Not wanting to be selfish here in the season of generosity, but some people have been asking about our wish lists at amazon.com.  We have had them listed in RSS format on our feeds page, but that format really isn’t incredibly useful, so I thought I’d just publish the links right here.

As you see, the kids have a combined wish list at the moment.  They both love books, so that’s basically what’s there.  Shari’s wish list is brand new, so there’s not much on it yet.  Also, you’ll notice there are quite a few things here that will be helpful for our ministry, especially on my wish list (ie Bibles, books on culture, etc).

We wrote earlier about general information about sending care packages (not just to us, but whomever).  Also, all of you who get our newsletter have address information and where to send what.  For more information, feel free to contact us.

• Chalco (audio post) - checking out some other nearby ministry.
• Church bells (audio post) - what’s your excuse for not concentrating on the sermon?!
• 0 (zero), and the second part 0 (zero) -part 2-
• September is not a boring month (in case you didn’t know)
• Little Connections (audio post)
• More on the Reformation (or, Maybe I’m not Crazy).  This was a follow up to my post Roman Catholics, Protestants, and Reformation
• Shari and the Apple Pies
• La boda - this was also an audio post that came through on the podcast feed.
• Invisible Illness Week - starts today! - it’s over now, of course, but this is still worth a read.

• On the 24th of November, two friends of ours were in an accident.  Alejandro and David were heading out from Ixtapaluca into Mexico City.  Coming over the hill and around the corner, Alejandro saw totally stopped traffic and hit the brakes.  The brakes didn’t respond right away, and then locked, sending them into the concrete divider.  The van spun around, then tipped onto the driver’s side.

  You would think they would have hit other vehicles, that another vehicle would have hit them from behind, and that they would be pretty hurt.  Amazingly, none of that happened.  Some other men helped them get the van up again, and when the police and ambulance drivers came asking where the accident was, David joked that it must have been further up the road!

  The people of our church are thanking God for His protection in a situation which could have been far worse.  Read more in Rod’s post Miracle Crash.

• It’s been "Canadians month" around here.  Canadians are creatures we very rarely see, but this month you may remember we enjoyed a visit from the Knightly family, and were also able to see the Lidstones in Cuernavaca.

  On Wednesday our friends the Neufelds came to visit.  Greg and Shelli are Canadians living in Hermosillo, Mexico (waaaaaay up in the northern desert).  You can visit the Neufeld’s website here.

  It was in part a celebration of an anniversary.  15 years ago in November, a team known as Friends & Followers (Amigos y Seguidores) arrived in Mexico.  Shelli, Shari and I and 7 others were on that team, and we spent 5 months in Mexico, including some time with Rod Fry.

  We went out to eat at a restaurant called Espartacos, and had a delicious meal and a great time, although it was far too short.  But it was great to see them, and also our friend Antonio Muñoz who came along for the ride from Mexico City.

• I already told you that our upstairs leak was fixed - we’re very thankful for that!
• Recently I got together with some men from the church as we talked about the vision for the activities in Christmas, leadership in many areas of service, and vision for making disciples and seeing new churches in areas nearby.  Its wonderful to see the Lord planting creativity and excitement for His work in the hearts of people here.  The next few months will be important both for us personally and the work here in Ixtapaluca as many plans are made.

The two helpers of the nice man had tools, and their plan was to use those tools to cut our house off from all access to water.  That would solve our leak problem, wouldn’t it?

Actually, the nice man was from the water company.  Apparently, "we" hadn’t paid our bill in 5 years (woah - and we haven’t even lived here for seven months!).  "But, I’ve never received a bill" I protested.

I know, in your country you would have been hammering down the door of the water company if you had never received a bill.  But here … well, things are different.  I figured a bill would arrive eventually, and I’ve actually been saving money in my account to pay it when it does arrive.

But then I found out why we hadn’t received a bill.  It’s because we don’t … or, I should say, the owner of the house doesn’t even have a contract with the water company!

Now I’m going to shut off your water, says the nice man.

Well, I told him I would call the owner while he went a few doors down to shut off someone else’s water.

Then I thought better of it, and I called our colleague Rod.  Maybe Rod could talk to him and clarify things.

