Updates on Andrew

Some pictures

2009-12-01T18:12:00.000-08:00

Thanksgiving and things

2009-12-01T11:09:00.000-08:00

We had an awesome Thanksgiving here last week! Classes were shortened for the week, and after Wednesday class students were free to do what they wanted for the holiday. Thanksgiving day we had a big meal here on campus and invited our friends and neighbors over. Dustin and I spent a good chunk of the day riding around TJ looking for tablecloths. Who would have guessed it would be so hard to find cheap plastic tablecloths here? Not even Walmart had them! We finally managed to find some bright pink ones with daisies on them at a Dollar Store, so those are what we ended up using. All told, we probably had around 30 some people at the Castillo. I was excited that my Mexican friends from church were able to come. I haven't been able to hang out with them as much as I did before school started, so it was good to have them over. It's funny because they don't really eat things that we consider regular foods in The States. Things like turkey, and mashed potatoes are foods that my Mexican friends don't eat very often. They can appreciate them, but it's just one of those weird reminders that even though we're close to the border, it's still a different culture.

The rest of the week was pretty relaxing. It was strange having the weekend start on Wednesday. It made the whole week feel off and I woke up on Sunday feeling like it was Monday.

Saturday Dustin and I went with Ryan and his father-in-law and brother-in-law on a motorcycle trip southeast of TJ. Dustin and I were basically just driving the chase vehicle. We dropped the 3 guys off at a place near Tecate called Santa Veronica and drove on a gnarly dirt road about 2 and a half hours south to Laguna Hanson (some of you may remember this was the location of our staff camping trip). It was a cool drive, and the scenery out there is amazing! Plus we got to see our first snow of the season. I never expected it to be in Mexico! With all the snow and the cool rocks and trees down there it looked like something out of a Christmas card. We took some pictures, so I'll try to put those up later! We waited in Laguna Hanson for about 2 and a half hours, and the guys showed up. They had a really cold ride, but they made it, and had a good time! We were all tired out after the drive back to TJ, but it is always fun to get out and see more of Mexico.

Bonus post!

2009-11-22T18:02:00.000-08:00

I did a little post down below about some of the goings on this weekend, but I wanted to post a another story. Friday night I went down to Renee's taco stand by myself. My usual wingman, Dustin, is down in Porvenir for the weekend so I was flying solo. It's nice every once in awhile to head down there alone as it seems to make it easier to talk to Renee and some of the other people down there. Anyway, after eating a hamburger I was sitting talking to Renee. One of the other customers was kinda just hanging out too and he started asking me about what I was doing in TJ (A pretty common thing for Mexicans to ask us whiteys down here I think). I told him I lived up the hill and worked at a Bible School and that I was a Christian. That peaked his interest and he asked me what the difference was between Christianity and Catholicism. Well wouldn't you know it, some of that Bible school payed off, and I was able to go over some of the basic differences (this was all in English, by the way, my Spanish isn't quite that good yet). After that he asked me a series of different questions about judgement day, hell, and the 10 commandments. Well some of that Way of The Master stuff came back to me(it's amazing how it comes back when you need it!) and I told him about God loving us, but he is still just and has to judge our sin unless we accept the sacrifice Jesus made for us on the cross. Guillermo (as I found out his name was) listened closely to all of the things I was telling him. Our conversation ended with him thanking me and saying he hoped to talk again. I was really grateful to have an opportunity like this to share with someone, and it encouraged me.

Please pray for Guillermo that the Holy Spirit will be working on his heart!

Frolf!

2009-11-22T17:46:00.000-08:00

That is correct ladies and gentlemen, this weekend I participated in the challenging and age old tradition of Frolf! Or as the unwashed masses refer to it: Frisbee Golf. Saturday me and a couple of the students went up to Los Estados Unidos (The States) to meet up with Rory's (one of the students) mom and cousin who were visiting from Colorado. We went to this restaurant for breakfast called Hash House A Go Go. Weird Name, I know. Anyway, this place is known for their gigantic proportions of food. Here are a few hastily snapped cell phone pictures:

So after we finished eating, we made our way to the Frolf course near Balboa park. It took a good 3ish hours to finish the 19 hole course. Let me just say, my Frolf skillz require some fine tuning. It was a good time nonetheless. I'm amazed at the weather down here. Last year at this time we were having some pretty rough wind storms and rain. It kinda feels like waiting around for the Tsunami to hit. I think all of the sudden it's going to just storm like crazy.

