I think it's.... GRASS!!
We've had about 3 days of rain this week and had a wee bit more about a week and a half ago. All around us is scrubbrush and dried grasses in clay-dirt. We were beginning to wonder if any of this ground vegetation was green at any time. In our yard we've started to see strips of grass where we water the trees and cactis and along roof-runoff area (where the rain goes off the roof...). Also we were beginning to see grass across the road where our water from our washing machine goes. ( our washing machine is outside and the water runs off our property onto the street and settles along the curb across the street). Things were looking green.
But just the other day we were looking at the lots across the road and beside us and sure enough, between the car parts and pieces of garbage, there is grass growing! It's small, but it's green! A very welcome sight from our normal pantheon of browns we enjoy!
It hasn't been that exciting of a week! The rain has kept us away from most places without pavement. Thankfully we live close enough to pavement and gravel roads that we can get out and back in, but there are lots of places in canyons and gullies we can't get to...
I'm trying to include pics, but they just won't work with blogger these days, I don't know why!
Until next time,
mike
Saturday, February 24, 2007
Monday, February 19, 2007
It rained today...
We got a wee bit of rain last night and today (maybe 1/2 inch...) and Elijah and I went across to the US to get some groceries. It's a good time to go, since most folks who would head across might not with the rain... so on the way back we took a little video of drive in the rain...
Saturday, February 17, 2007
Sweet and Sour...
I love the chicken balls, or chicken parts, or pork parts... whatever is underneath it, it's the sweet and sour sauce that is so good! It doesn't matter if it's deep-fried mystery meat (meow!)- if it's got sweet and sour sauce on it, I'll eat it...
Fellow Canadian missionaries Rod and Cheryl Hoople rent a house that happens to have a lemon tree on the property. Yesterday Cheryl gave Shar a large freezer-size bag full of lemons. So when Cheryl gives you lemons, make lemonade.... and so Shar did. Wonderful fresh lemonade.
Last night before bed I decided to have a cup of the new batch... I think Shar must have forgotten to put sugar in it- and likely water too because it was so sour my face almost imploded directly into my head! Sour- but no sweet! Not good- not good at all! So we added some more sugar and some water and finally- we had the balance we were looking for- sweet and sour... fresh from the tree lemonade.
Mexicans seem to love the sour taste of candy- though for them, it's not the sweet and sour taste they seem to like as much as the hot and sour. Tamarind candies (quite sour tree fruit) mixed with Chili pepper for kids! Lime flavoured chips- or lime an Jalapeno chips... It's taking some time for our kids to adapt to those tastes, but little by little...
This afternoon as I was getting another glass of lemonade, I got to thinking about the sweet and sour of life here sometimes. Like going to an orphanage that is in bad disrepair and meeting up with young kids who are starved for love. It is really really tough to see these kids who have been abandoned, usually after being neglected. It leaves a sour taste in your month to see what we see and to hear what we hear. But there is also the sweet... these kids are very sweet. They can be quite affectionate and thrive off of the love we're able to give them. It hurts at first to see the predicament they are in, but it is a blessing and a privilege to be able to love them in Jesus name too.
There is another orphanage that we are associated with. It is YUGO run Grace Children's Home. It is a very well run place. The kids come from terrible backgrounds and sometimes when they come in they are unaccustomed to rules even or love for that matter. But after time you see angry kids who screamed, hit and bit to make themselves known, respond to the love of Jesus shown them by the staff there. Sweet and the Sour... abandoned kids, loved by Jesus and His people.
If you ever want the opportunity to be the sugar in someones lemonade, we'd love to help make it happen for you! Come for a week or so though, because the sour may make you feel like your head is imploding, unless you have some time to add some sweetness!
Will write more later, I'm going to have another glass of lemonade...
Until next time,
Mike for the family.
Fellow Canadian missionaries Rod and Cheryl Hoople rent a house that happens to have a lemon tree on the property. Yesterday Cheryl gave Shar a large freezer-size bag full of lemons. So when Cheryl gives you lemons, make lemonade.... and so Shar did. Wonderful fresh lemonade.
