How to Paint a House the Mexican Way

This evening I was watering our new flowers that Javier, our gardener, planted in the flower boxes on our porch when I saw something that made me laugh and be angry at once. I saw a man painting a house a couple streets down from us. He was not painting in a way that I have ever seen before. He was being hung by a rope from the rooftop and the bucket of paint was hung by another rope. He's sitting on a board - it's quite the apparatus! (Click on the photo for a fullscreen look and then click the "Back" button to return to this text.) Ingenious? Dangerous? Or probably both! It did not seem like he was efficiently getting his work done and this looked like an overly labour intensive way of painting. There is such a large portion of the population here that is poor that it is not hard to find cheap labour that is willing to do the worst of jobs for next to nothing of a wage. My Christian compassion towards the poorest of people compels me to call this labour market among the poor "exploitation". There are many people here that will drum up work that may seem to us north of the border to be benign. For example, most every commercial parking lot has people that have whistles that will help you back out of your parking stall. All that is expected is maybe 2 or 3 pesos. Some people give it, many others do not. I usually give a little more than the average but what I do next shocks them every time. As I give the money I say, "Dios te bendiga." (God bless you). Their response is always a smile accompanied by words like "Igualmente" (to you as well), "Muy amable." (You are very kind.), or "Gracias: gloria a Dios." (Thank-you: glory to God). Jesus had a special heart for those who were society's poorest and it has been primarily among the poor that He did His greatest works. Our prayer is that we will be able to see God do a great work here among the poor, both physically and spiritually. Pray that we will be able to begin a church plant here soon and that we would see our first converts to the Saviour soon.

A Celebration of History

The landscape in Mexico City is like a celebration of history. As we took our tour of this great city on Saturday, we could not help but notice that so much of the architecture, art and culture was a monument to great aspects of the Latin culture. There is a aura about this place that we really did not expect when we made plans to minister here. It's hard to describe but there is a feeling that this is a place of immense beauty. That is not to say that there are not problems here. There are and they are profound; crime, horrendous poverty, rude drivers and corrupt police. In some ways, the potpourri nature of this city is summed up in the Denzel Washington (my favorite actor) movie "Man on Fire." I understand the movie is based on a true story about a botched kidnapping here some years ago. The movie actually has a strong thread of Christianity running though it that compels people to consider the place of forgiveness, providence and the power of God's word. At the end of this very tragic movie, in the credits is a dedication of the film. "To Mexico City...A Very Special Place." Those are words in which, if you have ever been here, one can easily relate to. This is a special place and what a privilege it is to be called to serve here. We want to bring the good news of Jesus Christ to the very special people in this very special place. Christ has come to save them from their sins.

Above are some of the celebrations of history in art and architecture. The first picture is of Plaza Madrid which is an plaza identical in size, shape and surroundings as a plaza in Madrid. It was built by the Spanish government to celebrate the close bond and affinity of Madrid and Mexico City. The second picture is of a metal sculpture depicting The Man of La Mancha, otherwise known as Don Quixote, the principal character in the famous Spanish novel by Miguel de Cervantes. The third photo is of the Monument to the Revolution that brought about independence from European colonialism in Mexico. Just a footnote; I don't want to encourage everyone to watch the movie "Man on Fire" because of the language and violence.

Tourist Day

After a busy week of university Spanish, homework, church meetings, hockey practice and other day to day things, we decided this Saturday would be a good day to do something touristy. We did not know what we were going to do so we thought we would take the bus from our house and head downtown and see what fancied our interest. At the Auditorio Metro Station, we saw a double decker bus called the Touribus. We had seen the bus before and knew we wanted to take the tour someday. Well, we checked how much money we had with us and decided today was that "someday". They offer a three hour tour of the central part of the city and we saw all sorts of places that we had not seen yet or did not realize existed. Mexico City is very much a city that has drawn its architecture and city planning from Europe. We constantly heard phrases like Parisian influence, or designed in Italy or Spanish architecture. This city does remind me of Europe. Earlier this week we were in the Polanco district to meet with our lawyer about our visa application and that area reminded me of Madrid. It's hard to believe that this gem of a city is so close to major U.S. and Canadian North American cities and yet is hardly visited by tourists north of the border in comparison to Mexico's resorts. The depth of history here surpasses that found most everywhere else on the continent. The day was a "shorts and t-shirt" kind of day and the cool breeze on the upper deck of the bus was welcome. Now that we know where there are a few more interesting places in this city, we will likely visit them in the near future. These days we are on the lookout for new things for our Gateway teams to do, teams that are visiting Mexico City for a second time. I never get tired of visiting the pyramids of Teotihuacan but we feel that maybe groups that are coming for a second time might want to experience a different aspect of the city on their tourist day. I think we have a few options now.

