Recent News

Thought we'd let you know a bit about what's happening with our family currently. Marcel and I are both in Canada for a short yearly trip to submit our taxes, renew our Canadian vehicle registration, etc. I came on Sunday and Marcel on Wednesday. Marcel's mom graciously agreed to watch our girls. Her plane arrived in Mexico City and I flew back to Canada on the very same plane.

When we left Mexico, we had not heard a thing about the outbreak of Swine Flu. We check Canadian and American news sources daily in addition to Mexican news and no one was mentioning anything about this situation. When Marcel arrived in Canada, it was the breaking news story and has continued that way ever since. Marcel and I have asked Oma (Grandma) and the girls to remain inside our house and to only use the intercom to speak with anyone who should ring our doorbell. We had a month's supply of food in our home in preparation for a possible earthquake as that is an ongoing possibility when you live in Mexico City. Our Mexican friends coming over for bible studies and English classes teased us that our kitchen looked like a dispensary with boxes of pasta stacked on one wall but we are very grateful for those preparations at this time. There is plenty of food for Grandma and the girls and they can remain inside the house.

We had the anguish of watching a Mexican press conference from our hotel room in Canada and saw them pause as the Mexican health official and his colleagues felt an earthquake. It seems to have passed with little effect apart from frightening two Canadian parents who are two countries away from their family.

If possible, we hope to both return to Mexico City later today.

We all feel well physically. Grandma and the girls are dreaming of going for a walk down our residential street but that will have to wait. :)

Please pray for wisdom as we decide how best to handle this situation with our children and Grandma. The Canadian embassy in Mexico sent an email and said that the choice to stay in Mexico or to leave is a personal one. They provided several links for us to check what is the most recent information about the outbreak. Pray also for the Ruiz family, our NAB missionary colleagues who live just 10 houses down our street in Mexico City. Of course, please also pray for all Mexicans in the megacity of Mexico City, that this frightening time would be a catalyst for them to consider spiritual things.

Bernal Queretaro

Some more photos of the town of Bernal, Queretaro. We hope to take Marcel's mom there for a visit the next time that she comes to Mexico because we are sure that she will love it!

How Did They Get Up There?

Where there's a will, there's a way. The main north-south road for Mexico City runs down the west side of the Valley of Mexico. It's a 12 lane road (3 lanes and 3 lateral lanes in each direction). Roadways in a mountainous area are more challenging as you can't simply use a grid pattern of nice and square streets and avenues. None the less, the city planning for all these people who live in this megacity was a little lacking and the traffic becomes increasingly congested as the years go by. Statistics say that 2,000 people move to Mexico City each day!

In anticipation of the 200th anniversary of Mexico's independence in 2010, a second level on this 12 lane road has been planned and they are beginning to build. This is also part of Mexico's economic stimulus plan - to upgrade and build new roads throughout Mexico. Deep holes are being dug in which to put the huge pillars that will support each section of upper deck roadway. Some pillars are in place and some sections of the upper deck have been put in place with some gigantic cranes! (Again, my slow draw with the camara caused me to miss a photo of the crane. Next time...) Most of the work is done between 10 pm and 6 am during the night with the use of flood lights. During the day, the boulevards where there used to be grass, trees, and flowers are now filled with cranes, rebar, and heavy equipment.

What really caught our attention in the midst of all this construction was the few upper deck sections of roadway that are in place. There are a few places where just one section is put up and in one area, four sections have been joined together. As we passed by among the slow traffic (we lost a lane for fencing barriers and materials), we saw GRAFFITTI on the brand new concrete sections, way up there. Of course the cranes are secured during the daytime when they are not being used which leaves us wondering, "How did they get up there?"

