Mexico 2007

A Few More Pictures of the Roof Crew.

2007-07-08T15:41:00.000-07:00

Time Capsule

2007-07-07T09:55:00.001-07:00

A little something for the newly completed church.

The Real Mexico Experience...

2007-07-07T09:40:00.000-07:00

Just watch....

Who is this Rudy Guy?

2007-07-07T08:49:00.000-07:00

For those of you who have heard so much about us working with Rudy and his wife Djose over the last few years, I wanted to give him the chance to actually introduce himself...

Video from the Field....

2007-07-05T19:25:00.000-07:00

We now have video! Here are a few interviews with team members that I had the chance to do last night.

More thoughts from Wednesday

2007-07-04T21:40:00.000-07:00

Hi Mom! This is Callie. Hi everyone else. So Mexico is incredible…although there are about a million and one stray dogs and CHICKENS here! Right outside of my window is a rooster that is nocturnal and he likes to screech all night long! Today I got to go to the migrant camp and play with the children who were absolutely adorable and who loved to have their pictures taken! Well, I have bee running around all day so I bid you all goodnight! Adios!

-Callie

Hi Mommy and Daddy,
It’s me Amber! I miss you sooooooooooooooooo much! I’ve been away from home before and some times longer than this but this trip feels like I am forever far away! It’s great here in Mexico! The weather is great, really warm but there is an awesome breeze that keeps you cool all day long. It’s 9:36 p.m. right now and I think the temperature is around 80 degrees. At the hotel there are roosters that crow (what ever they do) all day long, very annoying. My room is small and I am sharing it with two other girls, I sleep on the cot right next to the door, the showers are cold but I finally figured out how to get a kind of warm one, and I have so much more to tell you but I have to let someone else blog! Well, I love you both with all of my heart and I miss you sooooo much it’s crazy! Tell Corey and Amanda that I love and miss them too and that I can’t wait to come home and bug them! ☺

Hey All!!! Its Mark…ya, I still exist. The landscape hasn’t claimed me yet.
Well, whats to sayt? It feels a lot like Ft. Irwin…xcept a bit less intense on the heat front. Its been amazing down here. You can almost literally see the Spirit move down here, and the people down here are so happy. Even though they do not have an incredibly amount of money, resources, etc. they are content with what they do have. We have learned a lot down here. And another thing. Concrete is extremely heavy. I’m not doing construction for an occupation. Miss you all and I can’t wait to see you all soon. I have so much more to tell you.

Katrina Slater ~Day 3? ☺

So today we painted the kitchen in the Casa del Pastor (the safe house for single moms looking for refuge)we painted it with some seriouslybright colors! ORANGE, YELLOW, RED, AND A LIGHTER YELLOW! Talk about bright and the mamas all there LOVE it! It was well worth the ballanceing on benches and foot aches to see their smilling faces… only thing I regret about it is that when we got the paint we bought OIL BACED PAINT!! It does not come off! I first descoverd this when I was holding A RED paint can and rememberd it was slightly opend … I looked over and saw that it was leeking out the top and I sacrificed my arm in order to save the uncoverd floor! I WAS UP TO MY ELBOS IN RED PAINT IT WAS ALL OVER MY FORARM AND HANDS…of course we all added this on to “THE OCHO” ‘s inside jokes…. I was “CAUGHT RED HANDED” lol good times… so now I notice that everyone else has said hi to their parents and I feel kinda BAD! I love you mamma!!! I hope you got my message we all left on your work phone HAPPY BIRTHDAY! And daddy and carissa cant wait to see you love you all! God BLESS! HOPE ALL IS WELL! NIGHTY NIGHT

~ Katrina

Hola familia! I have gto write this before the compy dies… I’m doing fine and enjoying myself as much as I can. I visited a migrant camp today and played with the kids, TONS OF FUN. I’m healthy and thinking of you all every day, even when I don’t want to… Pray for me that I don’t die of malaria ☺ Love ya lots!!!!!

- Ben Dulas

From the Migrant Worker Camp

2007-07-04T21:32:00.001-07:00

This is from the camp closest to the town of San Vicente. The people here are relatively well taken care of as they have a school and cement houses. A few of you may remmeber that this is the first camp where we showed The Passion movie at last year and the The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe.

Pictures from the Work Site

2007-07-04T21:28:00.000-07:00

Happy 4th of July

2007-07-04T21:19:00.000-07:00

Lots of things happening here today. He have several projects in full-swing.

