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Date: Sun, March 23
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Buenas Tardes!
It's now 5:31pm on Sunday, March 23, 2003, our second day of Neighborhood's Mexico Outreach 2003! All 52 missionaries from Neighborhood, plus our gracious YWAM hosts, arrived at the YWAM base in Ensenada safely yesterday. Our journey took us from the Sacramento airport to the San Diego airport, then five YWAM vans delivered us safely across the border, through Tijuana, to Ensenada.

After completing 52 visa forms at the border (whew!), we only had one minor hiccup in that Mr. Suderow's van decided to take a scenic tour of downtown Tijuana (they jogged right when they should have jogged left). No problem though, all were calm, and those walkie-talkie's we brought came in handy. "Where are you guys?" "Oh, we're just taking in the sights and sounds of Tijuana!" With directions from a local citizen, a few more turns, and we all caught up with each other at the first toll booth on the way to Ensenada.

Saturday was a day of just getting to the YWAM base, enjoying the beach a bit, and then a great first meal (fantastic guacamole!), an orientation meeting, and then a team meeting to let all know what was ahead for the week. A bit of exploring the YWAM base, play time, and then everyone in the rooms at 10:00pm, with lights out at 10:30. With many excited hearts and minds, it was difficult
to get to sleep until sometime after 11:00pm.

Today we had a very scrumptious (and nutritious) breakfast (lots of cereals, yogurt, fresh fruit, milk, juice, muffins, bagels... well you get the picture!). After a very sweet time of devotion, we packed the vans and headed off to Pastor Nino's church.

Well ... gotta run -- going to eat out at a great cafe tonight! More to come...stay tuned!!

En el Nombre de Jesus,

Senor
Bushey

Sunday, March 23, 2003
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5:00am came around very early as my watch beeped me awake. Pastor Rost, Allison’s dad, wanted to get up to study, and Tom Lanning, Mark Frazier, and Mike Morgan all agreed to go running with me, so we were all up before sunrise. With Mr. Rost heading to a quiet corner of the base to study, I snuck into Kody’s room (one of the YWAM Directors), borrowed the keys to unlock the gate, returned the keys, and the four musketeers were off and running! We headed up the dirt road, turned left at the “Six” sign, and ran on the main roads to downtown Ensenada to touch the big flag pole in the center plaza area. It was a great morning to go running, and we all ended the four mile round trip a bit winded but in great spirits for our first morning in Mexico. One of the advantages in getting up so early is that we always got hot showers! (We had only one shower per room, and some rooms had quite a few bodies, so it was a challenge to schedule everyone for showers. We had a rule: turn on the water, get wet, turn it off, shampoo, turn on the water, rinse off, turn the water off, wash up, turn the water back on, rinse off, and shut the water off. Everyone did this and we all managed to get warm showers, even though they were very quick.)

Everyone was so excited, we had no problem getting the students and adults up this morning and ready for breakfast at 7:45am (see the email note sent on Sunday which describes our breakfast on Saturday). After breakfast on this beautiful sunny day, we had our first quiet time of devotions from 8:00-8:30am. YWAM provided us with a great carry bag full of cool stuff at our Saturday orientation meeting, including a t-shirt and the devotional book we used the entire week. The theme for the week was “burn: set the world on fire” -- you know, have the Holy Spirit “burning” within your heart, and have a desire to set the world on fire for Jesus! The devotional laid out a great analogy of the physical properties of fire and how we can relate that to our spiritual walk with Christ.

After devotions, we retrieved our coolers full of lunch supplies, our portable PA system (speaker, microphone, and CD player), our change of clothes for after church, a little money for some possible souvenir shopping, our Bibles, and our ever-present water bottles. We all loaded up in seven vehicles and headed to Pastor Niño’s church in Maneadero, about 25 minutes south of the YWAM base.

With the initial confusion about which vehicles to use, and some last-minute “I forgot this!” - we arrived at Pastor Niño’s church just a tad after the service started, but for Mexico, it was right on time. As many of us as could fit crammed into the small church, sitting alongside of the local church members. Pastor Niño’s message was on trusting the Creator of the universe, especially in these times of war (the Iraqi war was in full swing by now). The Sixth Grade class sang “Poderoso” (a Spanish song which the church had already been singing, so everyone knew the words), and the Junior High group performed “The Champion” drama (“El Campeón”) for the church. Pastor Niño adeptly tied the drama and the message of Jesus being the Champion into his sermon on Christian’s trusting the one and only Champion!

After the main church service, we had a little time to play with the children while the adult church members continued with a Bible study class. The Sixth Grade group sang some of their songs, did the “Chicken Skit,” and then, with Mr. Suderow’s urging, our students tested out their Spanish with the local children. We all had a great time. After a few more minutes of changing out of our church clothes and into more comfortable walkin’ around clothes and shoes, we loaded up the vans and headed for the Riviera - a museum and cultural building across the main road from the big flag pole - to eat lunch at the lunch area in the back of the complex.

All 52 of us invaded the lunch area, and a very humble caretaker gladly accepted our $5 for the use of the picnic area. We ate turkey, ham, and peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, with chips and cookies for dessert, and water to drink. After a relaxing time of fellowship and playing on the playground, a quick pit stop utilizing the free restrooms, we loaded up once more for a quick parking job a bit closer to the harbor area. We walked several blocks to get to the fish market, and there we had our senses dazzled by the wide assortment of fresh seafood, many small cafes, vendors hawking all sorts of souvenir-type items, and the sounds of sea lions barking in the harbor.

Many students were chomping at the bit to put their bartering skills to the test, so we spent some time looking at the wares in the many sidewalk shops adjacent to the fish market. I had to prove a point with one vendor, and I managed to talk him down from $25 to $10 for a two-person, nylon hammock (I had to get one to sleep in for the week!). Many others claimed victory in bartering down to special deals on a bunch of cool stuff.

At only a buck a bag, we were able to purchase a whole mess of small fish to throw at the seagulls, pelicans, and seals begging on the rocks just below the retaining wall along the harbor. Some of us, and we won’t mention any names Kyle!, turned the fish from food into little missiles aimed at specific hungry targets. Several of us also enjoyed some great ice cream at only 8 pesos ($8 Mexican = 80 cents U.S.). We all had a great time shopping, eating, and feeding the animals. We met back at the flag pole at 4:45pm, walked back to the vans, and then took a quick drive down Calle Riverol.

Some eight blocks from the flag pole is Horizonte, that’s the name for Calvary Chapel of Ensenada. I have known Pastor Juan Domingo for the past twenty years or so, and I just wanted to show the outreach team a big church in Ensenada, so we all drove down the street to the church. No one was at the church and the gates were all locked, so we went back to the base to relaxe a bit before our dinner night out.

Just before 6:00pm, we grabbed our jackets and headed back to the downtown area and parked in front of Calvary Chapel on Calle Riverol, between 8th and 9th streets. We all got out and walked the two blocks to my favorite eating place, El Zarparzo. This is a little sidewalk cafe owned by a guy named Jaime, whom I met four years ago. Every year we’ve stopped by this little cafe, which has only three or four chairs and a small counter area, to enjoy some authentic Mexican tacos, tortas, quesadillas, and more! It’s a dual blessing: we are blessed to eat some scrumptious food prepared by our lightning-fast chef Jaime, and Jaime is blessed to receive an entire day’s wages in just a couple of hours. YWAM spends from $150 to $200 for the dinner -- we all get a whopping 30 pesos to eat -- that’s $3.00. But for $3.00, we all filled our bellies with great food and ice-cold sodas. Fat and happy, we headed back to the base just after 8:00pm.

