No, we weren’t doing Zumba this Sunday – sorry to disappoint you. (For those who don’t know, "Zumba" is a Columbian exercise program that has spread to something like 125 countries around the world. But that’s not important for this post.)
As you know, the building where we have been meeting on Sunday mornings does not have a lot of space. All right, it doesn’t have enough space – meaning people have been standing outside – they can offer great moral support, but they can’t actually hear what’s going on in the service.
We’re praying for a larger space, and we’ve started raising money for one.
In the mean time, we had to do something temporary.
So – there’s this "Zumba" place in Jesús María… a kind of a studio above a store. We have been able to rent it – at least for the month of May, and maybe longer.
So – this is good! Why? Well, we actually have some breathing room. There were plenty of people there on Sunday, but we could pack in quite a few more people without making things uncomfortable. So we’re very thankful.
However, the need for another place is more urgent than ever. Having this place just for Sunday mornings means that we still get packed like sardines during other events (you remember how packed Bible studies can get!). We have to move everything back and forth, which means a lot of extra wear and tear on instruments, etc – and a lot of extra work. For Sundays when we have Sunday school, our youth and kids will be walking to other locations (or they’ll be driven to other locations). And, of course, we’re paying rent each Sunday – money that could go to something more permanent. (And the acoustics are pretty depressing – but who knows if the next place will be better!)
So we thank the Lord for a little breathing room! But please pray with us for a more permanent place. To find out more about the fundraising that’s going on for this purpose, visit ixtapalu.ca and click on Making Space.
By the way, on Sunday we had a special service with communion, special music, testimonies, and more! Here are a few pictures…
I know, three posts in one day – somebody stop me! 😉
I just thought I’d better give you another update on a few things here, especially if you’ve been checking out what we’ve been saying on Twitter and Facebook and all that.
Yes, there has been another Chalco Flood. The good news is that the highway is already open, and there were no fatalities, and far fewer homes were flooded.
The bad news… well, there was another flood! The canal burst open… again… and dirty sewage water swept into the city… again. An estimated 500 families have been affected by the flood. No doubt many personal belongings were lost and ruined, among families that simply can’t afford the loss.
The highway near Chalco earlier this afternoon. There was a lot of cleanup going on. You can see the white stuff they use to help dry things up. Helicopters, police cars and other emergency vehicles where there – something we hardly saw for the first few days last year…
You need to realize that this flood isn’t … shouldn’t be … an annual event. When the flood hit last year (a disaster, though largely ignored by the media), it hadn’t happened for 10 years. It was the result of a number of unusual factors, including several days of rain in the middle of dry season.
After life got back to normal (and many promises were made by the government), there was no reason to think something like this would happen again so soon.
Thankfully, this wasn’t the disaster it was last year. Still, it’s no small matter to families who have had their houses flooded with filthy water.
There was actually some flooding – though not sewage water – in Ixtapaluca. Thankfully, not where we are. Although our house leaked in a few interesting places.
In other news – I just got back from another doctor appointment. It was a medical test. Very entertaining. Somewhat painful at times. And the results should be available soon. I’m doing all right health-wise – better – but the tests need to continue for a little bit. I have at least two more appointments with specialists, and I may request some more tests because I think we may be looking in the wrong direction.
So far, all the doctors can tell me is that I’m in excellent health.
However, because of the test I wasn’t able to eat for severl hours today – which means migraine attack – so I have been and am in a lot of pain. And hoping I’ll be able to get some sleep and get the attack over with.
For those of you wondering about Nathanael, he is doing very well health-wise. We’re very thankful for that!
And now – Mexico stats for you. If you’ve been checking out Twitter and Facebook, you might have caught these interesting tidbits, but I’ll share them again just in case. First, according to Twitter statistics, we’re just really happy here in Mexico (or maybe we complain less?) beating out Canada and the United States and almost every other country in the world.
Another study confirms that Mexicans work very hard. In a survey of 29 industrialized countries, Mexicans work the longest days. This is no surprise to us – many Mexicans hold 2-3 jobs just to make ends meet.
They’re also busy at home – averaging more than 3 hours a day doing housework (and when do Mexicans sleep, may I ask??).
A while ago I heard that those in Mexico City were Mexico’s worst work-a-holics. So these stats don’t surprise me at all. Still, interesting to hear them confirmed.
We’re going to live up to the cultural expectation by working hard over the two week spring break time, which started today. Hannah has school work that needs to be done for when school starts up again, plus she’s catching up on English work. Nathanael is continuing school as usual, since he’s been getting behind with all these doctor’s appointments and things. And we’re trying to help the kids and get our own work done. But for now – I need some sleep!
I’ll leave you on a positive note – another shot of a jacaranda tree in bloom, in the neighbourhood near Hannah’s school, pictured on the left. For a bigger and better view, click the picture to see it in the Photo Gallery (click the photo in the gallery to see the full-resolution version).
Here’s a quick look back at the special event we had at the community centre a week and a half ago. The event came at the end of another series of classes, which began in January.
