Home Again!

Everyone is home safe and sound as far as I know.

Please contine to check out this blog as I will be posting pics, stories and other information throughout the next week or two. If you went on the trip and have reflections or would lke to answer the question "How was mexico?" formally, this could be a great oppertunity for sharing. Please email me @ Mr___Billy@msn.com

Also, Fred will be updating this site for the next week with his and Randi's adventures as he is still down there in mexico. Hopefully Rudy has recieved the computer and I can get his blog up and running quickly.


In Christ,
Billy

PS: Interesting fact- there are now over 50 million blogs (web-log) in existance... you can do an internet search and see what you come up with. Some time I would like to start a Christian Missions blog specifically for the washington church area- any takers?

This May be the Last Post until I Find Another Connection...

It has been a wounderful 2 weeks here in San Vicente. As we get ready to leave this little town, I would just like to thank all those who donated money, shopped for supplies, prayed for us, and donated their time for us.

I am afraid I have to be brief as we are leaving for the last migrant camp. Rudy now has a computer so he can be in communication with us throught the year. I also set him up with his own blog so he can tell us all of his needs and prayer requests as they come about.

Here is his new blog address: http://reachoutchildrenforchrist.blogspot.com/

Although he has little time, he and Dijose will try to upate whenever possible, or at least send an email to let us know how they are all doing...

Anyways, I hope all are well. I will try to see if I have a connection at Coyote Cals (where we're staying tomorrow, but no promises).

PS: Bethesda, can you post the flight times for our return trip? I will call my mom personally this year and tell her when I'll be home, but for all others who may need the information please post it if possible.

In Christ,

Billy

The Last Night Here in San Vicente

Hola Familia,

Como estan? It feels weird to be wrapping up our Mexican missionary escapades, but we finally are. Our time here has been awesome…but faith driven nonetheless. It’s difficult for me to think how long it seems like I have been away (only two weeks) when it will be a few months this fall. This trip has meant more to me in so many ways than the previous two (stories for when I get back). I hope all is well with you guys. I miss you and love you. Give Will a hug for me.

Laura

So I am writing again. Wow, two days in a row! I don’t really have a whole lot to say except that our trip is quickly coming to an end. Just like Laura said, this year has been absolutely awesome and I have so many great memories and stories to tell you all back home. This trip has stretched me in many ways, and has tested my patience and drawn me closer to God. I am truly grateful that I was able to come down again this summer and I encourage anyone who is considering coming next summer, to take the step out in faith and say yes to a couple weeks in Mexico serving God. Thank you all for your prayers and support back home. Mom, Dad, and Josh: Miss and love you all. See you Sunday! Tell Shiggy HI! Taisha: Thanks for posting comments! I miss you too! Randy Joe: Talk to you Sunday! (How did you like my random comment last night? J)

- Rach (According to Billy, Rach the elf)

From Ralph:

To Moms, dads, spouses and others: Tomorrow is our last day in San Vicente, Saturday we will spend at another location focusing on physical rest, and emotional and spiritual unwinding and some debriefing time in preparation for our return. When we arrive home Sunday night we will be different. Our experiences here have impacted all of us. It would be un-human for it not to have touched us, more so, God and the people of San Vicente have touched us. We will be filled with experiences, many we will be unable to fully communicate the emotions or events that occurred, but we will want to try. Be patient with us, our exhaustion may take precedence on Sunday night, but by Monday and Tuesday and over the next several weeks we will want to try and share as experiences come to our minds. Our team experiences have brought us together too. We have been like a mini body of Christ as he has used us to build, love, encourage, reach out, help each other as well as laugh and pray together. We’ve sweated together, gotten exhausted together, been silly and serious, endured chaos and hours of preaching, stayed up late and tomorrow gotten up early (4:45am!!).

It is my prayer that God has grown each of us and I know it is true with many as I have seen the quiet and reserved step to the plate and swing the bat and hit the ball very well and the not so quiet step out by example and leadership. Here youth truly become young adults. There are no kids on our team. We are all together pursuing Christ as God has created us to do.

