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.

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.

Baptism

While we await a time to start planting a church our family has been attending a church near our home. I must say that I am really impressed at how well organised they are. Clearly displayed at the front of the church are banners displaying the mission statement and vision statement. Sermons are expositional and designed to evoke a response. Worship is lively and Christ centred. They have three services every Sunday and they fill the 300 - 400 seat auditorium each time. They are also aggressively planting churches in other areas of the city. What was really cool this last Sunday was that there was a baptism. Nine people ranging in ages from teen to their seventies committed their lives to Jesus Christ. There testimonies were sincere and heart felt. When the pastor would ask questions like, "Do you believe that Jesus died for your sins?" or "Do you confess Jesus as Lord?" They would respond with words like, "How could I not?" or "Yes, of course, there is no other Savior." It was quite a moving service and gave me a little hope, during a low time for us, that God is working here. I hope we can be used in the same way.