December 2011

Yes Amanda had the privilege of holding one of the baby tigers as well. He looks like he's giving her a hug here.  

The other day in service I finally joined most all other vehicles here in Mexico. I backed into a tree that I didn't see while trying to parallel park. I picked up all the plastic pieces to my light and super glued them back together and if you look close enough you can see the fine job I did.....all those years of putting jigsaw puzzles together finally paid off!

 One of our field service groups minus the sister taking the picture. 

I was assigned to work one side of a block and the sidewalk ended in a dry creek bed and then you have to climb this makeshift ladder to get to the other side which I did without falling off. 

This is my first Bible student here in PV, Amadeus. He's had a hard life and currently lives in a very small one room apartment with nothing but a tent in the room. He lived in the States for a few years and learned his english there. You can't really see it in this picture but he is sitting on a thin brick wall and I am on a 5 gallon plastic bucket. Most of the people here have little in a material way but as you can see he has a smile on his face and he appreciates very much learning what the bible really teaches. 

Stephano this ones for you. 

Chaz and Amanda striking a pose after our field service meeting. 

?????.....a miniature convertible VW beetle?

 This is one of Chris' bible students. He is only 16 but as is the case with many of the young ones he sees the need to learn about Jehovah. Many of the younger ones here have lived in the States but their parents were deported back to Mexico so they find themselves back here and able to speak English well. 

Amanda bought a nice flower and planted it in front of her place and the other day she noticed that the cutter ants were beginning to feast on the leaves. By the end of the day the whole plant was GONE!

 Crazy Todd and Jared at the card party. 

Last sunday the Rempels invited quite a few of us from the congregation over and we were introduced to a new card game played with large groups tournament style. It is called Court Whist, very fun!

Show off!

 Every wonder what a giraffe looks like from up above? 

Natasja couldn't resist this little guy either.

I can't remember what this little guy (the animal that is, not our friend Chris) was but as soon as Chris approached his cage he came up and stuck his head out begging for some attention. Found out that it's a  Kinkajou.

 Chastity feeding another one of her favorite animals....the flamingo. The picture doesn't do them justice. Their pink was SO brilliant and you just can't see it in the pictures.

The zoo here is very much a 'hands on' experience. 

Chastity's dream has come true. At the zoo here in PV, for an extra $7 you can play with the baby tigers. This one was only a few weeks old. 

The Spaks had a few of us over for an amazing dinner and then we played games afterwards. 

The other day in service Chastity found a little friend. 

The beautiful mountains that surround Puerto Vallarta. We are hoping to go on a hike soon and explore them a little more. 

This is my friend Todd having a bible study with Saul. Saul is in his early 20's and is making wonderful progress in his bible study and is now attending all the meetings, commenting and even willingly jumps in afterwards to help clean the hall. 

This papaya tree is in our backyard and we picked out first papaya from it the other day and it was AMAZING!

We stopped in service for a coffee break and got to talking to one of the customers there that spoke really good english. He was there with his grandfather who was 98 years old and still VERY healthy and strong. So strong that he challenged me to an arm wrestling match........come on, I let him win. SIDE NOTE: Chastity and I couldn't believe how much he resembled her grandfather!

So we gave our hammock to Amanda since there is nowhere to hang it at our place. We came by the other day and she was so proud that she had already hung it up. However, I couldn't help but notice that she had tied one side to a NAIL in the wall. I told her that she was crazy and that there was NO WAY it would hold up under the weight of someone laying in it. She said she had been laying in it all day and that it was fine, in fact she invited me to try it out.......I did and here I am about 2 seconds afterwards! 

This street makes me feel like I'm in San Francisco. My van made it up with 6 people but it wasn't happy. I don't think I will try it with 7.

Here is Amanda the first week in service talking to a man who accepted a Bible study. Ken is now studying with him. 

December 20th - Yes we are still alive and well. We've been extremely busy the last couple of weeks. We moved into our new place and there was more work than imagined to get it ready. Lots of cleaning and Chastity has been busy recovering the couches and dining room chairs. The former tenants had two dogs and there was evidence around that proved it. The congregation is doing great though we are missing several who are away back in the States or Canada. The ministry has been wonderful with lots of interest. We had forgotten how much the people here value the Bible and want to learn what it teaches. Today Amanda took me on a return visit with a man who showed interest in the magazines on natural disasters and asked her to come back because he had lots of questions about the Bible. We showed him the Bible Teach book and how he could learn what the bible teaches on many different subjects. We set up a time this coming Thursday to have our first bible study. 

We still are waiting on our internet to be hooked up at the house and hopefully within the week we will have it. Until then, the blog posts will be short and infrequent. Sorry. Below are a few pictures of the past couple of weeks. Adios!

This guy walked up to the truck in front of us at the traffic light and began playing his little flute hoping for a tip.....he didn't get one.

 Fortunately, they didn't buy into the whole "cash for clunkers" program here.

Our first walk on the beach. You can see downtown Puerto Vallarta and the mountains off in the distance.

This was our first meeting back here in the Norte Ingles congregation. We had 55 in attendance! There are many bible students now attending the meetings as well as a couple of Spanish families that have moved over to help out the English congregation.

Our landlord agreed to lower our rent if we used the furniture that was already in the apartment. We agreed knowing that it would be a project to get it in usable shape. So here's our first day in our apartment and Chastity is working hard stripping the furniture of the old nasty upholstery. There were ticks crawling out of the fabric as we tore it off!

 Before................................

 and after!