So, ready or not here we come and see ya Sunday nite!! Ralph

The Circus

We went to the circus the other night from the invite to Rachel and Laura's new friend, Marie.
The show was 2 dollars to enter and lasted almost 2 hours. I'll tell you what... It was an interesting mix of the glorious and the mundane, but somehow it all meshed together into a wonderfully memorable night. The acts included contortionist, clowns, traipse artists and my personal favorite llamma on parade. I found myself going back to the days when I visited B&B's circus with my family long ago. (I miss the elephants)

Anyways, it was quite a night as we got to talk with some of the people in the circus. They have quite a schedule as they are constantly on the move from one town to the next.

Anyways.... I got a picture with a llamma so I'm happy...Oh and so did Laura...

Best 2 bucks I ever spent.

-Billy

The Elves...

And all Santa's little elves were hard at work pounding away in their workshop. The clicks and clanks of tiny little hammers rang through the halls as they constructed things of great beauty...

Were they preparing for a Christmas yet to come? No, not this time. You see the elves had something greater in mind... they build benches upon benches and sanded them fine. From nails and wood, sturdy they stood filling a church house with sawdust and pine.

Thanks to Laura, Dell, Mellissa, Fred, Rachael, Ralph, Diane, Joeanne and all the rest for working so dilligently on the new benches for the church...

PS: I'm sorry if it doesn't ryme... It's like 100 degrees outside and I can't think straight.

Photos of the Team

Apparently Randie had some pictures of the team that she did not tell us about. That is why I haven't been able to post other pictures of team members... Anyway here they are....

Update from Ralph and Rick

Wednesday evening; our two weeks are rapidly coming to a close. Our primary task to help construct the church building has gone as well as it could. With the mason work overseen by Marcello by tomorrow evening 3 sides of the building should be about 16’ high and ready for another beam to be formed and poured. Rick and Del will work to put up forms again tomorrow. These forms are for extending the columns from 8’ to 16’. Diana, Carol, Sue and Melissa finished the seemingly endless work of twisting wire that will be used to hold forms to the concrete block walls. When we leave much work will still need to be done on the building, we will leave the remainder of the construction funds with Pastor Kiki. That should help them finish the exterior walls, but the roof structure will remain undone. We are waiting for an engineer to design a roof truss system that Rudy most likely will create. Full funding will be a problem, the little we will leave will not pay for the material, as we will have to keep in contact to find out how God provides for completing the roof. I wonder if God has us involved in this.

Our second week has been much different than the first week as far as ‘tasks’ are concerned. With most of the construction work being setting blocks, we have relied on the local masons to make progress.

More important than a building was the 52 people that arrived via our bus from a migrant camp Sunday morning and the 18 (or so) that came forward at two camps to accept Christ after we showed the movie ‘The Passion’. I believe there is a tremendous need for both evangelism and discipleship in the camps. Some adults are illiterate thus their only way to grow in their knowledge of Jesus is through hearing. Our team’s limited Spanish speakers certainly limits us. This is a need for the future.

We looked at a different option for housing next year. A house with 4 bedrooms, beds for 29, two baths, large kitchen and front room with the ability to add exterior bathrooms. There is also another house very close with space for 15 more. Cost is about 1/3 of what we pay for a hotel. Something to consider next year.

Well it is late Rick Says: “Hola gringo’s. (several seconds of laughter from our fearless construction maestro) Construction is going well and I’m learning much from the blockaro maestro’s. I checked out an adobe house today built by Enrique, very rustic and beautiful. I’m enjoying the many sunsets in San Vicente, although tonight there was a unbelievable full moon right on the horizon. The work God is doing in this community is awesome.”

I am very please that Billy has gotten this Blog up and running we have dreamed about communicating back while we are down hear for the last 3 years, but is has never been achievable. Billy’s computer skills got us there this year.

Please continue to pray for us. Several of us have been spending an hour in prayer every morning for most of this week and will do so again at 7 Thursday morn and at sunrise Friday morning. God is good, real and alive; seek him like gold or silver and you will find eternal value.

Senior Ralph

Rachael Just Had to say this....

