WASHING MACHINE

I have had problems with my washing machine for the last year or so. It fills up with water and then stops working. The maintenance guy comes about four times per trip here. It happened again last night, and I decided that we needed a higher level of knowledge about GE washers. The repairmen (yes, plural, two came) came at about ten this morning. The maintenance guy was here also waiting for them because he could tell them exactly what was not happening, since he now knows our machine intimately. They worked on it for a while and came out with a part which looks like a condenser, I guess. The problem, as usual around here, was that they did not have replacement parts, but they told us that we could go get them at a store in the big town 15 miles from here. (Rubia, do you remember where we went one time to eat typical food cooked on a wood burning stove?) The store name is "The Toucan." It is a general store that sells everything you could imagine, owned by Koreans. Now, he just told us to go to The Toucan to get the part. He assumed that we knew where the store was, since there are no addresses in this country. The scary part is that we know where the store is! We are becoming locals!

We left at eleven o'clock and got there just past twelve. Bad planning because they close for lunch. Some stores do and others don´t. It was very hot and windy, but we did not feel like eating anything heavy, since we are going out tonight. We walked to an ice cream shop across the street from the Catholic church, had some ice cream, and walked back to the store, thinking that they opened at one. Alas, they opened at 1:30; therefore, we walked back to the plaza and sat under the trees for thirty minutes. As I said the owners are Korean. It is a ma and pa store. They sell everything from toys and piñatas, to car parts and it turns out, washing machines parts also. Pa speaks Spanish very well, but Ma has a very heavy accent. They also have a teen-aged daughter who works at the store. She either was born here or came as a young child because she speaks Spanish without an accent. Pa had drawer after drawer filled with condensers. He found the exact part and off we went. We got back home at 2:30, called the maintenance guy who came and put the part in. I am now doing laundry again! We will see how long this lasts.

As I said above, we are going out tonight. We are taking our friends Francisco and Luz (See their picture here) They are the care takers of a large property and live there, but, as you can read on the link above, Francisco is building his house across the road. Anyway, she cooks and keeps house for the property owners. They are nationals. The bad news is that they just retired and will be living in the property full time. Luz told us that she never gets out. The only time she gets out is when we are here and have the couples events. So, we are taking them out to dinner tonight to our favorite restaurant. We are going late enough so that they will be done with their duties at the farm.

Until next time...from the beach

SATURDAY SOCCER GAME

PINILLA SOCCER TEAM

Saturday at five-thirty, we picked up our friends R and A and their ten-year-old boy to drive about 45 minutes to the town where the game was. The rest of the team and some family members and girlfriends were going on a rented bus. We arrived to the town first. This town has a real soccer field with green grass and lights. There is a tall chain link fence around the field. We had brought our beach chairs and settled to wait for the team to arrive while R changed into his uniform. We waited over thirty minutes, but no bus. Finally, our friends got a call on their cell phone: the bus got stuck going up a hill about 15 minutes from the town. R went to talk to the referee to see what they could do, but the referee said that he would give them a few minutes grace pass seven, but if they had not arrived, they would forfeit the game. R started scrambling for transportation. Somebody told him about a truck, so he borrowed a bicycle and went to talk to the truck driver. They settled for some money, and the truck driver was off to get the team. They arrived right at seven o'clock in a cattle truck!! We had a good laugh about that!

We were sitting right behind the team's bench, but on the other side of the fence. They were all stressed about the bus incident and being late and quickly started to drop their pants to get their uniforms on. I turned around, but not fast enough to notice what color underwear some of them were wearing! The game was good. I think all that nervous energy helped them. The score was 4 - 1 Pinilla.

We stopped by our favorite restaurant on the way home and had a late supper to celebrate our victory! A good time was had by all!

Until next time...from the beach...

BIBLE STUDY

We had the couples' Bible study last night instead of today because there is a soccer game in another town. Two of the guys in our Bible study play in the town's team, and they did not want to miss the Bible study. As usual, we had to go to the other town fifteen minutes away to buy hamburgers for everybody. This time the restaurant's owner met us at the center of town, so we did not have to go up and down ravines to get them. That saved us an "E-ticket" ride of 20 minutes.

Some people had to work late yesterday, so we started late. After dinner, we went right into the Bible study: "Who is Jesus?" Based on John 1, they discovered that Jesus is God and the Creator. We were impressed that many came with Bibles. It is always good to read the same verse in different versions. The Bible study that we are following was written in Spanish. The idea is for the group to discover the answers by themselves and fill in blanks. The Bible study clearly teaches that Jesus is the way, not a way to eternal life. It ends with the plan of salvation. We read the questions about salvation, but told them to really think about it. I want them to make a decision on their own without feeling pressure from us.

