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The Italian Gringo

The hospital at Guadalajara was wonderful! They patched me up and told me that my surgery was the next day. But they were out of rooms, and I was parked in a hallway with other patients, with an IV dripping pain-killer into me. I chatted, read, and napped until I got a room. Bob and Becky Plinka, who run the orphanage, were wonderful, driving me everywhere and translating.

The next day, I made friends with my five room mates and we all got along well. But my surgery got delayed until tomorrow, so they sent me home, and I return tomorrow.

Your prayers are appreciated, and I hope to be released on Wednesday.

Adios, Vicente
 
Greetings, Gringos! I have been overwhelmed by the kindness of the Mexican doctors, nurses, orderlies, and even the janitors whom I met in the hospital. I've got five pins in my arm, and the first two hours after surgery were the most painful in my life, as they couldn't give me pain killers. But now I'm safe at home, and I feel fine.

Jesus said "By this shall all men know that you are My disciples, if you love one another." Bob and Becky Plinka and their daughter Abby spent dozens of hours transporting me, translating, and staying with me in the hospital. Those of you who live in Mexico and are looking for a place to serve God with people you can trust would do well to consider La Ola orphanage.

We have two volunteer drivers for this Sunday to cover the church van route. I can only be on one van, so we could use some volunteers for the next few weeks to help keep order.

I'll be going back to our regular Wednesday schedule, and I hope to hear from some of you.

Adios, Vicente
 
Greetings, Gringos! A few rainstorms have arrived here, but it's still pretty hot and dry.

The stitches are out of my arm and I'm walking around looking like a pincushion. After getting over their fear, the orphans were fascinated by the sight of five metal rods coming out of my arm. I am not in any pain, but it is hard to sleep in a comfortable position.

I don't know of any tactful way to explain this, but two weeks ago, a homosexual friend of mine committed suicide. Two years ago, he had blown up in a rage when I invited him to church. The funeral was at a gay-friendly church, where the pastor preached that everyone goes to Heaven regardless of what they do.

Friends, without Jesus Christ, we have no hope of salvation. God loves everyone, but our sins separate us from God. The Blood of Christ covers our sins, and this salvation is offered freely to anyone who will turn from their sins and accept Christ. The pastor explained that nobody knows why the fellow hanged himself, but I can give some reasons, and that pastor is one of them. If you are trusting in your own good life to get you to Heaven, I urge you to turn to Christ, Who is a far better Savior than you are.

La Ola Orphanage needs help paying their electric bill, but the company won't turn off their power. They are making payments, and are currently in a fund-raising campaign. The kids continue to be happy and clean, while getting a good education. I showed two Christian cartoons there today, and tomorrow we'll be taking some of them to the animal shelter. I'm working on getting churches to have some kind of activities for the kids during summer vacation, and your prayers for La Ola are appreciated.

Adios, Vicente
 
Greetings, Gringos! We hope that your weather is as pleasant as ours.

Last Sunday I took my broken arm and drove the church van without any trouble--except for a road so muddy that I had to take a detour, and another road under construction so I had to go a longer way. But I was only five minutes late for church, and we had 18 kids on the van.

I was dismayed when the orphans refused to watch the Christian cartoons I brought today, insisting on gong hiking with Kyo. So I went along, and they hiked to an abandoned fruit orchard with a fruit I had never hear of. You cut it in half, and it is filled with a white pulp speckled with tiny black seeds. The girls loaded their empty school packs with fruit, and then the owner showed up. It turned out that it wasn't abandoned after all. But he let us keep the fruit, told us never to come back, and the orphans had a big snack.

We showed the cartoons anyway, and it was a good day. Last Thursday, they sneaked a new kid into my car when I took them to the animal shelter, but we still had a good day.

I have mentioned Christians who suddenly find themselves being used by God and thinking it is because of their own spirituality. Jesus said that when we do everything required of us, we are to consider ourselves unprofitable servants, because we only did what was required. Self-proclaimed spiritual giants eventually get their feelings hurt when they don't get the honor they feel they deserve, and then they quit serving God.

See you next week,
Vicente
 
Greetings, Gringos! Nancy and I hope that you are all doing well.

