Painting & "Pacto con Sangre" & Thankyou

Hello all-

We have had an interesting end to our week. Starting Thursday evening and going until Saturday evening was an event called "Pacto con Sangre" (Pact with Blood), that was put on and coordinated through the Mexican Baptist church here in Vallarta. We were excited to go and be a part of something in Spanish! It turns out that the event was geared more toward Jr. High/High School aged kids...needless to say, we felt really out of place and a little uncomfortable. It was similar to a "Buck Creek Weekend" for those of you Sumner Pres. readers. There were youth groups that came from Mexico City, Guadalajara, etc. They were really pumped up and excited.

The guy who was the speaker on Thursday night was from Bolivia. He gave his testimony on how God has called him to deliver Bibles to "Christianity forbidden countries," namely heavily Islamic, middle-eastern countries. His story was AMAZING! The first time he felt God was calling him to go into a particular country, he felt like God was asking him to bring in 300 bibles...yes, THREE-HUNDRED Bibles all by himself! He was for sure he was going to be sent to jail. He made it through customs ok and couldn't believe what a miracle it was that the guards actually saw all the Bibles and still let him through. Over the years, he has delivered over 15,000 Bibles, and has a different story for how the Lord has gotten him through customs every time. We were pretty amazed! He wanted to show kids that life with God is NOT boring and that nothing is impossible with God.(Leslie and Joel before "Pacto con Sangre")

(Leslie and Joel after "Pacto con Sangre")

We went again on Friday morning and decided to leave when they invited a loud and crazy Christian punk rock band to the stage to perform...nothing against punk rock music, but an afternoon spent in an auditorium with wild and crazy Jr. high and High schoolers just isn't our thing...It would be totally different if we had our own group of kids...Anyway, you know what I mean.

Tuesday, we had gone over to Vera's to start painting her ceiling white. Let me take a moment to tell about Vera: Vera is a woman in her mid-80's who has lived in Vallarta for over 30 years, serving the people in the dump. Her story and testimony are amazing. She spent the first half of her live living in places like Bethlehem and Israel, and leading tours through the Holy Lands, Europe, Central and South America. For the last half, she has lived here, working with the kids and the families...She's like Mother Theresa in Puerto Vallarta! Anyway, she is currently in Sumner recovering from a knee replacement, and hopes to be back within the month. So, we started painting her ceiling on Tuesday (Well, Joel did...) and we took the opportunity on Friday afternoon to get a little more done...we decided not to go back to Pacto con Sangre. While Joel has been painting, I have been dusting and cleaning at her house...it's FILTHY...not because she's a bad housekeeper, but because she's been gone for almost two months and it's sooooooo dusty here!

(A Picture of Vera's ceiling before and after. Joel put on 2 coats of fresh white paint. It's hard to tell a difference in the pictures, but her ceiling looks a lot brighter and makes the downstairs look a lot brighter too.)

We spent Saturday in Sayulita and as always, had a really nice time. We came home on Saturday afternoon, and went back to the closing of Pacto con Sangre, which was being held in the park right below where we live. It was really fun to see more people from the community stopping by and checking it out. The band that was playing was a Mexican Christian Ska band...who would have thought? And to top it off (again for you Sumner Pres. readers) they were doing the songs we used to sing with the kids in Ensenada, but with a wacky ska twist...I know!...who would have thought?

Today, we went to church and have spent the rest of the afternoon painting Vera's ceiling and dusting and cleaning her downstairs. We are happy to help her out and know that she will appreciate coming home to a nice, clean house. Tonight, we will be going to the Baptist church for a Spanish service. Our neighbor, Armando is coming with us, and we're excited to see if he'll be able to get plugged in. The service we're going to is geared toward people in their 20's, so hopefully it will be a nice chance to meet some people our own age and start building friendships.

We are looking forward to going back to school as we head into this week. We miss the kids a lot and can't wait to see them!

