Good evening - Buenos noches.

As we have now traveled 6,200+ miles, it is time to talk about the roads traveled, thus far. Interstates through the US have some wonderful features a) they are in great condition, virtually through-out; b) you can make great time - the most amazing speed limit was through West Texas - posted speed limit is 80 mph. Herb said it was like Christmas morning, there is very little traffic (more goats than vehicles), but you can go "like the bear"

We passed through a mountain pass from North Caroline to South Carolina, where it just opened to a huge plain, leading down to the east coast - a beautiful vista. We traveled along the coastline, at elevations of 0 or less. Back up the west side of Florida, after which we headed west, along the Gulf Coast. Somewhere along Mississippi, Alabama and Louisiana, we were on a 15 mile bridge, that was only about 10 feet above the water, but the entire length was a 'gator-infested swamp - happy to see solid ground after that. Got caught in a 1 hr + traffic jam in east Texas, as there were 2 accidents within 5 miles. The most amusing part was watching the effects of other vehicles/drivers who had attempted to cross the median to get out of the jam, only to get stuck in the mud. Got all the way to Houston, from just east of Tallahassee, in one day! West Texas means "GO" and "FAST". Arrived in El Paso within 2 minutes of the team from Grace Church - whom do you know who could arrange that?

Now, comes Mexico. OK, change to bad, horrible, or unbelievable conditions. The toll roads are better than some of Manitoba's roads, but not by much, and those were Mexico's best. The mountain roads are simply in the condition that the weather has left them in, with possibly a few of the big rocks moved aside. In the village where we stayed, all of the driveways had been washed away in the summer rains, and so some of the access was pretty steep. The toll roads are the way to go, when trying to travel any distance, but they are expensive. Approx $80 US to get from Cuahtemoc to Queretaro. In the busier urban areas (here in the southerly portion of Mexico, the roads aren't so bad, as the population is much greater) the challenge is the signage. While we did not catch all the turn-offs we needed on the first try, we managed to find our way here, on our own. Praise be. Tomorrow, we will buy a map of Queretaro.

The work experience at Hans & Irene's was a huge challenge and an even greater blessing. The team of 8 men came from Winkler, and joined by Herb and Rey, they cemented all the interior walls with cinder-blocks and mortar. This was not familiar to any of them, but they worked together wonderfully, and Hans guided them through the process. Irene, Greta (a friend from one of the villages) and I cooked food for 19, for lunch, supper and 2 coffee breaks a day, for 6 days. That means you pretty much have to wash dishes every hour, whether you want to or not. The food prep was a little foreign, and the kitchen facilities are meagre - however everyone seemed to enjoy the food immensely. The men got along wonderfully, and made new friends, all around. Mr. Peters, at 92, was the eldest member of the team, and inspired all. However, he caught a bad cold, and couldn't seem to get warm enough, by the end of the week. We all prayed he would recover on the way home, and he assured us he wouldn't have missed this for anything. Hans & Irene were so appreciative of the whole week, the work, the friendship time and the children getting to spend time together, and our prayer time together Friday evening, was very meaningful. As a friend from Virginia stated, "when the Holy Spirit moves, you need tissue".

We left Hans and Irene's on Monday morning and began our journey to Queretaro. Mexico doesn't look that big on the map but it takes a long time to go from Steinreich (where we stayed while working at Hans and Irene's) to Queretaro (ca. 900 miles). There are large portions of central Mexico that are not very populated (sort of like driving through Saskatchewan with mountains, cactus and less grain). Like Saskatchewan it's a portion of the country that could do with some editing.

We arrived and lugged our stuff upstairs into our rooms. Joan and I get our own room (Hurray!). We went for supper with the orphanage kids this evening. The portions seemed a little small when I first saw them on the table but after I had begun to eat it seemed like it wasn't any too big after all. I'm sure the food is very good; the children all look very healthy but it's not kjielke and farmer sausage. We will need to get used to the food and the language barrier. It will be too easy to spend time with our English speaking housemates (Eileen, Matthias and David) rather than trying to learn some Spanish and spending time with the Pan de Vida kids. The boys received their first soccer lesson this evening when they played with the boys. We were also told that football starts on Saturday so both boys are eager to see if they can play.

