{"id":11860,"date":"2026-03-20T19:07:39","date_gmt":"2026-03-21T01:07:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cottrillcompass.com\/blog\/?p=11860"},"modified":"2026-03-20T19:09:44","modified_gmt":"2026-03-21T01:09:44","slug":"lots-of-visits","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cottrillcompass.com\/blog\/2026\/lots-of-visits.html","title":{"rendered":"Lots of Visits!"},"content":{"rendered":"<!-- wp:themify-builder\/canvas \/-->\n\n\n<p>So, what if I started to post again, once in a while?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Yes, it&#8217;s been a crazy time &#8211; not just today (which was crazy), not just the past few weeks, but the past few months. It would be nice to get back into some kind of equilibrium &#8211; but I&#8217;m not holding my breath. Instead, I&#8217;m just stopping by to post!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I might catch you up on a few things from the past few months, but let&#8217;s start with the most recent &#8211; the last month.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image alignright size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" src=\"https:\/\/cottrillcompass.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/cottrill-harris.jpg\" alt=\"Jon and Danielle Harris\" class=\"wp-image-11861\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>We&#8217;ve enjoyed quite a few visits! <\/strong>We got together with some new friends in Mexico City rather suddenly and spontaneously &#8211; in fact, our van was in the shop, and it j was just finished and we just grabbed it and we drove into the city to get together with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.jonharrismedia.com\/\">Jon<\/a> and Danielle. It was quick, but a good time of fellowship!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image alignleft size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" src=\"https:\/\/cottrillcompass.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/jessica-jenkins-cottrills.jpg\" alt=\"Jim, Shari, and Jessica\" class=\"wp-image-11862\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Then we got together with <a href=\"https:\/\/avantministries.org\/missionary\/j-jenkins\">Jessica<\/a> &#8211; you remember Jessica, she used to live here in Ixtapaluca, and is still with our mission. She was down for a meeting, and was nice enough to come by so we could catch up a bit. Glad she finally made it back!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Then along came what I called &#8220;Nathanael&#8217;s Gang&#8221; &#8211; Nathanael and three of his friends, Thomas, Emilee and Elira. The whole group had a bit of a &#8220;missions vision&#8221; trip, learning a bit about Mexico and ministry here.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Thrown into the mix was <a href=\"https:\/\/togetherwithnatalie.com\/\">Natalie<\/a>, former missionary to Guatamala who will be coming to Mexico &#8211; the state of Oaxaca &#8211; to serve. She came for a day of cultural orientation along with Nathanael&#8217;s Gang. As you can see, Mexican orientation has something to do with Coca-Cola and soccer. Go figure!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"500\" height=\"419\" src=\"https:\/\/cottrillcompass.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/mexicanorientation.jpg\" alt=\"Elira, Emilee, Thomas, Nathanael, Natalie - at the Coca-Cola Store, downtown Mexico City\" class=\"wp-image-11863\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cottrillcompass.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/mexicanorientation.jpg 500w, https:\/\/cottrillcompass.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/mexicanorientation-300x251.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 500px) 100vw, 500px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><em>Elira, Emilee, Thomas, Nathanael, and Natalie.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>And of course all of this involved a lot of hanging out with Mexican friends as well &#8211; often over tacos&#8230;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" src=\"https:\/\/cottrillcompass.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/tacos-nathanaelsgang.jpg\" alt=\"Tacos in Ixtapaluca\" class=\"wp-image-11864\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cottrillcompass.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/tacos-nathanaelsgang.jpg 500w, https:\/\/cottrillcompass.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/tacos-nathanaelsgang-300x225.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 500px) 100vw, 500px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>The Gang was only here for a few days, but Nathanael stayed to have the pleasure of having two of his wisdom teeth removed. Oh joy! But you&#8217;ll be glad to hear he healed quickly, and we were able to enjoy some good times together.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Although, admittedly, not as much time as we had hoped for. There have been an unusual amount of challenges and complications in the midst of all of this &#8211; you know those times when everything goes wrong at once, or everything breaks down at the same time? Well &#8211; stuff like that. So that meant less time to enjoy Nathanael&#8217;s visit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But God has been good, and a lot was accomplished in spite of it all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Did I miss anybody? Probably. We even got to see our coworker <a href=\"https:\/\/mexicomatters.org\/\">Rod<\/a> in there somewhere &#8211; an event that is rarer than you may imagine!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Nathanael is actually on the plane to Calgary as I write. And I have a music practice to get to! So &#8211; hopefully &#8211; I&#8217;ll talk to you laer.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>So, what if I started to post again, once in a while? Yes, it&#8217;s been a crazy time &#8211; not just today (which was crazy), not just the past few weeks, but the past few months. It would be nice to get back into some kind of equilibrium &#8211; but I&#8217;m not holding my breath. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,6,3,17,18,1413],"tags":[2092,1260,2787,2687,2496,2788,60,278,880],"class_list":["post-11860","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-family","category-ministry-glimpses","category-missions","category-other-missionary-blogs","category-prayer-and-praise","category-st-highlight","tag-avant","tag-coca-cola","tag-danielle-harris","tag-jessica","tag-jon-harris","tag-natalie-arauco","tag-nathanael","tag-rod-fry","tag-tacos","has-post-title","has-post-date","has-post-category","has-post-tag","has-post-comment","has-post-author",""],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Lots of Visits! - Finding direction<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/cottrillcompass.com\/blog\/2026\/lots-of-visits.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Lots of Visits!\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"I might catch you up on a few things from the past few months, but let&#039;s start with the most recent - the last month...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/cottrillcompass.com\/blog\/2026\/lots-of-visits.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Finding direction\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-03-21T01:07:39+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-03-21T01:09:44+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/cottrillcompass.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/tacos-nathanaelsgang.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"500\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"375\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Jim\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Jim\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cottrillcompass.com\\\/blog\\\/2026\\\/lots-of-visits.html#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cottrillcompass.com\\\/blog\\\/2026\\\/lots-of-visits.html\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Jim\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cottrillcompass.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/e27f701e051dfb9c158f9637b14f8685\"},\"headline\":\"Lots of Visits!\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-03-21T01:07:39+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-03-21T01:09:44+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cottrillcompass.com\\\/blog\\\/2026\\\/lots-of-visits.html\"},\"wordCount\":504,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cottrillcompass.com\\\/blog\\\/2026\\\/lots-of-visits.html#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cottrillcompass.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/03\\\/cottrill-harris.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Avant\",\"Coca-Cola\",\"Danielle Harris\",\"Jessica\",\"Jon Harris\",\"Natalie Arauco\",\"Nathanael\",\"Rod Fry\",\"tacos\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Family\",\"Ministry glimpses\",\"Missions\",\"Other missionary blogs\",\"Prayer and Praise\",\"ST Highlight\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-CA\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/cottrillcompass.com\\\/blog\\\/2026\\\/lots-of-visits.html#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cottrillcompass.com\\\/blog\\\/2026\\\/lots-of-visits.html\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cottrillcompass.com\\\/blog\\\/2026\\\/lots-of-visits.html\",\"name\":\"Lots of Visits! 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