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Practical matters

An Update on Almost Everything

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I know someone out there wants to hear an update, so here it is!  I don’t like writing a lot of "general news" posts, but there comes a time to catch everybody up!

Health

Since one of my last posts was on the topic of health, I’ll start there.  First, no one in the family is at death’s door, as far as we know, but everyone is undergoing "adjustments" of one kind or another.

Shari is trying to get a hold of her doctor to talk about what to do next.  Lord willing she can talk to the doctor over the phone without taking another trip, but so far they haven’t been able to connect.

Nathanael is awaiting test results, and then he’ll be back in Puebla with one of his doctors.  He’s also dealing with changes in medication for other reasons.

Jim?  Well, I’m feeling a little better than I was, but still not great.  I have two appointments with specialists coming up – probably one next week and another the week after.

We really appreciate your prayers for health.  It obviously has a huge impact on ministry here.  Also, it’s costing a lot – particularly all the gas as we drive hither and yon.

And you could pray for the health of a co-worker here in Ixtapaluca, who has been struggling with something for several weeks.

Mexico City in March
During all this driving time, I took some pictures of Mexico City.  Here’s one – those gorgeous purple flowered Jacaranda trees are one great reason to enjoy the city in March!

Practical Matters

One big thing we’re trying to work through is van repairs.  That’s another time/money thing, of course.  Lord willing I’ll be going to get a part on Monday, and getting the first repair done.

We have to have this repair done, and have the van verified, or else we’ll have severe limits on when we’re allowed to drive come April.  Due to laws here in Mexico City, there are certain hours on weekdays and at least one day a week when we can’t drive if the van isn’t properly verified (a test that includes emission tests).

Upcoming Events!

Tomorrow is an exciting day!  It’s the first anniversary of the church plant in Jesús María!  We’re going to have a special service, special music (we’ll be doing a number, Lord willing), and of course some great food afterwards.  Praise the Lord for what He’s doing here in Ixtapaluca!

Do you remember the first service?  I don’t…

I have two more keyboard classes before the end of this series at the community centre.  Please pray that these classes will end well.  After the last class there’s a special closing of classes event, which is always a lot of fun and an opportunity to connect with people from the community.

I’m busy preparing for a kids’ camp in Hermosillo, Mexico next weekend.  It’s going to be a lot of fun!  Hannah and I will be flying there on Thursday.

Please do pray that I will have something useful from God’s Word to share with this group of young believers.  I’m drawing from the life and works of the Apostle Peter.  It’s been great to get to know Peter – what a guy.  What a life!

Of course, there’s lots more coming up!  I’ll be preaching again shortly, we’re looking forward to Good Friday and Resurrection Sunday services later in April – great times!

We continue to be very concerned about space issues when it comes to services and Bible studies.  People are frequently standing outside, and can’t hear what’s going on.

We’ve started raising money to find another place, and we’re looking for temporary solutions too.  If you want to know more, and help out, you can visit ixtapalu.ca and click on "Making Space".

Cotton Candy and Cigarettes in Mexico City
Yes, that’s correct.  He’s selling cotton candy and cigarettes.  Which would you prefer today?

Ending with a little hymn history…

Here’s a sample from the song we’ll be singing tomorrow, especially for those who want to try out a little Spanish.

The song is a translation of an English hymn.  About 160 years ago, Thomas Westrup came to Mexico from London England with his family.  He was only 15 years old.

They had come to set up a flour mill.  But it was in Mexico that Thomas became a believer, and eventually he became a pastor, and then a missionary!  Thomas and his son wrote and translated literally hundreds of hymns.  Thomas was the translator of this one:

Cristo encuentro todo en Ti,
Y no necesito más;
Débil, me pusiste en pie;
Triste, ánimo me das.
Al enfermo das salud,
Guías tierno al que no ve;
Con amor y gratitud
Tu bondad ensalzaré.

What’s with all the doctor’s appointments anyway??

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If you’ve been reading our newsletter, or checking out our tweets or Facebook statuses, you may be hearing a lot about doctors and health (or lack thereof!) these days.

Well, I’m not going to go into all the gory details here.  But it’s a mixture of several things…

  • Appointments that we really should have had some time ago, and we’re finally getting around to it
  • Appointments and tests for Nathanael that we’ve been planning for for months (no surprises yet)
  • A regular appointment for me
  • Additional appointments and tests for me, due to some new health issues new as of this month
Keep Calm and Pray Hard

As my Mom pointed out on the phone recently, I can also say that our van has some "health" issues which urgently need to be dealt with before the end of the month. 🙂

So, I’ve been to two doctors in two cities in the last couple of weeks, and Nathanael has gone for one test.  Now I have three more tests (at two locations), and at least two more doctor’s appointments, Shari has one, and Nathanael has two — all most likely in the next week.  And those are in three different cities.  (Well, four if you count Ixtapaluca as separate from Mexico Distrito Federal… both part of Mexico City, but in two states.)

So, what do you need to know (especially if you’re praying)?

  • No one is dying (well, everyone in the world is dying, but as far as we know no one in our family is on their way out especially quickly!). 🙂
  • I’m the only one who really feels especially crummy, and so far the doctors say what they always say – I’m in excellent health. 😉
  • This is insane.  It’s not easy doing all this in the midst of normal ministry.  But it must be done.
  • We would appreciate your continued prayers for our health, for our ministry, and wisdom over the next couple of weeks especially.
  • We’ll try to keep you informed (although I don’t like getting too specific here – make sure you’re on our Support Team for more details if you want to pray).

Today – two appointments, and one pickup of test results.  Three locations, but all in Puebla.  *phew*

Poster spoof courtesy of the Keep Calm-o-matic

Missionary Family Looking For Accommodation – hey, that’s us!

