Paul Alton MBA

2025 has been a good year for us. We hope it has been for you, too

We started January in Harlingen, Texas helping at Way of the Cross. During the month we travelled with them to Guatemala to help bring a mothballed kids’ camp back into service as a missionary training facility. We were kept busy running new pipes and unplugging old pipes of a system that had been down for seven years.

February found us back in Harlingen with a few side trips to Houston to see family. In March we headed north in a roundabout way through Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Tennessee, Kentucky, etc. April and May, Paul worked at a turnaround at a refinery near Edmonton. First time working night shift in over a decade. It was in some ways better than day shift. It helped for the drive home to have a car that stays in the lane by itself and stops if the vehicle in front stops.

The most notable event in June was a package tour of Japan. July, we spent at home until leaving for another turnaround near Edmonton that began early in August, ran through September into October. November had us preparing to go and going south to Harlingen and Way of the Cross again.

As you could guess from the Jingle Y’all picture we are in Texas for December. I’ll try to keep you updated as the month goes on.

Oscar Brooks spoke in chapel. The message discussed how God travels. He is not constrained by geography or time as we are. Oscar began in Habakkuk 3, with side trips to Deuteronomy 33 and Judges 5 on his way back to Habakkuk. “The true sign you have interacted with God is you have changed. You can be where He went by or you can be where He is going.”

After chapel Byron and went into the warehouse briefly. A forklift wouldn’t start. It had a leaking propane hose. Byron went to get a replacement hose made. I went to the training center, looked at some plumbing issues in the director’s house and went to Home Depot to buy parts. Arriving back at the training center at same time as Byron. We changed a bathroom sink faucet. Then Byron worked on the tub drain and I installed a new passage set on a bedroom door.

We changed three doorknobs in another staff house and changed three doorknobs and locks on a dorm and the main building. I picked up Juanita who was working in the office at the warehouse. We went to Sam’s and HEB for steps and supplies. On the way back from there we refilled some water jugs and did a bit more shopping at a Dollar General.

Oscar spoke today in chapel starting with Jeremiah 48:21. This was a message of judgement, judgement on the Moabites.

Jeremiah was a judgement prophet. Ezekial as well. Both suffered under the judgement. Jeremiah, the weeping prophet. Nobody liked him. Even his own family. Ezekial was told he was being sent to spend his whole life with no results. Nobody will change.

Moab was the illegitimate son of Lot. The result of incest. Beth-Gamul, the town where the people never got away from their mother’s milk. The time is coming for those who never grew up. Still struggling as children. We have to grow. Childhood has it’s time. At some point we have to grow beyond it. If we were not meant to grow the whole Bible could be Matthew 3:16 not 66 books.

Byron and I showed up to do the locks and kitchen sink drain at a staff house. It was locked, nobody at home. I texted the person and we moved to the item on our list, work on toilet fill valve. “Not a good time” to do that job. We moved on to one of the ladies’ showers in the training center main building. It was beyond a simple cartridge change out. We made list of parts and tools to take it to the next step. Off to Home Depot, Harbor Freight and Lowes. We came back and cut the hole around valve bigger. Removed the old valve and installed a new valve through the big hole in the wall. We cut a hole for the valve in a new tile we had purchased. After the valve was installed to the piping, we mounted the valve on the new tile and glued the new tile to the surface of the existing tiles on the wall. We left it secured in place by duct tape and left pipe and tile glue to set.

I drove to the warehouse to get Juanita.

In chapel today, Oscar spoke about fleeing toward destruction. He began with Isaiah 15:5 a prophecy about Moab (the son of Lot through incest) running to a place called Zoar. Lot fled from Sodom to insignificant Zoar rather than to the mountain. Learn to run to the Master in your brokenness, your struggle.

We are members of a group called SOWERS who volunteer at various ministries. WOTC was a SOWER project. It is no longer a registered project, but we still show up and help here. SOWERS work a four-day week. This year we said that is what we would be doing as well. The weekly Saturday chores of laundromat, tank dumping and keyboard catching up are now planned for Fridays.

Here it is the first Friday. The golf cart parts came in yesterday afternoon. I feel curious and responsible to be involved. Byron sure doesn’t need my help to replace the golf cart controller, but we showed up in chapel and I helped a bit with the controller installation afterward.

The golf cart ran well. Better than before it quit working. I took some measurements of a convection oven frame built last winter. We left by 9:30. I dropped Juanita at the laundromat, came home, dumped the tanks, made a note to buy a new sewer hose (slight leak) and grouted around the tile we installed in the shower yesterday. Turned on the water and tested the valve. The neighbours saw me out and about and asked me to look at some water dripping from their fifth wheel trailer. I made an incorrect diagnosis and added the needed part to my errand list. Time to pick Juanita up.

There was a package at the warehouse to pick up. Lunchtime. We went to a Mexican restaurant we had frequented last winter for some lengua y salsa (beef tongue in sauce). Yum! Apparently, the restaurant was closed for a couple of months this year. ICE showed up and took away all but one employee and the owner. After a couple of months incarceration, the owner proved his right to be in the country and they released him. His wife and the others went home to Mexico.

