Early Christmas

We decided to let the kids open presents here a few days early to allow for some time to play with new things for a few days before leaving them behind to get on a plane. It was a last minute decision to do it yesterday, so we built it up for Emmy in the morning and then wrapped presents during her nap for her to "discover" when she woke up. So our first Cancun Christmas was at 2:30 pm on December 19 on a warm sunny day. Here is a fun video from our Christmas dinner. We look forward to coming to Houston on Sunday afternoon.

Merry Christmas to all! We will probably begin posting again more frequently after the new year.

-nw

it has been a while

Whenever I have some "down time" on the computer, I usually start up my spanish lessons. Here are a couple updates for all you millions of subscribers:
1) my plans to drive the altima back from houston changed. we should have a car by the end of this week. we found a 2001 nissan pathfinder that we are able to buy from another american...which makes the title transfer much easier. Having a car again will be a significant upgrade for us.
2) believe it or not, we still do not have our living room furniture...seven day delivery has been rushed to this thursday after 2 1/2 weeks
3) only 3 weekends left here together with Marco and his family...which means we are now rushing to get technology pieces in place for video sermons. Or else they will be hearing some really bad spanish :)
4) even though i have never met this family...i feel a connection with them. plus, they are better bloggers, so I will just ditto a lot of what they say. seriously, it's kinda freaky. I'm sure God was smiling through both of our developments
5) Some things are moving much slower than we would like. We are trying to learn patience in adjusting to a different-paced culture. :)
6) Kaycee's parents are coming to visit us for a long weekend, which will be a welcome site from home.
7) I read a good quote on Perry Noble's blog that has been a good reminder for me "I have learned that I can either do ministry from memory or ministry from the overflow of what God is doing in me–the latter is ALWAYS the most fruitful."
8) My prayers lately have been echoing Moses in Psalm 90:16-17

Thank you for your continued prayers. If you are reading this, then we love you.

-NW

new friends

Now that the honeymoon period is over for living in Cancun, reality has set in that we are without our family and friends here. Thankfully, we have made some new friends here to help us cope with these changes and the lonliness. There are six or seven ladies at our apartments that have kids the same ages as ours. They all go outside at the same time with their kids so we go out and play. Emmy has made lots of new friends with names that are hard for her to say (like Yair and Valesqua and Roni) but they have fun together. We have also met two Jewish ladies who live here. Be praying for one of them named Yamit. Nathan got a chance to talk to her a few nights ago. She was raised Jewish but she doesn't believe in anything. She had a lot of questions for him and seemed really curious.

We have also been making friends at church. There is a couple who barely speak English who are missing their three grandkids so they took us to lunch last week and said they wanted to adopt us as their own. David said our kids can call them abuelo and abuela. :) They were so sweet.

Overall I think people here are much friendlier than any where else I have been. I mean, they kiss you on the cheek the first time they meet you! It is so welcoming!

Happy Thanksgiving

Although thanksgiving is not as celebrated here, we are looking forward to the holiday season.
here is an early gift from us to you.

Peso Pobres

We have been looking for ways to get around with no car. Yesterday we decided to take a cab to the hotel zone and go to the beach. We tried to get a cab at the gate of our apartment, but they told us they couldn't call one. So, we walked a couple blocks to the super (a mexican grocery store) to try to find a taxi. We waved one down and jumped in. To the "zona hoteleria" Nathan told the driver. He takes off and we are driving back down the way we had walked. Nathan decided to ask how much this ride was going to take. When the driver told us we realized we did not have enough pesos to get there let alone back too (for some reason, Nathan was thinking the 50 pesos in his pocket was a lot of money...equals about 5 dollars). So, the driver pulled over and we got out, paying him 30 pesos for a ride back to where we started. We were right back at our apartments! hahaha We were laughing and decided to walk to the Extra (convenient store) to get a snack and drinks.

