Neighborhood Christian School

DAY 1

Mexico Outreach 2006
Saturday, March 18, 2006

These daily logs of Neighborhood Christian School’s Mexico Outreach 2006 are written by señor Bushéy (Chris Bushéy), Outreach Director.

4:00am Got up a bit early, but was already awake with excitement since around 3:30am and figured I might as well get everything ready to roll. By 5:17am was on the road to my son’s apartment to pick him up to drive me to the Sacramento airport. (Adam is my 19 year old son.) Though I was five minutes behind schedule when we left his apartment, we had no worries as we were greeted on I-80 with the dawning of a clear day.

5:45am Adam and I hugged goodbye and I was blessed by a very polite Southwest Airline ticket agent who not only checked my luggage and gave me my boarding pass over five hours early (they usually limit checkin to four hours prior to your flight), but she agreesd to dedicate one line to handle baggage and ticketing for our entire group! What a blessing to start off our outreach! The 39 travelers going on the first flight began to trickle in just around 6:00am (even though they weren’t due in until 6:15-6:40am) — it was the excitement of the outreach.

After tying pink ribbons to all luggage to be checked, I instructed the students and parents to head to the line at the far right where the ticket agent was waiting with all of our tickets (which I had given to him in alphabetical order). After receiving their boarding passes, the team members were instructed to head down to the area near the windows, wheelchairs, and the escalators leading up to the security check and wait for further instructions. We only had one hiccup with one student who was switched at the last minute with one adult who was not able to go. After I told Southwest that the student was in place of the adult, all was well.

By 6:50am or so, everyone was checked in, had boarding passes in hand, and they all were waiting patiently for me to get to that same area to do one final briefing. By 7:20am, the instructions were done, including our group assignments to ensure everyone was accounted for, and we were heading up the escalators through security.

Security was really cool because I was able to go through the new “sniffer” machine, which puffs air at you from head to foot and scans for particles of any stuff not allowed on the plane. They still xray all of your laptops, cell phones, backpacks, etc., but the sniffer didn’t require removal of any shoes! It was very neat!

We all headed down in groups to Gate 16 and were greeted by another blessing. The Southwest agent agreed that 39 students and adults were worth preboarding, so we got to preboard and go to the back of the airplane!! That was like the fourth blessing already this morning!

Well, by about 7:45am, I had to leave and get back downstairs as the second flight group was about to show up around 8:00am or so. I said quick goodbyes and headed back down to duplicate the same scenario with the smaller group.

The second group (of only 15 this time) began arriving right on schedule and we got to our gate right on time. With only 15 though, they wouldn’t let us preboard — bummer! But, we all had group B boarding passes so we waited in the appropriate line and all ended up sitting close to each other in the back of the plane.

Before we even boarded, the first group had already landed and all was well on their end. Two hours later, we joined them (just after 12:00pm), and by around 1:00pm or so the YWAM vans began arriving. We loaded up 54 travelers worth of luggage and passengers and headed to the all-important In-N-Out in National City to pig out on "animalized number three meals" (actually, that’s what I had). After filling our bellies to the brim, we made a quick pit stop at the YWAM office in National City to swap out one van which was having problems. This office is the headquarters for YWAM’s San Diego/Baja areas. I made my first tour of the offices (after six years of going to YWAM in Ensenada, this was the first tour of the offices I had!!). I did a quick videotaping and then we were off to the border in six YWAM vans.

After so many years of practice and experience, we had the border/passport/tourist permit paperwork processing thing down. With help from seven adults who could write real fast, Efraim (nickname Busta) and Bryan smooth-talking the Mexican processing agent, and me handing out and filing back into the three-ring binder the 54 passports, we were in and out in a record 42 minutes! Anoth er blessing from the Lord and we were on o ur way once again, this time in a foreign country!

We got through a very busy Tijuana and headed up and over the surrounding hills to beauti ful ocean vistas and a smooth, winding hi gh way. The blue sky was slowly becoming more and more cloudy the farther south we went. Our YWAM driver, Sarah (to whom I apologized for injuring her ear while cliff-jumping — ask me about that someday) told us that it had poured rain the night before. Weather.com said the week was g oing to be cloudy and partly sunny the entire week, but you know how weather reports can be!

The drive down was just great! We stopped half-way down at the rest area right on the beach and were greeted by a dozen or more horses ready for rent (nope, didn’t rent any — no time), lots of sidewalk vendors hawking their wares and food, and a wide, sandy beach fronting the Pacific Ocean. As time was running short, we just had time to stretch our legs, take a quick potty break, watch the lady use a machete to split open a coco (coconut) while YWAM Bryan sucked some of the “a bit salty but good-for-you” juice, and then the pushy tour guide (me) whistled and yelled to “move ‘em out!” and we were off on our final leg to Ensenada.

About 40 minutes to one hour later we were at the YWAM base. Usually we pull the vans right into the parking area next to the courtyard, but they had a media guy filming our arrival so we parallel parked on the street and walked in to a warm YWAM staff ready for our bunch of gringo locos!

After signing in and getting our cool “Detox” YWAM name badges, we listened as Mrs. Trueblood announced our room assignments and grabbed our luggage and staked out our claim to which bed and which room would be home for the next six and one-half days.

As always, we had a YWAM surpri se as the boys were assigned rooms in the apartment complex across the street, while the spoiled girls got the ocean-view rooms in the YWAM complex itself (okay, I’m not jealous or anything). Actually, it was exciting and different to be in the apartment complex and we had more rooms than last year, so no complaints from me!

We had just enough time to get our stuff laid out on the beds and we had to head back to the main plaza in the center of the base to eat dinner. Six eager volunteers received their traditional sombreros, waited for Marshall to pray for the food, and then went first in line to pick up some fantastic lamb and/or steak tacos (you could choose one or two and either lamb, steak or one of each), salad, salsa, and fixin’s, plus lemonade to drink. Jesse wasn’t that hungry so I couldn’t let his two tacos go to waste after I finished off my two tacos, salad, guacamole, cucumbers, tomatoes, salsa, and lemonade. Ahhhhh ... had to consider loosening the belt a notch or two.

Pastor Nino and his wife Ada sat with me to eat and we talked about the week ahead. We set up the next day’s schedule (Sunday), and had a great time getting caught up on our families and all the things that have been going on since we last talked (which was really only a week or so ago, but we always have a great tim e together). Roberto and Ada I count as brother an d sister to me, both physical and spiritual. We have been close friends since we met about eight years ago. They are VERY SPECIAL people.

I gave their kids a "Hello!" hug as if they were my own. Their names are Indra, Sarvia, and Giese — well, gotta shake Giese’s hand also as he’s turned into quite a man — even has a little gotee thing going. All are doing well. Indra is in her final internship as a nurse at the local hospital and will get her degree in June. Sarvia is serving full time at the YWAM base and will work with our house-building Jr. High team! Giese is enrolled at the local university and is playing futbol (soccer) for the university. They are great kids — oops, young adults.

After dinner, we had a little bit of time and then we went to the orientation program from about 7:30 to around 8:15 or so. The YWAMers had some great video and some really hilarious skits. Check out the DVD or online pictures.

After the orientation, the team leaders (Tom Lanning, Kim Trueblood, and Bryan Walls for the two house building teams, and Stan and I for the sixth grade evangelism team), met with the YWAM leaders Stephanie, Adan, Lyndsie, and Jorge for an overview of the week’s schedule and to touch base on all aspects of the outreach. It was a great time to say, “Hola!&# 8221; to old friends and to get to meet some new frie nds.

While we were finishing up, the rain began to pour. While we were praying, the lightning and thunder rang out. It only lasted for a bit and we hurried over to the rec room for our team orientation.

With help from the other leaders, I filled in the rest of our team on all the info we learned from the leader meeting, covering everything from putting your toilet paper in the trash can and not flushing it, to the rules, to the routine schedule each day. Though it is always too long in discussing all of these items, it is vital to the success of the outreach to have everyone on the same sheet of music.

Just after 10:00pm we all grabbed our one-cookie-per-person late night snack (courtesy of YWAM) and headed off to our rooms. Most adults were very sleepy-eyed, but most of the students also were ready to hit the hay.