July 20^th

Hey everyone! Well, it’s now Wednesday evening and only two more days of work left. Wow does the week go by fast! Everyone is having a great time, but I think that we all are looking forward to getting back home. I sure am! So another amazing story about what God is doing in San Vicente. Yesterday (Tuesday) Laura and I were walking back to the restaurant and decided to stop by the Circus that was in town and ask for Maria who we had met several days earlier. (Maria works with the circus) We got to go inside the circus tent and stand in the show ring and everything. It was really cool and afterward she came and ate dinner with the team at the restaurant. Maria invited us to come to the circus that night, so about 8 of us decided to pay the 20 pesos and see the last performance. It was pretty good, but at the same time it could have been better. Definitely an experience that I will always remember. Anyway, so this morning Laura and I were again out walking to the worksite and saw Marie walking around town, so we met up and ended up spending the whole morning with her. We bought her two Bibles, gave her pictures, and shared some verses with her. It was truly a great time and we were able to plant a seed that will hopefully be fertilized later on. Please pray for her as she is searching for Jesus. She lives in Mexicali and is married and has two kids. She joined the circus two months ago, but hopes to find a better job soon closer to her family. Please pray that she finds a job soon and that she will have more run-ins with other Christians. So that is my story for the day. Hope you enjoyed!!!

Mom, it was great talking to you tonight and I miss you! I hope that you have a great rest of the week and I will talk to you Sunday! Dad and Josh, miss you both too! I love all three of you! Hey Randy Joe: it was great talking to you also! I hope you also have a great rest of the week and keep up the crazy voicemails which I’ll listen to on Sunday. Learn how to leave messages on the Blog! See you all later! Miss you!

Rachael’s Random comment: The cleaning lady stole Laura and my contact cases…..Laura says…maybe she just threw it away… or Aliens took it…Ralph says it is very late.

Love, Rach (Rachael)

Giving thanks....

Last night we spent 15 minutes praying as a group. Many will say that their trip to Mexico has made them more thankful for what they have... But what is th thankfulness if we do not express it to the Lord.

A few things we came up with we would specifically like to give thanks for.

• Safe travel in all that could have gone wrong but didn't
• Liz and all getting through the checkpoint unscathed
• Just the ability for all of us to get the funds to get down here
• The Mexicans that help us work(most patients of Piedra Viva) wanting to turn to the Lord in the midst of their greatest struggle.
• Things coming together at literally the last minute for the purchase of a large bus.
• The strength (inner and personal) to complete such great works in so little time (construction)
• Thanks specifically for the families that came up and dedicated themselves to the Lord in the camps.
• Specifically for Rudy, Djose, Juanita and Lisa in their ministries.
• For the leadership of Pastor Kiki whose heart is broken for those in need of recovery...
• For the health and well-being of the children at the Casa. The Lord protects them, heals them, and provides for them everyday.

Please In you prayers, remember to not just as things of our Father, but remember to give thanks for those things that He has done in your life.

Philippians 4:6

Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.

In Christ,

Billy

Complaints and What Not

Just a quick note...

I do not mean to change the tone of this blog, but this has been eating at me ever since I started posting. Who ever keeps posting "anonymous" suggestions- I appreciate the input, but if you are going to complain please muster up the courage to put your name on your post. (I'm talking about 1 person in particular)

I understand that you are anxious just as the others are that look to this for updates, as I am anxious to tell you all of the work that God does through us here.

I will gladly respond personally to you with any pictures you want of the team or loved ones as I'm sure they share the same fervor for communication with home as yourself...

Again, the purpose of this blog is to update and inform others of our activities in Mexico. This is a trip centered around spreading the word of Christ and helping the people here in San Vicente grow their church and their personal faith through recovery.

That said, my verse I keep returning to as I write is this: James 1:27-28

^"27Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world. "

I will also have a cd available shortly after we return with selections of pictures we all took here. Please also undrestand that it takes close to an hour to get everyone's responses, choose photos, and edit them in Photoshop (brightness/darkness/cropping etc) every day I post with photos. This is the first year I have done this on the fly and am learning with each new day. (as we should) So please, be patient and know that everything is being taken care of in the most timely manner possible...

However, if I have done anything where I have not met your expections, I ask now for your forgiveness and prayer.....

With love and understanding,

Billy

Comments...

Thanks for all the comments guys. Everyone looks forward to seeing that they are all well missed at home. I relay them to the team members every night I update the blog....

