We had quite the snowfall on the mountains as we woke up to a chilly March morning. Here are a few pictures – just click them to view hi-res versions in the photo gallery. There’s often snow on the volcanoes, but not usually like this…
Praise the LORD from the earth …
fire and hail, snow and mist, stormy wind fulfilling his word!
Mountains and all hills, fruit trees and all cedars! …
Let them praise the name of the LORD!
(Psalm 148)
Ah, the perils of renting a place to meet here in Ixtapaluca. As you may know, we rent a place to meet on Sunday mornings – probably the largest place in the neighbourhood – a zumba studio. We pack in there on Sunday mornings and move out by the afternoon.
But it seems the owners have some renovations to do – as we just discovered this past weekend – so – we’re homeless! Hopefully this will be temporary – a couple of weeks – a month – we’ll see….
 Jesús MarÃa from above |
There really isn’t another place where we could all fit (actually, we sometimes don’t really fit in the zumba studio!). So we’ll probably break the group up for the whole service, and send the kids to the community centre, the youth to one house, and the adults to another. 🙁
Well, this is another reminder of why we’re raising funds for a building of our own! And I have good news and – well, not bad news but just news – about that.
The good news is that we’ve recently received some gifts that bring our total raised to – well, take a look at the chart here!
One thing I should mention is that we have payments to make every month in order to fulfill our contract and buy the land. So if you’ve been thinking of donating, please don’t wait until May. We do have a payment to make this month, and in April, and May, and June.
Thanks so much to those who have given to this project. We pray that the land will be a place to make disciples. But we also remember – we will always be a bit nomadic. This is not our home – our citizenship is in heaven (Philippians 3:20-21)!
If you’d like more specific details about this project, including videos of the area, contact us.
I know that many of you are interested in what’s happening with our visas. Or maybe morbidly curious, like someone watching a train wreck. 😉
The last thing I reported was that I obtained the document that I needed from the Mexican Consulate in Calgary.
Upon my return to Mexico, I got another document I needed (although they made me fill it out twice because I made a mistake. Give me a break – it was 1:30am!).
Last week, I was given another document to fill out, and two more to check over. I had to check with our lawyer about some information on the new document, and I heard back from her today. So I’m still in the process of getting the new document done.
We’ve also had to check on vehicle paperwork, which is connected to our visas.
Everything now has a countdown – my visa will need to be done first, but we also have a limited time to get paperwork done for the vehicle and for everyone else in the family.
So – thanks to all those who are praying! We’ve come a long way since I was in Canada, but we still have a long way to go.
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After three visits to the Mexican Consulate this week, I have finished what I came to Calgary to do! I have the document I need to bring back to Mexico so that I can ask for the visa that I want to get there!
And if you found that confusing, maybe I should leave it at that and not try to explain any more.
Anyway, the people at the consulate were very nice and I’m glad to finally have some good news to report. 🙂
I have a few more errands to do tomorrow, then I’m looking forward to a prayer meeting on Saturday and I’m very excited to be preaching on Sunday. If you’re in the Calgary area, I would love to see you on Sunday – I’ll be at Cremona Country Fellowship.
And thanks to so many who were praying that our visa-goal for the week would be reached! Another step in the right direction! Praise the Lord!
This week we went to Pastor MartÃn’s birthday party. And guess what showed up? You guessed it, a Mariachi band!
Since you weren’t able to come, I thought I’d share a clip of the music with you. Of course, I can’t send any of the delicious pozole that we ate – sorry. Why don’t you come visit? 🙂
Here’s another short clip from Rod Fry…
With the unexpected trips of the past couple of months, it’s taking us a little while to catch up with 2013! Although frankly so much has happened already in 2013 it’s hard to believe it’s only the 17th!
As you may know we took a trip to the border to be involved in the Rio Grande Bible Institute mission conference, and to deal with some paperwork. I’d rather not describe all of our adventures, but let’s just say we weren’t very involved in the conference, between health issues and paperwork issues.
In spite of all that, two bits of good news…
 Samuel in the workshop at RGBI |
Home again, we’re still catching up after our trip, although the kids have started school again with a vengeance. Today Nathanael was learning about the Imperial Woodpecker (currently his favourite bird – sadly, it’s probably extinct). And Hannah was learning about liquid cohesion.
Community centre activities started up this week, and Shari helped with a baking class this morning. So far everyone seems encouraged about the number of people coming to the community centre and to the Bible studies.
Lord willing I’ll be helping out in various areas during the first part of this year – giving Bible studies, preaching, and being involved in outreach in various areas (not just Jesús MarÃa). We also continue to help with fundraising efforts here and abroad for the new church property. And – let’s face it – we have visas on the brain and are still working to get those! 😛
We’re looking forward to various people coming short term in the months ahead. We’re hoping to see some families come down, as well as individuals and teams. Anyone want to do some construction work? 🙂
So – I guess we’re well into 2013, whether we like it or not! Today I was reminded of these familiar words from the Gospel of Matthew, about our Lord’s compassion. Truly so many people are “harassed and helpless”. Please pray for labourers!
And Jesus went throughout all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction.
When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.
Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the labourers are few; therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out labourers into his harvest.”
(Matthew 9:35-38)