Lights were out in all rooms close to the normal 10:30pm scheduled time, and by 11:30pm or so, the sweet sounds of snoring could be heard in many rooms.

Well, it’ll be a busy day tomorrow! It’s now 12:19am (Sunday) and I think I better hit the hay myself! I have set my alarm to wake up at 5:00am to get ready for my 5:30am run with Mr. Lanning, Mr. Frontera, and Mr. Suderow. We’re going to try and run down to the big flag and back, approximatel y four miles. I’ll let you know how it goes. It i s my annual ritual to run each morning around four miles, and to touch the big flag pole at least on one run. We try to vary the runs each day. One day we’ll go to the flag, the next down the beach heading south, the next up the hills toward the business area, and then start over again with the flag.

We hope our family and friends are all praying for us daily. We need those prayers! Everyone got here safely and soundly and we are all very eagerly looking forward to a totallyfunfilledblessyoursocksoffpraisetheLordandsingAlleluJAkindofaweek!

May the Lord of all richly bless you as you read this log. Stay tuned for tomorrow’s!

En el Nombre de Jesus, Amen!

DAY 2

Mexico Outreach 2006
Sunday, March 19
Day 2

Well, Day 2 really started early. Right around 2:15am, the rain hitting the cement parking lot and windows so intense I couldn’t sleep! From my bottom bunk, tucked snugly in my sleeping bag, I began to pray in earnest, “Lord, please let it all come down right now and through the night and let it blow past during the day.” The Lord knows how to stretch our faith, however, as the rain intensified even more and continued r ight through ‘till just after 4:00am. I was certain that the parking lot was getting flooded as well as the dirt road between our apartment parking lot and the YWAM base itself. With the constant pounding of rain, I was in-and-out of sleep during those two hours and finally, around 4:30am, figured I might as well just get up and start my day.

I was dressed in my running gear (thanks Ralph Frontera for loaning me a pair of sweat pants -- I can’t believe I left my running shorts at home -- I checked my list twice, but of course, running shorts aren’t written on the list!), and went outside to see how effective my prayers were and saw stars through the broken clouds! Is our Lord GOOD or WHAT?!? Many times He doesn’t answer our prayers right away, or in the way we want, but He is SO GOOD TO US!
< br> I busied myself quietly with getting things ready for the day without turning on the light, using just the bit of glow from the streetlights seeping through the thin curtains. Around 5:00am, my roommate Ralph was up also. We are in a two-story apartment, with only Ralph and I downstairs while two junior high boys and two parents are staying upstairs. As the upstairs gang can’t see our light, and with both of us up, we turned on the light and finished getting ready for our run.

To compensate Ralph for the loaner sweats, I handed him a pair of "Run For Life" running gloves that I had left over fro m last year’s run and brought with me for such a time as this (if you don't know what the "Run For Life" is, and are curious, email me). As he squeezed his hands in to the warm elastic coverings, I pulled on my warm ski cap and we quietly walked out to the parking lot. Within a few minutes, Tom Lanning, our “tercer amigo loco” joined us, but we had one hold out possibility who wasn’t there yet. At 5:38am, three minutes past our 5:35am deadline to show up or stay in bed, we decided Mr. Suderow was still enjoying his ZZZZs, so we took off on our traditional run to the big flag downtown.

Winding our way through the mud puddles, we made our way to the beach and ran along the harder sand near the water. Going towards the downtown area of Ensenada, the beach ends about one fourth of a mile from the base. We then headed up to the top of the beach and took the still muddy but soon-to-be paved beach-side roadway. Passing one last little village of huts and animal stables, we hit the new part of the road already cemented and then joined the main road to the big flag.

Check out the pictures of us at the flag. The flag itself is 50 meters long and 28.2 meters high (about 150 feet long and 90 feet wide). That’s BIG!!! The gentle breeze made for great pictures of the flag. After touching the pole, taking some pictures, and looking at Ensenada Harbor, we he aded back to the base. We had a great run and it’s always a great way to start the day.

At 7:45am, we joined everyone for a scrumptious breakfast (and Maria, I had granola topped with mango yogurt and orange juice for breakfast - gotta keep the clockwork regular and the old ticker pumin’ strong), we had a quiet devotion time at 8:30am to go over our cool devotionals and read our Bibles and pray (after the orientation session last night we received the special “DETOX” -- I’ll explain it later -- devotional magazine from YWAM along with our awesome backpacks, T-shirts, and other goodies), gathered our ever-important water bottles, sun screen, an extra sweatshirt (just in case), our Bibles, cameras, a bit of spending money, and put on our nice “church” shirt, and then we left for Pastor Nino’s church for the morning service a bit late at around 9:45am (“a bit late” only counts in Northern California, an only with some of us --- in Mexico we were probably a bit early in arriving at the church ten minutes after service was supposed to start --- we call it, “Mexico time”). With Naomi (one of our favorite YWAM Staffers) leading the way in the first van, our six vans and their intrepid missionaries headed down the highway to Maneadero and Pastor Nino’s church which sits about half way up one of the hills overlooking the Maneadero valley.

Upon greeting Pastor Nino at the church with a big “Como estas mi hermano?” and hug, Pastor Nino insisted we have our group sit down first and in the front seats and then let the rest of the church family who normally attend the service sit or stand as available (we wanted just the opposite, but ya gotta listen to the pastor!). Even with many of us taking seats, we still had a handful of our people standing in the back and outside to allow for the church family folks from the local area to have seats. I know God enjoyed the morning of the two cultures, two languages, and yet ONE SPIRIT!! It was totally awesome having Pastor Nino’s son Giese playing his guitar and sing, while Indra and Sarvia (his two daughters) also sang and translated on the fly as Pastor Nino and others spoke during the service. My words could never do justice to how the service went and how much of the Holy Spirit was present and in and around all that took place at the service, so please take the time to ask one of our outreach team members what the service was like. “Heavenly” is as close a word as I can get if I sum it up in just one word.

After service, we had a great 20-30 minutes of just fellowship and hanging around, and then we waited for Indra to FINALLY get in front of the church so w e could take pictures with the entire Nino family (Pastor Robe rto, Ada (his wife and true help mate in everything they do and a tireless homemaker and great example of a Proverbs 31 woman), Indra (oldest daughter and three months away from being a licensed nurse and engaged to a great YWAMer Bryan --- and actually she was teaching the little ones and we had to wait until she finished teaching to get her out front), Sarvia (the shortest spitfire translator we’ve ever had with an awesome heart for the Lord), and Giese (the baby of the family who plays soccer -- futbol -- for the university and only rolls one four wheel drive vehicle per year)). Many of us took some great shots during the photo-op, so check them out in the Mex06 Photo section of the web site.

With the photos done, we jumped in the vans and headed for La Riviera, a beautiful, all-white and tile-colored complex with a picturesque picnic area located in the back of the property. La Riviera is across the street from the big flag and used to be residence for the governor of the Ensenada area. It is now a museum and a location where you can rent the rooms for weddings, receptions, quinceneras (coming out party for 15 year old young ladies -- like a “sweet sixteen” party for sweet fifteen year old Mexican ladies).

We got to the parking lot in the back, exited the vans and realized that the picnic area was rented already for a big party. Well, flexibility is t he motto on any YWAM adventure, so we just sat in the garden area and ate lunch among the beautiful flowers, neatly trimmed hedges, and immaculate tile-worked benches and edging.

I took off with Pastor Nino in his yellow jeep to tag up with Pastor Juan Domingo at Horizonte (Calvary Chapel) just down the road a bit. Juan is an old friend and is the Pastor of Horizonte. Juan also is the Chaplain for the Ensenada Police Department and has a Christian TV show on several channels. Pastor Nino and I arrived at the church around 1:15pm and found a number of people still there, including Juan’s wife. She said he was already gone. I tried calling on his cell phone and home phone, but to no avail (Juan called me later and said he had to go to the hospital to pray for someone and that we’d tag up next year -- that’s the way it goes on these mission trips --- sometimes things work out and other times you just look forward to the next time).

