Sept and October

Well, the convention post turned out to be longer than I thought so let me continue with our doings in this new post.  So, of course, we are very busy in the ministry and feel very happy to see several Bible students progress.  Both Alma and I have new students on the school and in the ministry.  In September we had our Spanish Convention.  The following photos are noteworthy because they were taken when the program had ended and everyone stayed where they were because of the unexpected rainstorm.  Normally, everyone leaves right way, so this was really cool

It looks sunny but really it was raining hard.  You can see why we enjoyed the Eng Convention so much with A/C, comfy seat and a roof!

However on Sunday there was almost 7,000 in attendance and there were 96 baptized. 

A week after the convention, Alma and I were invited to go camping with some friends from another congregation.  Alma couldn't go, but I wasn't going to let that stop me :) 

We loaded up Saturday night, got there late. We stayed overnight at a balneario (public swimming pool) which are very popular over here. We were not going to let nighttime darkness or cold water stop us from having fun in the pool. I did almost die of hypothermia...haha just kidding. NOT

  Night Swimming

 Food table

 Card Shark table.   Most everyone stayed up until 3am.  I have a picture of me the morning after...but it is kept in my secret files.....here is one of me and friends just before we left to go home.

Thanks for stopping by my blog...see you next time!!

English Convention August 19-21

Hello!!  Welcome Back :)

I know you have been dying to find out what I've been up to the last couple of months.  This post is for you!

Two weeks after my lovely trip to the beach, Alma and I went to the English Convention in Queretaro, Mexico which is a larger city than Aguascalientes and is about 4 hours away.  An American couple in Aguas took us in their car and on the way over we passed through San Miguel de Allende.  The following picture does NOT do it justice since it's beauty is at street level where you can soak in the details of the city.  When we went through I thought I was in Europe with the narrow, brick-lined streets.  I'll go again and bring back pictures, but here is the city from a higher vantage point. 

The first day of the assembly, I ran into a family from PA that I had not seen for 20 years!!  It was a very exciting reunion and how amazing to meet again in Mexico.  Small world when you are a witness :)

And here Alma and I are with some new friends:  Anri is from Japan and was our hotel roommate.  And two other sisters from Mexico. 

Being at the English Assembly in a non-English speaking country is exciting since you see people from all over the world.  We met witnesses from Canada, Australia, Guatemala, and South Africa.  Enjoy the other pictures....

A favorite spot to eat lunch and meet new people.

The lunch spot, now quite crowded and turned on it's side. lol

Queretaro downtown...very pretty









Los ultimos viajes

I have to admit something before I start this post....I am really lazy about taking pictures (and even more lazy when it comes to posting them to my blog) so there should be more interesting photos and just more period, but there's not.  It is what it is. 

First trip:  May 2011 to Ajijic, Jalisco southwest-ish of Guadalajara.  I went to see Mike and Blanca Ronan.  Joel and Jana Ronan were also visiting.  It is a beautiful litte town with a nice English congregation.  It is on a lake (no photo of that sad to say) and is full of foreigners so it doesn't seem at all like the kind of Mexico where I live....so it was a nice, quick escape.

 Out preaching on a nice sunny day.  Mike is going to find Joel and Joshua who had gone rogue and finished the territory without telling us where they went.

 Jana and I didn't care too much...still counting our time :)

So this is an empty lot in front of Mike and Blanca's house.  I thought it was raining at around 6am but the rain hitting the roof was actually a bunch of brush crackling.  We were all quite upset since the men assigned to get rid of said brush decided to do so on a very windy day and right next to Mike's dried out property line.  Someone asked if the workers had gotten a permit to do this...I just laughed (to myself of course).

SECOND TRIP:  May 19 to June 12 Philadelphia,PA

Home.  Shopping, Baseball game, green trees and grass.  You will have to imagine all this as I took only one photo....drumroll please

     

I was on an early morning flight to US when I got this really beautiful sight.  About a minute later I was blinded by this beautiful sight.

THIRD:  August 4 to 7, 2011 Nuevo Vallarta, Nayarit

All-inclusive at the beach with a room to myself...mini-bar was included...need I say more?

 Just a little bit

I went with my friend Marisol (Alma's sister...Alma is saving her money for more important things) and with Marisol's family.  In total there was 10 of us.  I thought I would have to share my room with 2 kids so I was happy that they were too scared to stay with me.  So we ate, swam, watched some shows and ate some more.  It's an all-inclusive so what else is there to do? 

I do have photos.  Unfortunately they are NOT of the best quality...sigh

 The first show was GREASE.  The male lead was a really good dancer. 

 view from my balcony

 Now looking to my right

This meal was included too but you had to reserve the table at the specialty restaurant.  Really good brazilian food, so  A LOT of meat.  The wine wasn't watered down either

 Kinda of wanted to go parasailing, played volleyball instead.

  Would like to go back so let me know when you can come :D

Partying while Alma is away

With a title like that I know you'll be expecting something a little more wild than what is going to follow. I guess my wild days are in the past...more accurately, they completely passed me by. ANYWAY, while in service earlier in the week a little girl name Jadai (6 yrs old) made all of the arrangements so that she and her cousin could spend the night at my house. Not necessarily to spend time with me but to spend time with Taquito (my dog). I'm not offended, he's pretty cute. So I said they could spend the night last night. So what do you do with 6 and 8 yr old girls???





Putting rollers in our hair of course







Also in the dog's hair...he's so patient
We also watched Fuerza G (G-Force)
And played the online game....Beauty shop.

The main attraction: Sleeping with Taquito
I'm sure all the other girls in the hall will hear about this so expect to see more sleepover party pics :)

Don't you hate when that happens

Welcome to Paso Hondo 141 in Aguascalientes, Mexico. 

That is the address where Alma and I live and this the front "door" or porton as we like to say.  Our story begins right here where I was sweeping the front side walk.  This is one chore that I hate doing (Alma obviously does too) especially since we have a little stip of grass there (and there isn't much grass around here) the dogs love to come and do there business right there and I get to clean it up.  So I was recently sweeping the area when the wind took the door and closed it and, of course, it locked.  And don't you hate it when you forget to bring your keys with you?  So since I couldn't jimmy the lock and I didn't want to wait 5 hours for Alma to come home.  I asked the neighbor if I could get onto her roof and climb down into our property.  She is friendly so let me do just that.   There is just one problem....

I had to get my way from the top of that wall to the small wall where the plant on the left is located.  But I really didn't want to wait 5 hours outside. SOOO  Mission accomplished thanks in no small part to a nail that was conveniently stuck into the wall about 2 feet above and just to the right of the ledge.  Lesson learned.

Well, since I was out taking picures.  I thought I would take some more and show you my neighborhood.

Turning left from our place

lovely art work

This heads to a major roadway where we get the bus (camion) or taxi.

Behind this car....convenient dumping area for construction trash

More art

And the tour leads us back to our house.

Today was my laundry day

The latest completed project was laying down the concrete in garage area.

To the left of the "garage" is a room with it's own bath.  As is typical in most Mexican homes, it is waiting to be finished.  This is for Alma's parents for whenever they decide to come.

The future garden.  This is the before pic and hope to have the after pic soon!

So y'all come back now ya hear