When coffee isn't enough...

So last night at about 1AM I awoke in excruciating pain with kidney stones. I wasn't sure what it was and after searching the internet for a few minutes we called friends to come over and stay here with the kids while we went into the hospital.

I got in almost right away, as it appeared I was the only one in the hospital doubling over in mind boggling pain. They searched for a vein with the delicacy of a farmer on a rare T-bone steak. Finally with a spurt of blood, they found a vein and put the medicated IV on me. Within 30 minutes I was no longer howling in agony. I was in there for another half hour before they let me go, relatively pain free.

By the time we actually got to sleep it was about 4AM. I got up several times in the night to rid myself of excess IV fluid so neither one of us got a great amount of sleep. I witnessed Shar's cure for the morning blues ( "Everything" bagel with cream cheese and jalapenos. "Electric Breakfast") and felt it was blogworthy. I've never seen her do this before, but apparantly it gave her the kick she needed when she had less than 5 hours sleep, and coffee just wasn't enough.

Piedricitas de Rinones.

Kidney Stones.

I (Mike) was in the hospital last night from about 1:30am till 3:30AM getting flushed out after waking up in excruciating back pain.

I've heard it said that kidney stones are the closest a man ever gets to feeling the pain of childbirth- the major difference being that after all is said and done, all you have is a marble sized piece of calcium instead of a baby!

Sharlene was reading in one of our home medical books about a former marine officer who used to get his teeth drilled without anasthestic at all. Tough Marine type dude- and when he had kidney stones, he cried.

No crying for me last night (I'm tougher then a marine??) but there was pain, lemmee tell ya!

No marbles yet and the pain has subsided with meds... I go to the clinic tomorrow (Monday) for tests and we'll see what the doc says after that!

Appreciate your prayers!!

Mike

Tow Truck

I wish I had a better shot of this, but I couldn't get a good one and drive safely at the same time. You can see a tow truck towing a van. The cool part (and you can kind of see it in the other pic) is that this tow truck is attached to another vehicle- in essence being towed by another vehicle- that is being towed by another tow truck!








So in a nut shell- there is a tow truck, towing a van- that is towing a tow truck- that is towing another van!











Here you can see the 2nd tow truck looking awfully close to the van in front- that is because they somehow connected him to the tow-hitch of the van in front of him.


You don't see that everyday!

Library Day

There is a library we go to regularly in Chula Vista, California. We have a membership and borrow many pounds of books each time we go. This summer the kids participated in the summer reading program. For reading 10 books, each of the boys got a free ticket to the San Diego Zoo and free tickets to other attractions around town. They all completed their task- with Elijah finishing with 33 books, Caleb 13 and Jacob 11. We are going to the Zoo sometime soon! YEEHAW!




Last Saturday they had a rally thing with pizza, prizes and the reptile guy. They had 1100 kids participate in the sumer reading program- in that particular branch of the Library! So we sat for about an hour while they drew name after name after name. Most of the kids weren't there. 98% of the names were Hispanic! Caleb won a puzzle, Elijah won a T-shirt and Jacob did not win :(. But everyone went home with something-- a little beach ball, a spider ring- something that may last till we get home!

diversion

This is a video of last winter when we shot off some fireworks. Some of it is pretty tough to see, but wait for the actual firing of the rocket. It's pretty cool.

Mexicans seem to love fireworks- they get set off for a few weeks around Christmas and new years- and also for any of the various Mexican holidays. Here in Tijuana area we have enough deportees from the US that they'll even celebrate US holidays like the 4th of July with fireworks. It's legal, inexpensive and slightly dangerous. I almost blew up a neighbours house in the bottom of the canyon last winter. I apologized and all was well. Then I changed the angle of the launcher.

lots of tears...

I experienced my fair share of tears yesterday- not mine, but the tears of gratitude and the tears of a broken heart.

Yesterday I lead a women's soccer team from a Christian College in California to our Eastern Colonias to help a Christian family with a roof. They had received a tarp last year from us to keep the rain out and it was pretty helpful at least over a couple of beds, but not over the rest of the house.

They live in a 2 room modest home made of scrap wood at the side of the railroad track on squatters land. The husband has health problems and recently had surgery on his intestines. He has been unable to work so they survive on the equivalent of welfare which pays them about $100/ month to feed the couple and their 2 teenage daughters. The mom raises budgies to sell to veterinarians for some extra income. She sells 10 birds for $40 every few months to supplement their income.

