From Mexico City to Calgary

I’m writing you from Calgary, Canada at the moment. I just wanted to give you a quick update on what’s going on here and in Mexico City. We don’t have any phone or internet at home so it hasn’t been easy to get news to you. But my brother-in-law and his family kindly provided me with internet access!

We did move – I think it was Monday/Tuesday (it’s all a blur). Things went fairly smoothly (although the movers kinda disappeared for an hour or two – eventually they showed up with our furniture, and did a good job).

We did make some discoveries – some of the owners stuff is still there, and our box spring didn’t fit up the stairs. So either we sleep in the kitchen, or get a split box spring or something we can take apart! 🙂

It’s hard to explain – we’re very thankful for the house, and glad to be moved. But we are facing challenges. Examples? Well, the stairs aren’t yet tiled, there are no kitchen cabinets or counters, no paint in the kitchen, we have no phone line, some lock problems (already had the locksmith in once. When I first arrived on Monday moving things, I went into a bathroom and promptly got stuck in there. After about 5 minutes of creative door knob manipulation I got out!), the buzzer from the gate doesn’t work, our gate opener isn’t working well, the roof is leaking (only a little), there are wires hanging out where light fixtures and switches should be, nothing is grounded (electric plugs), there’s dirt and construction dust everywhere (and some bags of cement stuff lying around), we’re having some plumbing problems (already had a flood on the top floor, and got some boxes wet – no serious damage Praise the Lord!) so we can’t use the washing machine.

Now, these are not uncommon problems with a rental house here in Mexico. But it does make for challenging times, especially with our (still) limited Spanish, and the fact that things simply take longer here because they’re done differently than they may be done in Canada.

There’s lots of good news, though. We managed to find a stove, and a bed for Nathanael. The stove I brought home, the bed was delivered and I spent several hours assembling it. It’s a bunk so it can double as a guest bed when you come visit. We’re thankful for the help we’ve had from some people in the church with moving and so on.

Anyway, I don’t think I’m exactly complaining – we’re thankful for the house, but these are challenging times for us – challenging to our patience, sanity, finances, mental decision making abilities, etc.

To add to that, late last week Nathanael developed a fever. No other major symptoms – just not feeling well. We give him medicine and he feels better for a while (which is great in the middle of the night because he wants to get up and play!). If he’s not feeling better soon, we’ll need to introduce him to a local doctor.

I arrived in Calgary last night, and had a good time at the First Evangelical Free Church. It was great to see many of you there! I wish I could stay longer, but I need to get my business done and get back home (and you can see why! We have things to do!)

Meanwhile – seriously, if you know an electrician who wants to donate some time and travel to come to Mexico and do some work in a missionary house, by all means, tell them we have an opportunity! Installing light fixtures, switches, adding some grounding to some of the plugs… that kind of thing. She/he can contact us here.

Thanks for your prayers! It’s always an adventure! 🙂