Anyway, this week is Thanksgiving. We've got a big meal planned, my second here in Mexico. It's interesting, growing up you don't really think about how a lot of the world doesn't celebrate Thanksgiving. Aren't they thankful too? But I digress.

Monday!

2009-11-16T15:43:00.000-08:00

Wow, monday already! Last week blew by! This weekend was a busy one. Friday night we had a group from Sandals church (in Riverside, CA) come down. They stayed till Sunday afternoon. Saturday they had teaching in the morning with Dave Burdette, and then for lunch we did a hunger meal. Funny name for a meal since it seems a little oxymoronic (not sure if that's a real word, but it is now!). Basically it's a meal where the group is divided into 3 different sections. The smallest group of people eats extremely well, having more food than they need and the best food. The second group has enough food, and a little variety. The third group has only rice and dirty water. The point of the exercise is to demonstrate what people of the world (based on percents) eat what. It's a fun little exercise, and we've done it with many different groups now. It's always interesting to see how different people react when put in those situations.

Sunday I went to church down the road, where I normally attend. I haven't been there in a few weeks though, so it was good to be back! Everyone missed Dustin and I, and a bunch of people were asking where we had been. After church we hung out with our friend Homer from church and ate Sushi! The Sushi is quite good down here. :)

We're chugging along here at Baja Bible School. We realized today that there are 3 weeks left in the first semester! It's been going by so fast! We also have some other visitors on campus till tomorrow. They're a film crew from YWAM in Oregon that is doing a documentary on human trafficking. I went with them this morning to the border to try and get an interview with a border guard, but they weren't able to. There is a huge process you have to go through to get an interview and it can take up to a month. Anyway, it's great to be able to host them here, and we're blessed to be a blessing!

November is going to be a busy month for us (when isn't it busy for us??), and we're looking forward to celebrating Thanksgiving and finishing out our first semester. I'll keep you guys posted on what goes down!

A jump!

2009-11-10T19:25:00.000-08:00

Dustin and I found a pretty sweet little dip in one of the dirt roads while we were in Porvenir. Hitting it at around 60 let us get some nice air. :)

Porvenir

2009-11-09T10:36:00.001-08:00

We had a great time this weekend in El Porvenir! Everyone left around 2pm Friday afternoon and arrived right around 4ish in Porvenir. Time has a weird way of disappearing when you're down there. Maybe it's strange lack of clocks, or maybe it's just the laid back feel of the town. Whatever it is, it makes for a pretty relaxing weekend. I personally spent some time catching up on some sleep when Dustin and I weren't riding around on the motorcycles. Porvenir is pretty small so most of the roads are dirt which makes for some fun riding!

Saturday evening was the Confra (conference) at the church. It was a big youth event with people coming from all around northern western Mexico! I was impressed to see around 700 people show up. They put a lot of work into decorating the church and setting up displays with various objects from different countries around the world. From what I understand every year this church does a Mes de misiones (month of missions) and they put a lot of time into it. The topic of the youth evening was finding a proper spouse. I did my best to understand the spanish, and I had a pretty good idea of the points they were making. Afterwards they had food and things for sale to go towards missions.

Sunday the students and Ryan and Steph took off around 10:30 in the morning to head back to Baja. Dustin and I decided to hang around for the day and catch the later part of the conference. The second part was more geared for adults, with worship, a big skit, and another speaker. For this portion we donned ear buds and had someone in back translate the speaker for us. Pretty handy! Around 7:30 we left to head back to Baja. It was a cold ride, but fun nonetheless!

Today is back to work in the office, and class for the students!

Porvenir weekend!

2009-11-06T09:40:00.000-08:00

This weekend the students and a couple of the staff will be visiting Ventana Ministries in Porvenir! Porvenir is a really really (there isn't even a gas station!) small town east of Ensenada, about an hour and half drive from here. I've been there a couple of times myself, and even though it's small, it's a nice little town. Or village. Whatever you want to call it. Some of you may have known and/or remember that we had Ventana's 4 students here at Baja Bible for the first 5 weeks of school. This weekend the church they attend in Porvenir is having a big missions event. I don't really know exactly what that means, but I know we'll be helping out with that somehow.

The plan is to leave at 2pm today. We're driving 2 cars filled with students, and Dustin and I are going to be riding down on the motorcycles. It's a fun ride along the ocean and then east into the hills. Hopefully I'll have some pictures to put up from this weekend!