Roberto (Pastor Nino) and I headed back to La Riviera and got everyone to clean up all of our lunch gear and get it back into the vans. With our cameras, an extra sweatshirt, and a bit of money, we walked over to the big flag and the fish market area of Ensenada Harbor. We had a great time looking at the hundreds of boats moored in the harbor, taking video and snapsh ots of the barking seal lions, smelling the myriad types of fish a nd sea animals for sale at the fish market, bartering with the many vendors hawking their wares, and simply walking and sharing with each other, enjoying the beautiful, blue-sky day.

Finding a good spot to sit down under a palm tree to protect us from the bombarding seagulls (ask YWAM Jason about the “blessings from heaven” donated to him from one or more of those squawking acro bats), Roberto and his wife Ada sat with me and we figured out the schedule for the week for the sixth grade group. Twenty minutes later, they departed for home and I went to get some video and snapshots of the scenery (check all the pictures out on the web site and borrow a team member’s DVD --- usually done about two weeks after we get back --- to see the video of the trip).

Meanwhile (I found out about this later), Kim Trueblood and some other women had to “hit the wall” -- had to put their hands against the wall, facing the wall, as they were “busted” by the local authorities for trying to feed the sea lions -- and we’ll have the pix on the web site to prove it. Kim can blame Kellye Johnson for telling me about this. (Okay, for you “will accept anything Mr. Bushey says” types, I was joking, but Kim will still hit me when she gets the chance.)

Everyone w as back at the big flag pole around 3:45-4:00pm per the game plan, a nd we walked back to vans and then five of the vans headed back to the base to do a little practicing of the dramas and then dinner, while I drove our van back near Horizonte on calles (streets) Riverol and Ocho. I had everyone wait in the van (besides Tim Leary who was the video man) as I went across the street and down 1/2 a block to talk with Jorge, the owner of the little cafe at which we’ll eat during Taco Night on Wednesday. I needed to tell Jorge to purchase additional meat and other supplies to get ready for our sixth grade team and YWAMers (about 50 total) expected to eat there around 6:00pm in three days. He remembered me from the previous years and said he’d be ready. As I said, “Hasta luego!” he replied, “Andele!” We’ll have a great time pigging out on his fantastic tortas, quesatacos, beef tacos, handmade tortillas and much more!

We headed back to the base and everyone practiced and then played until dinner at 6:00pm. We had barbecue sauce or teryaki sauce chicken, salad, and muffins for dinner and then had our first team meeting at 7pm. We talked a bit about what’s happened so far and then went over what will happen this week. Everyone has been having a great time.

At 7:45pm, we had a great worship session and message from Stephanie and really had the Holy Spirit working on our hearts and spirits. I won’t g o into details, but it was the Passion Play night. You’ll have to see the snapshots and the DVD to get the impact of the evening. Just ask any outreach team member about this night and get the scoop first-hand. It was a very blessed evening. His ultimate gift of dying on the cross should keep each one of us focused on the eternal picture every day, and I just felt very blessed and peaceful on my way back to our room. I slept great after soaking myself in the very real, and with this night, the very visual sacrificial love of our Lord Jesus Christ. I pray that my eyes, my heart, and my spirit will continually remember what the Son of God did for me some 2000 years ago. I hope that as you read this, you too will join me in celebrating His love day in and day out. Many thanks to all the YWAMers for their preparation and excellent program. The Lord is truly working in and through them.

We had a truly intense and spirit-filled time of prayer at the end of the program (Ralph and I had a real special time of prayer with one of the dads) and I just thank the Lord for having me here for just such a time as this. Thank you Jesus!!

Believe it or not, I actually hit the sack and closed my eyes around 11:30pm, pretty early for my traditional schedule here, but as I was sitting in my bunk typing up the se notes I would look up every now and then and had dddddddddddddddddd a cross the screen and realized I was too tired to finish. So I closed up the PowerBook G4 and crawled into my sleeping bag. I didn’t return to consciousness until 4:45am Monday morning.

So, for now, we’ll wrap up this daily log. Stay tuned for tomorrow’s notes. May our Lord fill your nostrils with the aroma of a thousand sea lions tanning in the Ensenada sunshine!!

Hasta manana!! -- Senor Bushey

DAY 3

Mexico Outreach 2006
Monday, March 20
Day 3

I think all of us went to sleep last night with a real excitement that Monday was going to be our first big day of ministry (evangelism for the Sixth Grade team -- YWAM designated as Team 1, and the Junior High house building teams that YWAM called Team 2, which really was Team 2A and Team 2B ). With our first night of noisy sleep (yes, the log-sawers were out in full force in all rooms), and with beds and surroundings different then our homes, many of us didn’t feel as though we got our normal night’s rest (but hey, it’s exactly what we expected.).

After on and off consicousness throughout the night, I finally decided I wasn’t going to really sleep much more, s o I got up around 4:30am, dressed in my “usual” sweat pants, l ong-sleeve shirt under with a short sleeve shirt over, two socks so I wouldn’t get blisters, running shoes and gloves, and the black with yellow-striped beanie cap. These were almost dry from hanging on the edge of the top bunk above my bunk throughout the day yesterday. The humidity here has been very high (and will probably be throughout the week).

I tried to be as quiet as I could so I wouldn’t wake Ralph or any of the other guys upstairs. Ralph normally gets up even earlier than for work each day, so he got up shortlly after I did and we were ready for our 5:30am run about 45 minutes early. I used this time to type some more of the daily logs, sitting on my bed, leaning against the western wall of our room.

Right at 5:30am, we walked out the door and found Brandi, a visiting P.E. coach from Arizona staying at the YWAM base, walking across the road from the YWAM base into our parking lot to meet us for the run. Tom walked down from the second floor apartment which he is calling home this week, and we had one more addition who showed up, our “Z” man Stan Suderow, our fearless Sixth Grade Team leader. It’s great to have so many people with which to run. The change in dynamics of a group going from three to five is amazing to notice. I was really jazzed to have so many nuts to go with me.

Because we ran to the flag the day befo re, we decided to head down to the beach from the base (maybe a couple hundred feet) and then head south along the shore for 20 minutes or so and then turn around and come back to the base. Right away, I found some cool things of which to take a picture or three, and I told the rest of the gang to keep going as I preserved for you and all of us the many sights and sounds of this foreign country on the school’s new digital camera (it takes great video and snapshots!). Check out all the pictures from the beach that day (I already posted them on the web site by the time you read this). More than a few times I had to stop and take a snap shot, so I was playing catch-up all throughout the run.

Tom and Brandi ran at a really good pace, while Ralph, Stan, and I didn’t want to show off by beating those two. Tom eventually kicked into his normal sub 5-minute mile pace (just kidding, but he really does go at a fast clip) and he pulled away from Brandi. Ralph and Stan were hangin’ out together, so I sped up and caught Brandi and stayed running at her pace and we had a great talk looking at Tom pulling away along the flat shoreline.

I was having a great time learning about Brandi’s job and what Arizona is like when she pointed out that we were at the 23 minute mark (ooops! we were sup posed to turn around at around 20 minutes -- I figured 20 miutes in one direct ion, and 20 minutes back would gi ve us around four m iles total if you figure we did a nine min ute per mile pace). I whistled at Tom who was now about three hundred yards farther along than we were, and he saw my “turn around” arm signals and started heading back in our direction. We turned as well, and ran towards Ralph and Stan still heading our way but about one fourth of a mile back towards the base.

Tom of course caught us in no time and passed us then Ralph and Stan, and then Tom was really moving back to the base. After Brandi and I caught up with Ralph and Stan who were also now headed north with all of us, we saw some more cool things of which to snap some pictures and the three of them kept running while I stopped and shot. I caught up with them and saw Tom pulling away in the distance and my competitive nature told me I had to catch him. I let the three know my goal and I took off at a pretty good pace (it felt like around a 7:00 minute pace --- let’s just say it was about a three-fourths sprint).

I could see my distance closing with Tom, but it just wasn’t closing faster than my increasing heart respiration rates. I pulled within a hundred yards of my prey, but realized that I might be able to catch him but most likely wouldn’t be able to walk for th e rest of the day, so my gray-haired head spoke to my competitive heart and said t o take the pedal off the metal and secede victory to that “old ” man. Hey, America, I just wanted to help the other three to not feel as though they were going too slow. You know how it is!