Last night before bed I decided to have a cup of the new batch... I think Shar must have forgotten to put sugar in it- and likely water too because it was so sour my face almost imploded directly into my head! Sour- but no sweet! Not good- not good at all! So we added some more sugar and some water and finally- we had the balance we were looking for- sweet and sour... fresh from the tree lemonade.
Mexicans seem to love the sour taste of candy- though for them, it's not the sweet and sour taste they seem to like as much as the hot and sour. Tamarind candies (quite sour tree fruit) mixed with Chili pepper for kids! Lime flavoured chips- or lime an Jalapeno chips... It's taking some time for our kids to adapt to those tastes, but little by little...
This afternoon as I was getting another glass of lemonade, I got to thinking about the sweet and sour of life here sometimes. Like going to an orphanage that is in bad disrepair and meeting up with young kids who are starved for love. It is really really tough to see these kids who have been abandoned, usually after being neglected. It leaves a sour taste in your month to see what we see and to hear what we hear. But there is also the sweet... these kids are very sweet. They can be quite affectionate and thrive off of the love we're able to give them. It hurts at first to see the predicament they are in, but it is a blessing and a privilege to be able to love them in Jesus name too.
There is another orphanage that we are associated with. It is YUGO run Grace Children's Home. It is a very well run place. The kids come from terrible backgrounds and sometimes when they come in they are unaccustomed to rules even or love for that matter. But after time you see angry kids who screamed, hit and bit to make themselves known, respond to the love of Jesus shown them by the staff there. Sweet and the Sour... abandoned kids, loved by Jesus and His people.
If you ever want the opportunity to be the sugar in someones lemonade, we'd love to help make it happen for you! Come for a week or so though, because the sour may make you feel like your head is imploding, unless you have some time to add some sweetness!
Will write more later, I'm going to have another glass of lemonade...
Until next time,
Mike for the family.
Wednesday, February 14, 2007
Patches...
I'm not sure what I've been driving on here in Tijuana, but whatever it is, it's not good for tires.
Just before we left Canada last summer we made sure we had good new tires to take the long trip to Mexico and survive here for "quite some time".
These last 2 weeks we had Franz and Clint from Canada here at Tijuana Outreach Center. They are mechanics from Alberta, Canada. They spent a lot of time fixing vehicles, re-doing some engines, changing oils anf other fluids... for us they fixed our door-locks (2 doors that had been gummed up by dust and grime- one closed occasionally- the other rarely!) and changed plugs in the engine too... all they asked for was the cost of parts- their time was free to us! What a blessing to have so many vehicles around here worked on!
Anyway, I was taking Franz and Clint back to the San Diego Airport yesterday in the YUGO van. I left my van at the YUGO Ranch and I transported some donations from the San Diego Office to the Yugo Outreach Center. When I got back (after helping a retired volunteer couple with comnputer problems) I was on my way home when I noticed that my driver-side tire looked a little low. Unconcerned, I came home thinking it may be a small leak or just the way I was parked that made it look that way.
This is what my tire looks like this morning...
This would not seem like a "bloggable" event, but this is the 2nd time this week (different tires). and about the 5th or 6th time I've had to get a patch put on a tire in 5 months!
I'm not sure what it is I'm driving over to cause all this tire-havoc, but sure enough within the next few months, there will be more patches than tire!!
I'll spare you from any bad puns about being "tired" of this happening all the time and just say "hasta luego!"
Until Next Time,
Mike for the family
Just before we left Canada last summer we made sure we had good new tires to take the long trip to Mexico and survive here for "quite some time".
These last 2 weeks we had Franz and Clint from Canada here at Tijuana Outreach Center. They are mechanics from Alberta, Canada. They spent a lot of time fixing vehicles, re-doing some engines, changing oils anf other fluids... for us they fixed our door-locks (2 doors that had been gummed up by dust and grime- one closed occasionally- the other rarely!) and changed plugs in the engine too... all they asked for was the cost of parts- their time was free to us! What a blessing to have so many vehicles around here worked on!
