We have been joined this week by Pastor Larry of Calvary Baptist Church in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania and Jim Crozier of Camp Caroline in Caroline, Alberta. These men have been a great blessing to us. Pastor Larry has the gift of evangelism. He and Marcel spent some time street evangelizing while they were downtown being tourists. As they gave a Bible to one man, another man who had been listening intently but off to the side came over to them and asked, "Do you have another Bible for me?" They did happen to have just one more and it was meant for this second man. Pastor Larry has also given us some timely wisdom and been an encouragement to us and the Ruiz family. Jim Crozier helped us think through some strategic planning regarding the Retreat Center in Acolman. His years of camp ministry experience where beneficial to us as well. Our thanks to their families and ministries for "sharing" their gifted leaders with us for a few days! The photos we share today are: 1) the edge of the garden at the Retreat Center 2) our new windows on the boys' dormitory 3) Pastor Larry visiting with our colleague, Moises and the Retreat Center caretaker, Carolina and 4) a rare, clear morning when we could see the volcanoes Itza and Popo from our house in the NW of Mexico City.

I Have A Headache

Our new English as a Second Language classes have become quite popular. We get about 15 people every Wednesday and Friday night and there is still lots of interest about the class in the community. Another lady drove here tonight and said she is interested in the classes as are some of her friends and neighbours. As with all people who join our English classes, we tell them that it is followed by a Bible study and most of the people stay for that, too. Moises teaches the adults while Brittany teaches a small Bible study to the teens that come. I'm very proud of her for taking this study on. She is a real go getter and is craving to have an active youth ministry to be a part of.
At a recent lesson we were talking about going to the doctor and how to, in the most simple way, say that you are in pain. I said to them "Just say the body part and then say ache. For example, 'I have a stomach ache', 'I have a foot ache', etc." When the English and Bible study class finished, we enjoyed some coffee and cake and watched the last few minutes of the soccer game between Canada and Mexico that was played in Edmonton. In the closing minutes of the game here was a rush of Mexican players toward the Canadian goal, a kick was made, and the Canadian goalie came out, made a great save but elbowed a Canadian defender in the head. The defender went down hard! Just then one of our students, Oscar, said "I have a headache." We all burst out laughing. The pictures above show the teens that Brittany is leading, the second picture is of the hurting player and the third is a closeup of some of the kids. The game was a tie 2-2.

Canadian Thanksgiving with a Mexican Twist

Last night we had 50 people in our home to help us celebrate Canadian Thanksgiving. Some people we had gotten to know through our English lessons, others we know through a ladies' bible study and still others, through the Ruiz boys' soccer club. We met husbands/wives and children of people we had met. We had an explanation of the history of Canadian Thanksgiving and we all sang "Give Thanks" in both Spanish and English. We ate a lot of turkey and also enjoyed poutine.
Poutine originates from Canada's French speaking province, Quebec. It is made with french fries, cheese curds, and hot beef gravy that is poured on top and partially melts the cheese. Yum! There is a new teacher at our girls' school here in Mexico City. She is from Quebec and was delighted to have some poutine. When we asked this francophone to tell us what poutine means, she simply told us to go and eat some. After a little research, we have discovered that it means "Mess." So true when you have melted cheese and gravy dripping from your fries.
Earlier in the day, Marcel gave a presentation about Canada to the elementary students at Mexico City Christian Academy on the occassion of their annual Cultural Day. As always, our potluck meal was delicious with a variety of Mexican, American, Canadian, and Korean food. The Korean girls wore their beautiful traditional dresses.
After such a full day, we were plenty tired but truly grateful for what God is doing here. Around midnight, the Ruizes, another missionary couple - the Williams, and our Christian neighbor gathered with us to pray and thank God at the end of the Thanksgiving party in our home.

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...