Arriving at the base, I yelled at everyone to take a quick potty break and head on down to the beach for our first-ever bon fire! Planning ahead, we had purchased marshmallows, galletas (Mexican graham cracker-looking type of crackers), and Hershey’s milk chocolate bars at the Smart and Final earlier in the day. With some metal hangers hijacked from our rooms, and some scrap wood provided by the YWAM base, we all headed the few hundred yards behind the base to the beach.

With some instructions for a preemptive safety inspection by our parents, we cleared a wide area of the sand just about directly between the water and the YWAM building. Mr. Suderow used his Boy Scout techniques to widdle some kindling, and with a lighter supplied by a YWAMmer, we had our little fire going. Mr. Suderow led us all in some great worship as Tom DiFrancesco, Mike Morgan, and I fed the fire. By the time we were done with the worship, we had ourselves a gigantic bon fire. A perfect addition to our devotional theme for the week!

One thing about bon fires, they sometimes get so hot you can’t get close enough to make smores! I drew a line in the sand around the fire and set a rule that only adults could go inside the ring. We had several brave souls who sacrificed the hair on their hands and forearms, facial burns, and heat stroke (just joking Mom!), to cook our pink and white Mexican marshmallows extended out on hangers attached together to stretch out the six feet distance (a minimum approachable distance to our awesome inferno!). Everyone had a great time munching on smores, eating burnt marshmallows, chasing each other in the sand, watching the sparks from the fire trying to set Pastor Niño on fire, worshipping our Lord in song and fellowship, and I know the Holy Spirit touched our hearts with the vivid picture before our eyes of a raging fire illustrating how our hearts should be in relation to the Spirit and our attitudes in reaching the lost for Christ. What an awesome blessing the entire day, and a great finale with the bon fire. It was getting close to 10:00pm, so we herded the young ones up to the base, while some of the parents and YWAM staff stayed behind to enjoy the fire without all the hullaballoo of the students. Within a half hour or so, most of us had our teeth brushed, our sleeping bags unrolled, and we were ready for bed.

Kyle Trueblood and I had purchased hammocks at great prices, so naturally we had to figure out a way to put them up in our room so we could sleep in them! With some black nylon rope from our faithful YWAM staffers, we strung our hammocks diagonally from the bunk bed posts. Kyle had some sort of crinkle material on the outside of his sleeping bag and he tormented all of us in our room the entire week. Every time he moved, the sleeping bag rubbed against the nylon strands of the hammock and made a sound very similar to a rain stick getting tipped up and down all night long! I was still warm from the fire, so I thought I’d sleep in the hammock with just my pillow and PJs on. Around 1:00am, I woke up freezing so I grabbed my sleeping bag and tried to get in the hammock with my slippery sleeping bag without waking anyone in the room. Fifteen minutes later, I was in the hammock with at least half of the sleeping bag around me, and I called it good enough. (I only lasted two nights in the hammock, and then got smart and enjoyed the last few nights on the thick mattress on my bunk!). Kyle, unfortunately, enjoyed his hammock and he tortured us the entire week.

(Updated 4/14/03) Monday, March 24, 2003
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After my first night in the hammock, with only half a night of sleep, it was good to get up and get going on our first full day of ministry. Once again, the four musketeers went running at 5:30am on another beautiful day, this time up the dirt road, across the main road at the “Six” sign, up another dirt road, across the main highway, and up to the small street on the hill where the Internet Café is located. We hung a right, looking at the nice houses and businesses along the way, went south for a bit, back down the hill all the way to the beach, headed south on the beach for a bit, and then u-turned it on the beach all the way back to the base - just over 30 minutes today.

Before most of the team was awake, I found a quiet corner of the balcony overlooking the ocean, and went through today’s devotions in the YWAM booklet entitled, “Passion Redux” - a great discussion on the word “passion” which was defined as “intense emotion compelling action.” Do you have that passion for God that you would sacrifice everything you have to follow Jesus?

7:45am came around quickly and we had another scrumptious breakfast. At 8:30am, while the students and parents found their quiet spots around the base to do their devotions, Mr. Suderow, Mrs. Trueblood, Mr. Lanning and I went to our first Team Leaders meeting with the YWAM Directors Stephanie and Kody and with the leaders from the Oregon and Idaho groups. We discussed the game plan for the week, what was going on today, and then we prayed for our teams in asking God to go before us and to watch over us this day.

All three groups at the base met at 9:00 for a time of worship and prayer to begin our week of ministry. It was great to see and hear the YWAMmers praising the Lord through their playing of drums, guitars, keyboard, and saxophone, and singing the upbeat worship songs in leading us to the throne room. We also were privileged to hear the testimony of a different YWAMmer each morning. It was great to hear how our Lord had touched their lives, continues to work in their lives, and how they were serving Him with all their heart. I hope all of our students and parents were listening and that a life-long change would occur in each of our team members.

With a great foundation to start our day, parents and staff gathered up our ice chests, tools, water, and presentation gear and loaded up the vans. The Junior High team led by Mr. Lanning and Mrs. Trueblood, headed off to begin construction of the house (Mrs. Trueblood will provide a daily narrative for the Junior High Team). Pastor Niño arrived and the Sixth Grade team headed to Smart and Final to pick up the supplies and food needed for the barbecue scheduled for our lunch today.

In front of the freezer section at Smart and Final, Ada, Pastor Niño’s wife, said, “No, we need about 100 meals for the people in the camp,” - not the 70-80 that Roberto thought would be needed. When we added our team to the number, we estimated that we should purchase 100 hamburgers and 50 hot dogs for today’s lunch. Loading up on the buns, plates, napkins, and juice mix, we headed to the checkout counter and then on to the camp.

Located just below Pastor Niño’s church, the camp we visited this morning is the location where Pastor Niño’s church has purchased several lots for a future Christian school. Last year, we had a time of praying for this land, asking the Lord to provide the funding necessary to purchase these lots. Our prayers were answered as Pastor Niño announced that the land was now purchased and that we now need to pray for the funding for the school buildings and for the operating capital.

We arrived at the camp and immediately were met by the beautiful smiling faces of the Mixteca people living in this colonial. Several dads went with Pastor Niño up to the church to retrieve the half-barrel barbecue unit (which was previously donated to the church when we came down several years ago), while the rest of the team walked through the camp inviting everyone to join us for the dramas, songs, and for the great lunch! We had a few glitches this morning, though, as I had to drive back to the base to get some of the soccer balls we wanted to give away, and Pastor Niño left the lighter fluid for the coals in his car and we couldn’t find it. Not to be hindered by minor details, Ada and some of the parents used some local twigs and paper to get the coals ready, and by the time I got back, they had the coals ready and the hamburgers and hot dogs were sizzling in no time.

Our Sixth Grade missionaries did a great job with the dramas and songs, touching the hearts of all of us with their message of the Gospel. Afterwards, they played soccer with the children, held the little ones, and tried out their Spanish. Utilizing the YWAM interpreters, the students and parents were able to get to know the kids and adults from the camp. In no time at all, the announcement came from the cooks that they were ready to begin serving lunch.

Pastor Niño led us in prayer, asking Jesus for a blessing for the people of this camp, our outreach team, and the food we were about to eat. We then lined up the children and adults and began serving the hamburgers, hot dogs, chips, cookies, and punch to the hungry, smiling Mixtecan people. In order to make sure we could feed everyone at least one serving, we drew a heart on everyone’s hand who received a meal.

It was great to see our students standing in line with the little ones, helping them get their lunch and then helping them to sit down and begin eating. In addition, some of the students and many of the adults were preparing the plates and keeping the line moving.