Kindly taking time out of their busy schedules (busy is an understatement for this week.  But you know what I mean.), Rod and Mayra came right over to talk to the nice man.

During the conversation, one of our neighbours, Maricarmen, came over.  Now we had our friends Rod and Mayra, and Shari (who was visibly upset and explaining to the nice man that we had a sick girl in the house and we need water), and a neighbour who was about to go to bat for us.

Maricarmen took his arm.  "Oh, come on, your notice here says they have three days.  You don’t have to do this now.  Come on, they’re not even the owners.  It’s not their fault!" etc etc

Well, the nice man and his two helpers were outnumbered 5-3, though I think the three women would have been more than a match for them.

The nice man kindly told us not to worry, to take our time.  He shook my hand, and fled from the three women.

Later today Rod got a hold of the owner of the house, and he’ll be emailing the paperwork we need to get the contract and get everything organized.

So, it sounds like our water won’t be cut off while we’re gone, and we should have time to get the paperwork done before any more nice men come to call.

I think I would like to solve the leak problems some other way.

Actually, the BIG leak that I told you about has been fixed!  Our friend and all-around handyman Mario came and fixed it all up for a reasonable fee, and I think that’s one leak that’s gone for good.

If you like you can pray for Hannah, though, who has been sick in bed all day.  We do have a drive on windy mountain roads tomorrow, and we’ll need wisdom in the morning to see whether she’s ready for the trip.

Never a dull moment.

So we got this cool magazine via the CAM express mail service.  You might have seen one in your mailbox, or maybe on your church’s magazine rack.

But did you know that we’re in it?

All right, not us exactly, but the ministry here in Ixtapaluca is in it.  And even if you don’t have a copy of the (cool) magazine, you can visit the Christmas at CAM website to see all the same stuff online!

This is one of those (cool) magazines for people that like to give to a ministry over the holidays, or give something in honour of someone.  There are a lot of very specific things that you can give.  After all, it’s only one month until Christmas.

For example, here’s the entry for the Ixtapaluca Church and Ministry Center (I was just there, actually).  It tells you a bit about our group of believers here and the facility we’re using.

There are probably some other things in there related to us… for example you can give a gift toward Convocation, the big event all CAM missionaries will be attending in the summer of 2009 (or, of course, you could give toward our personal support and help us pay for the gas to get there!). 

(Edit: the day after I published this post, we got the news that Convocation was going to be postponed until 2011 due to financial concerns.  So the link to the Convocation donations page is no longer available.  Of course you’re still welcome to give toward our account - at the moment it would be a huge help with all the house setup we have had to do.)

Anyway, just wanted to let you know that there is a personal connection in that magazine, and lots of other interesting ways you can give toward the work that’s being done in many strategic ministries.

The early days

On the 1st of December we’ll be finishing our CAM Mexico conference in Fortín de las Flores (it’s at the same place it was last year). When we get back, we’ll be swept up in getting ready for Christmas activities - drama practices, getting costumes for the kids, all that. But more about that later (actually, we’re not sure what’s happening at Hannah’s school yet… no doubt something’s happening around the 19th).

Cena de Aprecio

The cena de aprecio is an appreciation dinner given by the CAM Mexico missionaries for Christian leaders in the related churches in Mexico. It’s on the 7th of December at a church facility north of Mexico City. Shari and I will be attending and helping out here and there.

Concerts and such

On the 13th of December, a team of 19 is planning to arrive in Ixtapaluca. They are from Woodside Bible Church in Troy, Michigan USA. The team includes a worship band from Lighthouse Collective, a ministry of the church. We’re going to let them have a night of rest before their BIG concert the next day!

Our church community, along with other believers in the area and the team from Troy will be involved in a whole bunch of activities in the following 8 days. Here’s the promo for the first concert:

Many of these activities will be at Plaza Cortijo (the "WalMart plaza") here in Ixtapaluca. They’re celebrating both Christmas and their 2nd anniversary, so we’ll be providing a great deal of the entertainment.

Through the following week, the team will be helping with music classes and English classes along with businesses at the plaza. On the 17th-19th, the team will be providing instrumental music at the plaza.

