Practical matters

8 February 2007

Learning Spanish?

Are you learning Spanish too? Cool. I just wanted to stop by and share some of the resources that I’ve been using so far. Maybe you’ll find one of them helpful…

First of all, here’s something I really think every Spanish student should own. I’ve used a few different Spanish/English translators over the past few years, but nothing else even comes close to comparing with the Merriam-Webster Spanish-English Dictionary. Here are some of the reasons I’ve found it so useful:

It’s got lots of words.

Millions of translations, which means a lot of words other translators don’t have.

If you misspell or enter a word phonetically, it will find the correct word.

It has definitions for words that are used differently in certain countries, such as Spain, Venezuela and Mexico.

It includes a grammar guide.

You can add words youÂ´re learning to a word list, then study the word list or use it in several games (there are 7 different games), which can teach you gender, definitions and spelling.

This is my favourite. The DBE-1470 includes the conjugations of each verb. Not just the present tense, but also imperfect, preterite, future, conditional, present subjunctive, imperfect subjunctive, present perfect, pluperfect, preterite anterior, future perfect, conditional perfect, present perfect subjunctive, perfect subjunctive, present progressive, imperative, and more (oh yes, there are more!)

It has a couple of thousand phrases (not including basic verb conjugation), which show up in the definitions or you can browse by category.

There are other features like a calculator, converter, world time clock, phone list, and currency converter.

I also bought the download kit, which means I can download books from the internet and include them in there too. Now I have something to read while I’m waiting for…whatever.

I found a case to put on my belt that fits perfectly (here it is – a Roots case for PDA/Blackberry), so it’s now a part of my body. Well, I take it off when I shower.

Now most of the time I use the electronic translator instead of the paper dictionary, because it’s faster and usually has all the information I need. But if I want to check another source I use the excellent Collins Spanish Dictionary Plus Grammar. Actually, I think there’s a new edition out now, but I haven’t seen it.

There are lots of other resources out there, but those are the ones I’ve used the most so far. One other one that I’ve used a little, and I’m sure I’ll use more of as time goes by, is the Spanish Verb Manual, by Alfredo González Hermoso. It’s a small book containing 5000 verbs (yes, that’s right), with conjugations, regional and idiomatic use, and an overview of Spanish grammar. Thanks to Greg and Shelli for recommending this one (see their site for other recommendations).

What about resources on the net? I’ve had trouble finding a good dictionary, but I eventually found this Spanish/English dictionary which does the job. If you want to listen to the language, try a Spanish learning podcast. I’ve been listening to Finally Learn Spanish, the rss feed is www.edufone.com/rss.xml. Also, here’s a free sophisticated flash card program you can download. I haven’t tried it yet, but it looks interesting. You can enter your own information, or they have a whole page of lessons you can choose from (languages, geography, math, etc). Finally, don’t forget the Spanish words of the day (bookmark the page and check it everyday to expand your vocabulary).

Are you learning Spanish? What resources have you found helpful?

18 January 2007

The Canada Revenue Agency

Jim Practical matters, Prayer and Praise 1

I recently got a letter from the Canada Revenue Agency. Those are the folks that oversee our paying of taxes and so forth. They told me that two of my previous tax returns are under review.

Oh, don’t worry – we didn’t do anything wrong. As a matter of fact, we’ve followed the rules to the letter, and I’ve even called them and discussed how exactly to calculate things, so I’m not concerned about that.

In fact, one of Shari’s returns was reviewed last year. We simply sent them the paperwork that they asked for, and they checked it over and told us it was all just fine.

But this time it’s different. Not because we did anything incorrectly on these returns. The problem is that some of our documents were destroyed by mistake during our move. So this means getting documents from at least three, maybe more, sources. And these sources are all three a few thousand kilometers apart. And our ability to send and receive original documents is somewhat difficult. AND Canada Revenue has put on us a rather strict time limit.

Some of the documents may also cost us a fair bit to replace.