Build new bathrooms in the church- install 6 new toilets in the mens and womens bathrooms.
Build new 60 foot retaining wall for church parking area
Restring clothes lines in the casa.
Dig one 140 foot trench from the cistern tothe rehab at Piedra Viva.
dig another 1700 foot trench from the well to the cistern at Piedra Viva.
Pour two wheel chair ramps for the new church building.
Put ona VBS for the kids in town.
Do one men's bible study.
Do 2 women's bible studies.
Put a roof on the new church building.
Feed kids at 3 migrant worker camps.
Replace wall in Casa Del Pastor.
Build new retaining wall in Casa Del Pastor.
Paint kitchen of Casa Del Pastor.
And still more to come......

I have included some more pictures from today at the work site as well as pictures from the camp. Please forgive me for not posting more photos or for not getting more team member photos, as I was climbing the tree at the migrant worker camp and my camera strap came undone, sending my camera into the dirt below. Luckily, I have a small back-up.....

-Billy

Pictures from Tuesday...

2007-07-03T17:45:00.001-07:00

Pictures...

2007-07-02T16:37:00.001-07:00

I will have to post pictures tomorrow. Since the connection is slow, I have to reduce the size of the pictures to put them up. I will have lots soon!

-Billy

Posts from the Team- Day 2

2007-07-02T16:22:00.000-07:00

Today we woke up early and dressed ready to work immediately after breakfast. I showered and had less than 5 minutes to get myself ready. I quickly gathered my water, sunscreen, camera, and gloves then headed towards the team van. Although my hair was dripping wet, I completely enjoyed myself. I ate cereal with toast and enjoyed the company of my friends. The environment here is great. I am making new friendships and strengthening new ones. Last year I was the only girl from my high school on the mission trip. This year, we have about 10 girls, 6 of whom were placed in a room together. I thank God for the changes I see happening in the girls this week, and it is only the second day! Praise God for His glorious work!

Although I miss my momma, my dad-a-man, Brandon, and my other friends, this week is going spectacular. Heath is a great leader who keeps us all organized. All the adult leaders are helpful, encouraging, and very interesting to talk to. My team leaders are Matt and Jamie Roder. Everyone is in cheerful spirits and we are all having fun. I am having a week long two-way solitaire competition with Sean all week, and guess whos in the lead? I am :-) . Its about time for lunch now so I am going to go.
Love you Momme! Hope you get to read this!
En Christo,
-Autumn Knutson

P.S. Con tres anos de Espanol, soy hablando con los personas de San Vicente muy bueno. Me encanta cuando my amigos preguntame como decir palabras y frases. Adios por ahora y por favor continua a oran por nosotros. Gracias todos!

Posts from the Team- Day 1

2007-07-02T16:18:00.000-07:00

So this would be round two for Mexico Mission trips, its cool to see how much things have improved from last year…I mean yeah it’s the same old Mexico and Mexico smell, But its neat to see the casa building finally be just about ready to move into and the church building grow from where we left off last year with the beams.

This year we are split up into teams in my team is Cynthia, Tony, and Sue (our adults) and Hannah, Brook, Mariella, and I…Together we are “the ocho”(because we are team 8 and we are just cool like that) we already have our inside jokes because we have been the most “mischievous?” we get stoped and checked at a check point and God bless mariella (she’s our MVP) she speaks fluent Spanish and when we got pulled over by the military men she translated for us!!! She also helped when we got pulled over at the border. “The Ocho” We joke about how we are going to wright a book about all the “danger” we have been through. Later “the Ocho” we are going to play a game of uno to bond even more.

-God Bless Katrina Slater

This is my first year going to Mexico and I can already tell that this is gonna be an awesome experience! The kids here are wonderful and are very clingy!! Once you ask them “como te ahma” ( what is your name..) the will eventually tell you and from there on you are their best friend. When we first crossed the Mexican border, you could immediately tell the difference between California and Mexico. The poverity strikes you right away. Even in the dark you could see the garbage along the ground everywhere and as you drove in this foreign place you felt no since of security. One example was when we were on our way to the hotel and we had lost some of the vans so we pulled over and waited for them and as we waited for the vans a fight of locals broke out. I haven’t ever seen anything like that in my life except for on TV shows like CSI or Law and Order.

