Wednesday 29 June 2011

Blessings at the Ranch

This past week a work team came from Virginia.  Their project was to put up a fence on the ranch which will enclose many of the animals and some shop space.  On their last day here, everyone joined them at the ranch for a picnic and a bonfire.  It was a beautiful time wandering around the ranch as everything is green green from the rain! 


Our evening ended with a bonfire and roasted (burnt) marshmellows.
 


While sitting around the bonfire, Bill had the idea that we should each share things that we were thankful for.   I especially liked hearing how the children enjoy  visiting the ranch today, but look forward to one day living there.  Their appreciation for their family at El Faro was also mentioned repeatedly.  I was thankful for the huge reminder from 40 plus people, of how generous and good God is.



Monday 27 June 2011

Baptism in the Pacific Ocean

Last Sunday we had the priviledge of witnessing the baptism of nine brothers and sisters. 


It was raining, so we all stood singing and cheering in the water and rain.







This was especially a touching event because one of the girls from El Faro was baptised.



We were pleased for Ronnie, leader of the Youth group, that so many of the Youth were baptised.



The church has been growing steadily.  Each Sunday there is an altar call and several people come forward.  As a result of this, baptisms are held every couple months.

Tuesday 14 June 2011

Wound up like a ball of Cheese

A friend was describing a ball of yarn to Sam, that it was wound up like a ball of cheese. We both had to laugh because it was a perfect description . . . in Mexico. We do not eat much cheddar cheese here. It is available, but the local cheese is great. We buy a ball of cheese weekly for 30 pesos (2.50 Canadian) from a youth from church. It is a white stringy cheese, wound up like a ball of yarn (if you are Canadian). The cheese can be unwound as needed and pieces cut off can be separated into small threads. Hannah and Jude keep comparing it to cheese strings in Canada, but I think that this is a much softer, finer product. It certainly is yummy and we are enjoying this local product very much.
 
 

May update

May Update from Mexico

Hello Everyone,

For a while now, I've been enjoying the songs of a cheerful Mexican bird in the mango trees. One of the workers at the orphanage says it is singing for the rain. We've had some rain, but rainy season hasn't arrived for real. We are getting ready though. Our clothes line has been hung up inside near an air conditioner.

We have been here 4 months now. So many changes have taken place that I am sometimes surprised when I remember my initial actions, thoughts and feelings here. For one thing, our Spanish continues to improve. People who know us tell us that we are speaking more Spanish. We don't feel so lost when having a Spanish conversation. We can hear the individual words and tell someone which words we don't know. Of course, precise details are always an opportunity for a misunderstanding. “Were we suppose to wait for them to pick us up or did they understand us when we said we could drive ourselves?” Also more complex subjects are not easily discussed which is a frustration for me. I have attempted conversations about genetically modified foods, or explaining foreign parenting habits of Canadians with limited success. My consolation is that people keep trying to talk with me even when I trouble them with such conversation topics.

Another change is the purchasing of a family vehicle. After four months without a vehicle, we are fit from all the walking, but very happy for the convenience of our own vehicle. This allows us more freedom to travel past army check points (this was a problem with our previously borrowed un-licensed car) and to no longer depend on others for transportation. At one point I was feeling like my ancestors, born, raised, and diseased in a few square kilometers. Thank you for your prayers, as getting a vehicle was not as simple as purchasing one in Ontario.
This month, Bill, Sam and another brother from the church traveled to another state to met with an expert on fish aquaculture. He was extremely helpful in his advice and knowledge. He has offered the help of his teaching assistants to set up the initial tilapia ponds at the ranch, and supplying the stock. We are very grateful for all his help! The necessary grading of the land in preparation for the first ponds has been completed. This too is a great step forward, as it has been a whole year of waiting. We are also aggressively investigating getting power(aka “hydro” for Canadians) to the ranch. This is a prerequisite for the tilapia, both for fresh water supply and aerating the ponds.

Recently two new workers have joined the staff at El Faro. The orphanage has been understaffed for a number of months so their presence is greatly welcomed. Other changes have been made to the staff, shifting areas of responsibility to better match the abilities and interests. For now, these changes are helping make the work easier for everyone.

Just last week, Rebekah celebrated her first birthday. She is a bright cheerful little girl, waving enthusiastically in greeting. The doctors have advised Bill and Tammy that decisions need to be made regarding her leg. As many of you know, Rebekah was born without a femur. There are different options available for her to help her walk, including the amputation of her foot to allow for a better fit of a prosthetic leg. Please, pray for Rebekah, that the condition of her knee and hip will be optimal (the disorder, Proximal Femoral Focal Deficiency, has various degrees of severity).