Ok you guys

2009-11-02T18:19:00.000-08:00

I'm going to recommit to writing on this blog at least once a week. I've slowly (maybe not even slowly) letting it slide over the last 6 months. It's been getting down to 1 or less updates a month. There is more than enough things going on around here to write about, I just need to do it! Don't be afraid to call me out on not writing!

That said, this week has been an interesting one for us here at Baja Bible School. We've been experiencing the school life in a new way: sickness. For the last week and a half some bug or another has been getting passed around throughout our students, speakers, and staff. I myself was not spared and have had my bouts with the bug this weekend. Today isn't too much better, but I was able to lay low this afternoon and get some rest and it's helped. Any prayer for everyone living here that they would either be healed or protected from the sickness would be appreciated! I'm fairly sure it's not swine flu, just regular winter colds (but who knows these days!).

It's about 6:30pm which means dinner time around these parts, so until next time!

Lately & Perspectives

2009-09-30T15:12:00.000-07:00

Wow, so talk about getting slax on the blog updates, huh? I think last time I updated this I promised I would take some pictures with my new camera batteries and then post them. Well I never did take any pictures, so I just decided I would do an update anyway! I do have a few pictures to post, although I didn't take them. The first one is this:

This is our new staff photo!

It's been busy around here as we're already half way into our third week! Classes started on September 14th. The first week of classes was the 12 languages of culture with Dave Burdette. Last week was World Religions with Dr. Stan Fleming as the teacher. This week the students are learning about Creation with Craig Morrison. I've been trying to sit in on at least one day of classes during the week.

It's really exciting to have school start and it's been a blast getting to know students and hanging out with them! We are working to schedule events for the future as well. In January we are hosting a Perspectives course here on campus. It's going to be a 3 week course open to everyone. We have information about it posted on our website! http://www.bajabible.org/perspectives.html

That's all for now!

Tijuana Life!

2009-08-17T14:19:00.000-07:00

With all the business going on around here at the Castillo this summer it has been hard to find time to put out more Tijuana Life videos. Luckily I managed to get this one edited and pushed out the door for your enjoyment!

P.S.

I'm waiting on some new batteries for my camera to show up in the mail so I can do a full update of this summer's events with some pictures of all the goings on! Stay tuned!

New Tijuana Life/ update on stuff

2009-07-03T10:11:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone,

Here is our latest Tijuana Life video! Dave Burdette graciously agreed to be interviewed for the video, and give his thoughts on Baja Bible School! Take a look!

June was a busy month for the staff at Baja Bible School. We had many guests and visitors, and construction continued on the dorm rooms. We also added a new member to our crew living here, Ryan and Stephanie's new baby, Elena!

She sleeps a lot during the day, and eats a lot during the night, but we're glad to have her!

I'll be doing another full update soon, including some pictures of recent projects!

It begins!

2009-06-05T10:30:00.000-07:00

Ladies and gentlemen, June is here! Many of you have probably been anticipating this all year. Summertime. It's finally here! School is getting out, plans are being made, and excitement is in the air!

This is an exciting time for us at Baja Bible School as well. First, it is the 3 month mark for school starting. This school has been in the works for many years, and a lot of hard work and service has gone into making it possible. None of it would have been happened without the provision of God, and we're blessed to be where we are today!

Secondly, summer brings the arrival of summer groups! We have several experience weeks planned for this summer (as I mentioned before), and our first weekend group is coming tonight and staying until Sunday! They're going to get to hear several speakers tomorrow, including Eddie Passmore from Mexico Caravan Ministries. The group is also going to be spending time in the city amongst the people, eating some local food, and learning about culture. We also have a couple of work groups coming this summer to help us with the continued construction on our campus.

That leads me to my third point. Our summer staff have been hard at work on the upstairs dorm rooms, and they are nearly finished with two of them. That will leave four rooms to finish! We have several other projects we're working on around the campus, and a big part of that is going to be landscaping. Those of you that visited have seen our beautiful campus, but we plan to make improvements! Dan and Lyndsay are working on adding more plant life to our campus, and there will be more to come. Dan and Kevin also started working on a retaining wall to allow for more plants along the walkway. Here are a few pictures of recent projects:

Here is the location of our future garden!

Some of the new plants.

Newish plants, as well as the new retaining wall! It's a work in progress.