Pastor Francisco is Official

Christ Lives Bible Church in Ecatepec celebrated the installation of their very first pastor, Pastor Francisco! He and his wife Adriana were prayed over and commissioned for their first pastorate as the first national pastor of Iglesia Biblica Cristo Vive. This church is now 12 years old and is still growing and maturing. Ecatepec is a suburb of 3 million people in the NE of Mexico City. For this special day, former NAB Mexico missionaries Royce and Sue Baron returned to join the congregation of the church that they had coplanted with Moises and Carolyn Ruiz. Angel and Leti also came as they were the first founding members of the church. Moises explained what an installation service is all about as it was the first time that the congregation had called a pastor. Angel and Royce both preached. At the end of the service, we enjoyed a taco potluck - yum! My new favorite tacos are filled with a cold nopal cactus salad. Surprisingly good. I also made a new friend on this Sunday - Sara, the little 7 yr old niece of my girlfriend Sandy. Sara couldn't believe that I actually know her Auntie Sandy. She happily chattered to me and I responded based on the few words that I caught as she sped along in Spanish, smiling the whole while.
Please remember Pastor Francisco and Adriana in your prayers. They have three young girls, one of whom had a new cast on her arm after slipping on their tiled stairs and breaking her arm. The church is located in a poor neighborhood and plan to pay Pastor Francisco $500 US dollars each month. His house rent is $200 and I am amazed at how they manage with just $300 each month for food and everything else they need. Also pray for Pastor Francisco's preaching skills. He has been attending a seminary in Mexico City to strengthen this weakness. His family have been involved in the church life for about 3 years so the congregation has all ready grown to love them for their wise and freely given pastoral counsel.

Love and Respect in Bernal Queretaro Mexico

Marcel and I spent our first weekend away, without the kids, in about... four years! The girls were fine and enjoyed their time with a french-canadian young woman who teaches at their international school. Thank you Miss Julie!!
We went to Bernal, Queretaro, Mexico which is about two hours NE of our house. We have spent several months praying and asking/compelling/begging/nagging our church plant contacts to go on a marriage retreat weekend with us. Previous dates never worked out but finally, two couples could go! One wife became sick on the Friday but she and her husband set off from their home on the next morning at 6:30 am and arrived in time to join us for breakfast at 8 am!
The location was beautiful. Bernal is a little colonial town, full of charm and little shops. It is famous for a huge rock formation that Marcel thinks looks like a lava flow formation. It very much reminded me of Devil's Tower in Wyoming, the rock formation in the movie "Close Encounters". It was so hot that we passed on the 2 hour climb up and back down but we hope to return and enjoy the hike on another day.
Our hotel room exterior
and interior.

The theme of the weekend was "Love and Respect" with biblical teachings about men loving their wives and wives respecting their husbands. We also watched the movie "Fireproof" which fit perfectly with our theme. The two ladies that came with us really opened up. They and their husbands enjoyed the weekend and I believe that their marriages will improve as a result of having attended this retreat.
Before driving home on Sunday, we wandered through the little town. We saw a large graffitti mural of a famous former soccer player from Argentina snorting cocaine through a straw. Quite the subject matter but the artisty was impressive none the less.
We also saw a beautiful woven tapestry depicting a scene of Bernal but it cost $4,000 pesos so we admired it and continued on our way. Marcel bought a small bookstand and we bought 4 different crosses for wallart. The buildings' architecture and painted exteriors were beautiful. We also admired some colorful Mexican handcarved dining room chairs that filled a little restaurant.

On the drive back home, we passed a grain elevator complex and some tall green barley fields. For a few minutes, I felt a little at home again. (These pictures are for our grain farmer friends up north.)

Once we got on the main highway, one of the men began to ask questions, wonderful spiritual questions about salvation and various bible stories. He told us his spiritual background and explained his scepticism regarding a large "Christian" church in Mexico City where the pastor had published a book on tithing and seemed to teach nothing else. This experience had, obviously, put him off anything Christian yet God sent another professional Christian coworker into this man's life. Carolyn, Marcel, and I prayed while Moises was used by God to speak the words this man needed to hear. We've known his wife since September and he surprised us by coming to our Valentine's Banquet. We really enjoyed getting to know this man during this weekend and we had many fun times of laughter together.
We again invited him and his wife to our Sunday evening church services in our home. The other couple hugged us goodbye and invited us to their home for a BBQ next weekend. Please keep praying!

