the house from the outside
Yes, the Freys are still around and they are doing well. There has been the hum of a silent phone line from this end I am aware, but there has been a whirlwind of activity and many hundreds of miles under the wheels since my last blog. With your indulgence I will bring you up to date with what has been going on in our lives.
On a personal level, Theresa and I have been extremely busy with the move and transition which I spoke about in my last entry. The shift over to the new place has been a much bigger task than either of us realized that it would be, and thankfully
the kitchen we received with the house
we had no idea before we began. Isn’t that the way it goes with most things in life – if we had known, we would have never begun!
However, we are more-or-less completely transitioned as of the middle of this past week. Yesterday we put the final spit and polish on the church apartments and we are officially out of here (except for office space which we have asked to reserve in our old room since we have no internet connection at the new place yet). This means that we still need to come by fairly often to access the computers and to make any phone calls that we need to make on the VoiP phone, but we come as guests, not as residents.
a tiny bit of patching in the living room
It all feels rather odd I must admit. I have spent a lot of years here in these apartments. The stuff that still sits here was almost 100% brought here by me, or at least through my arrangement. I was the one who painted the walls, hung and repaired the ceiling fans, brought all of the cabinets and installed them, bought the beds, etc…you get the picture. Now when we come back and see the bathroom floor dirty and muddy, the waste basket full beside the toilet (in Mexico one does not ever flush used toilet paper and it is collected in a waste basket beside the toilet), and see a layer of dust over the complete kitchen and living room area it seems strange.
Who said that transition was going to be easy!
Theresa and I still have tons of work to do on our new rental house, but it has taken leaps forward since we began, and is already very comfortable. Friends of ours from Listowel Community Church and from Landmark Christian Fellowship, both in Canada, decided to bless us this Christmas and raised money for us to use to buy appliances for the new place. We were surprised and very blessed with their generosity and love. We were able to buy some kitchen cabinets, a new kitchen range, and a used washing machine with the money. We are blessed to be renting the house from a gentleman who fixes refrigeration and washing machines. He is giving us a loan of a refrigerator, so we are quite modern indeed with all of the mod cons (modern conveniences). Throughout this blog are pictures of the before, and mid process look of the place. I was going to put some in as well with ones now where we are a bit more towards the finish line, but my camera does not seem to work any more…hmmm
the kitchen being prepped
Besides moving out of the church apartments, organizing and storing VitW Ministries property into the “bodega” room off of the kitchen in the church apartments, renovating, patching holes in walls, painting, installing cabinets and plumbing, etc., into the new rental place…oh, and let’s not forget moving everything out of the church apartments and also from the Chedraui House where all of the school desks and computers (etc.) were stored, and getting it all into and stashed away in the new rental, it has been a tad busy around here of late for Theresa and I.
kitchen cabinets going in
Just to keep things spicy, we also drove to Florida and back to Mexico in the interim, as well as took the pastor and his family down to a church conference in Villahermosa, Tabasco – a gruelling 18 to 20 hour drive over innumerable “topes” (speed bumps) and bottomless potholes. Not to be outdone, and because of his busy schedule back in Cd. Valles, Pastor Ezequiel decided that the trip both ways would be done straight through. However, Mexican-style, we didn’t leave Cd. Valles until after midnight on the way down. On the trip back we didn’t get off until 6:00 in the evening (there are some things that I will never understand I am sure).
Christmas and New Years went well. Of course it is always different when one’s personal family is thousands of miles away. But it was good, and we felt loved by our friends here.
We are one payment away from having the land completely purchased and in the name of the Mexican non-profit – Obreros Unidos para Cosechar (OUpC). This is as big move forward, and has taken place after many months of work and waiting. As you will recall, we needed to scrap the old non-profit for a variety of reasons and begin a new one in the later part of 2010. We needed to get banking accounts set up in the name of the non-profit and arrange for money
the new stove - complete with ribbon and bow
transfers into the non-profit accounts (which at that point still did not exist until we got finalized approval from the Mexican government). After frustration, phone meetings with Canada, meetings here in Mexico, scratching our heads and praying (or maybe praying and scratching our heads), finally, at long last it looks like it is a done-deal.
There is a distinct miracle involved with the purchase of the land as well – when we tallied up all of the costs involved, we found that we had about $60.00 dollars more than we needed to purchase the property. It is fun to see how God works – bread and meat for the day like Elijah by the brook Jabbok, but never steak to put in the freezer for tomorrow.
On Tuesday we are holding a meeting at our new place to brainstorm and discuss what the next logical step is. Do we continue with sugarcane, or do we try other types of crops or animal production? I have invited a rather eclectic group of people from across the city, and I am excited to see who shows up, as well as where the whole discussion goes. I would appreciate your prayers as we seek God’s direction in beginning the Training Center now. We now need to begin to put one foot in front of the other and move forward – but exactly how, and in what direction!
So, I guess that pretty much sums up the past weeks. There is a big women’s retreat (the “aposentos” which I spoke about in my July 14th blog) going on this weekend, and the women will be returning to the church this evening and sharing what God has done for them. Next weekend there will be one for the men. These are always a huge breakthrough for the church, and many lives are always transformed and restored because of the weekend.
Pastor Fred Erb will arrive at the end of the month for another two week Project L.A.M.B.S. Bible School cycle. What is exciting this time is that he will be only doing part of the teaching and mentoring two L.A.M.B.S. graduates who will do the rest. This training will continue through each cycle over the next couple of years, and in the end the nationals will completely take over the teaching and the running of the L.A.M.B.S. program. Just one more move away from paternalism (as I stressed in my last blog).
By the way, our new house is located at 423 Reforma – hence the reference in the title.
The music is about to begin downstairs in the church and I had better close. Thank you for your love, support and prayers. We need all of the above.
Be blessed,
Steven and Theresa