The upstairs dorm rooms. As you can see, they are painted and awaiting finish work!

I'll keep you updated as summer events unfold, and hopefully provide more pictures!

Please continue to pray for students for the school. We've had a lot of interest lately, and we're praying for at least 12 students this fall!

BONUS! New Tijuana Life episode!!

New Tijuana Life videos!

2009-05-27T14:22:00.000-07:00

We've added 2 new videos to the series since my last post about them, the 4th just came out today!

Back in TJ

2009-05-25T16:21:00.000-07:00

I'm back in Tijuana after a 3 week break in Washington. It was awesome to spend time with my family and friends and I was blessed to be able to take a short break from the work down here!

As we move into the summer months everything is going to start getting busy again for Baja Bible School and it's staff. The first new this is the arrival of our summer staff. We have 4 additional staff coming for the summer months. Kevin and Bethany have already arrived, and we're expecting two more within the next week. It's cool to have new staff, and so far I think they are loving it here!

With the success of our March experience weeks, we have decided to have several more experience opportunities this summer. Starting in June we will be having groups on our campus for a chance to experience life in Tijuana, Baja Bible School, and some genuine Mexican food! If you're interested, you can check out our website for specific dates and costs.

We're also going to be having several work groups to the Castillo to help finish up the final bit of construction that we have. The top floor of the dorms is coming along nicely, and it will be all ready for our students this fall.

Personally, I will be continuing my Business Manager work, mixed in with the occasional IT job (just today I managed to set up one of our office PCs as a print server that allows both Macs and PC's to print to it!), and also working on our Tijuana Life video series(I'm 85% done editing episode #4 right now). All of the college age staff is also going to start attending college groups in the San Diego area. Partly to make connections with local Christians, but also just for fellowship.

It's an exciting time for all of the staff here at Baja, and we're looking forward to what God has planned for us this summer and the coming fall!

Please be continuing to pray that God will provide more students for this fall, we're starting September 14th!!

Oh, and I've added a link to the left of the page to sign up for our monthly e-newsletter, you should sign up!

New Video Series!

2009-05-05T12:05:00.000-07:00

Over the past couple of weeks we have been working on a new video series to show people what regular life is like where we live in Tijuana! The series is called Tijuana Life and is on Youtube and many other video sites. We have 2 episodes out so far, and are working on more. Here are the first two episodes for your viewing pleasure!

Keep your eyes open for new episodes!

I'm up in Olympia now for a couple of weeks. I'll be in town until the 21st of May. Call me if you want to hang out!

Tower floor!

2009-04-20T11:52:00.000-07:00

This last week we spent many hours working on a project that has been needing to get done for some time. I give you, the tower floor:

Our goal is to have this room transformed into a libary/study area in the very near future (we've already been working on our book collection!). The tower is divided into to rooms; the smaller front room had many paint spots and needed work, but the larger back room was by far the worse of the two. The back room had hardened grime, black spots where it looked like people had fires, graffiti, and some paint spots for good measure.

At first we were going to attempt to use a lot of paint thinner and some scrapers to get the floor as clean as possible, but after realizing that this method would not only take many hours, but the end result wouldn't be especially amazing. We considered our options, tested a few, and opted to go with some power sander action!

As you can see, the sanders were very effective at taking just about everything off the floor. Needless to say, this was dusty work! We spent several days individually sanding each square of the floor for maximum results, and our work payed off!

We threw a coat of sealant on there, and it's good to go! Now we're going to be building shelves for books, do some decorating, and our study/library will be complete!

BONUS PICTURE!!!

This is a GIANT moth that I found outside my room above my door. It was about the size of my index finger. Pretty terrifying if I do say so myself. It had a look of pure evil in it's eyes, like it could strike at any moment! I would have put my hand next to it for context, but I didn't for fear of having a chunk taken out of it.

That's it for this time! Thanks for reading!

New slideshow!

2009-04-07T11:44:00.000-07:00

Please share this video with anyone and everyone! Help us promote the school!

-Andrew

Ecola and experience weeks

2009-03-30T15:20:00.000-07:00

Wow, my last update was a month and a half ago! Time really flies! It's been the busiest couple of weeks we've had here at Baja Bible School. I was in Washington for a couple of days the end of February for my cousin's wedding, and arrived back in Mexico the 2nd of March.

