lessons in negotiating and pretty places

It's been a few weeks since my last post. Mostly I have been waiting for something "unusual" to write about but the "usual" is good. First impressions of our town have worn off and routines are being established.

Steve is teaching the business class once a week and taking a Spanish class along with the rest of the students in the house. He takes several shifts a week at the coffee shop and has been working with Heidi (the owner) on setting up an inventory system and on overall better business practices. He's been busy!

I am comfortable getting out on my own even without knowing much of the language. Somehow a few points and smiles can get me what I need though it does take 3 times as long and in a few cases may cost me more money. Like the other day, I went to a flea market in Juarez and I saw a dress I liked and so I held it up and asked "cuantos?" (how much?). The teenager working looked at it and said "sesenta" ($60 pesos) but I thought she said "Cien" ($100). So I, being really excited to use my negotiating skills, said "ochenta?" (80). She looked at me like I was CRAZY! After about 2 minutes of her repeating "sesenta", I handed her $100. I got back $30. So in the end a $60 dress cost me $70, or about $5.60. I am thrilled with the dress but realize maybe I DO need to put forth a little effort in this language.



Earlier in the week we visited a really cool ranch-turned-restaurant with a little chapel on the hill. It turned out to be closed for a holiday but it was beautiful to wander.

The Kids Club

Yesterday was the first kid's club that the group was able to participate in. Every Wednesday we will be helping to run an afternoon program in a nearby neighborhood. We'll do a craft, story time, games, worship and a snack. These kids are so cute and we are really looking forward to being more involved in their lives!

Some of the students are finding other ministries to be involved in. Two of the girls left this morning to join a local church in their weekly trip to the dump where they bring lunch to the people who live there. We have plans as a house to go there at least monthly and bring hotdogs and a grill.










This week we opened the coffee shop near "playa Bruja" (Witch beach). It has been a truly hectic couple of days for the owner, Heidi as Tom (her husband) had to travel back home to California for about 6 weeks to finish up a large masonry project he has there. She has been doing a wonderful job of multitasking her girls who are in school here, working full time at the shop and being involved in the house as much as she can. Please pray the Lord brings customers! It is always a balance for Tom & Heidi figuring out when to open in the season and it takes a couple of weeks for people to know we are open. The snowbirds trickle down here around late October and November and so hopefully we will soon be super busy!

0-60

Things are well under way here. This past week has been a whirlwind of activity. The Lonsdales arrived last week with their young daughters, Brisa and Mia. Heidi flew in on Tuesday and Tom drove and got here on Thursday night with a truck load of supplies for the shop and some of our personal belongings that we had left in California when we were there in September. It turned out to be just in time because Justin and Lisa's baby was born Friday morning!

Lisa had been really sick on Thursday and they decided to take her to the hospital late Thursday night. It was a good decision because it turns out that she had toxemia and they needed to do an emergency c-section Friday morning. Mama and baby Elsie Wren are doing great and should be coming home today. Lisa's mom flew in on Saturday to meet her new granddaughter and help out the new parents. I know Lisa and Justin are thrilled to have her here!

This week starts the program for the students. They will be arriving Monday and Tuesday and Wednesday we have a full day of orientation planned. Thursday we are taking the students for a trip to a remote beach village to stay and really get to know each other. And next week, the shop is opening so training for the that is happening Monday.

It has been really wonderful to spend time with Heidi and Tom and get to know them better. Over the weekend they took us to Stone Island to hang out on the beach. We took a ferry over and really enjoyed the afternoon there.















I am really looking forward to meeting the students this week and spending time with them on the retreat this weekend. Pray for their safety in travels and that we will have a unified group who are really eager to learn and grow. We are looking forward to seeing what the Lord does in the months to follow in our lives and in theirs!

mexican driver's ed

After two weeks of living here I wonder how long it will take me to master the roads. The driving here is confusing to me for a bunch of reasons.

1. Rules seem to be more of a suggestion.
2. The roads are not named. Or if they are, it's not posted anywhere.
3. There are only stop signs on main roads. If you are in a neighborhood, it's each man for himself.
4. Right now, everything looks the same to me. I see signs, but as they're not in my native tongue, I can't associate them with anything.
5. Roads are mostly 2 lanes but if a third guy wants to join in, he can.
6. The only way I know the road we live on, is that I turn left after the speed bump with the car-width sized hole in it.
7. There is one intersections with like 5 roads joining together that could really use a stop sign, traffic light or a man standing in the middle guiding us all. But really, it's the most aggressive driver who gets where he wants to go.
8. I could be turning left to cross traffic and someone will jump ahead of me and dart through as if I weren't even there.
9. Oh and watch out for man holes, they may or may not be covered up.