It’s hard to describe in words, but to really get a flavor of what conditions these people live in, I wanted to give you a few details of what this particular outreach was like. Most of the children and adults in this camp had dirty faces, dirty hands, dirty clothes, and no wonder, as there is dirt everywhere! Although we did actually see some grass throughout the week at a couple of houses in the towns, in these camps there was mainly dirt play areas and dirt floors. This camp below the church was no different. The children and adults sat down in the dirt and tried to keep the handful of dogs from stealing their food before they ate it.

One little boy, probably only three to four years old, was ready to take a bite of his hot dog when a little beige dog snuck up and grabbed that hot dog right out of his hands! With the boy’s meal replaced, I noticed the canine thief was in heaven as he munched one of the best meals he’s had in a long time.

In checking with the cooks, they noted that they were getting to the end of the stacks of hamburgers and hot dogs, yet I looked at the line and it was still pretty long. Ensuring that we didn’t have any “double-dippers” yet (we checked for those hearts on the hands), we had to make the food stretch. We began to cut the hot dogs and hamburgers in half for the smaller kids, and we kept going, praying that we’d have enough. As with the accounts in Scripture, God provided enough to feed all of the people of this camp.

Remember the conversation between Ada and Roberto at the Smart and Final, well, we planned to have enough to feed the people at the camp AND our team. We ended up serving between 160-170 meals (we made it stretch at the end by cutting the meat in half), and we had nothing left for our team to eat! Praise the Lord! It was great to know that God provided just enough to fill the bellies of these special people, and it was a blessing to me to see our students and adults willing to hold off eating until after all the people in this camp were fed and then not complain in having to wait for a bit to get their own lunch. We had a contingency plan built in for our lunch, and we all cleaned up the equipment, the trash, and loaded into the vans.

Enroute to our next camp, we stopped by a restaurant on the main highway to enjoy some more tacos, tortas, quesadillas, and sodas for our team members. The food here was a bit more expensive than at the sidewalk cafe on Sunday night, 70 pesos versus 60 pesos for a taco, but the tortillas were larger and the chef put more meat on these, so it was definitely worth the price. The tortas were also larger and had much more meat. I settled up with the owner of the café, and we loaded up the gang for our short trip to the next camp.

While we were eating, a couple of local entrepeneurs had cleaned the windows on our vans (without asking us if we wanted it done) and now were negotiating their fees with several parents. The men who cleaned the windows did a good job (especially since they didn’t have any water), so we gave them a couple of dollars for their efforts.

Special Friend — Natividad, 93 Years Young
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On the way to our next camp, one of the highlights of this trip, for me at least, was our quick stop at Natividad’s house. I met Natividad almost five years ago on my very first visit to the Maneadero migrant camps. On that night, the church group I was with had a barbecue dinner for the local Mixteca migrant workers, and we set up the dinner just outside of Natividad’s house (check out the online picture of Natividad and me standing in front of his house this year). Natividad was dressed then pretty much as he was on this trip, with a hodge-podge of clothes, looking like a swashbuckler from the 1800s.

On this trip, Pastor Niño and I learned that Natividad was 93 years old this year, although he can’t remember the date of his birthday, but he thinks it’s in May. Many of the people in these camps don’t celebrate their birthdays. One day I’ll ask Pastor Niño why that is. At any rate, it was great to see my old friend again. He told us his legs are getting very bad with arthritis and it’s hard for him to even get up and walk a bit on cold days. He still smokes, but both Pastor Niño and I urged him to give it up. Not only is it continuing to ruin his lungs, but he really can’t afford the cigarettes and matches.

We were blessed to be able to give Natividad some big bags of beans and rice, which will help him out with meals for at least a few weeks. As he gave us a tour of his tiny two room home, he told us that he’s lived in that house for the past 10 years. He made some candy holders (like ashtrays) out of aluminum cans and he gave us a gift of a dozen or so for our team members. That is so typical of these people, even though they have very little, they always want to bless others with gifts.

Well, we had to keep on our schedule, so I had to say, “Adios!” to Natividad. I made him promise that he’d see me again next year. As we shook hands he took a look at my crazy frog hat and U.S. flag bandana and said some choice words with his big smile of missing teeth. He’s a special person and I pray that he’ll come to realize his eternal need for a personal relationship with Jesus. Pastor Niño has talked with him on numerous occasions, but Natividad keeps saying, “No puedo” -- “I can’t” accept Jesus as Lord and Savior. Please join me in praying for this man, that soon he will open his heart to the Lord of Lords, and King of Kings, to live with Him for eternity!

Once again on the road, we went down some dusty, dirt roads in between the many fields of crops growing everywhere in the Maneadero area, and came to the camp called Los Olivos -- which had many olive trees. There were over 100 families living at this camp, in tiny houses lines up in rows of corregated steel walls and roofs.

One of the first things we could see as we walked into the fenced-in area, were the many outhouses in one area, each with a lock on it. Apparently these were made by the families, put up in the same general area, and locked to prevent too many people from using one outhouse to the point where it didn’t have time to leach out in the ground. Many of the outhouses in these camps are made by simply digging a hole approximately three feet wide by about four to five feet deep. A wooden “house” structure is built and placed on top of the hole, and a plastic toilet seat is mounted over a the wooden hole cut out of the bench inside the outhouse.

Another interesting thing to see was the clothing wash area. The owner of the camp had built a series of cement wash basins, with the ridges on which the people could scrub their clothes to get them clean. For most camps, this was a pretty up-scale camp.

Some of our team walked through the camp inviting everyone to the dramas and songs, while some played with the kids, and others set up the presentation gear. Sarvia, Pastor Niño’s daughter and one of our interpreters, and a couple of our students played “Pato, Pato, Ganso” (“Duck, Duck, Goose”) with some of the children from the camp. When the game was finished, our Sixth Graders shared the love of our Lord through songs, skits, and testimonies. These young missionaries from Northern California, in their “Cristo Te Ama” t-shirts, did a fine job as ambassadors for Jesus to these Mixteca Indian people living in this poor, migrant farm camp on the outskirts of Maneadero, Mexico.

Several of our students handed out some of the soccer balls to the children with whom they felt a connection during the outreach. The soccer balls had “Jesus Te Ama” written on them (we had 32 soccer balls in all to give away during the week - our Fifth Grade students had earned money and purchased them prior to our departure). In addition to the balls, we gave out a bunch of candy and Gospel bracelets.

It was getting late in the day, so we had to pack up and head back to base. Back at the base, we had just enough time to relax a bit and get ready for another scrumptious dinner at 6:00pm. After dinner, we had a time of worship, a short message from one of the YWAM staff, and then a surprise intrusion ... I won’t spoil it for next year, but I’ll just say that the presentation was VERY impressive the rest of night. Comments from students, parents, and staff illustrated the impact that the message had on all of us. You’ll have to see it for yourself!!

Tuesday, March 25, 2003
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Went running again to start the day - this time we headed south on the beach for 19 minutes and then turned around and headed back. It was a tough run as the tide was high and we had to run in the soft sand. In addition, Mark Frazier got into his coach mode and made us do 150/50s - 150 steps running, 50 walking, then 150 again, etc., and we did this for five sets at the end of our run! We were wiped out, but it was great for us weekend warriors to push ourselves.

Pastor Niño had set up a presentation at a Christian school in Ensenada for this morning, and we had to be at the school ready to go by 9:00am sharp! Usually appointments in Mexico are set and then broken consistently as time doesn’t carry with it the stress factors present in most of the United States, especially in California. So this was unusual that we had to be so prompt, but the private school location was the cause of the time schedule.

