Fires, Work Teams, Swine Flu and a trip to Illinois!!!

Fires, the West Bend Work Team, Swine Flu and a trip to Illinois. We have been busy since the last post - all the way back in April. I knew trying to keep a 2 week deadline would be hard but I didn't think I would be this bad at it. I'll see if I can remember all that's happened in the last month. The last post was just after the dedication of the New Church and it has been an incredible blessing to finally be in the new building. It is so nice to have plenty of room and not have to take down and set up chairs for the service and lunch. Randy and Cindy Schmidgall stayed with us during the Dedication and we were just finishing breakfast on Monday morning when David and some of the boys sounded the alarm for a fire just down the railroad tracks from CVE.

We grabbed a bunch of brooms and shovels, piled into the old green truck and the CVE volunteer Fire Department was en route. We were the first to arrive and started beating the fire back. It was burning along the tracks in a very rough and brushy area. A few minuets later we saw a few firemen walking away from us. David went after them but couldn't catch up. I think they decided we had everything under control and decided to leave. We spent the next hour or so fighting the fire and had most of it out. There were still some hot spots and some old trees burning but without water there was nothing more we could do. Hot and tired we headed back to CVE hoping the wind would stay down and the fire wouldn't take off again. We headed home and got cleaned up just in time to see billows of smoke rolling back into town.

This time it was more serious and the Fire Department decided to stick around. The wind had picked up and the fire was moving fast down the tracks towards town.

We spent the next few hours helping the Fire Department, The public Works Department and the Magdalena Police Department get the fire under control. It was a great opportunity to serve the community and make some acquaintances with those in public services. I had the opportunity to talk to and get to know one of the policemen and a a worker from the public works department. They were very thankful and appreciative that the staff and friends at CVE were willing to help them.

The CVE Volunteer Firefighters.

CVE Truck 1 returning to quarters.

"Every man's work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is." 1 Corinthians 3:13

The West Bend work team arrived on the Thursday before Easter. Once again it was a blessing to meet and get to know so many of our brothers, sisters and friends in the faith. Easter morning we hiked up the mountain behind CVE at 5:15am to watch the sun rise.

Heading out at 5:15am.

It was a beautiful but cold morning as we stood in the gray of dawn waiting for the sun to crest over the mountains to the east.

Remembering the Son while waiting for the sun.

"And very early in the morning the first day of the week, they came to the sepulchre at the rising of the sun." Mark16:2

"And he saith unto them, Be not affrighted: Ye seek Jesus of Nazareth, which was crucified: He is risen; he is not here: behold the place where they laid Him." Mark 16:6

After Easter we started the countdown to our first trip back to Illinois. The time just seemed to fly by. We didn't have any work teams after West Bend so the camera didn't get out much. We did have an interesting event happen with Rhode who teaches at CVE. One day a woman showed up at her door and asked her to take her baby. She was unable to care for her and wanted her to go to a good home. Rhode took her in and is working with the Mexican version of DCFS to make arrangements for little Ivona. The ladies at CVE were quick to get a baby shower planned. They had a beautiful morning for the shower in Bill and Joan's backyard with lots of good food and gifts.

Nate and I got to watch the boys at our house.

"And whoso shall receive one such little child in my name receiveth me." St. Matthew 18:5

We were all excited about the arrival of Ivona but saddened by the departure of Samuel. Samuel was visiting from Hungary and had spent several months with us here at CVE. He could work hard all day in the heat and still play hard with the kids in the evening. I was not uncommon to see him coming across the yard with 4 or 5 kids in his arms, on his shoulders or where ever he could carry them. He is returning to San Diego for a few weeks and going back to Hungary. He was a friend to all and will be greatly missed.

Always smiling.


Everyone, but especially the kids, loved it when he got out his tuba.




Samuel was a great example and mentor to the kids at CVE . It was a privilege to get to know him.

April 23rd finally arrived and we headed up to Phoenix to spend the night before our flight out on the morning of the 24th. While the kids were getting sun burnt at the hotel Susie and I spent the afternoon at the Arizona State Board of Nursing starting the process for transferring my license to Arizona. After an hour of paper work and fingerprinting we went to find the Try Me Bicycle Shop owned by Leon Baumgartner from the Phoenix Church. Although we had never met before it was like meeting an old friend. We spent another hour or more chatting about a little bit of everything. We ended up leaving with a mountain bike for Susie. Greg and Lynn Weigand took us out for a great supper of good old fashioned American hamburgers and we headed back to the hotel for a short night. We were up a 5am for breakfast and the shuttle ride to the airport. Our flight was on time and we made it through security with our 25 bags of Mexican pancake mix. I was worried that they might be suspicious with that much powder being checked on. It was a beautiful day to fly and the when the captain told us we were beginning our decent into Chicago I realized we were flying over Peoria. I was able to follow the interstate to Morton and then to Goodfield. We flew just north of Eureka and Roanoke almost right over the house of Clark and Lisa Leman who were picking us up at Midway. It took them several hours to drive up to get us but only took us 23 minuets from their place until the wheels hit the runway at Midway. We made it to my Mom and Dad's house just in time to change and go met Caleb and Livy and her family for supper. Nate was so excited to see Caleb he almost knocked him off his feet.

We had a wonderful evening together with Livy and her family. The next 12 days were a blur of wedding showers, suit fittings, church functions and meeting with family and friends. There is so much I could keep writing about but this post is getting a little long so I better wrap it up. Our time back Home went by so fast and we are now counting the days to the wedding. Hopefully, I will get another post in before then. I didn't even get to the swine flu yet.

The new La Familia Zobrist.


Please remember to pray for the Children and Staff at CVE and the Church here in Magdalena.

La Familia Zobrist