I keep telling people, "Never stick your hand into a dogfight," and most people don't listen. Zeke, a part pit bull, attacked another dog at the shelter yesterday while I was outside. Monica, a very competent Mexican employee, grabbed Zeke, who bit her hand, threw her to the ground, and wouldn't let go. When they got him off, Monica had a flap of skin hanging from her hand and had to be taken to the red Cross for stitches.

If you insist on breaking up a dogfight, use your foot: your clothing will give you some protection and your foot can handle injuries better than your hand. Better yet, stay out of dogfights completely.

Car trouble has kept me away from the orphanage, but they had a successful "Olympics" last Saturday. I got my car tuned up and now it runs worse than it did before. Hopefully, I'll be up at La Ola on Friday.

Some time ago, I mentioned Marty Braemer, a Ruckmanite preacher who got caught in a long-term affair with a Christian school teacher. Marty's back in business, taunting his critics and serving as youth pastor of a Ruckmanite church. A couple months ago, a Ruckmanite preacher shot himself inside his church office when police came to arrest him for child pornography. In May, a Ruckmanite pastor hanged himself in a jail cell after being arrested for rape.

Jesus said that a disciple is not above his master. During the 1950's, Peter Ruckman, a wife-stealing enemy of Godly men, invented the doctrine that the King James Version IS the Bible, and it is sinful to use any other translation. Since then, Ruckmanites have divided into several groups that spy on and attack each other, and they are now the leading religion in the US for sex scandals in their clergy.

Christians do well when they follow Christ. But when they become disciples of a wicked man, it produces bad results in their lives.

See you next week,
Vicente
 
Greetings, Gringos!

We hope that none of you had a week as interesting as ours. Nancy was showing symptoms of a heart attack, and I had to take her to the Red Cross. They did an EKG and it was a false alarm. She had taken the wrong medication for something else, and she has recovered.

The Mexican Red Cross provides emergency care for poor Mexicans, but the one here in Chapala is the biggest one in all of Mexico. They have eleven childbirths a year from women too poor to go to a hospital, and they provide a lot of care for the large Gringo community. 90% of their patients do not pay anything (Yes, I paid and gave them a donation). Their aged building is spotlessly clean, a doctor is always there, and they have English-speaking people there as well.

When I broke my arm, the Red Cross took the x-ray that the doctors in Guadalajara used, and we're glad to have them nearby.

Monica is back at the animal shelter after being attacked by a dog last week. The dog attacked a second dog a few days later and was transferred to the great dog house in the sky. We're sorry when this happens, but a dangerous dog cannot be trusted.

Meanwhile, we had a good day with a Christian film at La Ola orphanage. They are excited about the possibility of getting a better building in Jocotepec that is within walking distance of school. Transportation has been a major problem for us, and hopefully this will work out.

And it was a good week for Abundant Life church. We had 11 kids on youth activity, 21 kids on the Sunday van, and a record high attendance of 123. Five years ago, they had a dozen on a good Sunday.

I was surprised by the response I got from last week's item about Peter Ruckman. Christians tend to be heavily influenced by certain writers, and then they fail to grow in areas that the writers never discuss. Jesus said that the disciple is not above his master. Christians who follow a wicked leader will see results, and the disciples of Peter Ruckman have become the leading source of clergy sex criminals in the United States.

Adios, Vicente
 
Greetings, Gringos! We have another good dog story for you this week.

A lady brought a Rottweiler to the shelter in order to buy him a cage. She chose a large cage, but she wanted to make sure that he could fit inside, so...

La Ola Orphanage is excited because it LOOKS like we will be moving into a new building in Jocotepec this Saturday. School starts soon, and they want the kids to start in their new school.The grade school is within walking distance, and this will eliminate the need for drivers, plus the building is not so isolated. Please pray that they will be able to work this out in time.

The Rottweiler refused to get into the cage, so the woman asked a worker to help her shove the frightened dog inside, and...

I'll be teaching the mid-week Bible study at Abundant Life Church on Friday afternoon at 3 PM, and I'll also be teaching the Mexican Bible study on Thursday evening, with help from a translator. Your prayers are appreciated.

The worker asked if the Rottweiler were dangerous (all Rottweilers are dangerous) and the woman assured him that it was not. So he knelt next to the Rottweiler, grabbed its neck, and then...

