Stuff Happening

Easter Week is pretty busy around here. YUGO has an evangelistic outreach in Mexicali which takes quite a few of our missionaries out there (2.5 hours East to the desert) for 2 weeks. But for us this year, we had a Canadian group coming to do some VBS ministry and construction ministry in Tijuana area.

FRIDAY
I had the pleasure of leading these Langley-ites from BC around Tijuana for Easter Weekend. First they went to Pastor Felicianos and Maricellas house (Maricella is in my class and Feliciano sub- teaches my class for me and will likely be startign a class of his own in September). Their bathroom is a bit rustic. The shower is a 50 gallon barrell full of water that they use a small pail to pour over themselves to shower. The water has rotted all the walls on the bottom and the rain was threatening to do the same from the top. So we put new roofing on it and some Durock (concrete board) on the bottom walls. I hope to be able to find a shower for them some day and have someone plumb in a shower for them! We also painted a baby's room green and the outside of their house a wonderful, Mexican bright peach colour with white "trim". We could not finish it off so went back Tuesday to do the rest of the work with a few teens from the group.

SATURDAY
Saturday had us at Daniel and Dolores house. They are trying to start a small church in a poor- railroad-track area in Tijuana. Last year I heard that they had a really leaky roof. It turns out that they just had the wood down on the roof- but no paper, no shingles-- nothing. So when it rained outside- it rained inside too. We gave them a bunch of tarps for this winter, but got to give them a real roof this weekend. The other part of the group did vacation Bible school for the kids around the church's neighborhood. they had about 25 kids out who all thouroughly enjoyed themselves!

SUNDAY
Sunday we went to Calvary Chapel Rosarito for church and then off for Tacos and then to Ramiro's church. Ramiro has planted a church in a very poor area in East Tijuana right on the outskirts of the city. We had a VBS before church for the kids and a service after that where I got the opportunity to preach. We had around 75 people out to church. The team did some puppets for the kids and some dramas and testimonies as well. In the inland areas it was over 90F that day and in the church it was even warmer. But as soon as the sun went down the temperature dropped significantly outside, but the body heat kept the church nice and warm! This is the church we are looking at putting up a building for. They are doing a great work in their community and are really a light in the midst of darkness. As the team was walking around inviting people to church- they were struck by the amount of drinking and neglect going on. This is the only church in this area and they are doing a great job sharing the love of Jesus Christ with their neighbours!

MONDAY
Monday we went to the Vision B orphanage. There was lots of work to be done here - and it took them 2 days to finish it. The girls bedroom had profuse amounts of mold all through it from a leaky roof. They cleared out this little room and scrubbed it with bleach from top to bottom removing and killing the mold. The next day they painted "KILZ" primer all on it to keep mold form growing again and to keep stains from poking through. Apparantly, it was like being in a room with a thousand onions the way the fumes made the group tear up and such. They also painted an outside roof/overhang and built a fence-like structure and played with the kids! It was a busy couple of days.

TUESDAY
Tuesday had the group split up into 3 and some went to the orphanage, some to Felicano's houe and some to our place. At our house they pulled out wall panels and carpet (in our moldy bedroom) and did some landscaping and painting too
. Today a few are coming back to finish putting up walls and we will, with the help of some knowledgeable friends, put down the tile flooring in our bedroom. We may be back in our room by this weekend! WOOHOO!! We have been sleeping in the living room for the last month or so and it will be very nice to get back into our bedroom!

Vehicle Trouble

My 1994 Plymouth grand voyageur was giving me some problems the last month with some clunking sounds in the front end. I took it in and found out I busted a tie-rod. This is not the first time I've had to repair a tie rod or ball joint. As a matter of fact, we got new ones put on just before we left a year and ahalf ago. The roads here are vehicle killers and I am but one more victim in a line of thousands... After I got that fixed, the check engine light wnet on the next day! I took it in and found out it's not immediately necessary to fix (o2 sensor) so i could continue driving for a few days until I could spare the van. Later that afternoon I was driving my 1991 Ford Explorer when I hear a "HISSSSSSS" sound coming from the radiator-- I parked it and took out the van instead. 30 minutes later the "check gages"
light comes on along with the "Check engine" light (and the need gas light too). It was quite a pretty, decorative display on my dashboard that provided me with the adrenaline rush I needed to get it to my mechanic right away before it died in the streets of Tijuana. Most times, vehicles that get left by the side of the road here are never the same way again. They will be cannibalized for whatever good parts are left- so I was anxious to get it to the shop. I did and found I need a new alternator or a rebuilt one. So it's in the shop until after payday at the end of the month. Problem is, that my truck is leaking antifreeze from somewhere- so it's grounded too!
We'd appreciate your prayers for the provision of our needs for the truck and van.

We are also still praying for the complete provision of our needs for Language school in May!

Thanks for praying! God bless and keep you!

until Next time,

Mike