Mexico

19 May 2016

Adventures in Van Repairs in Mexico

Ok, so maybe it’s not the most encouraging part of life right now, but we’re in the middle of several hundred dollars of repairs on our van. We have one more big repair to go – and then I hope we’ll be all right for a while.

Some of the repairs we’ve done at a local garage, with several bays, which may look like what you have in your town in many places in the world. There was some trouble at one point, I think with getting some bolts out. So this specialist was called in. Drilling

He drove up in a nice car, but came with an old hand drill, bare arms and no goggles. So as he drilled and drilled, sparks flew everywhere and he kept getting burned on his arms and getting sparks in his eyes. A little equipment would have helped – maybe with the money I paid him he can buy five or ten pairs of safety glasses.

Today the van was under the care of my friend Mardonio, who has a shop at his house. I had planned to have the van in today because I can’t drive it anyway on Thursdays, due to the current restrictions here in Mexico City.

Around 2:30pm, I went over to see how he was doing. Well, he hadn’t started yet. “You can’t drive anyway!” he pointed out.

Well, you’re right.

“Besides”, he said,”I have to work on this taxi.”

Just fix the taxi first... Take a look – the taxi is there in front, with our van behind. All he had to do is replace the interior, put the tires on, replace all the electrical work, fix the engine and then put the engine back in it.

If I have to wait in line behind that, I thought, this could take a little longer than I was expecting…

Thankfully, I just stopped by a few minutes ago and found he was done. Well, done “part 1”.

So I’ll be able to drive the van again, but carefully, because the van’s rear end (pardon the expression) is having some significant problems still.

Lord willing next week we’ll be able to get that repair done, although I’ll have to drive around in the city somewhere to find the part, apparently.

I wonder if he’ll be done the taxi by then?

5 May 2016

The Flower Market

Jim Mexico 1

It’s one of my favourite things – visiting the plant and flower market in Xochimilco, Mexico City. It’s the largest in Latin America (and I’ve heard the third largest in the world, next to markets in Canada and the Netherlands – does anyone know where those are?).

Here are a few pictures from our visit yesterday.

Plants and Flowers More plants and flowers

16 March 2016

Too busy to post (too busy not to post)

Jim Mexico, Ministry glimpses, Prayer and Praise, ST Highlight 1

I actually haven’t posted any substantial news since last month! So let me give you a quick update on what’s been going on.

First of all, the weather has been a topic of conversation this month. Before the end of February, the weather changed – it wasn’t getting so cool at night, and felt warmer. This brief reprieve was replaced by rain, and howling winds, and snow at higher elevations. One day the entire state closed the schools because of the cold.

I’ve concluded it’s virtually impossible to explain the impact of this kind of cold to a Canadian, who has survived -20C but can always go inside to warm up. No sun, and no heat in the cement block houses simply means some very miserable days. And whatever explanation you care to give (I have a few), it’s very hard to stay healthy in that kind of weather.

Since the season had already changed, when the cold front disappeared it was instantly replaced by summer. Our thermometer was up to 30C yesterday, and the memories of wearing four layers, and gloves, in the house, are quickly replaced by concerns about drinking enough water and using sunscreen. At the same time, pollution levels rose to their highest in 11 years, which means unusual restrictions on vehicle circulation this week.

My bones haven’t quite thawed out from last week. Once they do, maybe I’ll start to complain about the heat. Maybe. Until then, I’m thankful!

Between the weather and the school cycle here and other factors, attendance at the community centre has been down, but not quite non-existent. Shari is looking forward to her last baking class of the semester on Thursday – fruit pizza – who would want to miss that?! Plus, the closing program is on Thursday – fun times! Oh – AND we have a soccer tournament coming up on Monday. 🙂

On the 5th we connected with David Radlowsky, who is here from Canada for a couple of weeks. We went site seeing at the beginning of last week, doing some orientation along the way. And eating, of course. (By the way, I have a good restaurant in Mexico City to recommend when you come visit…)

Laying sod at the church's property - David, David, and Rod — Laying sod at the church’s property

David has been joining all of us at various times, visiting – what has he visited? A nearby rehab centre – I think an orphanage and senior’s shelter. He helped put clean the church property and put sod down. Yesterday we visited some friends in various parts of Ixtapaluca. Last night he was a guest teacher at my English class. Today we’re heading to Puebla to join our friends Chalo and Beth in their ministry there.

