Moves, Rains, Floods…(oh my)

We have three families that normally join us for Sunday morning Bible study and worship.  Two of those three moved their homes in the past couple days.

Lupe is a cousin of Emmanuel and Jason.  He finally was reunited with his wife and three children having not seen them since he left their home in the neighboring state of Michoacán back in May.  The third child was actually born in early August so he met his 3rd son when they arrived on Saturday.  His parents brought his wife and kids as well as whatever belongings would fit in the small pickup truck.

So, Lupe moved from the one-room apartment of Emmanuel and his family to his own one-room apartment in the same little boarding property.  It isn’t much room for a family of 5 but he makes less than $10 a day and the rent is about $100 a month.  We helped them with the deposit and part of the cost of the trip to get his family here as the family didn’t have enough to cover the trip since there isn’t any work in their home town due to the ongoing war and violence which has shut down much of the formal commerce.  When the harvest finally comes in, there should be a little more income for the communities in that region and for his family over there.

Jason and Kristin also have been in moving mode as they’ve been able to purchase a new house through a government program.  It’s a bit smaller than they are used to living in with only one bedroom, but they hope to be able to build an extra room onto it in the future.  Beth and I went over and helped them move their things to the new house which is just a few blocks from where they’ve been renting.  The carpenter has not finished the installation of their cupboards and closets and so they pretty much can’t put things away until that work is done, hopefully, later this week.  Today is a holiday (Mexico Independence Day) so despite the promises of the carpenter to be there working on it today, he wasn’t there by after 3 p.m. and it seemed obvious that he probably wasn’t going to show up today.

Praise God that while heavy rains were forecast for the day, it didn’t start to rain until about 30 minutes after we made our last trip.

Speaking of the rain, Mexico is undergoing a rare outpouring of rains that has reached historic proportions.  Over 40 people have lost their lives due to landslides and flooding.  I read on one news site that there are about a million people dislocated from their homes, mostly along both coasts.

I imagine you probably are aware of the flooding in Colorado and the images and accounts of loss of life and property are extraordinary.  You might not have heard about the rains and flooding in Mexico, but the rains should be continuing for a few more days along the coasts and in some interior areas

I read that 2/3 of the area of Mexico has been affected by the heavy rains brought on by Tropical Storm Manuel on the Pacific coast and Hurricane Ingrid on the Gulf coast.  Manuel has diminished to a low pressure and Ingrid has degraded to a depression and will dissipate soon.  However, the clouds and rains will continue for a few days.

We may not see the rain that weather.com is forecasting (since they haven’t been accurate the past few days), but that site is forecasting over an inch of rain here tonight, over two inches tomorrow, and another inch tomorrow night.  If their track record is any measure, I’d guess we’ll be fortunate to see a half inch by the end of the week.  However, we’re watching the news and keeping an eye on the weather.  That kind of rain could even cause our house to flood as we’re only about a block from the river, but we’re quite a few feet above the river banks.  Geometry class tomorrow is on hold until the morning when we’ll know what the weather really is like and if the highways are relatively safe for travel.

I meant to take a few pics of Jason and Kristin’s new house but we were too busy to remember to take any.  I don’t think they would have liked me posting pics of their house with all the stacks of things and boxes…it isn’t the way it will look when they finally have their storage space ready to use and can organize their house.  Maybe I’ll get some pics after they get settled in and have it looking good.

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