We had two meetings on this day, one with the local English church pastor and the other with the missionary who originally opened up the field here and in some other areas on the mainland in the 1950's. Both were interesting.
The English Pastor has been here for about 10 years and has a good handle on the ministries here in La Paz. The city is small enough that one can know all the churches, pastors and ministries pretty well. He also teaches at the Baptist Bible Institute here in town.
He had a few interesting things to say. He feels that there is a need for good solid biblical training of the leaders, but something that is interdenominational. It is difficult here in this small city to get the churches together on things. The baptists tend to stay to themselves and are not interested in gathering with other believers. He took a program summary manual and seems very interested in the pastor and leadership training materials.
I've been invited back in March for a quick trip to the Alliance of Pastors to give them an overview of the ministry and see who may be interested. I'd also like to talk some more to the English Pastor then to see how interested he is in possibly teaching.
He is also hoping to transition his way out of the job of pastoring the English speaking church- so if anyone knows a decent pastor who might be interested, there will be an opening here in the near future! It would have to be someone who does not mind being away from the snow and who enjoys living close to the water.
The second meeting was with the 80 year old pioneer missionary lady who opened up this field in the 1950's. She was a wealth of information with too many stories to tell at one sitting! We were very blessed by her counsel and wisdom.
She and her husband came to the southern Baja when it took 15 days to drive down the peninsula on trails. There were no believers or missionaries when they came. They not only worked here, but in many areas on the mainland- espescially in Nayarit.
AT 80 YEARs old, she still flies out to the Cora Indian people that they started serving 40+ years ago to encourage them. Her son flies there monthly to bring literature, or some training, or some other help to continue to build up the church.
Before she was a missionary, they had a farm with strawberry fields in Oregon. she told us the story of when she was picking the strawberries and noticed that each person had their own row of strawberries from which to pick- not everyone was concentrating on the same area- they were all spread out. and she sensed the Lord saying to her that that's the way it should be in ministry- not a bunch of people on the same row- but people going to rows or places where no one else was to pick there instead.
She knows very well the needs of the mainland and the abundance of work and missionaries here on the baja. she lovingly pleaded with us to consider the mainland rather than here. She then told a story about how they were teaching amongst a group of already evangelized people in the mountains. They had been very warmly welcomed and nicely received, but the people didn't seem to grow much under their ministry. The place where they saw the most growth in the lives of people were the ones they had reached themselves. She shared from her experience that it is much more productive to work in your own fields than in someone elses.
She spent an hour and a half with us and finished off praying for us. She prayed that God would give us the desires of our hearts- people saved and discipled to serve Jesus. It was then that I began to cry (just a little bit- and they were very manly tears, too...). God has been saying only one thing to us this week: i posted the verse on facebook a few days ago because it keeps coming and going in my conversations with Him:
Delight yourself in me, and I will give you the desires of your heart.
All week long i have been asking myself the question- what are the desires of my heart? This can be a tough question!
But when all is said and done-- there are many things that we like- that are nice, that are special and that make life nice and pleasant. But those are not the things that make my heart beat faster, or that get me excited as I contemplate them... i want to see Jesus glorified and lifted up by seeing the people He loves set free from their darkness and pain. I want to bring a smile to my saviour's face by investing our lives in those who carry the image of God- yet are lost and far away from Him.
This day was a tremendous blessing and a focussing moment. How this works out in real life remains to be seen. We will ask, seek, knock and follow and see where He leads.
Please pray for continued wisdom for all involved in a decision making process like this. Pray that we would have the mind of Christ.
Thanks for coming along with us on this journey. Please continue to pray for us!
I think the next day will have some math class in it for the boys and maybe some fun time for us.
God bless,
Mike
Wednesday, January 26, 2011
Tuesday, January 25, 2011
La Paz trip, day 6
We took the day and got to know the city a bit today.
We drove around the cities different parts to see what we could see. I was particularly interested in the colonias of the city. It was very different from what we are used to seeing in tijuana. In stead of many houses crammed close together, these were little plots of land in the desert where people could raise some animals or food (if they have enough water). The houses were all quite humble and the area was generally very poor. We didn't see any churches in that area in particular, nor in the area around it.
I found out later that there are 3 works started in that area. That is something a little different than what we've found in Tijuana. In TJ there seems to be no knowledge or care of what someone else is doing in an area. willy nilly churches seem to go up overnight- some with the hope of US help- others with it already. One area in TJ where we have been helping along the railroad tracks had no churches anywhere near it when we got there. But it seems when one church goes up- a half dozen follow it. A short while later another church (both of a similar doctrinal persuasion) when up about 3 lots away. A couple years later and there is another large one and another small one, all of them with such small differences in doctrines they are indistinguishable.
