David and Nancy Slinde Speaking at their "Sending Service"

Tuesday, February 2, 2016

It’s cold outside; wind chill is -26, spent Sunday and Monday indoors.  Wisconsin held a free fishing day on Saturday. That means you don’t need a license to ice-fish. Little shanties were scattered around the lake and in front of our house we saw men outside all day.  They looked like giants with multi layers giving them the appearance they all weighed 400 pounds.

I got up at 3:00am and lights were coming off the lake reflecting on our bedroom wall.  I guess the early bird catches the largest fish.

We received these pictures Monday from our partners at Oikos Solidaridad in El Salvador. The volcano of San Miguel is behaving badly again. It started days ago with sulfur gas spewing out and drifting throughout the communities.

Sunday it became more aggressive with ash being released.

The second picture is the effect on the current coffee plants.  The coffee harvest continues as the cherries don’t ripen at the same time, requiring numerous picking schedules that are currently in process.  This industry has been hit with coffee rust that remains a problem and with fewer jobs available for picking coffee cherries. This current release of ash can be devastating for the local growers and pickers.

Picture three shows the ash on the ground of the corn fields.  If it remains a dusting, it can be turned under but if it gets heavier, it needs to be removed as it will become like concrete.
Our friends have endured set back after set back.  It’s exhausting. Yet they start over.

David y Nancy