We picked up new library cards and came home to the training center. I took a picture of the shower valve install, took measurements of the oven stand here and drew up a cut list for a narrow version to be used by somebody with an oven but less space. At 2:30 I started keyboarding on the blog. The vision of starting Friday mornings with coffee and keyboard while Juanita drove off to the laundromat seems to be off to a slow start. Better luck next time. Thank you for playing.

Up early. It was raining. It stopped raining but was cool out. We had planned on going to the beach, but it’s not a beach day. Might as well keyboard. I keyboarded until 11:30 when we went to Sam’s Club. We got in some steps and samples, had a slice of pizza each and visited with a local couple we shared a table with. Bought some groceries and headed home for another hour of keyboarding before going to San Benito Walmart to buy a sewer hose and get in some more steps. Then Brownsville Sam’s and Harbor Freight. We stopped at an AT&T store to recharge Juanita’s TX cell phone. I signed in on the tablet near the door to join the queue for service but added $’s with my iPhone while waiting in the virtual line. Sent a text to cancel the appointment.

Came home to finish the last two days of November narrative from my notes. Created and published the November update page sans pics.

Staff meetings and chapel start at 7:30 on Monday. I managed to get most of the pictures onto the November page and published before it was time to leave for there.

Oscar Brooks spoke beginning with Joshua 10:17. Joshua doesn’t stop to celebrate the capture of the five kings, he finishes the job, running after the enemy before they get to their walled cities.

To preachers - avoid rabbit chasing.

To everyone - finish the task God gave you.

After chapel Juanita went to work in the office on some things that are needed in Mexico for an upcoming outreach.  I headed out to the training center and started working on replacing a couple of doorknobs in a staff house. Byron joined me part way through then we worked on a sink drain with no success. We had bought new parts but needed a different style of one of them. That went on the list, and the bucket went back under the drain. We carried on to another unit, replaced a toilet fill valve and removed a tub spout with a built-in diverter valve. A new diverter valve was added to the list. Then we climbed onto the roof of the training center. There is some wall repair work needed, but there is no point in starting that until the leak that caused the damage is fixed. I stood on the roof with a garden hose while Byron crawled around in the attic.

The roof is not leaking. A scupper that attaches to a downspout is leaking. It is leaking into a hole in the stucco on the wall behind it. I held the ladder while Byron scraped and brushed the metal and left it to dry out for a repair. The stuff we needed for that got added to the list. We headed to the warehouse in separate vehicles. I ate lunch with Juanita then left with Byron to shop on our way back to the training center. The car stayed at the warehouse until Juanita used it to come home.

Back at the training center, Byron and I got the staff house shower valve and the sink drains working properly and called it a day. I did a bit more on a water leak problem the neighbor has with their fifth wheel. After a bit of a visit and a break, Juanita and I went to HEB and Sam’s to pick up a few items. Just going to those two places put me over the 10,000-step goal for the day (day 925).

When we got back, we had supper. After supper I started work on the December blog.

In chapel Oscar began his message in 1 Samuel on the theme of tested and failed.  You have to eliminate from your life the systems that violate the laws of God. Your culture is not the standard. The Bible is the standard.

Byron was busy talking to the police about an overnight break-in at the warehouse where a bunch of tools had been stolen. Juanita and I drove out to the training center with a side trip to the staff motel to do a quick reccy of the washer/drier situation. Surrounded by insurmountable opportunity.

Most of the washers have problems. Two out of the three driers don’t put out heat. Somebody left a fourth dryer on its back on the clothes folding table. It apparently works but makes “a funny noise”. I’m not laughing.

Enough of that for one day.

We proceeded to the TC where we replaced light bulbs (me) and washed the light fixture covers (Juanita). Byron texted me that he was working on the scupper. I went and held the ladder while he applied butyl tape and sealants. Then we changed the faucets in the men’s washroom and removed the rust stains in the related sinks. We hooked up the pump in a staff fifth wheel and drained the unused freshwater tank that had filled up and overflowed into the fifth wheel trailer basement. We disconnected the piping yesterday so there can not be a repeat performance, but there was still a full tank of water until we pumped it. Byron and I installed a new lamp post on the Cross walkway.

Juanita and I went back to the warehouse and picked up some Amazon parcels then went to HEB and Sam’s for a few things including the last of the needed steps. Then a quiet evening looking at possible Nicaraguan hotels for when our daughter and son-in-law will be there in February.

Oscar spoke, pray before you need, leading off from 1 Samuel 14. Johnathan was the friend of David. There was an age difference. Johnathan was 40 and David was a boy, yet their friendship worked. Johnathan had a relationship with God before David.

