Snow! Again!

It seems something other than weather should be the point of interest when a person is in Tucson. But for the second time we got snow. In the last blog I mentioned how nice a day we had on Monday, and how nice the weather was. Monday: 70 degrees; Wednesday: snow. Late morning the wind began to blow, then rain. This turned to a rain-snow mix, then to snow. It was big, wet flakes that stuck to everything except the pavement. By 4:00 when we left work and drove home there was about 2 inches of snow. Very pretty. Late that evening it started to snow again. By Thursday morning we had four inches of snow and about 31 or 32 degrees. Very little snow on the roads so we went to work.

This seems unreal to me but it really happened (maybe that’s why we take pictures). However by midafternoon it was all gone. Look very carefully at the picture below. The dark object in the middle is a javelina (or peccary). Six or seven of them walked through this little clearing just off the balcony of the building where I do the keyboarding. I guess they were out looking for breakfast amidst the snow.

Keyboarding was interesting this week. Tuesday Doreen and I corrected the Nahuatl we had typed in. This went well even though there were more errors than we expected. It’s interesting how I can type it in carefully, then go over it myself and correct it even more carefully. Then when we do the side-by-side comparison there are still errors. Maybe that’s kind of like life. We try so hard to straighten out our lives, remove all the errors (i.e. sins) and be certain we are doing well. But when we compare our lives with what the Bible says God wants… oh, oh… we don’t measure up so well. That’s why it is important to be sure we are doing life God’s way or one day we will stand before him thinking we are pretty good only to discover the truth.

After Doreen and I got our portion all corrected we stared a new Old Testament summary. This one is Mixteco Jamiltepec. There are a lot of Mixteco languages. I am guessing it is one for each village or area. This one is in southwest Oaxaca State. I just looked it up on Google Maps. Typed in “Jamiltepec, Oaxaca, Mexico.” A link on the left let me switch to street view and I started taking a tour of the area. I can’t read Spanish so I downloaded a translator app for my iPhone and began “reading” the signs. Very interesting.

Speaking of computer sites. If you want to see and hear this language (or any language). Do this: go to www.scriptureearth.org. On the left side scroll down to Mexico. Click on it. Then scroll down to Mixteco Jamiltepec. Click. Then you will have lots of choices: read, hear, download, etc. You will hear the New Testament because we are still working on getting the Old Testament summary on line. It is a sight like this that a resident of Jamiltepec (or any other language) can go to to hear the Bible in his/her heart language.

After the “big snow” had melted Joyce and I went to Western Night at the Center. It is basically an excuse to get together to have fun without working. We ate cowboy stew, listened to some good western jokes, and sang some old, hooky western songs. It was fun, kind 0f.

This is most of our keyboarding team. A few were missing. Sharon, our team leader, is in blue, 3rd from the left. The lady with white hair in the rear left is Cathy Marlett. It was her parents that translated the Seri language. She was born and raised there and loved it. Her husband, Steve is to her left. The lady sitting on the left is Trudy. She is 82 years young, comes every year and is the life of the party. So…. that leaves me, the only other male, peaking over a couple shoulders. I am affectionately known as the token male.

I discovered my phone would take panoramic pictures. This is my keyboarding room. I would be on the computer at the left. Jackie is next, Donna is far right and Doreen is on the right. Actually this picture is distorted because Doreen and I are back to back. Jackie is from Oregon; Donna and Doreen are from Canada.

This is another panorama, from the balcony after our recent “blizzard.” Actually they posted blizzard warnings for I-10 south and east of Tucson – only the second time in 20 years for southern Arizona. The mountains are the Santa Catalinas.

If I were to move down here – and I am NOT – but if I were I would have two requirements: a view of the Catalinas and a large, really good telescope. Enjoy.