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March 20 2009 - 22:50 (Home in bed)

I'm nervous! It's hard to grasp that in less than 24 hours I'll be sleeping in a tent with the rest of the family in Mexico. So much has to happen between now and then, but that's out of our hands and in God's now.

I am nervous about the whole organization of the trip and not being in control of things. I guess that's a good thing? The kids are getting nervous too. Isn't life great when you just "jump in"?! (I like to think they'll thank us later... ;-))

March 21 2009 - 07:13 (At home, getting ready)

The day has finally arrived! Getting ready with lots of time to spare. The first group is probably almost boarding their plane.

March 21 2009 - 11:21 (Flying to LAX)

Whew! We're in the air! I get nervous flying, but having the family along helps me - I have to appear cool-headed even if I don't feel it inside. I have a funny feeling that this will be a common theme over the next 10 days.

Nothing too dramatic happened at the airport - our family breezed through security and US customs at least 10 or 15 minutes ahead of the rest of the group. We met Megan on the way to the boarding area and decided we might as well just go all the way to the boarding area and wait there for everyone else. Eventually everyone but our fearless leader, Lisette, and her family showed up. The kids were getting more and more nervous / excited as the time counted down to our boarding. Soon we were boarding and it was time to hold on for the ride!

Lisette, Kyle, Mattias and Abbi were the last to board the plane. On her way past our seats she mentioned that she was "searched thoroughly" at customs! Not exactly what she needed after spending months planning this trip and dealing with the stress of 65 teens and their worried parents over the last few weeks. She only got 3 hours of sleep last night. Hopefully as leaders we can assist her on this trip and make her life a bit less stressful. God is with us and I am not going to stress about things anymore.

Things haven't gone without problems today. One girl on the earlier flight didn't have her passport and is flying out tomorrow. I'm not sure how she's going to get the 4 hours from LAX to Mexico camp but they'll figure something out, hopefully!

March 21 2009 - 12:48 (Descending into LAX)

We are descending into LAX after a very smooth flight. Well, smooth if you forget about Jeff who's at the back of the plane sucking air from an oxygen tank! Yep - apparently he keeled over while waiting for the bathroom and for the past half hour or so he's been on oxygen to revive. Never a dull moment eh?!

When we land we have one hour to get our luggage (which won't be lost right?) and get the rental vans. The other group should be about an hour behind us at this point. Next time I write we should be on solid ground somewhere.

March 21 2009 - 21:10 (Amor camp, Mexico)

Well, we made it! Quite the little adventure getting here! When we got through LAX a bunch of the leaders went to pick up the 6 rental vans while the main part of the group stayed at the airport to wait for the first flight to arrive. It was a bit surreal to be driving past palm trees considering that there's a winter storm warning for Calgary today!

The rental van guy was awesome. He apparently rents out his vans more often to church groups doing mission trips with Amor ministries. He was happy to be part of the blessings that we are handing out in Mexico even though he couldn't join us in building houses. The best part about the rentals was getting out at the rental place and smelling a huge blooming rose on his rose bush!

After some confusion around organizing the vans I led the way back down Century Avenue into LAX to pick up the first batch of kids and their gear. (We decided to go in shifts so the LA cops wouldn't freak out on us.) It was strange driving past the heavily armed security detail on the way into the airport but they didn't seem to care about little ol' me and soon I was loading up the van with luggage and people. (Some vans did get stopped and searched but obviously there was nothing in them at this point so no problems!)

There was quite a delay when we realized that the last van could not fit all the left over luggage and people! Thank goodness we had radios to communicate at this point. The last van drove all the way back to the rental place with just extra luggage (a 10 minute drive each way) to give the extra stuff to the 5 vans that were already "loaded". Well, we were definitely loaded after taking on the extra luggage. :-) Good thing we restricted people to only 1 duffle and 1 carry on! Our family did pretty good with 2 duffles and 1 carry-on for the four of us. This included sleeping bags and all our clothes for 10 days. By the time all 6 vans finally left the rental area (we couldn't wait at the airport because of security reasons) we were at least 1 hour behind the planned schedule that was in place to avoid our driving in Mexico at night...

Driving on the I5 freeway out of Los Angeles to San Diego was a whole other experience for me. 10 to 16 lanes wide with traffic sometimes bumper-to-bumper doing 70-85 mph in a 15 passenger van with loose steering! I was following Steve Dewitt, trying my hardest to keep him in sight. He races motorbikes and has driven on these freeways before and it showed! We were the first two vans to arrive at the Amor Ministries office building in San Diego - still about 45 minutes behind schedule. The staff was friendly but a bit aloof, possibly because we were stressing them by being late.