El Faro's website is finally up:  http://lostandfound-mexico.com. You will be able to read updates from Bill and Tammy there. Enjoy! We also have a website for our family. It is www.dielemanabroad.ca. We will still be sending monthly update e-mails, but we'll also try to post weekly on the website to give you a bigger picture of our life in Arriaga.

Here are a few animal pictures for the nature lovers, and not:
 
   Sam saw these baby crocodiles when he visited the expert on aquaculture.  They are being raised to be released into the wild since native populations are so low.  They were also raising manatees, but we don't have a picture of them.
 
  This iguana lives with its family in the yard of our friends.  They eat grass and spend the day lazily grazing on the lawn - sort like cows.
 
  Our house was fumigated last week and these were just a few of the remains that Hannah and Jude collected.  While I'm not a fan of spraying pesticides in our house, I am also not a fan of sharing the house with so many insects.  One day I watched a stream of ants leave a little hole on the floor, tramp up the wall, across a table, back onto the wall, and into an outlet.  The stream was at least 4 m long and it wasn't single file.  Fumigating the house also helps prevent scorpions from moving in.  Sadly, the men who sprayed the house did so without any respiration devices or protective overalls.  When they began spraying, they began coughing too. 

We appreciate your prayers and letters from home. In the last month or so we have missed some important events of family and friends. Thank you for keeping in contact with us. It helps us feel close even though we are 4500 km away.

Love Sam, Wendy, Hannah, Jude and Jeremiah

Prayer requests:

El Faro needs a Mexican worker for the babies.
We will increase our Spanish vocabulary.
God will give wisdom in making choices about Rebekah's leg.

Prayer updates:Ronnie and Ivonne Mouser had their baby boy Judah. Both mother and baby are healthy.
We have a vehicle now.
Maylin, the most recent child to arrive at El Faro, is fitting in very well.
Two new Mexican staff members have begun at El Faro.

Homeschooling in Mexico

Homeschool in Mexico

posted May 19, 2011 3:36 PM by Sam Dieleman


Homeschool in Mexico is very different for our family than it is in Canada.  For one, we miss Friday mornings spent with other homeschooling families. 
We also miss the Public Library and seeing our favourite librarians.  I miss the predictability of our routine in London. 
However, living in a new place is enriching our homeschool in so many other ways:
  • cooking and enjoying new foods - some which we've never even heard of before
  • new animals and plants to study up close (scorpions?!)
  • celebrating Mexican holidays - who knew Mother's Day was a day off from school in Mexico, complete with a parade featuring school children?
  • experiencing a new culture first hand
  • learning Spanish with the help of so many friends

May 13, 2011

Mango, mango, mangoooooo!

 
 
 
In three days we received mangos from four different people!  What a delicious blessing - mmmmmmm! 
 
There are more than a 1000 different types of mangos and each one has its own flavour and texture. 
There are three kinds in the bowl:
  • The green ones at the back are called Pina (this is the Spanish word for Pineapple) and are really special.  I'd never seen or heard of them in Canada.  You squeeze them all over until it is runny inside, then bite a hole in the skin and drink your instant mango smoothy. 
  • The yellow ones on the left are often exported to foreign countries, and are known for their great texture and wonderful flavour, they are called Ataulfo.
  • Lastly, the multi-coloured ones on the right of the bowl are under debate.  Some say they are Hadens, someone called them Ottu Mangai, and someone else said ithey were Oros.  What ever they are, they're delicious.
 
But if these mangos are not enough to satisfy us, we could always order them by the truck load.
  
 
 
This is one of many trucks waiting outside the juice factory near Arriaga.
 
And may we sugget one posible theme song for eating mangos:  http://www.weebls-stuff.com/songs/mango/
Beware, the song has a tendency to linger.  Mango, mango

May 5, 2011

Cinco de mayo - the beginning of recycling for the Dielemans in Mexico


Often I have noticed a man poking around in the dumpster near our house with a big stick.  He pulls out metal cans and loads them in his tricycle.  I'm sure this is not a nice business in the heat and stench.  (Did I mention that toilet paper goes into the garbage rather than the toilet?)  Since seeing him gathering cans, I started saving cans at home intending to give them to him.  I'm not sure what he does with them, but at least I can save him the work of fishing for our cans.  Plus, it makes me feel better that some of our garbage is being recycled.  
 
