Day 4 - New Years Eve

We are about to go up to the church to begin the New Years Eve festivities. The girls and some of the boys will be playing games and doing crafts with the local kids while the rest of the boys pass out the food in the community. Later we have a pinata planned with authentic Mexican Food cooked over a wood fire and some fireworks. None of our kids will be lighting them, FYI.

Since we will be gone until after midnight this will be our post for today.

Buenos Dias!

Jason

Day 3

Today we finished the digging work on Fidela's house, filled in the gulley on the road approaching the church, did some crude drainage digging, organized the church's crafts and supplies and started digging out Margerita's house.

After we were done for the day, both Margarita and Fidela fed us. I'm continually amazed at the hospitality of the people here in this community. As hard as we try we still haven't been able to out-give the Lord.

Tonight we played pictionary and had our last big Bible study together with the other groups staying here. Brother Ivy translated for me (usually its Andy from the mission) and we had a lot of fun as we taught the Word of God together.

That's all for now. Keep praying for us and that we could be used of the Lord to reach the hearts of the children here in this community. Tomorrow we will be going house to house to give out the rice and potatoes we packaged yesterday.

In Him,

Jason

Monday, Day 2

Cold morning. Very, very cold.


Getting to know each other with frilly name tags.


Filling in a washed away road.


Digging out the side and back of Sister Fidela's house. The guys in the foreground are digging out the side. The guys up on the stairs in back are digging out the back of the house.


The dirt was being loaded into the truck to be dumped into the washed out road.



This is perfectly legal in Mexico. In fact, some of the locals were making fun of us because we didn't have MORE people crammed in there.


The ride back. Yes, we are all wearing seat-belts...invisible seat-belts.

The local Ensenada churches were not able to come but last night and today we have received about 20 additional students and adult leaders. Today we split into seperate teams and tackled some of the needs here at the mission, at the church and also a local family whose house was inundated with mud from the recent rains.

Here at the mission we painted over graffiti in the river bed, cleaned up the facility and re-routed some drainage from the road.

At the church the girls packed beans, rice and potatoes to give to the local families here in the valley.

At the flooded house we began work on digging out a buried retaining wall at the back of the house and removing all the mud and trash from the side of the house to improve drainage.

We are having unbelievable fellowship with the other folks visiting here. God is amazing.

Right now, most of the kids are playing soccer, Olivia is making t-shirts, Sara is getting accupuncture for her shoulder (its working), Mrs Cooksey is getting dinner ready, Mr Spalding is doing nothing (Jason's orders) and I am blogging. God is good.

Jason

p.s. the picture ulpoading is not working so we'll post pictures when we get back.

December 28, 2008 - Day 1

Leaving from church


Last stop before the border


Girl's dorm



We made it!! No problemos! I'll post more (with pictures) tomorrow after we are all settled in.

Thank you so much for all your prayers.

Jason

Packing Day

Today was packing day. RC, with his Tetris-like loading skills, managed to get everything to fit into our trailer. Unfortunately, the tires, axle, leaf-springs and fenders were not as excited as we were. I think we exceeded the max-weight by about 5 tons.

Thankfully another trailer was loaned to us and it looks like it's handling the weight like a champ. We could probably even cram a few more teenagers in there if we needed to. (Whoever tries to smuggle people INTO Mexico?)

All kidding aside, the Lord has blessed His work with willing hearts and amazing talents. We are looking in anticipation to what God has in store for us for this week. Please be praying FOR us and AGAINST the devises of our enemy.

In Him,
Jason

Mexico Winter 2008 - Day -9

Greetings to you in the Lord!

We are all looking forward to our mission trip to Mexico on the 28th. As the day draws near the preparation pace picks up. But, as with anything that we endeavor to do for the Lord, the primary preparations should be taking place in our hearts.

The enemy would love to discourage us, frighten us or make us complacent - anything to take our eyes off Jesus. So, I want to encourage all who are traveling down to Mission Mixteco to be looking to the Lord this next week. Keep your eyes on Him and trust in His strength. Be praying for safety, for the hearts of those we will be spending time with and that His Will would be accomplished through us.

Here's a few reminders...

• The work day will be this Saturday the 20th at 9am. Plan on being there until 12 noon.

• Our final meeting will be Sunday the 21st at 12:15 pm in the "Fireside Room." Don't forget that the notary will be there to witness and approve signatures

If you have any questions please contact Jason, Sara or Steve at the church, 222-6561.

In Him,

Jason

Kansas Trip, Last Day

Lifting the joist.

Getting the joist ready for lifting to the 2nd floor took lots of help.

Nailing the joists in place.

The Sweigerts, for whom we built the house.

The group at the end of the week. What a blessing!

Nailing the siding.

Checking the progress.

The walls are braced.

The joists in place, ready to stand up.

Resting up for dinner on Friday night at the end of the day.

Kansas Trip Day 4

Nailing the walls together.

Standing another wall for Jesus!

Lining up the walls together.

The family who owns the house we are building.

Watch Out for that 2x4 its coming down!!! Dennis got 3 staples from this accident!

Kansas Trip Day Three

No training required!

Prep work on the job.

Working together.

Team Effort.

The building goes up!

Lavon and Vicki lifting the wall that they framed.

Where we are staying - what a blessing!

