i am thankful

Hola! This means hello in Spanish. At least that is the Spanish that I know. I am honestly not for sure what language they speak down here in Ixtlan, because every time I start speaking Spanish everybody starts laughing. I am convinced that I am just in a part of Mexico that doesn't understand the Spanish that I speak. Anyway, this is officially my first time in Mexico (I would rather not talk about my unofficial visit) and so far it hasn't lived up to my wildest dreams. I guess maybe I should describe my wildest dreams for you to understand why I say that. My wildest dreams include things like cartel shootings, scorpions the size of a Fiat 500, 115 degree temperatures all day with it reaching 120 at night, peppers so hot that you look at them and your eyes water, people unloading mangos out of the back of a truck onto a street and so on. Okay so the last one I have seen since being here (more on that later), but not the others, and once again I am thankful that my wildest dreams haven't came true.

So some of you may be wondering who I am, my name Tyler Endress and I am from Bradford, IL. The next question you probably have is -- Why are you in Mexico with Grant and Hannah? That is a very good question. In fact good enough that I will provide you with an answer. I am here because Princeville/Bradford young group brothers had to draw straws to see who would come down and help Grant move all their furniture from Ixtlan back to Princeville, and I drew one of the short ones (there were 2, I came down with Tristan Herrmann from Princeville). The reason that Grant was having a hard time to find people to come down to help with the move wasn't because of the 45 hour drive home, or the loading and unloading of the furniture/belongings 3 times, or the fact that it has been 95 degrees everyday with 93% humidity... No, definitely none of those things would be a deterrent, it was the fact that we had to make the excruciating 4 hour flight from Chicago to Guadalajara. Either way we are here, and I am thankful to say, it has been a great experience for me!

Yesterday much progress was made in repacking boxes that had been packed and ready to go. The reason we repacked them is because Titus efficiently decided that he wanted to play with the items at the bottom of all boxes . Our remedy was to put Tristan on child care duty.

I see daycare in his future!

Oh yes, the stack of boxes that met us on Friday morning!

These are all now safely packaged away in the van and on the trailer that we will be taking to the Mexico/US border. 

Before I go on, I just want to clarify that I am thrilled to be helping with this transition time in Grant, Hannah, Ivory, and Titus's life. A significant rea-, no, I actually meant small... A small reason I am thrilled to be here is because before you move you have to make sure the refrigerator is cleaned out, so I have been helping make sure that is accomplished before Monday morning at 10 am. Another reason I am thrilled to be here is because they are a great family, and they have blessed so many people's lives by their ministry in Ixtlan and their willingness to follow God's will through these past 3 years. I am thankful that I can help them at the end of this chapter of their lives. 

Loading went well yesterday, and today, and Grant and Hannah are doing an amazing job at being flexible and living out of suitcases for a week! I also want to commend Grant on finishing the kitchen cabinets today! 

After Sunday school (I thought maybe it should be called Saturday school, but my opinion matters un poquito) this afternoon the boys wanted to play soccer. I thought, "they are just kids, I should be able to kick it around a little bit with them." The only advantage I had was they were laughing at me so hard that I actually scored one touchdown... or wait I think they are called goals. Either way I had a good time, and I think the boys did too! I am also thankful that I didn't pull a hamstring kicking the soccer ball over the row of houses across the street... Whoops!

Right outside of our soccer field I noticed a strange spectacle that I perceived to be a group of men unloading a truck of mangos onto the street. I got a closer look after the game, and sure enough!

  

I had noticed these hombres doing this all day, and I kind of felt sorry for them, because it had been rather warm. I thought to myself, "It has been a little while since I shoveled mangos, maybe I ought to go over and refresh my memory on how to do it." Either way, I went over and spent an hour or two helping these gentlemen finish unloading their truck of mangos. I actually had a great time even though they didn't understand my Spanish and I didn't understand their English. At the end, (after I showered mind you) I asked if they would be so kind to take a picture with me, and they courteously obliged! I was thankful to make some new friends!

Me and my Amigos!

We topped off another productive day by eating some great tacos from the taco shop across the street! As I write this blog post Grant, Hannah, Leah (see previous post), Tristan, Ivory and Titus are all feverishly working to clean the newly emptied house up. Well actually Ivory and Titus are sleeping, but that does promote cleaning around here! I am not cleaning, because I had to option of having the prayer at supper or writing the blog post, and well, I guess you know which I chose! I hope this hasn't bored you to slumber, and if it has, I hope you needed a nap! I am going to say Adios for now. I just want to thank you all for praying this move goes well, and I would implore you to continue to pray for us. We have all seemed to feel God's nearness, and I attribute it to your prayers. We hope it to go smoothly, but most importantly we want it to go according to God's will! Thanks, and God Bless!