Here there seems to be alot more influence from the individual churches and/ or denominations and/ or missionaries. So it is a little more organized here.
There are definitely some areas that look like they need churches, but it also seems that the churches and missionaries currently here are aware of the need and willing and able, with God's help and leading, to meet those needs.
On the way back from the journey around town are van sprung a leak in one if the hoses. The car was overheating so we stopped for a while, prayed, waited and then drove on. About 3km later it was again overheating and steam was escaping from somewhere under the hood. so we pulled over again and this time I could see clearly the hose that had burst. It's the one from the engine into the heater beyond the firewall.
We let it cool down and Shar spotted a hardware store where I purchased some duct tape to do a Mexican repair job! And we got it fixed! we were able to make it home safe and sound, praise God!
Tomorrow (Tuesday) I have 2 more meetings- one with the pastor of the English church and the other with the lady missionary who opened up the field here in 1955. I'm looking forward to both of those!
Thanks for praying,
Mike
We drove around the cities different parts to see what we could see. I was particularly interested in the colonias of the city. It was very different from what we are used to seeing in tijuana. In stead of many houses crammed close together, these were little plots of land in the desert where people could raise some animals or food (if they have enough water). The houses were all quite humble and the area was generally very poor. We didn't see any churches in that area in particular, nor in the area around it.
I found out later that there are 3 works started in that area. That is something a little different than what we've found in Tijuana. In TJ there seems to be no knowledge or care of what someone else is doing in an area. willy nilly churches seem to go up overnight- some with the hope of US help- others with it already. One area in TJ where we have been helping along the railroad tracks had no churches anywhere near it when we got there. But it seems when one church goes up- a half dozen follow it. A short while later another church (both of a similar doctrinal persuasion) when up about 3 lots away. A couple years later and there is another large one and another small one, all of them with such small differences in doctrines they are indistinguishable.
Here there seems to be alot more influence from the individual churches and/ or denominations and/ or missionaries. So it is a little more organized here.
There are definitely some areas that look like they need churches, but it also seems that the churches and missionaries currently here are aware of the need and willing and able, with God's help and leading, to meet those needs.
On the way back from the journey around town are van sprung a leak in one if the hoses. The car was overheating so we stopped for a while, prayed, waited and then drove on. About 3km later it was again overheating and steam was escaping from somewhere under the hood. so we pulled over again and this time I could see clearly the hose that had burst. It's the one from the engine into the heater beyond the firewall.
We let it cool down and Shar spotted a hardware store where I purchased some duct tape to do a Mexican repair job! And we got it fixed! we were able to make it home safe and sound, praise God!
Tomorrow (Tuesday) I have 2 more meetings- one with the pastor of the English church and the other with the lady missionary who opened up the field here in 1955. I'm looking forward to both of those!
Thanks for praying,
Mike
Monday, January 24, 2011
La Paz Day 5
We had a good day of rest today.
We started out going to a local church plant of the missionary with whom I spoke. It was a nice service, though we didn't know any of the songs! They have a temporary structure up as they are in the process of building. Right now we met under a thatched roof ( palm leaves) connected to a handmade rock wall. They only had 2 walls and because it rarely rains here (except for tropical storms and hurricanes) they have only missed one Sunday under the roof in 2 years! It is warm enough year round to do this here-- much unlike Tijuana where it can get chilly and wet alot more often!
Afterwards we went out for "burros" which are like burritos, but bigger. These weren't just burros, though, they were SUPER Burros. They were HUGE steak burritos for about $4 each that could be shared.
Something they seem to do differently here is that they don't seem to put toppings on for you, like they do in rosarito-TJ, they give you everything on the side to put on yourself.
From there we went down to a beach, with our burros, to eat and wade in the water. It was very odd to be at a beach without waves. we are in a protected bay area here and there were no waves at all. The tide was going out and the kids could walk out abou 200 meters or more and still be only up to their knees in warm water. Along the edge of the water were lots of rocks. We found a starfish, some sea-snails, hermit crabs and some other creatures in our explorations.
From there we went to another beach about 20 minute drive away. It was one of the most amazing places I've ever seen! There are cactus on the hills right next to the ocean. It was like being in arizona only with a beach! The water was very shallow in this bay with about 5 beaches all around it. there were exposed sandbars in the middle of the cove where the kids went to play. We took a walk around the cove to the end of it and found La Paz' most famous landmark- a mushroom shaped balancing rock.
it was a nice day of rest, even though we weren't totally healthy. It was shar's turn to be really sick and she spent most of the time laying down on the beach trying to sleep.
