We’re visiting Shari’s brother and his family (actually, Shari’s brother is away, but coming back tomorrow night). It’s the first time the cousins have seen each other in 3 years (as you can imagine, for that age it’s a looooong time!). Here’s proof that they really are together!
Thanks so much to all of you who prayed as we crossed the borders over the past few days! God was good, and we did arrive safely in Canada yesterday afternoon.
We actually did get a bit of a hassle at all three borders (just to be consistent).
As we left Mexico, the Mexican officials had questions about our vehicle paperwork, so that was a bit of a delay as we heard their opinions on what we should do. At the US border, the official had questions about some of our boxes. And at the Canadian border… well, I don’t think they really knew what to do with us. So they searched our van for hidden compartments while we waited in the waiting room.
But none of these delays were major, and yes – we’re in Canada! No more border crossings for a while!
As soon as we crossed the Mexico/US border, we felt like we went from being Canadians in Mexico to being Mexicans in a foreign land. People looking at us funny when we spoke Spanish, not being sure what to do or how to act…
And of course we’ve been full time teaching things to Hannah and Nathanael. We’ll tell you more about that later. Now that we’re in Canada, while we’re in our van we blend in (we actually have a Canadian license plate!). As soon as we get out of our van, there are so many things that we do differently, don’t know about or aren’t used to that we stick out like a sore thumb.
Still, we’re glad to take a little break from driving.
A reminder – if you’re in Calgary, come see us on the 5th of July (this Sunday) morning at Calgary’s First Evangelical Free Church on Elbow Drive. It would be great to see you!
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Yes, today we’re hitting the road! Leaving the ol’ homestead and driving north for, oh, about 5,766km (3583mi).
But not all in one day, of course.
Here are some key dates that you might be interested in:
We’re doing things a little differently on this trip. For one thing, while we’re travelling we’re going to be travelling fast. Normally we try to visit more people while we travel – and we would love to – but this time we’re making a priority of two things – visiting family, and visiting friends and family in Ontario. We would love to see more of you, but we can’t see everyone every time!
Hopefully we can see more of you on another trip.
We would appreciate your prayers for the whole trip. It’s been a while since we’ve done this travelling thing. And as I said, we’re travelling fast – there’s going to be more long hours in the van than we’ve done normally. It will be quite the adventure!
But we do pray that God would be glorified in all we do, and that we can really share with others the "memory of His abundant goodness" (Psa 145:7) as we mentioned in our newsletter.
You may remember, if you have a good memory, the problems we had with the electrical company in Cuernavaca.
Oh, everything went along fine for months and months (except that often no bill arrived, but whenever the bill arrived we paid it!).
Then, suddenly out of nowhere, they claimed we owed hundreds and hundreds of dollars (thousands of pesos, that is)!
Well, our landlady had a little talk with them, and they saw the light and lowered the bill (by half I think) and let us pay it over two months.
Then, when we left over a year ago, they pulled the same trick. A HUGE bill. Then they made their mistake.
Another massive bill – for the period in which the house was empty, and no electricity was being used!
So once again our landlady talked to this person and that person and this lawyer and that higher-up.
And guess what? Today – yes, just today – over a year later – she called me up to let me know that it was all worked out.
And she owes us money. Can you believe that?
Well, it’s quite something to have a very honest – and incredibly persistent – landlady.
Unbelievable.
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