Plaza, Las Tunas, Cuba

Nothing spectacular to see in this plaza, but I was surprised to see the greenery and the statuary. In most smaller towns of Cuba one doesn't see much that's been painted and well kept up. We ate at a cafe just across the road from this plaza. I don't understand many Mexicans' fascination with Cuba. It's not like they've heard it once was.

Christmas in the Zocalo of Oaxaca

Those venders' balloons would make any plaza look festive. This picture is from a few years ago, about the day after Christmas. Oaxaca is a great city to visit, with the ruins of Monte Alban just outside of town and the great culinary experiences that await the traveler, like black mole for instance. Many years ago I had spent quite a few evenings sitting in this plaza listening to the local marimba music from the main kioso of the square.

Short Vacation

The wife and I went back to the States for our annual medical checkups. They turned out well, for which we thank God. But then the good part! We drove out to South Dakota to my home town of Glenham to do a little pheasant hunting. Marlene had given me a new shotgun, Browning Gold Hunter - 12 gauge, for Father's Day which I hadn't seen yet. It seemed to work real well. But the best part was that our two sons and their families joined us for the hunt too. What a blast. Even my oldest grandson, Jacob, got his share of birds. Now we're back in Puerto Rico for the rest of this week before heading back home to Mexico.

Mexico City Alameda

This is one of my favorite plazas in all of Mexico. It is also near the small hotel where we stay when we have to be in Mexico City. A city of 25 million people (estimates vary, some are higher), you don't often see horses and riders or horse-drawn carts like you do in many smaller towns in Mexico. These two are special mounted policemen.

Rain, and lots of it!

At the family retreat (see my LATTE post here) this weekend it rained every day, almost all day long. When we got up this morning my student, Eligio, called to say that the roads getting to his place were all flooded out, and that I should not try to come. We started watching the local news and found out that it had rained 11.85 inches here in Caguas in the last 24 hours, up to 18 inches in some other places. It seems as though Tropical Storm Noel brewed up while we weren't looking. But God is good, we are safe and our home is dry (except for one small leak in the living room that our landlord is working on fixing). Still no internet though, so I'm sitting at the mall using their free wifi service for now. (No, the rain had nothing to do with the internet outage, that started last Monday--a good four days before the rains started.

Wittenberg Platz

Last June we were able to visit the famous city where the great reformer, Martin Luther, lived and worked. This is the main square of town, in front of the Rathaus, with its requisite statue of the reformer.

The other bunch of grandkids

We haven't seen these guys since last Christmas, except for a very brief visit in Minnesota at their Grandpa Johnson's funeral in March. They are Larry M's five. God willing, we will see them again this year. The youngest is just over two years old, the oldest will be 12 in a month. I hope to get to go pheasant hunting with him and his dad in November. We are really proud of these guys, they are great young men. And fun to spend time with as well.

Granddaughters

Marlene took this picture of these little sweeties in July when she was able to visit our daughter Naomi in Portland, OR. They are two more of the grandkids we miss while we are traveling and living so far away. The youngest is Sydney. Maybe someday Catalina will get some front teeth. "All I want for Christmas is...."

Missionary hardships

I'm often asked what is the hardest thing about being a missionary, living in a foreign country and in a strange culture. My reply is always the same, "being far from family". That is especially true as our grandchildren are growing. (Now I understand better the hardship we caused for our own parents when we first went oversees thirty years ago.) Marlene got to visit our oldest son, Walter, and his family this summer. The picture is of their very special three-year-0ld twins, Wyatt and Abigail.

Zocalo in Puebla, Mexico

Another plaza picture. Just in case you haven't caught on from all the holiday ads beginning already, Christmas is only ten or eleven weeks away. We happened to be in Puebla last year just before Christmas and saw the main plaza looking festive. Poinsettias lined both the streets and the sidewalks

Cochem Platz

This past June we got to spend a few days along the Mosel River in Germany. The little town we stayed in was Cochem. This is the Cochem platz. Notice that the house in the center with the dark peak has bells in that area. Several times a day they play three or four songs with those bells, very sweet. I really like the look of the half-timbered buildings, traditional for many parts of Germany (and Alsace in France). (Click on the picture to see it enlarged.)

Rincon, Puerto Rico

This is where we saw the man-of-war bird in the picture below. A neat little "corner" of the island, on the western-most tip. The place is known for its surfing opportunities. While we were there the surf was pretty quiet, great for relaxing swims. We enjoyed a deck right on the beach and had a fun weekend.

Weekend hint

Where were we last weekend? This photo will provide a hint. It's a frigate bird displaying. First time I ever saw any thing like that, and I even had my camera on me!

Another plaza

This one is in Ponce, Puerto Rico. Ponce is the second largest city in Puerto Rico, lying on the southern coast of the island. The area used to be famous for the sugar cane and, consequently, rum (Don Q), it produced. Now they have to import the molasses to make the rum. Go figure.

Zocalo, Place or Plaza

While we are traveling we get to see a lot of different cities. In many parts of the world each city has its main square, in Latin America it's called a plaza (Alameda and Zocalo are also popular names for these public squares). I thought it might be fun to show you some of the plazas we have seen. The night picture is the Zocalo in Puebla, Mexico. The other one is from France, the Place de la Comedie in Montpellier. Check back for others coming soon.

Cabrito, uuumm good!

This is one of the things that I miss when we are away from home in Mexico. Baby goat cooked over an open fire. Delicioso!

