No Internet, Bobs Visit, Quimixto CLINIC

Something happened this last weekend and we no longer have the internet. This means we can not update the blog from home and I can’t work from home anymore. It was on and available from the end of February till now. We have to start hiking down the hill to a cafe so we can do what we used to do from our guest room.

This last weekend Thursday through Monday, my dad (Bob) came for a visit. He helped us move down here in February but did not get to see much because he was only here one full day. This time he saw it all.

Thursday after he arrived, we ate at El Arrayan, which is supposedly voted the Best Mexican restaurant in Puerto Vallarta for 3 years in a row. I think they must have someone stuff the ballot box because it was not anything head and shoulders over other restaurants we eat at and it was way over-priced. I had a steak, Leslie had some shrimp and my dad got fish. It tasted ok, but for the price we could have had 3 meals somewhere else.

Friday, while I was practicing music for church, my dad drove the car for Vera and fed the people working on top of the garbage mound. He brought my video camera and got some good shots I can use in Dennis and Faye’s Video. On the way home, he drove Vera to pick up some chicken which we ate for lunch, then we went to school to teach kids at Pan de Vida.

The first part of class, we had the kids go out back and work on the garden. This garden was planted by Patty and Ray while they were here. It’s about a 5ft x 5ft square behind the school building. They harvested the radishes, weeded, and watered the plants. They tried the radishes but didn’t like them.
We continued working on vocabulary for the rooms of the house. This week was the bedroom and the closet. I drew a big picture of a bedroom and Leslie wrote a list of vocabulary words. The kids would stick the words onto my drawing in the appropriate place. They seem to like the way we are teaching class but I fear they are not learning these words as well as they did in the kitchen last week. This Wednesday there is no school because of “Kids Day”. Thursday we plan on doing review and Friday we will have the big “Auction” for all the cool cash. This will be the first of 3 auctions we have planned.



After class on Friday, we stopped by the beach for about an hour, then Leslie cooked an awesome meal. She made Lasagna from scratch, Salad, Bread, and fresh fruit. Vera came over and we had sunset dinner on the Balcony.

Saturdays plan was to make a concrete floor, but the people whose house we were supposed to pour had not done any preparation. Pastor Ric stopped by on Thursday and said the floor had 1.5 foot holes all over. Instead of physical labor, my dad and I went to help Leslie teach our Sunday school class. We taught them the verses in Romans that exemplifies God’s plan for salvation...aka “Roman’s Road.” They seemed to get it and were able to reiterate the gist of each of the verses. After school we went to Sayulita. It was a “beautiful sunny day” but small waves. For dinner we ate Tacos al Pastor. We were there early and got to see them put on the huge mound of meat. It takes about 20 minutes for it to cook the outside enough for tacos.

Sunday, we went to church, then to Breakfast, then to Misamaloya (a beach south of the city). There is supposed to be good snorkeling there. We layed in the sun for a while and then my dad and I chartered a boat to “los Arcos”. We got to see some fish as Barauch our boat driver threw bread in the water. Unfortunately, when we got in the water, we could not see past our hands. We swam around for about 20 minutes. Barauch swam with us and brought up some Star Fish and even a puffer fish! It blew up to the size of a small balloon with spikes exposed. He was holding it with his bare hands and passed it over to my dad. I on the other hand did not volunteer to feel the spikes. My dad said it felt like a bunch of needles. After Misamaloya, we went to the Grocery store for Vera and then to Costco for Pizza. We had another nice sunset dinner. Below are some pictures from the evening

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All in All it was a good visit for my dad. He saw the dump, and the north and south parts of Vallarta. He ate at the “Best” restaurants and the cheapest. He got some sun and warmed his bones from the cool Northwest weather.

Before my dad’s visit, Leslie had her first day at Quimixto doing the clinic. As all first days go, this one did not go as smoothly as planned. She had a crowd of people who wanted her service. Unfortunately they were asking about things that do not necessarily have treatments or concrete answers such as arthritis, back pain, random other symptoms. As you can imagine, she also had a really hard time with the language barrier and trying to get across treatment strategies, collecting all the information, and trying to communicate home and/or medicinal remedies. Leslie brought her stethoscope, but did not have her blood pressure cuff. Some people wanted their blood pressure taken so she’ll have to do that this week. It was very discouraging for her to not be able to give them the answers they wanted, she feels like she doesn't have the ability to “diagnose” all they are asking and feels tremendous pressure to give answers and a “magic cure.” It would be really good to have a local there to translate. She is not looking forward to going back as she is so discouraged about the first time...you could be praying for courage and wisdom for her. This Wednesday I will be going with Leslie to see first hand what the clinic is like. I will be an UCNA (Un-Certified Nurses Assistant).

