Disneyland was great. We only lost two kids. (Just kidding.) Everyone split into groups and had a great time. The stories will all be vastly different from each other. My story consisted of a lot of walking and looking with cliff and curt. We would have been considered pretty boring in comparison to what most the kids did.
The three of us ate at the ESPNzone in downtown Disney in overstuffed recliners with tv trays attaches to the chair and a cup holder built into the chair. We watched our choice of 12 tv's or one ginormous one. We were nearly all asleep in our chairs when Jono and Canberra found us. While they ate we played basketball, football, skeet shooting and bowling. We then went on a pirates of the Caribbean and the haunted mansion. We took Jono to get a taxi when we found out that nine of the passes we able to go to both parks California adventures and disneyland. so Noah Vanessa and I went onto the tower of terror. Noah then sucked all of the terror out of the ride and everyone in the elevator, Vanessa and I were laughing at Noah. We made it back to life by 1:30 am.
Love ya,
Chris
Thursday, August 11, 2011
Tuesday, August 9, 2011
August 9
We made it into the USA this morning with little hassle. It only took two hours of waiting in a line to get through. We decided not to go to the lake today because of how long the border crossing took and we wanted to do laundry. We traveled to life pacific bible college and had a great time just relaxing and enjoying each others company. I picked up tickets for disneyland tonight from a friend and bought Noah Weldon a very special tee shirt for him to wear to Disneyland...
Everyone is thrilled to have had the experiences that we have had. Most of our crew would have rather stayed in Mexico these last few days and finished building the house that we poured the floor for. It is a hard lesson to learn that you can not help everyone. Even when Jesus died for our sins people were still sick and dying. It really is a tough world and we have very few things to worry about in comparison.
I may not blog tomorrow but I will try
Love ya,
Chris
Everyone is thrilled to have had the experiences that we have had. Most of our crew would have rather stayed in Mexico these last few days and finished building the house that we poured the floor for. It is a hard lesson to learn that you can not help everyone. Even when Jesus died for our sins people were still sick and dying. It really is a tough world and we have very few things to worry about in comparison.
I may not blog tomorrow but I will try
Love ya,
Chris
Monday, August 8, 2011
August 8
Woke up to an overcast sky again. Our camp is only 3 blocks from the ocean and so every morning there is a fog. Amazing day today. In fact one of the clearest indications of a glorious creator and king of a boundless kingdom.
We finished a floor for one of the sweetest families I have ever met. Marcos was a professional baseball player scouted by the dodgers and he and his wife Alma moved to Rosarito one year ago. They are the family with the trailer house and the baby. They are pastors and are working on beginning a mission here. They and their children are great. As we are working at Marcos and maria's home a man that we knew from our first home showed up at this house. After a bit we I put together that this man was the father of Marcos and Elisabeth the wife of Roberto who's house we just finished. We invited both families which was really one family to dinner and we had spaghetti and we played soccer and sang songs together. One of the most meaningful moments on this trip was singing and playing guitar with Roberto and singing how great is our God in Spanish and English at the same time. Jesus had to be really pleased. We had an amazing time with the family. So, one house one foundation many friends and closer bonds. We are ready to come home but will be leaving a part of us here in Mexico.
Hopefully we will be quick getting through the border tomorrow as we are all tired but ready for the trip home. We will be bringing Jono to L.A with us as he has to catch a flight to new Zealand on Wednesday. He will stay at life pacific and will go to Disneyland with us tomorrow. We really like him a bunch. We kind of want to keep him. But we know we can't bring him home with us.
We will miss Mexico but can't wait to be with our families.
Love you, chris
We finished a floor for one of the sweetest families I have ever met. Marcos was a professional baseball player scouted by the dodgers and he and his wife Alma moved to Rosarito one year ago. They are the family with the trailer house and the baby. They are pastors and are working on beginning a mission here. They and their children are great. As we are working at Marcos and maria's home a man that we knew from our first home showed up at this house. After a bit we I put together that this man was the father of Marcos and Elisabeth the wife of Roberto who's house we just finished. We invited both families which was really one family to dinner and we had spaghetti and we played soccer and sang songs together. One of the most meaningful moments on this trip was singing and playing guitar with Roberto and singing how great is our God in Spanish and English at the same time. Jesus had to be really pleased. We had an amazing time with the family. So, one house one foundation many friends and closer bonds. We are ready to come home but will be leaving a part of us here in Mexico.
