Meeting one to one

Trying to speed up the language learning process today, I met with an elderly gentleman from the church we attend most. He was on time!! and I was late:( but he was gracious and kind. He spoke in the hour we visited about 10 words in English. The rest of the time I listened a lot, leaning forward, trying to make out every word and follow the trail of conversation that he was taking me on. It was brain numbing in many respects. While I could figure out most of the words he uses if they were written and I had time, trying to keep up with his conversation was much harder, and I had the thought that I felt like I was lying as I nodded and said yes during many parts of the conversation. I wanted to encourage him to continue, but was only occasionaly asking for clarification or repetition. I almost felt like it was of little benefit at this point, but realized that if I continue, I will understand more each week. The part I felt was a bit easier was coming up with ways of saying what I wanted. It is work to not be discouraged and I need to be aware of negative thoughts that can take me captive. So I am looking forward to next week with anticipation as to how we can communicate.

Unexpected Encounters

Using Spanish can be a tricky thing. I feel like I can get across most of what I want to say most of the time. But it takes time and patience. I understand less. Today a lady stopped to talk to me at my front door. She was elderly, friendly, and very talkative. At a rapid pace. Beyond what I can handle. At the same time I had a fellow stop asking for work holding a pail of cement. I needed some repairs to our window frame. So he was working on it, but he became my translator.
She was talking a mile a minute, I would look a bit confused, the repairman would ask her to repeat it, then he would tell me what she said - in Spanish. I could understand him. Not her. She wanted to rent out a different place to us. It was cheaper and bigger. I told her we had enough space, as well as a contract to honor. She then asked if we would help out her friend who needed a place to stay, after all we seemed to have some spare room. I explained the contract and difficulty of renting out part of our place. She didn't understand my Spanish, but the repairman managed to, and then repeated it in a different way in Spanish. So as you see, it is interesting to be speaking a language that someone can understand, I can understand him, but she can't understand me, nor I her.
Understand? Blessings! Anthony

The Thiessen Talk'O - January 2013 Update

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Safe Landings, Great Expectations

What a memory our 10 day drive has created! Anthony, Josiah & Dad drove the Toyota down to Mexico & put on over 6700 km! From the wonderful vistas of snow capped mountains in Alberta to the reds of the Bajas, the I-5 highway straight aways to the dangerous curves of the Baja with missing gaps knocked out of the guard rails, we enjoyed a long but blessed journey. We couldn’t have asked for better weather for the complete trip! Thanks for your prayers.

We were able to stop & visit family & friends on the way. This was a great way to take a break from the driving, as well as to find a great place to sleep & visit. Thanks to each one for opening their homes to us! :) A highlight was catching up with my brother Mike, Tammy, Gabriella & Jessica, who live on Vancouver Island. We were able to have lunch & then went bowling. 

When we crossed the border in the US, we expected an interrogation, since Josiah was with me & Karlene wasn’t. All the guard wanted was our passports & asked a few simple questions. The Mexico border was similar, except they were interested in the contents of the vehicle. The lady wanted to open the back, I grimaced & told her she could but I hoped a whole bunch of things didn’t fall out. We had it packed tight. Josiah was a sardine in the back seat. She then asked if she could look in the side door instead. I said sure, so she poked around for a bit. She asked what was on the roof, which Josiah thought was funny. It was a hockey net in a box. He thought everyone should know what hockey is:) 

She waved us by & I thought that we would find a border post wanting our passports & who would issue us visas. But we got going & soon were in Tijuana,MX.

I was sure we needed visas, so we pulled over to ask at a store. The guard who helped told me we didn’t need visas for the Baja. Dad remembered driving 12 km 

before getting visas at another border crossing, so we went on.

After an hour of driving, we stopped to call a TEAM missionary who advised us that we needed our visas from the border, so we turned around. We were almost there when we got stuck in a traffic jam due to an accident. It was dark. We were wondering where we would find the office.The GPS didn't help. At an intersection I talked to a police officer about our predicament & found that if we stayed on route, we would be in the USA in 5 minutes. He drew a map for us. We got to a certain point, but had to ask another police officer for directions. Lights flashing, he escorted us to the hidden office where we were issued our visas.  At this time it was 8:30 PM & we needed to find a hotel, as we didn't want to drive after dark. The GPS didn’t find one nearby, so we headed to Ensenada (1hr  away) as Tijuana didn’t feel like a safe place to stay. We had a good journey & knew people were praying for us, b/c we would not have received our visas if it 

hadn’t been for God placing us there at the time of the accident.

Another night I left my backpack outside the vehicle while grabbing suitcases & forgot all about it. 3 hours later we returned from supper to see a man holding my bag (with important documents in it!) He knew it was ours & had been looking for us! Praise God!

When we arrived in La Paz, we were able to find our Missions area leader without the GPS! We had a blessed time meeting TEAM missionaries that evening & getting acquainted. We are excited to work with them soon!

A ferry trip of 6 hours found us practicing Spanish with a boy that seemed to find Josiah interesting. I can see why our children can be helpful in connecting with others when we are in missions.

An 8 hour drive to Guadalajara the next day found us in the biggest city I’ve ever been in. The different ways the streets are designed is mind boggling, circle drives unlike I have ever seen. We managed to get through rush hour traffic & the GPS was definitely helpful this time. We rejoiced in being reunited with Karlene, Keyana & Mom, who had there own adventures in getting here. They had arrived one day earlier. Thanks for praying us through our journey!

