Greetings from Mexico
We know that many of you
are beginning to experience winter weather but here it is still quite warm. A
lot of exciting things have been happening here in Cofradía and in the
mountains.
Visas
Our visas have turned out to be a good news/bad news situation. We were planning to continue with our current Temporary Resident visas but were forced to apply for the Permanent Resident visa instead. The Permanent Resident visa has a lot of advantages, the biggest of which is that we will not have to deal with immigration again. However, it turns out that once we receive the new visa we will not be able to have a foreign vehicle. That means that the truck that we now own will have to be parked until we can take it to the border. In the mean time we need to purchase a vehicle we can drive here. I have been looking for a smaller truck and have found a couple of good candidates. First we will need to come up with the money. We will need about $4500 in order to purchase the truck and to cover the cost of changing the title and getting new plates.
Mesa Del Nayar
I have been able to make a
number of trips up to the Mesa to begin exploring ministry opportunities. So
far we have been focused on the boarding school that was founded by our good
friend Padre Pascual Rosales who passed away 2 years ago. I first met Pascual
through our friends Tom and Collette Beytien who were working at the school at
the time more than 10 years ago. After Pascual passed away a group of former
students joined together to keep the school going. It has been very difficult
for them since almost all of the resources for the school disappeared once
Pascual was gone, largely due to the negative influence of the Catholic bishop
in the area. This year Tom and Collette returned to the Mesa to help the school
by teaching classes, taking care of projects and maintenance, and helping out
financially. Now our good friends Dave and Isabel from Cofradía have joined the
volunteers working at the school. They have a lot of gifts that are a blessing
to the staff and students at the school, but have a challenging road ahead as
they adapt to the new culture and figure out how to raise the necessary
Recently our friend
Macedonio Diaz and I took a reporter and camera man from Channel 10, the
government station, up to the Mesa. They spent the day interviewing the
director of the school and some teachers as well as capturing images of the
school and students. We are hoping that the resulting news story will
generate interest in the government and among individuals that will translate
into support and resources for the school and its staff. As soon as the TV spot
is done we will add subtitles and add it to our blog.
Plans
I am still trying to make
the trip over to Cangrejo to get started there. I want to reconnect with
friends there and begin forming listening groups with families. In the
listening groups we will using the recording of the New Testament in their
dialect of Cora that was produces by the Faith Comes By Hearing ministry.
Family
We are very excited that
Isaiah will be joining us for Christmas! Thanks to the generosity of some
friends we were able to get a round trip ticket for Isaiah using air miles. He
will be here from December 20th until the 10th of January. To have the
family together for Christmas is an amazing gift. With the arrival of Isaiah we
will have a pretty full house since our friend Violet Lanahan is with us and
Juan Luis and Pola's daughter is now staying with us during the week as she
goes to high school.
Gratitude
We want to express our
gratitude to everyone who has shown interest in our work here in Mexico. We
appreciate your emails, prayers, financial support, and visits. We thank you
for giving so that we can be here following the vision God has given us.
Needs
These are our current
needs;
- $4500 for a truck
- Increase of $400 in our monthly support
- Prayer for God to continue to open doors in La Mesa and Cangrejo
- Prayer for our family
God Bless,
