Relief effort
Norm Pifer, vice president of the Chapala Cruz Roja’s board of directors, says anyone wishing to help in the Mexican relief effort on the Pacific coast following the devastating storm damage there can write a U.S. check to CRIVC, INC or a Mexican check in pesos to Cruz Roja Mexicana I.A.P. They can leave checks at the Lake Chapala Society table, give them to Charlie Klestadt or Pifer, or deliver them to the Red Cross clinic in Chapala. Cash donations are also accepted and welcome.
Pifer informs us that five local Red Cross emergency personnel have been deployed to the state of Guerrero to help in the relief effort.
Gift of hearing
In June, together with his family, Christian de la Cruz, a deaf and mute child from San Juan Tecomatlan, traveled to the Shriners Hospital for Children in Montreal, Canada for the first of two planned surgeries.
The surgery was successful and Christian has gained partial hearing. His language skills are developing and he started kindergarten a few weeks ago. He is progressing well, say his teachers, and loves the challenge of learning and interacting with his classmates.
The second surgery is scheduled for November 4, also at the Shriners Hospital in Montreal. If successful, this will restore his hearing completely.
Christian and his family and friends thank everyone who participated in making the first trip to Montreal a reality. The donations toward his expenses are very much appreciated.
Anyone who would like to be part of this gift of hearing and make a donation to help with the final surgery costs, should contact Graham and Shiela Paull at (376) 763-5509 or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. You can make a donation directly into the travel fund by talking to Susie or Cesar at O&A Investments, across from Walmart. And you can also donate by contacting any local Shriner.
Post Seven
American Legion Post Seven in Chapala is hosting a “Hobo Camp Bum Party” on Wednesday, September 25, with drinks at 5 p.m. and Hobo Stew served at 6 p.m.
This hearty meal is priced at 65 pesos.
Also available will be cinnamon bread pudding and roasted marshmallows.
There will be prizes in the following categories:
- Best bum hobo name and costume
- Best hobo sign asking for work
- Best story as to how you became a hobo (open mic)
Post Seven is located at Morelos 114 in Chapala, two blocks off the main drag.
Film show
Cinemas del Lago in Plaza Bugambilias will screen the award-winning documentary “Queen of the Sun” on Friday, September 27, 5:30 p.m.
This film puts an emphasis on worldwide bee-colony collapse and what we need to be doing to protect bees, in order to protect our food supply – no bees, no food. The film is ideal for students. To be shown in English with Spanish subtitles.
The screening is held in conjunction with events being held all over the country on September 20 to emphasize the nation’s major life-sustaining crop, corn.
Dine with the Shrine
The Lake Chapala Shrine Club will hold a Dine with the Shrine event on Tuesday, October 22, from noon to 8 p.m. at La Nueva Posada in Ajijic. The details are still being worked out and will be published as soon as possible in this column.
Club officers thank Michael Eager, who unhesitatingly offered to stage the event.
McAllen bound
The Lake Chapala Society (LCS) is planning a trip to McAllen, Texas from Sunday, November 3 to Thursday, November 7. Shopping is scheduled on the Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. The bus will take participants to each shopping area. The return trip will leave late Wednesday afternoon, arriving back in Ajijic early Thursday morning.
The price is 6,000 pesos (462 dollars) for double occupancy and 7,500 pesos (577 dollars) for single occupancy. It includes round-trip transportation, tips for the driver and a three-night stay at the Hampton Inn with breakfast included.
A 1,500 pesos non-refundable deposit is required. The balance is due by October 18. Travelers must have a valid passport and the correct Mexican documentation (temporary, permanent visa etc.). A copy of both must be presented with the final payment. The trip requires a minimum of 30 people.
All those interested should contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or 766-4939, or the LCS table Monday to Friday from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Center for Spiritual Living
The Reverend Maureen Jones will present “Globos as Allegory” at the regular celebration at the Center for Spiritual Living (Nicolas Bravo 17, Ajijic) on Friday, September 27, from 5-6 p.m. A social hour will follow.
The Sacred Cinema screening on Sunday, September 22, 4 p.m. will be “The Bucket List” starring Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman. There’s no need to bring a bucket, but you might want to share your list in a lively discussion to follow the movie.