Lastly, as we've been here for almost two months now, we really want to say "Thankyou" to all of you who have supported us with encouragement, with money, with prayers, supplies for the kids, etc. Here is some encouragement from us to you:

" As it is written:

'He has scattered abroad his gifts to the poor; his righteousness endures forever.'

Now he who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will also supply and increase your store of seed and will enlarge the harvest of your righteousness. You will be made rich in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion, and through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God. This service that you perform is not only supplying the needs of God's people but is also overflowing in many expressions of thanks to God. Because of the service by which you have proved yourselves, men will praise God for the obedience that accompanies your confession of the gospel of Christ, and for your generosity in sharing with them and with everyone else. And in their prayers for you their hearts will go out to you, because of the surpassing grace God has given you. Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift!" (2 Cor. 9:9-15)



We feel that we are the "gifts" God has "scattered abroad for the poor." You all are "he who supply seed to the sower..." Because of your generosity, we and the people we serve down here give so much thanks and glory to the Lord. We pray that as you've given to us and have supported us, that your store houses would overflow with abundance and that you would continue to give God glory for that and continue with your generosity! We would never have been able to do this without all of your support and are so blessed by the Lord to have you! God has provided for us in amazing ways through your generosity of prayer, finances, thoughtfulness, time, etc. We love you all so much and thank the Lord for the "indescribable gifts" that you are!

Love,
The Kellners

No Bugs :: Glass Fixed

I know everyone is on the edge of their seats waiting to hear what happened to the bugs.

I have to say they disappeared just as quickly as the appeared.

Speaking of appearances, Doña Luz our landlord showed up the day after we broke the glass and helped us fix it. When I say help, I gave her the measurements for two broken windows. One was broken when we moved in, the other we broke the night before. She purchased and brought new glass in. Her son installed one window. I installed the other. Of the two, I must say mine was done much better.

Today I did some work for Fine Designs and Leslie did more laundry.

This weekend the Spanish Baptist Church is putting on "Pacto de Sangre". It is a Christian weekend of music for young people. Pastor Luis sold us tickets for $40 a piece but that includes food for 7 meals. It should be a good time of fellowship and meeting new spanish speaking people.

Since we have no school I volunteered Leslie and I to paint Vera's Apartment. Vera has really been wanting it done since she moved in 2 years ago, but never has time because she is always helping with the people at the dump. We spoke with her yesterday and she said start with the ceiling. We purchased paint and will probably start painting the apartment tomorrow, Lord willing.

For those who don't know, Vera is the lady who has been doing work at the dump for 30 years or so. She organizes the Christmas at the dump, pours concrete floors, and gives away everything she can to help the poor. She helped us find the apartment but is currently in Washington State recovering from total knee replacement. You need good knees to climb our hill.

That is all for now. Hope everyone is blessed.

Joel and Leslie

Bugs-Broken Glass :: EASTER

WOW- what a weekend. Yesterday was spent at home. Leslie was cleaning and doing laundry as I did work for Fine Designs. In the afternoon we drew some pictures on the balcony and then ate dinner late in the apartment.
We have a few nights in a row of bugs in the evening. They are small winged insects that swarm in masses and then drop their wings and crawl around the floor. Leslie does not like these little guys at all! They interrupted our dinner and Leslie lost her apatite. The focus shifted from eating to removing the bugs from our house. We knew they were definitely attracted to Light, so tried switching lights on outside and off inside. That solved one problem but created another. We could not see them swarming anymore, but they still landed on our arms, legs, and necks. We turned lights on again and they were all over the floor and had lost the ability to fly.
Leslie wanted to know what the locals do with all these bugs. We decided to venture out of our apartment and ask our neighbors. I left the apartment first and Leslie followed shortly after. Click, our door shut and immediately I asked Leslie "Do you have a KEY?"
"NO"
We were locked out.
Leslie closed all the windows and doors to keep out the bugs. Those same doors and windows kept us out too.

