Jim
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Just pour it on my laptop, please…
Can you believe it? I’m actually connected to the internet – at home! It’s been a while. Actually, we’ve had some issues trying to get everything sorted out.
First, yes, we have moved into our house. More on that later, no doubt. But suffice to say we are here, and gradually getting settled!
But back to computers and internet things. We set up our laptop on a card table here (remember, we don’t have a lot of furniture). After all, it had lists of which bin we’d packed what in, phone numbers, and lots of other important stuff. But then … someone spilled (or practically hurled) a glass of soda pop on it (Canada Dry – how appropriate). No, it wasn’t a member of our family – we’ll leave it at that. But it was soaked. I ripped off my sweatshirt and tried to soak up the mess, only to discover I was wearing a very un-absorbant sweatshirt. But it was all I had at the time.
Later that afternoon I painstakingly cleaned the entire keyboard (I used a few tips from The Tech Zone). Then I restarted the laptop. Oops. Shouldn’t have done that. I need to log on with a password and … some of the keys don’t work.
So then not only did some of the keys not work, I couldn’t even access the hard drive to get any information off of it! Why oh why did I reboot?
The next day (after much prayer) I discovered that it had dried up a little, and most of the keys worked. Most of the time. It’s a little sticky (I’ll need to clean it again) but it’s more or less working now. Praise the Lord! Here’s hoping it will make a full recovery (the letter “e” is pretty stubborn at the moment).
The internet was supposed to be installed on Tuesday. Apparently someone stopped by, but we didn’t hear the bell. Then someone was supposed to come Saturday, but no one came.
So I called the internet company and the friendly voice said she would talk to someone on Monday (since by that time all the tech folks had gone home). And lo! Someone came today and hooked us up.
So we are very happy to have a (mostly kinda sorta) working laptop, and an internet connection, just so that I can share this little story with you. Maybe I can share more stories now that we’re back online. We’ll see…
The conference (and how I missed it)
On Sunday we enjoyed the 10th anniversary celebration of the church in San Juan del Río. There was a great service (yes, I understood some of it) and some delicious food afterwards. Hannah and Nathanael were pretty tired, so we headed back to the house the relax the rest of the day on Sunday. Sunday night we got some pizza from Sam’s Club, and then we went to bed. Then everything changed.
My first clue was that Nathanael went to sleep instantly. That just never happens. Shari went to bed pretty early too. But we didn’t get much sleep that night – hardly any. We were sick.
I don’t mean a little sick. I mean, really sick. I don’t think I have ever been that sick (which of course is something to be thankful for!). Well, maybe with migraine, but a migraine attack doesn’t last as long as this did.
Now I almost hate to mention this, because of course Mexico has this reputation, that you’re going to go there and get sick. Now in all the months I’ve spent in Mexico, I’ve never gotten sick before. And I know people who have been here for years and have rarely if ever gotten sick. Also, this wasn’t the well known sickness from drinking the water. We think it was food poisoning, which of course can happen anywhere. So please, don’t think that you have to get sick if you go to Mexico.
Anyway, that being said, we were (that is Nathanael, Shari and I), totally, miserably sick. I went down the next morning to get Hannah started on breakfast, but that’s all I did that day – the rest of the day I was in bed. And most of the rest of the next day as well. That was the day we were supposed to go to the conference.
On Wednesday morning we d r a g g ed ourselves to the conference – one of the missionaries was gracious enough to lead us there (it was only about a 1/2 hour away). Remember, at this point I had hardly eaten or even drank anything since Sunday night (remember the pizza? Didn’t absorb much of that!), so I was pretty weak. I think those suitcases all tripled in weight while I had been stuck in bed!
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The conference was at a beautiful hotel – a themed hotel (the Mexican Revolution). It was chilly – below freezing at night and no heating in the rooms, though we had a heater. The first day we pretty much spent in the room. Note that all this time Hannah was pretty healthy, other than a cold. She was able to take in a lot of the conference with the kids, so that was fun. Shari was starting to get better, so by Thursday was taking in most things. I was starting to get better by Thursday, but Nathanael was still pretty sick, so I was in the room with him all day.
In the end, I did go to a couple of half sessions on the last day, and did enjoy some meals. By Friday my stomach was feeling a lot better and reminding me that I’d had to tighten my belt a notch after not eating or drinking all week. So I was hungry!
What I saw of the conference was great. We reconnected with some old friends, met lots of new people … I just wish I’d been able to see them more, and take in more of the great worship and teaching. But there’s always next year! (Here’s a brief note from a fellow missionary who didn’t miss the conference!)