We made our way up the sand hill to the base and, of course, we had to do Ralph’s upside down push-ups (put our feet on the second step of the staircase which leads up to the game room and put our hands on the courtyard floor so that we are upside down at about a thirty degree angle). Ralph set the standard with 25 pushups, so of course Tom and I had to match that. Then, the Italian dynamo did three or four upside down pushups against the wall with the tiled cross. Tom held his feet as Ralph did a handstand close to the wall and then brought his nose almost to the ground and back up! It was totally impressive! I, being just a tad bit competitive, had to try it, so Ralph held my feet and I did three of them, too! I knew I was going to feel it the next day.

A quick shower and we were all back in the courtyard awaiting another scrumptious breakfast. Throughout the week, they had french toast, or eggs with biscuits and gravy, or eggs and hash browns, or some other great hot entree, and always had fresh fruit, three or four kinds of cereal, three or four kinds of yogurt, three kinds of juice , milk, tea, and coffee. It was great for someone like me who loves to have a taste of the entree stuff, but really enjoys eating granola with yogurt followed by a cup or two of cold milk and then a cup or two of mango, pineapple, or orange juice. Needless to say, no one on our team went hungry during this outreach due to lack of great food!!

After breakfast at 7:45am, as was to be our daily routine Monday through Thursday, we had free time until 8:30am when everyone was to find a quiet place around the base (inside the walls), where we could read our daily devotions and the associated Bible references noted in the story, answer the three or four questions which were posed to really get us thinking about the what the article said (and again, if I didn’t mention the main theme this year, it’s entitled, “DETOX” -- as in detoxifying our body, heart, and spirit from the worldy, fleshly JUNK, and filling it with the pure, clean, HOLY things from God).

Close to 9:00am, everyone had finished their devotion time and we headed through the arched tunnel from the courtyard, over the gravel parking area (winding between the dozen or so tightly parked vans), and into the worship area, another graveled, open-air, walled-in courtyard with the side towards the beach covered about one-third of the way with a corrugated steel roof to protect the stage and sound gear f rom the rain and to hang lights and video projection equipment.

Aro und 9:00am, we had a great time of worship (the YWAM worship team varied a bit each day, but we saw Ben and Adan on bongos, Mike on bass, Bryan on drums, Axel on electric guitar and both lead and backup singer, and Nathan on acoustic and electric guitar and both lead and backup singer). After worship, our crazy, bottled-bespeckled, white lab coat covered “professor” Nathan, quizzed the students on their devotions each day and rewarded those with correct answers with candy. Many times he rewarded those who didn’t even speak by throwing candy throughout the crowd! Our crazy professor yielded the stage to various YWAM speakers for a short message from their hearts each day. A prayer for our day’s service to the Lord - both for the two teams at the two houses and for the evangelism team visiting different migrant camps and schools, and we were ready to load into the vans for the day’s work.

The two Junior High house-building teams loaded up the tool vans, filled another van each with our team members, and headed off to the east side of Ensenada to bless two families. Our evangelism Sixth Grade team loaded into three vans and followed Pastor Nino in his bright yellow Suzuki Samurai to the Benito Juarez migrant camp just a bit north and down the hill from Pastor Nino’s church, and about 30 minutes south of the YWAM base just east of the main highway.

As I was with the evanglism team on Monday, I’ll give you my viewpoint of the outreach we did this day, while a week or so from now we’ll post Tom Lanning’s and Kim Trueblood’s comments about their team’s house and Bryan & Toni Walls’ comments from their team’s awesome time.

As we turned left onto a well-traveled but fairly smooth dirt road just south of the main set of agricultural fields in the Maneadero valley, we drove about a quarter of a mile and then turned right onto a very four-wheelish dirt road/path which winded through another field and ended up at el campo Benito Juarez. Little children, with tattered clothing and faces covered with dirt began to wave and chase the vans as we inched our way down the dirt roadway between two rows of wood, corrugated steel, cement block, tarped, and pallet-laden shanties. Following the pastor’s direction, we parked at one end of a large, flat open area where we would play soccer, sing songs, perform our skits, and hand out animal balloons, candy, clothing, blankets, and two brand new soccer balls.

The students began a very crowded soccer game, which looked more like a giant swarm of bees chasing around the bouncing, imported, white with blue stripe, leather-covered-bladder “pe lota de futbol” -- soccer ball made in Pakistan (all the soccer balls and ball p umps were purchased by the bake-sale, fundraiser Fifth Grade cl ass at Neighborhood who also wrote on each ball “Jesus Te Ama”). Some of the adults got the sound equipment ready, while others helped with the drama presentation shirts and supplies, while the rest either played soccer, hugged some of the Mixtecan Indian children, or took a gazilliion pictures of all the activity.

At the leading from Pastor Nino, Mr. Suderow’s troupe sang their songs and performed their dramas. Meanwhile, I led a handful of the adults back to the vans where we pumped up over 100 balloons in anticipation of the students creating animal balloons for the local children. With the presentation completed, some students played soccer again while the rest came down to the vans and began to make animal balloons. As most, if not all the adults were animal-balloon-making-challenged, the students handed the creations to the adults who then ferried the gifts to the migrant farm children. I turned into the taskmaster once again and hurried everyone into shaping allthe balloons as the local child ren couldn’t get enough of the hand-made cre ations. With the bag of balloons emptied, Pastor Nino gave the two soccer balls to two children (one boy and one girl with instructions for them to share with the entire ca mp) and we loaded up the vans for our ten minute journal up to the church just on the hill overlooking the camp.

Once inside the van, I tol d everyone (via the walkie-talkie) to use the Purell antibacterial hand cleaner as was our routine after every camp, and especially before eating. We arrived at the church, Pastor Nino unlocked the wrought-iron gate, and we entered the church’s fenced-in area to enjoy the lunch provided by the YWAMers in the large ice chest.

With help from several of the adults, we set up a feast of these little round -- either beef or ham -- sandwiches, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches (but with no peanut butter -- it was accidentally left out of the ice chest), little bags of Mexican-style potato chips, red and green apples, cupcakes, and water. While some adults were inside the bottom floor of the three-floored classroom structure attached to the back of the sanctuary (I had the honor of working with a group that I brought with me some eight years ago from Calvary Chapel of Dixon and we poured the cement floor for this bottom level), other adults and the students were outside playing with a handful of local children who had entered the church area and were playing on the equipment and in the dirt courtyard.

We had one of the parents pray for the food and we all filled our bellies! This was a very nice place to eat lunch as we had tables and benches to enjoy our meal, but more importantly we had clean, tiled restr ooms with which to answer nature’s call. The ladies especially enjoyed this rare comfort.

After a sweet time of fellowship, the taskmaster (that’s me) ordered everyone to follow Pastor Nino as he provided a tour of the upper two levels of the classrooms (accessed from the east side of the sanctuary building -- you had to walk all the way around the building, along a narrow path between the building and the chain-link fence located just about a meter from the outside wall of the sanctuary, and up some cement stairs). The first floor room had a different wall color on each of the four walls and had hundreds of different colored hand prints slapped on the walls from floor to ceiling. It was adorable!

Back out the door, down the short hall, and up the stairs found us in a brightly colored room with a window view of the Pacific Ocean and the hills overlooking La Bufa Dora about 10 miles to the west. Throughout the classrooms, our team could see familiar Neighborhood desks and chairs donated by our school about six years ago. After everyone had their questions answered by Pastor Nino (with Ruben Ramirez’s translation assistance --- thanks Ruben for taking most of the translation load off of my shoulders during this outreach week), we all headed down and into the vans for a twenty minute trip just a bit south to the La Fuenta de Vida (Fountain of Life) Project on a hill overlooking the south end of Maneadero.

At the Fountain of Life property, Pastor Nino showed us the work that has been done with the $75,000-$80,000 which has already been donated ($15,000 or so came from a group in Washington State, while the remaining $60,000 or so came from Neighborhood, Grace Fellowship, and individuals from our school families and related friends). I have sprearheaded the fund raising efforts in the States, and hope to be able to raise the remaining $350,000 or so needed to complete the project. Please pray about helping with this and, if led by the Holy Spirit, please send in your donation to Neighborhood (with “FOL” on the memo line of your tax-deductible check), and we’ll forward 100% of the funds directly to the Fountain of Life’s association bank account.