Suddenly the bugs did not seem like a big problem any more. The focus now was gaining access back into our apartment. It is amazing how quickly your perspective can shift...

We thought about our options:
#1 we call Doña Luz and have her bring the key. Problem, we do not have her phone number, because our phone were inside. If we had her phone number she may not understand us because she speaks so quickly etc. If we got in touch she lives far away and we do not know if she would even be available to bring us the key, the day before Easter.

#2 we can break a window. Our best option was breaking the window. We decided to break the one from our patio.

Attached is a picture of the broken glass.

This morning we went to Easter Service. Leslie and I sang one song together. After service we went to Randy and Sandys house for an Easter Lunch. We drove our car to their house and the whole ride there we heard a high pitch buzz. Confused we parked the car in front of Randy and Sandys condo, and tried searching the car with a fine tooth comb. Leslie correctly identified the buzz was on the driver side of the car. We listened in the Door, under the hood, in the trunk... We couldnt figure it out.

Turns out, it was a guitar tuner in my pocket! Joy, pastor Ric's wife had brought it before service and unknowingly I had placed it in my pocket where it turned on and started singing to us. We thought something was wrong with the car, turns out it was something wrong with me.

Easter Lunch was delicious. Corn, Green Beans, Mashed Potatoes, Glazed ham and Croissants were on the menu. We missed our families today but it was good to have a foster family, Randy Sandy and their daughter Emily take us in.

Happy Easter to everyone-

WE LOVE YOU

On a different note: Jim from church said that small cars like Chevy Monzas Run Hotter than larger vehicles and the fact that the temperature gauge goes down and the fan comes on shows that the Thermostat is working properly. We still will probably have it checked out but that eased our minds a lot.

A Visit from Friends-Semana Santa

This week we had Visitors. Sarah and John Smith stayed with us Sunday till Today. We had a great time hanging out with people our own age and nationality. Nothing against the Mexicans, or Americans older than us we serve with, it is just nice to be around "peers"...
This week Randy's Kids and Dennis and Faye's are off because of Semana Santa (Holy Week). It was perfect for us to spend time relaxing with Sarah and John. On Sunday we had to take two trips to the airport. As standby passengers Sarah got the last seat on the first flight and John got the last seat on the Last flight. Had they tried to stick together they would not have made it. We picked Sarah up first around 2:30. She brought our last boxes of donated clothing. John came in around 4. It sure is nice to have a car to pick up passengers and avoid the $20 taxi fare. The car is climbing the hill like a champ, even with 4 people. Sunday evening we ate a Sunset dinner on the balcony, then walked the Malecon (Boardwalk).

(The Catholic church was bustling with people on Palm Sunday)

Monday we drove our car to Sayulita. Dennis and Faye have asked me to make a ministry video comparing the beauty of Tourist Vallarta with the hard life at the dump. I brought my camera and caught some good footage of surfers, palm trees and beach umbrellas. As usual, it was a nice day spent body boarding, eating tamales and catching some sun. We took the Scenic Route home around Punta de Mita. Our car had its first issue when we returned from Sayulita. The temperature gauge rises and falls, the sign of a bad thermostat. We will have to get that fixed. Luckly it always goes back down before it gets too hot.

Tuesday we went to the El Eden Canopy tour. Regularly $85 we negotiated $58 deal for 4 people. It was less about a Canopy and more about Zip lines. Some zip lines, we travel 35 or 40 mph over 270ft ravines. It was a thrill, but I wished we could have spent more time. They sort of processed us through as if we were items on a conveyor belt as opposed to paying customers. One guy would clip us in and push us off, the other would unclip us and send us hiking to the next departure point. We also had a tour of a tequila factory. It was an 8 minute tour of the history of Tequila. Did you know the Agave plant has to grow 8 years to get to the size needed for Tequila processing? Once the leaves are cut off the center looks similar to a Pineapple the size of a basketball.