Well, that's all the news to report for now. We will try to keep our blog updated as much as possible, but may not be able to write as often given the current internet situation. We love you all very much and appreciate you checking in!

The Kellners

ALOT Has Happened

(Our Team of painters)

Whew! Let me just take a breath as I sit down to write this. We have had a very busy end to one week and a busy beginning to another!

The kids did really well last week, studying about the kitchen! The "cool cash" idea has worked awesome as well! Sometimes there's nothing like a little bribery! Anyway, like I said, they did a great job learning about the kitchen. To review their new words, we played a couple good games of pictionary where Joel would tell the artist the word in English, and their team mates would have to give the answer in English. We also started trying to put simple sentences together, using ther verb "to have" ("tener" in Spanish). Apparently they were writing whole sentences on the board before the big semana santa vacation. As it goes, they had forgotten how to do that by the time they got back. We practiced sentences using some of their new vocab words..."I HAVE the spoon"..."she HAS the fork"...etc. This week we will be learning about items in the bedroom and in the closet. We will also be working on more sentences and verbs too.

(We're making progress downstairs)

We spent the whole afternoon on Saturday going to get the rest of the supplies for painting the rest of Vera's house, and getting all the medical supplies I will need to start the clinic. God has been SOOOO faithful to provide for us. We were really worried about how we were going to pay for all the rest of the paint supplies and all the medicines and supplies I would need for the clinic. As you know, God sometimes provides for us in ways we don't expect. Jeanne (Joel's mom) had deposited his last paycheck right before last weekend. The amount of the check still hadn't shown up on our account online...not even in the "pending" section...hmmm... We called Jeanne to see what was going on, and she in turn called our bank only to find out that the wrong bank account number had been entered, meaning that the check was deposited into someone else's account. After a little investigation, they found that all the numbers on the original deposit slip that Jeanne had filled out were correct and that whoever deposited the check was the one who entered the numbers wrong. To make a long story short, our bank put the paycheck back into our account along with a customer satisfaction credit for the same amount as the check itself...in other words, we doubled our money! Praise God...we then, because of the Lord's provision, had more than enough to buy the supplies! (Just a side note...we have seen God's provision over and over in our marriage as we've been on one income for most of the time, allowing me to go to nursing school. He always provides right when we need it, and we are always amazed!)

Between school and medical/paint supplies shopping, we worked really hard at Vera's house, painting, fixing the sink, and cleaning. She actually came home today, so we felt a big pressure to finish the whole project by the time she came home. By Sunday after church, we had finished the downstairs, minus the bathroom and a little part in the kitchen. We had the whole upstairs to complete. There was a team of us working to paint and clean...the pastor's son, Tucker, a missionary couple from our church, and a neighbor named Eric. Eric is a true Mexican worker...the word...HARDCORE! We've never seen anyone work so fast and efficiently. We started painting around noon, and the paint job was complete by about 4:00. Joel and I were there until about 8:00. We had to move all her things back, finish fixing the bathroom sink, and clean....there was SO MUCH DUST EVERYWHERE...my mother's worst nightmare! By God's grace, we got it done!

(Finished upstairs)

Mitcha also had her babies last week on Thursday morning. We actually got to see her give birth. She had four kittens...one white, one black, and two dark tabby. They are adorable! To update on Pancha, her babies opened their eyes last week also. As I type this, they are actually stepping out from the nest and taking a look around. Momma cat is trying to keep them in order.

(Mitcha and her new babies)(Family photo of Pancha and her babies)

Today, Joel worked for Fine Designs, and I worked hard at cleaning our apartment. We went and picked up Vera from the airport, and have spent time preparing for our class.

Please be praying for us this week. I am sick again....I have had a sore throat for the last two weeks, and a swollen gland in my neck (unrelated to the sore throat...it's not sore). Please be praying for the clinic and for our kids. We really want to show them God's love, and especially for Joel as he's one of the only good male influences in their lives. Joel's dad, Bob, is also coming this week on Thursday. Please pray for safe travels and a good visit.

We are off tomorrow..hopefully to the beach for a little rest!

We love you guys and are thinking about you!

Joel and Leslie

Accident Update :: Cool Cash :: HOT WEATHER

Sunset on the Patio Tuesday Night

Hello everyone-
Thank you for your prayers. I am feeling much better. Last night I slept without a coughing episode. Leslie has been sleeping a little better too.

