Elvis? - Who is he?

Have you ever thought that someone would not know who Elvis is? Especiallly with how close we are to the states and all of the immigration between here and there. Well, so far in the area we live we have not found anyone who knows who he is. We met a little boy the other day named Elvis and they did not know. It is good to see that not all of our western culture makes it to other countries.

Yesterday we were invited to a birthday party at a neighboor house close to the clinic (where Elvis lives, but it is not Graceland!). It was a good break from moving and cleaning. This was a party for a 16 year old boy. This was the first really big party we have been to. For birthdays, the definition of a big party is to have a big church service, praising and worshiping God for the gift of a son or daughter and another year of life. As you can tell, teenagers here also get real excited....

This brings up the topic of a cultural lesson.... In this culture physical life and spiritual life are very intwined. Birthdays, successful business ventures, new add-ons to the house, etc. are always celebrated with a Thanksgiving worship service and meal. You also run into sayings like "primero Dios" (Lord willing) after promising to do something or be somewhere; and "gracias a Dios" (thanks to God) when you ask someone how they are and they say "Fine--thanks to God.

Today we "primero Dios" finish up setting up the clinic and then we have a health promoter class this afternoon followed by the arrival of the Health Talents board of directors who will be here through the weekend.

We have also included some other pictures - one of the clinic from the field, one of our health promoter, Gaspar, with a sheep that kept trying to say hi to him, one of the concrete drainage pipes we purchased for the road into the clinic and the community and one of Rick presenting a

Bible to Gaspar for all of his assistance in the completion of the clinic.

Feliz Dia!