What a Week

It has been awhile since we have posted about what's been going on here, so this may be a longer post. Or I may lose my energy so fast that I just end it earlier. Anyway, we have had a tiring week full of different adventures. It began last Friday. We had to go into Chihuahua with Alvira and Dallas and Tara to begin our paperwork for our FM3's, which are our paperwork making us more legal to be doing what we are doing here. As far as we knew we could begin this paperwork, get our in-transit papers, and still be allowed to leave the country if needed. After about 3 1/2 hours of filling out paperwork, going to make photocopies of visas and passports, and going to the bank to pay some fees for our new paperwork, we thankfully found out we had everything we needed to hand in, but also that if we hand it all in, we are NOT allowed to leave the country until we have the FM3's in our hands. That takes about 2-3 months. Normally this would be okay, IF we didn't already have plans to leave Mexico 4 times in the next 2 months for various reasons. The biggest one being going to La Crete, AB in 2 weeks where LeRoy is officiating his brother's wedding. About a year ago you could still ask for permission to leave Mexico while waiting for your FM3's, but it's a new rule now that you cannot. So, now what?

We decided we could not hand in our papers since we had to go to Canada, but we also had heard you are not allowed 2 visas back to back. But thankfully the officer helping us advised us that another new rule says you can have 2 visas back to back. Our tourist visas expired this past Wednesday. So our only option was to change some plans for this week and head to El Paso on Tuesday, drop off our old visas and vehicle permit. We decided to spend the evening and night at the guesthouse to try and make the fast trip a bit more relaxing, and then on Wednesday we re-entered Mexico praying we would not have any problems getting new visas for all 4 of us as well as a new vehicle permit. God was definitely with us as it all went so smoothly with not even one complication.

So that was all Friday, and our quick trip this week. The weekend was busy for us getting ready for Emma's 2nd birthday and having kids' club. And then Monday was a day of work/tourism. A FULL day of driving to check out Copper Canyon (you can see pics of that in our February '10 album). So this week in total we have had 3 very full days of driving, and we are extremely thankful that our girls did absolutely amazing being stuck in their car seats that whole time. Having Dora playing for 3 days straight helped too:)

This morning I had my first Spanish Bible Study with one lady in Vista Hermosa. I decided to go through John with her as she is a very new Believer and felt that she needed the very basics first. She seems very excited to learn more, but in a way is awkward having just one on one. And yet it also has its many advantages, as a trust can be built a lot easier.