A question, a littl'un, and more...

Hello, all!

First, I'm frankly rather disappointed in all of you...not one wretched comment about the buzzard! Seriously, I've managed to accomplish something none of you could ever hope to attain...sure, you've probably hit one of the little sparrows that fly around back home (makes a nice little "ping" sound), or a rabbit (a pleasing "thump-bum") or even a raccoon ("whump"), but aside from deer, which are as common as rodents in IL and IN, there's no real adventure there! Please. Have you people no spirit for the truly exciting things in life?

I, on the other hand, have not only taken out occasional sparrows, rabbits, and one deer (actually, that one committed suicide, I think, by ramming it's head into my car), but have subsequently attained so much more...a duck, which was really gross (guacala, en espanol), and a buzzard, with a wingspan of at least 6 feet! We're talking serious carnage, with feathers, beak, blood, everything! I mean, a bird whose wings stretch out to 8 feet in length is enormous! What's more, those 4 foot wings (another foot for the body width makes at least 9 feet total) have incredible quantities of feathers. Of course, since I did my original estimates of length in meters, I have to allow for some approximation in the conversion calculations, so it was probably more like 9.5 or 10 feet in size, speaking truthfully and in all sincerity. Granted, I wasn't driving, but I did contribute significant moral support to the actual driver...

Secondly, I just so happened to encounter my first rattlesnake one evening, while walking with one of the boys to turn off an irrigator. Naturally, my keen eyes quickly picked up on a slight movement in the dense underbrush, whereupon I instantly saved the boy's life by shoving him to one side as the snake struck (with one hand) and with the other snatched the snake's head right out of the air with the other, clamping the mouth shut so fast it had no time to retract from it's murderous onslaught. At first, it appeared to be roughly 9 feet long, not counting the 1 ft. long rattle and 6 in. head, but on closer inspection, decided it to be much smaller, probably only about 8 feet long, with a girth of 12 inches. It was a Western Diamond-Backed rattlesnake, probably the most deadly and aggresive snake in the world, naturally.

Actually, it was about 2.5 feet long and had really cool skin (kind of loose and a little like chain mail armor, very different from the tight, smooth skin of a constrictor, like a boa or python). Based on a pamphlet I found, it really was a Western Diamond-Back, which are poisonous but not the worst kind. The kids immediately wanted to know if I planned to keep the rattle, which is apparently a very cool thing to have hanging in your room, so the snake lost his tail soon after his death to one of the boys. Also, in reality, I walked right past the thing, which was sitting out in the bare dirt under one of the lights, and didn't see a thing until Frankie pointed it out...at which point we proceeded to crush it's head with rocks. It was the fourth snake they found that day, but the other three were little guys (6 inches or less) and non-poisonous. Not sure what brought them all out, but the temperature was definitely cooling that week from the hot summer, so maybe that was it.

The temperature is great now, comfortable at night under the covers and nice and cool and dry during the day, so you have to wear a jacket in the morning and you can leave the door open all day, not many bugs, etc. Everything just smells really fresh.

There are some new pictures on photobucket, including San Jose, a little pueblo about 5 hours from Magdalena, where we have a sister church. We took some kids (Frankie, Fede, Gloria, Elizabeth, and Uriel) there with us (Bere, Pau, Joel and Kristi, and me) for a weekend of visiting and whatnot. We stayed with a church family, slept in, talked, read books, went to a lagoon in Obregon (second largest city in Sonora, probably about the size of Peoria or Fort Wayne)(a lake is a big deal in Sonora), ate coconut (nasty stuff), and ate in a restaurant with the family. Then, church on Sunday, where I got to share my testimony for the first time in Spanish to congregation of about 10-15 (God provided in the language department), etc.

The question for this entry (for details, look in my last posting) is "How do we present the gospel?" A followup question might be, "Are we actually doing it, or do I just talk a good game?" I'd love to hear from you by email (todd.stoller1@gmail.com) or comment to this blog. Your response will be kept private and not published.

Gloria is the nina this time, the youngest of 5 siblings (Alexei, Ramses (profiled last time), Nereida (also profiled before), Jose) and the youngest on campus. She's cute, which is her biggest downfall, because with all the kids, staff, and work teams that come down, she's basically a princess that could go for days without walking. I'm still not exactly sure how she ever learned! Naturally, she's very accustomed to attention, so she decides very capricously when and how you will recieve her favor...if she's not in the mood, or needs something, look out! Generally pretty cheerful, but also quite spoiled by all the willing hands (including mine...I can't help myself!). Pray that as she grows she has to do some things for herself, that she learns that Christ, not Gloria, is the center of the universe, and that she can become a pure and spotless lamb of God!

Keep praying for me as I make daily decisions that affect the lives of the kids, that I grow spiritually, that I continually step beyond my comfort zone to reach out and be a light, and for each of us (kids, staff, community) that God be our spiritual foundation, walls of protection, and roof over our heads in a wicked world (not that we be an isolated fortress in the world, but a city set on a hill that cannot be hid).

Gracias!

Todd