Upon my arrival we already had a group of 35 at The Castillo from Ecola Bible School. They have been annually sending groups down for the last 5 or 6 years! My original visit to Baja Bible 2 years ago was with an Ecola group. They did a lot of work around The Castillo, including a new sidewalk leading up to the Castillo! They also spent time at Caravan Ministries, and the Deborah House. Ryan and Stephanie did a detailed update on Ecola's time here, and you can check it out by clicking the link to their page on the right! (It's called Baja and Beyond)

After Ecola left, we had a short week to prepare for our 2 consecutive Experience Weeks. The idea of the Experience Weeks was to get potential students down, as well as their family or whoever else wanted to come. We had two speakers lined up for the week, as well as a house build, and time at the Deborah house. (If you're interested we're probably going to be having at least 1 more in the summer!)

The first Experience Week was awesome, and it was great to be able to see a small picture of what the school will be like when students come!

Our second Experience Week was a larger group of 21 (including my entire family!). The format for the second week was almost exactly the same as the first, except for that we went to Luis' boy's home instead of the Deborah house.

Eddie Passmore did the primary teaching for both weeks. He has a very powerful and challenging message that helps us as Christians ask ourselves who and what we are living for.

This week we have a group of 6 college guys from Washington that are going to be doing work around The Castillo.

It's been a crazy couple of weeks; busy and rewarding. I'll try and continue to keep this blog regularly updated. (More than I have lately anyways).

Please pray for the school as we continue to look for students.

Also, don't forget to select an answer on my poll question! (on the right side of the page)

Thanks for reading!

Rain in Baja

2009-02-05T16:03:00.000-08:00

It's cold and rainy today in Tijuana. It's a rare occurrence down here, and this city isn't built for rain. Many people have very poor housing situations: leaky roofs, no insulation, and cement or dirt floors. When the rain comes, we remember how blessed we are to live in a building with insulation, and a good solid roof. We pray for the poor people who have no option but to be cold and wet. Many experience flooding, and can do nothing about it until the sun comes back. Remember to thank God for the blessing of your home, and that no matter what the weather is like you can always find a warm place.

This last couple weeks have been preparation. We're working on recruiting students, and getting the word out about the school. The second half of February is going to be busy with a couple of work groups and visitors. March is lining up to be our busiest month of the year. We have our biggest group of the year from Ecola coming in the first week, and then the last two weeks are going to be our experience weeks. If you want more information about the experience weeks, visit our website!

Please continue to pray that God will be preparing the hearts of our future students.

Please be praying that God will use our experience weeks in march to impact people's lives.

Please be praying for the poor in Tijuana who suffer when it rains.

~Thanks for reading!

Baja Life

2009-01-23T10:48:00.000-08:00

It's a busy time for the Baja Bible School staff. This is primetime for recruiting, and we are using every outlet available to get the word out about our school.

Last week we had a friend of Dan and Lyndsay's from Texas come and stay with us for the week. It's always cool having people stay here, and get to experience a little of what life is like at Baja Bible.

Friday we had 3 men from Vacaville, CA come and stay with us for the weekend. One of them is going to be a teacher for Baja and he gave us a sample of his teaching on Creationism. I love hearing teaching on creation; it's really encouraging! And speaking of encouraging, these guys are such a blessing to the staff here and they make it their goal to encourage us in any way possible. I personally love listening to these guys talk about the Bible and how excited they are about the work God is doing in Mexico! They are a great example of senders.

This week Heidi, Addie, and I have been preparing with Dan to do some speaking in the month of February up in San Diego. We'll be speaking about our call to missions as Christians, and of course promoting the school and they ways it can help prepare someone for missions. Dan and Lyndsay are getting ready for their recruiting trip to the Northwest, and we're going to be speaking as many places as we can while they are gone.

None of us are terribly experienced when it comes to speaking in front of large groups, but we're excited about the school and the ways God can use it to impact students lives, so we're going to do the best that we can!

Please be praying for us that we will have many opportunities to speak, and that God will use us in instrumental ways in student's lives.

Please continue to pray for safety for our staff.

~Till next time!

Back in Mexico

2009-01-12T17:39:00.000-08:00

I safely arrived back in Mexico exactly 1 week from today. My flight down here was delayed quite a bit, but I didn't mind, it worked out good for meeting up with my ride from the San Diego airport!

