The Watermelon House

It is painted bright green and pink, true.  But it is pretty much the ideal house in Huejotzingo, at least until God provides the money to buy land and build our own home.  We moved in on Friday, taking round trips from Puebla to Huejotzingo, first transporting plants, a few boxes, and small furniture.  The church Dios es Amor had loaned us the large van, and that was a blessing, because the two people who had said they would help us move and had trucks couldn't help at the last minute.  

Abraham, Marina, and Isai
carefully maneuvering a tree

Instead, a single mother and her pre-teen son helped us with last minute packing and hauling.  They went with us on the first trip to Huejotzingo.  My brother-in-law had arrived to help when we returned from there, and so Marina stayed with me at the apartment in Puebla to continue with packing and some cleaning, while her son Isai, and Abraham and my brother-in-law Ricardo loaded and transported heavier furniture.  Marina had to leave while the guys were still gone, so I continued on my own for awhile until there was nothing more to do.  It was getting dark when the three returned, this time with another seminary student as reinforcements.

We transported everything except the fridge and a large desk/book shelf on the last trip out.  We had to hurry to unload everything into the house, because both Ricardo and Dan had to catch buses home. 

Abraham and I returned to our new home, arriving at 11:30.  We then had to park the 15-person van in the patio, a space only barely large enough.  Abraham directed, and I gingerly pulled the van in, right up to the kitchen wall.  

As we prepared for bed, we had our first surprise.  There was no water in the house.  The good thing is, the house does have a cistern, although the water had been in it undisturbed for about 6 months.  The outside faucet also had a thin trickle of water, so we managed.

The gas pipe of our stove had been damaged in the move, and we also hadn't bought a tank yet, so we made do with an electric burner the next morning.  It was difficult to find anything, and everything was scattered all over.  We didn't spend long working on the house on Saturday, because we had been invited to a quinceaños in the early afternoon, and also Abraham was scheduled to preach on Sunday at Dios es Amor.

On Sunday, after the kids' group at Huejotzingo, Six returned to the house with us to spend the night.  At one point we had three lights on and were heating cistern water to bathe with on the electric burner.  The power drain proved too much for the circuits, and a fuse blew.  Oh well, it was late anyway and time to go to bed.  However, not having electricity was difficult the next morning, because we had to get up at 5:50 to take the bus to Puebla on time for work at 8.

With the help of one candle and dim light from the street, we did manage to get ourselves together and out the door.  We even arrived on time for classes at Puebla Christian School.

By the time we returned home on Monday afternoon, our neighbors who are also basically the landlords (the real owners are in the States), were busily trying to get a pump working to empty the stale water out of the cistern.  They finally had to call a plumber, and he was able to make the pump work.  Once the water was almost drained, the teenaged boy climbed into the cistern to scrub it with a stiff broom and soap while his younger brother hauled out buckets of soapy water.  

While the boys worked at cleaning, Abraham and I worked at setting up the stove with the new pipe and gas tank.  That is, I handed Abraham tools, while he did the work.  What with the stove fixed and working and the fridge delivered to the house by a friend, and the cistern clean and filling, late Monday evening had a much brighter outlook than the weekend had.

There were numerous blessings, even in the weekend chaos.  A friend from church gave Abraham money so we could eat out Sunday night.  A friend from another church was willing to pass by the apartment for the fridge and desk/shelves and then drove us home.  I "happened" to find a candle while rooting through boxes earlier in the evening on Sunday and had lit it in the bathroom while I bathed.  Thus there was at least that light available when the electricity went out.  The list goes on.

Thank you all for your prayers.  I'm sure they brought about the blessings of the weekend.  Please keep them coming.