How's Shar doing?

I'm glad you asked- actually, I've had a few emails and facebook entries asking how she is doing- so I figured I'd give a short update here...

She is in Calgary today (Wednesday Aug 29) and is heading to Stoney "something" Alberta tomorrow. Not sure if it's stoney plain or stoney valley or stoney soup or what- but I'm pretty sure it's stoney... (EDIT: Actually Spruce Grove... I has the "s" right- and the fact that it was two words...)

Anyway, she had 2 Dr. Appointments in Calgary in the last 6 days. One was a check to see that she is in good enough health to go into surgery and the 2nd (today) was to show her nice pictures and videos designed to educate and frighten. She also had another set of bloodwork done and is becoming familiar with the transit system in Calgary.

She stayed this last week with a friend of ours from Martensville Baptist Church who has moved to the big, oil-booming city of Calgary for work and excitement- Lisa Sawaztky. Shar has been having a good time hanging out with Lisa when she is home from work- it's been a good week for her, I think.

As of tomorrow she goes to that stoney place with Cheryl Hoople- a fellow missionary here in Mexico who is back in Canada doing some visiting and deputation and helping to care for Shar. They will hang around and go to a family reunion where Sharlene will pretend to be the cousin everyone forgot about (LOL!). It will likely be fun...

Then on September 5th, she will go back to Calgary for Surgery on her hip and will return to Mexico hopping and jumping for joy (ok- maybe not right away...) on Sept. 14th, after spending some time recuperating at a friends house in Ponoka Alberta. EJ Marois is a nurse and will be a great help!!

My mother will be coming out for about a month to help with things as Shar recuperates.

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and now for something completely different...

An interesting thing.... you can see how many visitors this blog has had since last November on the counter to the left of this writing. If you click on that, you'll find that it will show where people come from- how long they hang around for (not always accurate) and how they got to the page.

Lately I've had quite a few people hitting the blog as they look for "tostilocos" on google. It turns out that this site is 2nd and 3rd site someone sees on google when they type in that word. Just so you know- the tostilocos story is found here

Another Google hit that puts us up quite high is when people want to find out about the fast "food" place- McDonald's in Tijuana-- we're number 4 and 5... (incidently, a German friend of mine once told me that "fast" in German is translated to "almost" in english- Thus to a German who knows English- McDonald's confirms what we suspected- it's "almost food"....)

As for me and the boys- we are surviving without the Matriarch of the family... but just barely. :)
We eat regularly- and sometimes we even cook. The dishes get done every day (so far) and the fleas are gone... (Smart fleas...all of our blood probably tastes like peanut butter and honey nut cheerios!!). So while we are all awaiting Mommy's return, we are not so helpless as we once thought... our standards may have slightly changed, but we are well.

Thanks for reading,

until next time,

Mike

The blind receive sight....and the Good News is preached to the poor...

It was a good day to be in Mexico...

We had a great day today- went out to the Colonias- in East Tijuana where we'll be doing the Bible College-- it was good seeing the folks out we're going to be serving. We were helping out a school sponsorship program where we (actually many of you!! we had 20 sponsors from Canada!!) provided the tuition fees and school supplies and shoes (uniforms come later) for 65 kids who may not have been able to go to school otherwise!!



Lots of backpacks ready to be handed out!!

Kids Lining up!!


Impromptu Special number by Maricella, Pastor's wife at Misericordia Church- She and her husband and several leaders in their church will be in my classes!


This guy can't wait to get his new backpack and school supplies!


This was the first backpack handed out by Robb Hammond from Rock Harbour Church in Orange county. They sponsored 20 kids. Cindy Reid, Yugo Missionary and Program coordinator seeing the culmination of a lot of hard work!!


It was great and as anything in Mexico- it turned into a worship service with singing,a little preaching, some testimonies, some more singing, some more testimonies- even the little kids come up for testimonies!!




I got a chance to talk to Pastor Daniel (see picture below...) He will be one of my students in September,-- he is married with a couple kids- no Bible training at all and is starting to pastor a new church plant in an extremely poor community. He has severe cataracts and cannot see very well and has been unable to work a secular, paying job for quite some time. While I was in Canada I mentioned him in a message -just talking about one of the guys we know- and that how he was telling me how expensive his eye surgery would be- $700.00 for both eyes- more money than he has seen at one time in a long time- maybe never!!

Pastor Daniel and his wife ( with their 2 kids at a rare trip to the ocean...) on the left- they are both in my class-- Pastor Juan on the right is taking the class and translating for me at the same time!! (Their friend is in the middle- sorry don't know her name!!)


A lady came up to me after church and said if she figured that $700 would give a man his eyesight back- then certainly she could do without some things and pay for that instead. The money came in this week and I got to tell a man he'd be able to see again soon!