One of their teen daughters is about 14 and was about to enter secondary school next week, but cannot because the cost is way too high for them. She is deaf and mute, but has been able to excel in school. Last year she received the equivalent of an A Average and was looking forward to going to high school. The cost for her to go- for books, shoes, uniform and tuition is about $200. About 2 months wages for the family. This is the ordinary cost for this!

Well the team finished putting rolled roofing down on the house and in the end prayed with the family and gave them some clothes and food. At which point in time the mother began to cry. She had tears of gratitude and thankfulness to God for sending this group to be a blessing to them! Their roof before this consisted of plain wood of different types shapes and quality, with huge gaps that allowed the rain to pour in in the winter. Praise God they will be dry this year!!

During this I went to visit a pastor I know in a nearby community. He had recently lost his paying job and has been struggling to make ends meet. He started a welding business out back of the church and he welds gates, doors and security windows out there. The problem he is finding is finding customers! His neighbourhood is quite poor and the material is pretty expensive. There are wealthier neighbourhoods, but people are generally not willing to give half down before the job to someone they do not know. So Pastor Julio is kind of relegated to people he knows who would have the money to pay him.

While we were visiting, Pastor Julio mentioned that school was starting soon and he had 10 kids in his church who can't go to school this year because they do not have the money for books, uniforms and tuition. Tears swelled up in his eyes as he thought of these kids being destined to desperate poverty for the remainder of their lives. But it wasn't so much the poverty he was worried about, it was the things that happen to kids in poverty.

Pastor Julio grew up in a rough family. He was getting beaten so much he left home at 8 years old to live on the streets. He almost immediately turned to drugs and alcohol to dullen the pain and struggled to survive on the streets. At 18 he was drunk, living on the streets and God spoke to a woman who was walking by him. "Tell this boy about me" she sensed God saying. But he's drunk and a mess, there is no way he wants to hear about Jesus! But God persisted and this frightened woman shared Jesus with a drunk 18 year old who had never known love. He believed her and placed his Trust in Jesus and began to follow Him. His life took a dramatic turnaround. He got training and a job as an iron worker and after some time went to a Bible Institute and became a pastor. He has a true pastors heart and loves the people God has given him, especially the vulnerable kids. He had tears in his eyes as he spoke about their potential and their vulnerability.

YUGO's back to school has had to be scaled back this year because of lack of donations. Last summer I went to Canada and shared the need and we had over 20 kids sponsored, but this year we only have received 2 donations from Canada!

If you are willing and able to help there is much need here! We are only able to work with a few of our poorest churches to help at least get the church kids in school as a blessing to our brothers and sisters in Jesus.

The costs are as follows:

High School - $550
Jr High - $300
Elementary - $150
Kindergarten - $120

If your heart moves you and you are willing, you can send a check made out to YUGO Canada to :

YUGO Canada
Box 231
St. Albert, AB
T8N 1N3

Please send a note saying it is for the Backpack program!

Thank you for your love! We appreciate you folks and your partnership with us! I'm hoping to be able to see a bunch of you when I'm back in Saskatchewan and Manitoba in November!

God bless,

Mike

Multa...

I learned a new Spanish word today. Multa. I learned this when a car with flashing lights (not a police car!) signaled for me to pull over.

It turns out that when you register your vehicle here in Baja California, it is only good until Dec. 31 of that year. I was unaware of this. When the government of BC vehicle pulled me over he asked for my license and wrote me up a "Multa" - a Fine for not re-registering my vehicle. I confessed ignorance because I didn't expect that everyone's registrations would be finished the same day. He said I wasn't that far out from the real re-registration date, because although it says Dec. 31 is the expiration date, they give 6 MONTHs grace for everyone- so it is actually June 31 that it is really due-- without fine.

Better than that, he said that I have today and tomorrow to register the truck and if I did- I could get it done without a fine. So the REALITY is that the REAL expiration date is the day AFTER you get stopped.

So I went and re-registered my vehicle. I went to an information booth that was unmanned and waited. Then I decided to ask another government worker who was engrossed in a magazine where I go to pay fr this and she sent me to cashier #9. Cashier #9 was very pleasant. She took my information and sent me to Cashiers 7 and 5. Cashier 7 was not available so I went to cashier 1 who called cashier 7 over the intercom (READ: She yelled out "MARIO!!!!) Mario promptly came to his desk and took about 12 of my dollars. $8.00 was actual fees of some type. $2.60 was for a certificate that states I don't owe any debts to the government. 25% was taxes to support the ministry of families and Sports and Education. $5.20 was for something I will never understand because it is written with short forms- no real words. and finally there is a $2.00 "Voluntary" donation to the red Cross.