Anyway, I was taking Franz and Clint back to the San Diego Airport yesterday in the YUGO van. I left my van at the YUGO Ranch and I transported some donations from the San Diego Office to the Yugo Outreach Center. When I got back (after helping a retired volunteer couple with comnputer problems) I was on my way home when I noticed that my driver-side tire looked a little low. Unconcerned, I came home thinking it may be a small leak or just the way I was parked that made it look that way.
This is what my tire looks like this morning...
I'm not sure what it is I'm driving over to cause all this tire-havoc, but sure enough within the next few months, there will be more patches than tire!!
I'll spare you from any bad puns about being "tired" of this happening all the time and just say "hasta luego!"
Until Next Time,
Mike for the family
Sunday, February 11, 2007
From Sea to See...
Visitors and Vision...
This last week we had some busy days. Monday and Tuesday we had home school and did a good housecleaning because we had company coming.
Wednesday we had the pleasure of meeting Stephen and EJ from Ponoka, Alberta. They were down in Southern California visiting one of our missionaries and doing the tourist thing. They were given the opportunity to come down to Mexico and jumped at the chance. We had them over for lunch and got to know them a bit. After that I (mike) took them out with Wayne and Jean Freeland (YUGO Missionaries at head office in California) to catch a vision for what God is doing in Mexico. We toured the Grace Children's Home and visited a bit with the kids while we saw the new Education centre. I took the tour with them and "wow" what a project!
Grace children's home is an orphanage run by YUGO in Tijuana. We currently have 2 "homes" on site- one for girls and one for boys. (Click here for more info)
The third major building now being built is the "education center" it is a 3 story building with one floor for staff housing, one for mission teams dorms and one for arts, computer and English education for the children. In Mexico public schools, kids only go for half a day and have limited educational opportunities. This will give them expanded opportunities to excel and break out of poverty cycles that so many find themselves in.
Once we took Stephen and EJ through to the small balcony on the top floor, you could see the entire neighbourhood, including the property we just bought next door. The next phase of the vision is to have a home for babies, and one for senior citizens as well. In Mexico there is no pension or old age security, if your family cannot take care of you (and in an impoverished land with much violence, sometimes there is no one left to take care of the elderly) they are left with little or no means of living. We also found that there are many babies who are in temporary shelters run by the government with up to 45 kids and only 2 staff to care for them. The idea then is to have these homes close to one another so that the seniors can help care for the babies.
On that same new property is going to be a church building with a gym, kitchen and large sanctuary. Kind of a community Centre church where we can serve the community in all areas of need: physical, spiritual, emotional and relational. This is where our family will be serving in Mexico! It was exciting to see some others catch the huge vision for this "neighbourhood" of up to 200,000 people (eventually).
Then on Thursday we got to use some free tickets given to us to visit SeaWorld (Praise God!) with friends of ours, Michael and Tina Sauers. We have been good friends since Elijah was about 1 year old. Our kids and theirs are like cousins and it was great to get to spend some time together with them. Sea world was nice, the kids loved petting dolphins and bat-rays and getting to see the shows, as well as ride some pretty cool rides too! Wednesday night found us in Mexico again out for tacos with the Sauers.
The Sauers kids did really really well with the strange sites, smells and food- as well as with eating outside (like a typical taco stand) in the cool of the night. We ate till our hearts were content or our mouths burned and came home to get everyone ready for bed. We don't have a small house, it is a double wide mobile home, but it certainly wasn't meant for 10 people for very long! But we fit 5 kids in 1 bedroom (2 beds and a floor). Mexico does not seem to have an "off" season for fresh fruit and vegies and we had bought a lot of fruit in anticipation of the guests. They were very happy(especialy almost 5 year old Abigail) with a fruit salad for breakfast chock full of fresh, inexpensive strawberries from San Quintin, about 400km south if here. It was a treat for all of us!
Friday we took them all to a Mercado on wheels to see the sites and smell the smells. No one was particularly curious enough to eat any pig snout, but Michael Sauers convinced most of us to try a piece of Chicharron (deep fried pig-skin). It was not a fan-favourite, but lots of points were earned for adventur-some-ness!
