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From Mexico City to Calgary

15 June 2008 – 9:54 pm

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! :)

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By Jim | Also posted in Mexico, Practical matters | Comments (0)

On the brink

8 June 2008 – 8:00 pm

Hi everyone!

Just wanted to stop by one last time to let you know what’s going on before we lose our internet connection for a while.  Lord willing we’ll be moving the furniture and the majority of our "stuff" to Mexico City tomorrow.  While I’m going there, Shari will be in Cuernavaca cleaning up the house.  I’ll probably come back to Cuernavaca Monday night and then we’ll get together with our landlady Tuesday morning before we actually - really - head to our new house.  :)

Thanks to those of you who have been praying!  I don’t know when we’ll have internet connection again, but we’ll stay in touch as we’re able.

Oh, I also wanted to let you know I uploaded a few new photos to the gallery, so you can see some of the goings on during our last days in Cuernavaca.

Later!

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By Jim | Also posted in Practical matters | Comments off

I’m coming to Calgary, Canada

5 June 2008 – 1:58 pm

Life’s full of surprises, isn’t it?  Well, this one certainly was a surprise to us.  But yes, it’s true, I am coming to Calgary in a week and a half.

It was unexpected and sudden for us too.  Basically, there’s some important paperwork I need to deal with in Calgary, and I need to do it in person.  (The first couple of expatriates here that I mentioned this to said,"Oh yes, we had to do that one time!"  So I guess it goes with the territory!)

It’s going to be a very quick trip.  No offense to friends in Canada - it would be nice to stay longer, but as you know we’re right in the middle of moving to a new city.  And there was no way we could all afford to go (maybe I can’t afford to go either, but it couldn’t be avoided!).

I did manage to come over a Sunday, so if you happen to be in the Calgary area, I will be sharing at the First Evangelical Free Church on the 15th of June 2008.  The service begins at 10:30am.  Feel free to stop by!

Unfortunately, I missed out on those wonderful new direct flights from Mexico City to Calgary.  But maybe you can use one of those to come and visit us!

So now you know another thing we’re factoring in to the decision making process.  We’re hoping we can get a little organized before I leave (maybe get a stove?  Unpack some food?  Perhaps a chair to sit on while we eat (we don’t yet own a dining room set)?  Might be nice to even get a phone line, but that might be pushing it…).

Then a week later Shari flies to her sister’s wedding.  Who planned this schedule anyway?  ;)

Continental Airlines
Photo courtesy of bribriTO

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By Jim | Also posted in Practical matters | Comments (2)

Still in Cuernavaca

4 June 2008 – 7:41 pm
Our trailer, 4th of June 2008

I think it’s time for a moving update!  Well, an update about moving … I’m not sure how moving the update will be. ;)

As the title says, we’re still in Cuernavaca.  We’re facing some delays at the moment.

First, we’re waiting on some of the work being done.  Obviously, it’s hard to move in furniture when the floor is being tiled (it’s not so spacious that we can just put the furniture somewhere else!).  There’s a door still missing, and no railing on the stairs, and of course no kitchen cupboards (or paint on the kitchen walls).  We’re not expecting all this to be done before we move, but were hoping at least the tiling would be done.

Second, there’s the owner.  He needs to give us the gate-opener, so we can actually drive up to the house and unload things.  Also, he still has stuff in the house, such as furniture.  Again, there’s not a lot of room for our furniture along with his!

We keep finding out that it will be another day before his things are moved out, the tiling will take longer than expected, the workers need more materials, etc.  Delays and complications are not unexpected, of course.  However, it does mean our plans are changing every day or every few hours, and we have to make new decisions as we go along.

Things also get more complicated the longer we wait to move.  Today we discussed everything from moving Friday (the day after tomorrow) to moving two and a half weeks from now!  I won’t go into all the factors involved, but suffice to say it’s keeping life interesting.

So the latest … which may change later tonight still … is that we’re thinking of moving on Monday (possibly still coming back to finish cleaning here, but hopefully we’ll be done!) and stalling with more of the work.  That means more work being done on the house while we’re living there, but - no option is perfect!

There.  Were you moved?  I sure wasn’t.

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By Jim | Also posted in Practical matters | Comments (1)

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