There were tears all around!

Thank you so much for praying! We had a rough start to today with the car and all - and that just topped off a pretty testing few weeks back- that and Shar and I had a "heated discussion" before going (and a bit during the car ride...) and I didn't really feel like going- but we did and it was wonderful to be a part of...

thank you for being a part of it too...

It reminded me of a scripture:

Matthew 11:4-6

4Jesus replied, "Go back and report to John what you hear and see: 5The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy^[a]are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is preached to the poor. 6Blessed is the man who does not fall away on account of me."

Thank you so much for partnering with us in Ministry- from Child sponsors, to the woman who gave for Daniels surgery, to the ones who pray for us regularly (and even irregularly), to the ones who give each month and those who give on occasion-- this is a part of the fruit of our service together in Mexico!!

Gracias and Gloria a Dios!!

Electric Dia-Birria

*Groan*

We went to a friends house for a birthday party yesterday. Sofia is 6 years old. She has spina-bifida and so is confined to a wheelchair but that did not dampen spirits at all!

I have to say that it was, without a doubt, the most extravagant birthday I've ever been to- and these folks are quite poor! They live in a single-wide mobile home on the church property. They don't have a bathroom in their house- they use the churches, though. They must have been saving for months for this birthday party! There were about 40+ people there- (mostly kids) but adults hang out too at a kids party down here so we all stayed and chatted as the kids played on a "brincoline" (a bouncy-castle type thing) and beat the candy out of 4 pinatas. The last one was a hoot- because it seemed to be made from some sort of unbreakable space age material. After a very long time- candy came out 1x1 and 2x2 but the thing would not break completely! It must have been 45 minutes in total when the guy who was moving the pinata on a rope decided to bring it up and destroy it himself, only to find out that the tough "Barbie" candy box had yielded all of it's sweet contents in a trickle fashion over the course of time. This seemed to irk the kids because when he sent it down, they voraciously tore up and beat to smithereens the empty carcass of a pinata...

The next morning (about 1am) I awoke to some stomach renching pain. The only thing I can pin it down to was the Birria we had for supper at the party. I have no idea if that's what it was- but I thouroughly enjoy saying that I have "Dia-Birria"!!

Birria is a wonderful tasting dish of meat (chicken beef or goat usually- it was beef yesterday) simmered in a chile seasoned sauce. Afterward you put onions, cilantro and lime in the soupy mixture and eat it on a tortilla with rice and beans. It tasted great- and I really have no reason to blame it- but it's better than saying "I have an upset tummy".

We have electricity this afternoon. It went out at 7am and magically returned at about 2:30pm. Our neighbours across one road- all the way to YUGO ranch (10 minutes away) all were without power. The neighbours across the other road did not lose power at all... I found myself coveting their electricity... We certainly didn't want to clean out another fridge and freezer and all of it's yucky, spoiled contents again!! Thankfully, the power returned before anything was heavily damaged...

I'm hoping I feel much better tomorrow because we are going out to the Colonias in East. Tijuana to hand out backpacks, shoes and school supplies for the 65 or so kids that people have sponsored! Canadians sponsored 20 of them-- but for both Canadians and Americans, not everyone has sent their checks to the YUGO offices so we are having trouble paying for the tuition fees and uniforms until all of that comes in!! Canadians have paid for16 kids I believe- and there are 4 more that need moneys... Please pray that somehow it will all work out so that these kids can get to school- It starts Monday here in some colonias!!

Shar is off to Calgary on Thursday. Friday she goes for an internal Medicine report to see if she is healthy enough for surgery. Wednesday the 29th she goes for a teaching session designed to scare you out of having the surgery (just kidding) and then Sept. 5th is the day she becomes the Bionic Woman!! Please pray that all goes well!!

I need to go...uh...somewhere... quickly!

Until next time,

Mike

Post # 101-- Good News, Bad News

Hello. Welcome to my 101st post.

Good News: We had to book separate tickets back in May and Shar was on a different flight then the kids and I. Good News is that at the airport, they switched her to our flight for free!

Bad News: Both Sharlene and I have our names on a "no Fly list" which means we cannot, ever, electronically check in to a flight. We must always wait in line. I mean how many Michael McDonalds can there be out there? Or Sharlene McDonald's for that matter... oh to be an Achmad Mohammed Massoulah. Those guys never get hassled...

Good News- they let us on the flight with only the very slightest of hassle.

Bad News: Our first flight was delayed for almost an hour. Turns out the First Class bathroom had lots of problems and was leaking profusely into and under the main cabin.

Good News: We weren't in First Class, so I didn't get blamed for the toilet clogging up like I usually do!

Bad News: They deplaned us and sent us to the other side of the airport for a new plane.