Johnathan goes away without his father’s knowledge to battle the Philistines. The battle breaks out.
Saul is unaware. It is a time for action. Saul starts a process. He is not prayed up. Gets no answer.
There is the example in the New Testament of the demon that only comes out with prayer and fasting. The prayer and fasting has to be done before you need it. If you need God only for emergencies there will be a time when He isn’t there for you because you don’t have a relationship with Him. Be prepared. There are many instances of things where you are going to need God’s presence. Be prepared now.

Byron and I went to the staff motel. Juanita took the car to meet with a friend who needed her. We took apart three of four clothes driers and ordered the needed parts. After lunch at the training center we went through the hardware for the bunk beds and realized there were only a few barrel bolts. We will need 240. Back at the warehouse we found and counted 234. Close enough for now. There are probably a couple hiding in the frames and there is a plan B using lag screws. That took us to quitting time. Byron left.

Juanita and I hung around the warehouse waiting for an Amazon package. According to the tracking data there is one package out for delivery and another coming tomorrow. I hadn’t walked much so far today so walked the perimeter of the yard until the driver showed up. She gave me two packages and said they were both for me. I ripped open one. Not my package. Oops. I ripped open the other. Tomorrow’s shipment. Shrug.

Steps finished I started working on booking our trip to Nicaragua. Since I would be paying with a Canadian credit card the United app shunted me to the United.com site. It carried the flight info over. Then proceeded to get difficult. Losing everything already entered. Then, when I started over, stalling when I went to pay. In and out of the web site a few times and coming back to nothing and starting over and then coming back to the trip being there but priced in British pounds. Then out again and coming back to find two trips, both in British pounds. An AI chat bot finally let me chat with a human who fixed things. I booked and paid. It offered trip insurance and gave me a price, but when I completed the transaction it didn’t charge for the insurance and said it couldn’t right now but try later. I discovered there is no way to try later. Well, I saved $140 on insurance at the risk of $1,400. Life goes on.

We came home. Supper finished I did a doc upload of passports. United loses some of our information between trips. Shrug again. I booked some hotels in Nicaragua in February, showered, did some more keyboarding and went to bed.

Up latish (6:53). After breakfast Juanita headed to the laundromat. There is a washer drier combo in our unit, but we are always averse to using borrowed machinery and incurring the potential repair thereof if it breaks. Also, it is just easier to go to a laundromat and take up as many machines as needed to everything in one cycle of washers and one cycle of driers. Reading can be done anywhere.

I keyboarded and got mostly caught up with immediate keyboard tasks. The tanks got dumped. No leaks this week. Must be doing something right.

When Juanita got home, we caught up on things we had learned while apart. We listened on Facebook to Oscar’s message that we missed by having a day off. He began in Genesis and talked about “the place” where you are with God. Live the rest of your life as a believer in the place with God.

I puttered at the keyboard until just before lunch then went for a walk and kibitzed with Byron and his son, Toby, who were carrying on assembling bunk beds. After lunch, adding pictures to the web site took most of the afternoon. We went to Dollar General for steps and supplies, to HEB for steps and groceries, to Sam’s for gift cards and Logan’s Roadhouse to use most of one of the gift cards on some steak and chicken.

On the way through HEB I noticed a product which set me to wondering if there is a home for battered shrimp. Maybe I’ll ask Grok. Or maybe some things should remain a mystery.

When the fog lifts we plan to drive out to Boca Chica, admire Star Base and walk on the beach. I guess in Texan that would be “fixin’ to”

The fog showed signs of lifting. I wiped down the car windows. We left for Sam’s to buy gas at a low price, punched Starbase into Google Maps and started driving. We had planned to stop at a Whataburger for one of their splendiferous cinnamon buns. Mr. Google took us on a toll road around most of Brownsville and placed us on the highway out of Brownsville past any Whataburger, but right next to a Laredo Taco Company inside a Stripes store. Close enough. We dined on egg, bacon and refried bean breakfast tacos.

As we got close to the end of the bypass around Brownsville we started seeing more and more Cyber Trucks. On the edge of the city, we passed a park and Ride full of Cyber Trucks and a few strays. There were hordes more parked and driving around Star Base. I pondered if this was a variant of the founder of a former employer telling employees if they didn’t cash their first pay cheque at the company store, they wouldn’t get a second. Grok says there is no evidence of special employee discounts. Cyber Trucks are the standard fleet vehicle at Space-X, Star Link and the Boring Company.

On the way to Star Base, somebody has a couple of billboards with unflattering portraits of Elon. I showed them in the February blog. This year they have added a giant bust of Elon. I can’t tell if they are Elon haters or Elon fans with questionable artistic execution.

The ongoing highway work between Brownsville and Star Base seems to have removed the immigration stop to get back to the city. I wonder if this is permanent or temporary.

Starbase has changed a lot even since last year. More on that below.

We walked the beach north for almost an hour. There was still limited visibility. We far enough to vaguely make out a large white building across on South Padre Island. On a clear day I guess you could see it clearly. We didn’t make it as far as where the beach turns the corner to the bay. Too far for today, plus the overcast was moving back in and the sky was spitting a bit. One year we walked all the way south on the beach to the Rio Grande River mouth and chatted to the border guard watching the Mexicans across the river.