Today we are going to go out to the colonias (neighbourhoods on the outskirts of the city- usually poorer neighbourhoods) and pray in the areas and see what God shows us. We've spoken a bit to the leaders, but I am interested in speaking to some of the pastors and I hope God leads us to some.
Thanks for praying!
We started out going to a local church plant of the missionary with whom I spoke. It was a nice service, though we didn't know any of the songs! They have a temporary structure up as they are in the process of building. Right now we met under a thatched roof ( palm leaves) connected to a handmade rock wall. They only had 2 walls and because it rarely rains here (except for tropical storms and hurricanes) they have only missed one Sunday under the roof in 2 years! It is warm enough year round to do this here-- much unlike Tijuana where it can get chilly and wet alot more often!
Afterwards we went out for "burros" which are like burritos, but bigger. These weren't just burros, though, they were SUPER Burros. They were HUGE steak burritos for about $4 each that could be shared.
Something they seem to do differently here is that they don't seem to put toppings on for you, like they do in rosarito-TJ, they give you everything on the side to put on yourself.
From there we went down to a beach, with our burros, to eat and wade in the water. It was very odd to be at a beach without waves. we are in a protected bay area here and there were no waves at all. The tide was going out and the kids could walk out abou 200 meters or more and still be only up to their knees in warm water. Along the edge of the water were lots of rocks. We found a starfish, some sea-snails, hermit crabs and some other creatures in our explorations.
From there we went to another beach about 20 minute drive away. It was one of the most amazing places I've ever seen! There are cactus on the hills right next to the ocean. It was like being in arizona only with a beach! The water was very shallow in this bay with about 5 beaches all around it. there were exposed sandbars in the middle of the cove where the kids went to play. We took a walk around the cove to the end of it and found La Paz' most famous landmark- a mushroom shaped balancing rock.
it was a nice day of rest, even though we weren't totally healthy. It was shar's turn to be really sick and she spent most of the time laying down on the beach trying to sleep.
Today we are going to go out to the colonias (neighbourhoods on the outskirts of the city- usually poorer neighbourhoods) and pray in the areas and see what God shows us. We've spoken a bit to the leaders, but I am interested in speaking to some of the pastors and I hope God leads us to some.
Thanks for praying!
Sunday, January 23, 2011
La paz Day 4- the meetings!
The family was pretty sick yesterday, although it doesn't seem to be something that is too bad for too long. So they stayed home and recovered while i went around and did some investigating and questioning.
I first spoke to the pastor who is the president of the local alliance of pastors. Afterwards i spoke with a missionary who has been here for 18 years. They were a wealth of information and help. here are a few of the things i learned:
I'm hoping to be able to go to some of the poorer areas / colonias to look for some churches and maybe pastors and get their perspective. There is also a "retired missionary" here that started things in 1958, so we hope to get her perspective as well.
When we asked about the poorer areas, we got the same response- there is one here, but it is different than in tijuana or Ensenada. There has been little reason for people to migrate here to work in fields etc. so they do not have the same level of insufficient housing or unaffordable schooling that we see in Tijuana. I'm looking forward to speaking to some of those folks personally to see how they view that!
Both people said that the vast majority of the really needy in this area is in Cabo San Lucas area. Many people came over during the boom years to work in construction of hotels and businesses to serve tourists. But when the economic crisis hit, the employment bubble burst and left many thousands of already poor people without jobs. so apparantly there are many areas down there with migrant workers living in houses of cardboard and pallets and with very real and severe needs. We're hoping to get down there to talk to a Calvary Chapel pastor who is down there to get his perspective on things as well.
We appreciate your prayers for us!
May God bless you all!
Mike
I first spoke to the pastor who is the president of the local alliance of pastors. Afterwards i spoke with a missionary who has been here for 18 years. They were a wealth of information and help. here are a few of the things i learned:
- there are 40 churches in town
- 20 of those are "pentecostal"
- 10 of those churches have trained pastors- about 10 don't.
- Many of the pentecostal churches are influenced by the G12 movement- a discipleship movement which many believe have cultic-control issues.
- about 5 churches are between 100-200- the rest are smaller- and he majority are very small- between 10-25 people.
- of the 20 non-pentecostal churches in town, several are baptist.
- they have their own training.
- the rest are 7th Day Adventist or Apostolic. Apostolics are very legalistic and do not believe in the Trinity.
- there are around 1% to 2% born again believers in La Paz.
- It is a city of 300,000
- There is somewhat of a need for training, but not sure about the desire for it.
I'm hoping to be able to go to some of the poorer areas / colonias to look for some churches and maybe pastors and get their perspective. There is also a "retired missionary" here that started things in 1958, so we hope to get her perspective as well.