We had dessert and played Simon Says again for prices. This time we had two movies: "The Climb" and "The Hiding Place." They were not as impressed by those prices as they are by the soccer balls, but we want to mix it up. Once again, they just loved the game. Afterwards, they stayed talking and laughing about the antics of the game. They all had to work today, but they stayed until almost ten o´clock. By the time we took some home, it was already eleven o'clock, a late night for us.

Today we are meeting the team at 5:30 to follow them to the game. We know more or less where this other town is, but we rather follow. I'll let you know the score,

Until next time...from the beach...

CHAIRS

Time flies when you are having fun! Today is Friday, and I have not kept up with the blog. Now, let me see...What have we been doing? On Monday we went to visit K and her family. They had invited us for coffee. We had coffee and a bread that K had baked. They know that John does not drink coffee; therefore, they had a natural fruit drink ready for him. He was grateful for that. Her dad was home, but did not come out; so I thought that Mom wanted to talk to us about something, but she said that they only wanted to visit. We stayed for a couple of hours just talking about their lives. K wants a computer now, since Christ for the City closed the computer lab in town, she doesn't have a computer to do her assignments. She goes to high school in the nearby town because the school in town just goes K - 6 grades. There are a few kids in town with the same problem since the computer lab closed.

On Wednesday we went back to visit the pastor and his wife. Remember she just had a hysterectomy. We stopped at a take out chicken restaurant and bought roasted chicken for lunch for all four of us. It is good to visit with them because they have a  chance to unload their burdens about the congregations. We mentioned that we wanted to buy some chairs for the church since there were only 12. The pastor told us where to get the chairs. It was a place right on our way home. We found the place, but when we asked for the price, it was a lot more than what he had told us. We call him on our local cellular phone, and he said: "Let me talk to the shopkeeper." So, we put her on the phone, and he got a dollar off per chair, since they were going to be used for church. We bought 10 chairs because that was all the money we had. These chairs are blue so that they can be separated from the other white chairs when they get taken to the other congregation for big meetings.

Last night, Thursday, we loaded the SUV with chairs, computer, projector, and a CD player to play Christian music because the little group here lacks music. I had prepared a lesson on the Bible, its divisions, how it came about, what canon means, etc. These are all baby Christians who don't know much about the Bible. I had a Power Point presentation and a hand out for them to fill in the blanks. I knew they would have problems filling in blanks because I have run into this in other countries, so I kept it very simple. A few from the other church came, those who live on this side of the creek. They all came in a pick up truck. Guess what? We had exactly enough chairs for all those who came. The Lord knew exactly how many chairs we needed.

This morning we took a long walk on the beach and talked about what we are going to do tonight. Oh, the couples meeting is going to be tonight instead of tomorrow because two of the men have a soccer game tomorrow. They asked us if we could make the change. We are impressed that they do not want to miss the Bible study. We are going to talk about "Who is Jesus?" Saturday we will go with the soccer team to watch the game. It should be fun. I will let you know how things turn out.

Until next time...from the beach...

COUPLES DINNER

I brought the table cloths and the red centerpieces from the States

Fabian and Alejandra are part of the core group

Francisco and Luz are attending church

Gardy, Paola and Nazareth also attend church

From left to right Luis Carlos, his sister-in-law and her husband

View of the beach

The whole group

Sunset

Sunset

John and Isabel

As you can see from the above pictures, dinner was at a beautiful setting in a restaurant right at the beach.  The couples started arriving at four o'clock to enjoy the sunset. They all took a lot of pictures. Dinner was delicious, and we also had great service. They went out of their way to make it a pleasant experience. I had also brought a craft for the ladies. We made hearts bracelets. We played two trues and a lie. The game took place right after dinner. As usual, we had prizes for one man and one woman. Then, I had a short talk about 1 Corinthians 13. I went pretty much verse by verse, but explained that this chapter is about agape love. The message of the chapter is thinking about the other person above oneself. After the talk, we had dessert and gave the prizes. We were out of there at about 7:30. The restaurant closes right after sunset, at 6:00, but we had special reservations until 7:30. One advantage of having this event at a restaurant is that we were not tired at all.