Recycling programs like in Canada do not exist in Arriaga.  However, that doesn't mean people in Arriaga do not reuse and recycle things as well, as in Canada.  Back home we often look for second hand items if it is reasonable.  But here many things can not be bought second hand because the original owner uses and repairs the item until it can not be repaired again.   Another example of recycling, is the great variety of old cars still driving the roads of Arriaga. Sam and I laugh to think about how cool we would look driving an old Datsun.  Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle do exist here.  It just looks vastly different. 
 
So today I saw him again and decided to initiate a recycling program with him.  I told him I had some cans at my house and he could have them.  He understood that much of my garbled Spanish and followed us home to get the cans.  Next I told him I would save more cans for him.  I think he understood.  I'm not sure about the fine details of this recycling program - where and when, but I did learn that I can include plastic bottles too.  I hope the man is as pleased about our "agrement" as I am.

April 2011

April 2011

Things have been very busy lately. We enjoyed our visit with Sam's mom for two weeks. Last Tuesday we brought her to Tuxtla so she could fly home again. While in Tuxtla, we cheered on Carmelo (one of the El Faro boys) in a 500 m state race. He was competing to go onto a national race in Mexico City. He ran well, but came in second in his heat and will not go on to the national race.
 
  Carmello (barefeet) preparing to race.

Two weeks ago Maylin was brought to El Faro.  She is about seven years old and had been living in a state run orphanage for the last year.  Before that she was taken from a woman (mother?) who was severely beating her and her siblings.  So far things are going well for Maylin, but we ask that you pray that she will feel part of the family at El Faro and continue her emotional healing.  When she first came she called all the women and older girls mommy because that was the practice in the orphanage.  She was surprised to learn there was only one mommy at El Faro.
Dale and Teresa Barnes (Bill Wood's pastor from the Oklahoma) and their secretary were here for the last week. Dale “doesn't like to be bored” so there he was preaching on Thursday, Friday, Saturday and twice on Sunday. We enjoyed getting to know them and listening to sermons in English. Tuesday afternoon we all headed out to the ranch for a picnic and bonfire before the Barnes headed home.
It was so nice at the ranch – the breeze was refreshing and when the sun went down we actually felt cold. The boys painted themselves with charcoal, made spears, bows and arrows, and had a great time running around the ranch. The girls preferred walking and looking at the animals. The children love going to the ranch as it is a chance to run about freely.
Another couple came along with the Barnes and will be staying an extra two weeks to help at El Faro. Wayne is a welder and mechanic. Sam is looking forward to learning how to weld. Together they hope to complete the framing of the bunk house roof. Nancy loves babies and children. Jude and Hannah are already playing games with her and the staff at El Faro are appreciating her help.
We've been having some “Mexican experiences” lately. Regularly the temperature is above 40 Celsius. We have to be careful to remember our hats when going out. Without them we quickly get a headache in the bright sunshine. Thankfully we've also had some rain at night to cool things off and make it greener. Perhaps you heard about southern Mexico in the news last week, when there was a 6.5 earthquake. We were just waking up when it happened and it rattled things pretty well, but there was no damage. We also had a flood in our home last week when a pipe broke upstairs. Only two rooms did not have wall to wall water. This would be a huge problem in Canada, but here the houses are made of cement and tile. Within an hour it was swept out the front door and mopped up (thanks to help from three ladies from the church). I had some extra laundry and there is a wall to be whitewashed, but there wasn't any other damage. Often Mexican homes are built with drains in the middle of each room “just in case”. Finally, this week we found a large scorpion in our outdoor storage room. They tend to show themselves when the weather gets hotter. Time to fumigate the house.
 
  Scorpion found by Sam
 
    Playing in the rain

The previous paragraph may sound “foreign” to many of you, but I want to reassure you that we are doing fine. It is not as terrible as it might sound. God has given us grace not just to be here, but to like being here. Driving to Tuxtla, watching the landscape pass by, I realized that I like this part of Chiapas. We are also making friends in the church and getting to know everyone at El Faro. We are building relationships that are dear. Our children are no longer telling us they want to go home. Jude now likes it here and Hannah wants to go home at the end of the year, but she feels much better about living here.
 
   "Swimming" at a friend's house (in the laundry tub!)
 

Thank you for all your prayers and support. We like hearing from you.

Love from the Dielemans: Sam, Wendy, Hannah, Jude and Jeremiah.

