January 28, 2004 Almost time: It’s almost time to move again. We have so much to do before the beginning of classes in August at the seminary. We are looking forward to beginning the Center for Youth Ministry at the Mexican Baptist Theological Seminary. Students will be able to get a degree in youth ministry, and we are really excited about what God is going to do with the program. All we need are students. Please pray that God will bring the students as we begin to promote the program through various methods. Please pray for wisdom for us as we plan the promotion and begin the process. Please pray for us, also, as we finish up our formal Spanish school in the next 3 weeks.
We’re Members!
Sorry for the brief lack of communication. Lots has been going on here. We’re back into a routine, so hopefully we’ll be able to write here more often. Can’t believe it’s been a whole month since we last wrote. We sent an email update (click here to sign up) about what’s been going on, so you should be getting that soon. Today, we became members of Sam’s Club. Janell had a hunch that the Sam’s is just down the street, so we ventured off in the rain (it was sprinkling) to find it. We mustered up enough Spanish and 350 pesos to purchase a membership, but we didn’t buy anything. We also went to a place called Waldo’s Mart where everything is 11 pesos (about a dollar). It’s amazing how excited we get just to find grape jelly on the shelf. The downside to today is the rain. We washed our clothes before it rained and hung them out to dry. Guess what…they didn’t. Since it only rained a little, they are only a little damp, so hopefully they will be dry in the morning.
Visas: This morning we left Cuernavaca and travelled by bus to Mexico City. It only took us about an hour and a half to get here and cost about $5 per person. The buses are really nice, and we even got to watch Men In Black 2. It was in Spanish (a first on the bus for us), but we could actually follow what was going on. The Spanish classes must be working. Anyway, please pray that Monday goes smoothly with our visas. We are going with our lawyer and she should be able to get us through fairly quickly. Thanks for your prayers.
Week 1 – The week in review Thursday: We drove to Orlando to get our visas from the Consulate office there, but we had plenty of problems. They said that we needed some paperwork that we didn’t have with us, so we had to get them faxed to us in Orlando. When we finally received all of the paperwork, the office was closed, so we would have to wait until Friday to turn in the papers. Good thing Janell’s grandmother lives in Kissimmee, so we could stay with her. Friday: We went back to teh Consulate office, only to be told that the visa was going to cost us a lot more than what our lawyer in Mexico had told us. We called her to try to get it straightened out, and, after many hours, she got it all straight for us. Unfortunately, we would have to wait until Monday to actually pick up the visas. That wasn’t good because we had to go home and finish packing for the move.
Saturday – We spent the morning packing our 6 suitcases, and in the evening we had dinner with Janell’s family. It was the beginning of a week of goodbyes as we have left many of the people who are most special to us. Saturday was difficult as we visited family for the last time until we return from Mexico.
Sunday: Our church had a “commissioning” service” for us. Since our church is practically our family, this day was also difficult. We said goodbye to many of the students with whom we have worked for the last five years. Since my family was there, it was also a time to say goodbye to them. We had dinner with Janell’s dad and sisters in the evening and decided to drive to Orlando so we wouldn’t have such a long drive on Monday. Monday: A day of many goodbye’s. We went to see more family and say even more goodbye’s. Then we had dinner with our pastor and good friends from church. We finished packing our six suitcases, two carry-on bags, and two personal bags each. Tuesday: We drove to West Palm Beach to stay close to the Miami airport. We didn’t want to have to drive such a long way on the same day as our flight to Mexico. We rented a car and drove from Tampa airport. When we arrived in West Palm Beach, we got to eat at Friendly’s, one of Janell’s favorite restaurants.
Wednesday: This was it…the big day for us to move. We drove to Miami airport with all of our luggage and checked all that we needed to. There were no problems in the airport at all, and we were able to accomplish everything exactly as we expected. Our plane was only half full, so we had plenty of overhead space and plenty of room for everything. It was pretty smooth, and we had no problems with immigration or customs. We were finally in Mexico! Our friends picked us up from the airport, and we drove through the worst traffic jam we have ever been in, but we made it to the house where we were staying. Thursday: We drove through bad traffic again (Mexico City), and arrived at the bus station in order to go to Cuernavaca for language school. The family that we are staying with met us there, and we have been here since.
Friday: Orientation at the language school went great. Thank God that we have been in Mexico before and know a little about how things work down here. We can already tell that we are learning lots of Spanish. We went to Plaza Cuernavaca, a mall, to look for some clothes because we left one of Janell’s bags in Mexico City. Good thing there is a market here on Monday where we can buy some clothes for cheap. We’ll see what next week brings.
Cuernavaca: We made it to Cuernavaca, Mexico, just fine. I’m sitting in an internet cafe about 3 blocks from the place we are staying, and we are really excited. Today we took an exam to see what class we should be in for class when we start on Monday. I think it went really well. We are staying with the Hernandez family. They have 2 daughters, Jessica and Yeritzia. Unfortunately, we left one of our bags that we were supposed to bring to Cuernavaca in Mexico City. It was the one with all of Janell�s clothes in it. That�s okay, though, because on Monday, our family is going to take us to a market where we can buy all sorts of clothes fairly inexpensively. If anyone really is reading this, I�d love to hear it. Thanks.
Church History: Today was a good day at our church. We only have 2 weeks left to worship with our church family, so it’s starting to get a little emotional. We went out with some good friends today for lunch, then we spent the rest of the afternoon working on a new newsletter to send out tomorrow. Also, I’m working on my paper for church history class at Columbia Biblical Seminary. I’m almost finished. Can’t wait to be done with it so I can start working on my new classes.
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