After lunch we went to Grace Children;s home with the Sauers to give them a chance to catch the vision. They were deeply moved by the experience and would like to see if they could bring some Prince Albertans down to Mexico for some Ministry time sometime. the kids at Grace are very much loved and very well taken care of. But when these little beautiful kids come up to you, a complete stranger, and ask to be held and to be pushed on a swing or to just go for a walk with them holding their hands, you can't help but be a bit emotional...
From Sea World to Seeing a vision that God has for the children of Tijuana as well as the neighbourhood of Porticos / Santa Fe. It was a good week! We wish we could have spent more time with both Stephen and EJ and the Sauers, but we were blessed to have a Canadian connection once again, even if for a few days!
God bless you all! Thank you for partnering with us and if you'd like to come down and catch the vision with us for a few days, or a week or more- just let us know and we'll do our best to make it happen!
Until next time...
Your Missionaries in Mexico
Mike and Shar
This last week we had some busy days. Monday and Tuesday we had home school and did a good housecleaning because we had company coming.
Wednesday we had the pleasure of meeting Stephen and EJ from Ponoka, Alberta. They were down in Southern California visiting one of our missionaries and doing the tourist thing. They were given the opportunity to come down to Mexico and jumped at the chance. We had them over for lunch and got to know them a bit. After that I (mike) took them out with Wayne and Jean Freeland (YUGO Missionaries at head office in California) to catch a vision for what God is doing in Mexico. We toured the Grace Children's Home and visited a bit with the kids while we saw the new Education centre. I took the tour with them and "wow" what a project!
Grace children's home is an orphanage run by YUGO in Tijuana. We currently have 2 "homes" on site- one for girls and one for boys. (Click here for more info)
The third major building now being built is the "education center" it is a 3 story building with one floor for staff housing, one for mission teams dorms and one for arts, computer and English education for the children. In Mexico public schools, kids only go for half a day and have limited educational opportunities. This will give them expanded opportunities to excel and break out of poverty cycles that so many find themselves in.
Once we took Stephen and EJ through to the small balcony on the top floor, you could see the entire neighbourhood, including the property we just bought next door. The next phase of the vision is to have a home for babies, and one for senior citizens as well. In Mexico there is no pension or old age security, if your family cannot take care of you (and in an impoverished land with much violence, sometimes there is no one left to take care of the elderly) they are left with little or no means of living. We also found that there are many babies who are in temporary shelters run by the government with up to 45 kids and only 2 staff to care for them. The idea then is to have these homes close to one another so that the seniors can help care for the babies.
On that same new property is going to be a church building with a gym, kitchen and large sanctuary. Kind of a community Centre church where we can serve the community in all areas of need: physical, spiritual, emotional and relational. This is where our family will be serving in Mexico! It was exciting to see some others catch the huge vision for this "neighbourhood" of up to 200,000 people (eventually).
Then on Thursday we got to use some free tickets given to us to visit SeaWorld (Praise God!) with friends of ours, Michael and Tina Sauers. We have been good friends since Elijah was about 1 year old. Our kids and theirs are like cousins and it was great to get to spend some time together with them. Sea world was nice, the kids loved petting dolphins and bat-rays and getting to see the shows, as well as ride some pretty cool rides too! Wednesday night found us in Mexico again out for tacos with the Sauers.
The Sauers kids did really really well with the strange sites, smells and food- as well as with eating outside (like a typical taco stand) in the cool of the night. We ate till our hearts were content or our mouths burned and came home to get everyone ready for bed. We don't have a small house, it is a double wide mobile home, but it certainly wasn't meant for 10 people for very long! But we fit 5 kids in 1 bedroom (2 beds and a floor). Mexico does not seem to have an "off" season for fresh fruit and vegies and we had bought a lot of fruit in anticipation of the guests. They were very happy(especialy almost 5 year old Abigail) with a fruit salad for breakfast chock full of fresh, inexpensive strawberries from San Quintin, about 400km south if here. It was a treat for all of us!
Friday we took them all to a Mercado on wheels to see the sites and smell the smells. No one was particularly curious enough to eat any pig snout, but Michael Sauers convinced most of us to try a piece of Chicharron (deep fried pig-skin). It was not a fan-favourite, but lots of points were earned for adventur-some-ness!