Due to the time schedule, we had to eat breakfast and then get our stuff ready with everyone in the van by 8:25pm. We had to do our devotions real quick and we missed the worship time. Then, we missed something, or should I say, someone else!

I had talked to Kim Trueblood on Monday to let her know that Pastor Niño was adamant about being on time for this school presentation. Kim told me that she wanted to get in another practice with the Jr. High group on their drama “The Champion” before we left in the morning. I told her it would be cutting it close, but that she could probably get in 15-20 minutes of practice right after breakfast. BUT, I told her, we had to leave right on time so she couldn’t be late in getting to the vans.

Well, in my hustle and bustle to get everyone else in the vans on time, with Pastor Niño standing by looking at his watch, I thought Kim was in one of the other vans. I check my watch and it was 8:32am, so we closed the doors and headed to downtown Ensenada. When we arrived at the “Libertadores de América” Christian school (grades 1-8), several parents asked where we were to set up for the presentations. I told them to check with Kim. Several inquiries later, we found out that Kim never made it in the vans! It was too late now to go back and get her, so we had to wing it without her. The bummer was that she had spent Monday with the house-building Jr. High Team and today she was supposed to spend the day with the Sixth Grade Evangelism Team. Boy was I gonna hear about this later (and I did!).

This private Christian school was very nice, with a walled-in campus located on one of the paved roads leading out of downtown Ensenada on the northeast side of the city. They had a small dirt soccer field, a cement basketball court with cement bleachers, and nice classrooms. All the students were in very smart-looking school uniforms, with the boys in ties and dress slacks, and the girls in a matching skirt outfit.

In talking with the administrator and the principals of the primary (grades 1-6) and secondary (grades 7-8) schools, we were told that the staff keeps the students working fairly hard on a consistent basis, so we received permission and had time to play a game of soccer after the initial presentations and songs for the secondary school students (even though they were in their nice uniforms). The stage was set, so we had to have an international fútbol (soccer) game: Mexico vs. the U.S.! I told the Mexican students to show no mercy! The game was on and we even had some of our parents helping out in the game.

Mrs. Miller and Mr. Rost gave 120% effort as they, and other parents along with our Sixth Graders, went head-to-head with these very talented athletes from Ensenada. Many of our students have also played soccer on teams and they did a great job in representing Neighborhood and the United States! Mexico scored the first goal, but shortly after, Mr. Rost, playing goalie for our team, saved a goal attempt and then threw the pelota (ball) the entire length of the field right over the head of the opposing goalie and into the corner of the net for a goal! What a feat! The game was now tied 1-1 and things were heating up. We were also running out of time. I grabbed the microphone and began commentating on the match, with a time countdown of only minutes to go! Shortly after, the talented footwork of several of our Mexican competitors provided another goal for Mexico. It was now 2 to 1 in favor of Mexico, and time was running out. Though our team gave it their all in the final few moments, we came up a little shy and Mexico claimed the victory in our first Mexico vs. USA Mission Outreach International Soccer Match!

Many pats on the backs and high fives went around and then the students swapped email addresses to keep in touch throughout the year. Many of the Mexican students visit the Internet cafes for access to email and the Internet. Most cafes charge about 150 to 200 pesos ($1.50 to $2.00) for one hour of Internet access time. Most of the time you get a good computer and the speed is fairly good, but on several occasions I had to completely retype my emails as the computers locked up. Still, it is interesting that among a relatively poor area, Ensenada has Internet access for a good price. Most cafes are constantly busy.

Well, I digress. Back to the story. We had to say, “¡Adios!” to our new friends in the Secondary School as we were on a time table to share with the students in the Primary School. We packed up our gear and walked around the wall to the cement basketball court and set up our presentation equipment. We had a few minutes to walk around and chat with the Primary School students and then on to our presentations, songs, and gifts.

The students, Mr. Suderow, and the parents helping out with the sound equipment and the skits all did a fantastic job again! The Mexican students thoroughly enjoyed the entire program, but especially the Chicken Skit. The balloons were a very big hit at the end of our time, and again we exchanged some emails and took tons of pictures (check them all out on the web).

We provided six brand new soccer balls to the school administrators, with the blessings of Jesus. They were very appreciative and welcomed us back again next year. We hope that the Lord will bless their work through the Christian school and that they will be a beacon of light on the surrounding city of Ensenada.

With the time schedule of getting the students back into class, we had to clean up and leave around 11:15am. Pastor Niño led us all to a park on the other side of the city, where we had some moments to unwind, relax, play, and stall for time as Pastor Niño’s wife Ada was making lunch for all of us and she wouldn’t be ready until about 12:30. The park was beautiful, shady, and had lots of swings, huge slides, teeter-totters, and more for all of us to enjoy. It was a good break in an already hectic day of ministry.

I was starving by now, so I bugged Pastor Niño and we loaded up the vans and headed to his house. He lives on a hill overlooking a valley with a view that ends looking at Ensenada bay many miles in the distance - truly an awesome sight. Like many homes on the east side of Ensenada, though, the Niño home sits on a small lot with nothing but dirt everywhere. He has a half dozen or more dogs surrounding his house, tied up in strategic locations to prevent the thieves that are ever lurking from burglarizing his home again. Before he had the dogs, his home was broken into more than once. One of the dogs has a cute puppy for the students to hold, another very friendly and active german shephard has a contract as a center for the 49ers (yes, it hikes football-sized rocks between its legs!), and the infamous “Perro Terrible” (“Terrible Dog”) has a story all its own (see below).

Also, as with most houses in his neck of the woods, he has a wooden outhouse. I was privileged to help place that outhouse several years ago on a visit with some men and teens from the church I attend in Dixon. At that time, Pastor Niño had dug a hole approximately one meter wide (about three feet) and almost two meters deep (about five feet), but he didn’t have enough guys around to help lift the VERY heavy outhouse to place it over the hole. It took six to seven men to heft that bugger onto it’s home, where it is doing its job very well! You have to remember to pull the door closed with the string and hook that string over the nail or the whole world will be able to watch! It’s an experience, to be sure.

Ada’s lunch was, as always, totally delicious and all of us were stuffed to the brim with chicken, rice, some kind of sauce that we put over the chicken and rice, flautas (taquitos), burritos, and both corn and flour tortillas -- with mantequilla (butter) for me! Ada and I have an ongoing inside joke ever since I first met them, I have always told her I’d only eat lunch at her house if she made me flour tortillas and if she had butter to put on the tortillas! The first year we did this, Pastor Niño stopped off at a store on the way to his house. I asked him what he had to buy, and he said the butter for my tortillas! I found out that butter is pretty expensive, and something they don’t usually have around the house. So each year I have my wife pick up the megapack from Sam’s club, we freeze it for a week, and then I carry it down with me in my luggage and give the Niños a whole bunch of butter (with the ulterior motive of me receiving my buttered tortillas!).

I couldn’t leave Ada’s lunch story without talking about Pastor Rost’s valliant battle with the Perro Terrible (“Terrible Dog”)! Actually, the old and very unpredictable chihuahua (who “smokes” discarded cigarettes) allowed Steve to pet her, but then she bit Shane’s shoe! Of course, Shane provided a little teasing to provoke the minor attack. Pastor Rost’s history with this future taximdermy project (ask Steve about the trophy that will be on his desk) went back two years, when this “nice” little doggy took a nip out of his ankle, apparently without any provocation (although I have reservations about the validity of that!). I’ve heard that arrangements have now been made between Pastor Niño and Pastor Rost as to what will happen upon the demise of this viscious canine. You’ll have to get the inside scoop for this story from Pastor Rost himself (and ask him about the award we presented to him at the YWAM base -- hee, hee).

