Happy Thanksgiving! We hope you are well and looking forward to a feast Thursday.

The sounds of Mexico are far different from the sounds anywhere else we've lived in the US. Different sounds are everywhere. Houses are built wall to uninsulated wall so voices, music, the barking of dogs, television, and cheers when the soccer team scores all carry extremely well. Every day various delivery trucks come by using microphones to announce their wares: fruit, tamales, and other good things. In the distance you can hear the jingle of the truck selling propane tanks, "Zeta, Zeta, Zeta Gas!" Lately, the mailman has been coming by on his (very loud) motorcycle at 5:30 am, just outside our bedroom window. There is hardly any silence. And somehow this already seems pretty normal to us (except one particular neighbor's habit of cranking up his karaoke machine past midnight). We are thankful to be here, and we are feeling more and more at home.

Thank you for all your prayers about Amy's health. In our last letter we mentioned that we were facing sinus surgery decisions. We placed that decision on hold while Amy has been taking medication to see if this helps control her infection. The first week of December she will have another CT scan to see how things are. If she has shown improvement, then we hope to continue with the treatment. Otherwise, we'll be looking at a surgery sometime around the week of the 11 th of December. Please continue to pray.

We're sometimes at a loss to say just what has happened in a month's time in our involvement here in ministry. So much of our work right now involves patience and waiting, and not much has changed since we last wrote. We are encouraged that both Amy and I are getting opportunities to exercise our gifts, to grow, and to minister to people in the various congregations we're involved with, and yet we long to see more tangible results in the form of a new church plant. Sometimes we get frustrated and start accusing ourselves of failure, wanting to see more happen faster. Then we remember that we've only been here four months, and that the transition is in many ways harder this time than last just due to the kids' ages. We know, realistically, that it will be many more months before we have a true church plant going. But we still want to see more happen. Please pray that the Lord will pour out his mercy on our community and that he will work in us so that we are adequate instruments in his hands.

We had asked for prayer about being able to meet men in our neighborhood. We are thankful that the Lord has opened various doors over the past few weeks, and we are beginning to get to know more and more men. Please continue to pray that the Lord will give me opportunities to spend time with men here.

As 2008 approaches, there are a couple of items worth noting on the financial front. One is that we expect various adjustments to go into effect in January that may bump our monthly needs up $200-$300, due to cost of living and the decline of the US dollar. This is money that we haven't raised, so if you or your church would be able to take this on, it would help us greatly. Also, if you are planning a year-end gift, the MTW office will accept any checks mailed prior to December 31. Instructions for how to contribute are at the bottom of this letter.

A few more prayer requests:

• The kids are learning lots of Spanish, but they are still at a point where they can't put everything they know together. Pray that they will learn to put what they know into sentences and that they will begin being able to hear the language better. Please also pray for friends who don't speak English! This will help force them to use what they already know and to learn much more.
• Continue to pray for health. Aside from Amy's sinus problems, it seems that at least one of us always has something going wrong health-wise. Pray for our strength and protection.
• Pray that the Lord would continue to open doors for us here, giving us new opportunities with unbelievers and drawing more believers to be part of the church planting effort.
• We anticipate that Joseph, Mary Beth and Johnny will feel the distance from grandparents, cousins, aunts, uncles, and American culture in general much more acutely as the holidays approach. Please pray for us and missionaries everywhere who are separated from loved ones.

Here are some tidbits about life in Mexico:

• One of the main food staples is the taco. A taco here is nothing like what you would see at a Taco Bell. The basic Guadalajara taco has a hot, soft corn tortilla, chopped meat, some limon juice, the salsa of your preference, onion and cilantro. You can get basic steak tacos, or you can be more interesting and enjoy lip, tongue, eye, or brain tacos (just to name a few).
• Mexico is on the metric system. Speed limits are in kilometers per hour; you buy produce by the kilogram and gasoline by the liter. I'm regularly dizzy from doing conversions in my head. If our van went 200 miles on 67 liters of gas at 7.08 pesos per liter with an exchange rate of 10.5 pesos per dollar, did I get a decent deal on the gas, and is the van tuned properly?

Thank you for your continued prayers for Mexico, Guadalajara, and us. We love to hear from you! Please stay in touch.

In Christ Jesus,

Steve (for all the Robertsons)
steveamymexico@gmail.com or srobertson@mtwla.org
http://www.mtwla.org/people/srobertson.htm

Mailing Address for LETTERS ONLY -
packages/items of value will be rejected/stolen/or will cost us:
413 Interamerica Blvd, WH1
PMB 070-149
Laredo, TX 78045

Our phone # from the USA: 011-52-333-855-8824

MTW donations address: PO Box 116284, Atlanta, GA 30368-6284. Mark payments Robertson 016521