Checking on the Camp's Progress

It was a beautiful day in the largest city in the world today. Moises and I took advantage of the nice weather to check on the workers' progress at the camp. I also go to hear their Spanish and thus, practice my listening skills. As you can see, the roses at the camp are still blooming though some of the trees have lost their foliage.

Much has been accomplished in the last few weeks including the entire outside of the building being covered with stucco and the interior of the new second level being finished with stucco. There are now a set of concrete stairs from the boys dorm into what will be the indoor recreation area. Celestino and his workers were working on the wiring of the family dorms and the rec room and began to put in a new door bell that is as loud as a fire alarm, high on the main house so that Carolina can hear it from her home. Moises, Celestino and I also took some time to figure out what to do with that beam that is overhanging in the future dining hall. For now we will leave it. It is very secure and may possible be useful to hang stage lighting and a over head projector in the future.

After all the work was done, it was off to a local taco stand for Carnitas. A carnita is deep fried pork served in a corn tortilla. It's not healthy...it is like a heart attack in a tortilla but with limon, salsa roja, onions and cilantro, it tastes great.

Good to Visit with Friends

On our recent trip to Texas our family was graciously invited to the home of Bob and Barb Kracht for American Thanksgiving dinner. It was excellent. It's not easy for a family to invite a group our size and thus be invaded by a family of seven. Our hosts were most wonderful. We had a great time of fellowship and felt very encouraged and yes, we watched some football on the TV (Cowboys vs. Jets). Pictured is the Kracht's daughter, Julie, with Abi, the nephew of Moises and Caroline. Abi is a ministry student at Rio Grande Bible Institute and is a promising young leader for the church. He is also an excellent worship leader. They are a very nice young couple and we hope to see them again soon. Thanks for your hospitality folks!

Photos from the Drive

Driving north on Highway 57D from Mexico City to Saltillo, one is on a high mountain desert plateau. The drive is beautiful and the weather ominous. The post storm sunset was very beautiful this day. On the side of the road, one can purchase dried rattlesnake skins and some venders will sell live foxes, coyotes, hawks and owls. There are also huge signs that say that it is illegal to purchase these items - a federal offense.

Back from a Nice Trip to Texas

We just arrived back in Mexico City from spending a week in Texas. We needed to renew our tourist visas as we wait for our permanent visas. We took opportunity on this trip to take mom to the airport in Houston where she went on to Calgary to visit my sister. We had a great time with Oma and showed her many neat things about this great city. We also did a lot of shopping in Texas because 1. it's very hard to find our size of clothes here, 2. The quality of affordable clothes is terrible here and 3. The clothes in Texas are much cheaper than Mexico City. We have been really surprised that Mexico City is as expensive as it is. How people with less income than ourselves live here is beyond me. Brittany also took some time to visit with her Texas high school friend and basketball team mate, Veronica (pictured with Brittany). She is a really neat kid and when she is with us, she feels like one of the family. The other thing we enjoyed was getting some great Texas food. We love Texas BBQ, especially brisket from Rudy's BBQ in Pharr, TX. In Houston we visited Cracker Barrel where they specialize in southern cooking. I love the Cat Fish. Yummy! Outside the store, they sell old fashioned rocking chairs and we took a nice picture of the girls trying them out.

Much Needed Repairs

We have a nice large house with a great view of the city and the volcanoes and we have it for a fairly good rent price. The problem is, not much works well in the house and we have had an endless series of workers in the home trying to fix what is wrong and usually doing a poor job. Construction standards are not the same as in the United States of America or Canada. Finally, enough has been enough and we called upon two trustworthy men from our church to fix much needed repairs instead of letting the property manager choose the workers. What a difference! Celestino repaired our electrical box so now the power is not shutting off and turning on all day and night and Ricardo has built a new portion onto the cabinets so we can put in a new oven and stove. The previous oven and stove were awful. Everything here is powered by gas and the stove had only two settings: off and full blast! The oven door kept opening on it own and when it did that, the flame would quit, thus giving us a dangerous gas leak. Well, all that will soon be behind us.

Mom is still here and she seems to be liking the city. She really enjoyed the silver store, where we take our Gateway Teams, buying several very nice necklaces and earrings. She also loves the rich culture and the strong coffee. However, she has not really enjoyed Mexican food. Hence, we let her cook last night and it was great. I do miss mom's cooking. Mom's big heart has also meant that many people that beg in the subway tunnels and street corners are getting a little more these days. The kids have really been enjoying having her around and are already sad she will be leaving in a few days. We have to drive to the US border this week to renew our Mexican tourist visas until our permanent visas arrive. Mom is going to drive with us to Texas and we will take her to Houston to catch a flight to Calgary where she will visit my sister for a week.

Mom is Here

Mom arrived here late on Friday night to a rather chaotic scene at the airport. The day before I had gone to the mechanic to have my rear brakes serviced and cleaned. However, the mechanic overserviced the brakes and by the time we arrived at the airport to pick up mom, the brakes were seized and smoking like a chimney. We had to call Moises for help since we only have the one vehicle. He brought the mechanic to the airport and fixed the problem just as Mom entered the parkade. Whew...that was a close one!