Blessings, it seems, are poured more on our team each year than what it seems like the Mexican people receive from our visit. This was illustrated in an awesome way this year as, just before we left his house, Pastor Niño presented me with an awesome 3D hand-carved, painting of Moses and the Parting of the Red Sea (done by a local famous artist). In addition, Sarvia, one of his daughters, gave me a gold rimmed coffee cup from Madrid, Spain, which she purchased for me while on her DTS this past year (DTS stands for Discipleship Training School, a required course for all Youth With A Mission - YWAM - missionaries). Roberto, Ada, Indra, Sarvia, and Giese are such gracious and humble people, and my constant prayer is that God will continue to bless them abundantly in all they do.

Fat and happy, we loaded into the vans and headed to a migrant camp just south of the YWAM base, a few miles south of the casa-hogar (house-home) called El Reino de Los Niños (Kids’ Kingdom), some 45 minute drive from Pastor Niño’s home. The weather was warm with clear skies, and we were all ready for a siesta (nap) after that great lunch and a long drive, but duty called and we all prepared for more ministry as we turned off the main highway to a bumpy, dusty, dirt road.

As we avoided the major rocks and ruts, our vans pulled to the side of the main dirt road running through the camp. There wasn’t any space real level in the center of the camp, so we just set up for the presentations in the middle of the road, angling downhill to one side as our audience of children and adults from the camp watched from the edge of the roadway, leaning up against the side of some small houses and a rickety fence.

While some parents and staff were getting ready for the dramas and songs, some of the children and parents went around inviting everyone living in this camp, called Colonial Durango, to come to the presentation, while others began playing soccer with some eager contestants. I have to congratulate the students for being such troopers, that even while they were tired and worn out, they stepped up to the plate and performed well in their ministry work and play with these precious Mixteca Indian people. We left these people with our prayers, our blessings, lots of hugs and smiles, various shaped balloons (hats, dogs, swords, and more), yo-yos (a gift from Jeff Plake of Yo-Yo Extravaganza), brand new soccer balls, candy, bread and oranges (both leftover from our lunch that we didn’t eat from YWAM because we ate Ada’s great lunch).

As the sun was getting very low in the sky, many weary missionaries drove up to the YWAM base just after 6:00pm. We ate a terrific dinner of mash potatoes, chicken, gravy, corn, rolls, and more -- just great food! We had a time of corporate worship with the Jr. High Team and the other teams from Oregon and Idaho, and then we had the Commitment Service, a time for each one of us to quietly, in a one-on-one time with our Lord Jesus Christ, just thank Him for what had happened thus far on the trip, and for an opportunity for all of us to make a commitment to our Lord and Savior regarding our relationship with Him, our Christian walk, our service in the mission field, or whatever the Holy Spirit put on our hearts. From around 8:30pm to a bit after 10:00pm, the worship hall was reserved for anyone to just hang out and be with Jesus, listening to some great worship music from the CD player, and with a backlit wooden cross behind a curtain, providing just the right lighting and atmosphere to really forget about the world for a while and just give it all to the Creator. For those who wanted one, YWAM had provided some beautiful cross necklaces laying on the steps just below the cross set up on the stage.

I have to confess that this is my favorite time of the entire trip. Every year, when I am weary from the constant go-go-go for the past several weeks in preparation for this trip, and then 5:00am to 11:00pm full throttle while in Mexico, I find that I am broken both mentally and physically enough to allow the Holy Spirit to really take hold of my heart and to just get that much closer to my personal Lord and Savior Jesus. It is a great time to pray for everyone on the trip, and to intercede for family and friends who couldn’t be with us. It is also a time to refresh and get motivated even more for my service to our awesome God. I treasure this night each year, and I hope to have many more special evenings in the future - God-willing!

Per instructions from the YWAM staff, the entire base was quiet from about 8:30pm on, so no matter where you were on the base, it was a great time and place to reflect on what God has for each one of us. What a blessed time!

Seeing as how I spent $10 on the thing, I went for a second night in my hammock. This time, I had Alex and Kyle hold the sleeping bag and hammock still, while I slithered into both, and then had them tie the top of the hammock over the sleeping bag so I couldn’t fall out and the sleeping bag couldn’t slip off. Snuggled up like a bug in a rug, I drifted off to sleep while Kyle annoyed us again with his rustling and bustling in his hammock and sleeping bag.

Wednesday, March 26, 2003
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The intrepid runners were at it again, 5:30pm sharp, heading to the Flag Pole downtown one more time. We had one less runner this morning, however, due to a little stomach flu that hit him for a couple of days. We could tell from the run that today would be a hot one, as the skies were clear and the morning was already warming.

Breakfast, devotions, worship, loading the vans with lunch and presentation gear, and getting our water bottles, hats, sunscreen, and chapstick was now routine and went without a hitch. Pastor Niño met us once again and led us south to the Maneadero foothills, to a camp called Las Flores, aptly named for beautiful rolling hills covered in the green of fresh wild grass and patches of bright, yellow flowers all nourished by the downpour that occurred the week before our visit. It was great seeing all the green hills, not usually the site we see at this time of year. Most of Ensenada and the Maneadero area is considered high desert, very dry, and usually we see only sage brush and dry dirt on the hills.

Las Flores was a little village nestled in a small valley between the rolling hills just east of the main highway. Because it is located behind these hills, there was very little breeze, and it was very hot for being a springtime day. The location for our presentations was perfect, not for any physical conveniences, for there were none (no shade, bumpy, hard clay ground, some mud areas, and hot), but because we were standing on the two lots that Pastor Niño’s church, Iglesia Del Nazareno Maranatha, located some twenty minutes away, had purchased for a new church for these local people! Talk about the Macedonian church in the New Testament, the people in Pastor Niño’s church have so little, yet what they have, they gladly provide for these brothers and sisters (and future brothers and sisters) in the Lord to have a home in which to worship! Hallelujah!! They hope to break ground for the church by the end of the year. Let me know if you want to help finance this project. Your tax deductible donation will go a long way to helping our Christian brothers and sisters south of the border!

Even though it was so hot, we had to endure an hour long wait for the children to get out of school. Yes, this little village had a one-room schoolhouse, and many of the children were in class. To pass the time, many from our group played one of several pick-up games of soccer with those children not in school. We had three or four soccer balls out and had little games going in various areas. Others spent time getting to know some of the adults and children who were already in place to see and hear the presentations. It was great to just hold the children on our laps and tickle them and ask them the few questions in Spanish the team had learned from our little “Mexico Outreach 2003” booklet full of cheat-sheet notes. I had a great time dripping/pouring fresh, cold water into the open mouths of some little ones with very thirsty bellies. It was interesting to note how white their teeth were. I would assume they have very little candy or other sugary treats on a frequent basis, so they probably have less cavities than most of our kids.

Class was over and our team sang songs about Jesus in Spanish and English, performed the Chicken Skit and Puppet Skits, and then we had a surprise visit from Marco! The standard mark of any good YWAMmer is to be flexible. Omar, a true-blue YWAMmer snuck in behind the puppet curtain after the student’s puppet skit was done and told me to ask where Marco was (he showed me a great Sesame Street-looking puppet he had on his hand ready to perform). So, when in Rome..., I picked up the microphone and in impromptu Spanish, Marco and I entertained the children and adults for about 10-15 minutes. It was fun ad libbing completely in Spanish, trying to get a message across about the love Jesus has for this people and His message of salvation while bustin’ a gut with our own slap-stick humor.

