Communities, Cables, and Coughs (podcast)
It’s been a while since I’ve done a podcast, so here is a little bit of news about family, churches, and new outreaches.
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Prayer and Praise
Acts, Outreaches, and Other
We’ve been having a good time and a not-so-good-time here. Maybe that’s not so unusual.
We would appreciate your prayers as we join with our friends at Path of Life Bible Church in Santa Barbara to reach out into a new neighbourhood with kids’ clubs and a special study for parents. Last week’s turn-out wasn’t great, but Shari, Julian, Malu and some from the church handed out some more flyers yesterday, so we’re hoping for better things this week. 🙂
I got to make up the questions – from easy, to normal, to hard, to very hard, to “almost impossible”. (And they were.)
One group worked particularly hard to prepare, and it showed. Congratulations to the women! (The men challenged them for a while, but eventually fell behind).
If you know Spanish, you can take a look at the questions here.
The not-so-good has been health. I’ve been sick since Thursday noon, and last night was the worst night yet. Which means I’m getting better now, right? Right?
It looks like Shari has decided to join the ranks of the sick today as well. 🙁
But we’re pushing ahead, trying to get some other outreaches up and running here, getting some Bible studies going, and of course getting Hannah and Nathanael edykated.
Sightseeing and Brainstorming
Did Julian and Malu arrive? They sure did!
As you may remember, some car trouble stranded them in San Juan del Río, north of the promised land Mexico City. Repairs were finally completed this past Monday, and they arrived on Tuesday. Praise the Lord!
So they’ve been trying to settle in and get their house set up. They’ve been dealing with all the typical complications involved in getting things done, but they’ve persevered.
On Thursday and Friday I went with all our mid-term missionaries to spend some time together and do a little sightseeing in other parts of the city. It’s pretty cool to have Jessica, Julian, Malu and Emily all here at the same time!
A restaurant in a cave
There was at least one thing I got to do for the first time – visit La Gruta, a restaurant at Teotihuacán (an archaeological site known for its “pyramids”). Cool atmosphere – and the food was great! I had mixiotes, an Aztec dish.
On Sunday we were able to introduce Julian and Malu to the church in Santa Bárbara, and we talked a little about upcoming ministry in a new neighbourhood here in Ixtapaluca. We’re continuing to brainstorm about what types of ministry we could be doing in this and other neighbourhoods in the weeks ahead.
Meanwhile, back at the ranch, we’re getting ready for a new year of school. And working on getting three of our visas renewed. And getting ready for a special event on Sunday – maybe I’ll tell you about that later. 🙂
Malu, Julian, Jessica, and Emily – strolling around downtown Mexico City
Getting things started…
We’re still trying to get an actual normal electrical line into the church building. It’s a long story.
So someone in the church has been generously loaning a gas generator to power everything (like, way too many things).
Tonight they were trying to get some power to the building, presumably in time for the music practice. But the generator wouldn’t start.
I was there for prayer meeting, so I was called out to give the generator a “boost” from the van battery. It started – but then wouldn’t start again. So we hooked it up and boosted it again, and let it run awhile.
Then some of the men started to do some wiring and drilling inside, while we shouted prayer requests to one another over the racket. 😉
We were looking forward to having Emily play keyboard in the service tomorrow – but apparently some of the cables have disappeared, including the power cord for the keyboard itself.
So that’s a non-starter as well.
Lately it seems like it’s been hard to get anything at all started. As another example – Julian and Malu’s vehicle. They were supposed to be here on Tuesday, but they had a breakdown en route. The mechanic is still waiting for the right part, which he now hopes to get on Monday… which means they might come on Tuesday… we hope!
Meanwhile there have been other unexpected projects that have drained our time, as we try to squeeze in some moments to get our visa paperwork done (renewals – Lord willing the last ones for 2.5 years!), prepare for the school year, plan upcoming ministry, and – well, you don’t want to hear all the details.
On the upside, we had a wonderful prayer meeting. Great reminders that God can still work in spite of our stumbles, our weakness, our sickness, and our foolishness.
They’re still working on the electricity at the church. I wonder if the generator started again after they turned it off?