Today John preached at both churches. As we were about to leave home, the pastor called to tell us that he was not going to be at church today. I have mentioned before that she just had female surgery, and even though she is healing fine, he was taking advantage of the fact that we were here to stay home with her. We found K and her mom and brother walking to church, so we took them with us. Paola had already arrived and was sweeping. Her little girl was dusting the chairs. John went to pick up F and his family, but found them already half way. John talked about Habakkuk, "How long, Lord?" After the service, we took F and his family home, along with the two workers, 6 total, home. Then we drove to the third town to pick up all the people who live there and attend the second church. The pastor does this Sunday after Sunday, plus preaching. We were 13 altogether, plus a baby, going on the first trip, but John had to turn around for a second round. This is the church that meets under a tin roof and four poles. It is not bad as long as there is a breeze, but today it was extremely hot, I felt a little lightheaded for a while. This group has a guitar player and loves to sing a lot. There was a little three-year-old boy with a toy guitar that somebody made for him who sat next to the guitarist, watched him carefully and imitated him the whole time. John did much better the second time. I guess practice makes perfect. 

We had to reverser the process taking everybody back home. John says that you literally have to bring people to church so that you have somebody to listen to you preach. I sat with the second group under the hot tin roof and chatted while John went back and forth.

We arrived home at 1:30 to cool off, eat a little bit, and rest. Tonight we are having dinner at Paola and Gardy's.

Until next time...from the beach...

FRIDAY'S VISITS

I need to start this blog by talking about Thursday's church meeting. We went to pick up F and L before church because they live the farthest from church and have no transportation. L could not go because she was waiting for the owners of her property to arrive. F came from work with another young man. They always have different workers there. I don't know whether these workers are hired by the week or what, but they come and go. F always brings to church whoever is working with him. The men went to take a shower and change for church. The four daughters wanted to go also, but the youngest was already wearing her pajamas and ready for bed. She went anyway. So, all six piled into our SUV (see previous blog) and off we went. We arrived at church at seven o'clock sharp, but the pastor was not there. K and her mother were there, of course. The church was swept clean again and the chairs dusted. We waited for 30 minutes, and finally the pastor arrived. He immediately started on the lesson. By the time he started to speak the girl in her pajamas was fast asleep!

The pastor was almost done with the lesson when a visitor arrived. She is the wife of one of the security guards here. They claim to be Christians, but this was her first time in this church. K had to get up and lend her her chair because we only have 12 chairs now and they were all taken. The pastor has taken most of the chairs to the other town because that group if bigger. Anyway, our visitor looked very troubled. She is a cancer survivor, but still takes cancer medication. She really wanted to stay and talk to me, but we had six people to drive home. I promised to go see her on Friday. 

We took our morning walk Friday morning. After the walk, we went to the Property Office to start a claim with our insurance company about the crack on the wall. We don't know the extend of the damage, but as soon as they stated talking about bringing and structural engineer, John took out our policy to check it out. It turned out that we had five days to start the claim, so we had to do it yesterday, since the temmor was on Monday. The letter for the insurance had to be signed by the General Manager of the property. We took care of all that, plus got a letter that my cousin from Cuba had written to this address. The letter arrived in October of last year, but we had not been here all this time.

Friday afternoon we set off to visit a few families, armed with cookies from the German Bakery. The first stop was to our previous visitor's house. We know them well. Her husband is on vacation, so he was home. It was obvious that she did not want to talk in front of him, plus her two adult sons also arrived at the same time. We took a walk around her yard, and then went to another house a few feet away that belongs to her daughter. The house is empty most of the time because they only use it as a vacation home. The daughter and her husband pastor a church.

This lady's problems are so immense that all I could do was to listen to her story and let her cry. Besides cancer, she has had many serious illnesses. She is taking heavy cancer medications, plus anti-depressants. I believe that her depression might be caused by all the heavy medications that she has had to take for so many years. She carries a heavy burden. I encouraged her to give it to Jesus. She says that she has accepted the Lord as her Savior. I also encouraged her to attend church and fellowship with other believers. The town has been very mean to her and her children; therefore, she doesn't feel welcomed anywhere. We prayed a lot, and she said she felt a lot better. We walked back to her house where John was sitting outside talking to her husband about fishing. Please pray for Susan, that she will really turn her life over to Jesus and that she will attend church and feel welcomed. 

