Rickeys and Roaches (updated...)

It's the end of week 3 and heres a bit of an update-- i might repost this later with some more info and pics,-- I'm running out of time right now...

Saturday (yesterday) we took the kids from the children's home out to a Rickeys Tacos for tacs- it had a huge playplace and the kids 10 and under loved it! At this taco place you get free totopos (tortilla chips) and veggies-- so the hungrier kids stuffed themselves with refillable soda, cucumbers and chips with salsa and jalapenos. The kids had a blast after a mall disapointment...

We spent more than an hour getting lost on the way to the local spring fair here in chihuahua. And when we finally got there, it was closed. On Saturday afternoon at 1:30- the fair was closed. I hadn't even thought of asking if it'd be open because i've never heard of a fair being closed in the afternoon on a Saturday- but it was!! and there we were with 43 people in 2 vehicles (17 in my van and the rest in a suburban) and a closed fair. the silence among the kids was heartbreaking-- it had been a surprise where we were going and when they finally knew they were bubbling only to be burst at the site of an empty fairgrounds (at 1:30pm!!). So we went for tacos at a place with a playplace and then returned at 4pm when the fair opened.

It was a great time-- the rides were free with admission and suzanna even convinced them to give us free admission because it was a children's home! So in we went for almost 4 hours walking and riding rides, laughing and smiling with only one spontaneous bloody nose as the only casualty of the afternoon. We had a great time, even though everyone over 30 was bushed at the end (did I mention that there were 40 kids altogether and only 3 adults- shar and i and Suzanna???)

We all had a blast!!

here are some pics from Rickeys and some roaches we found at our house afterwards--- I'll tell that stry in the update later...

A couple of the kids at Rickey's tacos-- the younger ones played and ate and drank while the older guys tried to see how much chile salsa they could eat on their tortilla chips...

Here's part of the group-- we were 43 in all and kinda chased out some birthday parties that were in their waning times anyway-- I liked the look on the staffs face when 40 kids showed up at once!!

Suzanna (director of El Refugio Casa Hogar del Amor )


Shar with 3 of the teen girls-- Shar spent most of here time with the teen girls and even got a cool woven / beaded hair extension by them (you can see one on the two girls to the right (Shar's right) of Shar...


A few of the kids playing at the playplace. the girl in th epink is Rocio--- she remembered me from the last time we were here 3 1/2 years ago. She loved to hang out, read books and play ball with us!

One of the parts of the play area-a mini-soccer pitch in the air.


A couple roaches we found at our house one night. We captured them, and transported them to the upstairs bathroom where we tried to flush them down the toilet. the project almost failed as the second cucaracha refused to be flushed down and disapeared in the folds of the toilet. Thankfully when we found the third, the flush was strong enough to wash them both down the toilet. unfortunately the next night we found 3 more, but were unwilling to continue on with the game...

Week 2 of Language school

Things are going well here, but my head sometimes feels as if it's going to explode. We are taking the information that normally gets taught in 10 weeks and doing it in 4 and so it's a bit mind-numbing at times- but it's good too, because we are seeing progress!!

I got into a small accident the other day, but nothing major. The other fella tried to pass me on the left while i was turning left-- but i wasn't in the normal turning lane either- and the police officer was standing in the lane i was wanting to go in- so really it was all of our fault! the only damage was a bent side view mirror on the other truck and he was fine with that- readjusted it and left. The police asked for my license and insurance and then we talked about why we we're in Chihuahua to learn Spanish and where we're from in Canada and he seemed pleased to let me go without a ticket or bribe! Praise God

My teacher said that it was unique form of learning I had that morning and we spent the first hour or two going over the accident in detail and learning the different verbs associated with the accident... it was very helpful in my Spanish learning. In the afternoon class, my classmate Pete a 28 year old med student told the afternoon teacher about the accident and I went over it again only this time we learned new verbs and conjugations through the retelling of the story. I told them not to expect this kind of help in lesson planning again!!

Today it rained. All also night and into this morning till about 9am and it's about 13C this morning- a change from the usual 32C!! the streets were flooded this morn because they don;t have storm drains in this city so they wait for the sun to come put and dry it all up afterwards!! it was a driving experience for sure-- but NO ACCIDENTS TODAY!! That's 3 days in a row without an accident!!

The drivers here are a bit crazy- not nearly as courteous or helpful as the Tijuana drivers, and lots more aggressive!! It must be the heat that puts them on edge!!

Things are going well, though there are some adjustments that can some times be frustrating-- some cultural differences that are noticeable and the extreme lack of taco stands has made this a little tougher than we thought-- apparently the border area is not always the same as the rest of Mexico- and each area has it's own little cultural tweaks and quirks- not unlike the US and Canada too!
We have 2 weeks to go and hope to get to Suzanna's orphanage tomorrow and to another church on Sunday...

Thanks for praying- please continue to pray as we work through some adjustments that are needed living in someone else's house for a month!

God bless!!

Mike

Sometimes, God freaks me out...