Fellow servants

One of the great things about having to travel so much is getting to work with many great people, others of our Savior's servants. This is missionary Mike Hartman, field counselor for our mission work in Mexico. Good friend, perceptive counselor to the Mexican national church and its pastors, and a good listener when needed. His wife, Rachel, does a great blog on life and mission work in Mexico which you can see here. Their six-months-old daughter also happens to be our godchild, Trinity Rose.

Obstacles to preaching

There are occasional unexpected obstacles when I preach in a mission chapel, this one in Humacao, Puerto Rico.

Puerto Rico

We arrived in Puerto Rico a week ago and have been busy getting on with the teaching and getting settled in to the Martens' apartment (Thanks Ralph and Roxy). Today I had my first day off so we decided to take a drive and see some of the island. We drove west from Caguas up into the central mountains. Very narrow roads, closely hemmed in by the verdant vegetation including lots of bamboo, but stunning vistas when we finally got to the top. We found this little road-side restaurant and had some mofongo (fried plantains chopped up with cracklins). It was a fun excursion and was Marlene's first time to get away from the house except for a couple of grocery trips. Maybe next time we'll try to get to the coast somewhere.

Relaxation

Here you see Terry, Marlene's brother, and his wife Cheryl, together with Marlene. They were excellent hosts while we visited New Hampshire before going to the church's New England family retreat. They showed us rural NH with its trees (just beginning to change color), rivers and rocks. We also got to see the beach before we drove up to Maine for a fantastic lobster dinner.

Fun old hobby

I even had time to get back to an old hobby, wine making. This latest batch I bottled just before we started our trip. Elderberry wine, made from dried elderberries plus a few raisins to give it a little more body. It is delicious, my compadre missionary in Torreon agrees. It tastes like a cross between a good port and a madeira. I will be trying more of this as soon as we get back in December.

Al fin

Well, at last! It took me over a year, but it's finally done. We installed the fireplace last fall and began the entertainment center at the same time. I sure didn't expect it to take so long. Too much on my plate, I guess.

Still not too quiet.

One would think that after a trip of 11 days teaching in Colombia that one's life would quiet down just a little. But not so. Now we're busy getting ready for our next trip. Both Marlene and I will be presenting at the New England family Labor Day retreat in Massachusetts. From there we go to Chicago for a Latin American Missionary Conference and from there to spend three months in Puerto Rico. So I have a few studies to prepare and course material to get ready.
My trip to Colombia was a real treat. Two weekends in Bogota and the intervening week in Medellin. You can see from the pictures how many students we have in both cities. I also got to see one of my old members in Medellin, Ofelia. She was in the very first group of students that I confirmed in Medellin. It was a treat to visit with her and later with two of her daughters, one of whom I also confirmed--with my daughter Naomi--our last year there.

Not again!

The last three times that Marlene has visited the States, her flight back here to Torreón has been canceled and she has had to come back on the next day. Last night I got a call from American Airlines telling us that one of her flights today was canceled. Fortunately, she was able to get all her flights rebooked for tomorrow. And all three times it was the same airline!
The worst part of the deal is that tomorrow I have to go to Cuidad Juárez, Chihuahua for the annual church convention of the Iglesia Evangélica Luterana Confesional, so we won’t see each other till Saturday, God willing. It will have been twenty-six days since I’ve seen her. Even after 41 years of marriage, I still miss her when we are apart that long.

Streets of Wittenberg

Preeminent confessional Lutheran theological educators from five continents walking from the Castle Church in Wittenberg down the street to Luther's home. After singing "A Might Fortress" in the Castle Church we saw the city church where Luther preached and the Augustinian monestery that was Luther's home. What a way to make the Reformation history come alive. We also say the Wittenberg University where Luther was a professor of theology and the Bible. You could almost hear him condemning the practice of indulgences to buy forgiveness, and preaching the gospel message of free savation in the work of Christ. The just shall live by faith.

Pastor Nidaira, our Japanese colleague and brother, stands in front of the pulpit of the City Church from which Luther often preached.

Munich time

When I was just out of seminary I built a large grandfathers clock just over 7 feet tall, and I thought that was a large one. This one is in the Frauenkirche in Munich, just off to the side behind the main altar. It must be at least three times taller than mine.
One interesting thing we noticed on our trip is that many public buildings in Germany have clocks in their towers. But one difference from the tower clocks in Latin America, you can tell time by the clocks in Germany, they're running.

Wartburg Castle

This was well worth the long long stair climb. It's where Luther spent nearly a year in hiding and translated the New Testament into German.

Ahhhhh, Munich

Prost in Dresden

Apparently Saxony is historically where the best bratwurst comes from. Incidently, Thuringia formerly was part of Saxony. On the west side of Germany we just about couldn't find brats, only knackwurst, like a big hotdog. Saxony also produces some excellent pilsener.

Attack swan

A fun moment that we witnessed at the Englisch Garten in Munich.

Batch'n it

Back home after three weeks on the road in Germany and Wisconsin. Marlene went on to Oregon to visit the Naomi and Rafa so I'm on my own for a few weeks. We had a great time in Europe. We spent a couple of days in Dresden before going to Leipzig for a week-long conference of confessional Lutheran seminary heads from around the world: wonderful fellowship and some great sharing. Then we visited Munich for a couple of days and finished up with a few days at Cochem on the Mosel River.