Hopefully we will be quick getting through the border tomorrow as we are all tired but ready for the trip home. We will be bringing Jono to L.A with us as he has to catch a flight to new Zealand on Wednesday. He will stay at life pacific and will go to Disneyland with us tomorrow. We really like him a bunch. We kind of want to keep him. But we know we can't bring him home with us.
We will miss Mexico but can't wait to be with our families.
Love you, chris
Sunday, August 7, 2011
a new day
We awoke a little later this morning. We had a great meal and hit the road to work on finishing the home for the Perez-Castillo family. Roberto is the father. He works 7 days a week 8-9 hours a day 2nd makes $80 per week. He has 4 kids and a really adorable wife Elisabeth. She was SO grateful for the work we had done and she was really happy to see us this morning. Once we pulled up to the house we were greeted by vendors who wanted to sell us a bunch of stuff. So we did what any good American would do and we bought a bunch of things from them. I found a Mexican style sweatshirt that is camouflage. It should work well in the woods, not so well for hiding in Mexico.
We finished the house today and had a ceremonial gifting of the keys to the family. It was a truly great moment. The house is beautiful. The kids did an amazing job this week. They took a great sense of ownership over accomplishing and building that house. Stucco is not a favorite work around camp. Some say they saw stucco when they closed their eyes...
Tomorrow, since we finished early we are going to pour and finish the foundation slab for a new house. We will see how that goes. Cliff did a great job supervising.
Jono, our Australian host from Amor, wants to pass some time with us so he is going to come to Disneyland with us. I was able to score 7 free tickets and a
10 discount on the rest of the tickets so it won't cost anything for him to come with us. Jeff shared, we prayed and then we all played a fun game together. It will be interesting to see the growth in the kids as we bookend our time in Mexico with pouring concrete. I'm certain that we will be done pouring much quicker this time than last.
Looking forward to what the Lord has for us tomorrow.
Love ya, Chris.
We finished the house today and had a ceremonial gifting of the keys to the family. It was a truly great moment. The house is beautiful. The kids did an amazing job this week. They took a great sense of ownership over accomplishing and building that house. Stucco is not a favorite work around camp. Some say they saw stucco when they closed their eyes...
Tomorrow, since we finished early we are going to pour and finish the foundation slab for a new house. We will see how that goes. Cliff did a great job supervising.
Jono, our Australian host from Amor, wants to pass some time with us so he is going to come to Disneyland with us. I was able to score 7 free tickets and a
10 discount on the rest of the tickets so it won't cost anything for him to come with us. Jeff shared, we prayed and then we all played a fun game together. It will be interesting to see the growth in the kids as we bookend our time in Mexico with pouring concrete. I'm certain that we will be done pouring much quicker this time than last.
Looking forward to what the Lord has for us tomorrow.
Love ya, Chris.
Sunday
This morning was great again. Perfect temperature! We had a great breakfast as we have come to expect with such great cooks along like Mrs. Comerford and Mrs. McGehee. Put the roof on today. Miguel, Joel, and Austin were the stars of that show with guest appearances by myself, Cliff, Sam, and Alicia.
All of those mentioned are very much like monkeys with me being the only exception to that. Today was one of the first times that I really began to realize that I am no longer in the kind of shape it takes to get on a roof comfortably.
We are doing so well that Amor has asked us to pour a foundation slab for another home. I went with Jacob and Jono, our Australian liaison with Amor, to meet this new family and set up forms. They are really nice and very thankful for our being there. They live in an old travel trailer that is about the size of a large van and they have three kids Marcos, Amy, 2nd a one month old baby Jonathan. He was super cute and made me miss my family so much more today. The family that we are presently building a home do is so thankful and they are so cute laying out where people are going to sleep and which room is who's. They ate lunch with us today and I think they may come and have dinner with us at our camp. I'm excited to share some more time with this family. The dad, Roberto, works long days and he works hard it seems. We met a guy named Dexter today who who was very helpful. He was fluent in English and he learned English from playing video games as a youth. So I guess if you want your kids to learn another language get them video games that only speak Spanish.