Mexico City Advertising

Advertising in Mexico City can be a little different than back home. A favorite method is to decorate an entire vehicle like we do with city buses. The interesting part is that they cover three vehicles with the exact same advertisement and then drive the line up of the three vehicles down the road. Today, we saw 5 small cars decorated with a Hannah Montana advertisement for the new season of shows on the Disney Channel. I'm a slow draw with the camara so we only caught a photo of the two vehicles at the front of the procession. I guess the thinking is that if one vehicle with advertising is eyecatching, how much moreso are 5 vehicles all together! If you double click on the photo, you can have a closer look. The bus in front of these cars is also covered with an ad for Pizza Hut.

New Vehicle

Tired of being pulled over by the police (40 times since we arrived here not including federal police and army check stops) we decided we needed to purchase a Mexican vehicle with Mexican plates that will not draw the unwanted attention of the Transito (Transit Police). The new minivan is a 2003 and we got a fairly good deal from some friends that have been helping us in the church plant. We also had a very special relative in Vancouver give us a very generous check toward the van's purchase...Thanks soooo much! It's nice to have a vehicle again that has automatic windows and air conditioning. We will continue to use the old Suburban that was originally a Telus telephone company truck but only we it's really necessary - like when we need to pull the mission trailer. The top picture is our licence plate from the State of Mexico where we live (there are 31 states in Mexico and one Federal District, kinda like Washington D.C.). The images on the plate are from the Heroes of the Revolution and are put on this year's licence plates to celebrate next year's 200th anniversary of Mexican revolution. I've got to say, Mexican plates have a lot more panache than the plates in the US or Canada.

The Day of Love and Friendship

Our Valentine's dinner pictures have finally been recovered from the depths of our computer. (Thanks Brittany!) In Mexico, Valentine's Day is known as the "Day of Love and Friendship." By far, the most commonly sold Valentine's items were: yes, balloons. We sure couldn't afford them though! $8 for an 8 inch balloon and $14 or more for a larger one. Multiply that by five girls and we decided to pass on that idea. There were balloon vendors on every corner rather than just the usual spots on weekends in the parks and outside popular family restaurants.
We had oh so much fun with our neighbors during our "formal" dinner at our home! Our fancy dinner menu plans got scaled back considering the economy and though some unchurched people were surprised that we didn't serve alcohol, everyone was content with the homemade lemonade that Carolyn Ruiz made. The evening was a success. We haven't laughed that hard for a long time. We knew that some of our friends were teasers but wow. For example, while we were playing the "Newlywed Game", Marcel asked the question "What color are the sheets on your bed right now in your house today?" The wife would describe in detail the three color plaid while the husband would falter with "kinda bluish" sort of answers. Other husbands were yelling out possible answers to "help", things like "Just say that they're black because she never wants to do the laundry!" My, my!
The most difficult question to get a matching husband/wife answer for was "Where did you share your first kiss?" Surprisingly, only one couple had a matching answer! We were having so much fun that the atmosphere in the room was really happy. A few people were annoyed/embarrassed that their spouse didn't answer the same way but everyone turned it around into some sort of joke and we kept having fun. "Wrong" answers are completely what makes the game so entertaining! When people couldn't remember, we'd say, "Just make something up." They hadn't played this game before so they thought that suggestion was just ridiculous and it is but it's just a game.
We were grateful to have Angel come and speak. He and his wife began the Christ Lives Bible Church in Ecatepec along with the Barons and the Ruizes. They are now helping with another church plant in a different part of Mexico City but graciously helped us for the evening. Angel made a fill-in-the-blanks worksheet to go with his devotional. His topic was "A Love that Blossoms" and we learned how the Bible's teachings on forgiveness apply to a marriage. Angel is a very good speaker. He's animated and able to use Mexican examples and expressions to illustrate his points. People were interested and filled all their blanks in. One man folded his paper and tucked it into his shirt pocket to take home. Such are the small evidences that we are slowly getting through with our message.
Our next event: a marriage retreat at the end of March. We hear that the location is special in that it is a place in Mexico where there is a giant rock. Our neighbor was amused to have climbed all the way to the top to find: a pop/soda machine! The new mystery is not about the huge rock but how the machine was placed on top... Sounds like something interesting to check out.

