Last few days at the Mission

On our last day at the mission, we had a Good Friday service at Rancho de Cristo, a men's rehabilitation centre started by the mission. It is about 25 minutes drive north and west of the orphanage. After that, we went back to the orphanage, took some time to share about what had impacted us the most while serving and then went to the local market. I purchased this beautiful blanket there. Following the market, we headed to the beach for a quick swim...not me...way too cold, but the rest of the family did...and then had a nice dinner at Gaston's on the beach.

Family photo in front of the new chapel at Rancho de Cristo. Pastor Joel gave the message at the Good Friday service. Many people from other work groups gave their lives to the Lord and recommitted their lives to the Lord that morning. It was an amazing time of seeing all the God is doing in peoples lives, including the men at the rehabilitation centre.

The last taco run on Thursday night after outreach at a community near the orphanage. Notice Amy wearing a skirt...with pants underneath. All ladies must wear a skirt when we go on outreach so as not to offend the local people. Papa Reuben's was closed so we had to settle for tacos from this taco stand.
Amy handing out a food hamper to one of the families at the community outreach on Thursday night. Earlier in the day, we assembled the hampers which contained wheat flour, corn flour, beans, oil and rice. The families were so grateful to receive this gift. Earlier in the evening we played with the children and made balloon animals for them. Amy and I were able to go along with Asher to visit a family in their home. They had seven children, their oldest daughter had epilepsy and was twelve. They all lived in a 10 by 12 home with a dirt floor and all slept in one queen size bed. We prayed with them for healing for their daughter and for better living conditions for their family. When we compare living in our trailer, we realize that even in this, we have life so much better than any of these people do. We have a furnace to keep us warm, we have running water and a bathroom...things we take for granted that none of the people have in this community.

On Thursday afternoon, Mike and I went with the leader from YWAM, Asher, to visit a family. This lady, her husband and her children recently moved into this house which was built as a joint venture between YWAM and IDT. The whole house is about 12 feet by 14 feet. It has a cement floor with wood walls. It has a counter in the kitchen but no running water. There is no bathroom...an no outhouse. They have to walk down the block to use the outhouse at her father-in-law's. Below is a photo of the house they lived in before. The door is made of cardboard, as is the roof. They then strapped this tarp over the cardboard to keep them dry. The floor was dirt and they had one double mattress that was on the floor for all four of them to sleep on. After visiting this family, we went to her father-in-law's home. The house was not much bigger, was wood construction but still had a dirt floor, no water, etc. In that house lived the parents, two of their daughters who have three children each. They all sleep in one bedroom with two beds. Another of the daughters, her husband and their children live in a lean-to attached to the outside of the parents house. Asher is in the process of trying to get a new house for the parents similar to the one in the previous photo that belongs to his son and family. This family are christian and love the Lord. The joy they have despite their circumstance was very humbling.

The staff working at the orphanage live in donated trailers. Many of them would have been condemned long ago by our standards and yet they joyfully live in them and serve at the orphanage. I helped clean two of them so that new staff could move into them. This particular trailer was vacated quickly by a gal and she had left quite a few items behind. This is a photo of me taking the items over to the donation warehouse where they will get distributed to the needy.
This is the snack shack. Amy and Sarah, from a work group from Bonnyville, AB wait patiently for the shack to open.
This was the little princess that I played with the entire time we were at the migrant workers camp. She was about 4 years old (many of the children don't know their birthdays) and just a sweet heart. It was SO hard to let her go at the end of the evening....would have loved to bring her home with me!

Mission photos

On Tuesday night we went to a migrant workers camp to play with the children and then show a gospel movie. It was heartbreaking to see the conditions these people live in. This is a little guy that took a shining to Braden. All the children loved having horse-back rides.

Amy playing with some of the children on the merry-go-round.

On Tuesday afternoon we went on outreach with one of the evangelists. Amy and I went to a community where the families were too poor to send their children to school. School is free but they have to pay for the school uniform as well as for paper, etc. This comes to about $60 per child for the year. We had about 34 children come to the outreach. Carmen shares the gospel with them, they memorize verses because Carmen comes once every week to see them. At the end of our time, we give each child milk and a big scoop of peanut butter so they get some extra protein in their diet.
Mike playing with one of the orphans at the orphange on Monday night. We babysat all the orphans so the house parents could go out for the evening.
Me outside the nut house! Maybe I belong inside! :-)

Foundation For His Ministry Orphanage, Vicente Guerrero, Baja, Mexico

Macadamia nuts getting ready to go through the nut cracker. The orphanage has a large orchard of macadamia nuts. They get processed at the Nut House and then sold at the gift shop at the orphanage. This year, they will have a huge harvest and will have enough to sell them elsewhere as well.
In the prayer garden at the orphanage.
view of the long-term staff housing at the orphanage.

Papa Reuben's taco stand...we stopped here on our first day enroute to the orphanage and then did a few taco runs at the end of some of the days.

Mike with a chicken quesa taco. Yummmmm.......

San Diego Wild Animal Park

Braden and Amy feeding the Lorakeets at the Wild Animal Park. We had a great time with Mike's Uncle Terry and Aunt Irene. The weather was perfect and it was a nice relaxing day.

Feeding the dolphins at Sea World...wonderful experience and, in Amy's words, "they're not slimy"
Up close and personal when "Shamu" was being fed.

Watching them do an ultrasound of one of the female orcas.... fascinating! All-in-all, a great day at Sea World. Only complaint...froze half to death because we got soaked on the rapids ride and the Atlantis log ride...but it was worth it!

The donations from Mountain Springs Calvary Chapel in the Foundation for His Ministry warehouse in San Clemente, CA. What a blessing to be able to bring these gifts from Canada!!!
Dropping off the donations at Foundation for His Ministry warehouse.

Visiting with Mike's Uncle Terry and Aunt Irene in San Bernardino, CA. We "camped" in their side yard on Wednesday night...took some doing to get our big rig backed through their yard gate, but we did it. Woke up to the smell of English lavender and the sound of birds and summer....ahhhh.....

Spent our first night in Great Falls, MT and the second night in Salt Lake City, UT...both nights at Super Walmarts. Definitely the way to camp when all you are doing is sleeping and then continuing on again.
Just one of the incredible views along the road south of Salt Lake City.