Practical matters

19 September 2007

Kids at school and vine sheets

If you’ve been looking for the meaty, personal, what’s-going-on-with-the-Cottrills posts, it’s not that nothing has been going on. Actually, there has been a lot going on – so much that I haven’t had time to write about it. When I do have time, I don’t know where to start, or else I want to forget about it all for a while and write about something else!

Rather than write one post with a bunch of different topics, I’ll try to write a few. First topic – children and school…

Hannah and Nathanael are still enjoying school. We were able to attend a flag ceremony on Monday, which was fun. Hannah’s class were the flag bearers this time, so she’s been practising marching since the first day of school. We saw more of the country’s patriotic ceremonies (and realized how much we still have to learn!).

The flag ceremony – see Hannah?
We’ve had the challenge of trying to figure out the homework assignments that the kids have, and the other instructions that the teachers give us. It’s not simply translation – we also have to decipher the teacher’s handwriting, and figure out if she’s writing a full word or an abbreviation (yikes!), and then understand what in the world she means after all that.

A couple of weeks ago, we were told we had to go to a papelería (like a stationary store) to get a "vine sheet" – for the next day. I decided to drive all across town to go to a larger store. For one thing, I had no idea how obscure this item was, and for another thing I was still looking for one item on the original school supplies list.

First I asked for the item from the original list – a ball. But not any ball, a very specific type of ball, which supposedly we can buy at a papelería. Well, not this one. The ball they had was a type we’d already tried, and the teacher had told us it was all wrong. So I’m still looking for the ball.

Then, the vine sheet. I had no idea what it was, and neither did the lady behind the counter. She looked at me as if I was crazy (people normally do that, of course, but this time more than usual), and I shrugged my shoulders and told her that’s what he teacher had asked for.

Fortunately, another lady behind the counter said to the first lady,"Oh yes, a vine sheet. Just look in the back, you’ll see it labelled" (ok, she said something like that. Didn’t catch it all).

Sure enough, she found one. It was a tiny item shaped like a leaf with a little hole in it – something for hanging pictures. It cost 2 pesos – less than 20 US or CA cents.

So when people ask why we’re so busy when we only go to school six hours a day, I think of that day – trying to translate the homework book, then trying to understand it, driving all through the city, trying to get the sales lady to understand, then driving all the way home. A typical unexpected addition to our day. Life is never dull. 🙂

Meanwhile, we’re trying to get the English school going at home. You remember our challenges trying to get the books from Canada, right? Well, after all that, it turns out they forgot to send us about 15 books! Apparently, the person who was in charge of shipping the books to us "no longer works for the organization". I see.

So, the books were shipped, and today we’re trying to figure out how in the world to get them from the USA to here.

We’ve started a bit of the school stuff at home, but it’s quite the huge complex system, and it’s taking us time to figure it all out. Maybe things will be clearer when everything arrives?

Anyway, we’re happy to see Hannah and Nathanael learning lots and making friends. We’ve got to meet some of the parents as well, so maybe there will be opportunity to serve them too. Little by little the kids are picking up the language and learning how things are done here. We’re very happy with the school, and the way the teachers try to work with the parents (from what I’ve heard, involving and informing parents is not always a common thing in Mexico). Lots to praise the Lord for!

15 August 2007

Those official papers

Jim Mexico, Practical matters, Prayer and Praise 2

We went to Mexico City this morning to complete our visa process (for this year, anyway!). We had the help of an old friend named Illiana, who is an expert in such matters, and the process went like clockwork today. (These are called "FM-3" visas, the next step up from the tourist VISA)

Illiana with Shari, Hannah and Nathanael
outside the photo-takin’ place

We also had fellow missionary Toby come along, and he made the traffic navigating a lot smoother!

We went to the immigration office, then went out and had our pictures taken (this was Nathanael’s biggest challenge of the day – he had to sit still for a full 3-4 seconds at a time!). Then we stopped for lunch, and went back to immigration to sign all the papers, check the information to see if it was correct, and make some thumb prints on the documents. That was about it.

This process we actually started before we left Canada, so lots of mail, email, phone calls, and hundreds of dollars later we’ve finished! So now we’re all set until next July, when we need to renew – a much simpler process.

Not only did we get to spend some time with Toby and reconnect with Illiana, we met some more old friends in Cuernavaca (AntoÃ±io, Becky and Jessica), and met some friends of theirs, and were able to spend some time with them.

