Wednesday

Buenas dias!
The week has flown by and this might be our last post. We will be ending today with our "goodbye dinner" and who knows how late that will go. Then Friday morning we leave the hotel at 7am (before breakfast) so we won't have time in the morning to type while we wait for our breakfast order. So, we will see what we can do.

OK, back to Wednesday:
It was another beautiful morning and after breakfast we moved upstairs for our "press conference" with the mayor's office. (There were newspaper reporters, two television stations, the secretary to the mayor and other people from his office). Up front at the table sat Manrique (representing the Culiacan Baptist Conference), Steve Jervis (representing the St. Paul/Culican sister city relationship), Don B, Marco Vallejo (representing the Baptist churches in Sinaloa and also the MBC St. Paul sister churches), the mayor's secretary, the pastor from Zion (representing the Sinola Baptist Conference), and Lucio. There was sharing about how our trips started, and what we have been doing in the city. The reporters asked a few questions, and took lots of pictures. The reporters were most interested what we have been doing to help the city - projects, etc. It was a new and exciting dimension to this growing ministry. Our story was on the television news that night and we are waiting to see if the newspaper has published our story. The name of the newspaper is El Debate and I think you can find it online.

We then went to Progreso and the construction work continued. This was actually quite exciting because we got to see this really cool cement truck (made in Indianola, Iowa - at least the mudflaps were...) that was like a cement factory all in one. It is the only truck like this in Sinaloa. For more details and lots of pictures, ask Steve Jervis. They poured the cement for the footings. I won't mention how many "supervisors" were observing this part of the work.

The women that could walk (that's not Peg) walked to 3 homes for more visits. These are such wonderful times to deepen our friendships and encourage each other. We have already been asked to come to Ninfa's home next year for a meal! Our calendar is starting to fill up for next years' trip!

We had a WONDERFUL surprise visit by Gloria and Raul. They came to Progreso (about an hour drive from the La Apoma area) and were warmly greeted by everyone. It had been a few years since we had seen them. Junior is 15 years old now! They also made our day by bringing their supplies for raspados and we all enjoyed them. (Raspados are shaved ice with real fruit/syrup and sweetened condensed milk.) After that refreshing treat, we had to go to lunch. (more eating....)

The afternoon activities were wonderful. The women's classes (sewing, jewelry making and hair cutting) are such a wonderful opportunity for these women and they are really working hard. This is going to give them a way to help support themselves and help encourage them. The childrens Bible classes/activities were full of energy and excitement. (John says, it was a little wild at first...) The puppets are so much fun for everyone and the kids were chanting "otra vez" (again, more).

the traditional valentines dinner by Emmanuel Church was moved to wednesday evening so that we could attend and many couples were chosen to share words of love to each other inf ront of everybody. The Buckout's and Denham's were chosen from the Minnesota team to share. There was PDA also (kisses in front of everyone was expected and demanded when you were up front). It was a fun evening. It was also a very late night.

Today is our last day in Progreso, with the block party in the afternoon. We will be saying good-bye again and that is always a difficult time for us all. The week went way too fast. Please pray for our last day that we would share God's love with everyone we meet and that the few people that don't feel good would be restored to health so they can enjoy the last day. We fly home tomorrow, so also for a safe trip.


Time to go.............Have a great day and thanks for checking in.

For the team,
Peggy, John and Cindy