However...I like not using my turning signal. And thinking of "stop" signs as "yields". I am going to get back to the states and be aggravated at all the law abiding citizens who don't realize how much quicker they could get to their destination if they would just take a Mexican driver's ed class.

surprise ending

Not watching TV has given me more time to read which is one of the things I have told myself I didn't have time for because of having a baby to care for. Turns out, there IS time, I just must have been using it for unproductive things.

A trilogy called Mark of the Lion was recommended to me by Lisa and I picked the first book up several days ago. I couldn't put it down, it was that good! I was determined to finish it last night as I laid in bed. It was around 11:00 and Steve was watching a movie in another room. Finally, 500 pages later and emotionally spent, I was finished! I put the book down for just a second and then wondering when it was published, I picked it back up to flip to the front page. Then there on the front page were two black eyes, four legs and a tail staring at me! A gecko was hanging on the inside flap of my book! I yelped and threw the book across the room!

How long had he been there?! The whole time I was reading? It was like an HOUR! Was he waiting til I put the book down to jump in? He was IN MY BED! I mean, since we've been here, I have seen a dozen of them crawling outside AND inside. But I thought they'd try to avoid me.

I looked at the book which was now sprawled on the floor, pages bent. I held my breath and eased open the cover. He was still there...but he looked flattened! I was horrified! I killed the gecko! I choked back tears and ran to get Steve. He was kind enough to hold me and calm me down. He left his movie to come deal with the situation.

Turns out, Gecko was just stunned. Steve let him go.

I'm just happy I am not the reason the third largest insurance company is without it's spokesperson.

a day at the beach and a little spill

We woke up this morning unsure if this would be the day we would be able contact family and friends without having to go to a nearby coffee shop for internet access. If there is one thing we have learned so far, it's patience. Our internet/phone lines have worked for 1 out of the 10 days we have been here. I have been itching to talk to the outside world but things move slower here and we rely almost entirely on Lisa to do the translating and figuring-out-of-things. So when we couldn't get the internet working, it was on her shoulders to take care of it. She did all she could through the phone but had to make several trips to the company to have them finally get out here to get us a new box. The box worked. YEAH! And now we are all happily skyping and typing away on our keyboards to friends, family members and significant others who have been wondering what has happened to us.

We are in the tail end of the rainy season and have been having rain showers off and on for the last few days. Today we woke up and it was sunny and so we took our first trip to the beach.







Breckyn loves the water and it is so much fun watching her play in the waves. The water is incredibly warm right now almost to the point where it isn't refreshing but it is nice to be able to walk right in without having to adjust. If only we could send some of that water northeast!

The spill came this afternoon when Justin jumped on his scooter to go to the bank. Lisa got a phone call about 5 minutes after he left. He had been in an accident. Thank the Lord he is ok! A car pulled out in front of him and he had to swerve
to avoid it, dumping the bike which then ended up under the car. Justin ended up with a lot of scrapes and his leg in a temporary cast. The Lord worked out all the details after the crash. Justin and Lisa did not have to pay for anything at the hospital and the scooter was not impounded (as is the norm) which would entail hefty fees to "bail" it out. The police officer just said "It is too far to the lot and I do not want to drive down there". Gotta love it! It could have been so much worse, so we are really grateful!

Thanks for all your prayers and now that we have a (hopefully) constant internet connection, you'll here from us more often.

We have arrived!

On Monday us girls made the flight from Los Angeles to Mazatlan. It was as easy as I could have hoped for. Benadryl has become my new best friend. We stepped off the plane onto the tarmac and a wave of heat and humidity hit that took my breath away. Elisabeth smiled at me and said, “welcome home”.

The original plan was for the guys to drive in the day before and set things up for us, get some groceries and pick us up from the airport. As they were driving my car through the border on Sunday morning there was a small hitch that delayed their trip. The car is in my name and I wasn’t there. When you drive into Mexico you have to register your car. If that doesn’t happen and you reach a checkpoint bad things can happen. So my parents had to be called to help out. They had to wait to Monday to get to the safety deposit box and get our marriage certificate and then fax it to the motel. The guys finally crossed the border around 6 a.m. and made it to Mazatlan by 7:00 p.m. It was a long day for them.

So we had a really nice guy named Chris who is with the YWAM in Mazatlan waiting at the airport for us. He loaded all our bags in a friend’s car and drove us to our new home! We through our bags down and headed out first to the coffee shop to use their phones and jump on the internet and then to the grocery store for immediate supplies.

The plan for the next couple of days is to settle in, get the phone lines and internet set up (it seems to take a while ‘round here), and learn how the house runs. There are filtration systems, pool cleaning guidelines, and general cleaning practices like scraping gecko poo off the walls to get used to.

It is so good to be here finally! It has taken 7 or 8 months of planning and thinking about being here and we are so excited to jump in and get going.