yeah...

from IZZY!

"so...how was Mexico?" many people have asked...

and frankly, it is a very hard question to answer as God has blessed us in so many ways and it is not something that can be summed up in a couple of sentences.  Personally, I am going through "withdrawal" in the sense that during Mexico, God seemed to be at work everywhere I turned and I would wake up every morning with a clear sense of purpose and passion.  Building the house, translating, doing the VBS, etc filled my schedule from dawn to dusk...but as tired and cranky (at times!) as I was, I didn't mind it at all.  I miss seeing the children running up to me and loving me exactly for who I was and didn't mind that I haven't showered in days and that I was wearing the exact same old and stinky clothes.  I miss hanging out with our Bethel Mexico Team as we've truly connected in a real and meaningful way.  I miss the yummy and delicious foods such as the tacos, the diarrhea prone mango bars, tamales, and even the PJ sandwiches.  I miss the beautiful sunrises and sunsets and I actually miss the crazy looking insects as they reminded me a lot of living in Ecuador.  I have truly learned the essence of living in simplicity and appreciating God for all the little and big things that He has given to me.

There's so much more....I shall share more later after more reflection.  In the meantime, I should really get ready for my first day of school teaching my first Grade Six class at Cornerstone Christian Academy!

PS.  I took the liberty of copying and pasting ppl.'s xanga blogs....(heee.... ) since you guys didn't write it directly onto this page...I hope that you don't mind.

PPS.  For 306 mexico pics, go to:  http://www.imagestation.com/album/?id=2121898285

one of my fave pics...beautiful sunset!

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from BETSY!

Ever since I've been back from Mexico, I've been thinking of what I can say to express how I feel and what I learned

Mexico was definately an eye-opening and an experience
During the trip, we've seen extreme situations on both ends;

On one side, we saw how much little the people down there had
We saw little kids running around with no clothes
We saw stray dogs that were diseased walking around with little kids petting them
We saw many broken families

On the other side, we've seen how God has provided in so many ways it reminded me of a fairy tale
We took a trip around an orphanage and just hearing the stories about how everything fell into place and how well things were going was astounding
We've seen how God has changed the lives of so many people
The testimonies we heard were unbelievable

Throughout the 5-6 days we were down there, I kept hearing this one song playing in my head..
It was only until 5 mins ago when I was playing it on the piano and meditating on the lyrics that it hit me on what it was saying...
It's an old song so some of you might not even know it....
But here are the lyrics.

As Bread that Is Broken

Many hearts are hungry tonight
many trapped in darkness, yearn for the light;
So many who are far from home and many who are lost,
O Lord, Your wonded children need the power of Your cross

As bread that is broken, use our lives,
as wine that is poured out, a willing sacrifice;
Empower us, Father, to share the love of Christ,
as bread that is broken, Lord, use our lives.

Help us to begin where we are,
help us love the people near to our hearts;
Then give our faith a mission field wherever You may call.
Lord, love Your world through each of us until we've touched them all.

As bread that is broken, use our lives,
as wine that is poured out, a willing sacrifice;
Empower us Father to share the love of Christ,
as bread that is broken, Lord, use our lives.


The message within this short and simple song is so powerful
It's like a yearning
A craving even
Crying out to God
Begging Him to use us


I want to go back.
I want to experience that feeling and giddyness of having little kids jumping around, wanting your attention, wanting to see you smile and be happy, wanting to play with you
I want them to poke me and ask me "caballo?" (which literally means "horse", but when they ask, they want a piggy back)
I want to learn their language
so I can share with them
and love them
and hug them
and give them the love they deserve
I want them to know God
I want to be able to see them again in heaven

I must admit, God totally blew me away
Before going down, I had my share of doubts thinking what could we - a group of 13 chinese punks aged grade8 till.. um.. old - do down there?
Sure we were going to "build a house" but REALLY?
did they REALLY trust us enough to have us do the WHOLE THING and not end up getting sued by them?

God sure showed me.

"In closing...."
Many of the themes from the KidsCamp I just did with my church pops right out at me whenever I think about our trip:

God Listens

God Protects

God Provides

God Rules


Good ol' kids camp.

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from VIVIAN!

im baacckk!!  hehe got back on the 13th at 2:30am! the ride back was HORRIBLE! took us 45 hours!  but the trip itself was amazing.  very very memorable.  my faith went up a lot this trip and i really saw God at work.  For those who dunno...i went down to mexico along with 12 other church fellowship members to build a house.  We went to a small city called Vicente Guerrero.  As a team (team china!!) we built a single sized house with an outhouse for a single mother and her children and sisters.  This trip taught me a lot about appreciating the things i have in van city...running hot water, toilets where u can flush toilet paper into, loving family and friends, wonderful surroundings, a decent house to live in and a loving bf.  things and people that many down in mexico wished they could have...i have.  And even though the family whom we built the house for was poor..they still went out by foot to buy us chicken, rice, beans, tortillas to cook us 3 wonderful, authentic mexican meals.  for that and many other reasons, i feel blessed to be able to serve people with such generousity. 