When we asked about the poorer areas, we got the same response- there is one here, but it is different than in tijuana or Ensenada. There has been little reason for people to migrate here to work in fields etc. so they do not have the same level of insufficient housing or unaffordable schooling that we see in Tijuana. I'm looking forward to speaking to some of those folks personally to see how they view that!
Both people said that the vast majority of the really needy in this area is in Cabo San Lucas area. Many people came over during the boom years to work in construction of hotels and businesses to serve tourists. But when the economic crisis hit, the employment bubble burst and left many thousands of already poor people without jobs. so apparantly there are many areas down there with migrant workers living in houses of cardboard and pallets and with very real and severe needs. We're hoping to get down there to talk to a Calvary Chapel pastor who is down there to get his perspective on things as well.
We appreciate your prayers for us!
May God bless you all!
Mike
Saturday, January 22, 2011
La Paz Day 3
We Arrived!!
It was a short, but interesting drive today- about 4 hours starting along the sea of Cortez and then into the interior flatland for a while and then back down to the sea of cortez at La Paz.
The day statred early as Caleb and Jacob ran down for a quick swim at the pool- it was a little chilly out so they did not last very long. Then we got all packed up and got ready to go on our excursion to the timeshare sales pitch.
We have had a little cold passing through our family (starting with Caleb) and he was not doing well on the twisty roads leading to the breakfast / timeshare place. Sharlene had the forethought to hand him a little emergency bag in case he felt sick... and he did. The poor fella had his little bag of fun with him when we got out of the car. We were looking for a garbage can and could not find one- so he held onto it until we forgot about it...
They took us about 25 minutes away (towards our destination, thankfully) past a humble little fishing village to the resort that was under construction. It was a beautiful area, but likely very much a disturbance to the local fisherman that lived there.
They fed us breakfast and it soon became obvious through the questions that we were not a good clientele for them. Carlos kept trying to pry and see if we would like this sort of thing and then took us in for a "presentation". We didn't ask many questions, and he finshed his presentation much earlier than he expected- so he took us to see the only suite they have finished at the resort.
Before we left over there I told Carlos that he had drawn the short straw today, that we were not buyers and we didn't have money for this type of thing- and even if we did- this was not really our style. He insisted we let him finishg his job- which we did- otherwise he would've gotten in trouble with his boss, for sure. So off we went to see the suite.
It was nice.
We went back to the sales building where he ran some numbers across us. It was pretty obvious quickly that it was well out of our price range. If we go on vacation, we stay with people or get hotels on hotwire for cheap-- so there was no way he could make this look better for us.
We asked no questions at all. We didn't really say anything, we just listened politely. He answered questions that people would normally ask while we listened quietly.
At the end he said-- would you like to pay the yearly fee for one week at the resort even if membership was $1.00. We said no, not really. It wasn't us, but thank you for your work!
The membership fee wasn't $1.00 it is $25,000!! The shock was probably evident on our faces! We were WAY over our heads...
He said we could do payments- we told him we don't borrow.
He was pretty dumbfounded at that point. As is normal, his boss came over to try to encourage us to rethink, but when he heard our situation- he let us out!
I'm not sure exazctly what it was all about- if God just provided us with a cheap room in exchange for our word. But Carlos told us that his mom and sisters were christians where he is from- Cancun. so maybe we were a little bit of light away from home- a part of an answer to his families prayers. We were very clear as to who we were in Christ and that because of that we weren't living for just the pleasure of this life- but living a simpler life for Jesus in service to Him and his people in Mexico.
We are hoping we were a bit of a witness to Carlos and that God will bring others in his path.
So we finally made it to La Paz, "the Peace". We are staying in a nice house of some missionary folks we don't know who have gone away for a while. It is on a campground with lots of room for the kids to run around and play- with a pool and a trampoline! All we need is a soccerball and everythign will be perfect!
Except that we're ALL sick now! Please pray that we would get better, quickly!
I have a meeting today with the president of the local ministerial to show him what we do and ask him for his insight as to the needs in the community. I'm also going to try to take a drive out to the poorer areas to see some of them for myself and see what the needs are out there.
Monday I have an appointment with another missionary to hear what he has to say- and a third person with whom I want to talk has not gotten back to me as of this morning. Hopefully with those 3 insights as well as some exploring of our own, we'll have a good idea as to what God is doing here!
Thanks for praying...
It was a short, but interesting drive today- about 4 hours starting along the sea of Cortez and then into the interior flatland for a while and then back down to the sea of cortez at La Paz.
The day statred early as Caleb and Jacob ran down for a quick swim at the pool- it was a little chilly out so they did not last very long. Then we got all packed up and got ready to go on our excursion to the timeshare sales pitch.
