August 1, 2007
Dear Friends,
In mid-January, 2007, after serving for six years with Compañeros en Misión, we packed up our furniture and belongings and left the U.S.-Mexico border. It was a bittersweet experience, as we were leaving our Mexican partners—Dr. Jorge Pazos and his family—with whom we had formed a close personal relationship. Yet we felt at peace leaving our work there in the hands of the “next generation,” having had four months of orientation with the new U.S. coordinator, Liz Toland. And we were excited to be starting a new phase of mission service. God had called us to serve as a link between PC(USA) and our partner denomination, the National Presbyterian Church of Mexico. Dave had been appointed as regional liaison with Mexico, so we were moving to the interior of the country in order to be closer to church headquarters in Mexico City.
But first we had a major transition to make. Our daughter, Jennifer—just turning 23 years of age—had decided it was time to strike out on her own and live independently for the first time. This was going to require a lot of prayer and planning.
Through the generosity of former colleagues at YMCA of the Rockies, we were allowed to stay in a comfortable cabin at their Estes Park Center while we prepared for the move to Cuernavaca, Morelos, where we had lived for six months during language school six years ago. Everything went smoothly, as doors opened for us as if controlled by an electric eye. Jennifer found a job right away as a veterinary assistant in an animal clinic in Longmont, Colorado. Our former vet, who had retired and sold his practice in Estes Park, was working part-time in the same clinic so Jennifer had an immediate connection and friend. Our home church, Presbyterian Community Church of the Rockies, welcomed us and numerous members helped us with the logistics of our transition. We replaced our Arizona driver’s licenses with new Colorado licenses and got a new post office box so we would have a U.S. address for mail. We put our belongings in storage and filed all the paperwork to get Mexican work visas. All this time, we kept working at our assigned responsibilities with PC(USA), communicating by phone, fax and email with our colleagues in Louisville and in Mexico. We spent nine days in late January and early February doing mission interpretation in Utah Presbytery. In February, Dave helped to lead the annual meeting of Presbyterian Border Ministry in Monterrey, Nuevo León. Then he left on March 1 to find us a rental house in Cuernavaca.
Over the next two months, Susan helped Jennifer find a place to live, set up personal finances, health insurance, transportation, and put together a “safety net” of friends and family that could help in any situation. Jennifer’s health issues were a concern, and Susan initially encountered problems in getting insurance for her. But she eventually got coverage. Dave was victimized by a pickpocket while riding the subway in México City, losing his credit and debit cards, his new driver’s license and a substantial amount of cash. Through it all, we’ve been sustained by our faith and by friends within and outside of our home church.
Following meetings from May 2 to 4 in Louisville with our area coordinator and the leaders of the Mexican church, Dave went to Colorado and spent a few days with Jennifer and Susan in Longmont. And finally, on May 10, Susan and Dave flew to Mexico City to begin life as “empty nesters” and to establish close personal contact with our Mexican partners. Our aging English springer spaniel, Wendy, completely blind and nearly deaf, came with us. Ten weeks later, due to declining health, Wendy was humanely euthanized. We’re glad she could be with us at the end of her life.
We’re living in a typical urban neighborhood near the CIVAC industrial park in a part of Cuernavaca called Jiutepec. God has blessed us with friendly neighbors and there’s even a little “tienda” (grocery store) right across the street. We have enough room to host small mission delegations from the United States, and there are hundreds of Presbyterian churches in the southern part of Mexico so we expect to visit many of them as time goes by. We’ve been attending Bethel Presbyterian Church, which is located in “el centro” of Cuernavaca.
While we adjust to life in the interior of Mexico, we ask for your prayers and support as we facilitate cross-cultural learning experiences and mission encounters aimed at building faith, understanding, and relationships among Presbyterians from the United States and Mexico. As regional liaison, Dave still has a support role with Presbyterian Border Ministry and all the other PC(USA) mission workers in Mexico. Our work is focused on encouraging partnerships between churches and presbyteries from both countries in order to foster understanding and spiritual growth and celebrate our unity in Christ despite cultural and language barriers. We invite you to come see us in Cuernavaca!
To prepare God’s people for the works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.
Ephesians 4:11b-13
Dave & Susan Thomas |