On Saturday the 20th, there will be a massive concert in front of the building where our church meets. We have permission to block off the street from 6pm until midnight. It’s going to be crazy. Brace yourself.

Throughout this time I’ll be chauffeuring the people involved all over Ixtapaluca, and trying to make sure the musicians have what they need.

Year-end for the kids

This will be the last week of school for Hannah and Nathanael. We don’t yet know what fiestas will be going on, but Nathanael does have a Christmas program at 5pm on the 19th. He’s got a Santa Claus suit just for the occasion, and apparently the school will be providing a hat with lights. No doubt it will be a busy but fun week for Hannah and Nathanael.

Pastorela

A pastorela is a traditional Christmas play. This year at the plaza, the pastorela will be presented by - the people of our church! Hence all the drama practices - at the moment, we’re doing a few each week. Time is short. The drama is being presented Sunday the 21st.

In the drama, a normal Joe … er … José. Actually, Pedro. A normal Pedro from Ixtapaluca discovers the real story of the birth of Jesus along with his family. So we see both the modern family and the actual biblical story. (If you want to read one of the monologues in Spanish, click here.)

I’m going to the practices and giving recommendations on the acting and staging and so forth.

Holidays

This year Shari’s parents will be coming from Canada to celebrate the holiday season. The team from Troy leaves on the 22nd, and Shari’s parents arrive the next day. They’re here until the middle of January. So we’ll be celebrating Christmas and Boxing Day and New Years and Three Kings Day with them. Et cetera. The Frys will also be here, so we’re talking about doing something with them too (do you think we’ll have 5 minutes between now and then to talk about it? Probably not.).

So now you know almost as much as we do about our December activities. Reading between the lines, you can see there are some incredible opportunities here. Connecting with people at the schools, and with people in the community. I’m guessing there will be other events that we don’t know about yet. There will be presentations at the plaza introducing people to the story of Jesus - His coming, and why He came. So we would all appreciate your prayers and encouragement as we continue to serve in this corner of Mexico City.

Well, we thought they were mostly all fixed.  A couple of places still were causing problems, but now that it’s dry season, they’re not much of a concern at the moment.

Yes, you would think that in dry season, we wouldn’t be thinking much about leaks.  But somehow we still find a way.

It looks like there’s a leak in one of the pipes to our washing machine.  The leak seems to be in the wall, which means we will probably need to tear into the wall and ceiling (of our bedroom) to fix it.

Basically, when we do laundry, the water leaks into the laundry room and into our closet.  Some things in our closet are getting… well, like things get when they’re wet for a while.  Yesterday the water was literally dripping from the ceiling.  Not good.

Yes, there’s always something going on here!  Please pray that we can get this solved as soon as possible.  For the time being, we don’t want to use our washing machine, and we’ve got some things moved out of our closet, which adds to the general household chaos.

I’ve got lots more to tell you about (non-leak related) - I’ll try to be back soon with more!

I hesitate to even write this, because I imagine very few people will understand. But here goes nothin’.

When we got up this morning, it was 3ºC outside. That’s 37ºF. I don’t know what it was inside, but I imagine it wouldn’t be a surprise if it was 15ºC or 59ºF all day long in the house.

I know, I know - deal with it, right? I could be in Canada, with temperatures well below 0ºC and snow (let me tell you, we would get a fair bit of snow here if it was rainy season instead of dry season).

I’m not complaining about living in Mexico — I just love Mexico. But as the temperatures continue to drop, there are some unique challenges.

There’s no central heating in any buildings, including our house. That means that it’s a challenge to keep warm, and keep the kids warm. In Canada you go inside and warm up - but here it’s cold inside too, and we suspect that the lingering coughs and sniffles the kids have are related to the chilly weather. Both the kids have warm jackets now - and they can wear them to school and in school.

The teachers at Nathanael’s school asked that we send water for him at room temperature, because the water at the school was too cold.

Shari and I are still sleeping on a matress on the floor (you may remember our box spring didn’t fit up the stairs), so we’re increasingly motivated to find a solution, since the floor is a lot colder than the rest of the room.