So we would appreciate your prayers about this. It’s already such a busy time, and it’s a challenge to add on all this phoning and emailing and pouring over documents and making calculations. Meanwhile we’re trying to do other paperwork, and homework, and this that and the other thing.

I don’t usually post specific prayer requests here (maybe I should do more of that in the future), preferring to put requests on our prayer request page. But this is requires a little more explanation, so here I am. You could pray:

That we would be able to access and complete all the documents that the CRA needs.
That we would be able to do this in time.
That we would be able to do this at minimum cost.
That God would give understanding between the CRA and us so that the issue would be resolved quickly and properly.

Thanks for your prayers!

12 January 2007

Getting more settled

Jim Family, Mexico, Practical matters 1

It hasn’t been an easy week, but we can finally say it’s been a week of progress. As for me, after several weeks of stomach problems (including a couple of bouts with salmonella), it looks like I’m finally better. Actually, it’s a bit ironic that I should say that tonight – I was just talking to someone on the phone, telling him I would have called him a couple of days ago, but I’d been sick! But that was a migraine attack – a more normal state of affairs. 🙂

Shari is over the stomach problems too, though a nasty cold has replaced them. Nathanael is a lot better – his recovery was very gradual, but he’s much more like his old self these days. And Hannah? She bounced back very quickly. Whatever secret vitamin she takes, we should all take.

So we’ve been working from dawn until dusk – ok, somewhat after dawn until long past dusk – catching up on paperwork, unpacking and generally getting settled. We finally got some major pieces of furniture, including this microwave stand. “RÃºstica” furniture like this is big in Mexico, and very big in Cuernavaca. WeÂ´re expecting some dressers and a cabinet in a similar style to be ready in a week or so.

Walmart and Office Depot have also been sources of furniture, and some of our appliances came from Home Depot. So we’ve done the big chains as well as the carpenter or plumber down the road. But it’s been a tremendous blessing to get some of these things so that we can unpack a few of the many bins. Our landlords have also been a tremendous help giving us advice and showing us the ropes.

We’ve also been able to finally replace a bad tire (thanks for your help, Tim!), and work on some other issues with the van and house. So we’re feeling a lot more settled than we were at the beginning of the week, although we still need to catch up on all that sleep we lost when we were sick.

Tomorrow I will go for my placement test at the school, and Lord willing begin classes on Monday. We’re still working out plans for Shari and the kids; Shari will likely get a tutor for now, so that we can switch off with Hannah and Nathanael. The nice thing about this school situation is that we can change things as we go along. There are classes on culture and history that we want to take, but those are all in Spanish, so we’ll start with our grammer and conversation and take on more later.

So we’re still hoping for a little more sleep, but we’re praising the Lord that we’ve finally been able to accomplish some things that we’ve been working on for several weeks. There’s a lot to learn, but we’re learning little by little.

20 October 2006

Good news, bad news, no news…

Jim Practical matters 2

On Wednesday I took our trailer into the shop and had it repaired. As suspected, there was a screw through one of the wires, and that’s what was causing all the problems. So now all the lights on the van and trailer work like a charm! Praise the Lord.

Too bad the trailer isn’t fit to live in, because at the moment we have no house in Mexico. The house we were looking at is no longer available (paper towel holder and all). So we’ll be looking into some other possibilities with the help of our friends Toby and Marilyn.

More good news, though – Nathanael’s passport arrived, so he can now come with us. We’re still waiting for one piece of paperwork for our VISAs…maybe that will arrive today. So no news on that. We still have some paperwork to complete that is required by our mission agency. We also need to finish cataloguing the things we’re packing, so that we can declare what we need to declare at the Mexico border. So, there’s lots to be done, but progress is being made! I’d better get back to work…

5 October 2006

Storage in Saskatchewan

Jim Ministry glimpses, Practical matters 0

We are on the road, on Highway 21 somewhere south of Three Hills, Alberta. We’ve packed up everything that we want to store, and a couple of kids (except we won’t be storing them). We’re taking everything to Saskatchewan. Storage lockers are cheaper there, and our things will be closer to where our families are.