It's been a busy first week here. As much as I enjoyed being home, it's great to be back to work! We had a short day for getting settled before a group of 15 from Ventana Ministries showed up around 9 am on Wednesday. They had just arrived in Mexico for the second half of their program. They did a culture class with our boardmember and teacher, Dave Burdette.

The class was called the 12 languages of culture, and it explores the different ways people communicate in culture, and the different values of different cultures. I was able to sit in the on the classes, and I'm glad I did! There is still a lot about Mexican culture I don't know or understand, and it was great to be able to dedicate some time to learn more about it.

We also got to go out into the downtown area and spend some time observing the things we had been learning about in the classes. Not to mention sampling some delicious taco's from a street taco stand!

For those of you who plan on coming to our experience week(s) in March, you can look forward to taking this class with Dave!

The group left on Friday morning, so I had a little bit of time to catch up on my work that has been mostly unattended for the month I was away.

Yesterday I went to church down the street where I have been regularly attending. It was good to see my friends, they were starting to wonder if I was coming back!

Our staff Dan and Lyndsay also returned yesterday evening from their recruiting trip/ break in the southern US. It's awesome to have them back, and it feels like a complete staff again, although they will be leaving in a few short weeks for another recruiting trip to the northwest.

This week we have lot's of work doing preparations for Dan and Lyndsay's next trip, and also preparing to do speaking engagements at youth groups in San Diego area during the month of February for recruiting. All the staff is going to have the opportunity to speak, and Dan will be helping us get ready.

We also have a group of men from Vacaville, CA coming down this weekend to spend time at the Castillo. And we're going to have a Creationism class on Friday from one of the potential Baja Bible School teacher's.

All in all, it's going to be a busy couple of months down here, I'll try and continue to keep this blog regularly updated!

Please be praying for our continued safety, and that there will be peace in Tijuana. Also please be praying for our recruiting efforts, that the school will have many students come September!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

2008-12-31T11:44:00.000-08:00

My time in Olympia is coming to an end! I've been here for nearly a month and I'm flying back down to Mexico on the 5th of January.

It's been really great seeing all of my friends and family again, and getting to spend time with you all! I'm excited to get back down to Tijuana and get back to work!

Once again, I'll be doing my best to keep this blog updated as often as possible, so be sure to check back regularly!

I hope you all had a Merry Christmas, and Happy New Year!

Happy Thanksgiving!

2008-11-27T12:07:00.000-08:00

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! I hope you all remember to consider everything you're thankful for today!

We're having Thanksgiving dinner here at the Castillo tonight. There are roughly 30 people coming over. Thanksgiving isn't celebrated in Mexico, so it's cool to be able to share some of our American traditions with our Mexican friends.

With Thanksgiving already here that means that Christmas is just around the corner, and I'm going to be driving up to Washington next friday. I'm looking forward to being home for a month; it will be good to catch up with friends and family!

Spectrum

2008-11-12T10:17:00.000-08:00

Last wednesday five of us (including myself) went with Spectrum Ministries to one of their regular outreach sites. Spectrum is a missions organization started by Pastor Von out of San Diego that works in Tijuana.

I've heard a lot about Spectrum, but this was the first time I've had a chance to work with them. We showed up at the outreach site around 10 am and there was already 50 or so locals, men, women, and children, waiting for everything to get started. At this particular site they set up tents for bathing the children, as many of them never get baths. They also set up a few small carnival games, complete with tickets for prizes. And they had produce and clothes to give out to the men and women. The people are very grateful for everything.

I worked one of the carnival games. It was fun working with the children, and it's challenging because they don't always understand that I don't speak very much Spanish. Sometimes they would spout off about how someone had cut in front of them in line and I had no idea what they were saying. Luckily I'm understanding more and more Spanish, so I can usually get a general idea what they're saying.

We wrapped everything up around 2:30 and then put away all the tents and loaded everything into the vans. It's really great to be able to get out and work in the community, even though we have plenty of work at the Castillo. Spectrum is one of the many organizations in this area that has suffered from the bad press Tijuana has been getting.

Many missions organizations depend on groups to come down and provide labor and funds to help run their ministries. It's true that there has been a lot of violence lately, but it's primarily between the drug cartels and the police. Tijuana is going through a slow and painful process to eliminate as much drug trafficking as possible. While it is important that we do everything in our power to be safe, it's more important that we trust that God has everything in our lives under control. Including our safety.

