Since we have 4 congregations meeting in our little Kingdom Hall, the English congregation is going to have their Memorial at this museum (see above)

The director of the museum is a Bible study of one of our elders and he made the arrangements for us to use the museum for free. It is right on the Jardin (town square) in center of the city and next to the principal cathedral. This should be interesting.

Yes, we're still alive and well in Mexico

Here is one of Tom's new buddies: Byron Smith (on left) who is from the far north of British Columbia. The other brother is a visitor from Iowa named Arch Sheeter. As you can see, our weather in February was sunny and warm.

We've had a busy February, including the visit from our CO and his wife, Sean and Kris Verbeek. See below. They are from Seattle/Portland respectively.

The February edition of our congregation newsletter is hot off the presses. I changed the access so I think all you have to do is click the link to read the document. https://acrobat.com/#d=zztq7yZnC3vmFl1R0Vv*xQ

Tom and Corban were put on a bus here in Dolores heading to Houston last night (at a cost of $69 per ticket). At long last, we have our FM-3s, our new house has utilities and internet, and as soon as Tom gets back with our trailer of funiture, we are moving in! Pictures to follow in my next installment.

DH English Cong. January, 2010 Newsletter

Click on this link to read the exciting news from our congregation.

https://acrobat.com/#d=VJ9lvOQWTK-nVNyPvCPUhw

Hogar dulce Hogar (Home Sweet Home)

Ba Back patio, kitchen, bath and Corban's room

Master BR and Deb's office

Dining room and Tom's office

Living Room and Corban's office

Enter house through garage

The dark brown stucco is the front of our house.

Now you can at least picture how we live. It's very small but comfortable. Rent is $1500 peso (about $118) per month; utilities with internet, phone run about $100 per month. We can live quite well on $800 per month.

New friends and adventures

On 1/13 we had a knock on our door and there were two Americans standing there looking for witnesses/Kingdom Hall/meetings. Meet Greg and Liz Perkins from Chicago (pics above with us in our garage). They pioneered in Guatamala for 10 years and have been to Sierra Leone, Chile, Dominican Republic on international construction work. We hit it off immediately. They met someone on the street who gave them our address (thinking Bill and Gayle still lived here). Tom wasn't home, but I invited them in and asked them to stay for dinner-our first official guests. They left us the next day but came back on 1/22 (because we are so irresistable maybe?) and stayed with us until we took them to the airport on Sunday.

Off to San Miguel (1 hr. south of us) on 1/19 to apply for FM-3s with the Evans. Had a great lunch at Hecho in Mexico. Should have FM-3s the end of February, at which point Tom can head off to Brownsville to get our trailer of furniture, etc. We won't feel officially moved in until we have our stuff.

Tom and Corban talked with a pizza delivery guy who spoke English and they offered him a Bible study, which he accepted. First study was Thursday and it was like a demo at an assembly. He wanted to know how long he had to study before he could go to the Kingdom Hall.

Went to Leon/Guanajuato (2 hrs. west) on 1/22 to go leather shopping, Home Depot and Costco (believe it or not). Stocked up on groceries we can't get in Dolores.

Adjustments and Blessings

Well, we only slept for two week, mainly because the friends here are keeping us busy. We've all given talks in the School and Corban/Tom did a demo for service meeting. Our little congregation of 30 publishers is quite active considering there are only 5 people under 50! We have 16 regular pioneers and conduct over 50 Bible studies as a congregation. Here's some pics of our Kingdom Hall. We have friends from Florida, Arizona, Canada, Alabama, California, Texas, Oklahoma, Iowa, Washington, and Arkansas in our Hall. I'll introduce you to them in future posts.

In the beginning . . .

The move from Tulsa to Dolores Hidalgo, Mexico, has been in the planning stages for several years, but officially began on December 24, 2009, in the middle of a great snowstorm. I was sick with a cold so Tom and Levi Moore packed up our van and sent Phyllis (as driver) and I on our way to Houston. We stayed just ahead of the storm and made it to Micah's house safely. Enid and the twins also drove there the same day. Tom and Corban, however, did not make it out before the storm, so they did not show up in Houston until Sunday morning (12/27). We got the trailer packed up with our stuff from Micah's garage and left Houston on Tues. (12/29). Five hours to the border from Houston was uneventful, but then things got interesting/stressful/aggravating (etc. etc.). We tried to cross 3 times at different border locations (twice on 12/29 and once on 12/30) and each time, hit a different brick wall at each location. We miserably failed "Border Crossing 101" and had to leave our trailer in storage at Brownsville, TX. Micah and Tova then took the truck and headed back to Houston (via South Padre Island (not a total waste of vacation time)) and Tom, Corban and I got in the van and headed for the border again. We hit more problems with car titles, etc., but finally got across around 9:30 pm on 12/30. All we had with us was what was in the van. We got to Dolores Hidalgo around 9:30 pm on 12/31 (after spending a night at a great hotel somewhere between Brownsville and Cuidad Victoria). We ended up moving into Bill & Gayle Evans' casita (see pics), which was furnished with their stuff (they had just moved out into a furnished house and left the basics for us). So, we have a 2 bedroom, 1 bath house that has become home for now. We are getting our paperwork done here to get our FM-3 Visas, which should enable us to get the trailer across the border. Tom will go back to Brownsville when paperwork is done and get our stuff. We're not sure if we will move into a bigger place right now or just stay here (rent is $115/mo and utilities/phone/internet are another $100) so living is cheap. We may sleep for the next month, but more adventures will be posted in due coarse.