It does all seem a little overwhelming at first, as it did when we first arrived in Orlando and in Campo 61½. In both of those places we soon learned to adapt and enjoyed our time there immensely. I am trusting the same will happen here.

That's all for now. We will add more in a day or two once we get settled in and have experienced some of life here at Pan de Vida.

In our experience of the holidayish things to do in central Florida the best park by far was Busch Gardens, because they had the most roller coasters and the Franz Ride Crew approves of their roller coasters, especially the Sheikra. The only problem with Busch was the heat. It was well into the 90's with high humidity. Thank goodness for water rides!! The most underwhelming park was Universal Studios.

We left Bush Gardens and traveled for several hours to Madison, FL where we spent Thursday night.

On Friday we traveled west through Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana and into Texas. We saw some of the remainders of the hurricane damage as we traveled north of New Orleans. We saw signs for Pass Christian and Bayou La Batre where Grace Church people have served over the past year. It was neat to follow where some of our people have gone to serve in the name of Christ.

We traveled across Texas yesterday evening and today - Saturday - (there are 880 miles on I-10 in Texas). It's a really big state. The best part about West Texas is that about an hour west of San Antonio the speed limit jumps to 80 mph (it was like Christmas morning for me). I quite like traveling at 85-90 mph! Joan advised me not to go over 90. If the pastoring thing washes out I might try to become a race car driver.

We are in El Paso, TX tonight. We decided to meet the team from Grace here rather than go through the mountain passes on two lane roads and attempt to cross the border by ourselves and find our way to Hans and Irene's without a good Mexican atlas. It's probably an extra 100 miles but it seems like it was a good decision. We arrived at the agreed upon hotel and within 2 minutes the team from Winkler pulled up and we met them here. It's been great to get caught up with them and to see someone whom we know. Hans and his two youngest boys (Karl and Kevin) are also here. It's been wonderful to see Hannah and Jeff get caught up with friends whom they haven't seen for some time.

Tomorrow the plan is to cross the border and travel together with Hans and the Grace team to Campo 61 1/2 and do some sightseeing in the afternoon and evening. As far as I can tell on Monday morning we get to start work. I'm looking forward to that.

There is within me both excitement and nervousness as this next part of our adventure begins. As we drove into El Paso tonight we could see across the border into Mexico and I felt those mixed emotions. We have never self-navigated in Mexico and we're not sure how that will go. We have never chosen a restaurant to eat in by ourselves in Mexico and I know all too well how sick I or any one of us can get if we choose badly. We know almost no Spanish except to ask where the bathroom is. That's important information to be able to get but it's not much of a conversation. So there is still much that we're not sure about but we are looking forward to it.

We wish all of you who will read this God's richest blessings. We have enjoyed our time to date immensely but we also realize that the holidays are over now and that the other part of our sabbatical now begins. I'm glad it's here but I'm not sure how it will turn out. God Bless you all!!