Ruben translated for us once more as Pastor Nino provided a history of the project and the vision for the future, and then the pastor answered the group’s questions. After some time of fellowship and some more directed questions from a few of the dads very interested in supporting the project, we all followed the pastor and prayer-walked the 50 meter x 100 meter (approx. 50 yard by 100 yard) perimeter of the project’s property. Two workers continued to work hard, throughout the time we were there, in one of the trenches in the area where the big main b uilding will eventually be located. There were literally tons of roc ks piled up (they had been excavated when the grading company had bulldozed the land into the three levels of the project). It was a great time of informing the team about the project and doing very significant service in the spiritual battle for this very worthy project. The Fountain of Life will provide Christian schooling for 1st through 6th grade Mixtecan migrant farm children who have migrated here from the Chiapas and Oaxaca areas of southern Mexico. A fee will be charged (based on ability to pay) for attending the school. In addition to the school, the project with include work shop areas, office areas, kitchen and store rooms, a large conference/cafeteria room, and upstairs sleeping area for traveling work teams such as ours. The work shops will be used to train the Mixtecan adults in building furniture and creating clothing to sell to the surrounding communities. The project hopes to end the viscious cycle of poverty experienced by these illiterate, poor, and ostracized group ofindigenous Indians. Pastor Nino’s vision is slowly coming to fruition. May the Lord provide the finances needed!

We loaded up the vans and contined east along almost-four-wheel-drive dirt roads, down the steep hill and through the village k nown as Las Flores (the flowers), aptly named for the many colorful wild flowers growing on a ll the surrounding hills. Pastor Nino has founded another church in t his village and we drove by the new building (it has been there for two years now). We continued south and then back west around some foothills to get back to the main highway heading north back to the base. Shortly up the road, we stopped and I jumped out of the van and into Pastor Nino’s car togo with him to purchase the food and supplies for the “barbacoa” (barbecue) we had planned for the next day. The vans headed back to the base as the pastor and I headed to Smart & Final to shop (yep, they Smart & Final, Office Depot, Home Depot, and many other of the major chain stores here in the Ensenada area).

Pastor Nino and I had a great time buying enough hot dogs and hamburgers to feed 180 people, with all the fixin’s -- mayonnaise (the Mexican people LOVE mayonnaise), ketchup and mustard (only a small bottle because the Mexican people DON’T love mustard), punch mix, plates, cups, napkins, chips, barbecue charcoal, and lighter fluid. We also needed plastic spatulas and those plastic mayonnaise spreader spoon things but they only had expensive stainless steel versions, so I told the pastor we’d borrow those from the YWAM base. I videotaped the entire adventure (watch the DVD), and we e ven got in trouble with the store owner (I think he thought I was using the video to compare pri ces --- we don’t know), but in my usual crazy attitude, I simply explained (in Spanish) that I was just filming for our mission group, that he was a pastor, so it was okay. The manager stayed right with us until we had paid and exited the store. The total price came to just about $180 --- an average of $1 per person (not a bad price for a great barbecue lunch!). I provides the pastor with the funds (donated by Neighbhorhood Christian School).

Back at the base, we had another great dinner and then the commitment program in the evening. This was a time for each of us to commit our lives more fully to God’s plan for our lives and what He would have for our futures. Again, it was another very spirit-fil led evening (check out the pictures and DVD video and ask a team membe r about the night).

We all hit the sack knowing th at we had done a very full day’s worth of good works for the Lord!

DAY 4

Mexico Outreach 2006
Tuesday, March 21
Day 4

Well, the two new-comers were too sore or too tired or didn’t set their alarm clocks or had all three excuses and wimped out on us, so it was back to the Three Amigo s for our morning run. It might have also been the fact that it was raining, but HEY, if the U.S. Ma ilman can deliver mail in the rain, then three Neighborhood Mexico Outrea ch 2006 missionaries can SURELY brave the elements! Tom and Ralph were not totally thrilled about heading out into the steady drizzle, but like true-blue buds, they followed the nut case and we ran down to the beach and once again to the flag pole. By the time we were heading back from the flag pole the rain had stopped and we could see broken clouds and blue sky to the west. THANK YOU LORD FOR ANSWERING PRAYERS AND FOR STRETCHING OUR FAITH!!!! (Each day throughout the week we had great weather during the day. What a blessing to not have to deal with a rainy day!)

I decided to do something today which I had never done in the last two years since we had the Junior High and the house building aspect of the outreach. I had Stan wing it with Pastor Nino and I went with one of the house building teams!! I’ll let Stan comment on what happened with the Sixth Grade evangelism team for Tuesday and Wednesday and I’ll fill you in on our day at Tom and Kim’s house.

On the way to the house, we stopped by Office Depot and Tim LeFever purchased an Epson C67 Color Inkjet printer, cartridges, and paper. He wanted to get a Poloroid camera to hand out pictures to the local children as we took picture s of them (all the pictures we took we couldn't hand them a copy). I told time we could do the same wi th my laptop and a printer. So we now had the ability to hand the kids pic tures of themselves right there at the house project (I would use the generator for electricity). After the 15 minute delay at Office Depot, we were off to the project.

As this team had already had one full day on the job, when I got there, the house had four outside walls up with the one divider wall inside, trusses hanging over the open ceiling area, and the family had apparently painted the outside walls after the team had departed the day before. I had a great time helping to put up some drywall (John Carson was a good teacher), cutting and hanging the eaves (YWAM Bigtha was a good teacher), and putting up the paper on the roof (YWAM Jason was a good teacher).

The family provided lunch for all of us and BOY was it delicious! We had tortillas and steak (cut very thin and then barbecued and chopped up into small pieces) which just melted in my mouth. Don't tell anyone, but I snuck a few pieces of the meat from the guys cooking (it helps to look crazy AND speak Spanish!). I also had to go to the store and get some Mexican sodas (Sarvia was whining about not having any --- hee, hee), so I ran to the store real close to the house site but they only had Coke and Pepsi. I asked the owner and he said there was another store “abajo” - “down” and pointed down the road. I walked d own the dirt road about 100 yards, turned left down another hill about 100 ya rds, and then turned left and hiked back up the hill to get to another neighborhood tienda (store). They had quite a few kinds and flavors of Mexican-labeled sodas, so I bought a good variety for $1,080 pesos ($10.80 U.S. -- the exchange rate was actually 10.62:1, but every store we went to just rounds it off to 10:1). My mistake, though, was when I chose some glass bottles as they want you to drink those on site so they can return the bottles to their suppliers. The store owner was kind enough to find the same flavors I wanted in plastic, so I was on my way back to the house building location.

Back at the ranch -- er house, I handed out the sodas (told parents to share with their kids) and gave Sarvia and Bigtha first pick. Everyone was pretty well done with their lunch when I got there with the sodas, but there was plenty left for me. The family had really gone all out for this meal, and invited their local cousins and friends to join in the feast. Half-way through eating my lunch, Bigtha - the "Jefe" (Boss) said she would let me finish eatings since I was so late, but everyone else had to get going as we had to get working again. It was a very hard, dirty, but totally awesome day!!!

We w rapped things up around 5:00pm, loaded all the tools, and headed back to the base. The other house buildin g team didn’t get back to the base until almost 7:00pm, so we accused the m of cheating (staying late) just to beat us (it worked as you’ll find out in the next logs!).

Back at the base, a nice hot shower (and BOYdid we have an excellent shower in our room --- killer pressure and hot enought water to boil an egg!), another great dinner, and then for the evening program we prayed in stations for the seven areas of the Mexican culture (government, education, media, etc.). It was a very sweet time for everyone.

Sleep came easy after the physical labor of the day. Thanks LORD for stretching all of us!

DAY 5

Mexico Outreach 2006
Wednesday, March 22
Day 5

The dry morning was a welcomed break from the soggy, rainy mornings we had met so far. Leonardo, the security guard on duty in our parking lot each night, greeted us in his usual friendly manner. We had become friends and three separate nights I had given him a couple of my power bars as I didn't need the snacks (there was ALWAYS too much food for us to eat). He totally enjoyed them and it was a blessing for me to provide this totally unexpected blessing for Leonardo . I pray that the Lord will bless him. I didn't make the time to talk to him about the Lord. As I think abo ut it now, bummer, a missed opportunity! I don't know if he was a Christian or no t. Lord, please use someone at the base to witness to him!