Wednesday we helped at Pan de Vida. Although there is no school, the church provided a 3 day Vacation Bible School. We helped set up the roof tents where they served 40 or 50 kids breakfast and lunch. Sarah and John fit right in. They were helping with Jackie's little brother who was a greater problem than Jackie. Kids were split into 2 groups: Older kids and younger kids. One group did crafts as the other played in water. There were two large "kitty pools" set up inside and a place to warm up and dry off up on the roof outside. A group from Illinois really did a lot to make the camp go smoothly. They did a puppet show and planned some crafts. The kids were attached even after 3 days. Leslie had a new patient as well. An older woman who seemed to have some respiratory issues. As she continues to help people medically, we are praying that God's healing hand would touch them even more than any medicine.


(This is Leslie now) On Thursday, I took Sarah and John to a couple of shops and then headed to a local beach, Playa de los Muertos, while Joel worked at home until the afternoon. It was CRAZY! We've never seen so many people at the beach here at once. It really reminded us of Waikiki beach in Hawaii...you could barely find a place to lay your towel. Most of the people out on the beach were families with the day off or Mexican vacationers. There was also the occasional American or Canadian tourist as well. The Mexicans outnumbered everyone else.

Today, Sarah and John finished up some last minute shopping at the market before they got on a plane headed for home. On our way to the market, we saw a public mock crucifixion as today is Good Friday. That was really neat...definitely not something you would see out in public in the states. It is sad to see them go and it rekindles some feelings of homesickness, but I think we'll manage to survive. We are looking forward to a festive weekend with semana santa continuing. We have been invited to Sunday Easter lunch at Randy and Sandra's which we are grateful and happy for. Next week looks wide open for us as the kids don't have school. We'll see what develops.

Prayer needs: 1.) I woke up this morning with a really sore throat...I never get sick at home and I'm assuming I caught it from someone at school. My head is starting to get stuffy and I'm sneezing a lot...I guess it's a good thing that there's no school next week. 2.) Please keep my "patients" in your prayers...I really don't know what I'm doing, (having only just graduated from nursing school) and am really praying for God's guidance and wisdom in how to diagnose and treat them (since you don't need a Rx for medicine) and deciding whether or not to take them to a doctor. I'm thankful for my palm pilot with all the info I need. 3.) Please keep praying for God's guidance and wisdom as to when we should return home. 4.) As the Salvation Army building project wraps up for Joel, he would like more opportunities to use his muscles. 5.) Please continue to pray for God's provision for us financially. Joel is working a little from home, but we know that everything that we get is from the Lord and we really want to be wise with what we have and are continuing to depend on God to provide for us.

Well, that about wraps it up! Once again, we will try to write more often for your sake and ours...it takes a long time to write one of these things after not writing one for a week! We love you guys and appreciate all your thoughtfulness and prayers! (We couldn't resist taking a picture of this funny pineapple man!)

The Kellners

NUEVO CARRO! Boca and Salvation Army

TODAY after 2 weeks of searching, we pulled the trigger and purchased a car. It is a 98 Chevy Monza. It cost 30,000 Pesos which is about $2,830 US... I went to change the "Factura" also known as the Title. It ends up we can not own a car for the same reason we can not rent movies. We have no proof of residency. The Apartment we rent from is in the name of Doña Luz (our landlord). She also has her name on all the power bills, etc. As far as Mexico is concerned, we have no proof we are even here. The way we got around this issue is by putting the car in Pastor Ric's Name. We got his passport and electric bill and so his name will be on the Title because he has proof of residency. God is good in giving us a way to purchase the vehicle and guiding us to the right one.

Of all the cars we looked at this seemed to be the best... It has spent most of its life in "Park." There are only 66,000 km which is about 44,000 miles. Most of the vehicles in our price range had twice that or more. The glass had no chips or cracks. The interior had no tears in the fabric or dash. It gets more than 40 miles per Gallon (17km per L). The bonus is that is has Aire Acondicionado (air conditioning). I don't think any of the vehicles we were looking at were equipped with this bonus. The shocks/suspension are good, Tires were pretty new with the exception of passenger rear which we changed today as well as the oil.