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Update:  We have found a place to stay.   Thanks for your help!

Accommodation Wanted

Approximate Dates:
6 September to 9 November 2011
Approximate Location:
(see map)

We’re currently looking for a place to live for the time we’re in Alberta, for about 8 weeks.  We’re a family of four – two adults and two children (ages 7 and 10).  We’re looking for a place to ourselves, but a house sitting situation or an apartment would be fine.

We would prefer something south of Red Deer and north of Calgary.  We would consider something in Calgary too, if it worked out.

We would be happy to pay rent.  However, we also need to pay rent on our house in Mexico while we’re in Canada, so we can’t spend a huge amount.

If you know of anything that might be available, please contact Jim or Shari Cottrill.  Thanks! 😉

Sick, frankly.

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Really, I try not to overwhelm you with posts about health issues here at Finding direction.  But let’s face it – so far 2011 has been a year of such challenges, and it’s only just begin.

You remember, we started out the year with Shari sick and Nathanael having bandages changed every day (due to an important but missing part of his finger…).

Now as most of you know, I’m never exactly in the peak of health.  I have chronic migraine, a neurological disease which makes our unpredictable lives… well, more unpredictable.  Never a day goes by without one interesting symptom or another.

There are great treatments for migraine – more than one person could ever try in a lifetime.  But treatments often mean that things get worse before they get better.  And finding the right treatment for you can take months to years.

Well, right now I’m being treated by an excellent neurologist in the city of Puebla.  But some recent treatments have made unpredictable symptoms quickly increase and become even more unpredictable.

I rarely write about migraine attacks, partly because they’ve been a part of my life for so many years and they’re not unusual to me.  I imagine that, if I was healthy and one just came out of the blue, I’d be talking about it for months.  Take for example this past Wednesday.  I almost couldn’t walk.  I managed to go a few steps from the bed to the bathroom (thanks to the support of the walls), but that’s about it.  For someone who can’t hardly sit through a one hour meeting, being in bed all night, then all day, then all night, is… quite something.

The month of February has been something else.  I "lose" hour after hour, day after day, because I’m sick.  And it’s been quite a few days since I’ve had more than a minute or two of "feeling good".

Oh, don’t get me wrong.  I’m not sad or depressed at the moment.  Again, although this has been a worse than usual month, these are things that I’ve lived with most of my life.  And just because I’m not "feeling good" physically doesn’t mean I’m not feeling great on the inside.

And although I’m behind, I’ve still managed to accomplish a lot this month.

But if this is a blog about our lives and ministry here, I might as well mention challenges like these that we deal with.  And this is one that’s current.

Today I’m pretty shaky, and sick to my stomach, and have some pain.  But I’m managing to do some preparation for tomorrow.  And I’m working on some letters, my keyboard class (Monday), and my study (Tuesday).  One step at a time.

In the end, I’m blessed beyond belief.  And besides, these challenges are only temporary.  So let’s keep looking at the big picture – the eternal picture – without ignoring the realities of today, the frailty of humanity, and the unstoppable purpose of God.

Just checking in…

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Hi everyone!

I just wanted to check in quickly to let you know some of the things we’re up to (Shari and I), since we haven’t communicated much lately.  This will give you a bit of an idea…

  • Preparing for a Sunday School lesson
  • Trying to get the van repaired (not as easy as you might think!)
  • Sending out our newsletter
  • Preparing for the CAMex Fellowship Conference (our team is in charge this year, so there are seemingly endless details to work out, endless things to prepare!)
  • Preparing for a team which will be coming from Calgary
  • Preparing a sermon
  • Preparing a Bible Study series
  • Preparing for the next 5 weeks of keyboard classes
  • Helping kids with homework
  • Christmas shopping (hey, when you need to ship things you need to start early!  It’s not early anymore…
  • Trying to get some important paperwork from Canada (trying… and failing…)
  • Trying to work through some policy issues with CAM Canada
  • Preparing for upcoming baking classes

Plus, of course, all the other normal things of life… Bible studies, meetings, and hanging out with people.  Today Hannah and Nathanael didn’t have school.  I spent all morning helping Nathanael with homework, while Shari was at her baking class.  Then some of the neighbourhood kids came in to play, so we hung out with them.  Then I did some errands (mostly related to conference), came home, ate, got Nathanael supper, got him to bed (while Shari and Hannah worked on yet more homework), and somewhere in there I sent a bunch of emails, printed envelopes, took care of some financial paperwork, did some laundry, dishes, talked on the phone, wrote this blog post…. and I’m just getting going.  😉

All right, so it’s a busy month!  And a lack of internet access and water pressure today made things even more interesting.

Anyway, I still have lots of work to do tonight, so I’d better run!  Thanks for stopping by for this day-in-the-life…

Wish Lists and Ministry…

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Someone in the family was asking about Christmas gifts (yay – we might get something for Christmas!), so I was recently checking out our wish lists.  I decided to make a change I’ve been meaning to make for a long time.

So what I did is add a ministry wish list.  So this is stuff that is directly related to our ministry here.

Cottrill Ministry Wish List

Obviously, some things on our personal lists do relate to ministry (maybe a cookbook that will help with the baking class, or a book about an aspect of ministry).  But if it’s something to be used for ministry or it’s very directly related to some aspect of ministry, I’ll try to put it on the ministry wish list.

So there you go!  Hannah and Nathanael’s wish list is still a joint wish list, though you can probably figure out which things are better for which. 🙂 Maybe that will be my next task… to split it up!

One more note – if you want to buy something, and you’re in doubt, ask us about where to ship it.

For more information…

Cottrill Ministry Wish List

Also, see Jim’s Wish List, Shari’s Wish List, and Hannah and Nathanael’s Wish List.

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