If You Can't move the Ball 10 Yards in Three Downs Then You Should Quit Playing the Game

There are a few things I miss about home...and CFL football is one of them. This coming weekend is the Labour Day Classic. It's tradition, rivalry and many good memories. It's Canadian! Go Leos!
I heard about this CFL produced video a while ago and I think it is great.
Brittany says go Esks!

Reunion

Last night we had a small reunion of parents and kids that had attended our English camp and presented them opportunities to do a English/Bible study and have a marriage retreat. We also talked about having a small Canadian Thanksgiving celebration on October 10th. We won't have a turkey supper, probably just small Canadian dishes like poutin (yes, we have been able to find the ingredients and make that here...yummy). We are quite happy that there is some interest in what we are doing and even a lady from our neighbourhood whom we met a while ago is keen to help. What is really cool is that her husband is the president of a very well known and advanced university (kinda like the M.I.T. of Mexico) near by our house where we would like to do some student ministries. God does answer prayer and hopefully soon we will start to see some fruition from our efforts.

More Visitors

The last year and a bit that we have been here in Mexico City would have been a lot more difficult had it not been for friends and family visiting us. This last week we entertained my friend Curtis and his family who reside in Vancouver. Curtis was the best man at my wedding and has always remained in contact with us through the years. He spent a couple years himself in Germany as a missionary and knows the difficulties of living cross culturally. He drove with his family to Mexico City following a route determined by his handy little GPS. I was so intrigued by the GPS Curtis bought me one as well! Daily Curtis downloads the GPS track of his travels to his blogsite: http://fast5family.blogspot.com/ (You'll find the GPS travels in the upper left side of the screen and a very nice report from them). So now its impossible to get lost here Mexico with this cool little GPS gadget! We did the usual touristy things in Mexico City and I think they were rather surprised at the size and uniqueness of this city. In addition to visiting the pyramids we visited the Centro Historico where they bought a bit of silver jewelry for themselves, friends and family and I seemed to get Curtis into the fine and lucrative hobby of collecting silver coins. Mexico is coin collectors paradise! We spent some time at the House of Tiles where we had my birthday supper: I had the enchiladas suizas. Sadly their stay here was short but it was fun. They have a great family and we enjoy very much being around them. We share many things in common and we will miss them until the next visit.

The Big 40!

I want to say thanks to everyone for the cards, emails and well wishes on my 40th birthday. We had a great time with friends that visited from British Columbia and enjoyed the first official day of turning middle-aged. Blessings all!

Canadian Road Trip Part 3

Canadian Road Trip Part 2 Just a few more pictures

Just a few more pics from the motherland...

Canadian Road Trip Part 2

It's not quite heaven but it seems to be close to here. Vancouver...my town...cultural centre of the universe...lotus-land!!! It's good to be home. Since arriving here Saturday we have been quite busy visiting and doing all sorts of fun stuff. We began by visiting my Aunt and Uncle who took us out for supper to Whitespot on Kingsway in Burnaby. They also took us out to do some shopping and get some gifts for the kids that did not come with us. We visited my moms church in south Surrey and spent the afternoon looking at show homes. We also did some visiting of the beach area in Whiterock which is close to where my mom lives. That's when things got interesting after a Burlington Northern - Santa Fe train whisked by us on the promenade we heard sirens and saw that the fire department was putting out a fire at Dock's Fish and Chips. Then I'm not sure what happened but I saw two mounties run and detain then arrest a couple of young guys. I guess they won a free night at the Crowbar Motel, a colour portrait, food and drinks were included and of course one free local call. From there we went out onto the pier saw a couple seals swimming, kids crab fishing and others diving off the deck. Briefly, I relived my youth as I saw these things (but not the arrest...I've never been arrested!!!). They were part of my life having been raised here.

Canadian Road Trip Part 1

I've been in travelling in Canada since last Wednesday with Petra and Emma. Mexicana Airlines is flying between Mexico City and Edmonton and we took advantage of the reasonably priced tickets to visit friends and relatives. We only spent 36 hours in Edmonton so we were a little rushed. I was fortunate that my former head deacon Ed picked me up at the airport and took me over to the car rental location. He's a guy with a servant's heart and has always been the guy I could lean on for the right advice in any situation. One time when Ed and his wife Deb spoke at a pastors' retreat on Deacon Leadership, a pastor asked me where I found this guy. I said, "in my church." The guy said to me he wished his deacons were as progressive and insightful as my deacon. He then, jokingly, offered me a quarter section of land for him. I un-jokingly declined the offer. The following morning we went to Ed and Deb's house for breakfast and a good talk and to cap it all off, we did a little gopher shooting. Oh how I miss my guns! From there we went to the family farm near Trochu, my wife's home town, where I did some repairs on our 40' sea container that has some of our earthly possessions. Oh how I miss the farm and its wide open spaces! I was then off to Lacombe where my sister lives and our kids had a great time playing with the Wii which is an interesting interactive video game unit. After a visit to the doctor we were off to the airport for our flight to the Mother - Land...Vancouver. Oh how I miss that city! Part 2 tomorrow.