We have had a little cold passing through our family (starting with Caleb) and he was not doing well on the twisty roads leading to the breakfast / timeshare place. Sharlene had the forethought to hand him a little emergency bag in case he felt sick... and he did. The poor fella had his little bag of fun with him when we got out of the car. We were looking for a garbage can and could not find one- so he held onto it until we forgot about it...
They took us about 25 minutes away (towards our destination, thankfully) past a humble little fishing village to the resort that was under construction. It was a beautiful area, but likely very much a disturbance to the local fisherman that lived there.
They fed us breakfast and it soon became obvious through the questions that we were not a good clientele for them. Carlos kept trying to pry and see if we would like this sort of thing and then took us in for a "presentation". We didn't ask many questions, and he finshed his presentation much earlier than he expected- so he took us to see the only suite they have finished at the resort.
Before we left over there I told Carlos that he had drawn the short straw today, that we were not buyers and we didn't have money for this type of thing- and even if we did- this was not really our style. He insisted we let him finishg his job- which we did- otherwise he would've gotten in trouble with his boss, for sure. So off we went to see the suite.
It was nice.
We went back to the sales building where he ran some numbers across us. It was pretty obvious quickly that it was well out of our price range. If we go on vacation, we stay with people or get hotels on hotwire for cheap-- so there was no way he could make this look better for us.
We asked no questions at all. We didn't really say anything, we just listened politely. He answered questions that people would normally ask while we listened quietly.
At the end he said-- would you like to pay the yearly fee for one week at the resort even if membership was $1.00. We said no, not really. It wasn't us, but thank you for your work!
The membership fee wasn't $1.00 it is $25,000!! The shock was probably evident on our faces! We were WAY over our heads...
He said we could do payments- we told him we don't borrow.
He was pretty dumbfounded at that point. As is normal, his boss came over to try to encourage us to rethink, but when he heard our situation- he let us out!
I'm not sure exazctly what it was all about- if God just provided us with a cheap room in exchange for our word. But Carlos told us that his mom and sisters were christians where he is from- Cancun. so maybe we were a little bit of light away from home- a part of an answer to his families prayers. We were very clear as to who we were in Christ and that because of that we weren't living for just the pleasure of this life- but living a simpler life for Jesus in service to Him and his people in Mexico.
We are hoping we were a bit of a witness to Carlos and that God will bring others in his path.
So we finally made it to La Paz, "the Peace". We are staying in a nice house of some missionary folks we don't know who have gone away for a while. It is on a campground with lots of room for the kids to run around and play- with a pool and a trampoline! All we need is a soccerball and everythign will be perfect!
Except that we're ALL sick now! Please pray that we would get better, quickly!
I have a meeting today with the president of the local ministerial to show him what we do and ask him for his insight as to the needs in the community. I'm also going to try to take a drive out to the poorer areas to see some of them for myself and see what the needs are out there.
Monday I have an appointment with another missionary to hear what he has to say- and a third person with whom I want to talk has not gotten back to me as of this morning. Hopefully with those 3 insights as well as some exploring of our own, we'll have a good idea as to what God is doing here!
Thanks for praying...
Thursday, January 20, 2011
La Paz Trip, -day 2
The good news is that noone got violently ill after last nights supper!
We even had 75% of a good trip today. I could not believe some of the scenery we were seeing! In the final part of Baja North we were climbing up some pretty tall mountains in the fog and by the time we got to the top- we were above the clouds! The desert flora was amazing too! Boojum trees were amongst the strangest things we've ever seen. It was on a very narrow road with few pull offs to take good pics, so we plan on doing that on the way back.
We also saw forests of Cardon Cactus which kind of remind me of Saguaros that you see in Arizona, but a bit different. There were several places where both grew together and some places where they grow together with a plethora of other cactus and succulunts in what can only be described as a lush desert!
We crossed into Baja Sur at about noon and went into Guerrero Negro for lunch. We settled on a little gordita place ( stuffed maiz pocket) and had a good meal there. We were thankful to get into baja sur with little problem, because we didn't have all our visa's with us. We prayed that it would go well and immigration didn't even come out to ask us any questions!
We stopped at a place in Baja Sur called San Ignacio-- A friend had recommended that we drop in- I'm glad we did! It was an amazing little oasis in the middle of the desert! After a very long time in coastal scrubbrush and then driving through desert, we run into this natural oasis where the jesuits had planted date palm trees in the 1700's when they first arrived. An entire little town had grown up around it and the downtown looked like an old Mexican town with a town square ( with HUGE old trees that covered the entire park).