Los tres amigos decided to run south this time along the dirt road that fronts the "Juventud Con Una Mision" (Youth With A Mission) base. We ran as far as we could go and then headed down the hill to the beach and headed south again along the water line. We went out 20 minutes and then turned around to head back. As we were coming back, I noticed an old smashed car half way up the beach and had my two companions get inside for a picture. Tom began climbing in the passenger door window opening (no windows were left) when Ralph found out that the driver door would open with a little effort. Ralph climbed in first and then Tom got into the driver's seat and began to shut the door. The car was very small and they were both very cramped and as Tom started to shut the door I shouted for him to not shut it too hard as they would get stuck in there! Tom closed the door gently and we got a great shot of them "driving" the wreck. Tom got out and I climbed in and then, like a dummy, I closed the door pretty hard and it pinched my leg against the steering wheel. Ouch!! It wouldn't budge open -- I had jambed it closed. Okay, okay, so I told Tom to go ahea d and take the picture and then try to open the door. With Tom pulling on the outside, and Ralph kicking out on the inside, they tried but it just wouldn't budge! I had to wriggle my Ralph on top of Ralph, spin all the way around, and then crawl out with Tom helping me not to fall face first into the sand. Ralph then crawled out as Tom and I helped to pull him out. What a great adventure! And yes, if you haven't figured it out yet, I am crazy.

Back to the base, 35 upside down pushups th is ti me (Ralph is going to kill us!), hot showers, and devotion time, anothe r great breakfast, and ministry work for the day.

If you remember from yesterday's log, Tim LeFever had purchased a printer, extra cartridges, and paper so we could take pictures of the kids at Tom's house site and give them a picture of themselves to keep. I didn't have any time, though, to set up the laptop and printer, as I was too busy helping with the house. So, I got with Stan and let him know that I would work today again with the house team and meet up with the Sixth Grade evangelism team at Pastor Nino's house for lunch. He was a real trooper and had no problem with that. TWO DAYS OF HOUSE BUILDING FOR ME -- WOW!

Well, we didn't really have much left to do (shingles on the roof, trim work, installing lights, etc.), and we were SO FAR ahead of Bryan's group (yes, we had an informal competi tion going), that I didn't think the team needed my labor, so I created a make-shift table with two saw horses, three 2x4s, and one half sheet of plywood. I set up the PowerBook G4 and the new p rinter. I could tell right away that the sunlight would be tough on me seeing the screen, so I called Brady over and decided to take advantage of her construction genes -- uh, not Levis but her chip-off-the-old-block genes from dad Earl (who couldn't be with us this year -- both Earl and I were bummed, but it couldn't be helped).

Brady enlisted a few helpers and created a three sided shade screen for me out of scraps of siding. They nailed a small block to the bottom of the screen and to the table top. It worked great! Tooltime dad Earl -- you have at least one offspring to follow in your footsteps!!

Once set up, I had Amanda Frontera use my digital camera, take three or four shots of the kids, moms, and babies and come back to my "photo lab" and I downloaded the pictures. I created a template in AppleWorks with "Jesus Te Ama" (Jesus Loves You) under the photo and "de tus Amigos de Neighborhood, Dixon, CA, USA, 22 marzo 2006" under that. I printed it out in full color on bright white copy paper, and then Amanda handed the picture page to the person in the picture. This caught on very quickly and we soon had a Sears potrait studio going full swing. Moms would take a picture w ith their baby, get the printout, and then ask me if it was okay if they got their other children for another p icture. It was totally awesome to see their beautiful smiles as they received probabl y their first picture ever and many of them maybe the first time they had seen their faces! We don't see many, if any, mirrors around. I don't think many of the kids have ever had any idea of what they looked like. You can see their intrigue and excitement each time we flip the camera view screen backwards so they can see themselves as we record their face. Such a blessing from so small and simple a task. Needless to say, I didn't get time to help with the house building as I was processing the pictures all day.

We were supposed to be done and over to Pastor Nino's house (about 15-20 minutes away from the house site) before noon, but we didn't get done until around 1:15 pm. We loaded up all the gear and headed to Pastor Nino's. On the way, we found out that Bryan's team had finished their house and got to Pastor Nino's right around noon, had already finished eating, and were waiting for us to get there! WE LOST!!! AHHHHHH!! Oh well, I think Bryan had hoodwinked us in pretending to be so far behind us. Bigtha blamed me for not helping and just taking pictures all day. Hey - I wanted the students to put on the roof and besides, I was working for Sears all day!!!

As usual, we had a TREMENDOUS FEAST at the Nino's. Mi hermana, la Siniestra Ada, did a great job again. (Okay, "Mi herman, la Sini estra Ada" means, "My sister, the Sinister woman Ada" and it's an ongoing tease I have with Ada as over the years Roberto, Ada, and my wife Maria, and I have developed a real close relationship with each other and I tease Ada about being mean all the time to Roberto and me. It's a real fun way of teasing her and both Ada and Roberto laugh about it. They are both very special people and very dear to my heart.)

Always the task master, around 2:00pm I had everyone get into the vans as we needed to head to Bryan's house first (since they cheated and won, hee, hee) to dedicate the house to God and hand the keys to the family. At the house, both the Sixth Grade and the Junior High students sang a few songs with Mr. Suderow's lead and guitar playing, and then the Junior High students performed their drama. They all did a great job!!

Bryan Walls, the building team leader for this house, then prayed for the house to be a house dedicated to the Lord's service and protected with the Lord's blessing, and he presented a Bible and the keys to the house to the Brisal Martinez family -- Omar (dad), Grisel (mom), Uriel (boy 11 yrs.), Alan (boy 8 yrs.), Nayeli (girl 6 yrs.), and Luis (boy 6 mths.). They all did an awesome job for the Lord and the family was in tears with appreciation. I set up the laptop and printer again, and quickly made a couple of copies for the family to keep. (W e'll have Bryan add his notes later.)

After many hugs and goodbyes, ou r group of close to 70 (Neighborhood team of 53 and YWAMers), loaded into the vans and headed to the second house. The Junior High Team again peformed their skit after all the students and Mr. Suderow sang a few songs. Tom and Kim then presented the Bible and keys to the house to the Ojeda Leal family -- Jesus (dad), Isabel (mom), Jahaziel (boy 12 yrs.), Brayan (boy 6 yrs.), and Isabel is three months pregnant. Jesus was holding it together until he entered the house and saw the beautiful table set, water cooler, valences, and more inside his brand new house. Jesus began to cry, as did most everyone else, and it was a real sweet time for everyone. We all prayed for the house, for the family, and that God would use this house to be a light to the community.

I printed out pictures for the family and gave Jesus and Isabel a hug as we departed for the base and Taco Night out.

We had about 30 minutes to shower, change, and get on sweatshirts for a great evening at our favorite small cafe in Ensenada. Because of the schedule for the evening, we had the Junior High team go with the YWAMers to a different restaurant, while the Sixth Grade team was blessed to travel to downtown E nsenada (about 10 minutes away), turn right onto Riverol and down to 8th Street, where we parked along side of Horizo nte (Calvary Chapel of Ensenada), crossed the street, and walked up about 50 meters to El Zarpazo, a small sidewalk cafe owned by Jorge (the guy who makes the tacos so fast). One of his employees who has been there since day one is Karen, who makes the tortillas and toasts the bread. He had two other employees there when we went this time.

With Adrienne (the YWAMer who had been with the Sixth Grade team on their outreaches all week) tallying up the items ordered, Ruben Ramirez translating the orders from our group to Jorge, and me handing out the sodas, we were able to serve all 30 of us in less than 45 minutes (a new record, but I really haven't been tracking how long it takes). We all ate either sitting down on the few stools available, standing up near the counter, or sitting against the wall on the sidewalk. The food was terrific as it always is, and Jorge, Karen, and the two other employees were gracious, fast, and enjoyed the extra business, I'm sure. We were done eating so fast that we all walked across the street and we purchased an ice cream bar dessert for everyone, all 30 of us, for only $12!! What a deal, and what a great dinner out!!