We walked back to the car and drove into Brownsville, parked in a Whataburger parking lot and discussed why we were even there. Sticky buns didn’t seem appealing at this time of day. A burger combo each would be more food than we wanted. We drove to the Brownsville Sam’s Club and had a couple of hot dog combos. They have stupidly combined the Scan & Go lines with the cash register lines. If you buy the food with Scan & Go at a sanely run Sam’s Club there is hardly any wait. Mixing the two lines makes it Scan & Wait. You do avoid the ordering line but wait for your food in the combined line longer than it takes to eat your food.

We checked the place for samples (not many today) and drove to the Sam’s Club in Harlingen to buy salad and a couple of frozen yogurts. The lines are separate there. Hardly any wait.

The car had salt and sand on the sides even though we hadn’t driven on the beach. I looked for touchless car washes in Google Maps. There was one right there in the Sam’s parking lot. It wasn’t touchless. A chain drags your car through the wash while big scary brushes attack the vehicle and grind any sand into the finish. People subscribe to these things and go through many times a month! I had an awful time getting the car into Neutral. It wanted to go into Drive or Park but not Neutral. Eventually the confused old guy got it right (it’s easy once you know how) and we went into the scary tunnel of flailing objects trying to rip mirrors and accessories off the car.

We adjusted the battered mirrors and drove home where I got out and checked to see if anything was missing. Nothing was.

A relaxing evening ensued.

We passed through the Rio Grande Valley in 2005 on our way south to Oaxaca, spending one night at Valley Baptist Retreat before crossing into Mexico. We crossed the border at Pharr on our way out of Mexico in the spring of 2006. We came back to the Valley to help as SOWERS at the Way of the Cross in December 2006. We have returned for numerous extended stays since then. On one of our stays, we drove out to Boca Chica Beach and even drove through the sad, dusty one-street subdivision of Boca Chica. Seemed like it belonged in the Twilight Zone. In January 2019 we drove to the beach and stumbled across the fledging Space-X facility now known as Starbase. Most years outside of the Great Covid Intrusion into our lives, we have been back to see what has changed since our last visit. You saw some pictures of Starbase today. Below are some from 2019 with three side by side comparisons.

Up early, posted the pictures and narrative about yesterday. Cut hair, showered and got ready for church. At church they played the weekly update video before the song service.

Oscar’s message in chapel was on the mountain of the Spy or the Watchman. He began in Numbers 23:13 where Moabite King Balak is ordering the prophet Balaam to curse the people of God building altars, in this case, on Mount Pisgah. Mount Pisgah overlooked the promised land. It is where Moses in Deuteronomy 34:1 looked out over the Promised Land he could not enter. Moses was a watchman looking to the future and wishing blessings on the people despite their flaws. Balak is a spy looking down at the failures of the people to use against them. You want to be a Watchman, not A Spy.

After chapel Juanita worked on flyers to be handed out in Mexico advertising the Big Feed event between Christmas and New Years. Byron worked on a plan to deal with an influx of freight later this week. I took new padlocks and replaced old ones on a number od doors and gates on the warehouse and its environs. Doing this accorded for most of the steps needed to reach 10,000 today. Then Byron and I made some modifications where the new locks didn’t initially fit the hasps.

After lunch I met with Byron at the staff motel. We got one more clothes drier up and running. A 100% improvement over having just one working when we started. We made progress on further troubleshooting the remaining two and started troubleshooting the washing machines.

Back home for a shower and booking some future stuff. No need for supplemental walking today.

After dropping Juanita at the warehouse, I went to a walk-in clinic to be there when it opened at eight. I was the second through the door and into the waiting room. Except for the computers, sign in with a tablet and payment by Apple Pay, the clinic process would have been familiar to my 1950’s self. The annual Driver’s License medical was finished by ten. They call them waiting rooms for a reason.

Meanwhile, back at chapel, Oscar delivered a message on heroes of emotion versus heroes of action/;2019.

Juanita and I went to the Training Center and assembled bunk beds with Byron. We worked through lunch to finish assembling them. A few more dowels are needed to finish stacking the last two pairs together. Ladders will come later once the floors are cleaned and the bunks are in their final positions.

I had sat on the floor during much of assembly. My clothes were ready for the laundry bag. Went home, stripped down, put clothes straight into laundry bag and took a shower. No longer feeling grubby I ate the salad from the deferred lunch.

We went to Sam’s for steps, samples and salad fixings. Oh. And eggs. On the way home we filled some water jugs. The water out of the taps is safe to drink but nasty tasting.

Juanita woke with a cold this morning. I had a tiny cut in my hand from two days ago which was angry looking. On the way to chapel we picked up some peroxide and some Sudafed.

