Mexico

Wednesday was a normal day of expectation. I took Evelyn to Knapp for her volunteer stint and completed an application for me to volunteer too. I won't have an interview until the coordinator returns after the holidays. I returned to the park, exercised and cleaned up. I surprised Evelyn when I picked her up with a lobster stuffed crab cake from Long John Silvers for her lunch. I finished the delicious charro beans from Sunday night's choir dinner. We both loved our lunch. We took a nap and then took eight bags of gifts that a friend from church had brought to our house to the accumulation point for Friday's trip to a colonia in Mexico. The expectation part was for the trip and the predicted cold weather we would get that evening. When we awakened Thursday, we went into the frio outdoors to the exercise room. After I finished, I went to the hall for coffee but ran into the gift coordinator who had decided to take the gifts and food today because of the predicted rain and cold for tomorrow. So we rushed home to shower and dress warmer for the trip. The people from our park who were going met and loaded ten vehicles with clothes and toys. Three other vehicles carried food and fruit and off we went to Mexico. We drove through the border town, down a levee dirt road, and into an area of shacks where more than seventy families lived. We spread large sheets of plastic on the ground and emptied many boxes of clothes on to them. Grateful people came to select what would fit and took them home. They were very orderly and polite. One elderly man who spoke good English (he had been a migrant worker in many areas of the states when younger) gave us directions and translated for many people. The children flocked to the Santa car holding the candy and some toys. This colonia was surprisingly well organized. There was no grass, but each "yard" was clean of trash and many had flowers and trees that had been planted. Almost every property had a fence of either barbed wire or just fence posts prepared for some wire. Fences are very important to the people of Mexico. We tried to assure each one that "Cristo te Ama" (Jesus loves you). After many hugs and smiles, we returned to Weslaco praying prayers of thanks to Christ for allowing us to be the givers, not the receivers. We shopped a bit and then invited a widowed friend from Manitoba for chili soup. It is now quite cold and will stay that way until after Christmas. We will be cold outside but warm inside as we remember the miracle of the season: God came to earth just to die so we could be forgiven. What a blessed truth to warm the soul! God bless each of you who reads this with the depth of this truth.