Day Nine and beyond

Sorry for lacking updates.... Tuesday we worked long and hard. Staying late up at El Faro church to finish the classroom (pictures later). The members of El Faro are really "the Church" ! Wow!

Wednesday ( Day 10) we drove long and hard making it out of Ensenada, over the boarder and way up to Fresno, just short of Yosemite Park. We got in late, and everyone slept really good.

Thursday (Day 11) Wake up early and prepared ourselves to view and experience some of the most wonderful parts of God's creation. We saw some absolutely incredible sights. We were in awe as we drove, walked, climbed and swam through the jillion acre park. At dusk, we wittnessed God setting the sun personally, just for us (so it appeared). I WILL get pictures on here of ALL of this. (patience)

Time has been xtra tight, as we cram a lot into these last few minutes of the mission.

Friday, today (day 12) we plan to go through Sequoia National Forest on our drive back to San Diego. There, we will do some debriefing and praying.

Everyone is well, some are sleepy, but everyone is well.

Pray for energy as we plow though these last few hours of the mission. There is a LOT to process. Your teens lives have been impacted (mine too) for an eternity. Everyine here misses everyine there (including little brothers), and we can not wait to get home to see you all!

For the team - Mark

For Suzanne M.

Hi Mommy!

I miss you lots and I wish I had my camera sooooo bad because there has been so much to see and experience!
My eyes have been opened to a lot and God truly has been at work in my heart. One cool thing I have have seen is that through all this, He has also been working in your heart as well. I can tell through your words.
I love you my beautiful mom! :-)

Love, Bri

PS - I something for you at the market place that I'm sure you'll really like. Oh! - tell dad happy Fathers Day and that i love him and miss him a lot too.... I don't miss Austin (joke) :-)
Bri

For Eric & Dawn

Greetings parental units:

Having lots of fun here. Although the weather was cloudy today, the climate is still amazing!
Worship is wonderful and our group has grown close. Give my love to Sarah, Miriam and Garrett
I miss you all.

Faith
PS - Rachel says 'hi'.

Day Eight, Monday

Monday was a full day of working at our little church. What an awesome day! Some of the students cleaned up the church and the entire grounds before going throughout the neighborhood calling out for little ones to come follow us to church!! They returned with about 50 local children. Amazing!!

The remainder of the teens went to work with Mark, Jason and some of theMexican church men on the 10'x12' classroom.

It was a wonderful day, resulting in some very neat cross cultural relationship bonding. Time is short, so I must let the pictures speak the rest of the story.

Tuesday we will be completing, roofing, installing windows and painting the little building, and of course, doing more VBS and skits / dramas.

Keep praying, we can feel 'em!!!

For the team - Mark

Day Seven, Sunday

Church
Our group was invited to "El Faro" Baptist Church in the 'Colonias' section of town. The hills are steep and sandy, the courtyard is hard-packed dry clay.. But the hearts are all full to the brim of God's unconditional love.
The church has around 40 people attending. It is in the foothills of Ensenada. The Pastor, Alfred, welcomed us with some English worship music and a sign written in English to make us feel at home. Four of our teens shared their testimonies; Will, Marie, Wyatt & Becca. The main message was delivered by Becca. The team presented four of our dramas. It was all well received. God presented us with an opportunity to do a building project for the church. Jason & Mark worked on the plans for building a classroom. Monday we will be building one or two classrooms depending on how much money we (students and leaders from Faith) can all donate to the project. The project is rather 'spur-of-the-moment' so we are relying purely on God's provision for plans and supplies. Pray for these 10'x12' classrooms, and the students who will one day soon fill them with laughter and God's love.


Carnival in the Park
In the early afternoon we all traveled to a local skate park where YWAM hosted a little 'Carnival' for the local teen of the area. There were 100's & 100's of kids from about 5 yrs to 25 yrs old. We manned all sorts of booths & outreach tents. From inflated bouncing tents to 'skee-ball' there was everything you would expect at a park-size carnival.

Many of our team was out of their comfort zone, not because of the Mexican language barrier, but because of the skate-park culture. It was fun and interesting to watch the inter actions. All the kids did a great job and had a lot of fun!


Prayer Walk
We ended the day with a prayer walk in a downtown area. God moved in many awesome ways as we strolled the streets, gave out sandwiches and prayed for the local people and establishments.

for the team - Marko


"But you are a chosen people, a royal preiesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His wonderful light."
1Peter 2:9

Day Six, Saturday

For He chose us in Him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in His sight. In love, He predestined us to be adopted as His sons through Jesus Christ in accordance with His pleasure and will. Eph 1:4-5


Computers were 'down' yesterday (Mexico) so I was unable to post anything, Plus ministry is really ramping up, and time is becoming more limited, so please forgive shorter posting, but we are busy from early until quite late in the evening (Thank you for understanding)

Friday we spent our first day of ministry at an orphanage. The home was started when a American Christian couple was vacationing on their large boat when it broke down near Ensenada. While repair were taking place, they noticed a huge number of children without homes. These children broke their hearts. The couple basically sold everything they had, including the boat and took up residence in Mexico. They now live at and run the orphanage, which doubles as a day care for the children of migrant farm workers. They usually feed up to 50 people per day.

We were able to play with the children and love on the children. We did crafts, played soccer and encouraged our hosts. We helped clean and scrub. The students hosted a mini-VBS for the little ones. Your teens were like the face of Jesus to these children and their hosting family. It was really incredible.

Saturday we went to a 'soup kitchen'/church in a very poor section of Ensenada. All dirt, no plumbing and many children running everywhere. We had a church service and we played with all the children. We did the skits and dramas that we practiced for both the children and adults.

All of the learning is paying off... better yet, all of the open hearts that were soaking up God's love are now pouring it back out again onto the children and people of Ensenada Mexico.

HAPPY FATHERS DAY! Today (Sunday) we are going to join in a church service, share our testimonies, and then go to a huge carnival-type evangelistic community event. Keep us in prayer throughout the day! Amen