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If You Don’t Want Another “Licence Plate Update”, Click Away, Baby…

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Seriously, if you don’t want another update on our quest to get licence plates, just move along.

You’re still here? It’s a short story anyway. I went today for my fourth visit to the applicable office, and spoke to four people there, including one new person who took some of the paperwork that I had brought, made some copies, and took my phone number. “We’ll call you in one to two weeks.”

So, what else could I do but walk home.

One to two weeks may be optimistic, depending on where our visa paperwork is at by then, so – the bottom line is, we will continue to have no vehicle to drive for a while.

As always, these things are a part of God’s good plan, as frustrating as they may seem at the time. And I look forward to having some time in which I’m not waiting in line yet again at the same place!

The Ongoing Quest for Licence Plates

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Yesterday I joined the long line, almost an hour before opening time. Within a couple of hours, I had reached the front door, and Mayra joined me.

Before actually getting into the line to request the plates, we talked to the man at the information desk. He looked at our papers, and told us that we could use a couple copies. Also, we needed to go to a stationary store, get a magical form, fill it out, and the magical form would allow us to get the plates.

So, playing a little real-life Frogger, we dashed across the highway, got the magical form, dashed back across, filled it out, and were permitted to take a number and join the indoor line, where we could wait in cushy seats.

Finally we spoke to the man with the power, who shuffled through our paperwork and entered the information about the van into the computer.

No help today
Oh dear! It appears that we won’t be able to help you today, sir.

Hmmmmm…. can’t give you plates today. You see…. [a) excuse about the computer system] and [b) excuse about personnel available today]. But come back Thursday, and everything will be rainbows, tulips and unicorns.

So we left – me, feeling very bad for Mayra who had spent all this time on a process that wasn’t hers – to no avail.

So – what can I say? Tomorrow is another day …

Keep Participating.

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I must say, I haven’t been this sick (with non-migraine related symptoms – although now I have those too!) for a long time. Which, strangely enough, is something to be very thankful for. Ah, it’s just a cold or some kind of a bug, but a nasty one.

On top of that, Shari and I had the bad sense to both get sick at the same time. Silly us.

Sigue participandoAnyway, it is rather frustrating when you’re still trying to catch up after being away. But when I’m not in bed (which I’ve had to be more than usual), I try to follow the wise advice hidden under this Coke cap. Where in English it would say “Please try again” (why, thank you for the kind invitation!), in Spanish it says “sigue Participando” – keep on participating.

Yesterday I managed to lead our morning service (I was actually doing worse health-wise than I thought I would be, but God was gracious). Other than the fogginess of the man leading, it was a good service. We’re going to run out of chairs one day soon – a good problem to have.

Tomorrow, Lord willing, I’m going to go again to the license-plate-getting-place (I’ve gone over there a few times now) to hopefully complete the paperwork (with the help of our friend Mayra – I need the extra help because of our visa status, as I mentioned before), so we’ll see how that goes.

Other than all the other normal things, I’m trying to DRINK LOTS and get the rest I need. Bad bug, begone!

Plates and Visas – ¿por favor?

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We’re still working on getting license plates for our van, which means that we’ve had no vehicle for the majority of the week, and won’t have one until we get some paperwork done.

License Plate - Por FavorWe’re hoping to get that done soon, but it’s a bit of a challenge. Essentially, once you get your permanent resident visa, you can’t drive a vehicle that has not been nationalized. Which means you need to nationalize your vehicle (which means driving to the border) before you get your permanent resident visa.

However, you can’t get plates for your vehicle until you have a permanent resident visa. Which means … well, think about it, you’ll get the idea.

Anyway, there are some possible ways around this, none of them super-easy, of course. And according to a friend of mine, it involves lining up at 5am, 4 hours before the office opens, in order to get in before the day is over ….

Thanks to a ride from Rod Fry, who was dropping his kids off in Puebla for the day, I was able to meet up with someone to get some documents signed for our visas. So that’s a step forward. We’re getting everything finalized to be submitted, so that I can get my visa as soon as possible. If things go really smoothly, I might have it in a couple of months. Hey! Stop laughing! Just because things went that way last time doesn’t mean it will be that way this time!

Anyway, we appreciate – VERY much – your prayers as we continue to walk through the tangled web that will allow us to get our visas, and maybe even drive!

Let the Visa Adventures Begin (again)!

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We all knew this time would come. And yes, it is here at last.

Some of you may remember our exciting visa adventures from the past. No – not the credit card – the documents that allow us to live in Mexico. Through great trials and tribulations (and thousands of dollars spent), we finally had our temporary resident visas.

