Prospero Ano Nuevo (Happy New Year!)

Sorry for the confusion if some of you thought I meant to say that new years eve was yesterday here... tonight is truly new years eve. Last night was pretty noisy- and tonight is amazingly loud! The ejido is buzzing with people and firecrackers and M-80's and fireworks and music... quite a fiesta.

Most of the groups that are here with us are out tonight at the village churches celebrating new years with the kids and adults they have been serving this past week. They have given money to the churches so they can put on a fiesta for their neighbourhood. i'm looking forward to hearing how it went!

We had a cultural experience today. Sharlene and Caleb and Jacob have been using their asthma puffers lots this week. The incredibly dusty air coupled with constant fires and smoke as well as heavy pollution from unregulated factories have played havoc with their lungs. So we went looking for a bank machine. Not ans east task in Mexico.

We needed to drive about 15 km into the city to a bank and then an additional few km to a "farmacia" . You don't need a prescription to buy prescription drugs in Mexico and the price is much cheaper than in canada. A special puffer for shar usually costs us around $70-75 and here it was about $43. Unfortunately they didn't have one for the kids, so Shar is sharing hers which is a similar dosage. After that we tried to find a walmart to buy mexican pop for a friend of mine. Despite probably good driections we found ourselves gettign abit lost so did our best to find our way back to the correct road- which we did eventually. We never found the Walmart, but we did find a groceteria where we could get some good Manzana Lift ( Apple pop!!). But no Sangria yet... ( a red grape juice / fresh fruit carbonated drink- best way to describe it)

On the way back we found a place with fruit for sale and "coco's" ( coconuts). They don't grow here- but they do 200km down the road in San Felipe at the Gulf of California. So we negotiated ourselves a 5 lb bag of oranges and a coconut for $4.00. The fellow i was bartering with spoke as much english as I did Spanish. So we spoke Spanglish to each other and communicated quite well. i told him we were from canada... he shivered and said "Mucho Frio no?" (Very Cold!!!?) I told him Abbajo Zero Cuarentes ( 40 below 0) He looked at me like I was crazy! it was about 18C today and he had a winter coat on. Poor fella wouldn't last a week in January in Saskatchewan! Then again it get to be +45C here in the Summer... I may not fare any better in the summer here! So we ordered a cocnut to drink so the guy in the back took a huge machete and cut a bunch of the hust off and a small hole in the top. We got some straws and shared some coconut milk- a first for Shar and the boys. They swigged it down quick and I asked if he could open the rest up for us- so He took the machete and worked his magic, then took a seriously sharp knife and quickly cut all the meat out of the inside- then took anodd looking tool that spearated the meat from the shell and put 2 toothpicks in the husk and a couple of serviettes on it. 2 more and cut an orange- put each half on it- threw a cut lemon inside and some peanuts- it was quite a sght and a great treat!

I spent most of the rest of the day working on the powerpoint show. Sifting through hundreds of photos and trying to make it all work with the various software- and making it flow witht he music. I'll finish it tomorrow and it will be presented tomorrow night.

Thhis is quite a place. It is naturally a desert, but with incredibley fertile soil. Before the US dammed up the colorado river, it would flood out down here- so the soil in the valley is amazing for a place with only 3 inches of rain a year. It is quite lush in some spots and parched in others. They have harnessed the river and there are canals everywhere.

The ejidos get their water straight from the canals. Problem is that the Canals run right through the farmers fields and run off with chemicals and fertilizers, natural and synthetic get into the water supply. So during spring runoff the water coming out of your shower or sink can be brown. And your never quite sure why! So anyone who can afford it drinks bottled water. And those that can't afford it- get sick.

Amazing... that water- that life giving element we all need- can be so close, but so dangerous to us. I was thinking of the spiritual water that runs so freely here. So many folks have a sense of the religious but are so empty spiritually. The water they've been drinking doesn't give them life, it sucks it from them! Not only is there a need for safe drinking water, but for the purity of the Living Water that comes from a relationship with Jesus. He once told a lady at a well that if she would trust in Him, he would give her water and she'd never be thirsty again.

I'd love to be able to give that water to the people here. The people are thirsty for Him all they need is for someone to show them and tell them.

Dios Bendiga

Mike Shar and Boys...