Monday the 16th

Sunday was another full day. We joined Rod and Connie for worship at Iglesia de Lluvias de Gracias (Showers of Grace Church). The congregation is mostly Zapotec Indian. About a half dozen Americans regularly attend as well -- a teacher at the American school, a couple of Wycliff missionaries, and a family of International Mission Board missionaries. After worship the entire congregation enjoyed a picnic at one of the member´s homes in a village several miles away. His house included a large walled compound with a beautiful flower garden. Sixty or seventy people brought their lunches and spent the afternoon together. Everyone brought raw meat and cooked it on a fire in the compound. The thin-sliced pieces of beef were place directly on the coals, along with small onions. Add avacodo, chiles, and queso in a tortilla and you have a really good lunch.

Sunday evening we walked to a nearby park to witness some native dancing, but the event never occurred, so we walked to the plaza outside Soledad, a large church, and ate nieves (lit. snows), a kind of fruit ice cream. We had had some the night before and thought it would be a good idea to go back. My favorite flavor is tuna, which does not refer to a fish, but to the bright red fruit of a cactus. Incredible.

Today we were back in our Spanish class in the morning and walked to the mercado this afternoon. We walked though crowds of people shopping in the largest market I have ever shopped in. We were surrounded with the sights and smells of foods I had never seen before. We ate tortas (a kind of sandwich with black beans, grilled steak, avacodos and cheese on a French bread-like roll). I bought a couple of kilos of Oaxacan coffee. (Matt and Patrick, get ready). We also visited a chocolate shop where, right before your eyes, they take the cocoa beans, grind them, mix them with a recipe of sugar and cinnamon, and then run the whole concoction through a large grinder twice. The aroma in the place is unbelievable. The product is a thick fudge-like substance used for a variety of purposes. They give you tiny spoons to sample the taste. We sampled the stuff in three different shops, just for comparison. This may be one of the best reasons to return to Oaxaca. Melinda and Jenna found blouses they liked, and we rode a bus back home.

Tonight Rod is cooking black beans and rice and we´ll eat several kinds of tropical fruit indigeneous to the area. We even bought a sack of grilled chapulines (grasshoppers). They are not too bad, kind of like teriyaki jerky.

Tomorrow we will go to a village for ministry. We will be inviting a sociology prof from the U.S. we met at breakfast on Saturday. She comes here annually with her students and Rod may become her entre into some Mixteco villages. It also gives Rod an entre into the life of a college professor and her students.

It is almost seven pm, and the beans and rice should be ready. We'll walk the five blocks back to the casa and enjoy a quiet evening. Melinda is working on a cut banner for Rod and Connie´s church.

Prayer request: Wednesday evening I´m leading a Bible study for couples. It begins at 9 and ends around 1:00 AM. Pray for alertness as well as for me to have something to share with these people that will be helpful.

Blessings,

Robert