We accomplished so much today. It will be a good day tomorrow.
Love ya, Chris.
All of those mentioned are very much like monkeys with me being the only exception to that. Today was one of the first times that I really began to realize that I am no longer in the kind of shape it takes to get on a roof comfortably.
We are doing so well that Amor has asked us to pour a foundation slab for another home. I went with Jacob and Jono, our Australian liaison with Amor, to meet this new family and set up forms. They are really nice and very thankful for our being there. They live in an old travel trailer that is about the size of a large van and they have three kids Marcos, Amy, 2nd a one month old baby Jonathan. He was super cute and made me miss my family so much more today. The family that we are presently building a home do is so thankful and they are so cute laying out where people are going to sleep and which room is who's. They ate lunch with us today and I think they may come and have dinner with us at our camp. I'm excited to share some more time with this family. The dad, Roberto, works long days and he works hard it seems. We met a guy named Dexter today who who was very helpful. He was fluent in English and he learned English from playing video games as a youth. So I guess if you want your kids to learn another language get them video games that only speak Spanish.
We accomplished so much today. It will be a good day tomorrow.
Love ya, Chris.
Saturday, August 6, 2011
Woke up this morning to an overcast sky but no wind or rain. It was perfect in my book. Being a person of very light skin I appreciate the clouds. We had a world class breakfast and loaded up to work at 8am. Once we made it to the house we began building walls and realizing that we had measured a bit differently than the plans had called for. For one thing the house had two levels to it and we had to adjust our walls to fit. For another thing we are from JBC and we just build this way. The kids grew alot today. They had several opportunities to complain or argue and in every instance they chose to work together instead. We are ahead of schedule still.
The family is overwhelmed with joy over the house. Some of the kids played soccer with a neighbor boy and a lady from the neighborhood came and asked how she could get a house built for her and her family. Amor is a great ministry and are glad we get to be a part of this.
We stopped by a Mexican Wal-Mart to pick up ice. We asked a man, who could speak English well, if they had a block of ice. If said yea and proceeded to take us to the isle where they kept the toilets. I don't think he understands English as well as he speaks it.
Love ya, Chris.
The family is overwhelmed with joy over the house. Some of the kids played soccer with a neighbor boy and a lady from the neighborhood came and asked how she could get a house built for her and her family. Amor is a great ministry and are glad we get to be a part of this.
We stopped by a Mexican Wal-Mart to pick up ice. We asked a man, who could speak English well, if they had a block of ice. If said yea and proceeded to take us to the isle where they kept the toilets. I don't think he understands English as well as he speaks it.
Love ya, Chris.
Friday, August 5, 2011
first day
Today we woke up and had an amazing breakfast and the fear that it might rain. That was a great start to a great day. We met the Perez family and they were Really excited about the new house we are building. Apparently we are really fast at pouring concrete and building walls according to the Amor staff his name is Jono from Australia. Cliff, Curt, and I were teaching the kids how to mix concrete while Joel taught them how to build walls. we were really impressed with how hard the kids worked today. We have really great leaders and youth on this trip. We did as much by 1 as most groups do all day. After work we wanted to jump into the ocean but i promised parents that I wouldn't let the kids get eaten by sharks so we didn't.
we spent about two hours singing and playing music and had a great time playing games. Cliff spoke to the group tonight and the kids and leaders responded Really well.
We are excited to see what tomorrow holds.
Love ya, Chris.
we spent about two hours singing and playing music and had a great time playing games. Cliff spoke to the group tonight and the kids and leaders responded Really well.
We are excited to see what tomorrow holds.
Love ya, Chris.
Wednesday, August 3, 2011
PM Update
Today went really smoothly. Probably because of all of your prayers. We left Life Pacific Bible College after a tour this morning and headed south to the border
After losing Cliff in traffic we began to make really home time. We made it to the border, met our contact with Amor(The ministr we are building with)and headed to Mexico. We made it through the border with ease and proceeded to the campsite when we realized we were missing Cliff. Just kidding, he called us where he was. No... Really he is with us. :)
We set us camp in 30Mph wind and dust. It has since calmed down and is really nice weather. Some kids are even cold.