God helped us out with His perfect timing of a fly-over by two jets right when we were telling the children that Marco had to leave now to catch his plane -- and there they were, right over our heads!! It was a great way to end the presentation time.

Some students began making many balloon gifts for the children, while others handed out brand new toothbrushes, lots of candy, some yo-yos, and some soccer balls. We said our good-byes and headed back into downtown Maneadero to the central park to eat our lunch.

The central park was an oasis in the desert, with plenty of shade and cement restrooms! We had our standard peanut butter and jelly or turkey/ham sandwich choices on the great-tasting torta bread, with all the fixins. In addition, we always had some sort of chips or cookies, plus some kind of tasty desert (like Rice Krispy Treats) to go with the sandwiches, and this day was no different. We ate like pigs the entire trip!

After a nice rest in the park, we had to drive to the Junior High house building location on the east side of Ensenada, not too far from Pastor Niño’s home, but we had to make a drop off at the base enroute. One of the students wasn’t feeling too well, so we stopped by the base, dropped her and her mom off, and then continued on to the house dedication.

The Junior High team had been busy since Monday morning, building an entire 16’ x 20’ house for a very needy family. When they arrived, all they had was a cement slab ready for them. They had to cut all the lumber, put it all together, roof it, and paint it. Our junior highers rolled up their sleeves and went to town! Reports from both the YWAM staff assisting with the project and the parents and Neighborhood staff were noted how hard working all of the Junior High students were, and how quickly they learned what needed to be done. Kim Trueblood will hopefully have a full account of their activities for the week posted on the web site soon.

When we pulled up to the site, there were a dozen or so local children watching the final construction work being done, and Armundo, Priscilla, and their four month old baby were sitting in the car watching and waiting for the completion of their new home. We all got a quick tour of the house, then we vacated it so their team could complete the final touches.

With the house now complete, the Junior High team performed some songs and then the very powerful, and very well done “The Champion” skit. It was an awesome performance! We then had a very blessed surprise in that one of the local kids who had been helping the team with translating, was called upon to explain the drama in Spanish to the local children and adults who were watching. Narcisso, only 11 years old, not only did a great job in explaining the skit, but he then went on to preach for about five minutes with fire and brimstone, ending in an alter call, where two children came forward and, with God using this boy Narcisso, they accepted Jesus Christ into their hearts as Lord and Savior of their lives! What a testimony to the power and mercy of our Creator! From the mouthes of babes ...

If that wasn’t enough, the circling of the house with our two teams holding hands and praying for the house to be used of God, and for our Lord to bless this family more than they could imagine, was awesome! The Junior High Team handed over the keys to Armundo and Priscilla and they walked into their new home, complete with a table and brand new stove, plus many other things all purchased for them by our Junior High Team members. The Junior High Team then prayed with the family in the house, and the generosity and love felt by the family from Jesus and from these Northern Californians serving God brought Armundo, and then everyone to tears. It was a perfect conclusion to this house building project.

Please check out Kim’s notes on what happened with the Junior High Team. I’ll end my notes on that here so you don’t have to read the same thing twice. We departed the site, heading back to the base, with the anticipation of still more battles to fight before this day was through.

After a change of clothes, another great dinner, and still more upbeat and at-the-very-throne-of-God worship time, the entire base grabs jackets and flashlights and squeezed into all the vans as we created a holy convoy up to Prayer Mountain. Prayer Mountain is a hill over looking the city of Ensenada. We were going to battle in the spiritual realm against the powers of darkness holding the people of Ensenada and surrounding communities in chains of bondage.

With specific areas for which to pray (schools, churches, government leaders, media, etc.), we all climbed up the small dirt path from the roadway where we parked to the very top of the hill. We found the huge idol the YWAM staff told us about, which is of some lady figure donated by Nepal to Ensenada. What was great was the first thing you notice about the huge statue, is that some of the fingers are broken off, the paint is old, and the entire idol is looking in very bad shape. As we prayed for the city and its people, this physical monstrosity was a graphic depiction of the very real spiritual battle in which we participated through our prayers and intercession for the over 400,000 inhabitants of this area. And the idol showed the effects of what our prayers do against the devil and his minions. We have won through the blood of Jesus Christ, and our corporate prayers avail much! Lord, bless the people of Ensenada and the surrounding communities and take down that physical idol and show the people living there that as that man-made god falls, so too will the powers of darkness that seek to destroy lives.

I hope you get a chance to see the video of our time praying on Prayer Mountain. The view of Ensenada at night, with the thousands of lights all twinkling, is truly beautiful. It is an honor to be called by God to go up there and intercede for so many. I pray that you, too, will one day be able to do the same.

Though it’s always somewhat of a let-down any time I come down from a high point when I’ve been close to the Lord, especially doing something like this, I couldn’t help being high in the clouds as we drove back to the base, knowing that we still had another day of ministry and more in store for us! We all arrived safely back to the base, though some vans seemed to be having problems with their shock absorbers!

Back in our rooms, we all headed for a much-needed rest. I realized that I needed a good night sleep, so I told Alex he could use the hammock tonight. I was going to enjoy the thick matress and a full night’s rest!

Thursday, March 27, 2003
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Excitement was in the air as everyone got ready for breakfast. This was our last full day in Mexico, our last ministry day (and a day where we could ministry together as one giant team), and our shopping day at La Bufadora!

Breakfast again provided more than we could possibly eat of terrific food, juice, milk, and yogurt as always. Our devotion time had the topic “Freedom Fire” and it discussed the freedom we have in Christ and how we need to make sure we don’t think that freedom from sin is a license to sin! We learned that “fellowship with other believers is like kindling a fire. It helps establish a blaze such that when one person’s fire starts to diminish, it soon gets stoked by others.” I pray that as you read this, you make a commitment to either begin, or continue in fellowship with other Christian brothers and sisters, especially ones grounded in the faith who can exhort, comfort, uphold, and continue to kindle your spiritual fire for our Lord Jesus Christ!

As was the practice during this week, I did my devotions before breakfast each day so I could be available for the leaders’ meetings during the week at 8:30am (while everyone else was to start their devotions). This last leaders’ meeting was very special as we got to share some awesome reports from our teams with the other leaders. We shared how God had worked in the lives of our kids and parents throughout the week. The leaders from both the YMCA of Boise, Idaho, and the Devar Conner Community Church from Oregon, were very nice and we hope to see them all again next year!

9:00am rolled around and it signaled our last morning worship together as a YWAM group. The Poderoso song rocked the building with the cool clap-clap-clapping and the awesome message of the song in Spanish! This song has a permanent place in my heart, and I’m sure in many others hearts as well. Another song that was really special this year was “Lord of All Creation” -- especially since Steve Law - the lead worship singer sounded just like the Third Day guy.

We set out at 9:45am for the Kids’ Kingdom orphanage (house/home -- casa/hogar) located just south of the turnoff for La Bufadora on the main highway. Enroute, we had to stop for drinking water (a bottled water company has locations where they dispense water into your containers for $75.00 pesos, or $.75 U.S. for five gallons), money (at an ATM -- they charged only a $1.00 service fee for the transaction for one of the parents), and for 35mm film for a couple of other parents.

As you are driving south on the main highway out of Maneadero, just past the turnoff for La Bufadora, you come up a small hill and wind your way around a bit, then keep looking on your left and you’ll see a beautiful mural painted on a long wall surrounding the west side of the Kids’ Kingdom property. You need to turn left, off the paved highway onto the dirt area in front of the gate, but with the traffic going pretty fast and fairly consistent on this one lane (in each direction) road, its a bit of a challenge to get off the highway and down the small drop off from the pavement to the dirt slow enough to avoid bouncing everyone in the van while quick enough not to get clipped by oncoming traffic.

