Practical matters

17 August 2015

The Van That Was

Jim Practical matters, Prayer and Praise, ST Highlight 7

So, today we got our (used) new van! If you know the van we had before, you know which one is the new one and which one is the old one in the picture below:

2 Vans 2015 We still have some work to do on it (which is why we wanted to get it as soon as possible), so we’ll be taking it in for some maintenance and getting a few things for it that it will need before our long trip to Mexico. Hopefully we can finish all that this week.

Thanks so much for your prayers! We pray that this will be a tool that God will use.

Speaking of being thankful, this is a great time to be thankful for our old van. God used it to take us a lot of places, to move a lot of people, to move our things and other people’s things – it was a great vehicle for us and we’re thankful. I hope someone else can get as much use out of it as we did!

16 August 2015

The Van Project: Another Update

Jim Practical matters, Prayer and Praise, ST Highlight 3

Tomorrow I’ll be looking at some vans again, and we have some in mind, so here’s hoping!

I do have some good news in the mean time. All of the funds for the Van Project have now been promised. Praise the Lord! And thanks so much to all of you who have helped with this project.

So here’s the little chart, just to prove it. Thanks for your prayers! Keep praying, we have a long way to go still . . .

Van Project: Final

14 August 2015

The Van That Wasn’t

Jim Practical matters, Prayer and Praise 3

*sigh*

So I’ve been looking at vans over this past week, online, and in person. Well, after some checking and test-driving, I found a van that seemed to be in good shape. It was quite a drive from where we were – but for a reliable van, it was worth it.

One thing, though. The air conditioning didn’t work. That would have to be fixed. But otherwise, things looked great.

But – better to be safe than sorry. It was already at a Dodge dealership, so I had the dealership do a full mechanical inspection.

The air conditioning was recharged and working (so I heard), and the inspection came out fine – just a little brake work needed, which was done.

So we met the owner at the dealership. And I wasn’t quite satisfied yet. After all, we have a long trip ahead of us.

So I asked to talk to the mechanic personally. What would you recommend I do next? What kind of guarantee do I have? And so on and so on.

After grilling the mechanic, I was satisfied.

We got in the van to check things out one more time. And guess what? No air conditioning.

Now what? Well, we finally decided to propose a lower price, for the work still to do on the air conditioning. The seller agreed.

Now to get the patient guy his money. There was no bank close, so after some conversation we decided to drive to the nearest bank, about 25 minutes away.

I thought I could make it on that tank of gas. I really did. But when the gas light came on, there was no more risking – after all, I had no idea how low the dial could go.

So I wasted more time turning around, going back to the gas station, getting in line, putting in gas, and then getting back on the road.

The seller had gone on ahead of us. But as I drove out on the highway I realized – the bank is going to be closed.

Ok, I admit it, I was pretty frustrated by this time.

So I drove a little bit, thinking of alternate plans, and then decided to call the seller – who would now be waiting at the bank wondering who these people were who had absconded with his van.

He called me just then. And he checked the bank – I was wrong – it was open for a while yet. *phew*

On I drove. Well, at least I had had a good chance to drive the vehicle. Everything was working fine. Looked like it would be a good van.

Until the little light on the dash went on.

I was only maybe 6 minutes from the bank. The problem was, I had no idea what that little light meant. It had an exclamation mark in it – looked serious…

Then I smelled something funny.

Then the smoke started rising from under the hood.

Nowhere to pull over, so I stopped in the middle of an exit, with traffic whizzing by on either side.

Apparently the light on the dash meant that a tire wasn’t inflated properly. The smoke under the hood? Not sure about that…

I called the seller (who I should perhaps stop calling “the seller” at this point), and he met me at a nearby gas station.

Some kind of fluid was everywhere under the hood.

Let’s just say I didn’t buy the van.

So, after a few hundred dollars of driving back and forth and a safety inspection…

Wait – a full safety inspection at the dealership… the AC they fixed not fixed, a light on the dash, fluid everywhere…

Well, I thank the Lord for whatever He has in all of this for us – perhaps protecting us from a lemon – and now we start from scratch.

Let’s just say someone was loading a van on a tow truck this afternoon – and it wasn’t us!

Discouraging? Yep. But God is in control – I’m glad He is and not me. So – tomorrow is a new day.

Maybe I should get a horse* instead.

* In the early days of automobiles, frequent breakdowns led to the common cry – “Get a horse!” from those who used the more reliable animal transportation.

6 August 2015

Van Project 2015 – Update –

Jim Practical matters, Prayer and Praise, ST Highlight 1

So we have arrived in Canada and are getting to work on the various tasks we need to accomplish before we drive back to Mexico! As most of you know, one of the key things we’re planning to do is replace our van. For more information on why we need to do this at this time, read The Van Project.

Cottrill Van Project - August Update Because of these particular circumstances, we received permission from our mission agency to do a personal project for the van (I believe this is the only personal project we’ve done during our almost 9 years in Mexico). As of the last report, we now have 10% of the total that we’re raising for the van and related expenses.

If you would like to give to this project, it is open until the end of the month. However, because we are planning to buy the van this month, it would be very helpful for us to know what funds we have available.

