting to see how much that has been done since last year.

It has been a busy 10 or so days here. Much time in worship, prayer meetings, and many activites with our church family here. We have traveled out to the village of Los Cerritos twice.
We attended a church service in San Carlos Saturday evening, we needed to worship in English. The church supports many missionaries seving in the area and they were recognized that evening. When they all gathered in the front of the church there were 36 people and that wasn't all of those supported. WOW! We were so grateful that we were led to attend the service.
God Bless You! Thanks for checking out our blog.

30 plus bags of clothing delivered to Centro Cristiano El Camino

Tuesday we delivered, sorted, and organized the many suitcases and bags of clothing that were donated and sent down here with us. Socorro is in charge of the clothing ministry and making sure that those with the most need get taken care of. She was overwhelmed by the amount of stuff that was there and all of the new items. It was a long, but wonderful day spent working with her, Myrna, and Franciso. Her small grandchildren were with us as well.
Myrna loves her new purple Okoboji t-shirt!