So, a big day, but a very good day. Praise the Lord for friends, a smooth visa process, and, of course, the visas themselves! Oh, and ice cream.

8 August 2007

The tax man cometh….

Jim Practical matters, Prayer and Praise 0

Actually, he didn’t even bother to come. He just sent us a letter. The nerve!

Anyway, we finally got what is officially called a Notice of Reassessment. This relates back to an earlier post – Taxes – prayer request, if you want to get the whole story.

Anyway, we do indeed owe money. More than we expected. Actually, more than double what we expected (and we expected a LOT)! Ow.

But there’s actually some good news here. The good news is that we should have almost enough money in our ministry account to pay for it. This is really astounding because a month or two ago we wouldn’t have, but we got some unexpected donations this past month. So we do praise the Lord for that!

The bad news is that this more than drains our ministry account, so in "real numbers" this means that we’ll be paying ministry expenses out of our pockets until the account builds back up. So we’re still praying that the Lord will provide in that regard.

So good news and bad news I guess. It is a very large amount of money for us (pocket change for Carlos Slim, but he’s not sharing), but the good news is that the Lord continues to provide in amazing ways! This would have been worse news a month or two ago, but God has a way of providing things when we need them, and not before. 🙂

By the way – help me out here. Where does that phrase the tax man cometh come from?

21 July 2007

Gospel, gunshots, tumours, dog bites, and more to ponder and pray about

Jim Family, Ministry glimpses, Practical matters, Prayer and Praise 0

Cottrill news to think about and pray about

Here are a few bits of current news. Some of it is too current for the prayer requests page (which I only update once a month roughly), so I’m stopping by to give you a summary:

Men’s Day – or, part of a day. Today I’ll be heading down the hill a little ways to get together with some of the men from our church. We would appreciate your prayers for the growth of the men in our church (including me, of course!). I’ll be over there around 2pm local time for the afternoon/evening.
Dog bite – On Thursday (19 Jul) Caleb (14), a part of the Downs family was bitten by a dog. Apparently he was walking by some teenagers that were sitting there with a dog, and the dog just latched onto his arm in a split second. The actual damage wasn’t bad, but it ripped his shirt and did break the skin. He went to the hospital for shots, and now they’re looking for the dog to see if it had its shots. So far, Caleb seems to be fine.
Reaching children – This week two "summer missionaries", two Mexican teens, will be coming to our church to do a kids’ club. We’re hoping that the momentum will continue to build from last weeks’ club. Between the youth events and children’s events last week, I heard that about 80 people heard the Gospel. Lord willing we’ll be able to help a little this week. Read more about the previous kids’ club at the O’Brien’s site here, or see a quick video of the kids’ club a week ago Wednesday here. Read a brief explanation of the summer missionaries program here.
Summer interns – Bill and Alyssa, summer interns, left last week after a week of language school. Now Crystal and Sara (did I spell that right?) are here now and for the next two weeks, sharing and learning at the university and beyond.
Brain tumour – Some of you read our earlier entry (or email update) about Kaitlyn, the little girl who had the primary brain tumour. Kaitlyn is part of a missionary family from the USA. There’s lots of good news there – first, it looks like the tumour was non-cancerous. Second, it looks like they got it all in the surgery. However, she’s really had a struggle with all the surgeries, with the strong medication she’s been on, and all the other factors that go along with being in a strange place and going through a traumatic situation. You can read more on Kaitlyn Contreras’ website. The family could use your prayers more than ever.
Kenya and Sudan – Shari’s sister Amy is scheduled to arrive in Sudan on Tuesday (24 Jul). She’s still in Nairobi, Kenya. She sent some of her belongings on ahead in a truck. The truck was stopped by bandits, and one of the drivers was shot. As far as they know the items in the truck are still there, but I think the tires were shot out and the truck was impounded. The driver is alive, and improving, but in intensive care. We’d appreciate your prayers for him, and all the complications involved in travelling to Sudan. Amy will be travelling over the next few days. Visit Amy’s website here.
Preparing for a big change – This week we’ll be focusing on getting the kids ready for school. For example, we need to get uniforms, several books, and roughly 35 other different items (many of them we haven’t even translated yet to know what they are!) (Edit: That’s 35 things for just one kid – and there are different things for each child. Yikes!). We’re also working on arranging book shipments from Canada (mostly) for the English/Canadian portion of the kids’ schooling. This isn’t a small task!
More praise – By the way, there’s a lot to praise the Lord for too. We’ve had some interesting opportunities to share at school (as have the summer interns). We also have enjoyed some good times with friends from the church, and we look forward to more. That’s how we help each other grow in the Lord! Also, after seeing our pledged support level drop significantly, we got an email from someone who wants to start supporting us financially on a regular basis, so the trend is upward once again (current financial stats here). God is working in the dramatic, and in the mundane. Praise the Lord!