Good news: There are electrical components running where the bathroom was leaking- electrical and watery type things do not mix- at all!

Bad News: The new plane took an hour toget ready for use-- more waiting... three hours delay in total.

Good News- Our plane arrived in San diego before flight curfew (airport is downtown SD, I think no flights in or out after 11pm...) and our ride was there to pick us up! ( Thanks Leonard!)

Bad News: It is about 1 hour from airport to home- it was very late by the time we got to our house.

Good News: 2 dogs and cat still alive at our house!

Bad News: When we arrived home at 12:30am our house stank of propane (tank on, pilot lights all off- all windows closed). Our power was off ( someone stole the power lines leading to our corner- so the p0wer was out to our neighbourhood- the rest of the colonia had brown-outs because of other stolen lines... ) Our house was now flea infested... I was in the house for 5 minutes and counted 24 fleas on my legs... cannot stay here tonight- find motel...

Good news- we found a motel with less fleas then our house! Actually no fleas, only a VERY loud air conditioner.

Bad News: Power was out for 5 days in total- all of the food in our fridge and freezer is a moldy, mushy mess that stinks worse than the kid at camp who doesn't shower all week... No power, no phone ( don't know why yet) Flea infested home.... where will we live?

Good News: Rancho Yugo (YUGO's outreach centre in Tijuana) has a trailer they can lend us. They will even feed us while the outreach is on! Praise God.

Bad News: Need to flea bomb house, get power and figure out what to do with stinky fridge ( one pot had 2 inches of moldy fuzz on it...!!)

Good News- After flea-bombing the house, there are now only an average of 2 or 3 fleas at a time on me! Power restored on wednesday- we can now vaccuum!

Bad News. No phone, a mysterious $70.00 extra phone bill. Numerous trips to vets, power companies, phone companies, pet stores, grocery stores, in border lines etc. to try to figure out how to move back in our house. Fridge still smells like a hockey equipment bag...

Good news: Our visas should be in so I can start working on importing vehicles (other wise I won;t have anything to drive soon!) Need visa to get license, need license to import vehicles, need vehicle to do work!

Bad News: Shars visa and 2 kids visas are in . Not mine. Don't know when it will be in.

Good news: We have a date for Shar's surgery! Sept. 5th.
Not so good news: She needs to be there in Calgary from Aug 24th to 29th for pre-op appointments. She has no place to stay in Calgary and this makes her time back much longer... Because of the earlier date of going, her plane ticket is much more expensive.

Good news: We got coupons for $125.00 off 1 flight because of the delay! Ticket more affordable!

Bad news: Fridge still smells like a donkey's underbelly.

Good news: Some folks are coming by tomorrow and we'll give the house a good cleaning from top to bottom, evict the horrid smell and possibly the fleas. We may then be able to move back home, finally, after living in suitcases for 2 months.

Well, that's it-- it's not all over yet. We'll still not have a phone until possibly monday (or longer) which means no internet or communication... we hope to get settled so I can meet with my pastors in E. Tijuana to discuss the upcoming classes... Please pray that we can do that soon!!

Thanks,
until next time,

Mike

Back in Mexico

Short Report...

We made it back to Mexico safe and sound... I have irregular internet service right now and I'll blog all about our homecoming in a few days. After we're living at our house again. After we've fumigated it. And emptied the fridge and freezer of all it's contents.

Stay Tuned...

Until Next Time,

Mike

I miss Tacos...

We are in Ponoka Alberta for a few days before we head home to Mexico. It's been a really good 7 weeks here in Canada- we're very glad we had this opportunity!!

So we are 3 days away from our flight to Mexico and we are looking forward to heading back. We all miss Mexico very much -- and will be going for Tacos as soon as we get back!! right now we are having the discussion as to which taco place well go to first. There is Tacos Manuel- it's a nice little place with tacos adobado-- which is marinated pork cooked on a "spit"-- it's exceptionally tasty!! Our other favourite place is Tacos 2000- it's a great place with thick bbq steak tacos marinated in something tasty (Don't ask questions if you really don't want to know the answer!!) They'll add roasted jalapeno peppers, de-seeded and soaked in salt and lime... they are sloppy and tasty... it's difficult to decide which we'll eat first...

This morning we sat and looked at pictures of Mexico that friends of ours took while they were down visiting us-- it was surprising how much it made us yearn for Mexico...

Shar has a date for surgery--- She'll be returning to Canada around Aug. 29th for pre-op stuff and the surgery is on Sept. 5th... My mom is going to be coming out for a few weeks to help us out--- We're looking forward to having Gramma out that time too! Shar will be back on Sept. 14th...

We'll update on things after we're back in Mexico!!

Blessings until next time,

Mike