Her New School Uniform

Here's a picture for Oma up in Vancouver B.C. Ahava is in her new school uniform which she received yesterday. Her school mascot/emblem is a hummingbird which is appropriate for a kindergarten school with children from 3 to 6 years of age. We really do have a lot of hummingbirds in our area! This morning we encountered a little problem with Ahava before she went to school. As Ingrid was packing Ahava's little lunchbox, Ahava asked, "Mommy, can I have a taco in my lunchbox?" Ingrid asked, "Why? Do all the other kids eat tacos for lunch?" Ahava put out her little lip as if ready to cry and, looking really sad, said, "Yes." (sniffle...sniffle) It just amazes us how quickly children become culturally acclimatized. She wants to be like all the other little kids at her school. We have been encouraged by other missionaries to read books about missionary kids. MK's, as they are known, are often called "third culture kids" because they are a citizen of one culture and growing up in a family from that culture, yet they are living in a different culture and adapt to certain aspects of that new culture (language, food, surroundings, etc.). The child is never fully from one's own culture nor fully from the culture in which they are raised. It's like they are from a third culture. In Ahava's case, not fully Canadian nor fully Mexican. Add to it that she lived in Texas she has experience from that culture, too. She can still recite the Pledge of Allegiance from memory, and on our recent trip to Texas she said, "We're home again!" Maybe she is a fourth culture kid!?

Mexican Art

Mexico is a very artistic land and has been so for two millennia. One of the more famous modern artists is the muralist and cubist painter Diego Riviera. Born in Guanajato, Diego moved to Mexico City at the age of five. He took up painting early in life, studying in Mexico and Europe. He married another famous Mexican painter: Frieda Kahlo. They apparently fought like two Turks and though the marriage ended in divorce, they remarried. Despite the marriages, atheism and communistic leanings, one must admire his excellent murals. He was painfully honest about Mexican history which was the theme of his work as you may note in the above pictures. These pictures of his murals were taken at the National Palace at the Zocolo in downtown Mexico City. Diego died in November of 1957. It is fifty years since his death and there are many celebrations and exhibits around the country celebrating his artistic achievements. http://www.diegorivera.com/index.php

At Least the Day Started Nicely

Yesterday, was a long day. We were up before the sun rose to get the kids ready for school. Ingrid had to go to university for Spanish classes and I was off with Moises to Acolman. As the sun rose, I took these photos of the volcanoes back lit by the sun. The volcanoe "Popo" is letting off a little steam. It had a huge day long explosion a few weeks ago when we were in Mazatlan. Today, Moises was showing me where to pay the taxes and the water bills for the Retreat Centre, where I was to stand in line, what to say and where and when to get photocopies of documents. From there it was off to the Centre to see the work that Celestino and his son had accomplished on the electrical system. Let me just say, when the sun goes down and the lights are turned on at the centre, it looks incredible in the courtyard! Moises and I changed some panes of glass on the workshop and I began taking an inventory of what jobs need to be done by Gateway teams this summer. Sadly, we have more work than teams for this summer. We need a minimum of four or five teams every summer but we only have two scheduled for this year. This is going to put us at a distinct disadvantage as we are a small team and highly dependent on missions teams (please pray for missions teams to join us this summer). From there it was off to the church to have a leadership meeting and hear if Fransisco and Adriana would accept the position of pastor of the church. They declined for several reasons. We can't tell you how devastated we are. We were all set to let the church be on its own and begin concentrating on church planting on the northwest side of the city. Those plans are delayed yet again...likely for months. What to do...What to do?