Kansas Trip Day Two

Lavon & whats left of the Boy Scouts building.

Lots of rubble.

The pioneer spirit is still alive.

The first wall going up! The man in the center & kids in foreground are part of the family who will live in the house being built.

Kansas Trip Day One

The mission team has made it safely and has already begun construction to rebuild one of the storm damaged homes there.

This is what is left of one of Greensburg's main streets.

One basement that is left with its fireplace.

Just a little glimpse of how "difficult" it has been for us here!

The home the fellows will be working on this week.

The home of the "Big Well" Lavon & I worked on cleaning up its parking lot today.

The fellows began the framing work

Snappin' lines!

Jerry true to form with coffee in foreground.

Jerry & John (one of the fellows from this fellowship) checkin' out the plans.

Pastor Luke & some of the fellows framing.

Greensburg, Kansas Mission Trip

We have 8 people from our fellowship heading to Greensburg, Kansas to help rebuild their tornado ravaged community. They would greatly appreciate your prayers for fruitful service and safe travel. The team will be posting photos and giving trip details throughout the week on our church website www.ccfresno.org.

Final Thoughts

What a week we had in Mexico. We returned exausted yet full. It is such a good feeling to know that we went and gave everything we had to offer. Now we pray for those dear people and look forward to seeing them again soon.

Here are a few final thoughts from those on the team.



"It was beautiful to see the community bathroom finished this year. This year we did a lot of everything around the facility. It was blessing to come along side our brothers and sisters in Christ and be able to take some of the load off of them if only for a week.

We also returned to Thermoelectric for another Bible study. We were so blessed to see God’s harvest increased. There were 15 ladies this year and we studied Hebrews 12:1-2. Let us all be encouraged by the great cloud of witnesses surrounding us and as we run, let us run with endurance and keep our eyes fixed on Jesus."



"This was another wonderful year at Casa de Paz. It was such a blessing to do projects of play with the kids, talk with staff, help out, etc. The children have such a love for them and we know it is the work of the Lord through David and Karen and the staff here working for the glory of God. It was wonderful to see the kids’ excitement when launching rockets. At thermoelectric, again it was a blessing to do another Bible study and see how it has grown from 4 last year to 15 this year.

A couple in San Antonio de las Minas, Monica and Andy, were such a blessing to work with. They have a beautiful gift of hospitality and such a love of the Lord it is humbling.

Thank you Cas de Paz for the hosting us and praise you, Jesus, for blessing this time in our lives."



"Thank you, Lord, for giving me the opportunity to serve the children and staff of Casa de Paz. Please bless them and keep them and let them know there are prayers being lifted up for their sake from Fresno, CA. Also, God, please don’t let any of the stuff I built to fall apart. Praise God!"



"This has been a wonderful time of fellowship and service in God’s work. What a blessing it is to be able to come down with brothers and sisters in Christ, to love and serve others. God, thank you for the time and the grace you have provided us. I pray that we will continue to look to you as we go back to our hometowns to minister and serve others. Please Lord, also may you continue to watch over the children and fellowship here. May you help them grow in the grace and knowledge of you. Thank you Jesus! Amen."



"Thank you Father in heaven for this wonderful opportunity to share your love with others. I will remember this moment for ever. My eyes have been opened to so many things about the human heart. All the children and staff have blessed my soul. This is a treasure I will hold in heaven. I will keep you, Casa de Paz, in my prayers and may the Lord Jesus Christ keep you."

Friday-Farewell

Hello to everyone.

I apologize for not keeping up on the blog. It has been so very busy!!!

Yesterday we went out to Thermoelectrica, and Terrie led a Bible study with Sara translating. It was beautiful to see these ladies still hungering and thirsting for the Word, and to see how the Lord grew the number from 4 last year to 12 this year!!!! He is SO good!! The others from our team played futbol with the boys and beads with the girls, and again, the Lord provided a peaceful covering for the study. There was a lady who was in the village for the day that came with her sister. She asked for prayer for her sister, Cynthia, that Jesus will become real to her so that she will accept Him as Lord of her life. What is so incredible about Cynthia and her sister being at the study is that the only reason her sister was visiting was that her car broke down and Cynthia’s husband was fixing it that day. So, even a car breaking down can lead to a divine appointment!!! We were able to take complete Spanish Bibles and some school supplies to them, as well. Please keep them and all the ladies in Thermoelectrica in prayer that they will keep growing in the Lord and that more and more will be saved in their village.

We did do projects again with the children here at Casa de Paz, including finishing their rockets. We launched the rockets in the evening after a hot dog BBQ for the children and staff here at Casa de Paz. It was so cool! We also did dinosaur egg hunts (watermelons hid on the grounds) and watched the DVD from last year’s trip theater style with popcorn and everything, and the kids loved seeing themselves on the big screen! It was really a special time connecting with them, sharing pictures and memories with them, and hopefully creating more to share in the future!

Today we went to Ensenada and La Bufadora where we haggled and as Steve says, “did our ministry to the merchants” there! We are getting ready for the campfire now. I apologize if this was too bland a rendering of the goings on! It has been such a beautiful time. I pray you all enjoy the pictures, and we look forward to sharing in detail the things the Lord has shown, strewn, and grown in us. God bless you all!

In Christ’s Love,

Bon