Monday, March 22, 2010

you just never know what a guy will do with a few wires and some time

this was taken with my eris droid so the quality does not do the sound justice. But it was fun!

Wednesday, March 17, 2010

first blog

Just granted access to blog. will try not to make Michael sorry he did. :) Need to get pictures together. I know of 2 people who excepted Christ this week! That is enough to make it worth the trip but there is more to tell next blog

Wednesday

Dave Bennett shared from I John 3 this morning, about how the Lord came to destroy the works of the devil, and how Jesus is our advocate whenever Satan attacks us. Our memory verse for today is Mark 8:34, where Jesus said, "If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me." Good stuff. Real life is found not in following our own desires - but His.

From Baja Or Bust!


The sound crew wrapped up their project today, and the rest of us headed back out to clean the property of one more lady today. Pictures below, and church with Las Palmas tonight.

From Baja Or Bust!


Sandi just can't stop herself from selling real estate. This one is a handyman special.

From Baja Or Bust!


Sandi, Dorrie, Dave, and some of the kids at the last house we served at.

From Baja Or Bust!


Chris Stineman. Typical.

From Baja Or Bust!


Little girl who's house we worked at. She was lots of fun, and a willing and patient teacher of spanish. She taught us words for many different animals, no matter how many times we asked her to repeat them.

From Baja Or Bust!


A not-uncommon view on someone's property.

From Baja Or Bust!


Just Beautiful country. Several of us commented on the fact that where we were in Mexico, the wealthy live on the valley floor where there is good farming, while the poor are relegated to the hillsides - with gorgeous views. Just the opposite of the U.S. perspective on prime property.

From Baja Or Bust!


From Baja Or Bust!


Sad. Found this cleaning up.

From Baja Or Bust!


This is Rebekah, one of the CC Las Palmas interns. She's strong and ever-so-fierce!

From Baja Or Bust!


From Baja Or Bust!


This goat got away at one point and we had to capture. Dave succeeded, and owing to his skills shown here, earned the third nick-name of the trip: "Goat-Whisperer"

From Baja Or Bust!





From Baja Or Bust!


Dorrie made a few friends here.

Tuesday, March 16, 2010

Tuesday

Assorted pictures





Dave doesn't appear near as excited as Mike about the new electrical outlet.





CC Las Palmas stage and worship team.





Beautiful countryside.










Bunch of clothes drying, from one of the homes we cleaned. Great stories - and things the Lord was teaching - from those homes. Good for me to get to be a part of today.


Monday, March 15, 2010

Monday

We split up into a few groups today. Several of the guys formed a crew to start some projects around the church. They began reworking and repairing the sound system, and some construction/remodel work. Here are some pictures:


Lucas Caruana on paint crew. He's been a good worker down here.



Robert Stineman reworking the sound system



Jeff Hale Painting in operation in Mexico, once again violating child labor laws. (Nice work Caleb.)



Mike Smith keeping an eye on Robert. God blessed us with an electrician (Mike) who's skills came in quite handy on this project.


Tom Lewis, prepping a dividing wall between the two toilets in the men's room. A welcome addition, to say the least! :)


Chris Stineman and I, in the bodega (warehouse) of the building supply store in Tecate.

Several others of us headed out to pick up supplies in Tecate, and on the way helped a guy get to a rehab center. Never know what you'll wind up doing when you're down here. Video from that adventure below.








Most of the ladies made food baskets to share with families from the community. Then they went out to clean some homes where help was needed. Keep in mind, this is in a thrid world country - so the condition of homes that need help, is an entirely different level of unsanitary. This was a labor of love. The conditions in the home they went to was really quite difficult to be in. I'll leave the details for them to share, but let me just say that they showed the love of Jesus in a beautiful, sacrificial, practical way. They followed the One who had stepped into our dirty lives, and chose to touch and clean up our filthiness though it was costly to Him. I was very proud of them. Many people would've refused to serve in that way.

