We Made It

Estamos aqui! We are here! Our border crossing that so many of you were praying about, it went very well. No taxes, no inspections, no fines, no "fines" (bribes)! At the second inspection point 20 km inland, we were directed to the inspection area. The state police officer read our letter of invitation that explained that we would be using our items in the trailer for our personal use and for ministry. He had a brief look in our trailer and sent us on. Our new little guard dog, Scout (9 wk old German Shepard), our tools, piano, clothing, books, and family of seven were all permitted into Mexico! Thank you for all of your prayers! We made some stops on the way in at Saltillo, Matahuala for the night, and San Luis Potosi on the second day of driving. The trailer was heavy (piano, tools, and theology books!) so we were often in the slow lane with the big trucks while going up the mountain roads.

We think that we have found a house to rent in the suburb of Mexico City that is called Atizapan. It is very close to Moises and Carolyn Ruiz. They live near a corner. Our house isn't on their street but on the one around the corner and about 10 houses down. The house is built on a hillside and has the bonus of an amazing view of downtown Mexico City off in the distance. You could likely see for miles if it weren't for the smog! The house needs a fair amount of work to be done on it. It also has been unoccupied for some time as there was an inch of dust on the floors. The yard is tiny, smaller than many master bedrooms in Canada or the United States. They have all ready cleaned up the dusty floors and tore out the weed "garden", leaving nothing but a small lemon tree. Wonder of wonders for us: another house on the flight path to the airport though Marcel doesn't mind a bit! The neighbourhood is close to a large technical university and on Mondays, a market is set up on a street just 3 blocks away. There are many community and kindergarten programs available in this area that should provide us plenty of opportunities to connect with our neighbours aside from being a family with a bunch of blondes walking down the street.

The girls are doing very well so far with the change from living in Texas to Mexico. Three of us have had a couple nosebleeds from living high up in the mountains. Carolyn told me that spaghetti noodles take 15 minutes to cook at this height rather than the usual 7 minutes. Marcel saw an airplane altimeter last year that said that the airport is 7,800 feet above sea level. Our home is well above that. We hope to calculate just how high in the mountains we really are.

Having visited here two years ago really helped us. The traffic is not nearly as scarey as it was our first day two years ago. The trip from our Christ Lives Bible Church in the northeast of Mexico City to our area in the northwest of Mexico City takes one hour. We were able to drive back home on our own without following the Ruizes. We didn't get lost and things are beginning to look a bit familiar. Another exciting new thing for us: we can better read the Spanish road signs!