The Van Project

Those of you who receive our quarterly newsletter know that we’re currently raising funds for a replacement for our van. So what’s the reason for that?

The short story is this. Due to various regulations in Mexico, over the next few months we will be drastically restricted in the hours and days during which we can drive our van, and eventually we will not be able to legally drive it at all (unless we take action).

Complications

Now there are various spheres of laws and regulations that come into play here. For example, the laws of Mexico City. Due to concerns about pollution, certain vehicles can only drive certain hours and days. There is a system of verification, and vehicles are tested and have more or less liberty based on their emissions, age, origin, etc.

There are also national laws, that relate to importing foreign vehicles, nationalizing vehicles, regular payments, license plates, and so on.

There are laws related to the state of our visas, and there are restrictions on what vehicle you can drive based on the type of visa you have and when it expires.

To add to the confusion, all three of these categories of law have been changing, and are continuing to change. For example, there seems to be one thing that Mexico has agreed to in the North American Free Trade Agreement, but they’re not yet implementing the rules on the ground, causing some confusion depending on whom you are talking to.

This doesn’t even take into consideration what we need in a vehicle, our future plans and everything else related to our own situation.

“Complicated” would seem to be an understatement.

The Plan

So this summer we are taking a road trip to Canada. We actually had to go anyway for other reasons, so we decided to take the opportunity to sell the van we have before it comes under more restrictions (we cannot legally sell our van in Mexico).

We will most likely purchase another vehicle in Canada (there are various pros and cons to this, as opposed to purchasing a vehicle in Mexico – so we may still change our minds), and eventually get Mexican plates for it.

The Project

Camino Global has approved a project which will allow us to raise up to $12,000 (Canadian dollars – currently about US$9,560) for the newer van, taxes, and eventual fees to nationalize it.

So far CA$300 has been raised – thank you so much for your help!

Our van is one of our most important tools. It allows us to move people around for ministry, move materials, help people move, bring people to services… As most of you know, we do a lot of driving, both in and out of Mexico. So our prayer is that we would find a reliable vehicle that we can continue to use in our ministry.

As you can see, we still have a ways to go to complete this project! If you would like to be involved, here’s what you need to know:

If you’re donating in Canadian dollars, you can give toward the Cottrill Van Project, project #082708V. The project will be open until the end of August. Visit our Canadian donations page here.

If you’re donating in US dollars, please give to our general fund and not to the project. In other words, you can just make a special gift as you normally would. For information on how to give in $US, click here.

Although this project is open until the end of August, remember that we will (Lord willing) be purchasing the vehicle in August, and so it would be helpful to have the full amount in the account as soon as possible.

If you have any questions about why we’re doing things this way, or how this will all work, feel free to contact us any time. You can also contact Camino Global Canada for more information at (647)977-3226.