Tecate 09: Day #6 (Finishing the House)

Today was awesome. We finished, dedicated, and handed over four houses to four very thankful families. Its late, but I will just share that it was a very emotional day as we said goodbye to our new friends, and headed back to our camp.

We have had a great week and God has taught us all so much.

Tomorrow we will be leaving early to head home.

Check out the PIctures HERE:

Tecate 09: Day #5 (Sights Seeing & Rest)

We had an awesome time taking in Tecate's sights, and having a day to relax and recuperate. Because of the heightened security concerns in Mexico, we did not travel to Rosita today. Instead we hung out in Tecate. In the morning, we went to an awesome public stadium to play soccer, hike, and relax in the shade. Nothing quite like playing soccer in 100 degree weather on a dirt field!

After lunch, we headed out to downtown Tecate. The town has a square with a fountain where people congregate. Around the square, were many shops to find Mexican jerseys, souvenirs, food, and trinkets. It was cool to see Tecate and be able to spend some time just watching the people of the city move about.

Tonight we talked about what it means to follow Jesus in a world with so many distractions. We considered the questions together of "where are the workers?" Jesus told his disciples that the harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Why are they few? How can there be so many Christians, and yet so few workers? Perhaps it is because so many of us are so distracted by life that we forget why we are really here.

Tomorrow is our last day on the sights. We will be finishing the houses and dedicating them. It is hard to believe it is our last day with our families. We have been so touched by what God has done in our midst this week.


Check out Mosaic Pictures HERE:


Check out Insight Pictures HERE:

Tecate 09: Day #4 (Roof & VBS)

Yet another great day!!!

Today all of our groups got out roofs up!!! We still have work to do, but the trusses are all up, and the plywood sheeting is mostly up as well. VBS was also great today, and our students had a great time singing songs with the Mexican students and telling them about Jesus love. It has been great to continue to build relationships with the families that we are building houses for. Their stories are so awesome, and we are totally blessed to get to be a part of what God is doing in their life.

Tonight in our evening session we explored a simple 4 letter word. THEY. They is a word that we often use when we are talking about a group of people. They are ______________. Often when we do this, we are grouping an entire nationality of people together into a single group and assigning a characteristic which might be true of a few, to them all. While in Mexico we have seen how harmful these groupings can really be. We were challenged tonight to really think about who they "THEYs" were in our life, and what is would mean to really get a more dynamic and fully formed view of people. One that goes beyond stereotype.

Tomorrow is our rest day. We will be sleeping in a little, and then heading around town to play some soccer, and shop for some items we need for our houses.


Check out Brandon's Mosaic Pictures HERE:

Check out Insight Pictures HERE:

TECATE 09: Day #3 (Building)

Today was another great day. In addition to playing with hoards of local children who have shown up to hang out with us, we also managed to get the walls up on all four of the houses that Elmbrook groups are building. Our groups have been pitching in with servants hearts to help get things done. One of our groups is smaller because a few of its students had to drop out of the trip, but the other groups are kicking in extra to help them when they need it. (The 6 students on that group are also really hard workers, so they are holding their own!)

Putting the walls up is a major accomplishment in the building process both emotionally and practically. Practically it is a major turning point as it signifies a sort of halfway point in the the putting up of the house. Emotionally, there is nothing like seeing the pile of lumber we are greeted with on the first day. It feels so great to see the results of our efforts. It is months of faith finally materialized into a physical shell that now is starting to look like the home and protection that it will be for this family. In a real way, it is our faith made physical. Way cool!

Tonight we talked about how blessed we are as a people. We have so much, and often we do not think about how the choices in our lives, effect other people, even people on the other side of the world. Part of being rich as a country is realizing how blessed we are, and part of it is realizing how our blessing makes us responsible to help other who we are able.

Tomorrow, we will be working more on our house. We will be trying hard to put on the roof. Fun TIMES!!!

Check out Brandon's Mosaic Pictures HERE:

Check out Insight Pictures HERE:

TECATE 09: Day 2 (Starting)

We survived the heat, and actually made some phenomenal progress on building our houses today. We also met our families, and had a great time getting to know a ton of local Mexican kids who showed up to hang out with us and play some soccer, baseball, and even work together on the houses. Its amazingly cool to swing a hammer or paint along side the people we are hear to serve.

The heat is intense, as we are right up on top of a hill without much shade, but we take lots of water breaks and the mission discovery trucks come around regularly to hit us up with Gatorade. That said, it has been incredible to see how hard our students play and work in the sun and heat. They really are a great example of the love of Christ.

Tonight at our evening session we talked about blindness. Not physical blindness, but a blindness that happens when we train ourselves not see the needs of the people around us, and even eventually to stop even seeing needy people at all. We do it all the time, just like the story of the Good Samaritan that is found in Luke 10:25. The answer for this is to ask Jesus to help us see the world, ourselves, and others like he does.

Tomorrow we are building again, and starting VBS with the kids.

Check out Mosaic Pictures HERE:

Check out Insight Pictures HERE:

TECATE 09: Day 1 (TRAVEL)

We are HERE!!! Travel today went great. God revealed himself to us in many ways even as we set out. Last night, one of our leaders had to back out of the trip because she was sick. So at 9pm, we were able to find another leader who was willing to go at the last minute and able to be ready in less than 12 hours to get on a plane. AMAZING.

WE were even able to convince the ticket agent that this was a great idea... way amazing.

Our flight was uneventful, and then we jumped on a bus in San Diego, and after a brief lunch, we were off of Tecate.

When we arrived it was crazy hot, but we were able get all settled in in time to jump in the pool and cool down.

Dinner was incredible (tacos and quesadillas) and then we were off to our first evening session.

Our topic for the night was how God had created the world whole, but that it has been deeply fractured by sin. Jesus offers us healing for our own brokenness and the opportunity to participate in his healing of the whole world!!!

Check out the Mosaic Pictures HERE:

Check out the Insight Pictures HERE:

And they arrived

The group landed in San Diego on time and collected all of the luggage. Boarded busses and off to one last meal in the U.S.A. before crossing the border.

We all made it to Rancho La Paloma safely and have just finished enjoying a dip in the pool, as it is sort of warm down here in July. That's all for now, until later...

Invasion 09 Pictures!!! The Invasion 09 Pictures are on Flickr!!! (1775 of them!)

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