We don’t have video of the whole event, just a few clips. But it will give you an idea of some of the eclectic activities that go on there.
The parts that concern us especially: first, you’ll see Jim during a keyboard class presentation, which was a take off of the Mexican version of Are You Smarter than a 5th Grader?. You’ll also see Shari making a presentation to the women that have come to the baking/desserts class (Amigas del Alma), which, as you can see, is very popular.
Today is the first of "two medical days" planned for Jesús María. The next one is on the 14th of May. Two doctors will be at the community centre (Centro Cultural Tiempo de Vivir) and a dentist will be at the building where the church meets.
The consultations will be free, which Lord willing will be a big help to people in the community who often have trouble paying for a consultation (which here may only cost a few dollars).
The consultations will be available from 9-4. For more on activities going on a the community centre and in the church community, see the calendar here.
Tonight is our twice-yearly closing event for this set of classes at the community centre. Lord willing, I’ll be doing a bit of a contest with the keyboardists, and Shari will be doing a presentation for the Amigas del Alma baking class.
Nathanael caught some kind of a bug yesterday, so he’s sick still. We’re hoping that we’ll both be able to go tonight; if not, one of us may need a replacement (that would be Shari, since the "Amigas" are many but the keyboard teacher is one.) 😉
He seems to be a little better than yesterday, but just a little. So we’re just taking it one step at a time!
We’re hoping this will be a fun event, where we can get to know some people better. I’ll let you know how it goes! It starts at 6:30pm tonight (check the right sidebar for the local time).
There were times when it felt like everything was conspiring against me as I tried to prepare for the weekend in Hermosillo. Well, maybe some things actually were! Just when I finally got to the time I had set aside to really prepare – something else would happen, and the day would dissolve into nothing.
That being said, I think it went ok, and the weekend as a whole was quite good overall (though maybe not exactly what anyone expected).
The idea was to get some elementary age children together, ones who had probably made a confession of faith, to help them learn about sharing their faith, serving, discipleship, and all stuff like that there.
The theme was No Solo Poco Loco – in other words, we’re not just a little crazy, but very crazy – crazy to serve the Lord! And everyone got these great T-shirts designed by Greg Neufeld:
The weekend was full of fun events. We learned our verses in many different creative ways (2 Corinthians 5:13-17), they built shelters to sleep in (in the building, but in shelters), there was a campfire, theme meals, fun action songs, a "missions meal" (where we learned what people eat (or don’t eat!) in countries like Cuba, Haiti, England and India), and more. The kids had special teaching times learning how to be wise in choices of movies and TV shows, they could also choose workshops where they could bake cookies, learn chalk art, do drama, and more.
They were also involved in special acts of service. One afternoon they went to hospitals and other places delivering sandwiches and talking with people.
Incidentally, it was unbelievable hearing testimonies of the kids, who talked to people and got into rather deep conversations with them, promising to pray for them. WOW. And yet – why is that so unusual?
Shelli sharing the Gospel story
The children also learned about the Gospel, and various ways to share it. Although the weekend was aimed at Christian kids, we realized the need to continue to explain the Gospel, and learn to live in the light of it. And so it was repeated over and over, and there were actually some children who apparently made first-time confessions of faith in the Lord!
I spoke on the life and teaching of Peter. I learned a lot, and I hope everyone else did too! I ended up on Sunday morning talking about Peter’s visit with Cornelius in Acts 10. Here was Peter, being sent by God to a place that … well, it wasn’t his place! Jews simply didn’t hang out with Gentiles. And God does the same today, doesn’t He? He sends us to places that aren’t really our places … places where we’re not comfortable. And He does amazing things in those places.
The Campers sing in the service
On Sunday morning we enjoyed a great service led by Greg Neufeld. We worshipped in a tent (a big one!) set up with hours and hours of work in the heat by a number of people from Canada and Mexico. One of the leaders of the church gave a message that really tied things together.
The children served by presenting what they had learned in their workshops (drama, chalk-art, etc). I was drafted to lead the drama workshop, and we had a lot of fun with that. They did an excellent job in their presentation, considering the amount of time we had to prepare it!
Earlier in the week (before Hannah and I arrived) the team helped with a special camp for some of the children who had been in the terrible Hermosillo Day Care fire of 2009. These little campers came to the service as well, and were involved. They did an incredible job! It was so great to have them there as well.
On Sunday we also went to the beach for an hour or two, where Hannah played with the jellyfish, and then visited downtown Hermosillo.
Hermosillo is most certainly another world. It’s hard to know even how to compare the context that they are in with our context here. Still, I hope we can share more in the future, whether in person or from a distance.
Thanks to the Neufelds for hosting us! And thanks to you, the church, the Olds Koinonia team, and so many others who put so much work into the weekend!
Photos to follow in our photo gallery – watch for them! Oh, and here’s a post and video from a missionary family in the area – Lane and Sheri Elliot.
Campers (from both camps) and Leaders sing at the Sunday service!