With our convoy of large and small vans, and Pastor Niño’s car, we had to turn off and then make a quick u-turn in the dirt to be facing back north on the highway to go to La Bufadora. We bailed out and then found the gate customarily locked. I called to one of the kids living at this house-home to go and get a key for the lock. Within a few minutes, our huge group (52 from Neighborhood and another dozen or so from YWAM) was getting a mini tour of this very upscale casa-hogar. The 50 or so children living here on a consistent basis all have very nice beds with sheets, pillows, and blankets, nice clothes, three square meals a day, school during the week at the local public school and then again more school at the home, toys, boom boxes or portable CD players, and more. I wanted to show our group one of the homes that was very much enjoying the blessing of many U.S. monetary and material donations as compared to others less fortunate.

I popped in and said, “Hi!” to Tomas (the Director of this casa-hogar). He was teaching a Bible study to the staff, so I just let him know we were there and we were taking a peek. We also got a chance to talk to Missy, a missionary who’s been there for about two years now (we met her last year). Well, our ten-minute time frame was done, so I herded everyone out, back in the vans, and on our way to our last camp of the trip.

We drove only a few minutes down the road, headed off onto some dirt roads, and with Pastor Niño’s excellent tour guide abilities, we arrived at the camp with the long rows of metal-roofed house units (a camp we’ve been to almost every year). This year, most of the kids were actually at school. That’s a very welcomed change for those kids. We still had a handful of kids and adults with which to share Jesus, but I’ve found that God always has something wonderful planned when our expectations aren’t completely fulfilled -- especially when we look at numbers of people in the audience, or the number of people accepting Christ, or really any time we limit God with our worldly view of “more is always better.”

I’m convinced that a divine appointment had been planned by God for such a time as this, specifically at this camp, specifically at that time, and it really was in addition to us reaching out to the people of that camp. For you see, two weary, dirty, shabbily-dressed moms with their tiny babies slung to their backs were just outside the chain link fence of this camp, unwelcome by the people who lived in the camp. Incredible as it was to us, the people in the camp, who lived in these metal and wood tiny one-roomed “houses” looked down upon these outsiders as lower-class citizens who lived in a much poorer migrant camp a few miles away. Our gracious Lord, though, had purposed that these ladies would be walking by just when we arrived, and our Supreme Creator touched the hearts of Glenda and Rachel, two moms in our group, to love these ladies with His love, unconditionally, without reservation, and with much sympathy and many tears.

Rachel translated for Glenda as our two missionaries prayed for these Mixteca ladies and their sick babies. As they held their babies, and laid hands on these two migrant farm women, Glenda noticed many little white critters in the hair of the babies and the moms. Satan would have enjoyed watching Glenda and Rachel be repelled by the fear of having some of those jump onto them, but their hearts were in the right place, full of the desire to serve our Lord by serving these ladies. They continued to pray for and comfort these two precious women.

Through a generous donation from one of Neighborhood’s parents, we had brought with us some children’s ibuprofen, and Glenda and Rachel were able to give these moms some medicine for their children, plus some other food and other items. When the rest of our crew were finished with the dramas and songs inside the camp, Rachel and Glenda reluctantly said their good-bye’s to the ladies, and Pastor Niño and Ada were able to give the two ladies and their babies a ride back to their camp, saving them a good hour or two of walking. As was expected by Glenda, some of those critters did manage to make it back to the YWAM base with her, but some medicated shampoo took care of this problem. Per Glenda, there wasn’t even a second thought as to whether it was worth it. She knew she had been used by God that day. We only had one other possible case of those critters throughout this trip, with one of our girl missionaries, but that too was quickly cured with the shampoo. Defiinitely a very small price to pay for the glorious work of eternity.

The final dramas and songs, mini soccer game, balloons, puppet show, a visit from Marco, and lots of hugs and playing around made this last camp a very special time for all. As we packed up and headed to La Bufadora, we had mixed emotions: a little sadness that our week was almost over, and yet anticipation and excitement about La Bufadora and the upcoming wrap-up evening at the YWAM base.

Our God is so gracious and loving, that even our prayers for a sunny day at La Bufadora were answered in glorious abundance! The drive out to La Bufadora was beautiful, with green hills, the water of the inlets, the houses on the hillsides, the quaint little stores and shops along the way, and then as we neared La Bufadora and rounded the point, the awesome Pacific Ocean and the sunshiny horizon. The excitement mounted as we wound our way down the roadway to the rows of shops lining the end of this street, culminating in the stairs down to La Bufadora, the Blow Hole.

We all drove through the rows of shops and parked in the very last parking lot, nearest the ocean, where we unloaded the ice chests and water jugs and set up for lunch overlooking the crashing waves, tidepools, and rock outcroppings. The sea gulls hungrily gobbled up the pieces of bread and chips thrown up in the air, and a few brave students and parents even tried feeding the skittish birds by hand. While a few willing servant adults prepared the sandwiches and cleaned up after, many of the team went venturing down by the water, climbing down the hillside to the rocks and waves below. Trevor and his dad were stranded for a bit as they had jumped out to an island and then had to wait for the water to subside a bit to make it back. It was a great time for some awesome memories - a true Kodak moment! The deep blue of the ocean, the beds of seaweed, the soaring gulls, the white foam of the crashing waves, the barnacles, crabs, and starfish clinging to the rocks, the light breeze and the beautiful sunshine and blue sky above could not have been planned any better. Thank YOU LORD for blessing us this way.

The months of waiting to test their bartering skills were now at an end, and the students and adults bolted for the shopping area just up the hill from our lunch area. Though a few of the shops were closed due to the recent decline in tourists (as a result of the Iraqi War), we had plenty of opportunity to make some great purchases. Several of us had specific items on our agendas, while others simply went with the impulse-shopping attitude. By the end of our three-plus hours shopping, we all had our arms full of great souvenirs and gifts, and empy wallets.

We couldn’t go to La Bufadora without paying $0.45 to go the restroom just above the blow hole. As you enter the snack shop entrance, you turn to your right a bit, and there is an attendant sitting at a desk, ready to receive your $45 pesos in exchange for a small packet of toilet paper and an official receipt. Once you have your receipt, you walk up a few steps to the right and then enter either the “Caballeros” (“Gentlemen”) or the “Damas” (“Ladies”) door. In the restroom, you’ll find very clean tiled floors and counters, wide mirrors, stalls, and surprisingly no graffiti. In addition to no graffiti, you’ll find no paper towels with which to dry your hands. The observant customer, however, realizes that the towel dispenser is on the wall just next to the attendant in the snack shop area. A very smart idea when one wants to save paper towels. No one would just pull out a handful of towels and waste several while the attendant watches. Paying for the restroom is definitely one of the fun experiences while visiting Mexico.

In addition to visiting the restroom, we had to walk down the wide, brick-layered stairs lining the edge of the cliffs overlooking the ocean and see La Bufadora, the Blow Hole. A natural hole in the rocks below allows the ocean swells to force the water in and up through the hole, resulting in a cold, salt water geyser that shoots up a hundred feet or so on the big swells. The constant crowd leans over the wall, trying to predict when the perfect swell will produce the highest stream of water. Enough of the people watching have been there sufficient time to realize when that swell is approaching and the word quickly spreads each time. Everyone braces themselves and holds their breath as the swell comes closer and closer and then the rush of air precedes the onslaught of the magnificent spray which shoots up some thirty of forty feet over our heads and sprinkles us with a heavy mist. The pictures truly cannot capture the excitement of this natural wonder. If you get the opportunity to travel to the Ensenada area, make this stop one of the “must see” items on your itinerary.