Cliff and i went to a mexico home depot and bought some gloves for working tomorrow. We purchased 8 pairs and 2 candy bars 2nd spent $437.35. I'm really hoping that is not in dollars as it went on a credit card. I guess we will see when we get back. Tomorrow we will begin building and we get to do some of my favorite labor, pouring concrete. Keep praying for us. We are having alot of fun and laughing a bunch. Cliff tries not to laugh too much because of his ribs but we can't help making him laugh. We have too many goofy people on on this trip.
Love ya, Chris
After losing Cliff in traffic we began to make really home time. We made it to the border, met our contact with Amor(The ministr we are building with)and headed to Mexico. We made it through the border with ease and proceeded to the campsite when we realized we were missing Cliff. Just kidding, he called us where he was. No... Really he is with us. :)
We set us camp in 30Mph wind and dust. It has since calmed down and is really nice weather. Some kids are even cold.
Cliff and i went to a mexico home depot and bought some gloves for working tomorrow. We purchased 8 pairs and 2 candy bars 2nd spent $437.35. I'm really hoping that is not in dollars as it went on a credit card. I guess we will see when we get back. Tomorrow we will begin building and we get to do some of my favorite labor, pouring concrete. Keep praying for us. We are having alot of fun and laughing a bunch. Cliff tries not to laugh too much because of his ribs but we can't help making him laugh. We have too many goofy people on on this trip.
Love ya, Chris
Day 3 Morning
Woke up after a great night sleep to beautiful sunny morning. We are looking forward to making it over the border today!
Tuesday, August 2, 2011
Day 2
Apparently the Lord had planned for us to have two more blowouts on the trailer. One happened just two hours into the trip -- luckily cliff maintained control pulled over and had Noah fix it again. Cliff duke is tough. :)
We stopped to get a new tire from a tire shop but they wanted $300 to fix it. We said no and continued down the road without a spare. What is the probability of having one more blow out? I guess pretty good. The 2nd of the day blew 1/4 mile from our stop. I came back to pick up the tires and Noah as cliff stayed with the truck and trailer in 109% heat. He is like rambo. I found a tire shop 30 miles north of where we were so we picked up two for $210 a much better price.
After much traffic we made it to life pacific college and had a great evening of playing games and spending time relaxing.
Love ya
We stopped to get a new tire from a tire shop but they wanted $300 to fix it. We said no and continued down the road without a spare. What is the probability of having one more blow out? I guess pretty good. The 2nd of the day blew 1/4 mile from our stop. I came back to pick up the tires and Noah as cliff stayed with the truck and trailer in 109% heat. He is like rambo. I found a tire shop 30 miles north of where we were so we picked up two for $210 a much better price.
After much traffic we made it to life pacific college and had a great evening of playing games and spending time relaxing.
Love ya
Monday, August 1, 2011
On Our Way!
Made it to temple baptist church tonight at 10pm, much later than I expected. We had a blow out on the trailer which put us back a bit. But really Cliff and Noah had the spare on in no time. We are truly blessed to have Cliff on this trip, anyone else driving the trailer when a blowout happens they might have just started crying and cursing God but he just said "oh crud" pulled over and Noah fixed it. What a tough dude. He (Cliff) fell off his bike while riding home from the Baptism service on Sunday, might have broken some ribs and probably has a concussion. Did I say he's tough?
The kids are having fun and doing well. We had a good time of worship and i told them growing is painful but we must grow so don't whine about it -- i think they listened. We are sleeping on the floor of classrooms and a gym. I had noah inflate my air mattress so I'm comfy but hot. It must be 1000 degrees in California. I don't know why people live here. I much more appreciate the cooler climates where they use trees instead of huge rocks to decorate landscapes. Tomorrow should be fun, we are traveling to San Dimas and staying in real beds at the dorms of Life Pacific Bible College.
Love ya, Chris
The kids are having fun and doing well. We had a good time of worship and i told them growing is painful but we must grow so don't whine about it -- i think they listened. We are sleeping on the floor of classrooms and a gym. I had noah inflate my air mattress so I'm comfy but hot. It must be 1000 degrees in California. I don't know why people live here. I much more appreciate the cooler climates where they use trees instead of huge rocks to decorate landscapes. Tomorrow should be fun, we are traveling to San Dimas and staying in real beds at the dorms of Life Pacific Bible College.
Love ya, Chris
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