Since the accident at Vera's house, we have not been able to do any Laundry because the water was turned off. The plumber ended up not being reliable. Our upstairs neighbor Jorge said he could help me fix it. If you knew Jorge you would think he would not be able to do any manual labor. He is a homosexual and very feminine. Just goes to show you that you can't judge by appearance. He knew exactly what was needed for the project. We went to Home Depot and purchased a sink, plumbing kit, Torch, Gas, sodder, PVC joints, PVC Glue, copper pipe and a copper pipe cutter. Everything ended up being around $80. I went over Sunday after church and started the project, preparing the wall and cutting off the top of the pipe. Jorge and his boyfriend came down and took over as I left to help Pastor Ric pour a cement floor out at the dump.

Joel working under the sink

When I came back, they had soddered one piece, and assembled the sink and attached it to the wall. However none of the plumbing was done. After further consideration, I decided to change the way the plumbing connected. Instead of hard wiring/soddering the plumbing to the sink, I decided to add a Valve shut-off at the wall and put a flexible tube from the wall to the sink. It worked flawlessly with no leaks. The next issue was making the plumbing drain from the sink back into the wall... With some Silicone I was able to connect that with no leaks too. I am not a plumber and have no practical experience doing any of this. I thank God for guiding me through the steps and giving inspiration how to do this right. Needless to say, the water is back on and Sylvia our neighbor and Leslie can start washing clothes again.

Mitcha is still VERY PREGNANT

This week we take over Patti and Rays class. We are continuing their education and teaching items in the Kitchen. I drew some simple objects in Illustrator. Today they wrote English words below the pictures I drew. We also made a list of Rules on how to obey and began a reward system called "COOL CASH." The "cool cash" allows them to buy prizes when we bring them to school. The rules are simple : 1 Respect each other 2 Listen to who is speaking 3 Share nicely 4 Don't grab for things, wait your turn and 5 Do your your best at every task. They seemed to like the idea of Cool Cash and really were learning the 16 new kitchen items we did today.

I played Hang Man with the kitchen words and they really liked it!

(Leslie Typing) I went to Quimixto today with Randy and passed out flyers in the community letting them know the dates and times of the "clinic." I think it went well. I gave a small stack to two guys named Jose Luis and Rodrigo to hand out. The clinic will be at Rodrigo's house, and Jose Luis is one of the prominent people in Quimixto. God is good because there was a parent's meeting going on at school when we got there so I was able to distribute flyers to them and also to all the students. Between now and next week, I will be buying supplies and medicines. Please be praying that God would give me wisdom to know the right thing to do for every person that comes by!

Tomorrow we are going to teach how to set a table with the words we just learned.

The temperature has been rising little by little every day. While walking the street we really notice a difference. Luckily our car has Air Conditioning. Our car, when the air conditioning is on, does not over heat at all... In fact the temperature does better with AC than without it.

We hope everyone is doing well-

Joel and Leslie in Mexico.

Opportunity :: Anniversary :: Accident

Hello everyone!

After a relaxing weekend, we are back on the scene. Yesterday I, Leslie, went to Quimixto (pronounced ku-meex-toe) for the first time with Randy, and starting next week, I will be doing a "mini-clinic" every-other Wednesday. Next week, I will bring flyers into the community announcing the days that I will be there, and the Wednesday after that, I will hopefully have a few patients. Between now and then, I will be needing to buy first aid stuff, antibiotics, eye drops, and other medicines. The "clinic" will actually be in the "front yard" of one of the community member's homes. He and his wife were running a restaurant there which is no longer in operation. It is a perfect place because it is under covering and has a nice, smooth cement floor. It seems that the other opportunity in Boca may fall through as my contact hasn't been a very good contact after all. Please be praying for one or the other to actually work out.

(This is the school in Quimixto. Check out the huge tree in the background!)

One interesting site that I saw in Quimixto was a wrecked tourist boat as we were pulling up to the shore to be dropped off. It was a 2-story party-boat type thing that apparently came loose from the anchor and crashed into some rocks and sank. Must have been an exciting day for those tourists! I guess it happened about two weeks ago and they are working on taking it apart to get rid of it...Luckily it was very close to shore and no one got hurt.

After that, Joel and I went to school at Pan de Vida. Patty and Ray will be leaving this coming Monday, and we have been asked to take over their class. We've been sitting with them these past two days to get a feel for the teaching style they're used to. These kids are a little older than the ones we've been working with...probably between 7-9 yrs. They are working on the "house," learning what the different rooms are called in English. Today, we had them each draw a house on a big piece of butcher paper and furnish them with pictures from magazines. It was really fun and the kids really got into it! They all put a pool outside their house...the "pools" were pictures of huge resort pools!