After lunch we went to Grace Children;s home with the Sauers to give them a chance to catch the vision. They were deeply moved by the experience and would like to see if they could bring some Prince Albertans down to Mexico for some Ministry time sometime. the kids at Grace are very much loved and very well taken care of. But when these little beautiful kids come up to you, a complete stranger, and ask to be held and to be pushed on a swing or to just go for a walk with them holding their hands, you can't help but be a bit emotional...
From Sea World to Seeing a vision that God has for the children of Tijuana as well as the neighbourhood of Porticos / Santa Fe. It was a good week! We wish we could have spent more time with both Stephen and EJ and the Sauers, but we were blessed to have a Canadian connection once again, even if for a few days!
God bless you all! Thank you for partnering with us and if you'd like to come down and catch the vision with us for a few days, or a week or more- just let us know and we'll do our best to make it happen!
Until next time...
Your Missionaries in Mexico
Mike and Shar
Monday, February 05, 2007
Retreat
We had our annual YUGO Retreat last week.
It was a 1 1/2 hour drive north of the border at Murrietta Hot Springs. Calvary Chapel church as a Bible school and conference centre on the grounds there. I tell ya, if I had've known that there was a Bible College like this, we'd've been there cramming a 3 year degree into 6 years! It was by far one of the nicest places I've seen!
It used to be a 5 star resort for Hollywood's rich and famous in the 1920's -60's and then it fell into disrepair. Calvary chapel bought it in the 90's and turned into an incredible place with a small hot-spring creek flowing into little pools and eventually into a pond with ducks, swans, egrets and other birds.
The first night there after our meetings, we went to the hot-tub / pool from 9-11pm. the kids loved playing in the hot water ad even though the temperature dropped to about 11C that evening, the water was about 40C. It was really good for Shar's arthritic hip too!
We were there from Monday afternoon till Wednesday after lunch. It was a great time to get to know some of the missionaries we hadn't met yet and to spend some time with the YUGO Canada board members too. We took most of Monday night and Tuesday mornings sessions hearing from the missionaries as to what their heart for ministry was. It was good to hear form one another and celebrate together!
I had the opportunity to show a couple of the YUGO Canada board members around Tijuana area when they did a whirlwind tour of the area. They get to hear a lot about the places and people, it was good for them to see first-hand what we are all doing and how they can come alongside and assist!
We have friends from Canada coming down to the area for a few days this week. We are going to give them a tour of life in Mexico for us while they are here. They have 3 kids almost the same ages as our kids. It'll be a huge blessing to see the Sauers again!
Prayer items:
- Language study.
- I am doing well with mine, but we don't know how to do it so that Shar and the kids can excel in Spanish as well. Please pray for wisdom in that area.
- Deputation
- I will be going to Ontario in March for 11 days for deputation. Please pray that I'll have a good opportunities to make contacts with people as we seek for God's partners in ministry for us.
- Vehicle.
- our current van is doing well, but there is a need for a 4 wheel drive here. The roads are treacherous, they beat up a low riding vehicle like our van ( the bumps have broken our stabilization bar, oil pan and busted a brake fluid line. The dust has ruined our door locking mechanisms.) Last week I was supposed to be preaching at our church and soon after we left, we realized what the rain had done to the roads. the church is in a canyon and the roads are very difficult to navigate in the rain. We were slipping and sliding on the clay mud and almost slid sideways down the hill! We could not negotiate the turn to go down the road to church and had to keep going on at about 5km/h with wheels spinning wildly. We made it to a dry spot in the road, but now not sure if we could make it back to our house, never mind to the church. We followed the road to a paved road. thankfully the rest of the way was dry and rutted, but not slippery. we made it to the paved road and back to our house the round-about way. Unfortunately, we'd missed church. Did I mention I was preaching? Thankfully, this IS "Flex-ico" and the folks adapted to our absence. When it rains, you often cannot get out of the house for a day, and we definitely cannot get to church or the orphanage for 3-4 days. For us, Ministry stops when it rains without a 4x4... Please pray for us in that regard.
-Homeschooling.
