I’m doing some updates on the site, so I wanted to make sure those of you on our Support Team (if you get our newsletter, that’s you!) could find the information they needed quickly.  So I made up this little page.

Just trying to make things easier to find.

Oh, I threw up this page too.

In Sunday we were in Arizona, planning to cross the border the following day.  We were meeting someone to cross with Monday afternoon.

But Sunday evening we received an email – their vehicle had broken down.  So the plans began to change.

From there on in, in phone calls and emails, plans changed . . . and changed . . . and changed again . . . and again . . . and yet again!

Our friends were very gracious (very) and eventually things were organized.

In the end, instead of going Monday, we ended up going Tuesday.  Now, this cost us an extra night in a hotel.  But it was a nice hotel to get stuck in.  And more notable, I was sick Monday – very sick (migraine attack).  So it did remind us that God is in control of these things.  Crossing the border Monday would have been pretty difficult for me in the shape I was in!

On Tuesday our friend came with another friend (who had a reliable vehicle) and we met them and then crossed the border.

Once again I should report – since so many of you were praying – this was the smoothest crossing into Mexico ever.  In fact, all our border crossings this trip have been super-smooth.

The biggest hitch came when I simply forgot a couple of documents in the van and had to run back to get them.  No big deal.  We had nothing searched, paid no duty on anything . . . and a couple of times when we were sure we would have to stop (for inspections, customs, etc), we were able to roll right on through.  The officials we talked to were friendly and in good moods.  We even met some people while we waited in line in various places – even a couple of Saskatchewanionians.

So – here we are!  Safe and sound in the Sonora desert, in the city of Hermosillo, as of yesterday.

The only change now is that, instead of staying here two nights, we’re heading out today.

Oh, and more good news – our friends were able to repair their vehicle.

So there’s lots of driving in Mexico yet to come!  So we’d better get on with it.  Thanks again to those who have been praying – God has been good!  And if you want to pray as we continue to travel, that would be great!

Tonight we stop – and we’ll be enjoying a day of rest from driving tomorrow – not too far from the US/MX border.  It’s our second day in Arizona.

Can you believe it though – we’re not even done 60% of our trip south yet!  Yes, Mexico is another BIG country.

In fact, it’s even longer to go when you consider that we’re just stopping home then heading out for a team retreat and then a conference.  So we really don’t get home – really home – until the 26th of November

We were able to stop mid-trip today to get a headlight replaced, so that’s one repair out of the way.  And we finished our drive a little earlier today – and we’re REALLY looking forward to actually getting a little sleep!

Thanks for your prayers.  We’re more than half-way home!

Nathanael in the snow this morning.
The freezing temperatures have followed us
up until this afternoon!

So, the damage from our little mishap with the deer on Wednesday comes to about $1700. Now, if you know much about these things, you know that’s nothin’.

On the other hand, with thousands in unexpected expenses in 2011, it doesn’t feel like nothin’. But the good news is there doesn’t seem to be major engine or body damage.

The driver’s door was jammed shut, but the mechanic was able to do a temporary fix, and wrench things into place. So – joy! I can now get out without climbing on the other seats!

Some body work will need to be done, and a new headlight. Amazingly enough, the bulb still works, although the one headlight was smashed.

We had also discovered soon before driving down that our trailer tires were on their last legs, so we got them switched and headed out – quite late – on Day 3 of the drive down.

We’ve arrived- quite late- at our destination. Good night!

Actually, everything went very smoothly today except for one thing.  You guessed it – we hit a deer.

The good news is (and actually there was a lot of good news today) that we were just leaving a town and driving slow.  And, of course, when I saw the deer, I drove slower and slower.

As I was driving slower and slower, the deer was trying to decide if it should stop (good choice), turn (pretty good choice), or go out in front of the van (bad choice).  It chose unwisely.

So we hit it on the drivers’ side.  But we’re all fine – as I said, I was going pretty slowly at this point.