We walked into the church ( built in the 1780's) and were amazed at the old spanish architecture... I had been told about how the Catholic church treats saints here and I was able to see it firsthand. The people will buy gold jewlelry of the body part that they want healed- and then hang it on the statue of the saint as they ask the saint to heal them. There was a statue of a saint, or at least early priest from there that they are hoping will become a saint- with gold jewlry on him as well as money tucked into his robes. They are hoping that but offering money or gold that the saint will more fervently pray for their needs.
From there we drove a little further into a town called Santa Rosalia, along the mar de Cortez. It was an amazing drive from where we were down to sea level down a steep, winding road. The Sea of Cortez there was an incredibly deep blue colour that we don't see on the pacific side of the peninsula. There were whitecaps out on the water and little waves like we see on the great lakes in Canada. Santa Rosalia is famous for it's French architecture that was built in the 1800's when a french company ran the town. The centerpiece is a church that was built buy gustav Eiffel, who also built the Eiffel tower, and was displayed at the world fair in the mid to late 1800's. The town had an entirely different feel to it than any other town we'd been in. The buildings were almost all made from wood with high peaked roofs and balconies-- kinda like pictures I've seen of New Orleans. The roads were very narrow and what I imagine some places in eurpoe would look like with a few taco and BBQ chicken stands thrown in!
We were planning on stopping in Mulege but when we got there, the motel I had booked did not live up to expectations. It looked more like a trailer park for those folks whose trailers aren't fancy enough for the regular red-neck trailer parks... we decided to check out some others and got lost in Mulege and still could not find a decent hotel- so we decided to come here to Loreto.
it was 100km about 1/3 of it in the dark- some of that behind a transport truck ( a cow pusher, I called it) in some of the windiest roads we've seen! It was a little stressful, but we made it here safe and sound.
We finally found a motel for the night after quite a while searching. The cost started out at 1400 pesos ($115) for the night. when i almost left they knocked it down to $95. I said I'd go discuss it with my wife when another lady came up to me offering the place for $50, I just had to agree to go to a sales meeting about a timeshare property they have about 25 minutes south of here. Again, I discussed it with my wife (and used the free hotel wifi to check out other hotel prices and reviews and decided we had the time to do this and we wouldn't get a better deal anywhere else. They sweetened the deal to $44 and gave us a nice room with a kitchen. It has worked out well so far, and the kids have the ok from us to "let loose" at the meeting tomorrow if it goes beyond the 90 minutes they said it would!
We'll let you know how that goes!
Tomorrow we get to la Paz, Lord willing. Caleb has come down with a fever and is not feeling very well at all. He is getting his sleep at night and resting in the car and we all hope and pray he gets better quickly.
hasta manana,
After that w
We even had 75% of a good trip today. I could not believe some of the scenery we were seeing! In the final part of Baja North we were climbing up some pretty tall mountains in the fog and by the time we got to the top- we were above the clouds! The desert flora was amazing too! Boojum trees were amongst the strangest things we've ever seen. It was on a very narrow road with few pull offs to take good pics, so we plan on doing that on the way back.
We also saw forests of Cardon Cactus which kind of remind me of Saguaros that you see in Arizona, but a bit different. There were several places where both grew together and some places where they grow together with a plethora of other cactus and succulunts in what can only be described as a lush desert!
We crossed into Baja Sur at about noon and went into Guerrero Negro for lunch. We settled on a little gordita place ( stuffed maiz pocket) and had a good meal there. We were thankful to get into baja sur with little problem, because we didn't have all our visa's with us. We prayed that it would go well and immigration didn't even come out to ask us any questions!
We stopped at a place in Baja Sur called San Ignacio-- A friend had recommended that we drop in- I'm glad we did! It was an amazing little oasis in the middle of the desert! After a very long time in coastal scrubbrush and then driving through desert, we run into this natural oasis where the jesuits had planted date palm trees in the 1700's when they first arrived. An entire little town had grown up around it and the downtown looked like an old Mexican town with a town square ( with HUGE old trees that covered the entire park).
We walked into the church ( built in the 1780's) and were amazed at the old spanish architecture... I had been told about how the Catholic church treats saints here and I was able to see it firsthand. The people will buy gold jewlelry of the body part that they want healed- and then hang it on the statue of the saint as they ask the saint to heal them. There was a statue of a saint, or at least early priest from there that they are hoping will become a saint- with gold jewlry on him as well as money tucked into his robes. They are hoping that but offering money or gold that the saint will more fervently pray for their needs.