I don't know if I just couldn't hear him or it was the language he was speaking.

 Amanda has found her a man in Puerto Vallarta.

 And this one is for my sister and brother-in-law.

Today we worked with the Skolroods. A really nice couple from Washington who moved here permanently just before we left in April. He actually decided that this was the truth a few years back after vacationing here in Puerto Vallarta with his wife who was a witness. After attending the meetings with her and seeing the love and warmth of the brothers and sisters who didn't even know his wife nor spoke her language. He said he knew there was something to this and decided to begin studying the bible with Jehovah's Witnesses. This is his first year serving as a pioneer and he's loving every minute of it. 

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Yesterday we went out in service and to our surprise we found an apartment that is in a very safe area. The landlord is getting it ready for move-in by next Wednesday. Finally we can get back being on a schedule and back to a routine. 

 The girls weren't too happy with me for stopping and photographing this guy trying to move this massive snake off the road. They were sure he was going to fling it into the van.

 I call this picture, "eating crow".....no,no, wait "Lance about to be eaten by crow"

 Amanda happy as a crow....I mean lark, after dipping her feet into the ocean for the first time on our trip.

Wednesday in service, we stopped by the Rempels bible study and they brought out their puppies to show the girls. It's a xoloitzcuintle or mexican hairless dog.

 This picture is for Blake and Brandie.........can you imagine taking care of 5 Bones!?

Monday Dec. 5th - Left Lagos De Moreno at around 8am and arrived in Puerto Vallarta at 6pm. Again, everything went really good with no problems along the way. Our friends, Ken and Tammy, have generously offered us one of their condo rentals to stay in free for the first week we are here. They and the Johnson's came over tonight to welcome us back. Tomorrow we'll get busy looking for a place to live. Night!

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Sunday Dec. 4th - Had a shorter day today, only about 5 hours of driving. Somewhat of an uneventful day. About an hour into our drive the "D" light for "drive" began flashing on the van. I had Chas quickly look up in the owners manual to see what it meant and apparently it means somethings wrong with the transmission. I stopped the van and checked the transmission fluid level and it was fine. When I restarted the van the light went off and never came on again.....maybe it's fine or maybe I'll have to replace the transmission, hey, as long as it gets us to PV tomorrow I'll be happy....at least until I have to pay for a new transmission. Staying in downtown Lagos De Moreno tonight. We had our first authentic Mexican pastur (grilled pork) taco. It was better than I remembered. Chastity even ate one too, even when she still is having issues eating any meat. Not sure what holiday they are celebrating here but the town is crazy loud with parades, fireworks, and loud live music a block away.....glad we brought the earplugs!

Sat. Dec. 3rd - We crossed the border at 8am and drove right through with no mishaps. Everything went really smooth at immigrations and though we went through about 5 military checkpoints, not once did they ask us  to pull over for a search. Couldn't have been easier! We made it to Matehuala at 4pm, found a nice hotel downtown that I had found online and after unpacking we had dinner. Went for a walk around town and now off to bed. Tomorrow will be a shorter day of driving, only about 6hrs. Yeah!

Fri. Dec. 2nd - Well it's Friday (actually early Saturday) and after driving all day from Clarksville we made it to Laredo Texas. Flat, ugly and lots of oil wells! We decided to try the Laredo crossing instead of the Columbia crossing. Found a Marriott about a mile from the crossing. We'll cross at around 8am and then drive to Matehuala for our first stop. Pictures are coming.......night!

November 2011

 They say that everything is bigger in Texas, but apparently that's not always true. This McDonalds was in Ohio.

 This Taco Cabana is where Chastity and I met for the first time 18 years ago. 

 Only 3000 miles to go.

 I don't know what this picture has to do with our trip to Mexico....but isn't that little kid with his thumb up REALLY cute!?

And this is why the Taylor house was a favorite by all the neighborhood kids. Better known as "The Bullet", my brother Blake built this contraption and how it got the 'ok' from my parents is still a mystery. 

Nov. 20th - This morning the girls went down to the continental breakfast to grab some coffee and on their way back to the room they see a family with kids all dressed up and Chastity says, "Are you guys witnesses?" After the husband replies "yes!", she said "I could tell, when do you see kids dressed up on a Saturday", funny because this was Sunday. Anyhow, Chastity tells them that we are traveling to Mexico and the brother says, "I'm from Mexico!". Explaining that we were going there to serve in the growing English field, the brother says that he moved to the States to help out where there was a greater need in the Spanish field! Funny huh! They were here in West Memphis for their circuit assembly. 

After the meeting we headed out for Dallas. About 15 minutes into Texas we hit one of the worst rain storms I've ever been in. We had to slow down to a crawl it was coming down so hard. Lightning was hitting all around us and finally after about 30 minutes it cleared up. We survived! 

We got to Dallas at around 9pm, visited with my brother and sister-in-law for a few hours and then crashed! Wednesday we all leave for Clarksville to visit the rest of my family. 

Nov. 19th - Covered over 700 miles today. We made it to West Memphis, AR. Much warmer weather and the grass is actually still alive and green down here! Tomorrow we visit the Marion congregation about 15 minutes from our hotel and then we drive the last leg of our trip to my brothers in Dallas, TX. I will post more pictures soon. Tired and going to bed. 

Nov 18th - Left Vergennes at 9:30am and made it down to Cleveland, OH. 551 miles! We saw a little snow in NY but other than that we had good weather. The Odyssey seems to be handling the weight pretty well. Tomorrow is a longer day, 12 hours of driving! Goodnight.