Pastor Luis from Pan de Vida took a look and said it was a great car. The one thing to remember is change the timing belt every 45,000 KM... if that breaks then you are in big trouble. I called the owner and he had changed it last year.

I am so thankful that we have a support team around us. We are just silly Americans trying to do some good here in Mexico and God has protected us from scammers and provided good voices of guidance. The couple who sold the car were nice, the lawyer who handled the transfer of property was good too. If we take good care of the vehicle, we should easily be able to sell it for the same we paid.
(I apologize for the long segment about the car.)

The Salvation Army building is coming together very fast! I went Tuesday and Thursday this week and we have moved all the blocks needed till they start the 2nd story. I wish I had taken pictures the first day I arrived, because I took Leslie with me today and where once there was only a floor, we now have walls over head.

I have met some good guys out there. Gary and Bob worked with me Thursday. I can really relate to Bob. He has a diverse history as an artist, contractor and custom builder. I can relate to his story and enjoyed his company on Thursday. He seems like someone who has a lot of life experiences to share.

Leslie is going to take over and discuss Boca, Pan de Vida and possible new ministry opportunities.

OK....well, I went back to Boca this week with Randy and met a lady named, Carmen, who I think is the school district super-indendent? Not really sure...anyway, she and I were able to discuss some nursing opportunities for out there. It sounds like the need is really to educate the parents. She has asked me to think up seminars on things like skin care, wound cleaning, infection prevention, lice education, etc. to teach the parents. I love the idea and I'm excited to get started on that! For the next two weeks, there is no school as the Easter holiday is a huge Mexican holiday...Semana Santa (Holy week). Yes...they celebrate for two whole weeks. So, I will be in contact with Carmen, and when school resumes, hopefully I can get started with these education opportunities.

(The line-up for lunch. The cook woke up at 4am to prepare two buckets full of fresh fish tacos. They were Delicious!)

(Part of the school at Boca. Boca is a 30min. drive and is where we catch the water taxis to go to Yelapa)

It was awesome working with the kids out at Pan de Vida this week! The little girl's lip healed (see last blog entry for details) with no signs of infection...Praise God! There were a couple sick kids this week...a 4mo. old with a fever and congestion, and a 4yr. old with a really sore throat and a high fever. I think the baby has pneumonia (I listened to her lungs which had lots of crackles and were quiet in the bases...for you nursing gurus). The older one (I'm almost positive) has strep throat. She had white patches in her throat and it was hard for her to swallow. I gave them both antibiotics and am working hard on praying for them as well. Please be praying for my little patients out there for God's healing and graceful hand...that will heal even more than medicine!(This is Montse, short for Montserrat...her lip is almost all better!)

We also had the opportunity to take out two boxes of clothing to school today, thanks to God's provision of a new car! The kids loved it and we can't wait to give out more...Lupita helped me...she knows exactly who needs what and what size.

( Yay! A new dress!)

A funny thing that happened today...we went to Costco to return Joel's skim board (it broke the first time we used it:( and at one of the sample tables they were giving away (drum roll please) SHOTS of TEQUILA! We couldn't believe it, and still can't! Just one of the ways life here in Mexico is different.

Anyway, as the week is winding down, we have to say that we are so thankful for God's provisions every day! We could never make it without Him. Please continue to pray for our kids and their spiritual and physical well-being. They need so much love, patience, and kindness...please be praying for us that the Lord would be working through us to be able to meet some of those needs.

We love you guys and can't wait to hear from you!

The Kellners

Salvation Army, Boca, Recovery, & A Car?