Oscar’s topic in chapel today began in Jude 1:10-13 There are great battles as to who God is and how He wants us to serve Him. “Clouds without water”

2 Peter 2:15… The same people mentioned in  Jude and 2 Peter. “Wells without water…”

Proverbs 25:14 “Clouds and wind that bring no rain”. In the area where Oscar grew up there often was thunder and lightning but no rain. When he graduated from Bible College all his classmates were wondering which of them would be the next Billy Graham or David Wilkerson. Some did well but some were clouds without rain. Don’t leave an epitaph that reads “here lies a cloud without rain”

A child that dies is tragic. Even more tragic is someone who had all this promise and never did it. A lot of people are good at talking, We are called to be a “servant of all”. How can you be a narcissist servant? Leave the ground at least a little wet.

Juanita helped pitch in with most everybody else, with a one hour blitz cleaning of an area of the warehouse to receive some new freight. I eventually joined the effort after visiting a bit with Oscar. We went to the staff motel by way of Harbor freight to pick up a drop cloth to cover the piano where I plan to be working next week. Byron was already at work with the dryer vents. I helped until we were done and it was lunch time. After lunch we stacked the last two bunk beds at the training center then moved the extra pieces outside the dorm room to go back to the warehouse. We shuffled th bunk beds around so we could sweep and sanitize the floor. All done except the ladders.

Tomorrow, we plan to head to Houston to visit with family a bit. Tonight, we attended a Candlelight performance of Vivaldi’s Four Seasons Concerto by a string quartet in the Historic Alonso Building in Brownsville. Paranoid about parking we were early enough to be first in line. We visited with a couple who were second. He is equally anal about promptness. First inside when the doors opened. We had lots of time to look around as the line built behind the. The venue’s “new system” couldn’t scan the QR codes on my phone. They eventually resorted to looking up my name ona list and scratching it off.

If Vivaldi is not be your cup of tea, there are Candlelight events all over the world with music for every taste. In this venue the second concert tonight was of Christmas music. Next month, Bad Bunny. The quartet lead did conjecture whether Bad Bunny would still be remembered 300 years from now as Vivaldi is remembered from 300 years ago.

Neither of us got much sleep last night. The couple in the room next door decided to discuss their marriage differences at length and volume until after 3 am.

At breakfast the manager was visiting with the guests. He asked us how our stay was going. Juanita said, “not too well” and explained the noisy neighbours. I guess it wasn’t the first time. They are long term guests for the last nine months. He moved us to a quiet upgraded room far from the quarrelsome couple.

After the move I went for a thirty-minute walk in the neighbourhood while Juanita rested. She was feeling a bit under the weather on top of lack of sleep. I took pictures of a few of the brightly painted fibreglass pelicans that populate Seabrook, Texas.

We picked up Juanita’s sister, Ninabeth, and went for a drive. First stop was at Froberg Farms. While volunteering near there one February, Juanita and some other SOWER ladies picked strawberries in their U-Pick patch. There is no U-Pick happening in December, but we checked out their vegetable market. I fondly remember their individual fried pies from a previous visit. They still sell them but none of us were up to that much sweetness and fat this morning. We did buy a couple of peanut butter cookies in their bakery and a basket of white strawberries grown on the farm. Pale but tasty.

After a visit to the Sea Center in Lake Jackson we headed to Freeport in search of a tree that was full of little green parrots another time we visited the area. The old timers at the Girouard’s General Store in Freeport knew all about the tree. However, apparently, all the parrots have flown that roost. The staff knew of a few good restaurants when queried. We chose the Picket Fence Two from the three they mentioned. Good choice. If you’re in Freeport it’s worth a visit. We had a couple of taco salads, a gyro and a side of fried okra.

We drove Ninabeth the long way home along the coast to Galveston before turning inland after stopping at a McD’s for iced coffees. I think they picked the coffee beans, processed them, roasted them, aged them, ground them, brewed and cooled the coffee while we waited. It looks like they game their KPI’s by moving your order to “serving” status looooong before you see it.

After dropping Ninabeth at her home we filled up with gas at Sam’s for $US 2.159 per USG (the equivalent of $CDN 0.804 a litre). We visited with Juanita’s niece Karen and her daughter Kara before heading to the Home Depot in Kemah.

Every Saturday evening in fine weather people proud of their classic or custom cars would show up to display their prides and joys. Last spring when we went there were no cars. I surmised Covid had done it in. I asked Grok today and it assured me it was still a happening thing, so we tried again tonight. Nope. Grok is not always right. A three-year employee at Home Depot said he hadn’t heard of anything like that. Another older employee said they were kicked off the lot because they had gotten rowdy and left beer cans laying around. It wasn’t Covid but another form of stupidity.

We had a good night’s sleep. No noisy neighbours last night.

At breakfast yesterday and today I had handed out curved illusion tracts. This morning, we ended up sitting with another couple that had received the tracts yesterday. Today we had a good visit with them. They have retired to Seguin, Texas and come to Seabrook to visit their children. He spent twenty-five years with a railway, took a package after a merger, went to seminary and has been in ministry ever since, mostly education oriented. One of the things they talked about was going to Yakutsk, Siberia on a mission trip. Yakutsk makes Meadow Lake, Saskatchewan sound balmy.