Some Visitors

We had a few visitors here in Mexico City. Chemo (pronounced Chay-mo) and Amanda along with their two children Estrella and Emmanuel. They are living at the retreat center helping with a little maintenance. Chemo is originally from the state of Vera Cruz on the east coast of Mexico and Amanda is from Wisconsin. They had to move to Mexico for a little while to help expedite his application for immigration. Our daughter Ahava and Estrella have become real buddies and play for hours on end. They are so cute to watch together.

Que Preciosa - How Precious

We're having a great time waiting during our Bible studies here in Mexico City! The Mexicans who are studying aren't seasoned Christians who know their way around a Bible. They begin looking for Revelation at the front of the Bible and often locate the "wrong" book of John (there are four to choose from). We really don't mind waiting a bit while they search and with a little direction, eventually find the passage we're reading.

Yesterday, a new lady came to the ladies' Bible study. At the end of our study, she kindly offered to read aloud the closing passage of our study for the day, Psalm 139. "Psalm 139. One. O Lord, You have searched me and known me. Two. You know when I sit down and when I rise up; You understand my thoughts from afar. Three. You scrutinize my path and my lying down, And are intimately acquainted with all my ways." I smiled as she carefully read each verse number as she went along. Verses 21 and 22 brought nervous giggles from several ladies. "Do I not hate those who hate You, O Lord? And do I not loathe those who rise up against You? I hate them with perfect hatred; I count them my enemies."

At the end of the chapter, various ladies all chattered, "Oooh, que preciosa! Que linda!" - "Oooh, how precious! How beautiful!" They loved this chapter! I was further amazed to see three ladies all start searching back in the passage and then one read, "This is my favorite: verse 14. 'I will praise You for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Marvelous are Your works, and that my soul knows very well.' Did you hear that? 'And that my SOUL knows very well.'" They were immediately drawn to the most famous verse of the chapter without the leaders pointing this out to them. It spoke to their souls.

Super Bowl XLIII Fun and Baby Jesus Dolls

We hosted a small group of people in our home for a SuperBowl XLIII party yesterday. What an exciting game, right until the end! We had fewer men show up than we had hoped but the two who did come, we had really hoped would. Our large windows were a problem for the first hour so we borrowed extra blankets from the Ruizes and duct taped the blankets up to block the sunlight. The projector worked well and once the sun set behind the mountains, we could see even better. We had hamburgers, chips, olives, salsa, potato salad, and brisket. Marcel was the BBQ chef and the 8 pounds of brisket were quickly devoured. Yum!
We watched the first half of the game in English and the second half, in Spanish. I'm surprised at how many Mexicans like American football although soccer is definately their favorite sport.
On the streets today, we saw many people carrying their porcelin baby Jesus dolls. February 2 marks the mid point between winter solstice and spring equinox, Groundhog Day, when we "find out" how the weather will be for the rest of the winter. In Mexico, a clear day means cold is coming and clouds means it will get warmer. It's a tough call in Mexico City with the usual smog. This day is also 40 days after Jesus' birth when Mary and Joseph presented Jesus at the temple and Mary was purified according to Mosaic law.
In Mexico, if you found the tiny plastic baby Jesus doll inside your slice of Ring of the Kings Bread back on January 6th, it's your turn to host a party today. Our neighborhood had a block party like this for our local policemen. You are to serve atole (a thick cornmeal warm drink - vanilla, strawberry or chocolate flavor) and tamales (cornmeal, meat, raisins, and a bit of sauce wrapped in cornhusks). This is work and expensive so apparently, people used to hide the baby Jesus doll in their mouth or even swallow it to avoid this party hosting responsibility!
Often life-sized ceramic doll representations of Jesus are taken out of the nativity manger, dressed in special outfits and taken to the local Catholic church to receive a blessing. The dolls even have godparents. A special blessing is believed to be received by the entire household. The baby Jesus is often set on a chair to symbolize that he is no longer a newborn. My neighbor has a very humble home but during my first visit to her house, she proudly showed me her Nino Dios - God Boy. Shops have been advertising repairs of your Jesus dolls and the street market was selling new satin christening outfits for the dolls. Many children are also christened today in Mexico. Candles honoring the Virgin Guadalupe (Mexico's Mary figure) are blessed during mass and so the name Candlemas came to be given to February 2 or in Spanish, Dia de la Candelaria. Our camera battery needs charging so I don't have photos but this link has 18 very nice photos. http://gomexico.about.com/od/festivalsholidays/ig/Dia-de-la-Candelaria-Photos/Ni-os-Dioses.html
There is a lot of familiarity with scripture here in Mexico, in this case, with Jesus' life as a child. So much time and money is spent doing things to please God and receive his blessing. The right goal but the wrong method. Salvation is simple and free! I hope that during tomorrow's bible study, opportunity will arise to discuss this with the ladies in my neighborhood.

