Megin's Stove Story....

After only a few weeks in our apartment, it became apparent that we would need a new stove. The stove we had was so old that in order to use the oven, we had to figure out the conversion from Celcius to Fahrenheit and it took twice as long to bake something. So one of the missionaries informed us that we could use an old stove that was being stored on the property. We were also told that it should only take 2 days to switch from the old gas stove to the newer (yet still old) electric stove. Since Mike was busy working with the work crews, this became Megin's project (with much help from Al). Well, to make a long story short, the electric stove was so dirty, rusted, and infested with dead cockroaches that we had to completely take it apart, clean it, rust protect it, paint it, and then reassemble it. Then we had to set the apartment up for the electric.... which meant adding a new fuse to our fuse box, putting up the tubes to hold the wires (due to concrete construction, the electrical wire aren't in the walls), stringing the wires through the tubes, and then actually hooking them up to the stove. I learned so much about electricity through this project. Finally, about 3 weeks later, we had a working electric stove! Our stove works great and you would never guess that it was the same stove that we originally took apart because it looks brand new! Thanks Al for all the help and for teaching me so much about electricity! I couldn't have done it without you!

Here are some of the picts that we promised to show you!
This is Mike's swollen balloon hand (after 2 days of antibiotics).
This is us after spending most of the night at the hospital. (Mike is drugged up if you couldn't tell. And I have no idea why I am so happy?) The stickers on our sweatshirts give us permission to be in the hospital (you can't pass security without them)
More pictures to come.......

We still don't have our internet up and running so we can't post pictures yet but we wanted to introduce you a little to PR culture (at least what we have learned so far).

1. Puerto Ricans are very laid-back. The famous phrase here is "tomorrow" (but in Spanish of course). Now in our Western minds tomorrow means tomorrow but here, tomorrow means not today. It doesn't mean that it will get done tomorrow, it just means that it won't get done today. So we've just had to learn to be patient and wait.... which isn't always easy (especially when you have a work crew who is relying on you to get a supply today so that they can finish their project)!

2. A Puerto Rican minute is not a USA minute. Here when someone says that it will be 5-10 minutes they mean that it will be more like an hour and a half! (We learned this in the ER when the Dr put Mike on an IV and told him it would only take 5-10 minutes. The IV finally emptied an hour and 45 minutes later! We also experienced it when someone told us that the rainforrest was only 45 minutes away and 3 hours later we still weren't there! Oh wait... part of that was because we got lost! Oops!)

3. PR is people-oriented not work-oriented. Meaning that people are much more important than work. They are very caring people who take time to talk and listen to others.

These are just a few of the many cultural differences that we have seen here. It has been interesting (and at times frustrating) to see how different PR is from the USA.
We love it here and really want to thank everyone who had a part in sending us here through prayer and financial support!

Thank you all so much for your prayers! Mike's hand is getting better! It is hardly swollen anymore... in fact, you can see his knuckles for the first time in over a week! He is finally able to bend his fingers and make a fist with his hand. We still have to return to the doctor on Monday but hopefully, he won't send Mike to see the hand surgeon. We really appreciate all your prayers! It was a scary (and painful) time! Please pray for a complete and total healing for Mike! (And as soon as we get the internet fixed, we hope to post pictures so you can see his balloon hand!)

We have a work crew here right now. They are from Grace Bible College in Michigan. They are doing a great job and working hard! We have been very impressed! They are a great group of people who seem to have unending energy! They work hard and play hard! In fact, today they finished their work early so they swam out to a reef that is a few hundred yards out and managed to catch a baby octopus. It was pretty cool! But then they killed it. They put it on ice and plan to cook it for dinner tomorrow. =) They have been fun and we have really enjoyed getting to know them!

Also, we have Spring Arbor University (from MI) coming tomorrow night too. It will be exciting to meet a new group of people and to get a chance to work with them!

Once again, thanks for your prayers and encouragement! We love you all!

Love,
M&M

Please pray for Mike! He has a really bad infection in his left hand that turned into cellulitus and we had to take him to the hospital on Thursday evening. They put him on some IVs, gave him some antibiotics, and sent him home. Unfortunetly his hand is not getting better so we may be returning to the hospital (possibly as soon as this evening). So please pray for him! We'll update more later! Thanks! -Megin

We just finished with our first work crew... a church group from New Jersey consisting of 2 men and 5 women. They worked hard! They began the construction of an entrance to our chapel and tore down a wall that needs to be rebuilt. They did a great job! We enjoyed our experience! Please pray for us because in a week, we begin a month of non-stop work crews! We are excited but nervous about how tiring that will be.

We are enjoying living and working in PR! We are starting to feel more at home here. We are learning more about the language and the culture. Yes, even though PR is still part of the USA, it is a different culture and things are done differently here! Mike is picking up Spanish pretty fast and I am remembering more and more Spanish. Please pray for us as we continue to adjust to PR life and as we make this place our home!

Also, our internet is still down. It looks like we won't have it until at least mid-March so sorry if we haven't done the best of returning emails and updating our blog but hopefully that will change in a few weeks! We have so many pictures we want to post for all of you to see but we'll just have to wait! Sorry!

We love you guys!

Love,
Mike and Megin