There weren’t too many lockers left in the area I was looking. I called one place that had 1 locker left the size I wanted, and the lady I spoke to said I was the 3rd of 4th caller asking about it that same day. So I called her back and reserved it. Praise the Lord! Things could have been a lot more complicated

So now back in Cochrane we only have things we’re getting rid of or things that are coming with us to Mexico. Most of the Mexico load is already packed and sealed, which is a good thing, because when we return we’ll only have a couple of weeks before we leave. And let me tell you, those will be busy days!

Due to circumstances beyond our control, we’ll be with Shari’s parents and sister this weekend (Thanksgiving weekend here). Of course, we’re delighted that it worked out that way. Next weekend we’ll be with my parents (we’ll just extend Thanksgiving a little), and we’ll be sharing at Provost Associated Gospel Church.

This is the first big test of our trailer. It’s looking like our electrical problem is in the trailer itself. That’s mostly good news – the repairs should be covered by warranty, and it should be simpler to track down than the same problem in the van. The bad news is that we couldn’t get it done before we go. It will mean 2-3 hours (or more) of driving to take it in and time waiting for it to be fixed. If we can’t get our rear running lights (and dash lights) working today, we’ll use our hazards when it gets dark tonight.

Anyway, we’re very thankful that we got everything packed and loaded. That will be another big job out of the way, getting these things stored. The next time we load our trailer, it will be for our drive south.

28 September 2006

A blessing and a curse

Jim Devotional and Bible, Missions, Practical matters 1

Sometimes it seems like things in life can be a blessing and a curse at the same time. For example, our van.

We mentioned in our last couple of newsletters that we have to cover the rest of our one-time expenses (officially known as Outgoing Funds), as well as pay for van repairs. When we bought the van, we knew some repairs would need to be done, but it ended up being a lot more than expected. The result? A van that’s in excellent shape that should be a great ministry tool for years to come. The other result? We have a LOT of repair bills that need to be paid off now.

Now it seems that there are some electrical issues. Translation? It’s something as minor as a few lights, major enough that we need to get it fixed right away. It’s minor enough that it could just be a loose connection somewhere, but if you know anything about electrical problems in vehicles (which I don’t really, but I know this), you know that it could take hours of labour just to find the problem. That means another big bill.

Technically, there is no day free when we could take it in between now and our trip to Saskatchewan. And we may not be able to get it in that soon anyway. But I’ll try to make an appointment to get it dealt with as soon as I can.

As we get closer to leaving (just over 4 weeks), it seems that all the blessings and trials are compressed into a smaller space (though no doubt we’ll see in eternity that what we thought were "curses" were actually blessings). You may have read on our More news page about the challenges of getting one minor thing done (and I have had to add to this page, apparently the story isn’t over yet!) Recently, a CAM missionary in Guatemala wrote,"the enemy never takes God-driven missions endeavors sitting down." It’s true – it seems as we get closer to leaving the enemy is showing he’s not pleased. And it’s not because we’re brilliant, talented missionaries. It’s because God wants to use people who can’t do it on their own – He wants to work though us, and through you.

But it reminded me of the story of Stephen, the early martyr of the church, in Acts 7. Just before he died he saw Jesus standing at the right hand of God. American music artist Ray Boltz wrote a song about Stephen – how it seemed like no one was one his side – but "someone stood up for Stephen".

I’m not sure that’s exactly why Jesus was standing – but we know this much. He allowed Stephen to see Him – in all His power and beauty, and so Stephen did know that Jesus, the All-Powerful, was on his side.

So no doubt the enemy doesn’t take these things sitting down – but neither does our Lord. And who’s the most powerful? There’s no doubt. So please join us before the throne to pray about these things.

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