Yes, Lord willing we will soon be back home in Mexico! We appreciate those who are praying.
Not long before our trip south was to begin, we all got sick, which certainly meant some unexpected changes to our last few days in Canada. We’re still not at 100%, so that makes it difficult to look forward to all this travel. So if you think of it, do pray that we will be all right on the trip. There’s also a lot that needs to be done right away as we settle back into life in Mexico, so pray that we would be able to get those things done and have some time to recuperate over the next few weeks.
We’re thankful that my Mom is also moving – a room became available which will likely be temporary, but it is a room, a nice room actually, and it’s not in the hospital, where she’s been waiting.
Lots happening all at once, as always! For us at the moment, it’s planes and taxis!
Travelling is good – a blessing – and also difficult.
We’ve been travelling for 5 months, which is a long time to live out of a suitcase, be out of your routine, be away from familiar surroundings. And if we’re here much longer, it will be a record time away from home.
But travelling has been a blessing as well. We’ve been able to spend time with family. We’ve been involved in ministry in many different churches. We’ve visited friends, and even made new friends.
We got together with some people at Avant who do so much for us (not pictured was Carolyn – we appreciate you too!):
One church even put together a pretty cool Mexican display for me to stand in front of (Prairie Tabernacle):
Shari shared at a women’s prayer meeting, and is preparing for another. And for those who have been asking, my Mom is doing a lot better! Here she is at the prayer meeting (front and centre)…
And of course there was another Where did the Bible Come from? seminar. Here’s a group pouring over “ancient” manuscripts of the fabled story of Javier the Louse…
Well, there has been so much happening that I won’t go into it all here. But it’s been fun!
But we’ve also been missing Mexico. In fact, we even missed a church anniversary service for the first time – although we were “there” in spirit, and we did record a video message for the service.
And so the time is coming to prepare for travel back to Mexico. We would appreciate your prayers for reasonable tickets, and that God would give wisdom as to timing! There’s a lot to do before we go, so I’d better get to it.
So there we were, right in the middle of Canada, and I decided to ask the dangerous question, “Where are you from?”
No, literally, we were right in the middle of Canada. See?
Ok, well, the middle of Canada from east to west, anyway.
We saw another family there, and my Mexico spidey-sense went off, and I asked them where they were from. Sure enough, Mexico! But they now live in Canada. We enjoyed a long chat with this family right there – pulling out our slightly dusty Spanish – right smack-dab in the middle of Canada.
Well, we’ve had all kinds of interesting experiences here in Canada. For two weeks we travelled through Saskatchewan and Manitoba – and finally, at the pinnacle (or at least mid-way point) of our trip, we visited our mission office in Winnipeg, in spite of rain and hail on the last leg. 🙂 We appreciate everything that the folks at Avant do for us! And we’ve had some good times with various people, and did some ministry in a couple of churches.
And by the way, the new friends from the middle of Canada weren’t the only Mexican people we’ve met. We even enjoyed an evening with a Mexican pastor and his American wife, who are planning to go into full-time ministry in Mexico. It’s always an encouragement to hear of more people joining the work of the Kingdom!
And, once in a while, Mexican food has been a part of our travels…
We’re looking forward to some ministry at the Prairie Tabernacle in Three Hills, and will also be returning to Cremona to run the Where did the Bible Come From? seminar. As always, the upcoming events are all here.
In family news, you’ll be glad to hear that my Mom is doing much better after a fall at the end of August!
Without going into all the details – it’s crazy-busy, we very much appreciate your prayers – and that’s all for today!
If you’re on our Support Team, you should be getting our quarterly newsletter soon, with the theme “Unusual Summer”. Well, it’s been unusual all right, for a lot of reasons! But here on Finding direction, it’s also been rather – silent!
But here I am, finally, taking a moment to write. So, yes, as you might guess, it has been pretty busy, in many ways! If you’ve been following on Instagram or X or Facebook, I’ve at least been trying to keep you up to date on our speaking engagements and seminars (which reminds me, I should send out a reminder about this Sunday! *adding to list*). Our schedule is also here, of course. But there have been a lot of other things going on.
We’ve enjoyed visiting quite a few churches in Alberta. As a bonus, I had the opportunity to teach a seminar on The Environment in Glendon, taking a look at the Bible’s teaching and how it relates (quite often clashes) with current views on environmentalism. We have a lot to think about and talk about!
We’re thankful that Nathanael has found a job – er – jobs. So both he and Hannah are keeping busy, and will likely be even busier as fall activities rev up. But this past Saturday we were able to celebrate Independence Day (Mexico) a little early, by going for tacos together! We even had the chance to chat with someone there from our home state. It was a rare time for the four of us to hang out together for a while!
We’ve had a lot of personal things to get done while in Canada, for ourselves and for family, so that means a lot of trips hither and yon. As I mentioned in our newsletter, when you’re missionaries visiting your “passport country”, you’re usually trying to cram a lot into a short period of time!
Ministry will be continuing in the weeks ahead, in Saskatchewan, Manitoba, and back to Alberta, including another Where did the Bible Come From? seminar. I have some fun tweaks planned for the seminar, so I’m looking forward to that.
Anyway, I can’t promise I’ll be stopping by here more often, but I’ll try! Meanwhile, if you’re going to be in the neighbourhood during any of our upcoming engagements, it would be great to see you. 🙂
10 years ago today, Hannah was baptized, along with 25 other people from the two Path of Life churches in Ixtapaluca! There’s a video of the whole event here, but here’s Hannah giving her testimony:
It may seem strange to some that Nathanael’s graduation took place before some of his final exams. But – be that as it may – Nathanael’s graduation ceremony is over, even though the exams are not! (Is that why they say, “It’s all over but the crying”?)
Anyway, Nathanael graduated with some of his class (“some” because, being at an “alternate status” school, many of the students were not from the area) on the 10th of June, at a special event at Zion Evangelical Missionary Church in Didsbury, Alberta.
Nathanael was on the grad committee, so he worked all through the year on various projects to make the grad a success. The committee came over the day before to work on the decorations for the banquet, and Nathanael in particular worked on PowerPoints and a unique banner for the event (which we ended up bringing from Mexico!).
The program was very Christ-honouring, and of course student-congratulating!
All four of us were there, along with Nathanael’s three grandparents.
Nathanael and the FamilyThrowing the mortarboards!
We enjoyed a delicious banquet afterwards. Nathanael – great job on the grad committee – oh, and on many years of school! And thanks to all the teachers and staff who worked so hard as well. 🙂
