I’m a little over 3 months late, but I did want to report on an evangelistic event that we had in Las Palmas, because it was a good time.
So one of our beloved Christmas traditions here in Mexico is ponche, a hot punch filled with fruits. So we set up a stove on the street in front our church meeting place, and served ponche to the passersby.
Some served the hot drinks, some shared the gospel, some walked around the neighbourhood to invite people to come, and some played Christmas carols.
And we also handed out little bags with a candy or two, a verse, and information about the church.
Many people heard the gospel and received information about the church. About 200 of our little information cards were handed out, which means that many households in the community now know that we’re there.
You can see in the image above right that we have a sign at street level for the church, and we hope to put another one up above so people can clearly see where we are.
We appreciate your prayers as we continue to build on this start, or actually restart, since we’ve returned to Las Palmas after meeting elsewhere!
Thursday evening, I was off to my follow-up doctor’s appointment. It was raining, but who’s afraid of a little rain? And after all, the van is parked right in front of our front door.
Flooding, the day after the worst flooding…
I was, however, pretty soaked by the time I got into the van, and by the time I opened our gate (so I could move the van out onto the street), I had stepped in water deep enough to soak my shoes.
Shari suggested I maybe cancel my appointment. As tends to be the case, she was right. However, at the moment of the suggestion, the van was already out, I was trying to close the gate as quickly as possible, we were both getting soaked, and it was one of those split-second yes/no decisions. So, off I went.
As you can see, I cheated with the picture above – this was flooding on Friday evening, not Thursday evening. Flooding happens quite regularly around here, but nothing like Thursday. I was driving through lakes and rivers the whole time.
After many adventures, I was only 500 metres from the clinic, but then I remembered I was about to drive down a street rather notorious for flooding, and Thursday was no exception. With the rain still coming down in torrents, I came to my senses and began backing up, to see if by any chance I could make it home.
Backing up wasn’t so easy at that level of visibility. But then I realized that they were closing the road behind me – that is, where I needed to go. But the gentleman putting up the rope across the road saw that I was just leaving, and when I explained that I was leaving, he was kind enough to let me go.
The fun wasn’t over yet. And it wasn’t my imagination that this was unusual. Our area was apparently the hardest hit in the flooding. Firefighters were literally rescuing people by boat, where there used to be streets.
So there was no stopping if I wanted to get home (and no time for pictures!) – I drove through rivers and lakes, winding around to try to find the highest ground (or at least the least flooded ground). Every manhole I passed was now a little fountain 1-2 feet high of sewage water pouring into the street. (Genesis 7:11 – “the fountains of the great deep split open, and the floodgates of the sky were opened.” At least that water was clean!)
Finally with a busted umbrella and a jacket that could have been wrung out, I arrived home with some flood debris stuck on the bottom of the van. Our street was pretty much as it had been – which I’m thankful for. Our house was fine.
Not to say everything was fine – we did have some loss from the flooding, but I won’t get into that here. The short story – we’re fine, the house is fine, and I was glad to be home.
Many other people had worse problems. With a local sewage ditch overflowing, appliances and electronics were destroyed as water swept through houses.
Here’s an article – I ran it through Google Translate for you, but it gives you an idea and shows a picture taken very close to where we live, where I often do business: Flood in Ixtapaluca
So my appointment was cancelled (they messaged me to ask why I wasn’t there, so I explained – it simply wasn’t possible!). I rescheduled for the next day, attempting to avoid the rain, which tends to come later in the day. There’ are ‘s a tropical storm off the coast which is giving us dismal weather for a few days – “Delila“. But the rain started again before I left. As you can see in the picture above, there was still flooding.
But! Not nearly as bad as Thursday night. So lots of splashing, but no closed roads.
So – I saw my doctor a day late. And – yikes! Delila is getting stronger still, although it’s slowly moving away from us. Not much sun is predicted for the next 4 days. Those clouds are dark up there. Here we go again! Can I stay home tonight?
