Our First Mexican Birthday Piñata

The big sisters are bitter. Little Ahava was the first one to have a piñata for her birthday though we've all celebrated a birthday (or two) here. Ahava is now 5 years old. She requested a piñata that looked like "a girl in a pink dress" so she ended up with a Boo piñata from Monsters Inc. Before taking the piñata outside, Ahava noticed the crack on the back of the girl piñata's head. "I didn't do anything Mommy - honest!" We had to explain that the candy needs to be put INSIDE the piñata by means of piñata head surgery. Then where to hang the piñata? Our lemon tree is all ready keeling over from the weight of the lemons so we couldn't tie a piñata up there. The solution was seen in the corner by the front door: hockey sticks. Daddy held the piñata up by a hockey stick and Ahava whacked the piñata with a hockey stick. "High sticking" I'd say! But the sheer joy...
Hey Petra: it's a bad idea to put a piñata head over your OWN head! She asked, "Do I need to smile?" Oh my.

Future Plans

It took two days of praying and talking to determine what it is we sense God is leading us to do for the purpose of planting a church in this area of Mexico City. We pulled out our white boards and asked of ourselves "What are our core values?" By that I mean, "What is it that we understand the local church here is to be like?" We noted what God is all ready doing through us here and saw that it seems rather clear that God wants us to plant a short-cycle church in an area of Cuatitlan Izcalli in a colonia called Bosques del Lago. The goal is to have a first generation church up and running, with leaders developed out of the harvest by September of 2013. Currently we are all ready meeting on sunday evenings and that will form the seed of our new plant. Pray for us as we begin with intensity planting a church.

Dentist Day

We were asked a little while ago from a supporter if we have a dental plan. We responded by saying, "Mexico IS our dental plan." We are very fortunate that we found a good Christian dentist in the area. Yolanda, has treated us very well and the costs of dental work are about half of what they are north of the border. Yolanda has expressed some interest in helping us in our work of church planting because we plan to plant a church close to where she lives in an area of Cuatilan Izcalli called Bosques de Lago. Things seem to be progressing on the field and we think we are close to having a major breakthrough in reaching out to the community. I'll post more about this tomorrow.

Mexican Independence Day

Every night of September 15 into the wee hours of the 16th Mexicans celebrate their independence day when Father Miguel Hidalgo declaired Mexico's independence from Spain in 1810. The Celebration is called Noche Mexicana and it is a very fun time where friends and neighbours gather together for food and fellowship. Often people will wear traditional Mexican clothes for the celebration as you can see Emma did in picture #2. We were invited to a new friend's home to celebrate with his family. Alejandero (in the first picture with Ahava) is a lawyer that attends our English lessons with his wife Lulu and he seems to have really taken to us. We attended the celebration with Ruizs and we had a great time eating a traditional soup called Pozole (picture #3 Brittany and her friend Nicole) and chanting the Grito which is the declaration of independence. We also had strong opportunities to meet new people that are from the community where we plan to plant a church. I, Marcel, had a particularily legnthy dicussion with a man named Carlos who is a pilot for Mexicana Airlines. Since I have an aviation background I could "talk shop" with him but soon our coversation led to discussions of faith and religion. For about two hours I was an appologist as I answered his thoughtful objections to faith. Yet all was not lost. I gained a friend and his respect and he agreed to meet again with me soon to talk some more. Moises also spoke at length about faith issues with a man at the party who is a dentist and his wife. I did'nt get to bed until 3AM but it was a great time and we enjoyed every minute of this fun celebration. The final picture is of Ahava at school where they celebrated Independence Day at school wearing traditional clothes, singing songs and dancing traditional dances. It's so funny that our youngest girls is already so Mexicanized. She is unbelevably fluent in Spanish already and loves Mexican food.

So Much for Canadians Being Liked Around the World

O.K...I hear it all the time. It's like the worst Canadian media driven propaganda. Canadians are well liked around the world. That possible is true except when it comes to playing the soccer team of another country. Tonight, Canada will be playing Mexico in a qualifying match for the World Cup. The game which is to be played in the state of Chiapas is very important as it will, if the Mexican team wins, bring them closer to advancing. So this morning's newspapers are covered with, dare I say, anti-Canadian headlines and comments. Some of it is rather humourous because it is suggesting the Canadians will have difficulty playing in the 33*C weather with 70% humidity. That reporter needs to visit Toronto or Edmonton in the summer! Perhaps he will get a chance to visit on October 15th when Canada plays Mexico in Edmonton when the average temperature is an average high of 10*C and an average low of 0*C. Either way, it's in all good fun. Hopefully, there will be a good game and Canada will win its first game on Mexican soil in 50 years of FIFA play. Let me explain the pictures above. The first one is of the Mexican coach, Sven Eriksson (a Swed) in a Mounties uniform with a headline that says the Canadians are going to melt in the hell of Chiapas. They second picture has a Mexican rooster with a maple leaf on its head. The third is an ad from Toyota showing a foozeball player having kicked the ball so hard that he broke off the legs of the Canadian foozeball player.

Coin Collectors Paradise

I've been collecting coins since I celebrated my 12th birthday in Hamilton, Ontario when my Aunt Dora gave my $10 as a gift. I went though a Sears store in Hamilton later that week and happened upon a coin and stamp kiosk. I became fascinated by the old coins, how different they looked, and the history behind some of the coins, particularily Canadian nickels. With that $10 bill I bought several old nickels, an album to put my nickels into, and a book that gave prices and values of coins. Since then I have branched out and have found that this can be somewhat of a lucrative hobby. My oldest coin is 2,100 years old and is made of copper and is known as the "Widow's Mite". It is the same kind of coin that would have been spoken about in the Bible from Jesus' teaching on giving where the widow gave everything and it was her two small copper coins. I have since moved away from nickels and have begun collecting coins that have significance (like the Widow's Mite...though they are a dime a dozen; pardon the pun) or are made from bullion metals. The Mexican mint is the oldest mint in the Americas and they have a style and craftsmenship that is superior to many other mints. I have found several coin shops around here and frequent them every now and then but recently, when my friend Curtis was visiting here, we went to the mint and made some purchases directly. I was like a kid in a candy store and purchased some. Yet I saw others that I would like to get and will probably in the future. The coin above is a bullion coin. It is a type of coin purchased solely for the content of the precious metal (as opposed to coins purchased for their numismatic value or in other words, the quality and rarity of the coin), in this case, 1 ounce of pure silver. It is called a Libertad and they come in sizes as small as 1/20th of an ounce, go up to 1kg (2.2 pounds...which will put you out around $800). The coin has a famous statue on it that can be seen in the central part of this city and in the background are the volcanoes Popo and Itza. Also on the coin is a nopal cactus and a agave from which tequila is made. The reverse has several depictions of eagles which are Mexico's official bird and represent the nation. As long as I am here I will be pursuing this hobby since silver can be bought here at quite reasonable prices.