Jim

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16 June 2009

My Wife, the Mechanic

Jim Practical matters, Prayer and Praise 2

There seems to be some kind of rule. The closer you are to leaving on a trip, the more problems you have with your vehicle.

Well, I hope that rule won’t hold true. But yesterday both the Frys and us (who will be travelling together for the first day or two north) were doing tag-team drop-offs as we took our vans to various places for repairs and tune-ups.

Both our vans still have some strange noises going on, but we’re going to hope for the best.

Yesterday I had the back door of the van temporarily repaired… no doubt we’ll need to order the actual part and get the handle replaced while we’re in Canada. But it’s opening and closing right now, so that should make it a lot easier to load and unload suitcases each night.

But we also had a ghost in the van. Without warning, the electric locks would start locking, lights would start flashing, and other strange noises would begin… especially when we were accelerating.

It was Shari that clued in. It was that little knob that detects when the sliding door is closed. Part of it had broken off, so it sometimes didn’t recognize that the door was closed, and sometimes did.

Using an idea from Rod (who once had the same problem), she used a couple of coins and some duct tape to lessen the distance between the door and the knob, hence solving the problem! We can do something more permanent later, but for now – no more ghost!

Handy, and beautiful at the same time! 😉

13 June 2009

Team Ixtapaluca

Jim Ministry glimpses, Prayer and Praise 1

On Wednesday we met with our new ministry team here at our house for a time of prayer and planning. Â And this time – I got a picture! Â Here it is:

You might recognize the couple to the left. Â After that, on the couch we have Adriana, and sitting in front of her her son Axel and next to Axel her husband JosÃ© – that’s the Palacios family. Â Next on the couch in Mayra, and in the red shirt her husband Rod. Â That’s the Fry family without their three children. Â Finally on the floor is DavÃd Gomez.

This is the team we’ll be working with in the fall here in Ixtapaluca. Â We appreciate your prayers for each person here. Â We’re looking forward to seeing what the Lord has in store for the months ahead!

(Some of you might have noticed I’ve actually caught up putting photos in the gallery – check out our most recent pictures here)

11 June 2009

Remember Mexico – June 2009

Jim Mexico, News and current issues, Prayer and Praise 0

You may or may not have noticed. Maybe I’m stating the obvious. But I just want to draw a little extra attention to it, just to remind you to pray.

Mexico has been having a hard time.

The people here, that is.

Of course you’ve heard about the violence, drug wars, corruption. People are concerned, and sometimes it hits very close to home (it’s just recently hit very close to home here. I won’t go into details, but there are some friends of ours who could really use your prayers).

The economic crisis has hit Mexico hard. According to a recent survey, the number of unemployed people hit a record high in the first quarter of this year. The peso has dropped in value. It takes 13.4 pesos to buy a US dollar (and that’s actually an improvement), as opposed to 10.9 pesos when we first moved here in 2006. This too has hit people we know.

Just when people wondered how things could get worse, the A(H1N1) flu hit. Though now much worse in the US than it is in Mexico, the paranoia turned tourists away from the country and even exposed prejudice toward Mexicans themselves. More business left the country.

Though recent earthquakes felt in Mexico City may not have made your local news, in an area that still remembers the disastrous quake of 1985, they were enough to scare a lot of people. What next?

Mexico City has been having ongoing issues with water. It’s nothing new, but this rainy season the rain has been very sparse. Many families have gone without water in their houses for weeks on end.

And then a tragedy in Hermosillo has shaken the country still further. A fire in a day care has claimed the lives of 44 toddlers and infants. Many others are severely burned.

Can you imagine the impact on a community to lose that many children, and the ongoing impact of many more with serious injuries?

We have friends in Hermosillo and I’ve shared some of their posts in my shared items. If you missed the posts, read Day Care Fire, Update on Day Care Fire and then God works in such wonderful ways!

Next month a legislative mid-term election is coming up. As with most countries, you’ll hear outrage toward one party or another, and those who wonder whether to vote or not. In a country undergoing so much crisis, scepticism and anger seems to run especially high.