On Sunday we had our 6th anniversary service at the Path of Life Bible Church of JesÃºs MarÃa (Iglesia BÃblica Sendero de Vida JesÃºs MarÃa), which was a real blessing. Lots of people were involved in the service, the temporary sanctuary was full with lots of poor people stuck outside, but we enjoyed good times of fellowship afterwards. Nathanael and Shari were both in two different choirs.

Our family has been struggling with some health issues – all four of us – which has made things a little interesting. As always we appreciate your prayers in that department.

In other news, I’ve been working with our Coordinating Team to update and clarify some of our orientation requirements and tips for new missionaries. How in the world do you introduce new missionaries to Mexico and ministry here? Big topic! But I think we’re making progress.

The kids are busy with projects and things as they finish up another section of school. And we’re getting ready for their big birthday parties coming up in April and May. I’m organizing some of the delegation of funds to the ongoing construction on the church property (almost done that project – help us finish!).

Well, I could go on and on. Busy days!

But if you want to pray over the next few days, we would appreciate your prayer for health issues, for wisdom as we share with many people in various ways, and strength as we try to get so many very different things accomplished.

Some of you have also been praying for Alan, a fellow Camino Global missionary (working north of Mexico City) who had a heart attack. God graciously spared him, and he is home. However, his recovery is being hampered by a lack of sleep right now – I know he would appreciate your prayers. He has a long road to travel still.

You made it to the end of this post! 10 points for you! Have a great day. I’m off to Puebla…

13 February 2016

Pope Francis Visits Mexico

Jim Mexico 0

Yesterday, Pope Francis arrived in Mexico City. He’ll spend the weekend here before heading to the State of Chiapas on Monday morning, the State of MichoacÃ¡n on Tuesday morning, and finally the state of Chihuahua, in the border city of Ciudad JuÃ¡rez.

In spite of the hundreds of thousands flocking to see him, there certainly are mixed feeling about the visit of the Pope, even among Roman Catholics.
Mexico City Welcomes Pope Francis
Billboards like this one welcome him officially (“Welcome, Pope Francis – the CDMX (City of Mexico) is Your Home”). Other billboards pray that he will bring peace and hope to the country. Many people hope that the coming of the Pope will finally bring change to the country.

Others are more skeptical. Some are urging the Pope to “talk tough” against corruption, human rights violations and violence. Some are just frustrated by all the road closures in the city, which started even before he arrived. Some are outraged at the money being spent on the visit, while so many live in poverty. Some even complain that the events will lead to the further spread of the Zika virus.

But many downtown workers are just glad for a day off work due to a closed road.

Watching the Pope’s video messages to Mexico, it’s obvious that he has something else on his mind. What is it exactly that Francis wants out of his visit?

The majority of the videos I watched had one theme – the Virgin of Guadalupe. He wants to stand before her, and look into her eyes. When he feels her presence, he hears the words – do not be afraid – am I not here, who am your mother?.

Francis is actually referring to an image of what is believed by many Mexicans to be a manifestation of the Virgin Mary. Deflecting the trust and hope that many people have in him, Francis points to his source of hope in this tweet:

Many of my Christian friends want to remind everyone that our hope should not be in a man, or in an image of the Virgin, but in Jesus.

While the news sources wait for the Pope’s speeches and hang on every word, he himself is looking forward to his moments to stand before the image in veneration. He will also be performing masses in various locations, including in Mexico City this afternoon.