We spent 5 minutes deciding what we wanted and took it all up to the counter...hoping to pay with credit card here. The lady says "Solo efectivo" (cash only) Nathan handed her our one bill of 20 pesos and said what can we get with this? She pulled out the things we could get with the small amount of cash we had and we sat in the store eating our snacks and laughing at ourselves. It is amazing the thousands of cultural cues that are different every day can sometimes overwhelm your brain and make it shut down. Oh well, it makes for a funny story.

church

Noviembre 19
Today we had our second church service. I sang in Spanish for the first time since we have been here. I think it went well. A few people tried to talk to me afterwards in Spanish. I am getting better though about understanding a little of what is going on around me. We had a few lunch invitations too so I think people like us regardless of our Spanish.

FURNITURE!!!

Noviembre 18
Well, we lost our internet connection today which means no phone calls, no online Spanish lessons, NO NOTHING!! We had nothing to do and I was bored out of my mind. There are only so many times you can swing on the kids play set and pretend you are having fun. I even thought about crying because at least it would be something different than anything else I had done today. Without a car it was hard to jump up and go see the sights. We finally went to the mall around 5 to walk around. Marco dropped us off and went home to finish up his message for tomorrow.

There was a really nice furniture store having some sort of blow out sale. The furniture was 50 percent off. We got a couch and loveseat, coffee table and end table all for less than the price of just a regular couch everywhere else here! And it is one of the nicest stores in town. They should deliver it when it gets here in about a week.
We also bought a little loveseat at the grocery store yesterday to go in the tv room. It makes out into a bed that is about 5 feet long. Definitely for the shorter Mexican people living here…not for 6’3” Nathan. We thought we could let kids sleep on it though.

Even after going stir crazy all day long the day ended well. Soon we will have furniture and I will post pictures of the house furnished! ☺

Internet down

Apparently the wireless internet we were receiving at the apartment wasn't just a perk. The construction company moved out and the management company is taking over operations and now the internet we had access to is gone away. We realize how much we depend on internet to keep in touch, our phone service, working, and even for spanish lessons. We are working to get new service up ASAP. Thanks for patience. Love to you all.
-nw

our Cancun address

For those who have been asking:

SM 17, MZA 1, Lote 10-01
Av. Nizuc #4 departamento 702
Torre Messina, Condominio Mediterranee CP 77500
Benito Juarez, Cancun, Q. Roo, Mexico

Price Comparisons

The prices of things here are so different from in Houston. I bought oranges last night that were 90 cents for 2 1/2 pounds! I bought a salmon fillet that was almost 2 feet long and an inch and a half thick for $9!!! Fresh produce and seafood are sooooo inexpensive here. We can eat so healthy for so cheap. A meal at a nice restaurant runs less than $10. We had a nice buffet for $8 the other day and Emmy's kid buffet was less than $2. That is exciting.
On the other hand...furniture is crazy expensive in Cancun. Wood is not cheap so any furniture reflects the price of the wood. Baby accessories like walkers, high chairs and bed rails are really outrageous. We bought a portable high chair for Davin in Houston at Walmart for less than $20. Here it was almost $100. A $30 bed rail was almost $60 here. The areas where we are saving money are being made up for in the areas where things are so expensive. : )

Lunch with a Cuban refugee!

After church yesterday afternoon Marco and his fam took us to eat at this great little restaurant on the beach. He had called ahead and reserved a table on the balcony so we would be near the water. We noticed all of the policias and army guys around the beach below us. There was an unmanned boat hovering near the shore with a blanket, a tank of gas and a few other things for a long trip. It looks like a Cuban escapee made it all the way to the shore and did not get caught by the Mexican army patrolling the water. We thought it was an exciting lunch! When our fish arrived it had EYES and TEETH! It was delicious though. I just could not look at it while I was eating.
-KC