Specific prayer requests: El Faro needs more Mexican staff to work with the children.
Maylin will begin to feel at home at El Faro.
We will learn to communicate in Spanish.
We are considering buying a vehicle because a specific car we were waiting on is still unavailable.
There a number of projects which need to be completed on the Ranch before the rainy season begins.

Prayer update:
Last update, we asked you to pray for our home phone.  The morning after sending that e-mail, the phone company called and wanted to install our phone line.  This was after telling us for 1.5 months that it could not be done!

March 2011

 March 2011

We have been here for 2 months now. Everyone in our family is feeling more at home. We are continuing to learn Spanish, mostly through conversation. One important lesson had to do with verb tenses. In Spanish, pronouns are rarely used. Instead, the ending of the verb indicates who it is you are speaking about. When meeting someone new, we would tell them how we didn't speak Spanish, “No habla espaƱol .” Everyone looked at us surprised. We took that to mean, we had pronounced the sentence so well that they couldn't believe it. Well, we were really saying, “You don't speak Spanish.” We had a good laugh and I'm sure many others had a good laugh too.

Sam's mom is here for a visit and we are so happy to have her here. “Abuelita” has been learning some Spanish, but we are all hoping that Jeremiah will say “Oma” (Dutch for grandmother) before she leaves. It interesting to see things afresh with her eyes. It makes me realize how much we are beginning to feel at home.

The weather is fine. We are either getting use to it or our thermometer is not working properly. Sometime it says 35 degrees, but it doesn't feel hot. Our home is comfortable because it has good air circulation and air conditioning. We are very thankful for this.
Today was our day off, so we took the taxi to the beach. Hannah and Jude complained about being cramped in the taxi on the way there, but we encouraged them that it would be worth it once we got to the beach. And it was lovely there! On the way home, the word cramped took on new meaning. Six of us squished into the back of the taxi and some other guy with a boy sat in the front! Sam got us a reduced price for that. Plus, Sam's mom got to see more of the area as we had to drop the other guy off first.
Sam has been busy with maintenance at El Faro. He installed a water purification system at the orphanage. The water from the taps is not potable in Mexico. Everyone buys water for drinking and cooking. You can imagine how much water an orphanage in a hot climate uses, about 40 gallons a day. The water filter is a great blessing. Our Saturdays are spent at the orphanage, helping with the children. Sam has been having fun building “science toys” with the children. I have included a picture of a flute and water balloon launcher. 
  
   
Teaching art continues to be a treat for me. Tammy and I recently looked through all the artwork the students have done so far. Looking at the artwork reminds me of the student's talents and creativity; the times when the lesson was difficult but they persevered; and the excitement over unexpected success. I think I have the best job in the orphanage and to top it off, I get to help with the babies on Saturdays.

  
   
 
Bill and Tammy have returned after a couple weeks abroad, and we are all very happy to have them home again. It is quite something to see the children welcome them home. It is like a swarm of bees buzzing about Bill and Tammy. One more child is about to arrive. We are looking forward to a young girl arriving this week. We do not know much about her, but we do know she is about to go through a major change in her little life. We are praying for her transition into El Faro.

Thank you again for your support and your prayers. It is a huge encouragement to us. Thank you.

Love from Sam, Wendy, Hannah, Jude and Jeremiah Dieleman

Specific prayer requests:El Faro needs more Mexican staff to work with the children.
The new girl's transition into El Faro will go well.
We will learn to communicate in Spanish.
We will receive paperwork from Mexico City so we can have use of a family vehicle.
We will finally get a home phone.

March 2011

March 2011

It has been a while since you have heard from us because we have been very busy.

First off, we have moved twice since we last wrote. Our initial house was more than we could realistically manage. Some of you asked for interior pictures of the house, but I had left them out because it was a “lonely” space (Hannah's word). After working for a week to get the house up and running, we had not made any progress. We know that conditions are different and jobs take longer here, but we were frustrated that we had accomplished little and had spent no time working at the orphanage (the very reason we are here). So we returned to El Faro and made arrangements to move into a different house.
Thankfully our first landlady was very understanding. She told us that she worried about us living in the house, she could not invest in repairing the house, and we could go without paying rent for the month. We had prayed that our relationship with her would not be damaged by our request to leave. It could not have gone better. She even invited us to visit her and swim in her pool.
Our new house is much more comfortable and aside from some cleaning and curtain rods, it needed no work. We moved in just last week. After the first house, I am very, very pleased with this house! We feel secure and at home. The coffee cafe next door is a great perk too!
 