First Day at School

Today, was Ahava's first day at school. It is a small private school called Jardin de Niños or Children's Garden, that speaks almost exclusively Spanish and is close to our home. Despite the look on her face that says, "I'm going to choose your nursing home", at the end of her three hour day, she said she had fun. Her teacher is Miss Gabriela and she looks young, like she just got out of teachers' college. She seems very nice and is a hip dresser. Classes are every weekday from 9 -1 but on the days we are at university, Ahava will be there till 2:30. She says that there are two little girls that are her good friends already. We hope that from this school experience there may be an opportunity to reach out to people with the gospel.

Tearing Down Walls...and Our First Shakedown

The spread of evangelical Christianity must be having an impact. On several occasions I have seen the above poster on the doors of homes in our area and near the church. It says, "This home is Catholic. We do not accept protestant propaganda nor from other sects. King Jesus Lives!" The words are pro-Jesus, but note who the picture is of: The Virgin Guadalupe, sometimes known here as the Mother of Mexico. The worship of virgin Guadalupe takes a much greater preeminence than Jesus Christ in the lives of people. Sadly, she is considered to not only be a co-redeptrix with Jesus Christ, but she is the medium to speak to God in all aspects of worship. A Norwegian missionary to Argentina that we met here recently told us that she had no idea Mexico was so strongly Catholic. Even we can't believe it at times. Shrines and images are everywhere and there are so many skewed understandings of salvation. A neighbour told us that her husband, that died some years ago, died on the same day as a certain saint, therefore she said, "He is in heaven." The message that we must give these people is that we are not saved on the basis of our righteousness or that of another Christian but on the righteousness of Jesus Christ alone. Soli Deo Gloria.

On a different note, Ingrid and I faced our first shakedown by the local police. We often get pulled over by the police to check our documents; about 10-15 times since we arrived here in June. But we are usually released within a minute or two with a handshake from the officer. Not this past Saturday. We were driving out to the retreat centre to spend the night and practise our Spanish with Juan and Carolina when we were pulled over in heavy traffic in the suburb of Tultitlan (an area famous for corrupt police we are told). The officer wanted our documents and then told us that the tinted windows are illegal and that he was taking our licence away, going to impound our truck, and fine us 60 days wages. One must understand at this point that I am a libertarian; not a conservative, not a liberal or socialist (like a famous distant relative of mine, Tommy Douglas). I don't believe in government...I'm kinda like a right-wing hippy. So this shakedown rubbed me very wrong. After 10 or 15 minutes of politely arguing with the man, that, 1. As a tourist my vehicle comes under federal law, 2. My windows were tinted at the factory, not after market and 3. Securing my Canadian driver's licence would force me to call the Canadian embassy because the licence is the property of a Canadian government. I was forced to call my Mexican lawyer. She argued with him for about 10 minutes before she called his boss. Then Moises talked with the guy by cellphone for about 5 or 10 minutes. Nothing seemed to work. He said he wanted a deposit on the fine and then I could have my licence back but on Monday, I would have to pay the rest of the fine at the police station. I said to him, "I am a Christian, a man of integrity. I will pay a fine but not a mordida (lit. "bite" - a bribe) but I will fight this injustice. The bible says not to pay bribes." After another 5 minutes, he talked with his partner, who was much kinder to us, told us to put on our seat belts and go because it would soon be dark and it would be dangerous for us to be parked beside the road, giving us back our licence and going on his way with no handshake. It was an awful experience... actually kind of frightening. In the US and Canada, we pride ourselves on good policing but here, things are not the same. We are taking some advice from our somewhat charismatic dentist in Mexico, whom we've come to love. We're going to pray over our truck and hope that God limits our interactions with the police...unless it's for good, of course.