Hello Everyone-

 We have been blessed with a couple days to relax after a tough end to last week.  Joel worked at the Salvation Army building moving blocks for the professional Masons. I served twice on Friday.  Serving the morning at Boca with Randy and finished out the week at school. We began planning the Vacation Bible school Water Camp. It will be 3 days March 17-19. Pastor Luis says the goal of the camp is to make sure every child will know the plan of salvation by the end of Wednesday.

I had a couple medical opportunities last week...one little girl had a really bad eye infection that Joel mentioned. We had to take her to the doctor. Another little girl came to school on Thursday with a big gash on her upper lip. She had fallen and knocked out one of her front teeth and had bitten through her lip (sound familiar mom?). I didn't want to take her to the doctor immediately because she hadn't bitten all the way through and it was too late for stitches and her tooth had come out cleanly. I cleaned it up the best I could and put some good 'ol' Neosporine on it. The next day it looked 10x's better. I treated it the same and am confident for a full recovery for her.

We took Saturday off...we decided to do every-other Saturday out at the school. We had a chance to go out to Sayulita and had a lot of fun. The waves were rough at first for body boarding and were calmer later in the day. We had a nice lunch on the beach too! We bought Tamales for 10 pesos each ($1) from a lady who had made them fresh from home and was selling them out of a bucket. They were delicious! After Sayulita we were supposed to meet someone at Walmart with a 92 Jetta. He never showed and instead we met a man in the parking lot with a 99 Tsuru his business is buying and selling cars for a living.

Sunday, we went to church. The people really came alive when we sang the Hymn "Blessed Assurance".  Joel did not know that song before, but sees that Hymns are very important for the older people in the congregation. He looks forward to learning the classics to relate to the audience.  We rushed up to Home Depot after church to look at a 95 Jetta. I got another house plant and Joel bought some work gloves. Exausted, we spent the majority of the afternoon at home, resting and recovering.

Today, Monday, Joel is working here at home, and I am working on cleaning the apartment and doing laundry.

The week will begin tomorrow for Joel, as he will be going out again to do physical labor at the new Salvation Army building. I will start on Wednesday by going to one of Randy's schools out in Quimixto (pronounced cu-mix-toe). There is finally a nursing opportunity for me in the works, starting out there. More to come on that later. The plan is also to go out to Pan de Vida Wed-Sat.  

The big news that we are asking for prayers for is that we are looking for a car...in the $2000-$3000 price range. We would be purchasing it with some of the money we have been saving for this opportunity since we got married. There are several reasons why we think it would be beneficial to have a car. We feel like it would help us be more effective and efficient in ministering. So far, we have been dependent on others for rides out to school and to catch the boat. There have been times where the car is so full that there's barely enough room for everyone. We also still have all the boxes of clothes to take out to the school, that we haven't had the opportunity to bring due to full cars. Though we aren't here for convenience sake, it would be so much more convenient to have a car for things like trips to the grocery store and Costco...it's hard to try and coax a taxi driver to climb our hill with a car full of groceries and supplies, and the cost of buses and taxis adds up, not only monetarily, but time-wise too. Our fears about this purchase would be: buying a car that breaks down often and not being able to sell it for what we got it for (or close to what we got it for). We have looked at several so far. Some were just junk...we found one possibility but the papers for it ended up being dirty...there was another possibility after that where the car ended up needing more work (suspension, shocks, etc..). Right now a guy at church has a friend who might have a '96 Golf for sale within our price range. We hope this will be a good match for us, but don't even know if it's really for sale.  We are just asking for your prayers that God would help us find a good car in that price range, or that He would make it clear that a car isn't in His will. 

Anyway, that's all for now. We know that God is in control and has such wonderful plans for us while we're here. We appreciate you checking in!

Joel and Leslie

Meet the Crew :: COSTCO opens :: WHALES!