The deer?  Well, it lived and got away.  I’m afraid we weren’t able to find out just how badly off it was.

The van?  Well, we were able to keep driving all the way to our hotel.  But some repairs are going to be needed.  A headlight was smashed, and just how extensive the body damage is we’re not sure.

We’re hoping to take it in tomorrow and have it checked out, so we would appreciate your prayers that we can get it checked out and dealt with in a timely fashion.

The good news?  Well, you already read some of it, didn’t you?  Everyone is fine, the kids are in bed, and we’re thankful that the Lord protected us.  We also had a very uneventful border crossing today, and the rest of the trip went quickly and smoothly.

What happens next?  Well, it depends on what the mechanics say, if we can find any tomorrow.  We’ll be playing it by ear.

What can I say?  Another day in the life . . .

Oh, sure, sometimes we have some interesting adventures driving to and from Mexico.  But a lot of the things we have to worry about just aren’t that interesting.

For example, since we’re driving from Prince Albert, Saskatchewan down to Arizona, we suddenly realized we had a problem.  Prince Albert supposedly has a low of -8C (18F) today.  It’s going to be up to 24C (75F) in Phoenix this week.  That means that things left in the van and trailer will both freeze – and melt.

So we had to rearrange some things – make boxes for things that couldn’t freeze, boxes for things that couldn’t melt, and boxes of things that couldn’t melt or freeze.

How silly is that.

Of course we’re thinking of what paperwork we need for two different border crossings.  And we have to have clothes handy for warm and cool weather.  We need to have places to stop, places to eat, and we need to make sure we can do laundry during the trip and get enough rest to survive.

Of course our new van has its own quirks.  We have discovered that we have no air conditioning.  Usually not a problem in more moderate Ixtapaluca, but every once in a while…

But unlike our old van, we don’t have to worry about the loud whistling noise it makes when we get up to highway speed (we stuck a wad of paper in the window to cut down on the noise).  We don’t have to worry about the rear view mirror falling off when we go over a bump.  Every door opens without having to do a special yank-and-dance.  We don’t have a whole bunch of warning lights on the dash – in fact, at the moment, we don’t have any!  The CD player even works – imagine!

We would appreciate your prayers as we travel down – we’ll settle for dull drama, and not the more exciting kind, this time.  Seriously, we’ve had more than enough excitement lately.

Tomorrow is our first border crossing, and Lord willing Monday we’ll be in Mexico.  A long way to go – but we’re well on our way.

For years we’ve had this nifty form that you can use to sign up for our newsletter, let us know you’re praying, make a pledge, change your phone number, change your email address, and so on and so on and so on.

Well… I haven’t checked it for a while.  And when I did I discovered it wasn’t working.

Which is why I always write on the form that you need to contact us if you haven’t heard from us within one week.

But good news!  It’s fixed! So if your address has changed recently, or you’d like to let us know you’re praying, or you’d like to get our newsletter – good news!  You can click the link below and fill out the form.

Our newsletter (Notes from the Cottrills), by the way, is sent out four times a year to those who are interested in being involved in some way.  We also have an optional email update that comes out roughly once a month.  So if you think you’re signed up, and you haven’t received anything for a year – something has gone wrong.  Fill out the form.

Today we bought a used van to (Lord willing) take us back to Mexico!

We traded in our Chevy Astro for a Dodge Grand Caravan.  Here they are, together for the one and only time:

Why?

We really appreciated our Astro – and if they ever make them again, I might just line up to get one.  However, the last Astro was made in May 2005.

Then came new restrictions in Mexico City – on vehicles over 8 years old (our Astro was a 2003).  In fact, you can’t drive foreign vehicles in Mexico City that are over 8 years old.  You can nationalize them, but then you have other restrictions.  The Grand Caravan is a 2007, which gives us some time.

In addition – well, we do a lot of driving, and it helps to have a reliable vehicle.