With tons of pictures, arms full of purchases, and many fond memories, we all headed to the vans for our journey back to the YWAM base. Leaving very close to the scheduled time just past 5:00pm, we began the crawl back up the windy road. As we headed up the hill, we tested the walkie-talkies, and I gave instructions to all the vehicles about our Walkie-Talkie Testimonies. I told everyone that we’d take turns, one person per each of the six vehicles in order, then back to the first vehicle again, etc., until everyone had the opportunity to say a few words about how this week had been special to them and how God had touched their hearts. With Mr. Suderow manning the tape recorder, we began a very special time of sharing our outreach testimonies with the entire team by talking into whatever walkie-talkie was in our specific vehicle, and then Mr. Suderow had a walkie-talkie next to the tape recorder to record the messages. We drove at a slow rate home and actually finished all of the testimonies by the time we reached the base. You can check out the actual recorded messages online! These testimonies gave everyone a very clear picture of how much the Holy Spirit worked in and through us throughout this week, and how blessed we were to be used by God to bless these people in Mexico.

By the time we wobbled our way out of the vans and back to our rooms, we were all grateful to be back at the base and ready for our final dinner together. After another great meal, we had a wrap-up worship time with the entire base and the three teams that were there that week. Each team had a couple of members give testimonies about the week, and then the YWAM Staff presented the leaders with plaques commemorating the trip. It was a special time of laughs and tears as we looked back on this terrific week.

Our team had a quick meeting after the worship time to get our focus back on God’s work in our last bit of time we had in Mexico, and then we played for about half an hour before heading to our rooms for our final night in Ensenada. The guys in our room presented Pastor Rost with his “Perro Terrible” trophy before we hit the sack (again, ask him about this story, it’s a good one!). We all slept pretty good that last night from such a long day of service and play.

Friday, March 28, 2003
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“WAKE UP!” came the call at 6:00am, as we booted everyone out of bed to get packed and have the rooms cleaned up to depart for the airport in San Diego. The entire team did a great job as we had everything ready well before breakfast at 7:45am. Look at the pictures to see how many pieces of luggage we had! It was an incredible sight.

Our final breakfast was top-notch as usual. We all said our goodbyes, loaded up the vans, and began our journey home. At the local gas station, we put enough gas in the vans to get us to San Diego (where the YWAM staff could purchase gas a bit cheaper), and I handed out all of the passports for each person to the respective vans. About half way up, we stopped off at one of the toll booths for a restroom break, a chance to feed the squirrels begging by the side of the snack shop, purchase some sodas and snacks, and then again headed north on the toll road to Tijuana.

Arriving near the border with plenty of time to spare before our 2:30pm flight departure, we inched our way to the actual “frontera” (“border”) as we met the thousands of other vehicles joining us in our desire to cross from Mexico to the United States. Considering the amount of vehicles present, we actually got to the border agent relatively quickly, and after a few questions, a quick peek at some passports, we were on our way! It’s interesting how we all gave out a little sigh of relief to once again be back in the good ‘ol U.S. of A.! There truly is no greater country in which to live than the United States!

Just past the border station, we pulled off on the side of Interstate 5 to wait for the rest of the vehicles to clear the border. In a few minutes, all of us were across and we were on our way! If you ever wonder if God sends his angels to watch over us on trips like these, wonder no more. I give you proof that He has those heavenly guardians blessing us with their presence as we had His hand of grace on our vehicles during the trip. As we pulled up to the Southwest Airlines Departure terminal, we noticed a noise coming from our right front tire area, which sounded like something had been caught up in the wheel area and was now scraping against the fender. Though we had about 200 hundred feet to go, I told the YWAM driver to pull over and I would jump out and see what was making the noise. I got out and found the right front tire completely flat -- we were rolling on the rim! God had kept that tire from going flat until we made it to the airport!! I told them to sit tight for a second as I talked to the security guard walking my way.

The airport security guard said we couldn’t stop there. I pointed out the flat tire, and he said we’d have to move it, that we couldn’t change the tire right there. I objected, we argued for a bit, and then he said I had to talk to the Sheriff on duty just up ahead to get permission to remain in that location. I told the crew in our van to stay there and I ran up ahead to the Sheriff. He was a more reasonable chap and I ran back to begin changing the tire. I pulled out the jack and was looking for the spare tire release when I looked at my watch and noticed that it was now 12:35pm and we had to get in line to check in. I apologized to the YWAMmers, we said quick goodbyes, and we all grabbed our luggage and headed to the ticket counter.

As with any adventure like this when many people are involved in traveling, we had a few bags of ours misplaced. Fortunately, one of the YWAM drivers realized what happened (our bags got on one of the other team’s vans) and he returned to the airport just in time. Rachel and Felisha, however, had to wait around for him to get there with the bags.

In the meantime, the rest of our team headed over to McDonalds for our final lunch together. With help from the parents, we ordered our meals, five at a time, and without too many problems or headaches, we all received what we ordered and chowed down our burgers, fries, and drinks. Due to the long time it took to check in our luggage, and the bit of time to process all of us through the McDonald’s ordering station, we didn’t have much more than about 15 minutes to eat. As that time was now exhausted, we had to head to the gate and get ready for boarding. Rachel and Felisha never did make it to McDonalds. (They ended up getting something at one of the coffee stands on their way to the security checkpoint.)

With five minutes to spare, Rachel and Felisha checked their now found luggage, made it through security, and joined the rest of us at the gate just prior to boarding. Southwest was again generous to our large group and let us all pre-board, as long as we all agreed to again sit at the back of the plane. Boarding the plane this time was interesting as we had to walk outside and went up the stairs at the rear door of the big jet. We did a head count, and except for Mrs. Trueblood, who was staying in Southern California for a missions conference, we had everyone on board! Hallelujah!

It was great to have participated in this week of doing God’s work, and yet it was still a joy to be heading home to our loved ones. The passenger compartment was full of excitement as we talked about the past week’s worth of adventures. The plane ride went very quickly and we were soon descending into the Sacramento Airport.

Our family and friends met us at the bottom of the escalator just past the security checkpoint, next to the luggage claim area, and it was great to see all of the smiles, hugs, and kisses from everyone who missed us so much. The welcome was a great finish to a full week of serving our Lord in Mexico.

Everyone found their luggage, loaded up their vehicles, and headed home. As my own family pulled up to the curb just outside the Southwest luggage claim area, with the soft breeze blowing against my face, and the blue sky overhead, I couldn’t help but think ahead to next year’s grand adventure. I kept that thought to myself, however, as my wife was gracious enough to let me go to Mexico for an entire week already, and now was a time to get my head out of the clouds, to get back home and help out with the kids and the house. The hugs and kisses from my own family made me realize once again how blessed I am to not only have a loving and beautiful wife, three kids, and a house in quaint ol’ Dixon, but how blessed we are as a nation to have the freedom and privilege to worship and serve a loving, merciful, and living God, and even the ability to be able to bring the Good News of this King of Kings to our neighbors to the south.

May our Lord give us many more opportunities in the coming years to bless the people of Mexico with future generations of Neighborhood students and parents. And I pray that through this daily narrative of our Mexico Outreach 2003, that you will have your heart touched and softened to reach out to the unreached people around the world, not only in Mexico, but throughout the world, and especially in the 10-40 Window -- the area of the world 10 degrees north latitude to 40 degrees north latitude where most of the unreached people in our world live (in Europe, the Middle East, in Central Asia, and the Far East). Now, may our God richly bless you and make His face to shine upon you! Thanks for spending this time with me!

See ya next year!