Green Grass!

This past week all my coworkers & I got together for a conference at a hotel about 2 hours away.

It was there that I realized that there are two things that I miss about that US that I did not realize I was missing. The first is grass - green grass! In this city there is virtually no grass, much less green grass. If there is grass it is only a little patch in someone's "yard" - too little to be good for anything but mowing. The hotel had a courtyard area full of green grass! We set up a volleyball net and played in our bare feet! My first time to go barefoot outside since I got to Mexico! (In the desert here there are thorns everywhere outside called torritos - goatheads in Arizona. They REALLY hurt when you step on one!) After living so long in Panama & seeing all the jungle - it was good to see some green again here in Mexico.

The other thing that I was missing and I thoroughly enjoyed at the conference was worshipping the Lord corporately in English - singing and praying together in my heart language. It made me realize from experience the importance of learning the tribal language. They must hear the Gospel in their heart language to be able to understand clearly. I have been going to church here now for six weeks in Spanish - but the Spanish does not communicate (yet) the way sermons & songs in English do. It's the same with the tribal people.

One of other things that I really enjoyed this past week was meeting most of my mountain coworkers & learning about how things are going in the areas where they are working. I will be sharing some of that with you in the days to come.

There were beautiful sunsets every night!