 
Sam has been busy working at El Faro. Sandra, one of the workers, nearly cried when she was asked to make a list of all the little things for Sam to repair in the orphanage. I have been teaching the children art. It is a pleasure to be teaching them, getting to know them. I've also been home schooling Hannah and Jude amid many interruptions. Hopefully we will get into a good routine now that we are settled into our new house.
We have been welcomed by the people of the church. The people here are not financially wealthy yet they have been generous to us with clothing, furniture, food, and things for our house. It creates in our hearts a desire to communicate with them and an urgency to learn the language.
Thank you for your prayers and letters. We like hearing from you.

Love Sam, Wendy, Hannah, Jude, and Jeremiah
 

February 6, 2011

February 6, 2011

 
Hello Everyone,

Let me start by saying, we are aware that not everyone on our contact list shares the same beliefs about God.  We do not wish to offend anyone, but we do want to share with you our experiences here.

This morning I put Jeremiah on the floor in an empty room.  As soon as I put him down, he began to crawl around looking for anything within his grasp .  He is just 13 months so whatever he finds, inevitably goes in his mouth.  He found something, which I thought was a string, and popped it in.  I pulled it out and put it out of his reach.  However the "string" began to move and I realized it was not a string but a scorpion!  Immediately I squished it, scooped up Jeremiah and woke up Sam.  We called the orphanage to let them know - and we prayed over the phone. 

Jeremiah did not cry and showed no signs of swelling.  Scorpions are known to be extremely aggressive and rarely, if touched, won't sting.  Although the stings usually aren't fatal, to an adult it feels like 3-4 wasp stings and the victim will feel flu-like symptoms if untreated.  Several hours later, Jeremiah remains perfectly fine. 
Praise God!  He is always watching over us and protecting us, even the littlest ones. 

My response is another testimony of God's goodness.  I am at peace with what happened this morning, because I know without a doubt God is in control of our lives.  No, I do not like what happened and it is a lesson for all of our family to be careful, but I am not afraid.  My lack of fear is a gift from God, enabling me to go about my life in this new place.
 

So thankyou for all those prayers of protection!

Wendy Dieleman

February 2011

February 2011

Our time here so far has been spent getting our house up and running. Our house is beginning to look like a home. My first load of laundry is in the washing machine right now and the phone guy is here to install our land line. Internet will be soon to follow. It has been hard to be patient when tasks unhampered by a different language and customs could be done much quicker and efficiently in Canada. We are eager to begin our work at the orphanage, but we continue to be working on the house. Please, pray that we will have resolution to our plumbing problems and that we'll get screens for our windows soon.
 
   
 
We live about a 10 minute walk from the orphanage and 3 minute walk to the “Mexican Walmart.” We have a large backyard which needs to be cleaned up. The kids don't play in the backyard yet because of all the debris lying around where some nasty critters likely reside. The house is large and airy and I like my kitchen. We have been blessed by people helping us to furnish and clean our home. Our landlady is very kind (albeit a little slow getting the necessary repairs done to the house) and thankfully even speaks a little English. We intend to get a dog for security as many people are advising us to do so. Please, pray for a good match of dog and family.

Everyone asks about the weather and it is quite nice. The windy season is still lingering and the dry season has begun. There likely won't be any rain until June, but while the wind is here it helps to blow away the heat. We find the sound of the wind very lonesome at night, so we play our favourite music to drown it out. At night is cools down to the low 20's and during the day it goes up to about 30 degrees. It is so windy that our water heater, which is housed in a niche at the back of the house, has had the pilot light blown out everyday. We light it just before shower (“trickle”) time.

Hannah and Jude are amusing themselves, but are looking forward to beginning homeschool. My goal is to begin homeschooling on Monday. There is a family next door which attends the church of the Nazarene. They have a little girl about Hannah's age who is friendly. Jeremiah gets all the attention when we leave our home. Mexican custom is to touch, kiss, and hold babies. If one does not touch the baby it is the same as wishing the baby harm. This is completely opposite from our concepts of hygiene and personal space! We need a balance of wisdom and grace.

At the orphanage I will be teaching art to two classes in English and assist with keeping the classroom and school supplies organized. Sam will make repairs on the orphanage, work at the ranch on building projects, and will work with mission teams which come to work. This is the general plan, but in reality we'll be helping out in many different ways. Our job description is varied and open ended. Please, pray that our Spanish will grow daily and exponentially so we can work here effectively.

Thank you for your support and prayers.

Sam, Wendy, Hannah, Jude, and Jeremiah Dieleman