Next, we tried to visit G and P, but they weren't home; therefore, we drove to F and L. We wanted to talk to them because the older two daughters, teen-agers, wanted to come to the Valentine's dinner, and we had to explain to them that it was for couples only. It turned out that the girls couldn't go anyway because they had to work at the farm. We also went across the road to see progress on  the house that they are building. It is really going to be a nice house. This is the house where the house warming party was last time (http://lifeathebeach.blogspot.com/2011/09/meeting-at-franciscos-house.html) He works 12 hours a day at the farm and then goes to his house to work until late into the evening. They hope to move in by May. He is proud of the fact that he is building this house without getting any loans from the bank. They just save a little to buy materials, and he does all the work.

After this visit, we went to see Luis. He is the leader and organizer of the event. He had an Excel spreadsheet with all the names, what they are having for dinner, and totals. We had a nice visit with him and his wife and left at about nine o'clock. On our way home we saw a man on a bicycle with a flash light in his mouth to light the way!

The big event is tonight. Tomorrow John is preaching at both churches. I will blog about everything next time.

Unit next time...from the beach...

CAR PICTURES FOR BOB

I know that most of you are not interested on what the inside of our car looks like, but Bob wanted to see these pictures. Please disregard this blog if you feel about cars as I do.

CAR

As usual, our car requires its own blog, but his time we have good news (I think)! Thanks to our good friend Bob, we came loaded with all the parts needed for a tune-up and to repair the air conditioning. I already mentioned that we took it to a mechanic near by. We really think that we finally have found an honest mechanic who really knows what he is doing. John took the car to the shop Monday morning and left it there. He came home in a taxi recommended by one of our friends. The car was supposed to be ready by Tuesday afternoon.

Now, you have to realize that mechanics here don´t have any parts on stock. They can't afford it because parts are very expensive and scarce here. He found a crack in the radiator that needed to be welded, but there is also another deposit for water that was cracked. This is plastic (it looks like a urinal, according to John), so it needed to be replaced. They called around and found a used part for $12, but did not buy it or reserve it. When they were ready to put the part in, it had been sold already. They will have to go to the capital, a five hour drive, to find another part. It will probably be brand new and will cost a lot more. Anyway, they took the part off another car that they had in the shop and put it in ours until they can track one. All this delayed the repairs, but finally they  called Wednesday to go pick it up. We called the same taxi guy, but his car was being repaired also,  not a surprise at all. He had another buddy who came to pick up John.

The car is running fine, with all the new parts from the US; however, we still needed to charge the air conditioning. Another friend told us of a shop in the big town 15 miles away. He called the shop owner for us so that we wouldn't get charged extra for being foreigners; then, he gave us instructions how to get there. This country doesn't have street names or numbers. All the directions are by landmarks. We are so proud of ourselves because, once again, we went straight to the shop. Just as we were driving up, our friend called to make sure that we had found the place. He then later on called just as we were entering the hacienda to make sure that we had made it back and that we had not been overcharged. It is like we are the teen-agers and all these parents are calling out of concern. It is kind of nice! The mechanic checked for leaks and charged the air conditioning. What a luxury to drive home without being choked by the dust or sweltering in heat! Never take you air conditioning by granted!

Yesterday afternoon we went to visit the pastor and his wife. They live one hour from here. She just had female surgery and is recuperating. They shared their struggles with the second congregation. Four members left for silly reasons, as I already mentioned. He said that the month of January was a tough one for them, but the Lord is bringing new people, and the work continues. We prayed with them before we left. I think we will continue to visit with them once a week while we are here because they need encouragement. He said he did not realize how tough it is to be a pastor.

Last night we went to visit the teen-aged girl K, who attends church, and her family. Mom and younger brother are attending also, but Dad doesn't yet. They are all very nice. A ten-year-old boy who is a cousin dropped by and entertained us with his non-stop chatter. He wants to be a veterinarian when he grows up, and his cell phone contains over 100 pictures, mostly of animals, which he showed us one by one. People here live humbly but now most have cell  phones because the need to communicate, since most of the kids attend school in towns far from here. This boy's story is a little sad. Both his father and mother are deaf, so for some reason he lives with his aunt. Tonight we will attend church.

Until next time...by the beach...

FIRST MEETING

We had an interesting weekend. The couples' meeting was scheduled for seven o'clock Saturday evening, but we had to drive about 20 minutes to another town to pick up the couple who had to move away because family problems (F and A). They also offered to order hamburgers for Saturday. We picked them up and then drove to the hamburger joint. It was one of those wild drives up and down dirt roads in the dark. We could never find this place by ourselves if we wanted. We got the hamburgers and started back to our little town.