Add to this mix human rights issues, current heated debates over abortion … the list goes on and on. Many people are feeling the earth shake under them, and it’s not just earthquakes. Many don’t know where to turn.

Please. Remember Mexico. Pray for her people.

9 June 2009

A little crazy! (the update)

Jim Family, Practical matters, Prayer and Praise 1

Some of you have been wondering what’s up with some of the craziness we mentioned in our last post.

First, Shari was able to take Nathanael to the doctor that day. He was diagnosed with "seasonal allergies", and the doctor gave us a note that said no way does he have the flu.

So, with that official documentation, he was allowed back into the school, and has been there ever since!

The computers are working fairly well, although we’re still at the stage where we keep realizing to do such-and-such we still need to set up such-and-such.

The gate to our street – is still not fixed, so we still can’t get in or out without knocking door to door. We’ve taken to parking outside the gate quite often, which can be a little inconvenient if you’re unloading groceries. Or we watch out the window and wait for someone else going out or coming in, and jump at the chance!

Interestingly enough, we have another broken door – the back door of our van can no longer be opened. The mechanic I took it to today couldn’t fix it, so hopefully I can find someone who can do something with it before our trip.

Shari and Hannah continued to make incredible progress with the schoolwork – in fact, Hannah is done! Praise the Lord!

So now we need to get all the paperwork together to send to Canada to prove that she’s done.

Lots of other things going on. Due to a change in our paperwork I had to send some documents back into Mexico City today, so we’ll need to get those back before we go. I’m still trying to get vehicle insurance for our trip. And the schools are busy catching up on all the activities they skipped during the height of the flu outbreak – Nathanael has a Children’s Day outing on Friday (that I will be joining him for), and Hannah’s big Mother’s Day performance is coming up on the 19th.

I had a great time in Puebla at the conference. And we’re looking forward to getting together with our local team for a time of prayer tomorrow night.

What – you didn’t want us to be bored, did you?

4 June 2009

A little crazy!

Jim Family, Practical matters, Prayer and Praise 1

Things have been a little crazy around here.

For one thing, an update on Nathanael. He went back to school Monday and Tuesday, but then Wednesday he was sniffling more and they told us we would need a doctor’s note to bring him back.

All very well, but on Wednesday I was sick in bed all day (migraine attack) and Shari wasn’t confident she could find the doctor’s office herself. Hopefully we can go today, but I’m also going to a conference (Lord willing) today, tomorrow and Saturday in Puebla. Hopefully we can squish in a visit to the doctor in here somewhere!

Nathanael? Oh, he’s fine. Just a few sniffles, as he’s had most of the year.

We had some major computer problems, which are more or less worked out now. I’m just finishing getting things set up again. Everything is ok, it just ended up being extremely time-consuming.

Also, they’re having some problems with the gate in our neighbourhood. We have an electronic gate that lets the cars in and out, which is great when it works. But it’s not working.

So, they locked the gate with a padlock. No problem – most people in the neighbourhood have a key … but we don’t!

So, we have to go begging door to door whenever we want to get in or out – which is 8 times a day just to get the kids to school and back (ok, so now we’re not taking Nathanael!) plus everything else we do. So many times a day we go knocking and knocking until we find someone with a key.

Apparently it’s a lock and key with a special code. Only one guy has the code, and he doesn’t live here anymore, so the lock can’t be duplicated. So until the gate gets fixed…

So all those things we’ve been trying to get done for normal life, plus all those things we need to get done before we leave on our trip – well, they’ve been mostly on hold while we watch Nathanael, spend time in bed sick, look for keys, and repair computers.

To add to the fun, we thought Hannah had until the end of the month to finish her Canadian school work, but we just heard from the office that she actually has to be done before June 12th. Wow! So we’ve ramped up the school work schedule with her, trying to get everything done. Shari has been working with her and they’ve been making incredible progress – they might actually make it!

And we’re having a party when it’s done. I don’t care what else we’re behind in. 😉

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