December 21st,2002

Hola

Well it is almost Christmas and it seems so odd in 85 degree temperatures to see Christmas lights and Santa Claus.

We will be having our English Christmas Service in Alamos in a garden full of flowers and birds at 10.00 tomorrow morning and our evening Spanish Service in Osobampo in an adobe church at 6.00 tomorrow night. Quite a contrast.

We find the people here, both in the compound and outside to be caring and loving. The Mexican people just have to give you a hug and a welcome everytime they see you. We went to a bible study at Alamos on Wednesday in the courtyard of a beautiful home with fountains and flowers and then on Thursday morning I went to Osobampo with the women to a bible study and baby shower in the front yard of a Mexican house. There is not a flower in sight but the mud yards are swept clean and fenced with upright sticks closely bound together. Even though there were chickens at the baby shower with us and goats outside the fence everything was very clean. The flies are hard to get used to but they tell us this year that they are much better than usual. We have a Vermilion Flycatcher that comes and sits on a tub by our camper every morning and eats his fill. He is beautiful, bright orange red with black wings.

It is very dry here and we carry our own water at all times as the local water is not safe to drink.

Larry is head over heels into computers. Building some and repairing others and cleaning others and then we will be giving lessons as most of the people have only a rudimentary knowledge of computers and would like to learn more. They are essential here for communication as the nearest place to get a loaf of bread is 10 miles and the nearest town of any great size is 20 miles. Food is not expensive if you buy what the locals eat. We are feasting on oranges. 60pesos for about 50 lbs. That is about $6.00US. and the bag was all Larry could carry. Grapefruit are about the same.

I am going to try and get this on tonight so that Lucille can read it to Lois. Lucille please let me know if you are doing this, our email can be reached from our home page. I have a letter to go out but Mexican mail is not too reliable so we will have it mailed in the States at the first of the year.

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL

Feliz Navidad

Love

Shirl & Larry