Hace mucho calor

We are in the middle of a heat-wave here in La Palmilla which I am told is very unusual for August. In fact, I was speaking with the pastor yesterday and he told me that the hot months for La Palmilla are typically mid-April to mid-June. It is brutally hot, though. The sun is almost directly overhead at noon, and there is not a cloud in the sky. The clouds roll in in the evening to act as a blanket and hold the heat of the day in all night long. Think of the recent heat wave we had in the U.S. That's what they are experiencing here.

Working in heat like that does not come without cost. We've already had several members of our team fall out due to heat related injuries. I was the first on Monday night but I rebounded well, and with a lot of prayer I've been able to keep from overworking myself in the heat. Ken Daminger was next, and he's still not feeling 100% but at least he's been able to work today. The shame of it is that he missed all the activity yesterday. Dave Swindell and Laura Speak were both at the roof pouring yesterday and both worked hard... too hard. Both are feeling the effects of the heat even today and Dave has taken the worst of it. He stayed in Jennifer's house where there's air conditioning in a couple rooms, but tonight he came out to the 7:00 service. He didn't last long; the church building inside was sweltering. Dave went outside to sit in the cooler night air but he was on the verge of throwing up. Jen sent him to her house to spend the night in the AC again.

Our hosts have been most gracious to us through the heat. They've been telling us not to work to hard and have given us light work. They are much more acclimated to the heat but even they are feeling the effects of this heat wave. Still, their first concern has always been for us.

A brief word about the church services. Church services here are not sparsely attended. There are rarely empty seats. There are services on Sunday (a few times on Sunday), Wednesday and Thursday, because the church cannot fit the entire congregation into one service (which, if you didn't know, is why they're building a new church building to accomodate the entire congregation). Throughout the week every church member makes at least one but never all of the services (unless they're in the praise band or the pastor) because they need to make room for the others. Everything here is about taking care of others. There are those like our host families who are fairly well off comparatively. There are those who do not have the accomodations to be host families but they do other things like give of their time, working and also (for the women) cooking meals for the workers. There are those who own pickup trucks who volunteer to drive La Caravana (which is what they call our mission team) to different places. Their hospitality to us and to each other is humbling. Christians all over the world could learn a thing or two from this congregation.

One of the places that La Caravana has been driven is Martinez de la Torre. Today we drove about twenty minutes north east of La Palmilla to the center of Martinez where there is a large market. Many merchants sell their wares there. The meat markets are all in one location, probably because of the odor. But there are little shops that sell herbs or coffee or toys or shoes or what have you. For those of you in New Jersey, think of Cowtown, only more cramped, less dusty, and inside. But even that description doesn't really do it justice. It's a fascinating place.

Afterward we went to La Plaza where we had el helado (ice cream). We had several different flavors like vanilla, lime, fruit and peanut-all excellent. Then we rode back to La Palmilla where we attended the aforementioned 7:00 service.

All in all it was a day made for the sweltering heat. There was not a lot of work to do today but even the limited work we did caused us to sweat profusely. The ride to and from Martinez was refreshing as was the ice cream, and we certainly had an uplifting time at the service. Please pray for our compatriots who have been suffering from the heat. Heat exhaustion is no joke. We are very concerned for our brother Dave, which is why we all want him to stay inside at Jennifer's.

Tomorrow we are going to the beach. No work. Praise God!

¡Dios nos bendiga!