The Joys of No Car

We have not bought a car yet so Marco and Carina have been so sweet to be our taxi service! Last night I asked Nathan to walk to Costco (a pretty close walk) and get a few things that we needed. He left and I stayed home to get the kids bathed and ready for bed. He was gone for a while and when he finally walked in the door he looked exhausted. He had walked all the way to the store, bought everything on my list (Costco sized things) and was walking out to leave when he realized he had no way of getting everything home. :) He went back in and asked for a box to carry all the groceries in. The walk home was much longer carrying all of that stuff!
-KC

Down payment on property

This afternoon following a staff meeting this morning, we put money down on about 1 hectare (2.5 acres) of property in a developing upper-middle class area of Cancun. The remainder of the money is due in 30 days...at which point we will hold the title to the land. Exciting times for the church! We also got a quote for the internet lines needed for the Streambox technology we are planning to use for video portions of the services here and in Houston. But first, the current worship room needs a little prep in order for the services to be heavily video-driven.
-nw

Sunday went good

Our 3 services sunday morning went well. The two spanish services are definitely maxing out the 160 seat room. Kaycee sang for the english service and I was able to observe this weekend. Marco preached on taking risks in faith and in each of the services told of the church purchasing property this week (followed by excited applause each time). The people of the church definitely love Marco and I got to see how good of a speaker he is.
-nw

Pics from first week

tired shoppers on the first night after a long day traveling








playing together and adjusting to the tile floors









our first prize trophy...although difficult to get in place

Landlords!?!

Thank you to all that were praying. We have a family now renting our house in Houston. In fact, they moved in today. It is a huge relief to not have to worry about that now that it is no longer a negative cash flow. We turned down another tenant last week, so I am trusting God that this one is a good one.
-nw

First church service tomorrow

It has been almost a year since my Saturday routine hasn't included prepping for a church service that night. Today, we had a big lunch party at Marco and Corina's with several other couples from the church. Kaycee has already been recruited to sing/play violin for the services tomorrow, but I am planning to just observe, meet people, and learn.
-nw

spanish for dummies

In the short term while we have limited mobility (relying on Marco and Corina for transportation), we have decided to jump into Spanish using Rosetta Stone software. I am starting to realize the number of holes I have in the language and have forgotten a lot of the basics even though I may have since picked up other more advanced things. So I decided to start at the beginning of Level 1 in the software as well as Kaycee. I am trying to move through it pretty quickly, but just want to find the gaps and fill them.
-nw

starting over

If you have talked to us at all on the phone/computer since we have been here, you have probably noticed the strong echo here at the house. That's because right now we have an empty house with concrete walls and tile floors. We are trying to add furniture a little bit at a time, but there are a few things we realized we needed right away...one being a bed to get our mattress off the floor to protect it from molding. Unfortunately, furniture here is ridiculously expensive, so even with too much shopping (imho), we still have nothing to show for it except a small kitchen table (that we put together ourselves) and a small bed for Emmy which will be delivered in a couple weeks. Laptops have also come in handy for entertaining little ones with movies while we unpack our stuff.
BTW - if you haven't talked to us, feel free to call or find us on AIM (mrnatewhite)
-nw

First post from Cancun

We made it to Cancun in one piece with all of our luggage! It was a crazy trip with two kids, three carry-ons, two gate checked items, and six checked boxes all 3 pounds less than the limit. We spent our first night with all four of us on our mattress on the floor. We all slept great! We were exhausted from traveling and shopping for necessities all day long.

When we woke up this morning we realized our brand new refrigerator (that we bought yesterday) was not working. It turns out that none of the outlets in our kitchen are currently working. Hopefully that will be straitened out tomorrow. Then when it came time for showers we realized we had no hot water! I tried to make eggs and we had no gas. We also had forgotten to buy water and you do not drink it here...ever! HAHAHAHA! What a crazy adventure. I took the coldest shower in my life this morning...but I was clean and was thankful to have running water. Almost everything is working now, we have all had showers and water to drink. We are doing great! Emmy has already made some friends in our apartment complex. She has asked for Cole, Riley Kate, "Gonald" and Gretchen several times today. We miss everyone!

- KC