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A Few Quick Prayer Requests

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Greetings from Mexico! If you have a moment to pray, here are a few quick prayer requests for you…

1) Please pray for tomorrow’s service. I will be teaching Sunday School, and preaching. So your prayers are always appreciated for those things. We’re still going through Mark in our sermons (expecting to finish in January). And for Sunday school we’re working through our doctrinal statement (this week it’s about what we believe about the Bible).

Shari and Hannah will be teaching the kids. Shari was pretty sick this week. She’s starting to feel better, but tomorrow will still be a challenge for her.

2) Please pray for our coworker who had surgery this past week. She also is feeling better, but has been in a lot of pain. So do pray for her continued recovery. She’ll be in the hospital for a few more days.

3) Please pray for those attending our new Bible studies. We’re super-excited to be starting a new series of Bible studies this week. We’re encouraging everyone in the church to try to come. So we shall see how things go! Please pray for all the people who will be coming.

4) Permanent Residence Visas. This is a praise and a prayer! The visas have gone through the process, and it’s time for us to go do the last bit of paperwork. Lord willing we’ll be doing that next week. Almost there!

5) General craziness. The school year has started with lots of to do – as usual! Please pray that God would give us wisdom and strength.

Thanks for your prayers!

Retro: Our First Independence Day

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Ok, actually the day before Independence Day. This photo was taken ten years ago today, when we were celebrating with some people from the church in Cuernavaca at Toby and Marilyn Casteel’s house. That was one full house!

Our first Independence Day

Jim’s Recent Tweets…

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Earthquakes and Hurricanes and Tsunamis

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We just wanted to stop by and let everyone know that we’re all fine here. That’s the short story.

First of all, yes, last night we most certainly felt the massive earthquake. It was apparently magnitude 8.1, the strongest to hit the country in a century. As you can see from the map below, it was not close to us, but strong enough to be felt in Mexico City. Below you can see the quake and the largest aftershocks in the last few hours.

Earthquake - September 2017The news is telling us now that there are 32 confirmed deaths, mostly in the State of Oaxaca, but also Chiapas and Tabasco.

Here our power went out, and the internet and phone service has just been restored. Some in the country also lost water service, and it could be a few days before all the infrastructure is fixed. There are tsunami warnings today, and there have been some evacuations along the coast.

Schools in 11 states, including some in Mexico City, have been closed until experts and check for structural damage.

Of course things could have been much worse had the quake hit closer to Mexico City. Still, of course we are concerned for those in areas closer to the epicentre.

Hurricanes don’t tend to do a lot of damage where we are, because we’re so far inland. The exception is some flooding, which can cause a lot of inconvenience and in some areas serious problems. But nothing on the scale of what Irma and Jose are currently threatening further north.

Hurricane KatiaThat being said, and this is unusual, Katia is the second hurricane of the year that is headed almost straight for us. For a few days it has been causing cool cloudy weather (and probably some headaches!). We don’t expect it to cause problems for us directly, but it may still cause serious problems on the border. And we’re always concerned about possible flooding in our area.

So again, we’re fine here, and not expecting any serious problems in our area in the days ahead. We do appreciate your prayers, and encourage you to pray as well for those to the east and north who are experiencing much, much worse.

Maps courtesy Google Earth, National Hurricane Center, and USGS.

School Begins Again

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As is the case in many families, school time has come again to our household.

For those who don’t know the history, Hannah and Nathanael both attended Mexican schools for a number of years. Now they are being homeschooled, although that too is a yearly decision and is not just one thing.

First Day of School 2017So to some extent we can relate to both sides – the Mexican schools with the many things that need to be purchased before classes start (you have no idea), and the reams of homework even in preschool. And the challenges of various types of homeschooling. (For you attending schools in other countries, we can’t so much relate to what you go through. But we hear enough about school in Canada to know that you have major challenges!)

Both Hannah and Nathanael are doing quite different programs, and every year there are changes. This year, I (Jim) will be doing more schooling, although Shari will still do the majority here, and both Hannah and Nathanael have other teachers/facilitators.

As I say, we’ve made a lot of changes this year, so it will take a few weeks to see how well it’s working. We all have lots to learn!

Last 90 Days Most Popular Posts (31 August 2017)

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Hi everyone! I’m just stopping by to share the five most popular posts here at Finding direction over the past 90 days. The two most popular of all are in bold, and the posts are in chronological order, the oldest first.

So if you’d like a quick way to catch up on some of what’s been happening over the summer, now’s your chance!

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