Many people don’t realize that the mass is absolutely central to the Roman Catholic view of salvation. The mass is a sacrifice, where the priest (in this case, the Pope), is an “Altus Christus” (“another Christ”), with the power to bring Christ down and offer the sacrifice for the people.

The bread and wine are Christ. Many times when you hear Roman Catholic missionaries speak of “bringing Christ to the people”, you’ll find that they’re actually talking about bringing the sacrifice of the mass – because the food is Christ, and to take the mass is to be justified.

Hence the bread and wine are literally worshipped. The lay people don’t drink the wine, because if a little of it spilled, it would be “Jesus” spilling.

For salvation, repeatedly going to mass is necessary.

In a sense, the mass and other sacraments are a system in which the RC Church doles out salvation little by little. For many in Mexico, whatever the official teaching may be, this becomes a bit of an economic system. This blessing, this mass, this visit to the image or the Pope – that gives me credit to get away with a little more, to go to the party, to get forgiveness.

The Bible teaches in the book of Hebrews that the repetitive nature of the Old Testament sacrifices were, in the end, just a reminder of sin (Hebrews 10:3). They looked forward to something much more complete. The “once for all” sacrifice of Christ removed sin forever (Hebrews 9:25-26), bringing true peace with God – not a peace given a little at a time, or a peace that is temporary and uncertain. A peace that is based on what Jesus has already done (Romans 5:1-2; 1Corinthians 1:30-31).

Some look for hope in the Pope, or the mass, or the Virgin of Guadalupe. Others look to politics and protests. But there is still – and will always be – only one Hope (Hebrews 10:15-23).

11 February 2016

How To Take A Shower (at our house)

Jim Just for fun, Mexico, Practical matters 6

Sometimes you get so used to things, you don’t realize what you’re actually going through. But even though you don’t realize it, it just may still cause stress.

Today I decided to see if I could make a flow chart about all the issues we have first thing in the morning when we want to take a shower. I’m not talking about checking to see if I remembered to buy soap (which I did, by the way). No, our morning routine is complicated in other ways.

So here it is. Click the image to see the larger pdf version (which will be a lot easier to read).

(By the way, everything on the chart is accurate and has happened, usually quite often. In fact, three of these issues happened today alone, which perhaps is why I have it on my mind!)

A lot of these things, of course, are related to cooking a meal, doing the laundry, dishes… but don’t make me do anymore charts. Sometimes it’s better not to know! 😉

9 January 2016

Shari Made Ponche. Here’s How.

Jim Food, Just for fun, Mexico 2

Ah, ponche. A Mexican Christmas season tradition. Shari made some today – her second batch, just to use up what we hadn’t used over the holidays.

Kindly enough, she took some pictures so that you could see, step by step, how she did it. Shari may not have the years of experience some Mexican women have, and everyone makes it differently, but this is a good representative recipe. And I can attest that it turned out great!

Ponche, or Christmas Fruit Ponche (say pone-chay) is something often served at a special event or a community Christmas party. It’s a hot drink.

Tejocote

First, she boiled some tejocote for 5 minutes, to make them easy to peel. Tejocote is a type of hawthorn fruit, that look a little like crab-apples. The tejocotes were peeled and then added to the other fruit.

Other Ingredients

Here you can see the other ingredients that were used in the ponche. On the bottom right is sugar cane, which is cut up so that a few people can have a stick in their mug of ponche. On the left you can see cinnamon sticks and dried tamarind pods. The red at the bottom is dried hibiscus flowers. The sliced yellow fruit is guava. The big brown cone is unrefined cane sugar, known in Mexico as piloncillo. You could get a similar effect using brown sugar.

Shari put everything except the apples in to boil, leaving it for about half an hour to forty minutes. The apples were added in the last ten or fifteen minutes. Add a little sugar if it’s still too tart.

The Finished Ponche

Keep it hot on the stove as you serve! Here is the finished product. You serve the liquid, and if preferred some fruit and a bit of sugar cane (usually it is preferred!).

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