Back Home Now...

I was gone for a total of 17 days, and it sure is good to be home. I started missing my family right away, and noticed after a week or so that I really missed Mexico (and it wasn't just the foot of snow that did it to me!!). I really began to miss the sights, the smells and the sounds- so it is good to be home.

Shar held up well as a "single-mom" for the over 2 weeks I was gone. She got sick the last week before I came back and that added to the struggle of single parenting, but all in all they all came out of it well. Shar's Spanish improved immensly in that time as she was forced to use it to get by. She also took the opportunity to visit with some of the ladies at the school as she waited there between dropping off Elijah and Caleb (at 8:00am) and Jacob (at 9:00am). There is a lady there who is interested in learning English, so they are going to try to help each other out during that hour or so between the kids classes. I bought us each a cheap digital spanish English translator to help with the communication, hopefully that will accellerate our learning!

While I was gone Grace Children's Home hosted a number of families for a televised Billy Graham Crusade in Spanish. At the end of the weekend 20 people were interested in exploring a relationship with Jesus Christ more through a Bible Study. This seems to be the start of a core group for the church plant we will be working with!! It is exciting to see the Lord working! We are looking forward to joining Him in what He is doing!

While away I had the opportunity to share a video report in Martensville Baptist Church, our sending church. I also spoke at a youth rally in Swan River, MB as well as at the church service at Little Woody Baptist Church on that Sunday. I had some pretty good reponse with a few people interested in hearing more from us and another interested in bringing a youth group down. From there I spent a couple days at my old Bible College (Nipawin Bible Institute) representing YUGO at there missions conference. It's kind of a tough gig because you have 20+ representatives all deseperate for missionaries and there are only 45 students or so. It kinda seemed like a bear pit sometimes! I had the opportunity to give a seminar on the Monday about Short-term missions and whether or not it is worth the money we invest in them. There were about 15 out and it seemed to go well.

Travelling back was about the most eventful of the time I had on these 2 weeks away. Tuesday I drove back to saskatoon and finished last minute errands. I had to do a bit of repacking of my gigantic luggage and weigh it. It seemed to come out at 50 pounds exactly, so I took a book out to make sure it came under that limit. ( more than 50 pounds is an additional $25.00). I had trouble getting to sleep- (all excited!!) and finally dozed off at midnight- and got up at 5:15am to be at the airport for 5:45.
After checking in, waiting and then getting on the plane, we were asked to de-plane because of a light on the dash that would not go out. They rebooted the plane- which did not work- they powered it all the way off and restarted it from scratch, which didn't work,(sounds like a Windows computer...sure hope microsoft doesn't program planes... I got worried about that "blue screen of death"...("Your DC9 has registered an error and has entered an infinite loop from which it cannot escape, press CTRL-ALT-DEL and pray that it starts up again before you crash")... anyway they deplaned us and called some mechanics to come fix it from minneapolis. We rescheduled our flights and I got out the next day- and got to fly to San Diego instead which is 2 hours closer!
So I spent that day at the Sandman hotel- with no winter coat, hats or mitts, and had a small swim, lunch and chatted with shar for a good part of the afternoon. I ended up falling asleep at 5pm while watching TV only to wake up an hour later, but unable to fall asleep again till after midnight that night!
4:12am- and I was wide awake and ready to catch my 7:00am flight- showered etc. and caught the shuttle tothe airport- hoping that there was no loight on the dash.

There wasn't and off we went- did I mention that in the rebooking I got bumped up to first Class?? the only problem is that I was flying with NorthWest Airlines. The morning first class flight consits of such luxuries as free apple juice in a glass (as opposed to coach where the free apple juice comes in a plasic cup) and a banana (or muffin or granola bar, your choice...). The best part of it was the larger seat, but for those guys who actually bought the seats for an additional $300.00- I can't see the banana and extra leg room being worth it.

The 2nd flight from minneapolis to San Diego was over lunchtime and I was treated to a fruit and lettuce salad. after a few errands we came back to Mexico- I love crossing the border... the sights of Tijuana, the smells, the sounds... it felt like I was finally home...

Thanks for praying for us during this time- we appreciate it!

Anyway, we're off to church here right away, may God bless and keep you!

One more thing.. Shar's mom broke her hip last week and is in the hospital after having had surgery. We are praying about Shar going back for a week to be with her mom during this time to be a comfort and support to her- could you please pray for us in that regard, that God would give us wisdom in that decision- please also pray for Shar's mom as she is recovering in hospital and the decisions that the family may need to make about her long term needs.


THANK YOU! YOU ARE A BLESSING TO US -
until next time, mike and shar and kids