In Canada, keeping the house cooler and using space heaters is a way to save energy. Here, using space heaters uses a lot of energy, and since the houses aren’t as well sealed, they can waste a lot of energy.

So believe it or not, mock if you will, deride, but the cold really is a challenge for us. We’re concerned about our health, and concerned about not being wasteful.

When it gets cold, our Mexican friends say,"Oh, but you’re used to this. You’re from Canada". Ironically, the opposite is true. They’re used to it, and we’re not.

Now excuse me while I go stand in front of the oven.

Read this post for more on my theory about Canadians, Mexicans and cold weather.

Javier and his family (his family wasn’t there) serve in a country in Eurasia.  They are back in North America for a time before returning.  He shared a bit about the country where they serve, and gave a message from the Bible.

The interesting thing is that Javier is married to a Canadian.  It just "so happened" that, on the Sunday he came to speak, there were 6 Canadians in the congregation (our family and Gary and Kim Lidstone).

We had a good talk with him afterwards (in English and Spanish), and had a lot to talk about.  We have friends in the same mission he is in (WEC).  We talked about challenges of residency and immigration when you’re a couple from two different countries living in another country (as is the case with Shari’s sister and her husband).  And he had some wise words to share about language learning.

We got their email address… it would be nice to stay in touch.  And maybe we can let you know when they’re in Canada.  His wife is from BC.

By the way, I have a few photos up from the weekend (for some reason we didn’t take many - oops!) in our Recent Shots… album.  Also some photos of some activities that Shari has been involved in lately.  Enjoy!

Cuernavaca is different from Ixtapaluca.  We were reminded of this as soon as we all got out of the van, and Nathanael found and killed a scorpion. 

But of course the upside is the beautiful climate in Cuernavaca, as compared to Mexico City.  Here at home we’re constantly trying to make sure our kids are wearing sweaters and jackets.  On Sunday in Cuernavaca the kids grabbed bathing suits from their suitcases and ran around in the yard with those on and nothing else (ok, shoes too.  Remember the scorpians).

But the highlight was seeing so many old friends.  We had a great time with Kim and Gary Lidstone, who are here from Canada continuing with ministry and language learning for the next few months.

Unfortunately, I had a pretty bad migraine attack on Saturday, so the day is kind of a blur.  I kept going for the most part, but I’m not sure what I did.

We did a little shopping - there are things we can get in Cuernavaca that we can’t seem to find here, so we loaded up.  Of course, Hannah and Nathanael don’t have much patience for shopping, so that was a little rough.

While in COSTCO, I was pushing the cart in the juice isle, and Nathanael reached up and grabbed a crate of grapefruit juice.  Huge jugs of juice hurtled to the floor and burst open, on my shoes, pants, and all over the floor.

A COSTCO employee rushed up,"Oh, don’t worry about it!  It was just an accident!  Don’t worry, we’ll get it cleaned up…."

I’m not so sure if it was an accident, and I was going to offer to pay.  But then I realized that the juice was rancid - the poisonous gases were rising from the floor, and I decided we had probably done a fellow shopper a favour.

Of course, on Sunday morning we went to Iglesia Bíblica El Renuevo.  We saw so many friendly familiar faces.  We sang two songs, which went all right I think (not so sure about my commentary before and between the songs, but that’s another story).

Afterwards we enjoyed catching up with people, hearing about their struggles and hearing about upcoming ministry.  We were very sorry to miss some good friends who weren’t there, and to hear about the struggles one couple in particular have been going through (I won’t embarrass anyone by mentioning names, but we would appreciate your prayers).

We were also sorry to miss our former landlords, Lisandro and Lupita.  We didn’t realize it when we planned to go, but this was a long weekend (for Revolution Day), and so a lot of people were travelling.

We got home late last night after going through some unusual traffic.  Some of the things we saw while travelling back reminded me to thank you for your prayers for our safety on the road.

Thanks for your prayers for us, our sharing of God’s love, our safety, and our friends and the challenges they face.

About the picture:  We went to Hannah and Nathanael’s favourite restaurant, Don Pollo.  There was a clown there that made balloon art for each of them - and here he is, after making Hannah’s butterfly.