This week has been busy as usual, office work, learning Spanish, keeping things clean around the Castillo, and taking classes with Dave Burdette. This Friday I'm flying home for Kyle and Crystal's wedding. I'm excited to see family and friends again!

Till next time...

Some pictures.

2008-11-04T12:42:00.000-08:00

I put up some new pictures on the web album! You can see them now!

On another note, we found a real life Ninja dojo right here in Tijuana. Me and Ryan are considering becoming ninja. We're going to learn how to fight with staffs, ninja stars, and to disappear in a cloud of smoke. For those of you who thought that ninja weren't real, think again! I present you proof!

From Harvest party plus a few random pics

Update/ Staff Retreat Pictures

2008-10-20T10:49:00.000-07:00

So many of you are probably starting to wonder what has happened to me. Well to answer your question, no, I didn't die. Although I was pretty sick last week, and there was a couple of times when I felt like dieing. Luckily it was just me and Montezuma getting to know each other better.

I'm all recovered now, and my stomach and everything else is back in working order.

October has been a blur. Here it is the 20th already, and it seems like this month just started! We've been staying busy, starting to get into our more regular schedule.

Weekdays are filled with office time, Spanish classes, with a little bit of personal time thrown in for working on our personal goals.

I've been slowly learning more of my job as business manager, and I'm starting to become comfortable with my regular work.

I've also found a church that I've decided to regularly attend. It's about 10 blocks down the street from The Castillo. The people there are nice, and I'm looking forward to develop my friendships with them, and hopefully practice some Spanish. In the mean time though, several people speak English there, which is very helpful.

I'm looking forward to being up in Washington in a couple weeks, for Kyle and Crystal's wedding.

Also, I finally uploaded all of the staff retreat pictures to my picasa web album, be sure to check them out by clicking on the slideshow on the right!!

Staff Camping Trip part 2

2008-09-27T15:15:00.000-07:00

We made it back from our Staff Retreat last night around 4:30. It was an awesome time of rest, relaxation, and meetings. The area we went to was called Laguna Hanson, and is about 4 hours southeast of Tijuana. I don't have any pictures of our trip yet, but I did find a few pictures of Laguna Hanson on the web and some of the things we saw there:

From Laguna Hanson

First is this picture from the 70s. It still does a good job of showing where we camped at, although I think there was less grass.

From Laguna Hanson

Next is a picture of all the boulders and hills around the lake. This place is a rock climbers dream!

From Laguna Hanson

This is a picture from one of the biggest hills in the area. We climbed it. Hopefully some of our pictures to prove it soon...

From Laguna Hanson

These next two are of a cactus fruit called "tuna" (no idea why) that we ate on our way up the hill. It was sweet tasting, but it had alot of seeds!

From Laguna Hanson

Last, but not least, is this picture of a Lynx. We saw a lynx running through the woods about 40 feet away from us. Amazing!

Overall, our retreat was awesome! I'll try and get some actual pictures from our trip up soon!

Staff Camping Trip

2008-09-22T23:46:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow at noon we leave for our staff camping trip! We're headed down south about 3 hours to an area the staff usually camps at. We'll be gone until Friday late afternoon, so if anyone tries to reach me by phone or e-mail in the next couple of days, I won't respond.

I'll post another blog after we get back to tell you all about our trip, and possibly put up some pictures!

Pray for safe travels!

Viva Mexico!

2008-09-16T18:31:00.000-07:00

Today is Independence Day for Mexico. It's sort of like 4th of July in the States, except that it is celebrated more like New Years, in that most people celebrate it on the night before. So being good students of Mexican culture, the staff and I went to a party held by a church we have attended.

We were told that the party was starting at 6, but it's very culturally acceptable to show up late, so we arrived around 7. We were still among the first people to arrive (as I said, it's very acceptable to be late). So we helped getting things set up, mostly by blowing up some balloons. They were red, white, and green, the colors of the Mexican flag.

The majority of the people didn't arrive until around 8, and we didn't eat until 9ish. The food was set up at various tables around the courtyard we were in. It was potluck style, but you could pick which tables you got food from. The first thing I tried was some marshmallow salad. It was delicious! After that I ate a crispy tostada with a tuna and corn spread. Also very tasty. I sampled alot of different foods, including some pig skin, which was a little too chewy for my liking.

After dinner we played with some of the children for awhile, and then there was a costume contest. We planned on heading for home, since it was already around 10, but instead we got roped into playing several games(it's also very cultural to party late). The games were a lot of fun, and I'm glad we stayed.