Spanish...The Eternal Language

Spanish...The Eternal Language: it takes forever to learn. That was the joke around campus in Texas because there are aspects of it that are very difficult to apprehend. We remain students of the language though we are on the field. This week Ingrid and I began classes in Spanish at the Universidad Nacional Autonimo de Mexico. We went through two tests for ability in the language. Ingrid and I have been put in two different classes. We are the only native English speakers. There is another young lady from Canada but she is from Quebec and speaks only French. There is a large number of students from Korea, China and Germany. Other students come from Finland, Poland and France. So far the class is exceedingly simple but we are told it will get very hard by the end of the second month. The class is taught completely by immersion and there is no opportunity to speak English. At break time, we are all forced to talk with one another in Spanish with our native accents. Because the class is three days a week, we have had to place Ahava in a pre-kindergarten program. We hope she likes it. This weekend we are off the the retreat centre to practise our Spanish bible study skills on Juan and Carolina. This way they will learn the bible and we will learn how to converse in Spanish. This photo is of Ahava giving Carolina a kiss. Ahava has a little game going with Carolina's husband, Juan. Juan always opens his arms and calls Ahava to give him a hug. Ahava hids behind her mommy and often gives Carolina a quick hug and kiss as she smiles at Juan. What a teaser!

There is a Balance Between Anger Management and Time Management

We've all been there. We set a time for a meeting and the other party does not show up. What to do? We can be diplomatic and show understanding as to why the other party did not show. We could graciously confront the other party and stress the need to strictly adhere to planned events if the other party is pathologically late. Or we could do what the famous Mexican revolutionary Pancho Villa did. Shoot the clock. The top picture is of the Palacio de Gobierno (government palace) in downtown Guadalajara; Mexico's second largest city with a metropolitan area of around 5 million people. On the way to and from Mazatlan, we drove through this large historic city. A nephew of Moises that lives in Guadalajara gave us a small tour of the beautiful downtown core. He showed us the building above where Francisco "Pancho" Villa was to meet another revolutionary for a 5:30 meeting. Unfortunately, the other party was late and typical of a revolutionary that struggles with anger, he just had to shoot something. So he shot the clock under which he was to meet his comrade. He didn't leave a Post-it note or cellphone voice message saying "I was here but you must have been delayed. I did wait for two hours." He shot the clock to mark the hour! That bullet hole is still there today as seen in the second photo and the clock is stopped on the time at which it was shot. Another interesting historical fact about this building was that Padre Miguel Hidalgo declared the abolition of slavery in Mexico from the main balcony in 1810 which launched the nation into a war of independence.

We're Blogging Again

We took a few weeks off from blogging to enjoy the Christmas holidays and to go to the City of Mazatlan for our annual team meeting. This was the third such meeting that I have had with the Mexico field. The first was in the town of Guaymas in the northern state of Sonora and the second meeting was in the Rio Grande Valley of Texas. This trip, we and the Ruizes stayed at the Mayan Sea Garden and enjoyed the beautiful beach for at least a couple hours each day. This is only the second time that we have been to a Mexican resort town. This past summer, our family went to Puerto Vallarta. Here's the differences between the two towns: Mazatlan has the nicer beach, better food ("must go to" restaurants are The No Name Cafe...get the BBQ Ribs...Brasil...Brazilian rotisserie BBQ, roasted over an open fire on swords [see pic. above]... and Panamá...get the enchiladas.) and the town is generally cheaper. Puerto Vallarta has a much nicer resort (Mayan Palace) and nicer downtown tourist area but the place is much more expensive. The weather was sunny but according to several people we talked to, this has been Mazatlan's coldest winter in twenty years. (So much for global warming.) Everyday the high was about 22*c and "sweater weather" in the evenings. That might seem nice to our friends in the prairies and the Midwest but it has been unusually warm here in Mexico City this winter, getting up to 26* everyday. After having lived here and deep south Texas over the last two years, we went to a resort to cool off! Our bodies have certainly aclimatized to hot climates. While in Mazatlan we celebrated Kirklyn's 8th birthday. I can hardly believe she was born at the turn of the millennium and is eight already. Yes, we did get some work done and I can say that plans for church planting in Mexico City are coming along and soon we'll be able to put our plans into action.