Bitter Sweet

It is difficult to leave the friends we have made here at the Mexican Branch of SIL but Thursday was our last day of work. Whenever someone leaves, the volunteer coordinator gives them a bag with a few things in it (names/addresses of everybody, certificate, small souvenir, etc.). Many people left the week before and we knew a lot of people were going to leave Thursday so we put our name on the list. We were right. At least 25 people received good-bye baggies. Now there are only a very few seasonal volunteers -- maybe 8 or 10 plus the volunteers who live here year around.

Below is a picture taken a few weeks ago of all (almost all) of the keyboarders. The older couple sitting in front on the right are the ones who gave over 30 years of their lives translating the New Testament into Mixe in the Coatlin community in Oaxaca State in southern Mexico. I am continually humbled as I meet people like these who have given so much -- and I am giving so little. Joyce doesn't have a good picture of the people she did stamps with, but we remember them in our hearts. Wonderful people. All of them.

Beside leading chapel (actually we are supposed to call it devotions) this last week... Oh, I have to tell what Joyce did. I did a short (4-5 minute) devotional each day at the beginning of the devotional period. On Thursday, Joyce did it (Remember Thursday is always the end of our work week). I based my devotions on keyboarding -- sort of made an object lesson out of it. So Joyce did the same thing with stamps. She made a stamp puppet and had the puppet tell what a stamp went through when it arrived at SIL. All of this based on how carefully they are treated -- and so were we. Everyone got a kick out of it.

Saturday was fun. We went to a yard sale at Cases Church -- they call it Unique Repeat, then ate lunch with Uncle Ken at The Fountains. That is an experience in itself. This is a retirement home but it is like eating in an upscale restaurant. White table cloth, linen napkins, a waiter takes your order (limited menu but you DO have choices) and then serves you. At the end, you get up and walk away. No bill, no tip, just leave! Quite a life, huh?

After lunch we stopped at a Botanical Garden to see if they had any cactus in bloom. Not many. But the butterflies were hatching. We were let into a special room where they were flying all over, landing on branches, leaves, and even people. It was fun. These were butterflies from other parts of the world and some were HUGE (6 inch wingspan).

After that we drove up to Mt. Lemmon. That is the highest point in these parts and is the local skiing option in the winter. The views from the road going up were simply awesome, looking out over the Tucson area or looking the other way if the road was on that side. We rode the ski lift to the top of Mt. Lemmon -- 9,157 feet (we started at about 2,800 feet in Tucson). Very little snow left but fabulous views.

So on Wednesday or Thursday we move on. Into New Mexico for a little tourist stuff, meet the kids, and slowly head home. Or quickly head home. However the spirit moves us. Take care. Love ya.