Someone abandoned a kitten in our front yard, and "Winchester" is now doing fine at the animal shelter. He spent two happy days with us but now wants nothing to do with me because he's happy where he is.

Usually, Rottweilers are calm dogs, but they have been bred to be aggressive towards strangers. So when the frightened dog felt itself being shoved into a cage by a stranger...

Someone gave La Ola a set of children's blocks, which the kids had never seen before. We managed to make one stack 31 blocks high before it toppled, ad then we watched a Bible cartoon.

Fortunately, the worker didn't need stitches, although he did need a tetanus shot and some patching up. The triumphant Rottweiler did not go into the cage.

It's been a month since they took the pins out of my left arm. I'm doing about 45 minutes a day exercising my left arm and hand, and mobility is steadily improving.

Adios, Vicente
 
Greetings, Gringos! We're late with this week's message because of a schedule change.

La Ola Orphanage is doing great, with the kids successfully moved into one of the buildings last Sunday. The next day they started school. The real estate agent had lied that the elementary school is an easy walk away, when it's in downtown Jocotepec with busy traffic. We have to drive kids to school three times a day, plus pick them up, but it's a lot easier than it had been on the mountain. The high school girls report that all the boys in their new school are ugly.

Last Friday I taught the Bible study at Abundant Life Church, and folks from La Ola also spoke. As a result, we had eight folks from our church there last Saturday to help everyone move in. We had a potluck lunch, and as usual, the food I brought was the most popular item there: Hershey bars.

I was there this morning to drive kids to school and clean out a large, fenced-in rabbit hutch. Destroying a high-altitude wasp nest was my biggest challenge. I had to hit it about a dozen times, leaving the area after each hit, before I destroyed it. I only got stung once.

My stupid dog Anna had the worst outbreak of ticks I have ever seen, and six days of constant inspection produced over 150 now-dead ticks. Baths, shampoos, a tick collar, and everything else helped, but I think she got infested when I took her up in the mountains a few weeks ago, and a bunch of them laid eggs on her. She's feeling much better now, and so are we.

See you next week,
Vicente
 
So how do you become humble? By submitting to authority. I have noticed over the years that Christians who quit because they are right usually wind up doing little or nothing for the Lord. we should do something to change this trend.
 
Welcome aboard, Kitit. You might have intended to post on the "Battered Sheep" thread, but your post is true. Some genuine Christians quit attending church over conflicts in which they really were innocent, but then they wind up doing little or nothing with their Christian lives.
 
Greetings, Gringos! We hope that all of you are having a pleasant day.

Someone left five puppies in a box outside the animal shelter and they were adorable. They were also very sleepy and inactive. The vet put all of them to sleep, as they were too diseased to be cured. On the other hand, we've had a few adoptions. And on the cat side, Miss Wendy Winchester, whom I brought in a couple of weeks ago, is dong very well.

La Ola Orphanage has a large, walled-in garden, overgrown with weeds and full of broken glass and trash. I found a large lawn mower, and the kids ran away when I announced that I was going to try to start it. To everyone's surprise, it worked well, and I was able to clear out a small tomato patch. Next week, I am going to try to start the biggest roto-tiller I have ever seen without killing myself.

Back in my Bible college days, we had a student named "Foulmouth." He frequently broke the rules and was a minor bully. Later, I taught school for a pastor who routinely abused his entire staff. Foulmouth was a senior member of the staff, and he practiced minor bullying and abuse on those, including me, who were under him.

A few years ago, I found Foulmouth on the internet, complaining about how the pastor had abused him. He portrayed himself as a wise and discerning spiritual giant who kept himself above the sins in my college and the church he was in, but claimed that he was unable to stop the sins. One person who remembered him from college pointed out his ungodly behavior, and he claimed that he had been young back then and now had repented.

About a week ago, someone posted a dirty joke, and Foulmouth was on it right away, praising the poster and telling him how much he had appreciated the joke.

The Bible tells us that you who judge are doing the same things. People who criticize and complain aren't the spiritual giants they claim to be. Many of Foulmouth's claims are true, but he's going in a direction God doesn't lead His people in. You need to be in a good church, and if there are serious problems, you need to go to a different one.

