Last night our team members dressed in the cleanest clothes we could find in our bags and went out on the town. We enjoyed a buffet of Mexican cuisine at the “Baja Fiesta” in Vicente Guerrero to celebrate the completion of an unforgettable week. The highlight of the night wasn’t the food though, it was the company. We were joined by some of our new friends from the mission, a few kids, staff members, students from the Bible School, and volunteers. We were an interesting mix of languages, accents, ages, and life stories. The common thread was the experience we shared over the past week. The conversation was rich in spite of the language barriers. I suppose the dinner talk will be something like that at the banquet table in heaven. Anyways, we were blessed to break bread with these new friends, at our last supper in Vicente Guerrero.

Sorry, no pictures as I’m posting from my phone in my hotel room on a very slow wifi connection. We will share plenty of pictures along with some of our stories next Sunday, November 20 during the worship service. Please come to hear more about the partnership that is growing between our church and the mission in Mexico.

Tonight we are all tucked in to our hotel in San Diego for a night of rest before our morning flights home tomorrow. See you all soon!

Sitting in the Internet cafe in town, we have an afternoon off. Some of the team are in the market at the park, some have gone for a hike, others are heading to the beach. Several of our team members shared in chapel this morning, we have many stories to tell. See you all soon!

What a joy it has been to watch our group learn to love each other.  How does the song go…”we will work with each other , we will work side by side…and we’ll guard each man’s dignity and save each man’s pride, and they’ll know we are Christians by our love…”  Here at the orphanage, the volunteers, staff and residents work in perfect harmony together.  It has been fantastic to see the Spirit work on the relationships among our group members, teaching us to treat each other with respect and kindness, showing us how to appreciate little aspects of each other’s personalities that we might not have even known about.  One evening, Anne Marie played the silly grandma role to a tee for the girls’ dorm room – we laughed until the tears rolled down our cheeks.  We served each other communion overlooking the ocean last Sunday.  Janelle has been adopted by several moms this week as well as gaining four sisters.  The sense of belonging has helped to heal any bruising we may be feeling from leaving our own culture and the rest of our family behind.  Thank you for continuing to pray for us!

Since last nights post we have had lots of diverse experiences. During the day the team did work assignments (nut house, clinic, construction, picking up rocks, taking care of kids, child evangelism). We had dinner at the Bible school where we had a great chicken dinner, heard some stories from the Bible school students, as well as some words from Charla (the founder of the orphanage) who just arrived today. We went to the evening church service and our very own Edgardo spoke. We ended the day off with a bonfire outside complete with smores, and with the company of the orphanage kids from casa 4 and 6. Everyone seems to be in great spirits and we have lots of God moments and stories to share! Thanks for the comments, our team has felt loved, encouraged, and lifted up in prayer by you!

Tonight we travelled to a neighborhood about 10 minutes from the orphanage for our first “adult evangelism”.  We were all layered up for both temperature and cultural reasons – we all wore all the hoodies in our suitcase (evenings are REALLY chilly for us sensitive Canadians) and the women wore skirts over our jeans to keep consistent with the traditions in the older neighborhoods.  The community we visited was nestled in the rusty, red dirt in a valley between the foothills.  The “houses” (shelters?) were creatively constructed with a variety of materials – I saw plywood, sticks, tin, cardboard, and I’m sure there was more – with no electricity or running water.  The ground was dusty and rough, littered with broken glass and odd bits of garbage.  The children were beautiful in spite of the dirt on their faces and the knots in their hair.  Several were barefoot.  They trickled in slowly as they heard the evangelist’s voice over the sound system, and more quickly once the music started playing.  We all danced our hearts out with children on our backs and clinging to our legs and holding our hands.  We settled down to watch a movie holding children in our laps and their parents joined the group to hear the message of the evangelist. As I looked up at the stars, I couldn’t help but think of the God who placed each of them there and who knows all of their names – the same God who made all these children and all of the children in the world, and knows all of our names, and how many hairs on our heads- looking down and laughing as we played together tonight under a beautiful ceiling of sparkling stars.  We serve a good and loving God indeed!

Another quick update for you… completed our babysitting assignment at the orphanage last night – super fun!  We had responsibility for all eighty kids while their “house parents” went out for a night off.  Activities included cookie baking, basketball, dance party, t-shirt painting, jewelry, sudoku, and more!  We went to bed exhausted, but smiling, and full of stories!  Team members were assigned to various work tasks this morning and will be again this afternoon.  Tonight we head out to our first visit to a local neighborhood for evangelism – and may visit an internet cafe for snacks afterwards, so stay tuned, we’ll likely post again tonight!

Sorry for the delay… this is our first access to the internet since we left Denver on Saturday morning!  Team is doing very well!  We enjoyed a tour of the mission this morning and are awaiting our first work assignments for this afternoon.  Weather is cool, friendships are warming!  Travel was uneventful (in a good way).  Will try to post some pictures for you on our next post.  Adios (for now)!

First leg of our journey done! We have arrived in Denver, waiting to board our flight to San Diego. We are looking bright eyed and bushy tailed…ok, not really. We are a little tired…but happy to be on our way! Thanks for your prayers!

Thank you to all of you who prayed for us in the service this Sunday! What an honor it is for us to represent our church family at the mission. Your prayers are greatly appreciated, please keep them coming! We are asking God for a spirit of adventure, for open hearts, humble attitudes, and joyful dispositions throughout the week!

Not many more days till we leave toward Mexico! With only a month left many are pulling together the last details; getting shots, papers signed and many more logistic details. More importantly we are opening our hearts to what God is going to do through us and to us. I am so grateful for being able to participate in this trip with my eldest child, Jayden. He is a wonderful child and God is actively working in his Heart. I pray that he will see the true loving and compassionate Father on this trip. Not me as a father but Him as a father. As a parent we are so flawed and we need our children to understand that while their earthly parents are important there is only one worthy of complete modeling…. Jesus.