At about quarter past 11 we started to leave, but the pastor and his wife convinced us to go downtown to try and say "Viva Mexico!" with the crowd. We went, since it was on our way. There was ton of people, and it resembled a fair, with food and rides, except for it was 11:30 at night. It turned out that the Viva Mexico actually happened before we got there, at 10, because they do it in sync with Mexico City. That was ok though, it was fun to walk around for awhile. After a busy day, we finally headed home to The Castillo.

(hopefully some pictures to come later!!)

Debra House

2008-09-09T10:57:00.000-07:00

So yesterday, being Monday, was the first day of work for us this week. Ryan (the director), Duane (summer staff), and I left at 7:30 am to go to the Debra House. The Debra House is a home for battered women and abused women. There are also quite a few children living there as well. The Baja Bible staff has been helping with various construction projects that have been going on.

Yesterday was supposed to be a big concrete pour on a new building, but there was some financial trouble and the cement trucks are delayed until a later date. Instead we mixed concrete by hand for some anchors for the retaining wall next to the building.

The children at the Debra House are a lot of fun, and they act like I'm a jungle gym. They often run up to me and say, "hug me! hug me!" So I would get one, or two, or sometimes three kids all in the same hug, so as to be more efficient.

Some of the boys were very excited about helping us mix cement, and always wanted to add more water. The sad thing is, many of these children are from broken homes. They need love and good role models.

Later in the afternoon, after eating a lunch of tortillas, refried beans, spaghetti, and liver and onions (yum!), I went with one of the guys on staff at Debra House to take a woman and her son to a psychologist appointment in downtown Tijuana. It's always exciting driving in Mexico, and luckily the woman knew where to go. We made it back safe and sound, without getting terribly lost.

This week we will be finishing as much of the dorms as possible as the summer staff prepares to leave. Please be praying that our work will be efficient and safe!

Board meeting

2008-09-01T17:07:00.000-07:00

This last Saturday was the board meeting here at Baja Bible. Most of the board members arrived on Friday night and the meeting started Saturday morning. We as staff were not really a part of the meeting, although we did go in for about an hour to introduce ourselves to the board and give our mini life-story.

Needless to say, all of that was pretty painless, and after we finished our part in the meeting (the board met until 4:30 or so) we went down to the Playas De Tijuana (The beach nearest Tijuana). We spent a couple hours at the beach just playing in the waves, skimboarding, and getting sunburned. It was nice to have some time to relax and be near the water. I like being able to go out into public areas and be around people, experience culture.

Today is Labor Day in the States, but they don't really celebrate that in Mexico. We're continueing our work on the dorms, which is progressing very well. The lower floor of dorm rooms is getting close to being completely finished. The showers still need some work, but not too much. We'll be working on the dorms for the next 2 weeks, and then our schedule will be changing into our more regular staff jobs.

I'll keep you guys posted! Oh, and don't forget to leave comments! :)

Happy Labor Day!

Some new pictures

2008-08-28T17:45:00.001-07:00

I posted up some new pictures in the Picasa web album, be sure to check them out! (you can open the album by clicking on the slideshow to the right)

This Saturday is the board meeting, so all of the board members will be showing up in the next couple of days. They're going to be discussing the next year and planning everything out. Please be praying that everything goes smoothly and they are able to accomplish everything on their agenda.

Dinner

2008-08-27T11:29:00.001-07:00

Last night me and two of the other staff cooked dinner for everyone. During the weekdays everyone takes a turn and teams up with 1 or 2 others to cook dinner.

We made Swedish Pancakes and eggs. It was my first time making Swedish Pancakes,(for those of you who don't know the difference between Swedish Pancakes and regular pancakes, Swedish Pancakes are more like crepes) so it took me a little while to get the technique down. By the end I was getting pretty good at making them , but I still had a hard time keeping them consistent. Everyone enjoyed them a lot though, so it was definitely a success.

In other news, today I'll be moving into my room. I've been staying in the main building since I arrived with a few of the summer staff until my room was finished. The bathroom still isn't fully completed, but it's getting close.

That's all for now!

This Blog

2008-08-27T11:02:00.001-07:00

I've decided to start this blog as a way to communicate with my family and friends back home. My intention is to provide regular updates on my life in Mexico.

I'm looking forward to sharing my experiences, and hope that they will be a blessing to you all!

And don't forget to check back often!