Prayer and Praise

7 September 2007

Shoes II

I decided to replace the shoes I bought back in March 2006. You might remember, I blogged about them, wondering if I would wear the new shoes to Mexico.

Well, of course, I did. Thanks to the Lord’s answer to our prayers and yours. Looking back, I think that if it were not for some strange "coincidences", we would not be here now. But we don’t believe in coincidence – I think it more likely that God had a plan, and that He wanted to show us that it was His plan and not our own cleverness that brought us here!

Ironically enough, those were probably one of the worst pairs of shoes I ever owned. They felt very uncomfortable in one foot, and I couldn’t return them or afford a new pair. Today, the soles aren’t in too bad condition (compared to my last pair), but it’s the top part that’s falling apart. So I saved up for a few months and got a new pair. Here’s hoping these won’t be as bad as the last shoes!

And where will these new shoes take me? Lord willing (and if they don’t fall apart first) into a new part of Mexico next year, where our service will continue. Thanks for your prayers – God hears them!

22 August 2007

Hurricane Dean in Mexico

Jim Mexico, News and current issues, Prayer and Praise 2

Hurricane Dean hits the Yucatán
Photo courtesy of NASA

The day is unusually dark and cloudy, and during the night the barometric pressure was jumping all over the place. The clouds seem to be a part of the weather system caused by Hurricane Dean, but there’s a dead calm here right now, and the storm isn’t technically supposed to hit Cuernavaca.

Hurricanes aren’t usually much of an issue this far inland. Dean was supposed to hit Cuernavaca as a storm, but over the past 24 hours it has tilted north, and is now heading through the state of Veracruz on the way to San Luis Potosí, Hidalgo and Querétero as a category 1 hurricane.

That’s a far cry from what it was when it hit the Yucatán penninsula as a category 5 hurricane – the most powerful storm to hit land in 20 years, and one of the most powerful in recorded history. There had already been 13 deaths in the Caribbean, and many people were left homeless.

Many of the news stories you’ve seen have said that there were no deaths in Mexico, and that the country was spared what could have been a disaster. One news story said,"Nature, good luck and good planning all combined Tuesday to deliver what the people of the Yucatan Peninsula called a miracle."

Well, that’s not the whole story. We are thankful that no deaths have been reported, and it certainly could have been a lot worse. The Godzwa family in the Yucatán posted a bit about the hurricane, the most recent post here.

However, the storms have hampered communication and made roads impassable. It’s hard to know what’s really going on in many of the out lyingg areas. Though the well-developed tourist resorts weathered the storms well, the Mexican people often did not.

Many homes of the poor are cardboard, sticks and tin roofs (when those tin roofs go flying, they’re pretty dangerous!). So far we know that about 1500 families in the state of Quintana Roo have serious damage to their homes, or lost their homes completely.

President Calderón cut short his visit to Canada, saying "I am worried, very worried, that the hurricane passed over some of our poorest Mayan communities in the Yucatan."

Dean is now a category 2 hurricane on the coast, where people are huddling in shelters praying they won’t lose their homes. Good preparation has saved many lives, but some of Mexico’s poorest may still lose their homes and belongings in the storm.

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?

26 July 2007

If you’d like to pray for kids’ club tomorrow…

Jim Audio Blogs, Ministry glimpses, Podcasts, Prayer and Praise 0

I recorded this audio post about the kids’ club in the van, so excuse the background noise. You’ll be able to hear the siren from the gas truck (just stop the truck if your house needs gas) and later on briefly the clanging bell of the garbage truck (time to take out your garbage – don’t forget to tip the garbage man!).

Anyway, listen for news about the week and a prayer request for tomorrow morning.

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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!

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