Bathroom Stuff etc....

If the foreign bathroom talk isn't your cup of tea, then scroll on down a bit...


Some of you know I have adverse reactions to dairy products that is cause for some embarrassment and much consternation (NOT constipation...). Sunday we celebrated American Thanksgiving in Mexico with a majority of Canadian Missionaries. Odd I know, but we love turkey and pumpkin pie, so any excuse...

Just before we left, the lady of the house gave the kids a last pumpkin tart for the road before we went to church in the evening. I got one for Shar and myself. All of them were topped with that whip cream in a can, and I got the biggest tower of White stuff.

Well, earlier in the day I had noticed that it was made with real cream and milk instead of the "edible oil product" it's usually made from, but of course I had forgotten this as I was gorging on a 4 inch tower of whip cream on top of my pumpkin tart. Baaaaad, Baaaad news....

25 minutes later at church My stomach is kicking up a fuss and I need to leave to go "downstairs". Having used the bathroom at church before, I remembered that the water does not work in the men's room- and there is no soap anywhere. So I whispered to Shar for some hand sanitizer and trotted down the stairs.

What I didn't remember (MUST REMEMBER THIS!) is that a lot of public bathrooms in Mexico do not come equipped with toilet paper (Take note of this if you plan on coming down...) It's a "bring your own" system. So here I am, quite concerned as the time is becoming urgent, with no TP. I search throughout the kitchen area for something- but no TP, no kleenex, no paper towels, no newspapers- Nothing!

Upstairs I gently canter, looking for my wonderful, beautiful and resourceful wife whose job it is to remember to bring some sort of soft paper product in her purse for times such as these. It seems as if her supply was exhausted at an earlier juncture, and I am left empty handed with an even greater sense of urgency. Out to the van I saunter, keys in hand, hand sanitizer in pocket wondering if I'll need to risk the 15 minute drive home over exceptionally bumpy roads. But, to my extreme joy I discover some soft paper products in the back of the van seats! "are they new or used" I ask myself- "Don't ask questions you don't want answers to" I remind myself of an ancient piece of wisdom. Thankfully all the paper was free of evidence of previous use and I was able to relax, after a quick jaunt to the proper room...

I have heard of some people in foreign countries who have little more than a hole in the floor to use for this purpose, so we are thankful for Canadian style toilets, with or without the TP.

BATHROOM STORY ENDS HERE!

Near Future....

Shar is heading to Hamilton Saturday December 2 for 1 week to visit her mom in Hamilton ON. Gramma Nelson is in the hospital recovering from a broken hip and surgery. We were able to find a plane ticket into Buffalo airport for under $250CDN return- taxes all included. We have a College friend (Rev. Dr. Prince Conteh) pastoring in St. Catherines, ON (close to Niagara Falls Border) and he and his new wife will be picking up Shar from the airport and taking her back a week later. Please be in prayer for Shar as the family and gramma will need to make some decisions about her long term care and accomodations.

I'm working on an introduction video.

I'm trying to make a small video to put on the blog site bar that introduces us as a family and the area we live in and the ministry we'l be involved in. I'm hoping to have that up by the end of the week...

Bible Studies...

We will start to be going to Bible Studies at Grace Children's Home on Thursdays. there are about 15 new Christians and seekers getting together for Bible study and prayer time. They will hopefully be the core group for the church plant in that neighbourhood. YUGO is in the process of purchasing a plot of land across the road from the Children's home that will be home to a babies facility (for the children's home), seniors apartments (for destitute seniors with no family to help them) and a Community-Centre / Church building with a multipurpose room, gym and seating for 1000. We will be hosting medical clinics, feeding programs, community outreaches from this site, as well as a sanctuary and Kids ministry facilities for 1000. We are in a brand new community of about 200,000 people with 1 other church right now. Please be in prayer for us as these plans progress. We are asking God for $65,000 to purchase the land (a really good deal for this land!) as well as the needed professional services to build a building of this magnitude.
In the very near future we will need a mobile home we can convert into a meeting place to be put on the existing property at Grace Children's Home.
Thanks for praying.


Merry Christmas!

It does not feel like Christmas, even though the calendar says it is a month away. Irv, Mari and Leah Penner gave us some Christmas Chocolate countdown calendars while I was in Swan River, MB. that start soon and is a tradition with us. This coming Thursday we'll get a tree (likely fake, though, surprisingly, you can buy real trees here for a similar price to Canada). and do some decorating around the house. Stay tuned for pics! All of our Canadian Missionaries here are going back to Canada for Christmas this year, and lots of the American ones go back home too if they are close, so we are keeping our eyes and ears out for some Mexican folks who are far from family with whom we can celebrate and share traditions with. We'd love to see how Mexicans celebrate the birth of our Saviour! We will not be giving lots of gifts this year to each other. Last year we got 1 big family gift (a portable DVD player) and 1 or 2 gifts each because we were going to Mexico for an evangelistic outreach. It went really well and the kids were very thankful and less overwhelmed by the barrage of things. This year we'll have the added blessing of being here for the pre-Christmas "Project Joy". We'll be able to help give out shoebox gift packs and / or blankets to kids who would normally get little or nothing for Christmas. A way we can tell them that we love them, Jesus loves them and that God's gift of his Son restores a relationship with the Father that we've lost. Our church ( Grace Bible Church) hands out about 400 in the church's neighbourhood. We do more at the Tijuana Dump where families have built houses and live and work scavenging through the garbage. we count it a blessing to be able to serve those on the fringe of society. We often have churches send boxes down with or without a representative to hand out the gifts. If you are interested in something like that- contact me here: pastrbuzz@yahoo.ca .

Thank you for partnering with us! We value your part in this ministry.

God Bless and Keep you until next time,

Mike for the family...