Here's a little video blog tour of CC Las Palmas.


Be sure and leave us a comment or two.

Sunday, March 14, 2010

Sunday

Sunday morning we started slow. Due to the time change, they delayed church for an hour to give folks time to arrive. When the service started, I think we'd all say we really enjoyed the great worship time with the Calvary Chapel Las Palmas worship team. Some of the songs were ones we knew, but in spanish - and it was so much fun to praise the Lord with brothers and sisters in multiple languages!

In the afternoon, we started some projects - sound ministry, some repair/construction, and a number of us headed out to do a children's outreach in a local park. We did some face painting, several members of our team dressed up as clowns, and played games, sang songs, and had a lesson with the children there. Definitely a good time. Here are some pictures, and a little video at the bottom of a song at the outreach. Watch for Kevin Magee's sweet outfit.


Baja Or Bust!



Saturday, March 13, 2010

Saturday

Been having some laptop issues, so here come a bunch of posts to make up for lost time.

First off, when last we left our team, they had landed in San Diego and were enjoying the first sun the Oregonians had seen in months at Spanish Landing (a beautiful park along the marina, across the street from the airport). After a successful rondezvous with the van crew, they headed east toward Tecate, making two all-important stops: acquiring coffee supplies for Mexico, and In-N-Out Burger! (Photo evidence has been withheld to protect the innocent.)

From there, we journeyed on through the desert toward Tecate. Our trip involved three wrong turns, and a little adventure that earned one of our team members the first nickname of the trip. Sandi "Border Patrol" Bennett is fun to travel with.

We made it to Las Palmas late Saturday, had a short orientation with Hassan and Stacy and the staff, had a devotion on trusting the Lord to be in charge of our trip and remaining flexible to how the Spirit leads, and took our first (of many) quick trip to the local tienda (store) where they sell delicious helados (ice cream)! Then we hit the hay.

Ahhh San Diego!


Yep, for you kids from Oregon who've never seen one, that is an actual Palm Tree in the background.





A little catch up...

The night before we left, Hassan Villegas, the missionary pastor at the church we partner with in Las Palmas, Mexico, was at Coastline for a visit with his family. It was pretty cool of the Lord, to arrange that timing. The church prayed for our team that night, Hassan gave a great message to our fellowship about stepping out in faith, and we loaded up the vans to head down and serve at Calvary Chapel Las Palmas.


And here's the driving team meeting for prayer at Starbucks, 6am Friday morning. Wow. They are so holy. Well, everyone except Art. Just kidding.






Caleb Hale and a trip mascot candidate...

It's a 'Neopet' ... whatever that is ...




Flying through Seattle...

We made through our first flight, Portland to Seattle, a little prop plane. Sue - who hates to fly - made with a bit of prayer. Her verse? "Into thy hands I commit my spirit." Luke 23:46. Check it out and see if she may have been a tad melodramatic :)

Here's a picture of us at the airport. I know - thrilling. Try to hold yourself together. We board for San Diego - and sunshine - in 45 minutes!





Tuesday, March 9, 2010

Our Travel Plan

If you'd like to try and follow us on Google Maps, here are a few links for you.

1) Our route down. If you'd like to come pray us off, be at the Warrenton Starbuck at 5:55 am.

2) Where we'll be serving and staying in Mexico, can be found by checking out the blue markers on this map.

3) Our trip home.

Sunday, March 7, 2010

Six Days To Go

Coastline's Spring Mexico team is headed to Las Palmas in just 6 days! The van crew will be loading up Friday morning at the Warrenton Starbucks, and the rest of the team will depart by air on Saturday.

Please be praying for us as we pack and get ready to leave this week. In my experience, the Enemy always try to throw some obstacles (work, finances, etc) in the way at the last minute, to try and keep people from going and enjoying all the Lord has for them.

I'm getting excited - check out this weather report. Mmmm... sunshine!