11 June 2007

Hannah is off to college…

Jim Family, Practical matters, Prayer and Praise 0

Yes, our little girl is off to college. It seems like only yesterday she was a little girl playing with Polly Pockets around the house. *sigh*

Well, ok, let me clarify. She’s not going right now. Lord willing she’ll be starting in August (yes, 2007 AD). And she’s not really going away – she’s just going for 2 or 3 hours a day, and it’s close to our house. And the "college" is for little kids like her – and older too.

It’s called Colegio del Bosque (college, or school of the forest). Yes, it really is in the forest. It’s a well established Mexican bilingual school. Lord willing (Dios mediante) we plan to send Hannah here for Spanish in the fall, part time. Actually, school starts sometime in mid-August. There’s lots to do before then – medical checkups, uniforms, school supplies, and so on and so on.

We’re thankful that the Lord provided a place that is close to where we live. It was also important for us to find a school that was willing to work with us – a lot of schools are "full time or nothing". Since Hannah is continuing her education in English at home, that would be a little much for this coming year.

One big question remains – is Nathanael going to "college" as well? Actually, in Mexico kids much younger than him attend school. We’ll be thinking and praying about whether or not to send him, part time as well, along with Hannah.

Another interesting factor is the schedule. The school is actually bilingual, but Hannah will only be going for the Spanish part. So the time of her classes will change from week to week, and the same with Nathanael’s (if he goes). So things could get a little tricky with all that and our school too!

Anyway, we’re thankful that we found this school, and hopeful that we can get everything figured out before Hannah’s first day of classes. Is she excited? YES!

31 May 2007

Can’t make contact

Jim Practical matters 0

contact lens case It’s all about our eyes, actually. Shari and I have had some problems with our eyes in past years, and so we’ve ended up using certain types of contact lenses and certain types of contact solution.

Now, the trick is that, so far, we haven’t been able to find my contacts in Mexico, and Shari hasn’t been able to find her contact solution. We’re investigating other options, but for the time being we decided to try to get these things from outside the country.

Now, our philosophy is that, in most cases, we should just make do with what’s available here. But there are certain cases where missionaries consider getting things from outside of Mexico. For example, you might be able to save a significant amount of money. If you could save CA$100, should you? Well, it depends on the situation. Another reason may be that you can get something outside of Mexico that might really be a big help. For us, that might include Canadian school materials for the kids. But a big one for us has been medical-related things, like contacts.

But, there are problems. I ordered some contacts, and had them shipped from Canada to the States, where a fellow CAM missionary was staying. That way we wouldn’t have the risk and expense of shipping to Mexico, and he could just bring down the box. Except, after a still very large shipping expense, the contacts got held up at the Canada/US border. Now it looks like he may not get them in time, which means they’ll have to be shipped again, probably to somewhere else in the States where someone else can pick them up and bring them down. (Actually, we have things waiting for us at our mission office in Dallas that have been there since December – these things take time!)

A few months ago Shari was able to have some friends pick up $70 or $80 worth of contact solution for her. Perfect – except that we found out yesterday that the contact solution has been recalled, due to fears of a serious eye infection! People may be able to return the bottles, but what do we have to do – drive to the USA to drop them off? (By the way, that’s Complete Moisture Plus – if you’re using it, better stop for now)

I’ve also been having computer troubles. The computer is under warranty for just a little longer. I managed to ship the battery (which may be defective) to the States to have it replaced. Now the new battery is – you guess it – waiting in Dallas for someone who can bring it down. But what if it doesn’t arrive for a few more months? Then if we find the battery wasn’t the problem, the warranty will be over. And we will have spent all that money shipping the battery when it wasn’t the issue!

Well, we’ll work all these things out. But I thought you might be interested to hear some of the challenges an expatriate – in any country – has to face. We just try to get through it all as wise stewards of all God has given us.

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