It's been a couple of week now.

Sorry that is has been so long since our last post.  Matachi is a great, little town and we are starting to get to know some the locals.  The last couple of weeks have been busy with cleaning, organizing, teaching, and getting to know each other.  Our one student at the moment, Maykon, is adjusting well.  He is from Honduras.  We recently found out that a friend of his from Honduras has been accepted to the school, so we expect to see him here in about a month or so.

So, just to prove how much fun we have been having, here are a few videos for your viewing pleasure.

First video is of Jevor smashing an apple.  His reaction is the best. Some apples that we bought a couple of weeks earlier from a roadside vendor were going bad so we decided to smash them just for the fun of it.

Next video is a game of Pit.  For those who are not familiar with the game, it is a game where you trade cards around until you are able to collect all of the same item.  It was our first time playing with that many people, and the results could not have been any better.

The final video pretty much speaks for itself, but I will go ahead and provide a bit of info.  There are two brothers from Matachi who are wonderful friends of the school.  Their favorite sport is the rodeo.  They brought their equipment to the school and several of us tried it on.  The rest is history.

In Chihuahua

We have to admit that we were a bit nervous about crossing the border.  It's not that we were smuggling anything illegal, or something like that.  We just did not know what to expect so we were bracing for the worst but hoping for the best.  One thing that we knew that we had on our side was the large number of people praying for us at that moment.  We believe that our "no-hassle" border crossing was largely a result of the number of prayers on our behalf.  For that we are grateful.

The trip to Chihuahua was rather uneventful as well.  We did have to pass through a couple of checkpoints and getting a permit for our vehicle involved a lot of hoop to jump through.  The highlight of the trip was when we were at a military checkpoint and a soldier has us get out of our vehicle so that it can be searched.  He looked into the back seat and was a bit startled at first by the cats.  However, he laughed it off and decided to go ahead and check the vehicle for explosives with some fancy device.  After all, a family traveling from the states with two cats could be a terrorist threat.

Chihuahua is an interesting city.  Driving is a bit insane, but I learned defensive driving in Chicago, so it's no big deal.  That doesn't keep Lora from being white-knuckled though.  Yesterday (Saturday) Kris and I had the opportunity to meet with some pastors and missions representatives here in Chihuahua.  The meetings were very productive.  Yesterday evening we had dinner with a couple of local families who are friend of the school and of Hillside.  Most of the conversation was in Spanish, so we were lost at times, but it was a wonderful experience for us and the kids.

Today we are having breakfast with another couple who are friends of the school, then we began our final trip to Matachi were we will finally be able to settle in.  Also, we were surprised last night by the arrival of our first  student, Maycon.  He is from Honduras.  We are excited about starting this new adventure together.

Here are some pictures:

A Quesadilla Stand on the way to Chihuahua

 Views of the city of Chihuahua