(JOEL SPEAKING)
Yesterday we celebrated our 3rd anniversary. Ever since we came on the first trip to
Puerto Vallarta, Leslie has wanted to go to RHYTHMS OF THE NIGHT. It is a dinner tour to Las Caletas, the old home of John Huston, the movie director. They take you out there on a boat and then you watch a 30 minute live dancing presentation. Then have a romantic candle lit dinner buffet.

It was a very beautiful place and great way to celebrate our Anniversary.

(Joel's hair is a little fluffy after the boat ride out to Las Caletas!)(A really nice view of the shoreline from the boat)


(A Nice Candle Light Dinner)
Today we slept in and I did work for Fine Designs, touched up the Blue walls at Vera's, worked out at Pan De Vida and then started to paint Vera's Bathroom. This is were the Drama begins. Her bathroom is an odd shape room below the stairs. I can reach 80% of the room but the top point I needed a ladder. I removed the boxes and suitcases, brought in a bucket and wiped down the walls to prepare for the paint. I had even found some wall patching paste and filled in the holes. I got out the ladder and planned on painting bathroom from the top down

As I was painting the ceiling something unexpected happened.

The Ladder slipped, Gravity took its hold on me, and before I knew it I was on the floor. I fell through the shelf on the wall and the bathroom sink. The whole sink actually came out of the wall! I fell straight on my back, catching myself on the shelf and sink on the way down. Water began shooting out of the wall and I had no way to stop it... I am sure my body hurt, but I needed to find some way to stop the water. I found a sponge in the kitchen that could stop the majority of the water only for about a minute, until the water pressure was too much. I called Leslie and she came to help. I said "We need something to stop the water." She had brought the caulk from when we fixed the window, unfortunately that would not work. Water was flooding the floor in the front part of her house and rushing out the door. We didn't know where to turn it off!
Luckly, Eric our neighbor came by and turned the water off outside. That left a HUGE MESS inside for us to clean up. We moved the furniture from her living room and began sweeping up the floor. The adrenaline wore off and I noticed a gash under my Left arm, I also discovered another scratch on my left wrist. My left butt cheek is also sore. I am thankful that I was all that happened. The porcelain sink was shattered on the floor, with large serrated edges pointing up. I could have landed on a sharp point and had to go to the HOSPITAL. There could have been nothing there and I would have fallen strait to the floor and I could have been knocked out. It is unfortunate that we have to buy a new sink for Vera, but I am so glad that it broke my fall Instead of an 8 foot fall, I had a two foot fall to the shelf, three foot fall to the sink and then 3 foot fall to the floor. You can see from the picture the damage.


We called Vera and apologized. She was not upset. She talked with Emilia, another neighbor, and they know a plumber who lives close. Hopefully it can be fixed by this weekend.

I still have my cough, which keeps both of us up at night. The bugs have also been making cameo appearances which drive Leslie nuts! They practically covered the whole bathroom wall and floor one of the nights they were here...we might have had a glimpse of what one of the plagues of Moses was like. We've also been battling fear of the future...finances, when to come home, what will happen when we come home, finding new jobs, etc. Between these things and what happened today, we are feeling under attack and would appreciate your prayers!

I have recently been listening to a series of teachings from the son of Randy and Sandra. Their son Adam is a 30 year old pastor in Illinois. He has a website
http://borderlandsweb.com/
I think it would be a good source for anyone looking for good Biblical teaching. He is currently addressing the Emerging Church.

Well, that's it for now! Hope all is well for everyone.

Joel and Leslie

Back to School::New Kittens!

Hola!

First of all we apologize for not updating our site all week. This was "back to school week" for the kids and we are exhausted! The kids were really unfocused upon coming back on Wednesday...they were still on mental vacations. Nonetheless, they were excited to be back and were excited to see us. We are amazed every week at the interest shown by tourists who are here on vacation and want to come out and help! On Wednesday, we had a family of 5 who had found the "Pan de Vida" website before coming on vacation and decided this would be something worthwhile to do. On Friday, and today, Saturday, we had a young couple who are here on vacation from Wyoming who just discovered the website the day before they left to come here! We always hear how heartbreaking it is for these vacationers to leave the kids, even after one day! We feel so privileged to be able to be with them every day! We feel so blessed to be more than just a visitor...we have a special place in those kids' hearts and them in ours...God has blessed us with such a special gift!

