On our way home!!!

We are on our way home... good day today other than the flight delay. A few final pictures to show. The three couples that obviously are not from our group is Pastor Alejandro and Gabriella, Pastor Jose and his friend Laticia, and Pastor Alfredo and his wife Angelica.

Mike is handing the key to Pastor Jose NEW van donated from a person in Lynden. Scott is handing the key to Pastor Alfredo NEW church and in front of their new bathroom with generator. And, Jared's body search...

Thanks FCC for the support for this trip and for a heart for the people in Tecate!

Saturday, July 17

Another beautiful day in Tecate, Mexico! I think the group would agree the heat is definitely present and anxious to get back to a bit cooler weather.

The day began with pancakes and off to VBS. Dan, Al, Jared and Scott again spent the day finishing, or nearly finishing, Pastor Alfredo’s church. Two weeks ago they had only walls. The crew from the Alaska church put the roof on last week and our crew finished the roof, framed the side of the church, set windows and doors, revamped a house next door and indoor plumbing with gravity feed water system for Pastor Alfredo’s house (in door and out)! Absolutely life changing for the families and church members!

The rest of the team (in the morning) had a pancake breakfast for the families of Pastor Alfredo’s church. The team made the pancakes and enjoyed serving the children who have little to no food daily. We take for granted the simple thing like cooking pancakes. Without the generator (thanks again to the persons donating the generators) they have little ability to do many things – have a fridge, have lights, etc…

Our students did a great job of playing with kids, engaging them for the brief time we were there. Megan, Kelly, Loren and Tyson shared testimonies then we shared David and Goliath through a skit. Pastor Jose shared briefly then we had a time of coloring. All the kids loved it, including ours. We ended with the traditional piñata with great delight to the kids pocketing great amounts of candy!

We drove to Pastor Alejandro’s – driving here is not a quick and easy thing for our group. First off the heat is crazy; the vehicles (we have) don’t have AC; and, it seems like every time it should take us 10 minutes it takes 30. Usually we needed to purchase something so rather than keeping the kids in the van’s with the windows closed (I was out voted) we let the kids come in to the cool store. It did feel good but with 20 something gallivanting around it takes time…it’s all good!

Again Pastor Alejandro had the water running and the floors IN THE CHURCH cooled down for our arrival. How refreshing. We had purchased sandwich makings but when we arrived, Pastor Alejandro’s wife, Gabriella, had prepared bean and chorizo burritos. It was absolutely wonderful. We kept the sandwich stuff for the evening meal and devoured her cooking.

The afternoon VBS was next to the church (a few blocks) with about half the kids showing from yesterday but had more adults. Similar process as the morning, however, Jeff, Kayla, Sam and Derek shared their testimonies. Following the children’s portion, Jose and Alejandro shared with the adults. Several individuals requested prayer and one wanted to invite the Lord as His personal savior.

We pray the Lord opened his eyes to the truth of who he is and we are desperately lost without Him! The gentleman lived up the street from the church and promised to be at the service in the morning with his family. All the adults were challenged to get plugged into the ministry Pastor Alejandro and Gabriella provide at church and to stay connected with other believers. Pray the VBS today was made a great impact on the community close to the church.

The piñata rope broke with Patrick (from Spongebob Squarepants) still in tack. The kids were like vultures with Jose fending off. The candies were collect by the team and began throwing around. Great fun!

At both VBS events, we served water and watermelon or bananas. I wondered of how many of those kids that was their first and last thing to eat that day…

We ate when we arrived at the campground and the kids swam. Jill and Kylee monitored the pool while the rest of the leaders and a few students help clean up the vans and organize our stuff. I am extremely thankful for the adults on this trip. Melany, Naomi, Liz, Jill, Kylee, Al, Scott, Jared and Dan have been an absolute great group to be with. Thanks much you guys.

We ended our night with devotions led by Hunter (I don’t even know his last name). Hunter is the pastor’s son from the church in Alaska the Nicholas family attended. He shared about giving to the least of these…reminding us that regardless of where we are and who we come in contact with, it is important to remember our walk and talk (IF we claim to be Christian).

Not sure if there will be a blog entry tomorrow with access to wi-fi and time. If so great! If not, then those loved ones with family here will hear firsthand the adventures for the week. Others of you stay tune for when we will share at FCC and plan on attending.

Gracias

THANK you FCC for providing the snacks! We have been enjoying all week and what a blessing they have been. The candy you also provided has been a joy for the kids in Tecate. We are using for the pinata!

Friday, July 16

This morning Kayla lead devotions from Psalms 130: 3 -5 which led to the discussion about living our life for Christ and the praise for the forgiveness He provides!

Al, Scott, Dan and Jared went to Pastor Alfredo to work on construction. They were there all day accomplishing much for the church and the pastor. There is no power in the location so working is difficult (thank you for the generator FCC!) and they have no running water unless delivered to the tank…The guys worked on house plumbing, restroom, remodel on a neighbor’s house and framing for the church. Amazing heat, lots of water and a lot of sweat. What a fabulous blessing!

