Notes from Sister Confianza:
-Our grocery bill was lower than some quarters, perhaps because we ate lots of produce from our garden including sweet potatoes, plantains, and papayas, and bought fewer vegetables.
-Household costs included replacing the wooden posts in the back porch, as well as paying Rigo to cut some lumber at the motherhouse. We had him build a platform next to Sister Alegria's bed (a high ER gurney) so she doesn't have to step down and climb back up so far when she uses the bedside commode.
-The library expense was a box of books from the US (I was wrong when I said we paid for one in the first quarter)
-We spent money on fabric for clothing and paid for getting the treadle sewing machine tuned up, which we hadn't done in many years. It involved a house call, which added to the cost. The repairman tried to recruit me to help sew school kids' uniforms for the independence day parade in September, but I had to decline due to my busy schedule with the permaculture course that started at the end of June. We paid half tuition for it, having received a scholarship from OSU, using a grant through Multnomah Monthly Meeting.
-The Motherhouse construction continued at a good pace, with the walls being plastered with a mix of lime and clay. We had to pay for more wood in order to replace some boards in the kitchen wall (the bottom half is adobe, and the top half wood).
-With extra expenses in construction and other areas, our alms giving isn't very high this year. However, this quarter we were able to purchase materials for the lab and pay the builder to finish the new lab space. We also bought contraception for the clinic and continued to pay the monthly maintenance fee for Cooper's motorcycle.
-Financial costs were a bit high due to fees for wiring money.
-The chickens actually brought in a profit this quarter, but only because we sold off most of our birds in June. Several hens had been stolen, and baby chicks were getting killed by animals, so we reduced our flock to three hens (just to provide us eggs) until we can build a new more secure coop.
-Agroforestry income was significant this quarter due to the sale of sweet potatoes for Holy Week and plenty of papayas.
-I forgot to comment on the "Recovered Money" from the first quarter. We were in need of cash in January, so we decided to close our account at the credit union. (There was some money in an obligatory savings account that we couldn't touch without closing out.) We also had a debit card, with which I had made numerous purchases over the last four years. For some reason, several of the purchases were never deducted from the account; the money had stayed frozen in the account, accruing interest for us. So, when I went to close the account, they refunded me all that money -- $400, including the bit we still had in the account. It was a boost to our finances, and a small kick in the modern capitalist system with it's plastic and electronic money!