Volcano Popocatépetl is Active (Click Here to see live Volcano Cam)

We have noticed over the past few days that the volcano on the other side of the Mexico City mountain basin, Popocatépetl, has been smoking very actively this past week. Perhaps this is the sign of a major eruption ready to happen; who knows? It is one of the most active volcanoes in the world. So for your interest, I have linked this post with a live cam of the volcano. The above picture is a still of the live cam. Click on the title of this post to see the live cam.
I, Marcel, saw an eruption three years ago and it was one of the most awesome sights that I have ever seen with ash being shot miles into the atmosphere.

The Shock of the Second Commandment

Our ladies' Bible study group is going through a panorama of the Bible. This week, we got to the chapter that tells of the Ten Commandments. We have a beautiful study book with an accompanying workbook. There are also CDs with recordings of a man's dramatic readings of each chapter and some occasional sound effects. I'm particularly grateful for these CDs as they save me taking my turn and poorly reading out loud in Spanish. The ladies are all very kind and only laugh that I always get the long passages to read - "More opportunity to practise for me!"

We have happened upon a new witnessing technique. One day, we accidentally dropped the CDs off at the wrong house (correct house number but wrong street). It was several days before we realized the error. Then we were a little worried but burst out laughing at our mistake. Those people must have wondered where these CDs came from and they MUST have been curious and listened a bit, don't you think? This situation also provided opportunity to invite this family to our study.

So now that we are again listening to our lovely CDs, we paused at the end of a section to see if there were questions or comments. "Are the Ten Commandments the same in every Bible?" "Well, you have a Catholic Bible there. What does Exodus 20 say in your Bible?" We discovered that yes, each Bible said the same thing. Then the ladies looked at each other in silence for several seconds. "Why does the second commandment say not to bow before a false idol and yet our Catholic churches are full of statues and pictures? Come to think of it, our whole country is full of statues that we pray to. It says very clearly here that we are breaking God's law to do this! Haven't the priests read this?"

Three weeks ago, we were surprised to see the Martin Luther biography movie was being shown on Mexican television. Just as it came to the part where Martin Luther sent his letter to his bishop explaining his deep concerns with current Catholic practise, the movie abruptly stopped! There was a test pattern for 20 minutes and we decided that we'd have to find a DVD of this new movie of Luther's life and watch the rest another time. We flicked back to check if the test pattern remained. It did but then, we saw Luther once again. We watched and realized that they were playing the previous 5 minutes before the interuption of tranmission. We were delighted and watched the movie through to the end.

Like the ladies in our study group, Luther wondered if the other priests had read the Bible as well.

"Word of God speak. Fall down like rain. Causing my eyes to see Your majesty."