Anyways... we were wondering if anyonw has visited that does not go to our church... if your not from our church, leave a comment telling us your first name and where you heard about this...

thanks,

Billy

Hello everyone back home in Tacoma/Parkland area! It’s Rach, (Rachael) again writing about an experience that I’ve had since the last time I wrote. Yesterday (Sunday) was an awesome day because I got the privilege to ride on the bus with Fred, Randie, Laura, and Rudy out to one of the migrant camps to pick-up a bus load of migrant people. The plan was to arrive at the camp and pick-up as many families as possible who wanted to go to church. We didn’t expect many people to come and thought at the most several families would climb on. However, we were all amazed that God brought 52 people on board our bus and all of them attended church with us! It was such an awesome sight to see the church full of both the locals and migrant workers! God is doing great things in this town and I am so blessed to be a part of it.

Mom, Dad, and Josh, I miss you! I hope all is well with each of you and I think of you guys all the time. I’m excited to see you all on Sunday and I love you! One weekers: The team is changed so much now that you are gone and we greatly miss every one of you. I look forward to seeing you at church when I get back. Hi Randy Joe! Hope work is going well for you. I guess that is all for now. Thank you everyone for all your prayers! They are greatly appreciated.

-Rachael

PS: Word has gotten out.. check out the little bar graph link at the bottom of the page. 1031 hits with 336 unique visitors!!!!!!

"C" is for Cipro- thats good enough for me....

“Cipro”, The Word of the Day! 7/18/05

Well it finally hit, the dreaded stomach problems. Who knows why or how but if you stay down in Mexico long enough, you are sure to pick up something. Could be from a migrant camp, food, or water. We also like to share our food and if one unclean hand hits a bag of pretzels, watch out!

Several team members are down with the runs. The toilet has become their best friend. We have been using Cipro with good results knocking out the bug with one or two pills. We were able to pick up some at the local pharmacy and some of us had brought some with us. No one is to sick but it just makes for a bad day or two and then runs it’s course. Maybe the dreaded one weekers left it for us :)

Good news is the weather has cooled off and so has the work site. We are waiting for the walls to be built to their full height and then the hard work days will start again.

Continue to pray for the health of all the team members.

UPDATE!!! 7/19/05. All GI problems have cleared up and we are good to go. Hey Liz, the weather has cooled down to a very comfortable low 70’s.

Fred Welcher

At the Park with the Kids...

Today we went piled all the kids in the bus and went to the park with all 55 of the kids from the casa. We were susposed to keep the kids occupied while the casa was being fumagated, but plans changed and it didn't happen. But we still got to spend 3 hours with the kids at the park. We placyed with them, fed them lunch and even bought them ice cream (thanks to the anonomymous donor for the ice cream!)

Construction Update

Still plugging along... we expect a big day Thursday and Friday as the masons finish up building the walls for the second floor. In the mean time, Rick has constructed hsi own tower of Babble- a brand new Scaffold for us to work on! (We haven't figured out how to move it as it is well over 300 pounds....)

Dinner with Enrique

Hello,

Last night we had the honor of having dinner with Enrique and his family. For those of you who have been on previous trips before, you know Enrique as the brick mason who helped us build Marta's house and pour the floor at Juanita's. He has been doing very well in his work and has just remodeled his house to rent out after he finishes his new one. You should see the tile work in his bathroom!

Anyways, he invited us to his house to have dinner with him- not because we did anything in particular for him, but because he was so gracious for the work God is doing through our church in this town.

As you may also know Enrique has a wonderful voice and his son is blessed as well. Special thanks goes to Andy as he worked to translate and teach us a song as he played with Enrique, Jr.. After a wonderful chicken mole (mole-A), they concluded the evening with a father-son duet.

It is good to see that even though we may think of our impact as very minimal at times, God can take these situations and make true impressions on people's hearts.

In Christ,

Billy

1 Weekers are back...

Sorry about the delay beteween posts as we were busy with late nights with the kids. Here we are now with an update from Dave and Liz:

Well, all of the 1 weekers have arrived in Seattle safely. Miltary check point went smoothly and the border crossing was about and hour and half. In San Diego, when we got to the airport, Craig Madigan's ticket was for 2 weeks instead of 1, but it was taken care of easily enough. My prayers are with you, and I am wishing I was there with you all still. Already working on making plans for next year with Josh and hoping that my wife may want to come too.