Adrienne and Ruben settled up with Jorge, the group walked back to the vans, I crossed over the street back to El Zarpazo and brought Adrienne and Ruben their ice cream bars, we headed back to the vans and joined the others on our "stuffed" journey to the YWAM base.

We had enough time back at the base to hit the restroom, get an extra jacket, and then over to the worship center for the evening program. YWAM showed a video about the Invisible Children project (visit the site at: http://www.InvisibleChildren.com). (Neighborhood doesn't endorse this effort or organization at this time as we haven't been able to verify its legitimacy yet. We have contacted them and if you are interested in helping this effort, then we recommend, as with all organizations to which you are thinking of donating funds, that you contact them directly yourself and thoroughly investigate their organization.)

The documentary was VERY moving. I was crying as I addressed our group after the movie, thinking of my two girls and wife safely tucked in bed in Dixon while these kids in Uganda are living in deplorable conditions each night to get away from the rebels trying to kidnap them and force them into fighting for them against the government.

We wrapped up the night with a prayer and some of us hung out for 15 minutes or so while others went directly to our rooms to get some sleep for the night. The Holy Spirit has a way of working on our hearts wh en we've been warn down from a day of ministry and little sleep the whole week. It was a very special time for me and m any others as well.

DAY 6

Mexico Outreach 2006
Thursday, March 23
Day 6

Well, our last full day here in Mexico began with a crisp, cold morning displaying God's majestic hand as we had clear, star-filled skies. Each morning on this outreach we were expecting to get rain all day, and yet God was so merciful and parted the clouds each day to allow us to bless the people in Ensenada and Maneadero. It was so cool!

I got special blessing as Stan joined Tom, Ralph, and me for our last morning run of the outreach. We had Leonardo, the apartment security guard take a photo of us before we began the run and then we headed down towards the beach and took the new road which parallels the coast line and meets up with the main highway towards the big flag and downtown Ensenada. We dodged the muddy areas and big puddles in the firsr section, enjoyed the concrete portion for a while and then had to wind our way through manure piles, muddy sections, and mud puddles between rows of broken down stables of horses, cows, and goats. We did a few balancing acts to avoid more obstacles and finally made it to the concrete sidewalk and blacktop roadway of the main highway near the large cement factory and the Mexican Navy base.

It was so cool that I was ab le to finally convince the guards at the Navy base to take a picture with us! I have trie d every year for six years and they always said, "No!" We made it to the big flag, did 35 of Ralph's slanted pushups, and headed back to the base. It was a terrific start to a terrific day.

Another healthy and filling breakfast (pancakes, syrup, fruit, yogurt, milk, and orange juice filled my belly to the brim) gave us the energy to do our final day of ministry and fun. YWAM was once again flexible and very supportive as we changed the program and had a quick worship time so we could leave promptly at 9:00am in order to get to the Libertadores de America private Christian School (a school for very wealthy Mexican children in grades 1-8).

After losing Stan again (he took his van and passengers on a scenic view of Tijuana again, hee, hee -- and just kidding), we went into the wrought iron fenced in area of the school and had the Sixth Grade group do their program with the younger students in the concrete basketball arena while the Junior High group played soccer with their Junior High students in the dirt soccer area. After the Sixth Grade presentation was done, both groups swapped locations and activities. The director of the school was very appreciative and invit ed us back next year. The students (from both schools) had a great time, and Marshall even gave away one of his shirts to a student from the school! Many exchanged emails and hope to carry on an email pen-pal relat ionship with these students from Ensenada.

The Libertadores students had to get to class, so we had to get moving. We loaded up and headed to Los Olivos, on the way to La Bufadora. After some 20-30 minutes of driving south out of Ensenada, past the YWAM base, we arrived at the camp called Los Olivos and found another mission group already there with several vans. I asked Pastor Nino how far away that real poor camp was out in the foothills and he said it was only about 15 minutes away, so we headed to Los Olmos. After driving across two dry river beds (last year we had to ford the small rivers -- it was great excitement), over a long bumpy dirt road, we came upon a grouping of wood, metal, and tarped shacks known as Los Olmos.

Pastor Nino rounded up the ladies and children, and the students sang and performed their program while the adults played with the children, took pictures, and helped with the sound system. I went on a photo safari around the camp and came upon a den full of a half dozen puppies. One puppy, apparently a bit older as it was much bigger than the other puppies, came out of the underground den as if on duty to guard the others. He was a whit e fur ball full of licks and play, and had a great time with several students and me. I even found a cool old license plate for a souvenir!!

One lady allowed me to come into her home to video it for the DVD. Ten people lived in her 15' x 10' house, and she had been living there for about four years!! These people live so far below our standard of living, yet they had huge smiles on their faces, the kids played with our kids and had great fun, they enjoy the love of Jesus as Pastor Nino comes here often to share and teach about Jesus and another pastor has a little building at this camp and Mision Semilla -- Seed Mission --- his outreach to these people and others in the area. Every one of these camps get you thinkin' about how spoiled we are and how grateful we should always be to our Lord for having us born as an American -- but for the grace of God ...

Too soon did I have to be the taskmaster and round everyone up with my whistle (I couldn't talk much by now as my voice went out almost completely, but I to whistle doesn't require your vocal chords, so I could still whistle quite loud). We gave our hugs, said our goodbyes, and drove away looking at the kids and moms holding our animal balloons, "The Greatest Story Ever Told" booklets, candies, and some soccer balls. Their waves and smiles blessed us immensely.

We had one more stop before contuing on to La Bufa Dora --- to see my longtime friend Natividad - well, Trinidad, but I'll tell you about that in a minute. We traveled down a few more bumpy roads with Pastor Nino racing Bryan Walls (it was Bryan's fault Rick, h e's the one who came up and began revving his engine) and then Pastor Nino decided he REALLY wanted to win so he hit the pedal to the metal in his Suzuki Samurai and we were going about 50-60 down this dirt road and then he decides to try sliding side to side for some more fun! Now, I'm crazy, but that's when I'm driving! Nah, it was totally cool -- we almost died! (Just kidding Maria!)

So I get on the walkie-talkies and tell everyone about the short visit coming up with my 96 year old friend. Everyone was to stay in the vans except a few people with snapshot digital cameras, one video camera, and then another dad with a couple of sandwiches, some apples, and some chips.

We arrived and nothing much had changed from the last year, except he wasn't sitting in his chair. "Did he die?" was my first thought, and then, "Is he not living here anymore?" I thought, but that didn't make much sense as he has been living here for 51 years. Just then he came slowly walking around the corner o f the doorway, inching his arthritis-crippled feet and legs along ever so slowly. I had on my frog hat and I asked him if he remembered me. Oh yes, he said, the crazy man with the hat! He came out of the doorway and sat down in an old chair just in front of the door. His almost toothless mouth grinned a s he remembered me and his smile widened even more when he saw Pastor Nino (who comes here abo ut once every two or three months). One of the dads brought some food and another found a plate inside the old shack-of-a-home and we set it down on the wooden table just outside the door.

I asked Natividad to say hello to everyone for the video, so one of the dads was videotaping and I said, "Como te llamas?" and he said, "Trinidad" -- I said, "Como?" (What?) and he said, "Trinidad" -- I looked at Pastor Nino and I said, "I thought you told me his name was Natividad?" Pastor Nino answered, "That's what I always thought it was!" So Pastor Nino asked him again his name, and sure enough, it was Trinidad! So these past seven years I have been calling him Natividad and really it's Trinidad! Wow!

He said he was doing good, wanted us to stay longer, but again the schedule wouldn't be denied, so I shook his hand and told him I wanted to see him next year at the same time. He said okay my friend, and we waved goodbye. What a character!! He'd be perfect for an artist to paint. I hope I can make the time to just sit with him with a video camera and interview him about his life. What stories he could tell!

And just in case you are wondering, with his inability to get around much, he has a friend come by every week to bring him food and water. He has no family, but he did h ave a little black and white kitten to keep him company now. His little two room house is chuck f ull of everything you can imagine. I really want to just spend an entire day talking with him and looking at all the things he has collected. One day soon Lord? I hope.