From there we drove a little further into a town called Santa Rosalia, along the mar de Cortez. It was an amazing drive from where we were down to sea level down a steep, winding road. The Sea of Cortez there was an incredibly deep blue colour that we don't see on the pacific side of the peninsula. There were whitecaps out on the water and little waves like we see on the great lakes in Canada. Santa Rosalia is famous for it's French architecture that was built in the 1800's when a french company ran the town. The centerpiece is a church that was built buy gustav Eiffel, who also built the Eiffel tower, and was displayed at the world fair in the mid to late 1800's. The town had an entirely different feel to it than any other town we'd been in. The buildings were almost all made from wood with high peaked roofs and balconies-- kinda like pictures I've seen of New Orleans. The roads were very narrow and what I imagine some places in eurpoe would look like with a few taco and BBQ chicken stands thrown in!
We were planning on stopping in Mulege but when we got there, the motel I had booked did not live up to expectations. It looked more like a trailer park for those folks whose trailers aren't fancy enough for the regular red-neck trailer parks... we decided to check out some others and got lost in Mulege and still could not find a decent hotel- so we decided to come here to Loreto.
it was 100km about 1/3 of it in the dark- some of that behind a transport truck ( a cow pusher, I called it) in some of the windiest roads we've seen! It was a little stressful, but we made it here safe and sound.
We finally found a motel for the night after quite a while searching. The cost started out at 1400 pesos ($115) for the night. when i almost left they knocked it down to $95. I said I'd go discuss it with my wife when another lady came up to me offering the place for $50, I just had to agree to go to a sales meeting about a timeshare property they have about 25 minutes south of here. Again, I discussed it with my wife (and used the free hotel wifi to check out other hotel prices and reviews and decided we had the time to do this and we wouldn't get a better deal anywhere else. They sweetened the deal to $44 and gave us a nice room with a kitchen. It has worked out well so far, and the kids have the ok from us to "let loose" at the meeting tomorrow if it goes beyond the 90 minutes they said it would!
We'll let you know how that goes!
Tomorrow we get to la Paz, Lord willing. Caleb has come down with a fever and is not feeling very well at all. He is getting his sleep at night and resting in the car and we all hope and pray he gets better quickly.
hasta manana,
After that w
Wednesday, January 19, 2011
La Paz trip Day 1
We had a good drive today- the baja peninsula roads so far don't deserve the reputation they've received. We left at about 11:30am, picked up some fish tacos in Ensenada and then headed south. We arrived at our first stop at about 5pm-- you shouldn't drive at night because of roaming cows and horses. we've seen some of those already by the side of the road, it's just that it is much more difficult to see them at night...
Our first stop is in El Rosario- we're staying at the BajaCactus motel- for about $38 we got a room with 4 beds on 2 floors! the beds, trim and stairs are all made out of old, weathered wood that reminds me of wood from a prairie grain elevator. It's the biggest room we've ever had in a motel and probably the nicest- and also one of the least expensive!
We're about to go eat out at the famous Mama Espinozas restaurant- a pit stop on the baja 1000 race (for you offroad race fans...)
tomorrow the plan is to go across the spine of Baja north and then back to the pacific ocaen at guerrero Negro where we cross into baja Sur-- from there we cross the peninsula again to the sea of cortez. I'm hoping we have enough time to slip into santa rosalia- a little town that was built during a brief french occupation-- the church in town was designed by some guy names eiffel (who apprantly built a tower of some type in europe) :) And we stop at Mulege for the night to rest...
Off to supper we go...
back from supper... ok-- that place is not famous for it's food... it was filled with gringos and the food tasted like it was for gringos and not mexicanos... it was ok- but was THE most expensive Mexican food I've ever had!
Caleb is feeling a little sick today- coughing and feeling cold... we're hoping that doesn't get worse or spread.
Our first stop is in El Rosario- we're staying at the BajaCactus motel- for about $38 we got a room with 4 beds on 2 floors! the beds, trim and stairs are all made out of old, weathered wood that reminds me of wood from a prairie grain elevator. It's the biggest room we've ever had in a motel and probably the nicest- and also one of the least expensive!
We're about to go eat out at the famous Mama Espinozas restaurant- a pit stop on the baja 1000 race (for you offroad race fans...)
tomorrow the plan is to go across the spine of Baja north and then back to the pacific ocaen at guerrero Negro where we cross into baja Sur-- from there we cross the peninsula again to the sea of cortez. I'm hoping we have enough time to slip into santa rosalia- a little town that was built during a brief french occupation-- the church in town was designed by some guy names eiffel (who apprantly built a tower of some type in europe) :) And we stop at Mulege for the night to rest...
Off to supper we go...
back from supper... ok-- that place is not famous for it's food... it was filled with gringos and the food tasted like it was for gringos and not mexicanos... it was ok- but was THE most expensive Mexican food I've ever had!
Caleb is feeling a little sick today- coughing and feeling cold... we're hoping that doesn't get worse or spread.
