Last Post

Sadly this will be the last post until we come home late Tuesday night. So far we've had a lot of wonderful experiences. It is clear that God is present here in Mexico despite the news reports. Javier and Abby shared with us the ideas and hopes they have particularly for the community here at Ocenta Nueve. It is truely an inspiration to be in this place. Unfortunately I have to cut this short, but you will hear all about it when we return. Check the Lantern Hill facebook page for some updates and pictures throughout the rest of our trip and back here in the next week for some final updates and pictures. Thank you so much for following us through the experience. Keep us and the ministries here in your prayers. Hopefully we'll bring back some of this cool and breezy weather for you. Grace and peace to you... try and stay cool!

Adios!
-Jim

Funny Things You Find in La Basura...

This week has been so many things for us. Having been here to Lantern Hill before we thought we knew what to expect from the week ahead of us, but you can never be sure what Mexico has in store for you. In the three years since our last visit Aqua Viva has changed dramatically. The building we previously helped to dry wall is now fully completed and fully functional. There is also a full kitchen and housing for children with disabilities who stay there. The daycare that we served in is now a school for children who cannot go to public or private schools of Mexico because they do not have a birth certificate which is needed to attend school in Mexico. The kids are still friendly, energetic, and ready to play which we found out as soon as we arrived. We also had the opportunity to go to Casa Esperanza which neither of us (Sarah & Brandon) went to during our last visit. While dumping a load of brush in the brush pile we heard a scratching noise from the trash cans nearby. After cautiously investigating the source of the noise we discovered something furry buried underneath a pile of trash. Slowly removing the trash piece by piece, we saw a large squirrel peeking its head out from the bottom of the barrel. We helped the squirrel out and watched it scurry away, feeling satisfied both with helping the squirrel escape and also with the fact that neither of us were bitten. This whole week has been a whirlwind of emotions and experiences, the majority of which were joyful and full of hope. Throughout the week we toured different communities and saw the need and poverty the children and families are dealing with everyday. To us these sights are slightly disheartening, however listening to Abby and Javier talk about their hopes and dreams for the future of these communities gives every experience a reviving sense of hope that inspires us to move forward and bring these experiences back with us.  Tomorrow is Sunday and we will be visiting the church in the local community for worship and we are excited to experience the faith of the people in the communities we have been serving. The hospitality and openness of the people in Ensenada has been a blessing and for that we are very grateful, and we look forward to the days we still have to come.

-Sarah Arnold & Brandon Gotwalt

Ocenta Nueve

It is sad the week is coming to an end. We have made many memories and made so many “amigos.” Today we went on a tour of the Baja 89 community. This community is newer then the other communities we have previously seen, and so it has city water, but it is nowhere near the American communities we are used to seeing. On our tour, we learned that no schools in Mexico have cafeterias because the school day is only half day. The school in Baja 89 is fortunate enough to have Javier offer a healthy lunch service for the same cost as the kids would spend on junk food. Once we arrived back from our tour we gladly ate our first lunch not in a tortilla. We also had “American” food for breakfast. None of us have ever been so happy to see toast. Then as a brunch for the local kids we gave them a taste of America in the form of hamburgers and watermelon. They all enjoyed that very much. They also enjoyed our rendition of Daniel and the Lion’s Den and the songs we taught them. We will all be traveling back to the beach house later this afternoon for some more playing in the ocean, learning how to surf and our daily siesta.