Since then we have done a lot of touristy things. Saturday we went to a mall nearby for lunch and to get groceries. Sunday we took Mom to church. Pepe preached a strong message on 2 Peter 2 and we had the Lord's Supper. Mom was introduced to several people. The one picture above is Mom speaking with Moises' niece, Jabeth. We then took Mom to visit the Retreat Centre where she met Juan and Carolina. She was quite amazed at how big the centre is and how well kept it is. Ingrid had to return to the church teach a piano lesson to Abigail.

Monday was a unique day. We have had lots of little problems in our home but the worst of our problems is that our stove and oven do not work very well. The gas stove does not have any way to regulate the flame; thus, it's burning our food and wreaking our pans. The flame on the oven keeps turning off and the door does not stay closed. So once again, it was Moises to the rescue. He negotiated with the property manager and we will be getting new appliances soon. Tuesday, Emma came down with the chicken pox and she is staying home from school but we still took the subway downtown to show Mom the historical part of the city since Emma has past the contagious stage. As we came out of the subway tunnel, there were three Mexican Mounted Police that were gracious enough to let us take a picture with them. Then we went into the Palacio Bellas Artes and mom fell in love with the beautiful Italian designed building (with her favorite style of interiors - art deco) and the paintings of Diego Riviera, Frida Kahlo and José Clemente Orozco. We are hoping to return next week to watch a performance of the Ballet Méxicano Folklorico (traditional Mexican folk dancing).

From there we walked a short distance to have lunch at the Casa de Azulejos (House of Tiles) but that was not without some humour. I told Mom to follow close behind me to cross the busy intersection but instead, she followed a group of people carrying red flags that were crossing the same intersection. Somehow, Mom accidental joined a communist protest that was crossing the same intersection! The police were no help as they laughed at our little dilemma. After lunch we walked to the Zocolo visited the cathedral and the government house where there were large paper mache statues of Diego Riviera and Frida Kahlo (see picture above). Then it was back to home. Today, for mom's sake we are taking it more easy. Emma is at home resting as is Mom. We need to clean the house and I am continuing with my desire write a commentary on the Book of Matthew. Practice time on the computer with my Rosetta Stone Spanish program is in store as well.

Dia de los Muertos...Day of the Dead or Happy Reformation Day

Well, it that time of year again. My third favorite holiday after Christmas and Easter: Reformation Day! It is a day when we protestant Christians ought to be celebrating the day when Martin Luther nailed the 95 Theses to the door of the Wittenburg castle. Last year my good friend Curtis, back in the homeland of Vancouver, took my suggestion to celebrate Reformation day quite seriously. He had his wife shave his head like a monk, donned a cloak, and nailed 95 Theses to his office door. What's really cool is that he goes to work by public transit!

What was launched by Martin Luther so long ago could not be stopped and today we evangelicals have the benefit of the Reformers' actions against the tyranny of oppresive Catholisism. The Reformers announced that salvation was by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone and all matters of life and faith were found in the authority of scripture alone. This is why my library is full of the writings of Reformers and I consider myself to be a reformational Christian...always reforming. Spain was not overtly conquered by the reformation though they printed the Spanish Reina Valera (protestant bible) before the King James was produced. Though there were Spanish reformers such as Juan de Valdéz, Spanish reformers had to face a brutal inquisition. Hence when Spain was conquering the new world, they took only their brutal form of Catholisism with them. It really has not been until the last 100 years that the reformation arrived in Latin America with Presbyterian and Baptist Missionaries from Anglo-American.

Sadly, Mexicans and many Catholic followers celebrate Dia de los Muertos or Day of the Dead. It is a three day "celebration" that venerates deceased ancestors. We have seen many vendors in the mall and along the streets who are selling items for family altars for their deceased relatives: orange or burgandy marigolds (the flower of death), candy sugar skulls or coffins, chocolate skulls, tequila, incense, special sweet bread that is anise and orange flavored and shaped like a pile of bones and has a tiny plastic skeleton baked inside the dough, miniature furniture and pottery, paper-mache skeletons, and candles. These altars are also set up at public schools. Families visit cemetaries and spend the day. Tombstones are cleaned and repainted, flowers replaced, special games are played by the children, songs sung, prayers offered, and fond memories are retold. November 1 is commonly the day to remember children who have died and November 2 remembers adults who have died. Jugs of water and food are tied and hung outside homes for dead that are returning but who have no living relatives to provide them offerings on family altars. Marigold petals are strewn on the ground from the gravesite to the front door of the family's home to help the ancestors find their way. Newspapers have articles/poems revealing politicians' "skeletons" i.e. having spent municipal funds on the lottery.

The whole celebration is considered to be a Mexican tradition where Mexicans interact with the concept of death without fear but even to the point of humor. In fact, it is a Catholic religious practise that blended with existing Aztec beliefs about the dead. As we were doing errands with Moises, we were able to hear his excellent biblical explanation that he gave to a young believer in response to her question: "As a christian, I shouldn't have an altar, should I? My whole family has done this each year for as long as I can remember... and I feel like I should though I don't think that it is the right thing for me to do now that we are christians." We said goodbye as she went into her home to further study her bible.