I hope you are not tired of seeing pictures of the balcony. It is such a blessing to come home at the end of the day and having this amazing view. God has really blessed us. Monday and Tuesday I have been busy designing logos early in the week while Leslie went with Randy to Yelapa again. One purpose of this Blog is to introduce you to people we are serving with. Below is a picture of Randy grating cheese for Quesedillas.

Today we went out to the dump and taught some English to the kids. Leslie was used for nursing diagnosis to help a kid with eye problems. She rode with Dennis and the kid to the Hospital and Pharmacy to pick up medication. Faye had her class of the smart kids so I was back to the really young ones trying to teach them the ABC's and colors in both English and Spanish. Below is a picture of Dennis (aka Santa Clause) and Faye.
After Class we took a trip to COSTCO! It just opened today and let me tell you... It is very similar to the Costco at home. We spent over $100 on some things for the kids and some things for ourselves. Joel's treat was a skim board for $25 and Leslie got Triple Chunk Brownie Mix, Chocolate Chip Cookies from the Bakery, and Cherry Tomatoes. They have the same vendors offering samples at the end of each isle, but instead of elderly ladies with hairnets, you have young people with plastic gloves. Instead of Northwest samples of Clam Chowder of Fiz energy drinks, the Mexicans are offering Chile seasoning for Fruit and Mango/Orange juice.
For the Kids we bought 12 Bars Bathing Soap, 2 Large Bottles of Hand washing soap, 3 Shampoo and 2 Conditioner. They have the kids wash their hands before they eat, but there is no soap available.

Ray and Patty (above), have come on a short term mission until April. Patty is retired from COSTCO and attended the private opening yesterday. She informed us that someone inside corporate has donated a large number of Vitamins, personal care and first aid material for Pan de Vida. This means kids will be getting some of the proper health care they need. These are tools that Leslie can use to educate the kids and parents.

It is pretty cool to come here with specific ideas of how you wanted to help and to see the way God brings in people to meet specific needs. We realize we are part of a much larger ministy than we could have pictured before we were here. I had thought that Leslie and I would come here and pretty much try to do some serving by our selves without much contact from anyone. Yet to have this blog and hear responses, and to have people send us gifts makes me realize we are not alone. When we serve with Dennis and Faye, they are a hub of a much bigger wheel. Some days I feel that we are not having any effect, yet other days I realize we are part of something that contributes to great change in the lives of the needy.

We would also like to introduce you to Pastor Luis Miguel and his wife, Lupita (Below). They are the main players out at Pan de Vida who run the ministry. They do an awesome job of making sure all the kids and volunteers are taken care of and coordinated. Without them, the ministry wouldn't exist.

Lastly I want to mention the WHALES that we have seen off of our Balcony. I could try to describe them, but it is best to show you a video. Leslie and I created one on iMovie this evening but I am having trouble uploading it. Perhaps tomorrow I can resolve the issues and post the video. For now, it is just something you will have to wait for!

Resolved at 3:30 Mexico time: ENJOY!

Piojos!

Hi everyone!

Piojos! Piojos! Everywhere!

To wrap up this week, we went out to Pan De Vida on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. Thursday is a day for the advanced kids Faye was out this week, so we stepped in to teach her class. I could say over and over again how incredibly smart and eager they are to learn!