So if you are planning to give, it would be great if you could let us know, so that we can make our purchase based on what is actually in the project fund.

To give in Canadian dollars, you can donate toward the Cottrill Van Project, project #082708V. The project will be open until the end of August. Visit our Canadian donations page here.

To give in US dollars, please donate to our general fund and not to the project. In other words, you can just make a special gift as you normally would. For information on how to give in $US, click here.

Thanks so much to those who have given to this project! And thanks for those who have asked for an update and shown interest. As you know, our van has been an important tool in our ministry. Please pray with us that we can find a reliable vehicle which can be used in the work in central Mexico. God knows what we need, and He can provide!

2 July 2015

The Van Project

Jim Practical matters, Prayer and Praise, ST Highlight 1

Those of you who receive our quarterly newsletter know that we’re currently raising funds for a replacement for our van. So what’s the reason for that?

Van travel The short story is this. Due to various regulations in Mexico, over the next few months we will be drastically restricted in the hours and days during which we can drive our van, and eventually we will not be able to legally drive it at all (unless we take action).

Complications

Now there are various spheres of laws and regulations that come into play here. For example, the laws of Mexico City. Due to concerns about pollution, certain vehicles can only drive certain hours and days. There is a system of verification, and vehicles are tested and have more or less liberty based on their emissions, age, origin, etc.

There are also national laws, that relate to importing foreign vehicles, nationalizing vehicles, regular payments, license plates, and so on.

There are laws related to the state of our visas, and there are restrictions on what vehicle you can drive based on the type of visa you have and when it expires.

To add to the confusion, all three of these categories of law have been changing, and are continuing to change. For example, there seems to be one thing that Mexico has agreed to in the North American Free Trade Agreement, but they’re not yet implementing the rules on the ground, causing some confusion depending on whom you are talking to.

This doesn’t even take into consideration what we need in a vehicle, our future plans and everything else related to our own situation.

“Complicated” would seem to be an understatement.

The Plan

So this summer we are taking a road trip to Canada. We actually had to go anyway for other reasons, so we decided to take the opportunity to sell the van we have before it comes under more restrictions (we cannot legally sell our van in Mexico).

We will most likely purchase another vehicle in Canada (there are various pros and cons to this, as opposed to purchasing a vehicle in Mexico – so we may still change our minds), and eventually get Mexican plates for it.

The Project

Van Project as of 2 July 2015 Camino Global has approved a project which will allow us to raise up to $12,000 (Canadian dollars – currently about US$9,560) for the newer van, taxes, and eventual fees to nationalize it.

So far CA$300 has been raised – thank you so much for your help!

Our van is one of our most important tools. It allows us to move people around for ministry, move materials, help people move, bring people to services… As most of you know, we do a lot of driving, both in and out of Mexico. So our prayer is that we would find a reliable vehicle that we can continue to use in our ministry.

As you can see, we still have a ways to go to complete this project! If you would like to be involved, here’s what you need to know:

If you’re donating in Canadian dollars, you can give toward the Cottrill Van Project, project #082708V. The project will be open until the end of August. Visit our Canadian donations page here.

If you’re donating in US dollars, please give to our general fund and not to the project. In other words, you can just make a special gift as you normally would. For information on how to give in $US, click here.

Although this project is open until the end of August, remember that we will (Lord willing) be purchasing the vehicle in August, and so it would be helpful to have the full amount in the account as soon as possible.

If you have any questions about why we’re doing things this way, or how this will all work, feel free to contact us any time. You can also contact Camino Global Canada for more information at (647)977-3226.

14 April 2015

Water and Electricity (not)

Jim Practical matters, Prayer and Praise 0

Some of you may have heard that we had an unexpected candlelight service on Resurrection Sunday. Or maybe I should say, candlelight-cellphone-light service.

It was going to be a sunrise service, except that we were inside the virtually windowless cement box that is our temporary sanctuary, and the night before the power went out and did not come back.

Resurrection Sunday 2015 - music team — Resurrection Sunday 2015 – music team

In the end, it turned into an especially memorable service, because we don’t usually have that much ambiance on a Sunday morning.

Now the electricity that we normally use (except when it doesn’t work) is provided due to the generosity of a neighbour. In actual fact, the property doesn’t yet have power. Before that, we used a generator.

And water? Well, we don’t have that either. We do fill up a tank so that there’s something on the property, and we use an elegant bucket-carry-and-dump method to flush the partially-functioning toilets.

As you might guess, these inconveniences do not mean we can no longer enjoy our time together worshipping God. However, they are time-consuming problems that we hope to solve, one of these days.

You could pray that we could get the water and electricity hooked up soon. It’s a matter of getting them hooked up from the city, which actually shouldn’t be too difficult – we have a lot of paperwork, legal paperwork, and after all we’ve been meeting there for – how long now? Over a year.

I’m not sure how long it takes in the country where you live, but that seems a little extreme to me.

So, we would appreciate your continued prayers that obstacles would be overcome and that we would soon have these little things that make a meeting place functional.

For more on the construction and the Ixtapaluca Project, visit the main page here.

And now, a reflection about the most important Light…

In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it…

The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him.

But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.

from John 1:4-13

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