Today we worked with the kids and we played soccer with them and I can’t believe how good they are at soccer! We are al so comforatable with the kids and the surroundings now and are having a blast! Tomarrow we start working on the church and even though this is hard work I have the greatest group of people. My group is Nikki and DeeDee Handy, and Savannah and her mom Lisa. We call ourselves “the Lost Girls” because on the way to the hotel we got lost and after about half an hour we made our way back to the group. This is our experiences so far and hopefully there will be more to come. God is really working here!

-Sincerely, Salish Slater

Today has been amazing. I am seeing God work in miraculous ways. Although we have not done any physical work yet, God has been working in my heart. Last year I came because I wanted to go to Mexico, see kids, and have a great experience. I got that. This year I want a little more though. I want to truly deepen my relationship with Christ. But it hasn’t just started this week. I have been preparing my mind and heart for the work that I will be doing this week. I am ready to sweat, to feel dirty, and to do any job the Lord calls me to do. I did not come for friends, nor to be able to say that I went on a mission trip. I came to further the kingdom of Christ. I came to experience what God can do through myself and other Christians who have given themselves up to answer a calling. A calling to “…go and make disciples of all nations…teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you (Matthew 28:19-20)”

-Atum Knutson

After the long, long bus ride (24 hours!) we entered Mexico. Even though I have visited Mexico before, it was a culture shock to me. In a matter of minutes and miles the landscape changed. It is awesome to see our friends to the south live so poorly. Our soil connects, our air flows both ways and yet we live so differently. It was then that I felt the push again to be here. Love your neighbor as yourself.

Sunday was our first full day. The day started our cool and overcast, then broke open to sun and heat. We went to church, in a garage. We were surrounded by cement walls, hand made benches and a garage door over our head. Church lasted over 2 hours with the heat melting us all. God would give us a breeze now and then to refresh our souls. The people of San Vicente are welcoming and loving. Their smiles were wide as we entered the church. Sunday evening was a women’s bible study. We were joined by the women from the shelter. As we sat together in one room (“The Hut”), we blended together as mothers. Stories and testimonies were told. Friendships were made. I miss my family a lot, but I know I’m making a family here in San Vicente. (I love you mom, dad, Tommy and Brea so much!!)

-With love and peace, Jamie

Arriving in Mexico

2007-07-01T21:35:00.000-07:00

To all of our families, Church body, friends and supporters we have arrived safely in Mexico and settled into the hotel. The bus ride was long, but fun and everyone is in high spirts. Sunday we went to church at Calvary Chapel and a tour of San Vicente. Monday, we will be breaking into our groups to start the projects around the new church building, the women's shelter and the men's center.

Thank you for all your prayers, thoughts and support.

To my loving wife and children, Adeliz, Viviana, Adan, Jenisa and baby to be I love and miss you.

Heath Wright

We're Here

2007-07-01T16:05:00.000-07:00

Sorry we have not got a chance to post anything until now. The internet connection is very slow on the computers here. Hopefully we can use the internet next time we go to Ensenada (the McDonalds there have free wi-fi!)

The ride down on the bus went great, although it was a bit longer than we expected. The ride was about 25 hours long from Tacoma to San Vecente. Since the van drivers could only drive 10 hours in a shift, we had a chance to meet three very interesting people. Traffic comming into LA was horrible as could be expected from the holiday weekend travelers.

We got into San Diego without too many problems. However, for the first time since I can remember, one of our vans was stopped for a brief search at the border crossing. After that, we made it to San Vicente at about 12:30 am.

As usual, the Raphiel, the hotel owner, rented out two of the rooms we had "reserved" since we arrived a few hours from when we had said we would be there. The team seems to have settled in pretty quickly. Tomorrow, we will get a chance to look at the work sites to see the projects we will be working on throughout the week.

Where are our bags now?

2007-06-28T18:34:00.001-07:00

As of Wednesday night, Ed's truck was packed full (something took up a lot of space) and driving away from the church building. Those who showed up late or last will learn their lesson as the final bags on top were either exposed to the full elements or about to bounce off--but that is ok because we can pickup the dropped bags as the charter bus follows them down the next day. Customs might love the treat they find under all those bags and boxes...It looked red, had four tires, and was like a fun toy (large ATV)...that Ed said he is bringing "for his wife." We'll see who spends the time on this...

It is time for a serious road trip...imagine 50 big people in a bus for 24 hours (40 of them being youth)...this will either make or break the team!

- Andy and Bethesda Wright

Mexico

2007-06-21T16:08:00.000-07:00

Please pray for the Mexico Mission team as they get ready to leave on June 29th.