La Ola Orphanage is trying to get a Sunday evening youth service going, and those of you who live here in the Gringo Zone are invited to be there this Sunday night.

Adios, Vicente
 
Greetings, Gringos! Three conflicts this week, and I'm happy to say that I was only in one of them.

A new and inexperienced Christian had become a leader at La Ola Orphanage, giving orders to people who knew better than her, and teaching her hang-ups to the girls. On Sunday morning she lost her temper when the leaders would not obey her and she quit in a rage. The Bible tells us in Hebrews 5:14 "But solid food belongs to those who are of full age, that is, those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil."

She isn't evil, but she had a non-Christian view of leadership: I seize power because I'm a leader, and I'm a leader because I seize power. Nobody hates her, but we have to deal with the older girls being afraid of the many Christian men, including me, who volunteer out there. Moral of the story: don't give leadership positions to new and inexperienced Christians.

The owner of the animal shelter had ordered the teen-aged son of one of the paid employees not to come there anymore. Seeing the boy waiting for his mother, the owner ran out and started shouting at him. The boy started cursing. The owner pushed him to the ground. The boy jumped up, smashed a display, and stomped out. Fortunately, I wasn't there, and when I learned bout it, I advised everyone involved to walk away from it. We don't need to get the police involved.

And speaking of the police, Mexico has three kinds of police: law enforcement officers, traffic directors, and security guards. Fearing revolution, Mexico does not allow any form of private security guards. Today, a traffic policeman walked into the orphanage, where he was greeted enthusiastically by one of the children. The cook gave him a nice lunch. But the director says that he is a child abuser who is not allowed on the grounds. She took a translator with her, and I stood there to provide back-up, as she told the officer that he was not allowed on the grounds except on visitors' day. He argued that he is cleared to go to all the schools, and she told him that he still could not return. As for me, my readers would have been disappointed if I didn't get into a conflict once in a while.

See you next week,
Vicente
 
Greetings, Gringos! We hope you've had another good week.

We had 24 on the van last Sunday, with a total of 120 in church. It's good to be somewhere that God is blessing.

La Ola Orphanage just got a shipment of new sneakers for the kids, they're doing well in school, the food is good, and the bills are being paid. Okay, they had to get rid of a staff member, but at least it wasn't me.

Folks, there are two kinds of leaders. Servants are called by God to take leadership positions. Others promote themselves, seizing power and forcing their way up through the system. With a BS in Psychology, this employee would not obey orders, insulted the leaders, and would not meet her responsibilities in other areas. She then made the further mistake of thinking that if she threatened to quit, the leadership would become frightened and back down. She is currently trying to find a place to stay in exchange for doing the housework while she builds her resume.

A word of advice here: if you demand that the leaders submit to your authority or you'll quit, guess what the leaders are going to tell you to do. The woman had been a good worker in many areas and did accomplish a lot in her high-stress job. If she had learned to submit to authority she could have improved to become a first-class successful missionary. Now she'll be doing housework--maybe.

Another word of advice: psychiatrists aren't that competent. They are often able to explain and even predict behavior. But when it comes to actually solving people's problems, they aren't that successful. If psychiatrists could really solve problems, America's public schools would be happy places of safe and successful learning. To be fair, they often can lessen problems, and they often can relieve emotional pain. But because they do not deal with man's sinful nature, psychiatrists as a group are not that successful.

And on the cheery side, Max, the ugliest dog at the animal shelter, got adopted this week. The large, all-white bulldog is one of the finest dogs I have ever been friends with, and I'm glad he has a good home.

Adios, Vicente
 
Greetings, Gringos! I wish that all of you were here, and some of you are.

For the sixth week in a row we have had over 100 in church, so I'm making it official: my church runs over 100 people on Sunday. They held a seminar for people with emotional pain, but I wasn't able to attend due to previous commitments, but we are becoming a "center" for Christian growth.

One of the worst disasters of my life was getting an "A" in a Christian Psychology class in college. The blatantly incompetent instructor taught that the only correct way to counsel people is to confront them with their sins. And if the person is a victim of abuse? We were taught that it is the victim's fault of hie or she is suffering from the abuse.