Saturday, January 08, 2011
Project Joy ministry
We handed out gifts and necessities in this poor colonia-- We took names and family information and figure that we served close to 700 people this day. Here is a picture of the line during part of the day...
These were some of the gifts we handed out to about 200 kids!
This is a picture of the neighbourhood. There is an arroyo (temporary river when it rains) running through the colonia. People have built their little houses of scrapwood along the side of the arroyo walls. They use old tires for stairs and retaining walls.
This is Hector. Hector is a student in one of my pastors and teachers training classes. His ministry focusses on giving practical life and skill training to people in the community, espescially people leaving orphanages and Drug and alcohol rehab centers. He came into contact with this neighourhood through Mario- a fellow from here who sells things in Hector's neighbourhood. Now Hector is teaching Mario and his family how to read and write as well as giving them the chronological teaching through the Bible. The hope is to see people come to Christ and plant a church in whatever way Jesus sees fit in this neighbourhood...
McDonald's in Mexico
301 W. 28th Street, Suite L
National City, CA
91950
Happy New Year!
2011 is now here and we are one year closer to the return of Jesus! We hope that this new year finds you healthy and blessed in your relationship with Our Lord. We truly appreciate all of you and your partnership with us over these last 5+ years of support-raising and on the field missionary work!
This year will be a year of transitions for us. We are required to take a furlough of a minimum of 6 months every 5 years, and our time is coming this year. So in June of 2011 we will be moving back to Canada until around January 2012. We will still need your prayers and financial support as furlough time is not about vacation and rest, but more about home-service time. We will be reacquainting ourselves with as many of our supporters and churches as we can during that time. We will be in Ontario for part of that and in the prairies for the majority of the time.
There is much uncertainty that comes with furlough--
where will we live?
Will we fly back and purchase a vehicle or drive back and import our vehicle to Canada and re-import it to Mexico upon returning?
How will we home school while traveling across the country?
Will we freeze to death in November after being away for 5 winters?!
When will we return to Mexico?
What do we do with our stuff in Mexico (including pets?)
Who will live in our house while we are gone? Or will we give it up and store everything?
Where will we live in Mexico when we return?
Is God calling us to a different location and/ or ministry here? (there are many different options and only 1 of our family!)
What will happen to the churches and ministries we support and serve here while we are gone?
And although we don't know the answers to any of those questions, we Know personally the One who does! So we ask you for your prayers for wisdom, as well as any ideas you may have esp. when it comes to living options in Canada! It is MUCH more expensive to live and travel in Canada than here, so we need prayers for God's provision as well during that time!
We will be available to speak in churches, camps, youth groups, colleges, home groups. We'd love the opportunity to share what God is doing here in Mexico as well as share some encouragement from His Word with you.
La Paz
As many of you may remember, I had planned on taking a vision trip to La Paz in the southern Baja last November, but was unable to due to the death of my brother. We are planning the trip as a family near the end of January. I still have la Paz on my heart and after re-reading an email sent to me by a person who lives down there, it seems there is a need for the type of pastor and leaders training we provide.
We will be going down as a family so that we can all have the opportunity to see the opportunities and hear from God. Please pray for safety on the drive (it is 22 hours in desolate desert country) and for God to clearly direct us while we are there. I am asking for His favour and obvious desire and need for the Pastor and Leader Training ministry we offer. Please also pray for the financial costs of this trip, that God would provide all that we need.
2011 Teaching and Training
The Pastors and Leaders Training continues to go well. We have almost 100 students studying in 5 classes. I have been hearing great testimonies from the students and teachers of what God is teaching them about Himself!
The Bible College ministry is always a blessing to me. The college in Ensenada graduated two students mid-year in December. We start up again in February till May for the spring semester. I will be teaching James (both in Ensenada and an extension campus here in Rosarito) and Galatians.
Thank you so much for your partnership with us in this service to the King of Kings and Lord of Lords! We are touched that you feel it a valuable enough ministry to sacrifice your time in prayer and your finances in giving. May God bless you in this life and in the life to come! I truly believe that we are storing up treasures in heaven for ourselves when we do this type of thing together!
If you would like to arrange a time for us to meet or speak at a camp, church or small group while we are back in Canada, we would appreciate the opportunity to report on what God has been doing as well as offer others the opportunity to invest in this ministry as well. You can contact us at the information below! We are looking forward to serving you all during our home ministry assignment!
In Jesus name,
Mike, Shar, Elijah Caleb and Jacob McDonald
301 W.. 28th St. Suite L
National City, CA
91950
619-400-3326 (US home number)
Send Canadian Donations to:
YUGO Canada
PO Box 231
St. Albert, AB
T8N 1N3
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