We wound our way out of the property, up and over some more bumpy dirt roads, and finally hit the main paved road which leads to La Bufa Dora. The beautiful water way on the right, now very low with boats stuck in the mud, the old shacks and some contrasting very new and modern-looking large houses, and the cities and buildings of Maneadero and Ensenada in the far distance north of our location, gave us an incredibly picturesque voyage to our souvenir-shopping destination.

Slowing every so often for the very distinct speed bumps in one section of the roadway (I think there were five bumps), we had time to look at the roadside vendors hawking their goods. Many jars of varying olives, peppers, and other vegetables, coconuts, and more were displayed in neat rows while other foodstuff hung from the wooden display rack. If only we had more time to just pull over and browse ...

Another 10-15 minutes and we reached the summit and began heading down the far west side of the hil ls to overlook the deep blue Pacific Ocean, white rings of fish nurseries could be seen not too far off shore, and then the hou ses and stores of La Bufa Dora and the small bay could be seen. It is truly a beautiful location. M ake sure you look at the many pictures we took.

We ate lunch with the many seagulls trying to steal what they could, with one successful hand-held piece of food taken right out of a hand! We didn't have the camera rolling though, bummer! The ocean waves below crashing on the rocks, the blue sky, the warm sun, the smell of the sea air, the excitement of shopping for souvenirs, the full week of ministry behind us, all of our outreach teammates sitting with us eating our last YWAM lunch of either peanut butter and jelly or turkey/ham sandwiches, chips, apples, and water ... it just doesn't get much better than that! With the taskmaster's instructions for kids to stay with at least one adult and to return to the vans by 4:15pm, we all headed off to the many store fronts, cafes, and the blow hole area at the point. We all had a terrific time bartering down the prices, looking for that unique gift for our family back home, taking lots of pictures, and just enjoying the great cultural atmosphere of many foreign colors, smells, clothing, crafts, and food. Everyone was really good about getting back to the vans on time, and we loaded up, made sure the walkie-talkies were turned on, and began our journey home.

I was in the first van to begin the 45 minute journey home, armed with the digital video camera which I would use as a microphone to record the walkie-talkie testimonies. What I told everyone is that I would start with the first van, hold up the digital video camera only for recording their voice (not the video) and hold the walkie-talkie on so that the other vans could hear everyone say that one thing that was really special to them this past week. When all the occupants of the first van were done, we all stopped, I jumped out and ran back to the next van in line, repeated the scenario, and to the next van, etc. By the time we got back to the base, all 53 team members had the opportunity to say their testimonies (some didn't want to say anything, and that was cool). It is one of the special things I like to do on this outreach. Check out the DVD for all the testimonies.

Back at the base, we had time to rest, change, and shower even if we wanted, and then our final dinner of huge hamburgers, french fries, and all the fixins plus fruit and juice. We got totally full and then had our closing session with some great jumpin' worship and then the presentation by YWAM staffers to us of framed pictures of our teams and the leaders were able to say a few words about the week. It was a great time, but the fun wasn't over yet.

I grabbed the microphone and told everyone to hit the restroom, grab an extra sweatshirt and a flashlight, and then wait in the cou rtyard as we were all going to the beach for an evening bonfire ("fogata")! Within five minutes, we were all heading down to the beach. I had previously driven the scrap wood-filled tool van to the edge of the road next to the beach. We had many volunteers to carry the wood from the van to the middle of the sand, away from any structure so it was totally safe to make a HUGE fire! And God blessed us with a star-filled sky and a warm evening.

Our boyscout, Stan Suderow, did his traditionally good job at starting the fire by rubbing together two sticks (okay, he used matches and a click lighter), but the fire was going great in no time. Meanwhile, Ruben, Pastor Nino, Donald Lee, and several other men joined me neat the water line as we readied the immense fireworks. Pastor Nino was like a kid in a candy store and lit many of the fireworks. We had a mortar-like tube, where we dropped in these round balls with a long fuse and lit the fuse, ran back about ten feet, and these things shot into the sky about 300 hundred feet and either exploded with a loud bang or into beautiful fireworks like you'd see on the 4th of July! It was great! The fireworks were so immense and so high, that one of the big ships out off the shore actually turned around, shined their floodligh ts on us to see if we were a ship under distress. Once they realized we were just crazy Californians having some fun, they turned o ff their light and headed towards the harbor.

With the fire blazing so hot no one cou ld get very close to it, some brave souls toasted marshmellows and some very nice adults helped make smores. Boy did they taste great! Mr. Suderow rounded up the evening with some great songs and a prayer and around 10:30pm we headed back to the base for our final night's sleep at YWAM Ensenada.

It was a totally perfect end to a very blessed week.

DAY 7

Mexico Outreach 2006
Friday, March 24
Day 7

With my body's clock set to wake up around 5:00am, and the anticipation of a busy day heading hom e, I was wide awake by 4:30am, so I got up, took my final, very warm, high water pressure E nsenada shower, got dressed and began packing. By 5:15am, my roommates and runnin g mates Ralph and Tom were also awake, so we turned on the light for the downstairs and began to get our gear together and the room cleaned up. If you saw the pictures of my bed and all the socks and clothes hanging on the edge of my bed to dry, you know I had a LOT to pack. It went by quickly and I had my luggage ready to roll into the courty ard at the YWAM base across the street before 7:00am. This was great as I had time to challenge Brad Swart, Corin's dad, to one more ro und of ping-pong games. Brad has been the first person in seven years of outreaches to be able to beat m e! It was great playing with him. I was totally sweating by the time we finished just before breakfast at 7:45am --- we must have played 15 games! Thanks Brad!!

We had another fantastic breakfast --- this time lots of fresh donuts, fresh fruit, several kinds of cereals, yogurt, juice, milk, coffee, and tea. After breakfast, we did one final check on the rooms, spent time sharing email addresses with the YWAMers, took final pictures, said our goodbyes, and then we were blessed to have Ben come with his shofar (ram's horn from Israel) and we all went down to the beach to receive Ben's very special send-off blessing.

In his usual, humble way, Ben shared from his heart and commanded us to "Go! In the Name of the Lord, Go! And do His will!" and much, much, more. At the end of his great blessing, he blew the shofar! What an awesome way to send us home. Thank you, Ben.

We headed north to San Diego and we stopped at the mini-mart just past one of the toll booths for one last restroom break --- "No drinking ANYTHING students! We won't be able to go to the restroom for possibly four hours as the border crossing might take a ver y long time," ordered the taskmaster. We all got back in the vans and watched the scenery pass by along the windy, hilly ocean-front high way as we sped toward Tijuana and the border.

The border crossing went without a hiccup an d we all arrived at the Southwest terminal at the San Diego Airport. We checked in our luggage, received our bording passes, and after lunch at McDonalds, we all headed to Gate 4 and waited for the first group's departure. To alleviate some of downtime, we played a game of "Telephone" -- with a paragraph story that said, "This is a game from Chris. You have to whisper in the next person's ear: He wants to wear Mr. Suderow's boots, but he has to steal a torta sandwich with pickles to bribe Mr. Suderow. Please tell the next person on the list." After 51 people (Mr. Suderow and I were filming the game) had passed along the above, starting with Mike Dybdahl and ending with BethAnn Vidmar, the end result was, "Stolen torches." It's amazing what is lost in the communication link!! It was a fun game and ended right when the first group had to board the plane. We said our goodbyes and the second group of 12 went to Gate 9 to await our departure.

Kathy Vidmar cursed me by letting me help her with her Suduko game book and after two games I was hooked! Clara LeFever and I stole Kathy's book and did several more during the flight. Our flight was delayed a b it, but we finally got on and were on our way to Sacramento. After about forty minutes of sudoko, the week long excursion, the hum-hum of t he plane's engines, the warm air, and my tired eyes all added up a sleepy brain, so I put down the puzzle boo k, tipped my hat down, and rested my eyes for a bit. We were greeted by some families and a wet Sacramento from recent rains. Some of our luggage had been sent on the earlier flight and was waiting in front of the baggage service office. The rest was on the turnstile and everyone had their bags, so we all headed home.

What can we say, but "Thank YOU LORD for a great outreach to Mexico!!!"

We're already looking forward to next year! Stay tuned!! And check out the literally thousands of pictures from the outreach. Remember to serve the Lord today and this week!

---- senor Bushey

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