We walked through a nearby neighbourhood and a marina before getting on the road about ten to take the relaxed route back to Harlingen. At Brazos Bend State Park, we looked for and found alligators as we hiked around the 40 Acre Lake. The park was busy. My pocket was empty of curved illusion tracts by the time we got back to the car. The daily 10k steps were met before we were halfway around the lake.

We asked Mr. Google to direct us to a Tex-Mex restaurant in West Columbia but cut that trip short when we saw a Laredo Taco Company location a few miles before we got to the more formal restaurant. More than enough food and drink for us for a fraction of the cost. Probably quicker, too.

We turned off the freeway to the highway to home for now just after six. The dash info said we only had 54 miles left in the tank, so we stopped for gas at the Love’s station on the corner. The Valero station has more pumps and almost the same price for gas but seem to have some payment system issues. It declined three different cards on me the other night at two pumps before I gave up and drove across the street to line up at the Love’s.

It is a zoo.

They have a row of single pumps and short hoses so you have to park with the fuel fill door on the side closest to the pump. People come into the pumps from either direction. It takes a while to find a vehicle facing the way you want to go. If you are facing a vehicle you have to give it enough room to get away from the pump. While it pulls out somebody shows up and pulls in behind it. Meanwhile people are failing to buy gas across the street. They try two or three pumps then drive over to Love’s to join the chaos.

Got home closer to seven, the fridge had shut itself off. Couldn’t have been off too long. Things were mostly still cold. Recycling the breaker fixed that for now. I turned on the propane and water. Time to veg. It’s been a long day.

Arnold spoke at chapel reflecting on how good God has been to us and speaking about Psalm 34:4 as King David was dealing with Abimelech. Conflicts always come. David says “I sought the Lord”. David knows God has all the answers. God knows exactly who we are. When David sought the Lord he had this confidence and we can have the same confidence. Arnold got a phone call at 2 or 3 am from a person who couldn’t sleep. They were worried. They want to give kids small gifts and have no money. We want to trust in man, in people in certain things but we can only trust in God. He hears our cries. He answers. David said he was “delivered from all my fears”. God delivered him out of the hand of Abimelech. We’ve seen Gods deliverance. We can have this confidence

Ben handed out work assignments. The priority this week is getting ready for the Big Feed in Mexico next week.

After chapel Juanita and I went to the training center and made a jig for drilling holes for attaching ladders and used the jig to guide drilling the holes. Byron brought the screws we needed. He dropped off the screws and went to buy something needed for preparing for the big feed grounds.

Juanita and I installed the ladders on the bunk beds. Then we replaced burned out light bulbs in the dorm next door. After lunch Juanita went to the laundromat. I kibbitzed with Byron while he troubleshot an AC unit. Then he and I went to the staff motel and installed a new mini split to replace one that had stopped working.

When the task was down to pulling a vacuum on the refrigerant lines and hooking up and dressing the electrical cables, I texted Juanita. I finished today’s 10k steps by walking to the corner and back until she arrived. We did a bit of shopping and came home for a quiet evening of keyboarding.

While I was writing this Barney and Sharon Gibson arrived with their fifth wheel trailer and parked in the slot next to us. They were here last winter. We saw them in Edmonton on their way to and from Alaska for this past summer.

After a discussion of celebration and Christmas, Oscar spoke in chapel about God’s timing.

John 2:4 “My hour has not yet come”. There is a timing of Christ. He who has no time, who lives outside time says it’s not time.

John 7:6 The previous passage was with His mother. This with His brother. Again, is talking about timing. Throws back at them.

John 8:20 “the hour has not yet come”. There is protection in living in God’s time.

John 4:23 there is a timing to everything. You better know what hour you are living.

John 17:1 “the hour has come”. Now is the time

John 12:23 “The hour is come, that the Son of Man should be glorified “

Do you live with a sense of urgency? You need to be living in the hour of God.

The usual Wednesday and Friday drive through food bank is on hold until January. After a brief prayer time people disbursed to get some tasks done before returning to a ten o’clock prayer meeting followed by an 11:30 potluck. Byron and I drove to Home Depot to pick up a sheet of dry wall and a few other supplies to drop off at the Training Center before returning to the warehouse for prayer and food.

After lunch Juanita and I worked on the other side of the wall started on the other day. We finished late. It still needs mudding. It is not pretty yet, but stable. No longer moulting random bits of plaster etc. onto the counter in the men’s restroom.

We had a quiet, relaxing day celebrating the birth of the saviour. On alternate years it is with family in the frozen north. This year we connected with them by phone and enjoined the warmth of South Texas.

We got mobile about eleven and headed to a buffet in Brownsville for lunch. We took our time eating the multiple plates we refilled. I handed out a number of curved illusion tracts and had to refill my pockets with them before we walked on the beach at South Padre Island. Those pockets were empty again by the time we finished our walk.

