In trouble with the law...

Well, incase you are wondering what this picture is, if you guessed a speeding ticket, you're right! Coming into San Carlos, on the four lane highway, there's this one particular spot where a cop on a motorcycle likes to setup. If there's ever a cop setup, this is the place that he usually sits and usually I catch him in time. Today, however, I was a bit tired and justing wanting to get home. That stretch of highway, about 5 miles or so, has a posted limit of 60 km/h, which is rather hard to stay under, especially when everyone else whipping by pretty fast. So, needless to say, in my desire to just get home, I never actually saw the cop until Jody pointed him out and by then it was too late. Looking back in my rearview mirror I could see him getting on his bike with his lights on. At that point, I have to confess I was tempted to pull a Jordan Peters (as him about his experience of running from the law if you haven't already heard the story...) and quickly turn down some sideroad to try and get away. In the end, though, I knew I more than deserved this one so I pulled over. He lead me to the police station where I paid the ticket right aways. He caught me doing 89 km/h and the ticket would have costed me $150 but because I paid it right aways, it was half price. Well, hopefully the lesson is learned and that I have no more run-ins with the law down here!

It's Been A While...

Yes, it has been too long since the last post. I suppose that having family out here ended up taking a lot of our time over the past couple of weeks. In addition to that, though, we have been without internet since last week Wednesday when we woke up to a major storm at 2:00 in the morning. Until that point the only storm action we got was a bunch of intense lightening in the distance. This time, however, the storm made it out to us and it poured! We must have gotten more than an inch in less than an hour. The unfortunate thing was, though, that our DSL router got fried from the storm and we finally got it straightened out today and now we have internet!

The picture above is of the hills that are now turning green! Since last Wednesday, we have had a few more intense rain storms and the leaves are sprouting like crazy. It's incredibly beautiful! Until now, as you could tell by some of the pictures, the only green you would find here was cactuses and the occasional green bush that stays green year round.

I will post a few more times soon to let you know what we've been up to. I'll also update the photo album soon so check back!

Comida Mexicana (Mexican Food)

The food adventures continue...today for lunch we went to a local Mexican fastfood chain called "Pollo Feliz", Happy Chicken. Basically, you order a chicken by the half - a half, whole, 1.5 or 2 chickens. They bring out this fire-cooked chicken mostly intact and chop it into pieces, throw it into a styrofoam container and serve it with flour tortillas, salsa, and red onions. You can throw whatever you want into a tortilla or just eat the chicken off the bone. Either way, it's definitely the best chicken I've ever had.

They other evening we were shown the are of making Chiles Rellenos (cheese stuffed chiles). The green chile peppers are roasted over a flame, peeled, then stuffed with cheese. Then they're dipped in a batter and deep-fried. Yes, they were crazy hot and yes, they were incredibly good! No doubt milk helps to cool the fire in the mouth but it's worth it.

As you can tell from the picture above, Clayton (Jody's boyfriend) has made it out here and arrived Wednesday morning at about 3:30 in the morning. My family is currently on the road, having left at about 10:00 PM, Friday night and we are looking forward to their arrival!

God is Faithful!

Well, I'm glad to say that I'm on the other side of preaching and it's a huge relief. I can't deny the fact though that God definitely was faithful throughout the whole process, even in the midst of doubt. The cycle is so predictable, it seems, when we are in these places outside of our comfort zone. This situation was no exception. I seemed to go back and forth from inspiration to doubt throughout the process of writing and woke up this morning after not having slept very well. Needless to say, I wasn't too excited to get up this morning and stand behind the pulpit. But sure enough, as it so often goes, God works in spite of our doubt and comes through in the end. This morning went well and I was able to settle in and deliver with relative peace what God has been laying on my heart.

I know that I owe a lot of it to all the prayers that have been going up and for that I thank all of you!!