July 26 - hello to everyone, and here's an update for you.

The lightning flashed
The thunder roared,
The whole world was shaken.
The little pig curled up his tail
and ran to save his bacon!

.....and that pretty well sums it up for the recent Delicias weather report. Lately in the early evening we'll have the wildest lighning, thunder and rain storms I've ever experienced. Saturday night I went out the front door to have a look and our road was a river with about 3 inches of water rushing by. Good thing our curb is 6 inches high, eh? Paul was still on his way home from giving his talk in Chihuahua and experienced worse flooding than that. [He went with Miguel who gave his talk in another English cong. at the same time and I chose to stay home this time.] We are sure thankful for our truck in so many ways. So earlier in the day, Saturday, it was incredibly hot 'n muggy. Remember, Paula, how damp our clothes were when we stayed in Princeton, Kaui [?] a few years back? Well, that is how damp things are upstairs. I think we're going to have to look into getting a de-humidifier. Anyway, the roof actually sprang a few leaks from the last storm but the good news is that it's cooled off considerably.

Otherwise? How are we doing as some of you are asking us? Yes, I'd say we're coping well, tho' there are days when it really drives me crazy that I still don't have a kitchen other than 2 appliances and a sewing cabinet countertop. All my dishes are still in boxes except for the few that sit precariously on the ledge. Thus I've learned that I can do with a lot less with a lot of things. I need a light over the sink in the kitchen as the room is quite dark at night which Miguel will put in for me sometime. The 2 bathrooms are still waiting for the electrician to come back to install a light fixture above the sinks & the 2nd bathroom needs the ceiling finished and the door frame put on, but otherwise they are lovely bathrooms. We still have not successfully set up the satellite dish to make the connection with the BC satellite. Paul's very frustrated with it as he doesn't know what the source of the problem is. So, no TV, no English mags., no music stations either, tho' Scott gave me an iPod that has 350 songs on it that he downloaded for me. I've listened to it often. Our few DVD's don't work on the Mexican DVD player that we bought as the machine is coded to only play stuff made down here. But thankfully, the Society's DVDs work just fine. It may sound like I'm complaining, but I'm not, I'm just stating some facts about our life here. There's other piddley things that I try not to dwell on and, instead, fix what I can. All in all, our place is beginning to feel like our home. Until a week ago, I would still wake up and momentarily wonder if I was really living in Mexico or was I home in White Rock? So I guess this is all quite an adjustment. But I wouldn't change it. We are really happy here. Jehovah blesses us every day.

Paul & I planted 4 palm trees in our back garden on Saturday! Wow! I never tho't I'd have a palm tree in this old world. My back yard which is tiny, has 16' high cement block walls with another 6' of wire fence on top of that. So. The palm trees, which are the kind that have long bowed branches - there's 2 of this kind with about 4 branches on each - sway over like huge ostrich feathers. They come up to the top of the concrete. Paul & I are amazed at the transformation. For the benefit of my siblings, I want to say that I couldn't help but think ahead to a time when Mom & I will plant a palm tree together. I'm sure she never got to do so and, as I often do, my tho'ts when I'm gardening turn to my family. Miss you and love you all. We also have a small lime tree that had some limes on it and since planting it has produced flowers - so it's happy, 3 bougainvilleas - one orange two salmon. Sure hope we don't move anytime soon. Everything seems to grow so easily here, even my 2 little rose bushes in the front are flourishing. So, as you know me, this little bit of garden makes me quite content. There are many nurseries around here, and I don't know if it's a good thing or not as it means I've spent some time at these places, but they all know me now. The last one where we bought the palm trees, remembered that I love scented plants and as we were leaving he gave me a beautiful gardenia plant.

Recently we even found a man selling hammocks at La Presa, the big water dam here in Delicias, where we went a few Sundays ago for a congregation outing after the C.O.'s visit. When the vendor saw we were interested, he quickly tied a hammock between 2 trees so that this tall brother could try it out making sure it's long enough for Scott, Brad, Bill....then I tried it out, too. Very nice! I think someone took a picture. And I can see one or two spots where we can suspend the hammock in the back forty. It might even hold two, we'll have it ready for your arrival. By the way, it was very, very hot that day at La Presa. Below the dam there's lots of day parking spots under the trees, most of them being taken by the time we all got there. But we found a rough spot, enough to spead a blanket and share our food. There was a stage set up with a band & singers playing some great Mexican music. Enjoyable.

The day after our Circuit Overseer's stay - which was one of the most encouraging weeks of my life - the crew came and installed our bedroom closet. So more dust, dirt and drilling but what a closet! It's more like a wall unit. The organization sections are very efficient, quite beyond expectation and worth waiting for. It's floor to ceiling, stretches the full width of the wall about 14'. The dark chocolate seemed a bit overpowering at first, but with a few exposed shelves without doors, I'm very happy with it. What a relief to be able to hang up our clothes, every woman should go thru this at least once in her life! I had so much stuff hanging on backs of doors, I could not find anything. There were 19 of Paul's shirts that were so wrinkled from the box. Then one day we were driving somewhere in the city, and noticed this open-aired place, with a roof and a wall or 2, that did just ironing. Of course, no English but I manage just fine. So I took the shirts, on hangars, and they did a really nice job for 95 pecos, which is about $7.50.

Bringing you up to yesterday, Sunday, we had a wonderful attendance. Remember the day we started 7 Bible studies in Meoqui? Well, 3 of those studies have started attending the meetings. One of them, Irene, I just finally contacted face to face on Friday. Her brother, Mario started studying with Miguel and attending right away. He's unbaptized, 20ish. Irene, his sister, baptized, knew I was trying to find her but she was finishing up a part-time census job. She left a msg. for me to come to meet her at her work, which I did. So we didn't waste time. I asked what I could do for her [she speaks good English] and we set-up a study program. She came yesterday, too with her 2 little kids. Actually there were 8 that were at the mtg as a result of that one day in service. Heraldo [?] the forklift driver that Paul met that lives in Delicias, has had only one study, I think, and he came yesterday, too. He had trouble figuring out how a songbook worked, so when Paul explained after the mtg, he said he'd know for next time so that he could sing. I can't tell you how amazing these little things are to us.

Meoqui, about 30 minutes away, seems to have a lot of English that we manage to find. Spanish people are very helpful to us and they will even walk us to a business in the street where there is a clerk that speaks Engllish. So I have 3 studies in various stages in Meoqui, and 2 more that I started here in Delicias. Then some of the sisters in the congregation are asking me to take over calls and start studies as they feel their English isn't good enough to conduct a progressive study. 2 of such calls were turned over to me on Thursday, one of which I started the study on the spot. The other wasn't home. So, we've been here barely 2 months and I can see that I cannot handle all of these Bible studies. And, we haven't even barely scratched the surface of the door to door work in the territory.

I'm quite liking this city, tho' Paul finds the driving nerve wracking as they zoom around you, cut you off, and pretty much drive like maniacs. The watermelon, peaches, leechy nuts, cantalope and grapes are at their peak and you can't go far without seeing a pick-up truck parked for the day alongside the road, selling such. There's a fellow that parks at our Park across the street every day but Sunday. I often buy watermelon from him - 10 pecos for a large, delicious sandia which is about 80 cents.

Paul is in Chihuahua, for the next 3 days, leaving here at 6:30 a.m. to be at the Norte KH to work with the other elder to overseer the pioneer school - coffee breaks, lunch, etc. I guess he'll be home around 5 or 6. Apparently there were no other elders to come forward these 3 days to help out. We are certainly being used here. I can hardly wait til he gets home as he'll have lots of English/Spanish lessons to share from the seasoned English brothers!