We arrived at seven sharp. Some people were already there, others called to say that they were on their way. We ended up with eight couples. After the hamburgers and fries, we talked about the Valentine's Day event, which will actually be on Saturday 18th. I had made copies of the menu items that they can order from, and our friend, the owner of the house took their orders. He will be calling other couples during the week to find out if they are coming and what would they like from the menu. Then I told them that I wanted to talk about my life story and how I came to know Christ. I could see that a few were tracking with me while I was talking. Then we asked their permission to talk about who Jesus is the last two Saturdays after the party. They were a little quiet, but some voiced their opinions and they all agreed that it was all right to do that. After all that, we played "Simon says." They had never played it before and had a blast! I have never seen them laughing so hard. They were playing for prizes, of course. We had a soccer ball for a man and jewelry for a woman. We had dessert afterwards: lemon and banana cakes form the German Bakery. They lingered a long time after the game still laughing and chatting in the cooler evening air. The ladies already planning what they are going to wear next Saturday for their romantic dinner out. They all thanked us for such a fun evening. I think that we managed to mix serious spiritual discussion with food and fun in a way that they don't feel pressured.

Sunday church is supposed to start at 8:30 am. We arrived at the appointed hour, but only our faithful friend K was there. She is a sixteen-year-old girl who has the keys to the church and who is responsible for getting there earlier to water the floor, sweep, dust and set the chairs. She also handles the offering. She is a real deaconess, even though she doesn't have the title. Her mother, her bother and a girlfriend are also attending church now. They were also there helping her. We brought her a  study Bible from the States because last time she told us she was saving her money to buy one. Bibles and Christian resources are rare and expensive here. The pastor finally arrived at 8:45 and he started the service immediately after greeting everybody. He is such a good Bible teacher! The big church he actually still attends held a Bible knowledge contest open to anybody with cash prizes. First prize was $50, second $40 and third $30. The pastor was very proud to inform us that the first prize went to our friend K, who got 99 out of 100; the second prize went to a young man from the other little group in the other smaller town who got 98.

After church, we drove some people home and then went to the second little village. Unfortunately, this group had some kind of disagreement and some people left the church. I don´t know where they are going to church now. The group meets at another house, still under a tin roof with four poles. We were there early enough to find a shady spot. This group likes to sing; therefore, there was a lot of singing and even some special songs. The pastor had a different sermon, probably to spare us from listening to the same thing twice. By the way, his wife just had female surgery. Please pray for complete healing. This group, as well as the other, greeted us so warmly! It is a joy to reconnect with our brethren here! After church, again we drove people home. We had seven in our SUV. It was another Wild Toad Ride up and down ravines and dirt roads. We got home at about 1:00 pm, drenched in sweat because our air conditioning still doesn't work, but we need to keep the windows rolled up because of the dust, even though the weather is in the 90's.

That is not the end of the story...We were invited to go to Francisco and Luz's home (who is praying for them?) at three o'clock. We had a light lunch, took another shower to rinse the dust and the sweat off and took a nap. By 3:00 we were on the road again (like the Willie Nelson's song). They have a seven-year-old girl, a nine-year-old boy and a twelve-year-old girl. There are also two teen-aged girls that belong to Luz. We had presents for all. The seven year old got a doll (One that you bought, Rubia). They were so excited because the doll had hair! She brought out her two other dolls, and sure enough, no hair. They also loved the little Kroc shoes that the doll had because that's what they wear around the house. Other people came to visit, about six or seven, and also the owners of the property came to say hello. They are wealthy locals who like to spend time in the country on weekends to unwind. They are Christians. We had a great exchange of ideas. We talked a lot about the Lord and also about the need to keep things simple. We really would like to get to know them better because they are very nice people. He is a graduate of Cal Poly Pomona. He also has a veterinarian degree from Brazil, so he speaks Spanish, English and Portuguese. He would like to retire soon and live on their farm permanently. It got dark, and the other visitors were leaving, so we started to say good-by also, but they said that we couldn't leave yet because they had dinner for us. You see, they were just waiting for the other people to leave because they probably did not have enough food for everybody. There was still one young man who stayed for supper. We again talked about spiritual things and salvation. Luz still harbors doubts about her salvation. I tried to give her assurance. Please pray that both F and L have complete assurance of their salvation. It was about 8:00 pm by the time we left. We were very tired when we got home.