We're here in Chihuahua where we first came to Mexico 3 or 4 years ago with our church to help an orphanage among other ministries... I was hoping to get to contact Suzanna who ran the orphanage when we were here last, but the mission we came with, COI, no longer operates here. The school we're at does alot of orphaange work, but did not know her and our contacts for her had dried up.

So I tried last Tuesday to see if we could remember where she was. we go to the area the Mission centre was at- where we slept and ate and drove form there down tons of streets, looking and looking for her to no avail.

We tried again last Thursday after classes to try out another route. We drove for over an hour, asked people who may know and came up empty handed again. we were told of a new orphanage- a larger one down the way and so we tried to find it only we got very lost. The only thing that helped me as it was getting darker was the mountains are always on one side and the highway on the other so I turned up a random street, frustrated, on my way back to the highway to go home.

Suddenly, Sharlene yelled out-- "There it is!!" It's pink now, but there are kids clothes hanginig on the patio and 2 vans and a SUV out front- that's it!!" we did a U-ey and came back and then recognized the neighbourhood- the little hardware store, the unfinished building, the tire shop and the house across the road with the palm tree in front- we had found it!! I had given up after several hours of trying and we drive in front of it "by accident" on te way out when we were no longer looking for it!! I still am a bit freaked out by it!!

We went in to visit and after about 3 minutes of explaining who we were, It clicked and Suzanna came and gave us all a big hug. There are 35 kids in the orphanage now and they have 2 large vans along with the old SUV they had. Not all was well though.

Suzanna explained that she had had a difficult year as both her mom and dad were sick for qite some time last spring and they both died within days of each other last July. In August her brother died and in December her son did in the US- he was 33 years old. She had obviously not recovered fromt he first 3 deaths and the 4th has been overwhelming for her. Her sister came to visit and they immediately embraced each other and cried in each others arms. Sharlene hugged them both and prayed for them as all 3 cried in each others arms. After a while we talked a bit about other things and what we had been doing. The home was in a bit of a shambles and it looked like she needed help just to be encouraged.

We returned the next day with the lady that we are staying with. Hopefully she can make a good connection with suzanna and maybe give some help through her church. We played with the kids, sorted laundry (mountains of laundry every day!!!) and talked and sang together. It was a good time and we're looking forward to going back on the weekends while we are here.

Thanks to those of you who prayed we'd reconnect with her- I think we were the encouragement she needed that day- She was happy to here her Loon Lake friends had been praying for her, were concnerned for her and hoped to somehow make a connection again with her. For those who were with us, it won't surprise you to know that Tim's name came up the most "oh you were here with Tim's group??" Many would like a return visit from Tim!!

The language learning is going well. We are seeing progress and are glad for 3 day weekends as there is lots to study and solidify before starting again on Monday. Shar and I do 6 hours a day whilel the kids have 4 hours. The other 2 we are in class the boys either go to the park, watch a movie or visit with their teacher- who has 3 kids around ours ages.

Believe it or not there is a bit of culture shock to get used to- we are right in an urban neighbourhood so the noise is tough to get used to- including the neighbourhood dealers who live next door. Today is mothers day and a typical mothers day night/early morning consists of seranading mom between 1 and 5 am. The mariachi bands were busy last night- but the most "emotional" of singers are the inebriated adult kids coming by cranking up the CD and singing loud enough to wake permanently sleeping... it was a rough night last night!!

Taco stands too=- there are NO taco stands where you can just go get a $1.00 taco- only taco restaurants where there are multiple different types of taco-like fast foods for exhorbitant prices. We're used to going for tacos for 5 and spending between 10 and 15 dollars. here it's more like $30-40 which means not many tacos for us!! It's hard to beleive we're in Mexico and craving tacos... On a good note- one of the taco restauraunts has a HUGE playplace with a min-soccer field and wireless internet access. We have interneat access at school- but only for about 10 minutes before and after class- so only about enough time to asnwer a couple emails...

thanks for praying- things are progressing- please continue to pray that that continues on in the coming 3 weeks!!

God bless!!

Mike for the family

On the Road Again....

Today we leave for Language School. We've had a good couple days hanging out with Rick and Colette Browning- showing them around Tijuana and Rosarito! We had planned on getting the car packed last night, but spent time hanging out instead with them. We enjoyed our time seeing pictures of Loon Lake and the Camp we used to work at too. So now it's 6:44 and we're about to load the vehicle and head for Chihuahua~

It's a 1600 km drive out there, so today will bring us to Tucson, AZ where we'll get a motel and swim in the desert heat this afternoon. Tomorrow we'll explore Tucson a bit- maybe go to a desert garden and zoo type area or to an air and space museum with a plane graveyard spread over 80 acres of desert- not sure which we'll do yet! and then it'll b off to El Paso, Texas before heading south to Chihuahua Mexico!

Please pray for safety and for us to have all the patience and kindness we can handle as we travel together for a few days and then stay with a Mexican family for 4 weeks!!

God bless,

Mike, for the family.