We talked to one daughter and her family on the phone this morning. On the drive home we talked to the other daughter and her family.

It was getting dark as we arrived home for a quiet evening.

Boxing Day is not a holiday in the United States. No blowout sales events. Businesses are open. People are back at work.

Big Feed is a three-day event that Way of the Cross holds every year between Christmas and New Year in Matamoros, Mexico. Teams come from as far away as Oklahoma to prepare (Day 1), do outreach (Day 2) and feed between five and ten thousand people (Day 3). Day 1 happens at the WOTC Gateway Camp just over the border from Harlingen. Day 2 happens in various neighbourhoods in and around Matamoros. Day 3 is held in a field in Matamoros. They use the same field for two years running and then move to a field in a different area of Matamoros. The first year in an area over five thousand people show up to play free carnival games for prizes, hear music, win free raffle prizes of bicycles and sewing machines and receive a meal of chicken, rice, and beans. Every half hour the shofar is blown, and the Gospel is briefly preached from the stage and from each of the carnival booths. The second year is a repeat program with almost twice as many people showing up now the people in the area know what to expect. Team members will arrive this evening. Tomorrow is the first day of the three-day event. Juanita and I have participated over the border several times. These days we stay on the Texas side and do support activities.

For us today was a quiet day. I keyboarded and did a few minor repairs in anticipation of Big Feed teams arriving. We went to Home Depot for drywall joint compound and corner bead to work on a wall tomorrow while the team is in Mexico. Then to HEB for groceries and steps, Sam’s to fill up on cheap gas.

Back home for a quiet evening. I visited with Daniel from OK who I’ve worked with a few times in the past. Other than that, I kept a low profile while people were arriving. Juanita, more social, ventured forth and visited a bit with some of the arrivals.

Early to bed. Juanita due in kitchen at 6:30 tomorrow morning.

First day of Big Feed. I was up at four. I woke Juanita at six. She cooked me breakfast before going to help prepare breakfast for the teams. What a woman!

She sent me a “help” text about 7. Something on a staff house that needed done today. After going to look at it I went shopping. If it could be done on Tuesday Amazon would have the parts here by Monday. Those parts would take half an hour to install. Being a “today” job, it took two hours of wandering around Lowes and Home Depot to find alternative pieces that would do the job. Finished installing by noon.

Meanwhile back at the Training Center they had held chapel and left for the Gateway Camp in Mexico to fill gift bags and do other preparation work for the Big Feed main event. Not being in chapel I missed Oscar’s sermon firsthand. Juanita gave it high praise. It was not video recorded for the WOTC Facebook page, but here is an audio link:

His message was based on Exodus 30:34-38, Psalms 141:1-2, Revelation 5:8 and Revelations 8:3. He talked about prayer and how bitter experiences can be turned into sweet. He talked briefly but heartfelt about his time as a child soldier in a civil war. He promised God if He would save his life he would devote it to Him.

After the staff house task was complete, we drove to the freeway and had a slice of pizza each at the truck stop. Then I started working on the wall corner I had planned to start at nine when the teams left for Mexico. Was finished, cleaning up the work area and putting away the tools when the first people started arriving back. Perfect timing. Juanita helped with the wall stuff when I needed another pair of hands. When we were done it was time for her to go help in the kitchen for supper.

I cooled off in the rig.

Today is day two of the Big Feed. Juanita went off at six to work in the kitchen and make sandwiches for the teams going across to Mexico. Most will do evangelistic outreaches at neighbourhoods in Matamoros. They will give testimonies. Somebody will preach a salvation message. Food and toys will be handed out. Some will go to the field where the Big Feed proper will be happening tomorrow and set up tents and lay out the field for tents, game booths and a stage.

I briefly helped assemble some new bicycles meant for Mexico.

In chapel Oscar talked about some of the travelling struggles he had had in the past with Mike Russel and others in the ministry and some of the sketchy airplanes they had been on. Despite the challenges, Oscar affirmed that preaching the Gospel has been the highlight of his life.

He asked us for what indicators of prosperity are common where we come from and what expressions we would use to indicate prosperity. Then beginning with 1 Kings 4:25 he gave the common expression in Israel in Bible times: “Dwelt safely. Every man was under his vine and under his own fig tree”.

Micah 4:3
“… under his vine and under his fig tree “

Zacharias 3:10
“under the vine and under the fig tree”

Genesis 28:11
The first real encounter Jacob had with God. In desert. Pillow is a rock.
verse 12 - a ladder, angels of God ascending, descending

John 1:45
…when thou was under the fig tree…”
The name Nathaniel means to get whipped. He is an unfiltered individual, yet something shocked him. He says, “can any good thing come out of Nazareth” before he meets Jesus. Then Jesus says, “I saw you under the fig tree”.

Nathanial may have been under the fig tree but there was still a hole in his heart. Jesus told him he would be completed, would see angels going up and coming down. Jacob couldn’t rely on the relationships his father and grandfather had with God. Nathanial needed that fellowship as well.