After an uneventful drive through the world’s biggest city on Friday, we arrived in Cuernavaca. Shari is feeling mostly better, Nathanael (who was hit hardest) is almost there too, and Hannah is still fine except for that cold. And I’m doing fairly well, though not at 100% yet. Today our hosts the Casteels put on a wonderful American Thanksgiving dinner, and my stomach was (thankfully!) able to handle it.
Today we took a look at the house we’ll be renting. Lord willing we’ll be moving in in the next couple of days, but we’ll have to see how things go since we don’t have a fridge or bed or anything yet. Some things need to be done before we can really live there. I’ll let you know how things go – but for now, I need my sleep!
The Cottrills are in Mexico
Yes, it’s true – I’m writing you from Matuhuala, Mexico. We’re staying here for the night before continuing on to San Juan del Rio, where we’ll be staying with friends (and fellow CAM missionaries) until the conference.
So, we crossed the border right here. The Lord blessed us with a very uneventful border crossing. So uneventful, that, while I was prepared to pay two – three thousand pesos, I only ended up spending five. Not five thousand, just five, for a photocopy. That’s about 53 cents Canadian, so no complaints. Praise the Lord!
We drove on with a few stops for gas and food, and our friend Alan went on home after taking us to the hotel. We’ll follow to his house tomorrow.
The kids are doing well, but they have a hard time being stuck in the van all day, and then having so little time to run around. I’m especially referring to Nathanael. The little man is like a Coke can bouncing up and down in the back of a truck. When you stop and go to open it – KERPOW!
There is a nice playground here, so they had a little time to play before dark. And they went with me to get some pizza, and were pretty excited because there was a big window where they could watch the pizza being made. 🙂
Anyway, I’m ready for bed. One more day of travel, and we can take it a little easier for a few days. We’re all ready to be on solid ground for a while, instead of rubber tires.
Unless Google Maps has led me astray, this is roughly where we are right now.
Leaving Dallas
We’re packing up to leave Dallas now. We had a good time here at CAM Center, and managed to finish getting the paperwork we needed. There were lots of other things to do, people to meet with, friends to see.
It was good to spend a little time in the USA, since we’ll be working with some of its citizens in Mexico. I’m not sure if I understand the American culture more or less – maybe I’m more confused than when I came! But hopefully our brothers and sisters from here will be patient with our faux pas and strange questions, as I hope our Mexican friends will be as we learn more about their culture. But as with any culture, it’s wonderful to have a common bond with our brothers and sisters in the Lord, even though we may not understand why in the world they do what they do! 😉
After all, it’s so important who you’re working with. And we’ve had the honour to work with some great people – at vti, at CAM, at our church, and many other places as well.
We’re going to be travelling with our friend Alan McManus, who has been in the USA to visit family and pick up some things he needed. After we get to Mexico, we’ll stay with his family in San Juan del Río for a few days until the annual CAMEX Fellowship Conference. Alan and Beth have two boys, one Hannah’s age and one a little older, so our kids are looking forward to that.
Anyway, I need to run and finish getting the van loaded. We’ll probably check in again somewhere on the other side of the border.
Historic event in Mexico
It’s hard for many of us in Canada and the USA to understand how and why so many in Mexico have not had a chance to hear the Gospel in a clear way. After all, many of us know other Christians, we hear Christian radio, see Christian TV, see many Bible believing churches even in small towns. It seems like the Gospel is everywhere. Even in many restricted countries, there’s access to Christian programming. I understand that in Iraq under Saddam Hussein, the Jesus film was shown on national TV more than once.
There are many reasons why Mexico, particularly central Mexico, has had less access to the Gospel than you may think. But one reason is that religious media has been highly restricted. I’m talking about TV and radio. Never has an evangelistic program been shown on national TV. Never, that is, until last night.
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The project is called Mi Esperanza (my hope). Churches throughout Mexico got together to plan an evangelistic event. For three nights (November 9-11) on national TV, in prime time, a show is scheduled with testimonies, video presentations and a message by Dr Billy Graham. It starts at 9pm (actually, those expecting it to start at 9pm actually saw The Simpsons in Spanish – last night it was at 9:10pm).
Many Mexican believers are making a point to invite friends into their homes so that they can talk about the Gospel with them. So please pray that the Lord would work through this interaction and the conversations that follow in the weeks ahead. Our coworkers the Frys are “on the ground” – here’s what they had to say about the historic event.