- please continue to pray- Caleb is advancing well as is Elijah. They enjoy the homeschooling, but need help seeing a need for Spanish!
-Finances
- Praise God for His provision last month. Please continue to pray for our regular monthly support as well as our extras, like health insurance this month ($350.00 extra (insurance till June 15th) Deputation in March (Rental car, gas, food etc) And summer deputation to Saskatchewan to shore up enough support for us to enter the ministry phase, hopefully next September! {Lord willing!})
Thank you so much for your partnership with us! God bless and keep you all!!
Until next time,
mike and shar and boys
It was a 1 1/2 hour drive north of the border at Murrietta Hot Springs. Calvary Chapel church as a Bible school and conference centre on the grounds there. I tell ya, if I had've known that there was a Bible College like this, we'd've been there cramming a 3 year degree into 6 years! It was by far one of the nicest places I've seen!
It used to be a 5 star resort for Hollywood's rich and famous in the 1920's -60's and then it fell into disrepair. Calvary chapel bought it in the 90's and turned into an incredible place with a small hot-spring creek flowing into little pools and eventually into a pond with ducks, swans, egrets and other birds.
The first night there after our meetings, we went to the hot-tub / pool from 9-11pm. the kids loved playing in the hot water ad even though the temperature dropped to about 11C that evening, the water was about 40C. It was really good for Shar's arthritic hip too!
We were there from Monday afternoon till Wednesday after lunch. It was a great time to get to know some of the missionaries we hadn't met yet and to spend some time with the YUGO Canada board members too. We took most of Monday night and Tuesday mornings sessions hearing from the missionaries as to what their heart for ministry was. It was good to hear form one another and celebrate together!
I had the opportunity to show a couple of the YUGO Canada board members around Tijuana area when they did a whirlwind tour of the area. They get to hear a lot about the places and people, it was good for them to see first-hand what we are all doing and how they can come alongside and assist!
We have friends from Canada coming down to the area for a few days this week. We are going to give them a tour of life in Mexico for us while they are here. They have 3 kids almost the same ages as our kids. It'll be a huge blessing to see the Sauers again!
Prayer items:
- Language study.
- I am doing well with mine, but we don't know how to do it so that Shar and the kids can excel in Spanish as well. Please pray for wisdom in that area.
- Deputation
- I will be going to Ontario in March for 11 days for deputation. Please pray that I'll have a good opportunities to make contacts with people as we seek for God's partners in ministry for us.
- Vehicle.
- our current van is doing well, but there is a need for a 4 wheel drive here. The roads are treacherous, they beat up a low riding vehicle like our van ( the bumps have broken our stabilization bar, oil pan and busted a brake fluid line. The dust has ruined our door locking mechanisms.) Last week I was supposed to be preaching at our church and soon after we left, we realized what the rain had done to the roads. the church is in a canyon and the roads are very difficult to navigate in the rain. We were slipping and sliding on the clay mud and almost slid sideways down the hill! We could not negotiate the turn to go down the road to church and had to keep going on at about 5km/h with wheels spinning wildly. We made it to a dry spot in the road, but now not sure if we could make it back to our house, never mind to the church. We followed the road to a paved road. thankfully the rest of the way was dry and rutted, but not slippery. we made it to the paved road and back to our house the round-about way. Unfortunately, we'd missed church. Did I mention I was preaching? Thankfully, this IS "Flex-ico" and the folks adapted to our absence. When it rains, you often cannot get out of the house for a day, and we definitely cannot get to church or the orphanage for 3-4 days. For us, Ministry stops when it rains without a 4x4... Please pray for us in that regard.
-Homeschooling.
- please continue to pray- Caleb is advancing well as is Elijah. They enjoy the homeschooling, but need help seeing a need for Spanish!
-Finances
- Praise God for His provision last month. Please continue to pray for our regular monthly support as well as our extras, like health insurance this month ($350.00 extra (insurance till June 15th) Deputation in March (Rental car, gas, food etc) And summer deputation to Saskatchewan to shore up enough support for us to enter the ministry phase, hopefully next September! {Lord willing!})
Thank you so much for your partnership with us! God bless and keep you all!!
Until next time,
mike and shar and boys
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)