There was a family of 8 kids that came to school...one of the very poorest of families that lives right on the edge of the dump mound. I noticed that about three or four of them had little jumpy things in their hair...yes...Lice, translated in Spanish, Piojos (pronounced pee-oh-hose). I learned that one of the girls has had them so bad that maggots, at one point, started boring holes into her head through the scratch wounds. Dennis had to take her to the hospital. Every time they come to the school, which isn't very often for unknown reasons, the older siblings give each of the younger siblings a shower that they have in the bathroom. After school, Joel and I helped to carry water back to their house so I could get a chance to talk to the mom about the problem. The "house" is in unimaginable condition. There are two couches sitting outside with the stuffing coming out and the inside consists of two bare matresses (probably found in the dump). No kitchen, no bathroom, no windows...as far as I could see. I let mom know about the problem and told her that I could treat the lice on Friday if the kids came to school. She agreed and then asked if we had any clothes we could give her for her kids. When I got back to the school, I told Pastor Luis what had happened and he let me know that it would be a good thing to treat for the lice, but warned me against giving clothes. I learned that what happened to Jackie (her new clothes being sold right off her back for money for drugs) has also happened in this family. I was heartbroken. As you know, before we left, we collected 8 boxes of kid's clothing to donate...I don't know which parents will sell it and which ones will be responsible! Lucky for me, Lupita, Pastor Luis' wife knows exactly who needs what and what sizes and she knows which parents will be responsible. It sounds like she's the lady for the job, so on this Wednesday, we will be bringing the clothes to school to sort through and hand out to the kids.

So, Friday I treated three kids for lice. One was a little girl, separate from that family, who I fell in love with!

She had the longest, hardest to brush hair EVER! Her mom comes to school to help out and when she saw that I had lice shampoo, she alerted me that her daughter had "piojos" and could I please treat her. I also treated two from the family of 8. The one who had previously had the worst case of head lice ever, was so afraid when I brought her to the chair to shampoo her that she was crying. I'm sure she was terrified from the last time. As soon as I started rubbing in the shampoo, she calmed down and actually dozed off from the "scalp massage." I was happy to help as I know she is terribly neglected at home.

I had two bottles of shampoo and only got to 3 kids! I'm going to need GALLONS of the stuff....however, I know that I can't eradicate the problem on my own so I'm thinking of maybe doing 5 or so kids/month. The lice shampoo is expensive $5-$7/bottle, and to be truthful, Mayonnaise actually works better...however, it's a matter of parent compliance and neglect. I can't send a kid home with mayonnaise in his/her hair and expect the mom to actually wash it out or do the second treatment, unless I know the mom and she demonstrates understanding of the process. We also can't expect for them to put all the clothes into plastic bags until the lice are dead (where will they get the bags from?), or to iron the bare mattress to kill the lice either (where are they going to get an iron?). They are living in a condition where lice are inevitable 100% of the time.

My heart was broken after school on Friday. I only got 3 kids, and there were others coming up to me all day asking me to look at their piojos and see that they had it too...I'm just a drop in the bucket as far as this matter is concerned! My plan is to teach the much more effective, less expensive and less harmful mayonnaise method to the ladies who help at the school so that they will know how to treat the kids who get it really bad.

Saturday we came back and my only patient that showed up was the little girl who's mom comes to help. I bought some conditioner to put in her hair to help comp out the nits and dead lice. As I was doing so, I told the mom that "if this happens again, my husband knows how to cut hair (yes, he actually does) and that next time, we will use mayonnaise." I told her that at my job in the US, we recommend the same mayonnaise treatment. She was appalled and wide- eyed to hear that, yes, we actually have piojos in the United States too. I was sad the other girls didn't come..they needed to be treated, but I can only trust that the first treatment will allay the lice atleast for a little bit.

In the meantime, Joel was having a blast with the kids. They LOVE him! He took over Faye's class on Thursday and Friday and did a great job! He lifts them up into the air, and spins them around, and lets them sit on his lap and hug him! He might be one of the only positive male influences in their lives and I think God is really using him in that area.

On Saturday, they have kind of a Sunday School where they learn songs and Bible Verses, etc. Their memory verse is " I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." (John 14:6). They know it in English and Spanish!

To wrap up the weekend, we went to church today (Sunday) and went to Dennis and Faye's for lunch. They have a BBQ grill that they made hamburgers on. It was totally gourmet...We felt like we were at Red Robin! We had fresh Guacamole with our burgers, and Strawberry Shortcake for dessert! Thanks Dennis and Faye.

Thanks everyone for your continued support and encouragement. Please remember that we wouldn't be down here without you. We love you and appreciate you.

Leslie and Joel