-Dave Walker

Hi All,
Had to take a 4 hour nap today-was just drained. The trip back went well and my bed felt wonderful. Ralph, I called Vicky but you had already spoken with her. I hope you are feeling better and are not getting the full blown illness. I wasn't feeling well on my jouney back and I felt bad for Ruthy. Joanne, I will contact your friends tomorrow. No one at the church knew about the blog so they were going to inform everyone during service. You should now start getting more hits.
Be sure to allow enough time for getting thru the checkpoint. We had three lines again (and yes they were the same group as before)and they were really going thru the vehicles. The border took about 1 & 1/2 hrs but went smoothly. The flight was 40 minutes late but all in all it was good. We are all praying for each of you and Rusty asked for prayer for the team during service. Miss all of you but hope you are doing great work. Can't wait to hear how many come to church from the migrant camps. Everyone take care and I will see you when you return.

God Bless all of you,

-Liz

Practicing Spanish

7/19/05 10:00 pm

Hello Family & Friends. I am practicing my Spanish with the Casa kids and anyone who will be patient enough to listen. Our daily task has been to learn a word a day. The church is a wonderful sight to see as it changes daily as each block is laid in place. I have learned some new construction techniques that might come in handy. The foreman on the job site is very kind and patient as he teaches us the Mexican way to build. The Mexican people are so kind and a day does not go by without one or more thanking us for our help. The praise truly belongs to God who allows us to be here and serve as his helpers. The daily devotion and prayer time has blessed the team with a closeness for each other and the people of San Vicente. Thank you for your prayers. See you soon.

Carol W.

More from the Park

July 19^th

Hi everyone. Today we had the opportunity to take the children from the Casa to the town park for three hours. After lots of play, balloons and laughter they had a sack lunch. We had planned to take them to a local ice cream store a couple blocks from the park but instead we stopped a local ice cream man and bought all their ice cream (thanks to Jeff C). The kids had a great time… and so did we. The weather was cooled down today which allowed a comfortable day for outside work. It’s enjoyable working with the men from Piedro Viva; they are always so joyful…..and very hard workers. I’m really enjoying our team devotion time together in the evening and sharing what we are seeing God do here. I can see the fruits of our labor and time.

To my HFG; Debbie, Roz, Linda, Rose, Hope, Karen, Cleora, Sylvia……miss all of you. Are Sue and I still welcome after a brush with the law? We have lots to share. See you next Monday night.

Joanne C.

The Last Night for the 1 Weekers...

I have always gone for two weeks with the exception of this one. It is really hard leaving my team and the people of San Vicente. On my many trips here I have developed long loving relationships with many people and one mother in particular has touched my heart this year. Her name is Sonya and she is a cook in the restaurant where we eat. She works in very hot conditions and always has a smile on her face and warmth that exudes throughout. She is struggling now as she wishes that her husband comes to know the Lord as she does. She asked that we pray for her and her husband and therefore I am reaching out for her and asking that our church cherish her in your prayers along with our team. Many mothers here are in abusive situations and husbands have drinking problems. She is strong in her faith but comes from one of the situations that is seen on a daily basis here. I ask for prayers for a safe return and for safety for the remaining team members as they venture on to help provide a home for the people of San Vicente to join in community and fellowship. See everyone on Sunday.

Liz Zimmerman

The Last Night for the 1 Weekers...

Hi everyone. Midnight (actually 1AM) again; not much sleep in sight. Another bad lesson from our fearless leader, Ralph. We all went to one of the migrant camps tonight. Ralph left his wallet in the windowsill of the hotel with a bright light shining on it. He left it with his brain. Second lesson was on dressing; his shirt is buttoned like a six-year old. Poor Vicky.

A much hotter day today but work accomplished. The church sight has higher walls, the children at the Casa had time with our group and another migrant camp was fed with new dishes and cups. Figures, the one-weekers are leaving and the heat arrives. Sad to see part of our group leave; has been a great group.

We went to another migrant camp tonight and watched the Passion. About a dozen individuals came forward to accept Christ as their Lord and Savior. How exciting to see what God is doing here.