Classes continue with “The Four Agreements” by Don Miguel Ruiz on Wednesday from 10:30 a.m. to noon. The “Unfettered Soul” continues on Thursdays, 10:30 a.m. to noon. with an optional meditation from 10-10:20 a.m. Everyone is welcome at any or all of the center’s activities. You can also check out the website www.cslchapala.com, contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or call 766-0920.
Christ Church Anglican
Christ Church Anglican Fellowship will not meet at the Little Chapel on Sunday, September 22. Instead, they will take a church-in-a-box and moveable feast to Mazamitla to worship with La Sagrada Familia Mission at noon. The convoy will leave from outside Farmacia Guadalajara in Ajijic at 9:15 a.m.
Little Chapel
The Little Chapel by the Lake will hold its regular worship service at 11:15 a.m. on Sunday, September 16. “Moses Misunderstood” will be the topic of Rev. Gene Raymer’s message.
Says Rev. Raymer: “The Mosaic Law was given by God to His people whom He had saved from slavery and oppression, not people who did not know Him. It was to be a guideline by which they should live. Between the time of Moses and the time of Jesus, ‘religious’ leaders had changed Moses’ Law from a path to be followed by the saved to an insurmountable hill to be climbed in order to attain salvation.”
In the near future, Tony Rojas will be making a presentation on the missionary work he is doing. More details will be given as plans are solidified.
The Little Chapel by the Lake is an interdenominational congregation located at Carretera 10, Chula Vista. They welcome all Christian worshippers.
St. Andrew’s Anglican
This week at St. Andrew’s you can hear the most controversial, outrageous story Jesus ever told, and frankly, it’s enough to make any preacher look around for some other, any other, sermon topic. When two crooks are equally complimented and used as examples, who are we supposed to identify with? Aren’t we Christians supposed to be, as this Sunday’s sermon suggests, “A Really Nice Bunch of People”? Or should we be like the corrupt rich man or the dishonest steward in this troubling parable? This week we are asked to see ourselves in a mirror that most of us would rather not look into, and Father Winston Welty would be grateful to have others looking into that mirror along with him.
Worship at St. Andrew’s begins at 10 a.m., and a time of welcome, fellowship, and refreshment in the garden concludes the morning.
The ladies of St. Andrew’s will meet for lunch at 12:30 p.m. on Monday, September 30 at Tango’s Restaurant in Ajijic and welcome any women who would like to join them.
St. Andrew’s Anglican Church is located at Calle San Lucas 19, just a block south of the Carretera in Riberas del Pilar.
Presbyterians
The Rev. John Whitener III will take Job 14:7-9 as his text for the sermon at Lakeside Presbyterian on Sunday, September 22.
Psalms I portrays what happens when we fall into the embrace of Jesus: “Blessed is the one ... whose delight is in the law of the Lord ... That person is like a tree planted by streams of water ... and whose leaf does not wither ...”
However, for many people their “tree” may have withered in despair and hopelessness, and become no more than a stump. Job tells us there is hope! “If it is cut down, it will sprout again ... its new shoots will not fail ... At the scent of water it will bud and put forth shoots ...” There is life in His spirit, and the roots of your soul seem to know that!
Sunday worship begins at 10 a.m. Following the service, there is a time of fellowship and refreshments. Lakeside Presbyterian Church is in Riberas del Pilar, on the mountain side of the Carretera, just west of S&S Auto and Bubba’s Restaurant.
Unitarians
The Lake Chapala Unitarian Universalist Fellowship meets each Sunday at 10:30 a.m. at Santa Margarita 113 in Riberas del Pilar (a half-block north of the Carretera)
Sunday, September 22 will see the annual “Blessing of the Animals,” where animal friends and the blessing they are to us are honored. Kathy Koches and Bonnie Phillips will lead the service.
Everyone is invited to bring their pets (as long as they are sociable with other animals) on a leash or in a carrier and also pictures or mementos of pets, either living or deceased.
A coffee hour will follow the service. For more information call 765-3753 or e-mail This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Memorial celebration
A celebration of life will be held for Margaretha Andlaurer, who recently passed away, Tuesday, September 24, at 3p.m., at the Lake Chapala Society gazebo.