As those of you who follow our lives here in Mexico are aware off, we have been without electric power in the building we rent for the church since June 21st. The whole story goes back to when I first rented the building. When the electric company turned on our power they refused to change out the meter that was all ready previously used for our building. With the first three bills (billed bi-monthly here) I went to the electric company and double checked with them that nothing was amiss in that I believed that our cost was way below what it should be as electric service is much more expensive here than in the U.S.
Anyway I was assured that nothing was out of order and they refused to send anyone out to check the meter. Jump ahead five years to this summer, June 21st. The electric company which is a part of the federal government sent out a group from out of town to check every meter in town and found that ours had been manipulated. I protested, showed them documentation of our honesty but my pleas fell on unreasonable men's ear and they cut our service. I was also accused of manipulating the meter which is a federal crime punishable with prison time.
As it turns out (after five months) they are neither interested in the truth nor putting anyone in prison but there is this pesky matter of money. At first they demanded that I pay Mx. $54,000 pesos which I refused to entertain both on principle and ability. Ultimately the "fine" was reduced to Mx. $24,000 and I have no recourse. Pay the "fine" or do without electricity.
I have depended on the owner of our building throughout this process both because he is well respected and understands the system. He has told me all along that I will eventually have to pay their "fine" regardless. The day I paid a deposit on the fine he co-signed for me and then told me a few stories of his own. It seems that the same electric company told him that he would need to have an independent transformer for his shop about ten years ago and that it would cost Mx. $60,000 He paid the cost and has never seen the transformer. When he asked about the transformer they told him that it was no longer needed and when he asked about the money he was informed that there was no refunds. He also relayed a story of being stopped coming back from Nogales with his truck full of merchandise for his store. The officer asked him for his papers so he handed him his custom's receipts for the goods. Finding them all in order the officer said, "No, the other papers." He handed him the truck papers. Finding them all in order the officer said, "No, the other papers." The man pulled out his driver's license and his personal papers. Those were also in order and the officer said, "No, the other papers." By this time he realized what the officer meant and pulled out his wallet and Mx. $200 to which the officer responded that those were the proper papers and he was on his way.
Throughout this whole ordeal we have prayed that God would be glorified knowing that vengeance belongeth to Him. It has not worked out as we would have hoped and do not understand it all but we are glad to have electric power for the work again and our freedom to continue to preach at liberty.
May I emphasize the importance of praying for your missionaries. Such problems are discouraging and physical draining for not only the missionary but for his family as well.
Our new Mx. $24,000 meter
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