-Kelsey Hummel, Kaylan Gotwalt, Mark Hurt

TGIFriday

On Friday, we went to Agua Viva a community center in a small community of mostly farm laborers. While we were there, we did a lot of playing with the kids. I gave a lot of piggy back rides and tickled a lot of kids. Two days ago when we were at Agua Viva there was a small boy who said something in Spanish to me, assuming I didn’t understand I just nodded and said, “si si.” He then proceeded to pee on the play set. I said “no, no,  no el bano?” He said “si.” Of course he would actually use a word I knew and I still couldn’t understand.  Playing with the kids at Agua Viva was an amazing experience, even when they didn’t understand what you were saying it was so nice to just play. They would find a way to get you to understand what they wanted. When we later took a tour of the community, you saw where these kids lived and how even the seven and eight year olds are taking care of four and three year olds. It made you feel even better to be able to play with these kids and give them a fun time. On Friday, we went to Agua Viva and then to Baja 89 (aka Javier’s), another community center in a different community where we would be helping out and then spending the night. Friday night, Javier took us to a local soccer field where they were playing what looked like a pickup game. Javier got them to let Gavin and Jacob play with them. Every time one of them got the ball we would cheer really loudly. There was one point when both Gavin and Jacob ran into each other. We cheered especially loudly for that; we were the only ones doing any cheering. After the game, we then went to a grocery store to pick up hamburger meat, corn, and watermelon to feed the kids an American lunch on Saturday. When the kids come to Javier’s on Saturday we are going to put on a play (in Spanish) of the bible story Daniel and the lion’s den and making lion handprints as a craft. Then we can play with these kids and have as many great experiences as we did at Agua Viva.

-Sarah Fisher

Daniel

In the morning, we went to agua viva and began to do simple chores for the center. I washed cars and played with kids most of the day. Playing with the kids was a great experience. The kids always wanted to be picked up and carried on your back or picked up like and airplane, which they called “avion.” The whole group grew very attached to one young boy named Daniel. Daniel was a very fun loving kid and he always called everyone his “amigos blancos.”  However, the most touching part of the day was the tour through the community. We walked through the neighborhood with some kids and we learned about the community. The community where these children lived was built entirely by missionaries over the past five years. The most shocking part of the walk was when Daniel showed us his house. Most of the children in the group had nice houses (wooden walls with a door) built by missionaries, but Daniel had a very small shack house that was covered with plastic to keep the rain out. Daniel was still very proud of his house and he pointed it out with a large smile. After this, I felt very happy and grateful to be a part of Daniel and the other kid’s lives and to be able to make a difference.

-Gavin Norris   

Thursday

In the morning Gavin, JJ’s son, Jacob, and I helped a guy take off the rest of his roof that got blown away 2yrs ago in a storm. After taking the rest of the roof we re-roofed it. He was very grateful that we were doing this. 5yrs ago another church built this home for him. In the afternoon we went to another location when we pulled up we see Walter outside digging. He came back to meets us and asked for volunteers to help him dig were his pipe cracked. Rachel, Andrew, Jim, and I volunteered. While doing that he was asking us what was going on in America and all that. He spoke English which was nice so we had a lengthy conversation about the NFL lockout and how our economy was doing. I was extremely tired at the end of the day but felt very good and felt I had made a big difference in these peoples lives.

   -TJ Gagliano

Wednesday

I’m not exactly sure what I was expecting this trip to be like, but this is definitely not it. This day was so full of new, wonderful, unexpected experiences I don’t even know what to write about. Brandon and Mark tried to teach me how to surf, but let’s just say my surfing career is short lived. After we got lunch at an authentic Taco shop, we took a boat tour around the Ensenada harbor. There was a patch of really rough waves from the surrounding speed boats and it made the boat bounce quite a bit, to the point where the sea splashed back up into my face. It was so moving and powerful yet so simple. Everywhere I go here, I am astounded by the beauty of creation and I feel God’s presence in every beautiful sight.

In the morning, I got the opportunity to help Abby teach an English class and help JJ teach an Art Class to young kids today. It was such an amazing experience. I opted to take French in school instead of Spanish, so all of my Español comes from Dora the Explorer. So during the Art class, I struggled a bit. You can only say “Muy Bien!” so many times without the kids realizing how clueless you are. The class was supposed to be practicing drawing what they see and drawing things to their actual size. I was sitting next to this small girl, who was drawing a vase. But because my drawing talents are about as limited as my Spanish, I just drew a cat on the corner of my paper.  The girl giggled, and drew a matching cat on the corner of her paper. I then awkwardly signaled to her, “I like cat,” by pointing to myself and then to my heart and then to the cat. I felt rather foolish. But she laughed and somehow knew what I was saying. She then taught me my first Dora-free Spanish phrase. Me gusta el gato! I like cat!

-Rachel Arnold