Settling In, Learning Language 

Getting to our new house, the night we arrived to deliver suitcases, was nerve racking to say the least. As we followed the lead car, a light changed & we went through it so we wouldn’t get lost in this huge city.  A car was coming from the side, & we had to swerve to avoid it. In another street crossing, without lights, a bus was barreling toward us & we had to stop in the middle of the street, or we would have been a bumper sticker. We were very glad to get there safely!

Location, location, location...realtors say that it’s so important & we are blessed to be in a house that is located in a great neighborhood with little shops & restaurants, a frutaria & meat shop, 2 dance studios, a fitness gym & only a 5 minute walk from language school, a minute from a park with a variety of activities & a short distance from church!We moved in the day after Anthony arrived, doing some very quick cleaning & shopping for furniture. We only bought bare necessities as we don’t want to have to move a lot from Guad. to La Paz. We did have to buy a fridge as the house didn’t come with one. But it did come with some other things we needed, thanks in large part to the Johnson family who lived here before us & finished language school in December! The next day found us shopping for groceries, shelving, signing up for cell phone service & internet. The internet was hooked up 8 days later, just when they said it would be.  We weren’t sure what to expect. It’s a blessing to be ‘connected’ once again, as we depend on internet for communication and information. You don’t realize just how much until it is gone.

We have thoroughly enjoyed getting to know our fellow TEAM missionaries here in Guad. We have been blessed by their care, kindness & hospitality displayed in numerous ways - securing a house for us to live in, picking us up at the airport, letting us stay in one of their homes for the first 2 nights, taking us furniture shopping, helping us unpack, driving us around to get groceries, cell phone service & internet, providing meals for us & having us in their homes for fellowship, inviting us to their Sunday worship time & faithfully checking in to see how we’re doing. God’s love displayed through His people is a beautiful thing!

It was a tremendous blessing to have Mom & Dad here to help us clean, unpack & settle in. We are very thankful that they were able to stay a few extra days. They also got to hang out with Josiah & Keyana while we ran errands around the city, something easier to do without children in tow! They also took care of them our first 2 mornings of language school which allowed for some extra Grandparent/Grandchild time :) It was hard to see them off on Jan. 17^th. It was a teary ride home. 

Now we are well into our language learning.  I’m getting a good review of what I had studied & Karlene is getting a good dose of meteor showers - everything is coming so fast it is hard for her to keep up. She is doing really well, but finding it overwhelming & frustrating at times. Class consists of grammar, verb conjugation, phonics/reading, vocabulary, translation & devotions. We have quizzes & assignments daily. Homework takes 1-3 hours each night. We were reminded by a friend to realize that language learning is ministry. The people we are connecting with are ministered to & touched when they see the effort & dedication put in to learn their language.

We have been blessed with Areli who is taking care of our children from 9-12:30 while we are in class. They love her, describing her as funny & awesome. She doesn’t speak much English, but enough to communicate with them. We are hoping she will use enough Spanish for it to rub off on Josiah & Keyana!

                                  The Gal's Trip & Our New Home

As the guys started their road-trip, the gals finished packing up our apartment & with the help of some wonderful friends, got the cleaning done in record time! Keyana & I(Karlene) moved in with Mom for a few days & a whirl wind of last minute to-do items, good-byes & late night packing commenced. We finally started off on Friday, Jan 4th, picked up my passport in Edmonton, said some goodbyes along the way & arrived in Calgary Saturday night. There we did some last minute shopping, packed luggage & said a few more goodbyes.

Tuesday morning found us frantically trying to down size b/c of an embargo Mexico has on the amount of luggage you can bring. No one told us this when booking our tickets. Thankfully, Ruby & Walter were able to come back to the airport to take the 2 suitcases we had to leave behind. (As of Jan. 15, the embargo has been lifted...go figure…) We managed to get through security & to our gate with only minutes to spare before boarding began. Besides a medical emergency on our flight & a security breech when we landed in Phoenix, the rest of our trip was rather uneventful :) & we arrived safely in Guadalajara at 5pm, were picked up by fellow TEAM missionaries, fed a delicious meal & given comfy beds to sleep in.  We had an amazing rest & were excited to be reunited with the guys on Wed. evening Jan. 9th!  We are now fairly settled in our ‘coral’ house :) & we continue to praise God for His provision & safety in getting us here. We miss home, family & friends but are thankful to be in the place that God has called us to. We continue to cling to the One whose mercies are new every morning, whose grace is sufficient & whose faithfulness is GREAT! Thank you for you prayers & support! Until our next Talk’O together - Adios & God Bless!

The Thiessens

Praying

pray that we will continue to experience God’s peace, direction & guidance as we learn Spanish, get used to our new home & balance lang. school with Homeschooling.

Pray for continued spiritual growth as God uses this time of transition to refine our faith & build our trust in Him.

Pray that Josiah & Keyana can make some friends, they are finding it a bit lonely right now & are missing home.

Pray for opportunities to witness to those in our community & for safety as we live in a very big city - 6-8 million 

Pray that we will be able to get our visas before our tourist visas expire.

praising

We Praise God for our safe travels!

we praise God For the home we have which is in a great location & close to the language school!

We praise God for those who are helping us out in Guadalajara! We have a wonderful support team here as well as back at home!

Giving

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OUR COUNTRY CODE IS 2400 AND PERSONAL ACCOUNT #110689.  

THANK-YOU FOR CONSIDERING THIS IMPORTANT ROLE.

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