Changing seasons in Mexico
In a city where it’s warm all year ’round, how can you tell when the seasons are changing? Here’s how…
Mexico
Day of the Dead at the video store
Shari suggested I post this in reference to my previous post about the Day of the Dead. This flyer just goes to show again how important this occasion is in Mexican culture. It’s a video rental store flyer (I blurred out the videos, because they’re not important). I circled the items I wanted you to notice:
- #1, a candy skull (traditional candy)
- #2, an orange marigold (the flower of the dead apparently)
- #3, the Catrina (a skeleton in fancy ladies’ clothes), with the words Celebremos nuestras Tradiciones – meaning, let’s celebrate our traditions.
There was more on the other side, but you get the idea. The skull in the black box isn’t exactly related – it just says "Piracy: Serious crime".
We met Alex and Liz.
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Do you recognize this family? If you’re from the First Evangelical Free Church in Calgary, you just might. They visited the church about a year ago. Last week, they were at our church service here in Mexico. How cool is that?
Alex and Liz are a Mexican couple from Mexico City. They are preparing to go to the field with the Latin American mission agency FAM (Mexico’s branch). They came to share a little about the people they would be working with and what they’re looking forward to about serving on the other side of the planet.
It was great to finally meet them! They actually studied for a year in Canada (BC) but we never had the chance to connect while they were there. They’re a great family – I wish we had had more time.
I admit, there’s one thing I just don’t like about Alex and Liz. I don’t like the fact that there aren’t more families like them. There should be, and by God’s grace there will be.
I know that this family would appreciate your prayers as they prepare, raise funds, and look forward to their ministry. They face incredible challenges – they need prayer! Please also pray that God would continue to raise godly individuals and families and teams that can bring the Gospel to the world.
Little Mexico Links for today
I often share links waaaaay down at the bottom of the page, but I would like to bring them up here once in a while. Problem is, I don’t generally have the time! But I’ll shoot a few at you here, and maybe it will motivate me to do it again sometime. Here are some recent links about Mexico that may interest you:
- "Our" volcano erupted – check out some photos of Popo erupting from our friends the Casteels.
- A recent visit to the an area impacted by the recent flood disaster – Tabasco.
- By the way, flood relief is now a CAM project, which means you can give directly to help flood victims and also get a tax-deductible receipt if you want. Read about Mexico Flood Relief (click the photos at the bottom for more info). (If you’re in Canada, call the Canadian office (contact info here) to see how you can give and still get a receipt).
- Here are some Canadians in Mexico that are getting to know people through … hockey!
- Speaking of hockey, have you heard that Mexico City’s main square is now a huge skating rink? See photos of it empty, full and at night. Wow.
- A couple of interesting religious photos.
- Common questions in Mexico – what about Faith vs. Sorcery?
- See what’s for sale for Christmas in this flyer from Mexico’s largest retailer (notice the toasty warm jackets).
- Mexico – soccer (football) – the green jersey? No more. Apparently the players were confusing each other with the grass.
Travelling to Fortin de las Flores…
Today we’re heading to Fortin de las Flores, a city of about 60,000 located about halfway between Puebla and the coast. We’re heading there for the CAMex Fellowship conference, when all the CAM folks in Mexico get together once a year.
You may recall that last year we went, though we weren’t "all there" – for more you can read last year’s post The conference (and how I missed it) (incidentally, this is one of the most popular posts ever on this blog. Why is that?). So, this year we’re hoping to be a little more alive.
For the curious, here’s where the city is:
View Larger Map
The conference is a time of spiritual input, discussion and prayer. Lord willing we’ll be able to connect with some people we may work with starting next year.
Fortin de las Flores (and our hotel) has a view of the 3rd highest mountain in North America (the highest in Mexico) – Pico de Orizaba. If you zoom in on the map above you should be able to see the snow cap to the north west.
There has been a great deal of discussion about the temperature. Last year we were near San Juan del Rio, and there was ice on the water in the fountains when we woke up. There’s little doubt this will be warmer than that. On the other hand, everyone from Cuernavaca is telling us it’s cold there. I guess it depends on your perspective!
Here’s the weather forecast, though I’ve learned to take these with a grain of salt. But we’ll have a heater and warm jackets, so hopefully we’ll be ready. Canadians know how to dress in layers.