(JOEL WRITING)
This week, I worked out at the dump putting in a cement floor with Pastor Ric. This was one of the tasks we knew about before coming down and I looked forward to helping out. This project was started by a short term mission team last week. We finished in 4 hours Thursday morning.
I was amazed at this family's living condition. The Roosters and chickens were inside the house on their beds... The entire house was smaller than the front half our our apartment. From their front door you can see all corners of the house. There was a toilet in the top left corner that drained into their front yard. In the lower left corner, there was a chicken coup and kitchen (which consisted of a round plastic table and a two burner "camp stove" that was hooked up to a 10 gallon propane tank). In front of me were 3 beds and the chickens. To the right was a TV and some shelves for misc items and clothes. Helping Ric and I mix concrete and lay the floor was a couple on their HONEYMOON from West Virginia, and a older gentleman from the local church. As we said above, it is great to see these vacationers donate some of their time for a good cause.
Some people may be thinking... What difference is a cement floor vs a dirt floor? This time of year the answer is not much, but when the rain comes the difference is Night and Day. Imagine the rainy season. When you get out of bed, you must step into thick, dirty, stinky mud. There is no place to keep anything clean. Now imagine having a clean and solid place to put your feet instead. It cost about a $150 to buy materials, but it does so much to change the quality of life.

(LESLIE AGAIN)
I went to Boca with Randy this week and had a really INTERESTING time! First of all, because the kids are back from school, they were having a parade with the kindergarteners to celebrate the beginning of Spring. They dressed up like animals, and flowers, and bees. There was a queen and a king, and a prince and a princess. It was so precious! As they were being driven down the street in the back of the truck, you might have thought it was the Macy's parade with how proud they were and how they were waving. After the parade, we went into the empty classroom to serve the lunch where we normally are. Next door to that room is another empty classroom that I've never seen being used. I saw a woman walk up with her 2 dogs and go into that classroom. Apparently those doggys were there to have surgery....yes, surgery....right there at the school! Being a nurse, I was more interested in watching that than serving food, and I'm sure you can imagine the kids' curiosity. The vet came in with all his supplies in a plastic bin, grabbed an empty desk to set up the operating table, put the dogs out, and they were neutered by the time we left after lunch! Only in Mexico! I wish I had my camera!...Actually, it turns out I had it in my purse the whole time, I just didn't know it!

I was also busy this week preparing a presentation on First Aid for the parents out at Boca. I'm not sure when it will be, but I'm excited for the opportunity. I've been in contact with one of the community leaders out there who will be helping me facilitate. Please be praying for that opportunity!

Today was an awesome day at school. The kids LOVE it when we sing songs. Joel has been bringing the guitar, and thanks to the good 'ol' Sumner Pres. days in Ensenada, Mexico, I know a lot of their songs. A couple weeks ago, we introduced them to "Pharoah, Pharoah," and we had a request for that one today! They are doing really well on their memory verse in English and Spanish. If they can memorize it by June, they win a trip to the water park. The verse is John 14:6.
After school, we went to the paint store to buy two shades of blue, and one shade of purple (almost gray). Vera told us the colors she wants on her walls, and where, so we got started on that today, now that the ceiling is done. We only got one wall today because it took FOREVER at the pain store to mix them all. Anyway, the wall turned out really nice! We probably won't be back until next week to work some more. Tomorrow is church, and we plan on resting afterwards and on Monday.


The last bit of news for the week is that our adopted cat had kittens! Her name is Pancha, and she had three kittens right outside ours and our neighbor's apartment in the bushes. She lives outside, but we give her attention, and Joel doesn't know it, but I sometimes sneak her a meal or two. We went to the store to get her kitten food...I didn't know that's what mamma cats need to eat. We've been taking care of her and making sure she's getting food and rest. There is also another little girl cat, named Micha (mee-cha) who will also have kittens any day now. They are both the neighborhood cats who everyone keeps an eye out for and helps take care of.



We have a couple prayer requests: Joel is sick with something like a cold. He became ill on Thursday and had a slight fever and felt horrible. He is much better, but his voice has left him. Please be praying for me also as I haven't been sleeping well. There have been many nights, including last night where I lie awake practically the whole night. I have been praying in the day and night about this problem and it's getting frustrating because my energy level is way down, and I have a tendency to develop a bad attitude when that happens!

Well, that's all the news for now! We hope everyone is doing great. We love you guys and miss everyone!

The Kellners