If you want to see angels coming down you need to be sending angels up. Nathanial - you thought life was good under the fig tree I’m going to show you something better.

Do not be looking for angels look to Jesus.

The teams left for Mexico. I looked at a plumbing problem with a sink drain in one of the men’s bathrooms. The taps were off. There where three other sinks. It had high potential to become an ugly job if commenced. It could be easy or it could be like pulling a thread on a sweater. Not a Sunday job. It will still be broken tomorrow. You remember “tomorrow” don’t you? Man’s greatest labour-saving device.

We ran some errands for Big Feed and personal supplies which included a visit to Sam’s for steps, samples and supplies.

Juanita helped in the kitchen for supper.

Today is the big day of the Big Feed. This morning, I woke Juanita at 3:30 and sent her off to the kitchen to be there at four to start preparing for breakfast at five for the early team that was going to the Big Feed grounds to start the charcoal so it would be ready for the later teams to cook two thousand pounds of chicken. I went back to bed. My part was done.

A few weeks ago there was a message by Oscar of Clouds without Water - people who make or show promise and don’t deliver. This month there was a “chef” who called the ministry and volunteered to take care of meals for the Big Feed. He would be there “a week early to prepare”. He showed up an hour before the first breakfast while it was already being prepared. The pattern persisted throughout the Big Feed with late, skimpy meals.

I am reminded of a friend’s aunt. Harvest crews hated working on his uncle’s farm. The aunt would prepare skimpy meals and say with triumph “Just enough!” as she picked up an empty bowl at the end of a meal. But back to today. Juanita laboured alone in the kitchen and finally alerted leadership who pitched in. Also, God alerted Linda, another staff person who usually helps with meals but this year “wasn’t needed”. She showed up as well, helped with breakfast and with Juanita, shopped for and prepared the team’s supper this evening. The “chef” showed up mid breakfast serving and was informed things were under control and he wouldn’t be needed. He left.

With the change in the organizational structure for meals, I ended up running a few errands, but the brunt of the work fell on Linda and Juanita. They had it under control. I carried on with my plans for a relaxing day, got in my steps, did some shopping for mini projects around the training center and such.

The teams came back from Mexico this evening flushed with success. There had been no rain on the field. Cooking and preaching had gone better than ever. About 8,000 people were fed chicken and beans. Kids went away with gift baskets. Many bicycles and smaller prizes were won. After supper, local teams and a few from further away headed home. The rest leave tomorrow morning except for two guys from Alaska who fly out the day after tomorrow.

Teams are mostly gone. Juanita drove off to do laundry at the laundromat. I read. When she was back I started boarding and mudding on the other side of the wall that was boarded and mudded last week. A church van load arrived back briefly. A spark plug blew out of a previously heli-coiled hole on the V10 engine powering the van. They debated the alternatives. Deciding it was unlikely to be able to rent a one way rental van back to Oklahoma, they disconnected the fuel injector for the problem cylinder and puffed off homeward.

The mudding was as far as it could go for today. I did another minor repair, had a shower and we went to Harbor Freight for a replacement for a broken putty knife.

We opted for an early meal at Texas Roadhouse using a gift card we received at Christmas. They have an online sign up for their waiting list. It all seems so efficient until they get you to stand on a spot and wait for a waiter to pick you up. Then the people on the other spots get taken away and replaced with new people and they get taken away to their tables. But we eventually were placed at a table and plied with bread to butter and peanuts to shell until our main course was ready. We were both happy with our food. Juanita was kinda full with peanuts and bread rolls so needed a to-go box. I am of sterner stuff and powered through resulting in a carb near-coma and a groggy ride home to bed.    

Last day of the year. Is it a day to get up early and tackle everything left on the lists or… ?

We got up latish. For us.

I finished the latest book I had been reading.

We plan on cutting back on carbs tomorrow. I have a coupon for a Dilly Bar that expires in thirty days. Do I count on my lack of resolve to resist carbs for thirty days or assume I will resist and the coupon will become useless? We went to the DQ. I cashed in the coupon and used points for another Dilly Bar. She gave us a receipt and said if we fill it out, we will get a coupon for another free Dilly Bar. Resist!

There was some high carb pancake mix in the fridge. We finished that off, too.

Then we went to Sam’s and HEB for stuff for the New Year’s potluck. We brought it home. Juanita stayed at home to cut things up and arrange them on trays. I went to the park, fed the ducks and finished off the step count for the year.

We met with others at the Training Center to help judge the annual chilli cook-off. Then we ate chilli and other stuff people had brought. After dark the kids played with sparklers and watched the fireworks’ chickens race. Tariffs on Chinese imports have either caused or been the excuse for huge increases in the price for the usual fireworks display held by WOTC. Just sparklers and chicks this year.

After a few early “Happy New Year” texts we went to bed. Juanita woke to the fireworks’ extravaganza across the skies to the south. I guess not everybody was deterred by higher fireworks’ price tags. I slept through it all.

And that was 2025. Tomorrow is a New Year.