The Astro wasn’t as reliable as it used to be – although I admit we were fudging in the last few months.  Was it because of the fudging that we spent hundreds … er … thousands of dollars due to Astro repairs on this trip alone?  Including… hate to say it… a repair a few days ago which we didn’t feel we could avoid.

The day we bought the Astro we started saving up for the next vehicle.

Ok, maybe I didn’t save quite enough.  There wasn’t really enough of what we wanted in our price range.  And even lowering our expectations, we still went over the budget a bit.  But I think the Grand Caravan will be a good compromise.  And it’s hard to not spend a little extra if you seem to be getting something a lot more reliable.

By the way, some friends have also donated towards this van, which was a help.  We’ll still be doing some maintenance on it before heading back.  Some things I haven’t yet been able to have done reliably in Mexico, so I really need to get it done before we go.  (If you’d like to donate, you can simply give to our support – no special notation is needed.  Instructions here.)  Thanks so much!

So . . . we have some maintenance to do (although it’s in very good shape), and we have to put our Mexico flag license plate on the front because we are cool.  Meanwhile we’re going to drive it around and let everything settle.

Thanks to those who have prayed and helped in other ways as we’ve searched for a van.  Thanks to our friend Earl who went looking with me and gave lots of advice.  And thanks to many of you who recommended High Country Chevrolet Buik GMC (where we eventually purchased the van) and to Doug and Larry and others there who were so helpful.

May this van be another tool to be used in the Lord’s service in Canada, the USA, and Mexico!  In some way it’s a small thing, but it’s also something we use most days of the week and something that uses up a lot of time and money if anything goes wrong!

So – praise the Lord!  The search is over.  For now.

Now, time to start saving up for the next one . . .

There’s a better way to give to our ministry online, if that’s how you like to give!

As you may know, you can give to our ministry through Canada Helps.  However, if you give by credit card (as opposed to cheque or auto debit) there’s a 3.9% deduction taken off.

Now we have a brand new system, that only takes off only 3% (of course there’s a 0% fee for automatic debit or cheque).  So if you’ve been giving through Canada Helps, or are thinking of giving online, try out the new method by visiting this page for Canadian donations.

If you wish to give online through PayPal or Interac, Canada Helps is still the best way.

If you’d like to give in US funds, the options are all right here.

Thanks so much for supporting us and the Mexico Church in this way!

So our travels in Saskatchewan have had their ups and downs.  I’ve talked about some of the ups already.

The downs?  Well, we did have an electrical issue with the van.  Took it in, got it fixed ($150) – and less than 24 hours later it was broken again.

So we haven’t gone back, because that was the last day of our stop there, and we had already left.  I’m not sure if we’ll have time to take it back and complain… we may just have to go somewhere else and pay for it… again… *gulp*

On our way to another stop, a clunking that I had heard in the back of the van suddenly got worse – a lot worse.  I couldn’t see the problem right away, but it was obvious something was seriously wrong.

So we decided to drive very carefully to our next stop, hoping for the best, so that we could get the van fixed there (or near to there).

Actually, we cancelled a drive out to a camp to visit some friends, because it didn’t feel like the van could make it on any back roads (or drive any farther than was necessary!).

We made it.

It turned out to be a suspension issue.  Had we gone up to the camp, we quite possibly would have some serious damage to the van.  So we’re thankful that we made the right choice there!

Thanks to some help from our friend Daryl, we got the part at a wrecking yard yesterday and were able to get the van fixed this morning.  Only a little over two hundred dollars – less than I expected, but a whole lot more than I hoped to spend this whole trip on repairs!

On the bright side, all of the problems we’ve had during the trip have been "minor" issues.  Things that tend to wear down eventually.  Still, we’re edging up toward $2000 of extra expenses, due to a van that we were planning to sell soon.

But we’ve been safe, and we’re on the road again.  God will get us where He wants us, no matter what shape our van is in (or we’re in!).