Quite a bit of time has passed and nothing has been written. So much to do and so little time to do it!! I think when I found I couldn't post all kinds of pictures arranged just the way I want I lost interest.
We've been working with a pastoral couple, Cristobel and Lupita. We've spent two days with them working on their church chairs. There are 75 old theatre seats which they've had for 15 years. They were taken out of a theatre in Guaymas because they were old - 15 years ago. They repainted them then and nothing has been done since. Cristobel has been struggling along reupholstering them, plus doing all his other jobs so we've decided to do what we can to help. Three of us went out last week and this week we took out three men from San Carlos Community Church to help. Lupita fed us a wonderful chicken meal [we took out the chicken] to keep us going. That's all of us around the table in the picture above.
Brian [my husband] went out with the men at 9 a.m. Heather [fellow missionary] and I followed at 9:30 but we decided to hunt for a particular beach that was apparently good for shells and just south of Empalme. Empalme is where the pastor and family live. After one wrong turn, we found the beach - and WHAT a beach. [picture above] Miles and miles of sand curving around a bay. The tide was in but we found all kinds of shells. The water was lovely and warm as well. After wandering along the beach for half and hour or so we headed back - we seemed to pick up a stray puppy as we were wandering -- knocked the sand off our feet to the best of our ability before getting in the van and then headed into Empalme. We had decided to pick up a birthday cake because it's Cristobel's birthday today as well as Heather's. Stopped at one store and they wouldn't have a cake ready for two hours. Went over to Cristobel's and found Lupita just coming out the gate on her way to a store. She joined us and let us straight to a wonderful Pasteleria where we found a chocolate cake, then to her friends who had made a jellied dessert of Guava [fresh off her tree] and creamed cheese, then to a store for some green Mole. Having found everything we wanted it was back to the house to help her prepare lunch. She had the chicken on simmer to get rid of the fat and had already skinned it [the dogs get the sking]. She decided on rice to accompany the chicken and I was sent two doors down to a wee little shop in someones front room [they're everywhere] to buy one [yes one] cube of chicken stock. After that I checked on the men's progress. They were sanding the metal parts of the chairs, applying undercoat and in general preparing the chairs for a coat of paint - colour 'Melon' to match other paint in the church. I brought water for those that wanted it - it was quite warm and the men were working outside. They eventually stopped for a break and to see inside the church. It was quite cool in there so we sat for quite awhile talking with Cristobel about this and that. About 1 lunch was ready so we all filed into the church kitchen, which functions and the family kitchen at the moment as their house is no where near finished. The meal was really great. The chicken with a Mole gravy [the Mole has chocolate in it so it was an interesting flavour!] The cake with the jellied dessert was really good! The heat in the kitchen was high what with the gas being on to cook and all. I really feel the heat. We had a great time around the table - the men all spoke some Spanish.
After lunch I helped with the dishes, Heather took pictures of the men working [picture above]and then we left the men to it and headed back home. Close to 4 by the time we got back. I never did cool down even with the car air conditioner on. It was a great connection for the men to that Mexican family and they hope to keep going with the chairs.
