As many of you already know we've arrived safe and sound again in Mexico to continue our adventures in serving English here. Every time we return something crazy happens - this time was VERY stressful ... but Jah was with us, as you'll read.
The Wallet Story
We flew from Portland into Guadalajara safely - greeted by our dear friends Bernie and Kathy. We were excited to spend a few days with them before we returned to Manzanillo. The next morning they dropped us off at Costco while they went to their Pioneer meeting. On our way into Costco Dane realized his wallet was missing, it was on his lap in the car and had fallen on the ground when we got out. It only took about 5 minutes for Dane to realize it was gone but by then it was already gone from where we were dropped off. Normally it would just be a hassle to lose our wallets but since we had just been travelling Dane had both of our Residency Cards in his wallet to show customs and for the flights. They are ridiculously expensive to replace them here. They don't replace them for a fee - you have to pay the full original amount - for us that would be about $800!!! We were SO discouraged. Less than 24 hours back in Mexico and a large portion of a month's living expenses was gone. We were especially discouraged because so much of Dane's work fell through this summer so money was already tight. Because of that we arrived in Manzanillo unsure of how long we would be able to stay. We just prayed and tried to leave both matters in Jehovah's hands and get busy in service.
Luis Alberto told us about a free service in Mexico where you can have an announcement read on the radio if you've lost something. They placed the ad for us and we prayed and waited.
About three weeks passed and we thought it was time to start the process of replacing them. But just then, Dane got a phone call - someone calling in Spanish about his wallet - on his US number - someone only could have gotten that number from his Window Cleaning business card that was in his wallet! Long story short a local Mexican man had found the wallet and intended to turn it in right away - he forgot - and finally called Dane 3 weeks later. One of Ruben Castro's friends in Guadalajara met up with him - then the brother passed the wallet to a sister - the sister visited Manzanillo and gave the wallet to Rob and Lydia in our hall - who then gave it to us! WHAT A RELIEF!! THANK JEHOVAH!!!!!
After what seemed like a miracle we sat down and reworked our budget - a few times. Dane is doing a little bit of Technology Consulting work online while we're here as well. As long as no extra expenses come up we hopefully can stretch our money and stay until April or May. Yay!
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Upon arriving in Manzanillo our dear friends Olga and Janet (Chris' Mom) spent a few hours clearing a swath through the 4 months of grime our house had collected. It was a blessing to have a clean place to sit as we did our yearly "spring" cleaning. Luis Alberto and Betty and kids came over for an afternoon too and were a big help! Still it always takes a number of days of scrubbing mold and dust and ... well there's always a number of unpleasant surprises when we return.
Then of course it's time for a rest.
It's so sweet to see the little ones help clean.
About a week after we got back there was a congregation beach day. It was great to reconnect with our Mexican family - including my sweet Paulina. Olga did a great job studying with her over the summer - she kept coming to meetings regularly on Sundays!
The girls on the left and right are Olga's new studies - Lydia and Nancy - they're really sweet girls having to deal with citizenship technicalities - they're hoping to get back to their home in California in March. We see so many sad and difficult stories of what people have to deal with because humans drew a line in the dirt. But many times we've also seen that create an opportunity for people to study for a while when they wouldn't have had time to in the states.
Of course we see the territory as lost sheep but it's nice when they let us know. In English no less!
Paulina is such a delight to study with. She's even started studying ahead for our studies!
Day in Camotlan
A group of us went to a small town about an hour away to preach for the
day - called "Camotlan". On the left is a newer couple Mike and Laura
Coffey. You might recognize Ben in the middle - Dane helped him drive
down for his move here in May. And Rosie on the right is the newlywed wife of Eric.
The road out to Camotlan had a lot of beautiful sights.
OK - we didn't really think anyone would answer.
Mike and Laura are a blast. Very hospitable and fun. We feel so blessed to have them with us!
As everyone knows by now I often need a bathroom - which when you're in a small pueblo can be a challenge - but sometimes also a fun adventure! That day I was glad I had my camera when I went searching for a spot - first I saw this little guy...
And then this beautiful spot!
Laura has gotten several nice calls and studies since they arrived. The householder is hard to see - on her right in the shadow.
Dane and Ben at a door
We posted about this storm on our Instagram account - if we weren't on our way to meeting we would have stayed home. The water was higher than this picture gives justice at this intersection. We had all 3 Boyce's - Chris, Olga and Janet (Chris' Mom) with us in the car when we had to go through this intersection - we could tell the water was really deep - then as Dane was going through a big truck went by and a wave actually lifted our car a bit and set it down. I was praying the whole time! No major damage - some of the water got in from below somehow and stunk up our car for a while.
A big part of the reason why we were so nervous is because we know things like this are under the water - and as soon as it rains heavily they start getting worse - so we don't really know what's coming up. We couldn't capture it in pictures - there were a lot of holes.... longer and wider than our car and a couple of feet deep!
Since Chris and Olga and Janet were going to be moving closer to the KH soon we finally did a "Progressive Dinner" - Also called a "Walking Dinner". We started at the Boyce's for YUMMY bacon wrapped appetizers
Then walked to our place where we had the main course
Then we all walked to Gama and Dee's for Mexican style cheesecake and Espresso.
This has also been called "Pigs on a Roll" ... Now we know why, we were stuffed.
We went to the Spanish District Convention for our second time. Lots of immersion! We spent the days before and after at a water park with the Munoz family. This iguana hid like this a few feet from us for the afternoon.
Luis Alberto is often our Grill Master
What did you feed the ducks when you were a kid? If you grew up in Mexico it would be tortillas.
We stayed with Oscar and Claudia (Luis Alberto's sister) and their daughter Jesse again. We tell them that staying with them is like being in an all-inclusive resort - they are so hospitable!
It was neat showing the new bible to the locals. They don't have it in Spanish yet. Even the kids were fascinated by it.
After a while Grecko just had to borrow Dane's bible and look up the references in his own.
Paulina attended all three days! Her dad is studying in Spanish and brought them both to the DC.
Dane missed the "Red Bowtie" Memo. Just kidding, these Brothers were the Color-Coordinated Drama Set Crew
And of course there were plenty of babies for me to get my "Baby Fix"
Oscar was so sweet with his niece - who wanted to have the new brochure read to her over and over. What a gift Jehovah has given our little ones!
Mike and Laura have a killer view in Manzanillo, and they've been having people over a lot to enjoy it.
Mike (on the left) and Laura had a few of us over for dinner. That's Ruben Castro on the right. He was recently assigned to our hall from MTS to take the lead in the port witnessing here in Manzanillo. He is actually from Portland but ironically we never hung out until he got down here. He is a blast. We were so psyched when he was assigned here!
A few weeks later Dane had the guys over for some card games, while Laura had the girls at her place. Alba is to the left of me and Rocio to the right.
Alba brought her supplies and made us all fancy!
The Boyce's got a "Minion Party" together for the kids. The adults got involved too and made it a lot of fun
Half way through Chris started wondering what his mom was painting. Janet is hilarious. We may only have her for 6 months but we'll see if plans change.
As wonderful as it was to have our new English bibles delivered to us here in Mexico. We really didn't like that only a few of us in the hall had them. What a joyful day when they arrived for everyone!!!
I can't believe it took me so long to get this first post up! It's been a hectic few months but we've been having a great time staying busy in the ministry and getting to know some of the newcomers to our congregation.
We'd love a little update on how all of you are doing! Sending Everyone BIG Hugs and hope you are doing well! Love, Em and Dane