We returned from a quick trip to Canada four weeks ago, and we hit the ground running. The first day back in town we were already off to view a possible house to rent. And … spoiler … no news on that yet. We were scheduled to view a house yesterday, and had planned to go early to be the first ones there – but even that was not in time. It was rented before we left to see it. So – we stayed home and I packed another box of stuff. 🙂
But enough about all that! Life goes on with all the regular and irregular activities. We’re getting ready for the church’s 8th anniversary service, if you can believe that. That special event will be coming up in November. And in the meantime, we’re looking for another place to meet for the church – both temporary and permanent. As you might guess, so far availability of places seems to be low, and prices high. But hopefully we will at least find a temporary place to meet, while we look for / make a decision on a more permanent place to renovate / build.
There are lots of other things going on. After finishing up our series on the doctrine/values of the church, we’re doing some special themes in Sunday school, which has been interesting. I’ve done a couple so far, and I’m planning for another one or two. We’re also doing some special themes on the first Sunday of each month, so I’m preparing to share on the traditions of Christmas in the light of Scripture. As you might guess, it’s a whole different world here in Mexico – at least, in some ways. I’ve asked people at the church to give me some ideas of what topics they would like covered, so that should be interesting!
We recently finished preaching through the book of Zechariah, and we’re moving through 1 Corinthians now. Both challenging books, for sure! But the powerful Word of God is working!
We enjoyed a visit from Tim and Brianna last week, a couple from the USA who are planning to come and serve the Lord here in Mexico. It was great to hear their perspective and also to get together with some of our Mexican friends here to hear their perspective on ministry in Mexico. There’s a lot of work to do here! But praise the Lord that He is raising up workers.
We also had a chance to see another couple from our mission, Roger and Judy, who were down for a visit.
The institute classes are continuing, and I’m looking forward to teaching one of those. And we continue to have opportunities as a church to share the gospel at a local hospital, along with hot coffee and sandwiches. 🙂
There’s a quick update on some of the things that have been going on! I will try to communicate again soon. Since I’ve been so lazy in taking pictures and video, I will at least share this picture of Tajín ice creams. You might be able to buy Tajín where you live – it’s a salty spicy Mexican seasoning. Which, apparently, also comes in ice cream.
10 years ago was a fun time. We had these four who happened to be here at the same time, helping with the ministry. And once they had all arrived, we went and did some touristy things in Mexico City.
Here they are, downtown! You can see the fine arts centre, Bellas Artes, to the left, and a corner of the Latin American Tower directly behind them (to the right of the steeple). Malu, Julian, Jessica and Emily! Just click the picture for a larger version.
It’s saying a lot – but I’m not sure I’ve ever seen a worse time for volcanic ash.
Volcanic ash on the windshield
Living near an active volcano as we do, we’re not strangers to having volcanic ash around (in fact, you may remember that I mentioned it here). But over the last couple of days it’s been quite the topic of conversation.
The news this week was that the spewing of the volcano was interrupting flights from central Mexico. I checked a couple of news reports that explained that the volcano had had “13 exhalations” (which is pretty much what it sounds like – spews of gas or ash) in one day. Well, today it’s 148 exhalations so far. Quite high – though it’s certainly been higher other days this month.
Anyway, whatever the reason may be, I’m feeling ash as I type on my keyboard here. You can wipe a surface in the house and come back a little later to wipe it again. It gets into everything – very fine, it hangs in the air like a mist. People are out sweeping the street in front of their houses – Shari included. Our neighbour was cleaning out the nooks and crannies in his car – even in the engine. And sweeping it up does help to keep sewers from getting clogged.
But you must admit, it does feel a little useless when you can come out and see the grey-black dust everywhere that you just swept!
The good news is that the wind seems to be blowing the plume in the opposite direction for the moment (apologies to our friends in Puebla!), and it doesn’t seem to be smoking too much at the moment. But you can check it for yourself right here (webcam). And in case you’re interested, a few years ago I posted the local recommendations of what to do in case of ash.
Drive about an hour into Mexico City, and you’ll come across the beautiful Xochimilco Ecopark. Actually, we just went again this past March, and I was a little sad. What had been a somewhat “wild” overgrown place was now very developed. Yes, developed as a park – it’s still beautiful, but to my taste it isn’t quite what it was.
Ten years ago today we were there with Hannah and Nathanael. I think this is when they were doing some “wetlands” research for school. We had the place almost to ourselves – except for the many kinds of birds and bugs and plants.
Here’s one look – click the picture for a bigger version.