Today John took the car to Paul, the mechanic. His shop is in the next town over, same town where the couple who had to move from here lives. John took a box filled with parts that we brought from the States (thanks, Bob!). He will keep the car today and tomorrow for a complete tune-up. They also found a crack on the radiator that needs to be fixed. It will be taken to the nearest big town for welding. The air conditioning will have to wait still a few days. John took a taxi home that our friend A had prearranged for us. Then she called about three times to make sure first that the taxi had picked John up and then that John had arrived home safely. The reason we have to go through friends to arrange things is because prices double the moment they see us, foreigners, coming.

It is now three in the afternoon. We are planning to relax this evening. :)

Until next time...from the beach...

GETTING RE-ACQUAINTED

I was waiting to have something exciting to tell you, but life here so far has been a little dull. We got together with one key couple Wednesday night for dinner. As most of our friends here, they are not yet believers. We talked about some couples from the group who have moved away, and they suggested that they could invite some new people. We agreed, of course.

Last night we visited the friends whose house we use for the meetings. They greeted us warmly and visited for a while.They informed us that they already had a place for our Valentine´s Day dinner. It is a pizza and sandwich restaurant right on the beach. Our friend said we could go see it today during his lunch hour. So, we picked him up today at work and we went to see the restaurant. It is a very popular spot here for tourists and surfers as it is right on the beach. They have added an upper terrace since we were there last. We are acquainted with the owner, who is European. Our friend had already talked to him, but he sat and talked to us. He asked us right away if this was a religious meeting. We were taken by surprised by the question because our meetings are not religious although we talk about God. Later our friend said that he had told him that we would not be having any alcoholic beverages. Any way, the owner said then that we must be a charitable organization, and we agreed. He let us used the space without charge and agreed on a top price per person. We won´t be paying any taxes, either. We had a delicious lunch right on the beach, by the way. While having lunch, our friend got a call from his wife. Their three-year-old boy was running a fever; so, we went to his house, picked up the sick boy, who talks non-stop even when sick, and took him to the clinic right in our compound, and then home again. He has problem with his tonsils. Anyway, he wasn't acting that sick that I could tell.

Yesterday morning we went for our first walk on the beach. We met another one of our friends who works at the beach club. The first words out of her mouth were: "Oh, my gosh, you guys are sooo white!" I thought it was funny and the fact that she treated us as real friends because she felt safe to say that was very important. We are having dinner with her and her live-in fiancé tonight. They have gone through a lot of family problems and really want to talk to us.

Tomorrow is our first get-together with the couples. We have to figure out what we are going to serve because all three pizza restaurants in town are closed. We are going to research take out chicken, local style. We will do this tonight as we go out with our friends. It is always good to take locals when you are asking about prices. 

We have also called  the pastor and another family to let them know that we are back. The pastor wanted John to preach this Sunday, but John said that the following Sunday would be better for him. He needs time to acclimate before preaching.

Now you are up to date. As I said, things have been a little dull, PTL!

Until next time...from the beach...

WE MADE IT!

It is six in the evening on Tuesday. We are relaxing upstairs watching the sunset. We left home Monday morning at 6:30 thanks to Bob (Thanks, Bob!). Sunday night we tried to print our boarding passes, but the trip looks so suspicious because we are not returning from here that the site refused to check us in. We had to show proof of a returning flight at the airline counter. So, at the airport we showed all our papers and passports to get the boarding passes. Our suitcases were packed with Michael and Louee's help. We were very careful to weigh all our suitcases to be sure that they were 50 lbs. or less. Our bathroom scale must be very accurate because three suitcases were just below 50 and one was 50.0 lbs! (Thanks, Michael and Louee!).

Our itinerary took us to Houston and then to our final destination. We were concerned about going through customs with car parts, dolls, soccer balls, soccer shoes, and other assorted items not normally what tourists carry. Here you take your luggage off the carousel and take it to go through x-rays. We knew that all those car parts would look suspicious  under x-rays. Sure enough, they asked us to open the suitcases and started to ask us questions. Luckily, the woman in front of us was bringing a cat, and another man on the other line was bringing a carburetor and a sewing machine! I think the Lord timed all this at the same time, resulting on an overwhelmed supervisor and a line that was growing longer and longer! We were allowed to move on! :) I know some of you were praying exactly at that time. Thank you very much. We got to our condo at 11:00 PM local time.

Today we unpacked and went to the grocery store. Tomorrow we will start visiting friends.We will let you know how to pray for us.

Until next time...from the beach...