Hello all. I'm sorry that we have not been able to update this in the last while. It might seem like we're not wanting to keep in touch but the fact of the matter is that we've been travelling or touring a lot in the last few days. I'll fill you in on a little bit of what we've been doing and perhaps you'll feel more inclined to forgive us our lack of updating.
On Tuesday of last week we travelled in a delightfully boring fashion - by that I mean that there were no mechanical or other problems with the vehicle or its occupants - and we made it as far as Wheeling, West Virginia. Unfortunately we arrived too late to be able to check out the biggest Cabela's I can remember ever seeing.
On Wednesday we travelled from Wheeling to Harrisonburg, VA and reconnected with our friends from our last sabbatical, the Hiett family. It was nice to be able to go out with just the adults for Klines frozen custard and to be able to see the remarkable changes technology has brought to Richard's business - video production.
Thursday was spent in Harrisonburg at the Hiett's and shopping and just generally being bums.
On Friday we left Harrisonburg by 8 AM and aimed the truck in the direction of Florida. After many hours of rolling hills it was nice to get onto the coastal plain of South Carolina and drive on level land again. It sort of reminded us of southern Manitoba with pine trees and palm trees. We decided that instead of rushing all the way to Orlando in one day - over 800 miles - we would travel as far as Daytona Beach and stay at a hotel on the ocean. We were able to get a reasonably priced hotel on the beach in Daytona Beach and on Friday night we walked on the beach and even let the waves lap against our feet a bit. Friday morning there had been frost on the grass in Harrisonburg and here we were a matter of hours later walking in shorts on the beach with the waves of the Atlantic lapping at our feet. It was simply delightful.
On Saturday we played on the beach a little more. It seems that overnight a strong Northeast breeze blew up and the surf was much rougher than it was on Friday night. We pretended to body surf, as if people from Manitoba would have any clue how to body surf, and we even drove the Suburban on the beach, roof top carrier and all.
Later on Saturday we left Daytona and travelled as far as Titusville, FL which is home to the Kennedy Space Center. We saw many fascinating and historically interesting things having to do with the Space Program.
From Cape Canaveral we continued on to Orlando/Kissimmee, FL. Since it was fairly late when we arrived we ended up settling for a rather unpleasant hotel room at the Old Town Suites. It was spacious but not clean, nor was it without it's six-legged friends. On Sunday we sought and found more pleasant accommodations.
Also, on Sunday we travelled to the Magic Kingdom where we and thousands of others jostled our way through the park from 10 AM till 10 PM. The rides were fine for Herb, Rey, Hannah and Jeff while Joan was occupied holding the backpack and making sure various benches did not move from their appointed place - she doesn't do rides. The 8 PM parade was magnificent and the fireworks at the end of the evening were absolutely spectacular.
By Sunday night we were quite pooped and on Monday at Sea World we were a more mellow bunch. The ride crew - Herb, Rey, Hannah and Jeff - enjoyed the Journey to Atlantis and Kraken a log flume ride and an amazing floorless roller coaster ride. All of us really enjoyed the dolphin and whale show, the sea lion and sea otter show and the Killer Whale show. I didn't realize that Sea World was owned and operated by Anheisser Busch and I have never seen so many beer logos in so many places - including on the plumbing fixtures. We left the park at 7:30 PM having enjoyed another full day.
Today, we returned to Disney to take in the Animal Kingdom. It was absolutely amazing. The ride crew once again enjoyed the rides - Everest roller coaster was the favorite. The actual park setting was a horticulturist's dream. The construction of the facilities matched wonderfully the locations that were being depicted. The safari was fascinating and the animals were wonderful to see in their pseudo-natural setting. We ended the day with a typical Disney over the top Lion King production. Since the park closed at 5 PM we were able to eat supper at a proper hour and Joan and I spent the evening on a "date" doing laundry in a local coin operated laundromat.

Ready or not, our sabbatical has begun! Herb & I headed for Minneapolis on Fri., Sept. 29th, and attended services on Sat. and Sun. at Wooddale Church (Leith Anderson) and Grace Church (Daniel Henderson). Both services were excellent to observe and participate in. We arrived in Delafield, WI Sunday evening, to begin our Pastoral Retreat. The facilities were beautiful - a century old house, renovated to a capacity for 6 pastor couples, with large living, dining and community spaces, as well as private rooms with bath. Located on the shore of a small lake, with boat, canoe or kayak, and various recreational resources. The most wonderful resources, however, are the reading and devotional materials in the rooms, and the library, and the caring, supportive resource couple, Andy & Nancy Hagen. We were refreshed and encouraged by all of the pastor couples in attendance, in our devotional times, as well as through wonderful conversations around the table, or in the evening.

We headed home on Friday, and flew into high gear to prepare for my parents' 50th Wedding Anniversary celebration on Saturday. All of my brothers were in the province at the same time (a rare occasion, to be sure) and the whole family had a good time reconnecting, and hosting all of the guests at the celebration. The "Mello Mennos" were a true hit, enjoyed by all.

Sunday evening it was time to pack in earnest, and 5 hours later, after a family conference, we elected to pack everything and go, rather than to attempt to sleep until morning. Thus, we pulled out of Winkler, Manitoba at 1:00 a.m., travelled all the way to Normal / Bloomington, Illinois by 6:00 p.m. Monday. Everyone was weary but proud of the distance we had travelled. Supper, a short swim, and early bedtime is all that's left for today. The best T-shirt I saw today was a green, John Deere shirt which read "Been there - cut that".