Pastor Refugio (from La Bendición) and his wife Nicolasa came to town to have their baby in the General Hospital. Now Hilda and Fabiola have a new little BROTHER! Refugio says they can’t tell yet what they should name him, but it will probably be a name that means “asked of God.” Would that happen to be “Samuel,” I wonder? We’ll see. Little “no name yet” weighed 3.325 kg, and was 53 cm long. Refugio said he was born pretty white, but as soon as Nicolasa starts eating meat and tortillas, he’ll turn brown like them. I told him that my mom must not have eaten enough meat and tortillas, then?!?

Nicolasa asked me to carry “little no name” out to the truck, and as we were leaving the hospital, the security guard, one I’ve never seen before, stopped us and called for his supervisor. The supervisor, who is also new, told me to give the baby to the mother to carry out. Refugio, without missing a beat, interjected, “His grandmother will carry him!” Oops!

Hilario "slipped into town" to work on data entry of some OT translation text. He brought Juan along for the "ride."


While I was out running errands, he got the bright idea to give Juan a cyber seminar, and before you know it, the guy had a personal secretary!

Emilia also showed up for a couple of days along with Micaela, her sister, for some teaching materials and tips on teaching kids and ladies, a responsibility she has taken upon herself as a calling from God. She teaches a discipleship class of 3 ladies (translating the Spanish version into Huichol as she goes) once a week, a class of all 30 (+/-) ladies from the village of Zapote twice a week on Tuesday and Friday mornings, the "ositos" (3-5 year-olds) in their OANSA club on Saturdays, and 2 kids' classes (all ages) on Sunday morning and evening.


She and I got our own bright idea to make "real" tortillas, "real" frijoles de la olla, eggs, and "real" salsa in a molcajete for breakfast. Jealous? :) Even Hilario and Juan were impressed!

While they were on this slope of the Sierra Madre, Hilario and Juan made two side trips to La Bendición and to Zapote just to "encourage the brothers."

As I already mentioned, saxophones are out of my league. I know nothing about them except that I like the sound that they make; but I had no doubt that God had the solution for Caleb, knowing how much he wants to learn to play a sax so he can participate in the church music program. I've never met Ron, or Don, or Rick, or Carol, or Bob, but God knows them and within 4 short days of the original appeal I sent out, He arranged the connections with each, and willing couriers so that Caleb's sax could be placed in Rick's hands (a very qualified service technician who gladly offered to do the servicing necessary to get it ready for Caleb for just the cost of parts). Rick had already offered some very useful advice in what to look for, but before I could get started looking, Pastor Ron, contacted us offering an instrument Carol and Bob had left with him when they moved out of state; and then, I received an email from friends in Casa Grande, AZ, Jeff and Sherry, offering their daughter's sax. I forwarded it to Rick, and he replied, "Please tell Jeff & Sherry I would be happy to look at their saxophone, as well.” He, looked them both over, consulted with some tech friends around the country, and they all agreed that the Antiqua Winds will be just what Caleb needs to get started in his music marathon, and a generous, unexpected gift will cover the cost of parts with money left over to apply toward Caleb’s music lessons.

Isn't it amazing to watch how God uses the "family" to get His plan accomplished ...and to be a part of it all?!

Caleb was here yesterday. We've been praying together that God will work out all the details, and this has been no exception in God's big overall plan for building a little boy's (and his teacher's!) faith in His provision. I can hardly wait to hear his first musical offering to our Father in the Tepic church!

I'm convinced that it would have been humanly impossible for us to have orchestrated this ensemble for the task, but the Divine Director already had the score in His hand. Why are we surprised?...and I’m 1000 miles south of the border and still have not met most of the rest of the players in the band! Thanks again to all who offered to join the ranks of the "fine instruments" in the hands of the Maestro!