And this brings up an important point. A lot of "Christian Psychology" consists of rejecting anything unBiblical, but accepting everything else that psychologists teach. As knowledge increases, secular psychologists later reject many of their other errors, and years later, it filters through to the "Christian Psychologists." The cold truth is that most people who go to a psychologist are helped, but not cured. If "Christian Psychologists" could cure people, the public would flock to them.

Some of the leaders of La Ola Orphanage are pretty happy; they are going to the US for two weeks to speak at conferences and churches and raise support. Things are going well, and I was able to show a good Christian film today. Jacotopec has partly opened its public water park, and the kids had a blast running through the fountains and getting soaked. They were afraid at first, so I walked through everything, got soaking wet, and convinced them that it wasn't fatal.

Nancy made play dough for the kids and it was a great success, and I was able to keep a bunch of them occupied for a few hours.

Some do-gooders brought a dog who had been hit by a car to the animal shelter. One of his hind legs was shattered, but they insisted that they would pay for surgery. So the shelter paid to have the leg amputated, and the battered, flea-bitten, skin-infected mongrel is getting steadily better. I was able to walk him yesterday, and his wounds are improving. The do-gooders who promised to pay for his surgery? We can't find them.

See you next week,
Vicente
 
Greetings, Gringos! Nancy and I hope that your life is pleasant right now.

A few years ago, we had a very Godly girl helping us in children's church, and she is now riding the church van, helping keep order and bringing new visitors. We were able to bring in 19 kids last Sunday, and our church tied its record-high attendance of 136.

And with some of their leaders gone for two weeks, I'm working three days a week now at La Ola orphanage, and things are going well. I've been able to start tutoring kids on the computer, and since that gets everybody out of the workers' way, they appreciate it. In an atmosphere where they are not allowed to spank the children, punishing them by not letting them go on the computer with me has, unfortunately, become a method of punishment. On the other hand, it seems to be working.

The Bible tells us "Judge not, lest you be judged." Last Saturday, Navy and Air Force played their annual football game. Losing by 18 points in the fourth quarter, Navy put on an incredible performance that tied the score. Playing with more brilliance and determination, Navy scored a touchdown shortly after overtime began. Confronted face-to-face by an Air Force player, the Navy man who scored the touchdown pushed him away...and lost the game due to a penalty for unsportsmanlike conduct.

The tapes show that the Air Force player had just managed to pull himself out of a pile-up, turned around, and came face-to-face with the Navy player by accident. Moral of the story? Be careful about judging other people's motives.

See you next week,
Vicente
 
Greetings from Hurricane Jova! The clouds are swirling, the rain is pouring down, and we're safe and sound in our little hacienda. I had to cancel my trip to the orphanage today because I'll get dick standing in the rain waiting for the bus, but it should all be over in a couple of days. Protected inside our bowl in the mountains, we're not getting anything worse that heavy rain. And I've finally got Windows 7, along with a new computer, and so far it's running great!

Between the hurricane, the orphanage, and being without a computer, I did not get to send my sister Patti a "Happy Birthday" greeting, so Happy Birthday, Patti.

About 18 months ago, a Ruckmanite preacher criticized someone for not criticizing me. I had not done anything to either one of them, but it shows how Peter Ruckman's disciples think. The Bible tells us that when we purify our hearts by obeying the truth, it produces love of the brethren. When you obey a man instead of God, you get sinful results in your life.

I'm dealing with my grief over my beloved Philadellphia Phillies being eliminated from the play-offs. Oh well, as a long-time Phillies fan, I'm used to disappointment.

The orphans have been enjoying "Sebran," which I consider the best free educational software for children available on the net.

And Bosco, the dog with the amputated leg, got adopted.

Adios, Vicente
 
Greetings, Gringos! I decided to move the newsletter up to Tuesday evenings because I'm at the orphanage on Wednesdays.

Last Sunday we had 30 kids, plus another helper and me, on our 18 passenger church van. There were no fights or injuries, and things also went well at church. Much of the increase is due to Annajulia and her family, and it is god to see Mexicans taking the lead in serving God instead of relying on the Americans. A while ago, I happened to see Annajulia walking by on her way home up the mountain, and we brought her in, fed her, and let her play some computer games.

