Trip to Guadalajara

Early Friday afternoon we headed for Guadalajara, which is about a 2 and a half hour drive. The main reason we were going was because James ans Nelly had an appointment with the eye doctor there to have all their kids eyes checked on Monday. We were going up on Friday so that we would have some time to help put in a water pressure pump and a water heater for the Thiessens. We were staying with them while we were there in Guadalajara.

On the way to Guadalajara we passed a volcano that had erupted sometime ago and has spread lava boulders for several square kilometers all around it.

Saturday morning James, Paul, Joel, Nicolas and myself all went to work on putting in the pressure pump and water heater and we were done by 2:30pm. Paul figures between Friday evening and Saturday we put in about 40 man hours. Saturday afternoon James, Nelly and I went down town Guadalajara, which is quite the experience. Guadalajara is a city of 5 million give or take a million. We finally made it to the market after about an hour. We had a nice time looking around I bought a leather belt and a nice big hammock. I was also looking for a leather Bible case but wasn't able to find one. After spending about two hours there we met up with Thiessens for supper at a new restaurant that one of the Christian brothers had just opened up.

Here we are enjoy the food.

James, Andrew, Nicolas, Erica, Levi, Joel, Paul and Barb. Nelly was feeding Natalia.

We stayed with the Thiessens till Monday morning and had a very nice time with them. They are originally from Manitoba and they have been working here in Mexico for 12 years. Monday morning we headed over to the doctors office for 9am and they told James to call just to make sure the doctor was free. We call on our way and yes the doctor was in surgery and wouldn't be available for at least two hours. We decided that we would go to another market to pass the time and see if we could find any Bible cases there. Most of the shops we closed when we arrived but as we wondered around they started opening up. I did find a Bible case there. At 12:30pm we made it over to the doctor and he checked all the kids eyes and the check James and Nelly's as well and they saw me sitting in the waiting room and that I had glasses so they wanted to check my eyes too. After being there for about 4 hours we were all done and it seems all is well. After the appointment we were going to drive back here to Santiago, but it was going to be kind of late when we got back and we still had a few things to do in Guadalajara so we just decided we would spend the night at a hotel. James really wanted to find an old hotel right some where in the center of town. We looked around and found one that was just off the square in the middle of the city. It was Hotel Frances built in 1610. It was a nice hotel very reasonably priced and we were able to get two rooms right next to each other. Complete with the old squeaky wooden floors and stairs.

My room, it just didn't seem right to have a color picture of it.

These are a couple pictures from my second story balcony.

This was the hallway right outside our room.

From the first floor looking up under the chandelier.

James and I were hungry so we went out and found a taco stand.

I enjoy trying to take night shots so James and I were out till early morning walking all over taking pictures.

An old building with a bus passing by. In case you are looking for the bus all you can see of it are it's lights.

Some modern art I guess.

The main Catholic Church in the center of town. They are not sure just when it was built but some time late 1500's.

This is a shot with the reflection of this building in the water of the fountain.

Once we were done walk around we were heading back to our hotel and we passed a garbage can and three big rats came out of it. We didn't think that was very cool and then we got to the hotel and we were just starting to walk up the first flight of stairs and this big rat comes running down the stairs and heads for the kitchen. We figured we wouldn't tell Nelly at least until after we left. We also decided that we wouldn't eat breakfast there we thought we might have rat bacon or something. We noticed there was a third flight of stairs, that lead up to the roof. We climbed very carefully watching for rats but never saw anymore. There was a patio on the roof and we could see a fair bit of the city.

A picture from the roof top.

Tuesday morning we went to a third Market and strolled around for a while. Here Andrew and Levi are just tired of walking and just needed to take a break.

We got back here to Santiago around 7pm last night. We were hit a little by the heat as it was about 23 C at that time of night. In Guadalajara it would get down to 13 C and we were thankful for our long sleeve shirts and sweaters there in the evenings and mornings. It is good to be back "Home" in Santiago.

Here are a few verses I enjoyed this morning.
2 Timothy 2:19b-21 The Lord knows those who are his, and Let everyone who names the name of the Lord depart from iniquity. Now in a great house there are vessels of gold and silver but also of wood and clay. Some for honorable use, some for dishonorable. Therefore if anyone cleanses himself from what is dishonorable, he will be a vessel for honorable use, set apart as holy, useful to the master of the house, ready for every good work.

It is clear here that it is my choice what kind of vessel I will be for my master. I can be one of honor if I am willing to continually depart from iniquity. I cannot be content that a year ago I was more Christ like then when I got saved, but am I more Christ like now then I was a week ago. This is a real challenge for me to think like this, but this is a principle we can find over and over in scripture.

1 Thes 4:1 Finally then brothers, we ask and urge you in the Lord Jesus, that as you received from us how you ought to live and to please God just as you are doing, that you do so more and more.