So someone in the church has been generously loaning a gas generator to power everything (like, way too many things).
Tonight they were trying to get some power to the building, presumably in time for the music practice. But the generator wouldn’t start.
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Then some of the men started to do some wiring and drilling inside, while we shouted prayer requests to one another over the racket. 😉
We were looking forward to having Emily play keyboard in the service tomorrow – but apparently some of the cables have disappeared, including the power cord for the keyboard itself.
So that’s a non-starter as well.
Lately it seems like it’s been hard to get anything at all started. As another example – Julian and Malu’s vehicle. They were supposed to be here on Tuesday, but they had a breakdown en route. The mechanic is still waiting for the right part, which he now hopes to get on Monday… which means they might come on Tuesday… we hope!
Meanwhile there have been other unexpected projects that have drained our time, as we try to squeeze in some moments to get our visa paperwork done (renewals – Lord willing the last ones for 2.5 years!), prepare for the school year, plan upcoming ministry, and – well, you don’t want to hear all the details.
On the upside, we had a wonderful prayer meeting. Great reminders that God can still work in spite of our stumbles, our weakness, our sickness, and our foolishness.
They’re still working on the electricity at the church. I wonder if the generator started again after they turned it off?
Is Being a Missionary an Extreme Sport?
Actually, this post is a prayer request. Here’s the short story – please pray especially for our missionary associates here in Mexico and for us.
Now before we get into the medium-sized version of the story, you’ll be relieved to hear that we’re all (to my knowledge) safe and no one is deathly ill, or anything along those lines.
However, the last month, and even the last few days, has been quite the collection of misadventures that not only tend to discourage, but also suck the time, money, and energy right out.
Of course you remember our van trouble in July. On the 22nd we finally completed some repairs and started heading south. But four days later Julian and Malu, who were in Mexico already (serving north of Mexico City for a couple of months) had transmission problems. That was a time consuming and money consuming problem for them.
Well, we finished our most recent repair on the 28th of July, and on the same day, our co-workers the Topps were heading north and their engine blew. They spent the next two days getting their vehicle fixed.
In other vehicle news, Julian and Malu were planning to come to Ixtapaluca today – they were on their way – and … well, looks like it’s the transmission again. So I don’t think they’ll make it here quite yet.
That’s just our team – I didn’t mention to Prusias, other co-workers with Camino, who were stuck at the border toward the end of July while they waited for the right part for their vehicle.
But I’ll try to stick to our team for the moment. That’s only vehicle issues. There have been lots of other things going on. For example, Tina had to unexpectedly move only days before she left for a few weeks, because – well, let’s just say her neighbour was “misbehaving”. And if you’re thinking she should have just put up with it a few days more – well, don’t think that. It was necessary that she move.
And then today she missed her flight, was switched to another, and had the second one cancelled. Thankfully she’s on her way now. She is. Not sure where her luggage is going to end up.
Well, that’s only a sampling of the last few weeks. I could go on and on, but you wouldn’t read it, and if you did you probably should be doing something else.
So here are some brief requests if you want to pray specifically:
- Pray for Tina: She’s touring around in the USA sharing about Mexico and raising support to complete her transition from “mid-term” missionary to “full-time” missionary.
- Pray for Julian and Malu: That they would be on their way again soon with a reliable vehicle.
- Pray for Chalo and Beth: I didn’t mention them above, but they are other team members of ours leaving today for a home assignment. Please pray for safe travels, and health and energy.
- Pray for Emily: She just arrived on Saturday, and has been caught up in the tempestuous times in which we live! Please pray for her patience and wisdom in the transitions that she is experiencing.
- For us! We have 1000 things on our mind, including visa paperwork that we’re trying to complete at the moment. We’re also getting everything ready for the kids’ new school year, and preparing for up-coming ministry.
- And don’t forget our other co-workers … Jessica in Ixtapaluca, Mark and Angelica in Pachuca, and the Fry family, currently in the USA.
Of course all of the above comes with a large financial cost. So everyone above would appreciate your prayers for God’s provision.
If you’d like to help our family financially, you can give here.
Out to lunch at Espartacos with Tina, Jessica, and Emily