Our church is helping to start another Mexican church , and while our pastor is gone, I will be teaching the Bible study at 3 PM on Friday.

Folks, I'm so concerned about how we're botching up with missionaries that I'm starting a new series on my blogsite at http://theitaliangringo.blogspot.com/ When I was in college, I spent a summer as a missionary to Massachusetts. I knocked on doors for forty hours a week, visited a bus route on Saturdays, ran the route on Sunday, and taught the youth meetings and a Sunday School class. We have a teen-ager down here who has lived at the orphanage all summer, ate what they ate, and did all kinds of work. But now we're getting teens and college students who take the kids for a walk, sit around and talk, and put on their resumes that they were missionaries to Mexico.

When my pastor went before a mission board, they were not interested in all the mission trips he had made as a student, even though he actually did work. They have learned that most of these mission trips are a joke. Christians who pad their resumes bring problems wherever they go, and mission trips are a good way to look good without putting out much work. And don't get me started on churches that send their juvenile delinquents down here to work in Vacation Bible School.

I hope you'll drop in on my blog and feel free to leave comments and advice.

Adios, Vicente
 
Greetings, Gringos! It's been a good week, and we hope that things are going well for all of you.

For the third week in a row we have had at least 30 kids on our 18 passenger church van for Sunday.The teachers are doing a fantastic job.

Folks, I've been thinking about an oddity this week. I spent five years in Bible college, and I had to memorize a lot of Scripture verses, only one of which is still useful to me. But when I was first saved, I took the Billy Graham follow-up course, and the verses I memorized are still useful to me today. One of these verses is Proverbs 3:5-6 "Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not unto your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths." For months I have been praying that the older girls at the orphanage would watch the Christian cartoons and films that I show. Last week, they moved the DVD player into the dining area, which I was against, because there were too many distractions. But I obeyed the rules. I put in a DVD to test it, got busy with something else, and when I came back I found ten of the twelve kids watching the film. God answers our prayers and wants to lead us, but we have to let Him do things His way, not ours.

Christians will often reject the leading of the Holy Spirit because their common sense tells them it is a bad idea. I keep explaining that missionaries come down here and fail because when God gives them a chance to teach children they turn it down.

One orphanage here failed because they let unsaved people onto the board, and those people put homosexuals on the board, and the orphanage is no longer Christian. Why did they put lost people on the board? Because they were very nice, very kind, and had lots of money. It really did seem like a good idea at the time. So now we have an orphanage that is a homosexual outreach ministry.

If you'll submit to God and let Him tell you what to do and where to serve, you'll be far more successful than most Christians. And I hope you'll stop by at http://theitaliangringo.blogspot.com/ where I'm discussing why missionaries fail.

Adios, Vicente
 
Greetings, Gringos! We took some hits this week, with church attendance down and the van route dropping down to 22 kids. And we're having behavior problems at the orphanage, as a homosexual group has hired a former employee. She is contacting the orphans through Facebook and urging them to rebel and then inform her of any disciplinary action that is taken against them. This got the leaders afraid to do anything, so they've had a lot of fighting and rebellion. The decision was finally made to return to enforcing discipline and deal with whatever happens next.

Homosexuals often learn how to behave and can be friendly people. But Romans 1 warns us of their hatefulness, and in real life, I have seen that Romans 1 is true.

And speaking of homosexuals: Folks, I was in grade school when Joe Paterno became head coach of Penn State. His downfall occurred because he covered up the child molesting activities of a homosexual assistant coach. Paterno personally broke no laws, but he knew enough of what was going on that he should have notified the police. One graduate assistant coach did report what he saw, but dozens of others reported nothing. Tolerating homosexuality involves more than "Live and let live." As their depraved conduct becomes more acceptable, homosexuals have more freedom to carry out their depravity.

Right now, we're having trouble with homosexuals trying to take control of orphanages. They donate money, serve as volunteers, and provide genuine care for these orphans. Are Christian charities wrong to ban homosexuals from participating? Jerry Sandusky has run a successful charity for boys for some time, but it is looking like his goal was to find a way to recruit boys for himself.

Have a good week, and I hope you'll stop by at http://theitaliangringo.blogspot.com/ where I'm discussing why most missionaries fail.

Adios,
Vicente
 
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