Estas una poco loco (team joke to call each other "a lil crazy")

Day 3:

We woke up in the morning at 6:30, showered (some of us), and went down to breakfast. Immediately following breakfast, we had our daily devotional; this time on how we are the salt and the light of the Earth. What struck me most during our devotional was a quote from Timothy Keller that said that salt's purpose was to glorify what it salted (that was great corn on the cob! instead of great salt). This really made us think about that passage in a different light and how we are supposed to be glorifying God through our "saltiness" and not ourselves or anything else.

After breakfast, we got ready to head out to church at Las Palmas, where 5 World Vision communities are located. Once there, David, Jared, Brian, Molly, and Hannah Richardson were rushed up to the stage to lead the worship. Amazingly things came together on stage, despite the fact that Brian and David had to ad lib the guitar and bass for one of the songs. After worship, we were blessed by Adam and Caroline sharing their stories, with Tony finishing up with a brief message on knowing God's presence. The Mexican pastor and praise band came up, and after a moving worship song set and message, we greeted all of the people at the church (some of us, including myself, only managed to say "Hola" to every single person).

We then moved on to some fish tacos and shrimp enchiladas at a wonderful Mexican establishment complete with live opera-esque singers. We quickly headed back to YWAM and then immediately left for "la Bufadora,"-which according to Noe of World Vision is one of only 4 ocean side blow holes in the world.  The long and beautiful drive down the coast left ample time for "dishes" and getting to know each other better.

At "la Bufadora," we got some great pictures. Soon we headed back to YWAM, stopping to get food along the way. Half of us chose to get Mexican pizza and baked goods while the other half chose to get fruit, vegetables, and baked goods. The pizza was delicious, as well as the baked goods, but we can't say anything about the fruit and vegetables.

All in all, the large amount of driving made it seem like a long day, but we had a lot of fun visiting the new places and hanging out with each other.

- David and Josh

Soy interesante y fantastico y humilde!

What a beautiful day!  It was a little disappointing that we couldn't go into the communities because of the weather, but we had a great time here bonding as a team.  After breakfast and a quick game of mafia we had a meeting with Barbara and Noe, our World Vision hosts here in Tijuana.  They explained a lot about how World Vision began their work in Tijuana and how the communities here have formed and developed.  The communities were originally full of squatters who intended to cross into the United States and, when unsuccessful, were forced to live in makeshift housing with no clean water, electricity, or any other public utilities.  World Vision has served to unite the communities and give them the resources they need to become self-sustaining through education, building community centers and helping individual families with their living situations (among other things).  We are very excited to be a part of this mission!

After this meeting, we had some lunch in a local restaurant and then spent the afternoon playing games and resting.  More importantly we spent some time "dishing," which means we shared personal stories and struggles with each other.  We were able to pray for and encourage each other after this time of sharing and it really helped bring us together as a team.

Thank you so much for your prayers and support, we are having a great time and are excited about what God is going to do on this trip.  He has already to worked to help improve our Spanish skills!  As Josh would say, "Soy interesante y fantastico y humilde!"

Que Dios les bendiga!

Molly, Adam, and the TJ2011 team.

Rained in

Well a winter storm in Detroit delayed us one hour.  This morning it's raining buckets along the coast of TJ; thus we will be delayed here today.  We've been "rained in" one other time on our college trip.  We will start the morning with breakfast and a wonderful team devotional written by Alexis. In her devo we pray the Lord's prayer in Spanish every day.

I'll consult with Kathryn and Katherine but my hunch is we will just stay on this beautiful YWAM campus today.  Some key differences to this location and the Rancho where we typically stay include: An ocean view in an upscale-south beach/san diego looking area of TJ, heat in our rooms-typically we would wake up and it would be in the 40s, newly constructed rooms with tile floors and multiple showers, and much more.  While this only further isolates us from the true Mexican experience our brothers and sisters have in the communities, it sure is easy for us gringos to relax here.

Perhaps you are family or friends following this blog.  Let me start with commending you on your wonderful young adults we have with us.  I was quite shocked that none of our students come from divorced homes (stats say it should be around 50%).  Last night we shared funny family and personal stories for over one hour around the dinner table.  

Perhaps you are a part of our Huron Hills Church family.  If so, we so appreciate the legacy our church has built in consistently serving the poor in Mexico for many years.  Finally, to all of our ministry partners, we so appreciate your prayers and financial support.

More to come from all of our students during the week.

Tony-on behalf of TJ2011 team

Internet weak, we are plenty safe, amazing facilities, will blog more tomorrow

TJ2011: And so it begins...

Hello everyone,

We officially declare this blog active for our 2011 trip. Feel free to scroll below to see what God did last year. Lots more to come here over the next 8 days.

Peace,
TJ2011 team-Caroline, David, Brian, Adam, Josh, Jared, Hannah, Molly, Liz, Tony, Alexis, Katherine, Hannah, and Kathryn.