We finally wrote bible verses on the bus walls in Spanish as a reminder of His word. It may be a slow process bringing migrant camp workers to church but the start must happen somewhere. Time for a couple hours of sleep.

Joanne C.

Downtime....

As the 1 weekers get ready to leave tomorrow, I would like to thank them for all their hard work and dedication. It will be hard this next week without the smiles and support of so many people that made this work possible. Please pray for their safe return tomorrow as there is 5 hour drive to the border and another hour to the airport.

In the meantime, we are going to catch up on things here at the Casa del Pastor and finish some electrical work at Rudy's. I will continue to update this blog on the remaining groups progress for the next week. Continue to pray for our safety and for the church here.

I will get people's closing thoughts tonight and post them sometime tomorrow. Thanks for all your great commnets and words of encouragement.....


HAPPY BIRTHDAY FRED 51 AND GETTING YOUNGER!!!!!!

In Christ,

Billy

PS: There is a circus in town.. I think I'll check it out tomorrow....

Liz, Joanne and Sue's Run-ln with the Law

Greetings from San Vicente,

It’s almost midnight, some finally getting a shower. Just back from the Piedro Viva, time singing and devotions. Our day was full, with rebar and brick work, afternoon time at a migrant camp with drama and singing with the children, along with feeding (with new bowls and cups). Then the long ride back to town in time for dinner, then to Thursday night church, then to Piedro Viva.

Liz, Sue and I had a very crazy experience two days ago while going into Ensenada to shop for the Fiesta. Just before we arrived at the check point near town Liz realized she forgot her ID and drivers license. We had a large amount of money with us for shopping, etc. so she told me to put one envelope in my backpack (we noticed they were stopping all cars). We had to get out of car, and of course, they checked my backpack and what do you think they found first……an envelope full of money still in bundles. We were asked to pull over and a few other officers with rifles arrived. We had a very difficult time explaining with the amount of Spanish we knew. Our saving grace was the Mexican officer had lived in Vancouver/Kelso area for 6 years and he knew of our area and we had some conversation. We finally were allowed to go through but with hesitation. Lesson #1: always have ID on you. Lesson #2: Never carry large amounts of money on you. Lesson #3: have paperwork explaining mission with names and numbers. By the way, they did not check Liz’s pack; she had more money than I did. Thank You God.

The Fiesta was a success and everyone seemed to enjoy themselves. The moms appreciate an evening out without cooking. We also celebrate birthdays for the children from the Casa (May, June and July), each sang to and a candle blown out. Of course, they all get a gift. We have a chance to rub shoulders with our friends here and share with each other. It’s an exciting time and fun for all.

Before I fall asleep sitting here, a note of thanks to all who donated bowls/glasses and hygiene items. Watching the children’s faces today when they were fed in new bowls and drank juice from a real glass was priceless. The children were very excited to get a bag of items (soap, comb, toothpaste/brush, floss) also. Again, thank you.

Dennis, we haven’t decided on a verse yet but we hope to get verses written in bus tomorrow. We have three in mind for the dash. The bus has been great.

Joanne Chaplin

Construction Site Update

construction is going well at the church. We have cleared out the garage area (thanks to Andy McReynolds, Carl, and the rest of the Mole Men) and are working on rebuilding a part of the foundation. The rest of the team has been able to tie enough rebar to start on the second floor of the church. The wall of the church still has to reach another 18 Ft!. It may seem like slow going, but for here it is muy rapido!

New Photos from the Migrant Camps and Drama Team

Drama Team in Action

Children Giving their Hearts to the Lord

Children Recieving their Donated Bowls and Glasses with Food

Rudy Lopez Missionary to the Migrant Camps and Farms

Migrant Child Enjoying His Dinner

On Thursday the 14th, the drama team had the opportunity to go to a migrant camp. This is one of the larger camps we visit each year. The wind is usually blowing so badly that we cannot do anything with the kids. Fortunately for us the Lord kept the winds at bay that day so we could do our drama and distribute all of the bowls, cups, and vitamins to the children. At the end of the drama, the placed their paper hearts on the cross we had set up for them.

Once again, we'd like to thank you for you donations to this ministry. Please continue to pray that our drama and presence has a lasting impact in these children's hearts and minds.