Mexico Team Meetings

We've had a 14 hour trip, with stops, from our home in Mexico City to Puerto Vallarta where we had Mexico Team Meetings with fellow NAB Mexico missionaries, the Ruiz family. It was a bit of torture to have meetings indoors at a hotel beside the beach but we did it. We spent hours over several days writing and editting as a team and ended our meetings with a renewed vision regarding how we would serve in Mexico City.
As we arrived in Puerto Vallarta, we went to the store to buy bread and milk for breakfast. Our truck broke down but a kind Mexican mechanic helped us. He changed our fuel pump right in the parking lot! In the process, the gas tank slipped and fell on the pavement, splashing gasoline into the mechanic's eyes. The next day, we had further mechanical problems. Another mechanic discovered that a small seal was missing near our fuel filter. As I helped Marcel back the truck out of the narrow parking lot, the German Shepherd guard dog chained to the wall nudged the back of my leg with his nose. That was because he had lundged with his mouth open to bite me! God blessed me with a chain an inch shorter than what he needed to bite me.
Our two families spent a few hours at Punta de Mita, north of Puerto Vallarta. The pelicans were huge!
We listened to a sales pitch for whale watching or fishing trips. We had supper at a restaurant on the beach and ate a local fish specialty that is baked whole. After Marcel's offer of 10 pesos (1 dollar), Daniel offered to, for free, eat the fish eye. Not to be outdone by his little brother, David ate one, too. The things competition can drive you to do!

We especially enjoyed the last three hours of sunlight at the beach on the night before we drove back to the city. Dylan, Kirklyn, and Emma went bodysurfing. The older Ruiz boys played soccer on the sand, and everyone swam in the ocean. It was nice to spend a few smog free days at the warm coast.

The New Psycho In Our Yard

Our new black labrador puppy is dealing with culture shock. His name is Psycho. Or rather, Saicou. He spent his first night at our house last night and it went quite well with just 10 minutes of crying and howling! Psycho came from a litter of 11 puppies from a white Canadian lab father and a black German lab mother. Where did the unusual name come from? It's Japanese! The Mexican family who have cared for 11tumbly labrador pups for two long months had lived in Japan for 6 years. Each puppy received a Japanese name. Our little Psycho's name means "awesome" in Japanese. We cracked up laughing at this falsely intimidating name! Then we had to explain that it is a slang word in English that means a psychotic person. Then the Mexican family joined in on the laughter:)
We were blessed to have spent New Year's Eve with this family and the Ruizes. Their daughter is Kirklyn's age and their son plays soccer with Dylan Ruiz. We had fun learning how to play a wooden table game that I can pronounce but don't know how to spell (crow-ken-al). We also enjoyed the end of the live broadcast from downtown Mexico City. We saw the fireworks out our window and then would watch them "up close" on the television broadcast. We learned about the Mexican tradition of "12 wishes, 12 grapes". As the countdown approached midnight, we realized that everyone else was frantically stuffing each person's 12 grapes into their mouths. Guess you're supposed to eat one grape for each of the last 12 seconds of the year as well as making 12 wishes. It was a "you had to be there" moment but us Canadians once again provided some laughs as we totally messed this up.
A couple months ago, Marcel and I had some fun visiting record counters where Marcel would sing part of a familiar romantic song that we hear all the time on the radio. We knew that the soloist was an older singer with a strong, rich voice and that it was a mariachi style song. We ended up buying a couple CDs that weren't the right ones but at the last store, all the youth who had gathered to listen to Marcel's mini-serenade unanimously agreed that the song was from Vincente Fernandez. The original writer of the song sang at the New Year's Eve celebration in downtown Mexico City but everyone in our livingroom agreed that Vincente Fernandez' version of the song was far better. Be prepared: Vincente Fernandez's mariachi suit on his album cover has inspired Marcel regarding the Mexican clothes Marcel will wear when we are on home assignment in 2011. Oooh la la!
Besides the 12 grapes, we had some other special food on New Year's Eve. The Mexican family who had lived in Japan brought "Japanese tacos" for us to enjoy. Seaweed wrap + sticky rice + slivered cucumbers + salmon (no tuna was available) + wasabi horseradish sauce (to disinfect the salmon and add flavor) + mashed plums = delicious! This is apparently a regular everyday lunch in Japan. It was interesting for us to hear how their children came back to Mexico with their parents and didn't like Mexican food. The parents make a special trip to a Japanese market downtown and load up on the special Japanese rice and other groceries that they need in order to have their children eat SOMETHING and stay alive here in Mexico:) I'm trying to think up a little gift for this boy and girl who have so generously given all those adorable puppies away to other families and are now feeling sad over the loss.