At Pastor Alejandro’s service Wednesday, a group of ladies invited our team to share VBS in their neighborhood that is located far from the church. So the rest of the team spent the morning doing that. We pulled up to a dry, hot, little shade space. Once we began our team shared three stories through skit – Daniel in the lion’s den; Jonah and the whale; and, the Good Samaritan.

We served fresh watermelon and water then ended with piñata. Always a treat for kid! They wanted to play soccer but it was too hot!

We left for Pastor Alejandro’s church to have lunch, rest and cool off a bit. When we arrived, Pastor Alejandro had the hose running and cooled our feet off outside. Then he brought the hose off and began watering the wall’s and cement floor. It was amazing how great that felt. By the time we left for the VBS it felt like a sauna in the church…

Pastor Jose took many from the team around the area to invite the children to the VBS to start at 3 pm. Our team had flyers to give out while Jose invited. About 3:30 kids started arriving and by 4 we had probably 60 people.

Games, watermelon and water and a piñata were on the agenda again. Josh, Brett and Ryan shared their testimony after the skits and did a great job. They stepped up to the plate and volunteered! Tomorrow the rest of the team will be sharing their testimonies.

Of course the fun and games are great but the real reason is to share the gift of Christ. We pray we are doing that in our actions, deeds and most importantly in the words conveyed. Pastor Jose and Alfredo shared and we pray the Lord opened eyes!
We ended the day getting back a bit earlier to enjoy the pool then a team meeting debriefing the day with lights out around 9:30.

Keep us in your prayers and pray for tomorrow as we conduct two more VBS sessions in the morning and afternoon.

Thursday...no one riding on top of the van today!

I’ve heard some are wondering about my decision to have the three kids ride on the back of the van…I don’t want to throw everyone under the bus but the ER nurse, police officer, EMT and children’s ministry director came up with the idea. Of course I was game… I’m kidding. No kids rode on the van other than our staged picture. I do love the job I have at FCC and probably wouldn’t be there long if that happened…
Today was great again. We left early to Pastor Alfradro’s church (about 25 minutes from Pastor Alejandro to beat a bit of the heat with a roofing project. The materials were ordered the day before and told to be there at 7:30 am. They promptly arrived around noon.
God is so good because we had prayed for the Lord to give us cloud cover when we worked. How great He IS because of all days in the summer in Tecate a beautiful rain stormed moved in all around us with clouds and a cool(er) breeze. The rain briefly hit our area once we were done! Praise the Lord…
While waiting for the supplies Al, Scott and a few of the students worked on building a bathroom for the Pastor’s house. The rest entertained local children.
There are a few other project’s to be done and Al, Scott, Jared and Dan will finish tomorrow. The rest of the group will be doing two VBS session in different locations.
After the work the crew ate at a local chicken restaurant and loved it! Following that we enjoyed a service at Alfrado’s with Jared speaking. Pastor Jose (a pastor with us the week translating) closed the service with a special time of prayer with those that came forward! A great night!

Travel to Tecate

We began our day with a great pancake breakfast and devotions led by Ryan Eriksen. He spoke from Psalms 37: 3 – 4 challenging us to trust in the Lord and delight in Him! A great reminder for each of to do through in any circumstances we face…ups AND downs.

The drive was beautiful but HOT! Sorry to Loren, Kayla and Tyson’s families because we ran out of van space and they road on the top of the van. It was only 2 hours but they did great…see the picture below.

We arrived to Tecate around 1 pm to Pastor Alejandro and Gabriella making us fish tacos and carna asada! While the meal was cooking our team rested a bit, purchased a few groceries and a few rounds of Dutch blitz (card game)! We then bagged up the rice and beans to take to church families at the end of the week then enjoyed a delicious meal. It was devoured quickly and enjoyed by everyone.

After the meal Dan, Scott and Al went to purchase some building material for Pastor Alfredo’s church building project to begin Thursday EARLY morning. The rest of the group stayed to make flyers to promote VBS program and practice their skits. Please pray the communities at each church would show up and God would open the eyes of the lost!

Pastor Alejandro’s church had a beautiful worship service at 6 pm (started about 6:45) over around 8:30 then off to the campground (arrived at 10 pm) where we stayed Sunday night. We will be here now until we leave Sunday.

Pray for health as we eat different foods, experience warm (HOT) weather and for those we come in contact with to see the love of Christ!

We will be getting up at 6 am to leave early to work on Pastor Alfredo’s church in the morning and a VBS opportunity in the afternoon. And a service at 6 pm after a pizza meal prepared by Alfredo’s church. IT will be extremely hot and a very long day.

Parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, families and friends…you can be very pround of the members here. Each has been a blessing and helping without being asked. They are taking risk and willing to share Christ. Keep them in your prayer.

Enjoy the pictures…