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from AARON!

ah...good to be back..only problem is that its 5 in the morning and i am not one bit tired...so ill just take out my journal and give some details of the mexico trip...

Thursday night, August 11th- picked up Queenie and Kelvin at like...10:45-ish...when it was supposed to be at 10..but whatever...hung out at Howards, listened to music, learned a basic beat from Justin (drumming) and just hung out....watched the beginning of Appleseed...seems cool..then went to bed...

Friday, August 12th- woke up at around 4:20, got ready, but the others werent ready yet so we didnt leave until around 5:30 to Tim Hortons, where we had a small breakfast, and met the other church (Johnston Heights) after that it's been non-stop driving, with washroom breaks every couple hours. We were at the edge of California by midnight
Saturday, August 13th- we continued to the edge of LA, where we spent the afternoon at Six Flags. There weren't as much rides as expected, and all the roller coasters had huge line ups, I went on the Psyclone and Batman Returns. I liked Batman better because it has less "ley sum". After Six Flags, we drove another hour and a bit to a church where we stayed for the night.

Sunday, August 14th- Another long day of being in a van, but that's ok because we finally made it to Vicente Guerrero! We set up the tents, which took a while because it had a lot of pegs, but luckily, Roger was in the same tent group as me (and Howard), and he knows how to put up tents. Then we had spaghetti for dinner, which was good. Then I took a shower in the washroom stall, which was quite interesting....

Monday August 15th- We met Gord today, and he was hilarious as he gave us an orientation. His warnings about the biting bugs were funny, with highlights such as the "ninja spider" and "you won't die....usually" We also met the family Norma and her sons, Pablo and Alberto, as well as Angela and Maria, Norma's sisters and Ishmael, Angela's son. We also managed to put up two walls, and had the roof panels ready. That night we had tacos for dinner (at a taco stand, very delicious!) Vince made it to 9 tacos, but had to go to the washroom very urgently. It was funny because on the ride back, every little bump caused him grief in his tummy, and we were all laughing at his antics to avoid things going unexpectedly either way.

Tuesday, August 16th- we had a bunch of bees swarming our dining area, and I managed to get like around 15 bees on my plate, but Don from Portland, Oregon helped me out and got rid of them for me. Then we had VBS, but as we were walking on the streets trying to gather kids, I managed to get another nosebleed. But VBS was fun, we made the 5 colour bracelets for the kids, then we played with them. I played soccer with the older boys. Then we had lunch and back to the building site. I was having bad luck with the nails that day (wouldnt go in straight, at wrong points, hitting my thumb, etc etc.) so I played with the kids most of the time, playing tag, throwing a beanball around.

Wednesday, August 17th- we worked the entire day on the house, Norma made chicken with ric (cooked in tomatoes, garlic and onions) so Roger and I missed our lunch duties, but Renee said thats ok. We put up both roofs and started digging the hole for the outhouse. I believed Kelvin and Trevor made it to around 3 feet before we finished that day. For dinner, we went to the beach and had hotdogs. we relived old memories, hung out, (almost) played capture the flag. The scenery was amazing, the sunset, the waves the moon, the stars...just breathtaking altogether...Then we went to the campfire and had smores. A great night, very memorable...

Thursday, August 18th- we had an ealy start this morning, ate breakfast at 7 instead of 8, then went to the building site an hour early as well. The whole morning, Howard and I was roofing, with the help of Vince then Roger. I hammered with my left hand, because I had a cut on my right (heart-shaped on wednesday and thursday) which i got from PK-ing on Tuesday night. Anyways I am now proudly ambidextrous with a hammer. After, I did random jobs such as being the garbage man, the painter and the hole digger. I enjoyed hole digging, but i couldnt help much because after 2-3 shifts, my wound started opening up again, and i had to stop. That night we had tamales, made by Jose (an ex-gangster turned christian, gave a testimony on Tuesday night) Then we went to IDT for sharing and worship and then we had sharing time in my tent (LGC only) Then Vivian fell asleep, and Betsy stayed as well, and Howard left because they were on his sleeping bag and pillow, so that night we had 2 girls and 2 guys in our tent, which was totally against the rules, yet it was fine because everyone was sleepy anyways.

