Greetings from Tucumcari, New Mexico

Yvonne: Hi Guideposts. I’m Yvonne Braziel, owner and partner of Del’s Restaurant in Tucumcari, New Mexico. My sister is my partner.

Jessica: And I’m Jessica Braziel. I’m their mother. I sold the restaurant to them. I bought it in 1978 and sold it to them in 1995.

Yvonne: We live in Tucumcari, New Mexico. It’s a very small town; population is about 4,900, so this is where we’re at now in a small rural town in eastern New Mexico.

Amy: Welcome to First Presbyterian church in Tucumcari, New Mexico. My name is Rev. Amy Pospichal and I’ve been serving this church as their solo pastor since May of 2011. We have a little saying that we’re a little church with a big heart, and I do think that’s the case.

We have a very close-knit community, both in our church, but also the whole town is very closely knit. And part of our mission in this community was really to tap into our hearts and what the Holy Spirit tells us that God wants us to do, And that is to serve our neighbors and to love one another as God loves us. This window inspires me to think about that on a regular basis. And to me the flames of love that we are taught to have through the power of the Holy Spirit I think really inspires each and every one of us to have that big heart.

Jessica: I’ve been here over 50 years. So I’ve seen the town grow. It was about 15,000 when we moved here. I’ve seen the town grow; I’ve seen the town shrink. But it was a very, very lively town. A lot of farmers, a lot of ranchers, a lot of local businesses downtown. So it’s a whole different town, but Del’s Restaurant has been here the whole time. Very good restaurant, always has been.

Yvonne: We have a lot of travelers here from all over the United States, from all over the world, and they’ll focus their vacation on stopping at Del’s Restaurant. That’s the biggest compliment you can get. If you tell them, just look for the big cow on the side of Route 66, they manage to get there and we’re thankful.