Week #44 Rain and more rain

Last week as part of our additional assignment in the area offices we were asked to participate in a devotional in Pachuca, Hidalgo, at which the Area President, Elder Montoya, presided and spoke. Our task was to provide information and answer questions about serving full-time or service missions for our church. For the two weeks prior to this event, I had some type of stomach flu. The night before our departure was memorable in that the pain, distress and sleeplessness was exceeded only by my experience with kidney stones and the sleepless night I spent "camping" on a flowing stream bed in the rain with the young men of the Cholula Ward while Popocatepetl shook the ground and spewed ashes and pebbles on us.

During the night my stomach ballooned making me look, well, very pregnant. I was exhausted and went to bed hoping to sleep it off but I woke up every hour because of the pain and discomfort. The only relief I could get was to sit up in bed, supporting my self with my elbow on my left side at a 45 degree angle which caused me to belch copious amounts of gas, enough to waddle to the bathroom to vent from my other end to relieve additional pressure. We were supposed to leave for the meeting at 10:30AM so I didn't set an alarm and 'slept' in. I got a call at 10AM from another Elder asking where we were, they had moved up the departure time by 45 minutes. I got up, shaved and got dressed. I wasn't quite so bloated and I was filled with hope for a better day. We were at the meeting point by 10:20AM and on our way to Pachuca. We arrived at the same time as Elder Montoya at the venue. Earlier that morning Wendy had been unsuccessful in finding a replacement for us as the other senior couples had already left for their church services. My hope for a better day was not in vain as we interacted with happy people who were so excited about the prospect of serving missions. The tender mercy and miracle I received was that my stomach was calm and, unlike the 14 hours before, I didn't feel at any time like I was going to explode. 

I very much enjoyed the devotional which included two panels made up of senior missionaries who shared positive highlights of their experiences followed by Elder Montoya. He had served in Pachuca as a young missionary and shared his recent experience of having the daughter of a couple that he had taught and baptized here reach out to him when he was visiting in Salt Lake City to thank him for his service. She told him that the Gospel of Jesus Christ has continued to give meaningful direction and to bless her and her family's lives as second generation of beneficiaries.

I watched the young men in our ward prepare and distribute the emblems of the sacrament (water and bread) on Sunday afternoon at church. It cracks me up that they use a mustard container to fill the individual cups with water. They reminded me of our four son's at this age when they too exercised faith in Jesus Christ, allowing all of us to renew our baptismal covenants each week. They sure would have had fun with a mustard bottle. What would their lives and our lives have been like without the clear counsel and direction the Gospel of Jesus Christ gave us while they were growing up? Could they have become the gentle, kind, honourable men they now are, if we as parents had simply muddled through and depended solely upon our own experience and judgement? Maybe, as many do, but in our case there was definitely divine intervention and I am grateful.  

On July 8, I celebrated my 64th birthday. Like Christmas, my birthday was a day that I dreaded for as long as I can remember and one that I hoped would be over and done with as soon as possible. This year was somehow different, a first in many ways. I actually enjoyed Sister Schlachter and each of our sons' reaching out to wish me a happy day, the cake at work and even the four renditions of Happy Birthday over the course of the day were a delight (Portuguese, Spanish, English and Alex and Liz's dog Petzl's rendition in "dog".) I felt well enough to go to BJJ and roll that night and didn't get smashed into the matts and Sister Schlachter and I enjoyed upscale burgers after. One of our sons sent me flowers and chocolate and that too was a delight. I really wasn't sure how things would go this year. I can't say enough about the miracle EFTT (emotionally focused therapy for trauma) helped generate last summer, a miracle that continues to bless my life. I don't know how much weight I lost during the three weeks that I was sick but I am on the last notch on my belt. A few days ago food became appealing again.  

On our way to Chedraui to get groceries on Saturday we stopped to talk to Agostín. He sweeps a number of streets in our neighbourhood to keep them clean. I asked him about his Harry Potter brooms. He made them himself and was amused at my suggestion that we take them for a spin in the air above Tecamachalco. On a sad note, he said there has been a change in the order of affairs in that his job is being cut. A new city government takes office on October 5. In the past, this has meant that everyone working for the current administration will be replaced by supporters of the incoming administration - perhaps this is what has happened to Agostín. He half joked that he may have to go to jail to be able to have something to eat - I hope that is not the case.  

July 4 was Independence Day for our American friends, a BBQ was organized to celebrate. It was memorable but only because the wind came up and it poured rain on us shortly after we began.  Like when I last used the BBQ, it took quite an effort to get the briquettes to burn. I wonder if the altitude here has anything to do with that. Altitude sickness usually occurs above 1,500 metres, and the effects becoming more severe as you go higher. At 2,240 meters, Mexico City is well above the limit. We resorted to gathering sticks to build a bonfire on top of them which delayed things by about an hour. It was a wet, cold and miserable event. We are the only Canadians serving as senior missionaries, so Canada Day was a quiet one. The sun shone. 

As a stake we prayed for rain and it came within only a few days. The rainy season had been delayed resulting in reservoirs going dry and water having to be trucked in from other areas. I have started carrying an umbrella to help keep me dry from the top and from the side as a shield as cars drive through the streams of water or hit potholes. On the way to the gym on Thursday the water was spewing out of the manholes and the only way to cross most of the streets was to trudge through - this is a place with open sewers, I don't want to know what kind of water I soaked my feet with. A number of weeks ago I noticed that bricks had appeared on the side of some of the sidewalks.  I wondered why they were there until it started to rain - they are stepping stones to help get you through the deep parts.

We have very much been building systems since we got here. In a couple of weeks we will have the inaugural meeting for a refurbished humanitarian aid project review committee with written terms of reference for the first time - the intent is to provide disinterested review, a challenge function and ensure due diligence is served so that projects with the greatest sustainable impact are considered for funding. Hopefully we can work out the bugs before we finish our mission just over a year from now.