Friday, August 19th- Ah...slack day, yet I feel somewhat purposeless....anyways first stop was to the orphanage, great history and surroundings....a very good place to help out if I decide to return to Mexico someday. After the tour, we went to the Oaxacan market, where I got my "unoriginal" (according to Trev, which was probably true but im not much of a shopper anyways) souvenirs ( a bunch of necklaces with a cross, some sorta music instrument, and two bracelets) Then we had lunch and went to the beach, where I spent all of it lying under the sun, but it was really windy so I wasn't getting any warmth that I wanted :(  that night, we had tacos at the stand again, then we went back and nearly everyone went to sleep early (or decently early) but Zak Adam and I stayed up til 11 hanging out and telling stories and saying random things...

Saturday, August 20th- woke up at 4, helped clean up tents and bathrooms, watched sun rise, then began a very long ride back home. Our first washroom break was already a proble,. Someone had puked in the bus, so everyone in it had to get out and stay out until the stench could be cleared up, plus there was a long line up at the washroom stalls...then as we were crossing the Mexico-USA border, the lineups were huge, and we waited a long time in the heat. Just as the van got to the gate, it got stuck in park. It took a long time to fix it, and during it, it was really hot and sweaty, but KB suggested that we all pray, which helped calm our hearts down, as well as bodies. Eventually the bus made it through, but had to be pulled over and searched thoroughly because it seemed suspicious. anyways after that, the washroom breaks took a long time because there were too many people loitering and not going until we start to load up. anyways nearing the last couple stops (after the Oregon people got off) I mingled with the Johnston Heights people and had tons of fun in the van...and tons of sleep in the bus...

just a lil quick summary (does that even count as quick? lol) of the Mexico trip...

 outside Six Flags!

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from HOWARD!

Hey people!

It's good to be back. I miss Vancouver so much. It was great being at Mexico and doing the missions work. We went to IDT located at Vicente Guerrero and camp over there for a few days. The washrooms in Mexico are different than the one's here in Canada and USA. It's the same thing...u do your business (# 1 or 2), but the only thing is that can't put toilet paper in there...if u do then you're in big trouble. The first day of work was easy until later on everyone was working their butt off.

I see people living in a poor houses and yet they're so happy for wut they have. But for us...we wouldn't even apprectiate one single thing that we have, instead we complain (only for some people). I see the kids there with no shoes, bare feet running around and have nothing to play with and still they were so happy for wut they have. This is really hard for me to see... The family that we were building the house for, made us lunch for 2-3 days. She was so generous. They have so little and yet they gave everything they have for us.

This trip has changed parts of my life...the part where I complain to my parents and not really appreciate so much about things...I just need to shut my mouth and live on wut I have. So overall...this trip was an awesome experience. I recommend those who haven't done this before to go. K...i need to go

#1 Team China with our #1 driver "MEL" and assistant Christaan...

  Greetings from Mexico!!! 

We arrived safely into Vicente Guerrero on Sunday night and we have been able to put all four walls up for the house plus half the roof.  We also just finished painting the outhouse for the family!  We are very tired but thankful to be here amidst this wonderful culture.  For some of us, this is the first time sleeping in tents, and it's been quite an experience thus far having to deal with the dusty environment, huge spiders, scorpions, and toilets with limited flushing power (and yes some of us have only showered twice since friday!).  This is definitely teaching us to live in simplicity.  We have been having huge cravings for some Bubble Tea and Chinese Food but you cannot beat the TACOS here...they are AMAZING!!  Vince stuffed himself with nine tacos and almost couldn't hold his stomach in on our way back into our camp site.

The house that we are building for is for a family of six which include two sisters who are both single mothers.  Their names are:

*Norma and her two little boys, Alberto (4 years old) and Pablo (2 years old).

*Angela and her little boy, Ismael (2 years old)

*Maria del Pilar (8 years old) and she's the sister of Norma and Angela.

It's been interesting getting to know the culture here especially when it comes to how men treat women.  Women here are regarded as "materials" and even little 8 year old boys will not listen to women...it's definitely a very MACHO society.

Please continue to pray for us!

Praises include:

*Thank God for guiding and protecting us during our 36 hour drive from Vancouver to Mexico

*Thank God for the wonderful family who we are building for.  They are super generous and have been cooking yummy mexican lunches for us! 

*Thank God for our health as no one has gotten sick yet...

Prayers include:

*Pray that He will continue to give us strength to build the house.  We need to finish it by tomorrow (Thursday)

*Pray for our health and safety.

*Pray for our family: Norma, Alberto, Pablo, Angela, Ismael and Maria del Pilar in that they will know the love of Christ.

*Pray for our VBS in that many children will come to know Christ and the power of his Salvation.

Esto es todo!!  That's it for now.  Thank you for your prayers....  we have so many more stories to tell you when we come back.  We also have tons and tons of pictures and video to show you all!

Blessings....Bendiciones,

Bethel Mexico Mission

PS.  We miss you all!!!