Steven in office - that is sweat at 11:30 a.m.
The title was brought to my mind from Theresa’s reaction when I took the attached photo of her. She was afraid that her sweat-drenched hair was not photogenic. In my books she is always photogenic. But I was reminded of one of the sayings that my girls will very easily remember me by – “girls let’s go, it’s not a fashion show”. They never seemed to be convinced by this.
Just a quick update on a Saturday morning.
We had a lovely breakfast visit from our friends Rafael and Erica. We were able to follow-up on plans for introductions to two pastors who are actively involved in work in the Huasteca area. We have a meeting planned for Monday.
Rafael and Erica brought a bag of mangos from their tree. These are of the “Japanese” variety and much bigger than the common, run-of-the-mill variety that are around. This reminded Theresa, however, that she had better do something with the bags of mangos that are already in the fridge. The common variety will be bagged and frozen for “smoothies”, while the firm, larger ones will be kept for eating as a fruit later.
I, for my part, do a bit of work on the patio “garden” and fix a bedroom window.
The men from the church are out for a weekend retreat. You may remember that in several of my blogs of last year I
Theresa preparing mangos - note the fan close by and the rather "withered" look on her face
mentioned the weekend “aposentos”, or retreats that Iglesia Esfuerzo Magdiel (the church pastured by Ezequiel) is running. These have been a tremendous blessing, and many lives are being changed. Last weekend was the women’s retreat, and some seventy women went. This weekend is the men’s retreat. These are run three to four times per year.
I have to wonder how the men are faring though. It is incredibly hot, and the facilities where they are holding the retreat are not great. There are very few showers and beds, and many people in attendance.
It sprinkled a tiny bit this morning. Not enough to do anything except bring up the humidity. I just checked my “weather station” and saw that at 11:30 am it is standing at 94° Fahrenheit outside at 73% humidity. Inside the living room it is 90.8° at 67% humidity. Incidentally, yesterday the temperature topped out at 107.4° outside. It is starting to get toasty around here. Thank God for fans.
Actually, yesterday there was a several hour power outage over the peak of the heat. All fans stopped and the house became a furnace. These incidents simply make one thankful for the blessings that we do have.
On Monday, the Lord willing, Theresa’s sewing students will begin to take classes again. I, for my part, will head out to the land site to continue fighting with the weeds again in the morning. In the evening (Monday) we hope to begin our outreaches into the indigenous Tenek villages in the Huasteca region again. We are planning to do village evangelism outreaches on Monday and Tuesday evenings, and hit the farm work hard in the early mornings. In all reality it is crazy to try to work outside past one or two in the afternoon anyway at this time of the year. Our hours begin early in the morning and end shortly after noon. The danger of dehydration and heat stroke is just too high at 110°.
I will close. Stay cool and be blessed.
Steven and Theresa