After that I was sent to cashier 5 who wasn't there. Cashier 1 again utilized the intercom system (READ: Yelled out "JOSE!!") who promptly came to help me. There I paid about $90. ($5.00 of which was another voluntary donation. The rest was for various fees that make no sense to me.

So now I know that every year, precisely 1 day after I get pulled over, I need to re-register my vehicle and donate to various government organizations!

UPDATE:

Seve Barboza had her studies done finally and got her results. She does NOT have cancer or anything else grave! (Praise God!) This doctor (the specialist) is asking her to cut back on the medications and see if that helps. He feels that the medications are causing havoc on her system and she needs to rest her stomach and bowels for a few weeks. She has another appointment in 2 weeks to see if she has made any advancement.

Jose is suffering from problems with his prostate. He did get an appointment last week. The doctor ordered him a study- which he can get in a month or so. And another appointment a month after that. He is looking at getting into a private clinic to for the study and result- he could have both of those done by the end of next week, Lord willing. Praise God for His provision for this couple!

OTHER MEDICAL NEWS

A little girl we'd been helping out, Misi, has a cleft palette. She had it fixed last winter by an American doctor at a clinic here, but it did not take well. She needs more work done and one of our missionaries has found an opportunity for her to get a repair done as well as speech therapy to help her make a full, excellent recovery. Please pray that Misi can get the paperwork needed to get this done- they need passports and medical visas which can be difficult to get. Please pray for God to provide them with the needed finances to get the paperwork down. This family are not believers and the father is quite antagonistic to Jesus and his Good News. Please pray that they would experience the love of Christ and respond to Him in repentance and faith!

OTHER NEWS

Our vehicles...
Today I took my truck in to the shop for transmission problems, which turned out not to be too bad. However, I am losing engine coolant- about 2 liters in 2 or 3 weeks. There is no noticeable leak anywhere, which apparently usually means that it is leaking into the engine via a bad gasket. This is a huge expense in Canada/US but here it is not so bad, about $350 and 2 days work. I've been putting in a couple hundred dollars a month into these vehicles for repairs for the last 4 months or so and it is taking quite a toll!

The other day I was driving the van (1994 Grand Voyageur) on errands in the states when I noticed the engine temperature light was going crazy. I pulled over at a gas station and found out that I had very little water left in the rad. I filled it with a gallon of coolant and 1-1.5 gallons of water. It was almost empty! Again- it looks to be a major leak into the engine. This one needs to be done right away or it could seize the engine...

We appreciate your prayers for these vehicles! At YUGO we often have vehicles donated and rarely we have good vehicles donated so we are praying that one comes in that would suit our needs for the type of driving we do.

SUMMER

Summer is going well. Shar is spending lots of time getting ready for the homeschool year starting in September. Class is going well for me. It's been good to be a blessing to the students and see them growing in their knowledge of God's Word. I've been learning a ton as well as we talk about culture and our own ways of serving and loving Jesus! I've also been teaching some medical mission interns and have been enjoying that tremendously.

FALL

Fall is coming up quickly! We have a few plans in the wings.

Construction
We have a team coming down from Alberta to help build a church in Valle Redondo, a squatter village in the far Eastern outskirts of Tijuana. They are building a 10 meter X 15 meter 2 story church building for this church of 75 adults and 35+ kids. It is a growing church plant of almost 1 year. Pastor Ramiro and his wife Katy and 2 other members are in my class and have been a great, faithful addition. They have a great vision for reaching their neighbourhood with the Good News of Jesus and helping with the desperate poverty in their community by providing meals for kids, a day care so single moms can go to work without putting kids in an orphanage ( a common practice here) and a medical clinic to assist with the huge, ongoing medical needs of this area. I'm glad t be able to partner with Ramiro and Katy in their ministry!

Canada
I have been invited to speak in Nipawin, Saskatchewan for their alumni retreat this November 21-23. I'm taking the opportunity to be back to connect with churches and supporters so I'll be back from Nov 5-24 or so, depending on travel costs! At this time the cost to fly and rent a car is pretty high, it's almost the same as driving from here with the whole family! So we are looking for places to stay and people to connect with. If you'd like us at your church, small group, youth group just with your family during that time- please email and let me know if we can work something out!

msmcdonald@yugomail.org

Semi-confirmed Schedule:
Nov 5- arrive in S'toon
Nov 6-15 open (I'm waiting for a response from a church on the 9th)
Nov 16th- North Battleford, SK
Nov 17-21- Swan River, MB
Nov 21-23- Nipawin, SK
Nov 24- Depart for Mexico.

Please let me know if you can give me an opportunity to share a report on the ministry here while I'm back!

God bless!!

Until Next time,

Mike for the family.