Monarch butterfly
Another visitor from Canada…
If you were really paying attention, you might have known that you can only have those for so long – then you need to get out of the country, or apply for permanent resident visas.

Permanent resident visas are beautiful glittering documents that are – well – permanent. At least in the sense that you don’t have to get anything else after a certain time, and you don’t have to renew them for thousands of pesos every year or whenever. So we want those. So this is the year.

We’ve actually been working on the details for all this since last year, but this past week we really began in earnest with a trip to the MX/US border.

If you get permanent visas, you may not drive a vehicle with foreign plates. So to begin the process of getting Mexican license plates, we had to go to the border and do some dashing in and out (at different locations even), paying large sums of money, and doing a whole lotta paperwork. It took us three days at the border (plus a day to shop and some travel – almost a week in away), but we now have a Mexican vehicle (and a Mexican cargo trailer). Special thanks to Luis and Brock for their help.

But – hold on – no Mexican license plates yet. That’s a whole other issue.

So as we continue the month of January (boy, it’s going fast, isn’t it??) we’re going to attempt to get license plates, and get some more paperwork done for my visa (which expires before the visas of the rest of the family), which will likely mean lots of waiting in line, travel to another city, and there’s always money involved (and it’s never money we get – why is that?).

Seriously, though, we do appreciate your prayers. Our trip was good, God went before us, but we are exhausted (and came home to a pipe leaking water in the bathroom – I guess we’d better add that to the “to do list”…) and trying to make sure we get all the “urgent” stuff done. You don’t want to forget that one document and find that everything has expired and you missed a whole procedure.

But for now, visa issues aside, we’re preparing materials for kids’ Sunday school tomorrow (Shari is teaching), and I’m working on my sermon. I had a good talk with someone today who is thinking of checking out our Sunday service – as always, I’m sure it will be an interesting day!

Church Planting: The Next Step

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The Next StepIt’s been over two years since our team officially began ministry in the community of Las Palmas. We’ve had many opportunities to serve people there. And now it’s time for the next step.

So what has happened over two years? There have been a lot of community centre classes, including keyboard, baking, and English classes. And some fun closing programs at the end of the semesters. We’ve also given wheelchairs to those in need, hosted several soccer tournaments and a sports camp, and had Bible studies. We’ve even helped the local Jr. High with their English classes. We’ve had many short-termers who have invested in Las Palmas, helping us with so many activities and just taking the time to talk – and listen – to people.

Through all this time, there have been many opportunities to share the Gospel.

So what’s the next step?

The next step is – an actual Sunday service! And – a whole lot of weekend activities! And – more community centre classes!

Cheila - Children's Day Event 2016
Cheila at a Children’s Day Event
First, let me get to some other related news. Do you remember the Children’s Day activities we had back in the spring? A group came down from Word of Life, a Bible school north of Mexico City.

Well, they did a great job. And now we have the opportunity to work with some of the students from that school every weekend!

Cheila (from Portugal), Matheus (from Portugal) and Rebecca (from Mexico City) have committed to join us each weekend from now through May as an internship with their school. That means that we can help them, and they can help us, as we serve the Lord together.

So what does all this mean for weekly activies? Here are some of the things our (bigger) team will be doing:

  • Sunday Service: Starting (Lord willing) November 6th. We’re renting a party hall for a few hours on Sunday, much like we did in Jesús María.
  • English classes: Homework help in particular. Twice a day students stream down the streets after school (school is in two shifts). The party hall, also rented for this purpose, is in a perfect location on the neighbourhood’s main street.
  • Bible study: for adults/kids, continuing as it has been for a while now on Friday evenings.
  • Kids’ Club: A VBS type activity time on Saturdays
  • Youth: Saturday night
  • Other classes, events, outreaches, community service: continuing.

Some of these things have already started, but the first service is yet to come.

We’ve been spending extra-special time praying for the people of Las Palmas. Will you join us? Only God can bring life to people this community. Please pray with us!

We also have a number of expenses – the rental of a house and the party hall, and the expenses related to the interns. If you would like a breakdown, so that you could make this a family or church project, just contact us. You could help us cover one week, or one intern for one weekend, or less or more.

If you’d like to help right now, you can give to our community centre through Camino Global. The project # is 063576. Just click on “Give to this project”. If you’re in the US, the info is right there. If you’re in Canada, follow the next link and be sure to enter the project #.

Thanks to everyone who has been a part of outreach to this area over the past few months, through your service with us, your gifts, and/or your encouragement! Let’s take the next step and see what the Lord will do!

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