The problem with being late at the Amor Ministries office was the issue of driving across the border and through Mexico in the dark. After some fooling around with administrative stuff and filling the vans with fuel (didn't want fuel from Mexico because it's horrible quality) we lined up in a convoy and with one Amor representative at the front (Kamar) and another at the back (Blair) we filed towards the Mexican border.

Even before the trip I was nervous about driving. I knew I'd end up being a driver and we were only allowing very select people to drive in Mexico. Once you've driven there apparently you can drive almost anywhere! Darkness was settling in and the Amor staff seemed a bit nervous which didn't help our frazzled nerves any. The drivers were briefed in a private meeting about what to expect ahead. We were told that once we got to the Mexican border we would have to approach a traffic light very slowly and stop. If the light turned green we were good to go - no questions asked. We didn't even need our passports! On the other hand, if the light went red all bets were off. We were told to NOT attempt Spanish even if we knew a bit of it. We were instructed very strictly to speak English and flatly refuse Spanish conversation no matter how much pressure was applied to do otherwise.

If a van was stopped the whole convoy would have to wait somewhere in Tijuana for them to catch up. Of course with night settling in the prospect of stopping in Tijuana wasn't a comfortable one. (There is a drug war going on in Tijuana and there's a lot of people including the Amor staff who don't think the government is in control of that city right now.) The whole thing seemed a bit ominous but a miracle occurred and all 6 vans made it across without getting stopped. We were officially in Mexico without any more than a side glance from the border guards! There was at least 10 to 15 lanes coming back into the USA but only 1 going into Mexico. The US side of the border was heavily guarded but as soon as we crossed in Mexico there was an old lady pushing a shopping cart across the 4 lane highway!

The change between San Diego and Tijuana was startling. Vendors were beside the road trying to sell goods to American tourists. The houses were plywood and falling apart, countless numbers of them. As we hurtled along the highway in almost complete darkness there was a shout on the radio to watch the boy in the center of the highway! I didn't have time to do anything but caught a quick glimpse of a small boy on the median swinging his legs almost into traffic as we whizzed by doing 100 km/h! Evan, in one of the vans behind me actually saw the boy cross himself as if he was going to jump into traffic and had to close his eyes rather than see his van hit him. Thankfully none of us hit the kid. (By the time we were heading back out of Mexico this kind of behavior wasn't so shocking to us anymore...)

There was a very crazy moment in Tijuana as we tried following Kamar (the Amor rep) through an intersection that was under construction. There were no signs telling us where to go, we just turned left (!!) through a red light with 3 lanes of disorganized traffic and cars going every which way and through another miracle no one got hit or lost! Eventually we ended up on a beautifully paved toll road with hardly any traffic (no one can afford it at $7 USD). As pitch darkness settled around us we abruptly cut off the highway, through a ditch and onto a rough, dusty road. Before long we were going through the security gate at the Amor camp. Kamar led us into the camp where we could see others eating supper and sitting around camp fires. We parked the vans and went for a long-awaited supper, everyone was starving by this time! I hadn't had time to eat or drink since the plane ride to LAX hours earlier.

March 21 2009 - 22:00 (Amor campfire)

As I write this I am all alone around a small fire. The crickets are chirping all around me and I can hear the other groups talking quietly. A guitar is strumming random tunes somewhere across the road from me. The first night in Mexico is starting out very peaceful! Let's see what the first day of building holds for us tomorrow... ;-)

March 22 2009 - 06:20 (Amor camp - breakfast)

We're having our first breakfast at camp. Apparently in Mexico they don't change their clocks for another 3 weeks. That meant that most of our camp was in bed at 21:00 last night and up at 04:15 this morning! We tried getting back to sleep (we don't have to be up till 05:30) but it didn't work that well. I was wondering why none of the other camps were listening to the "quiet by 10pm" rule last night, but I guess it was only 21:30, not 22:30 when I went to bed! And I was the very last person in bed from our camp. Oh well, we all needed the sleep after a long day traveling yesterday.

I slept OK last night but it got a little bizarre around 01:00. Some guys on the back of a pickup truck were trying to make some sort of music and weren't that successful at it. The local dog population agreed with my assessment and did their best to drown out the uneven notes. Eventually that whole mess settled down and soon I was transported back to my youth with the loud crowing of a rooster! Soon the morning cacophony of camp and country sounds started in earnest. Niko and I decided since we were awake anyway we might as well get out of bed and greet the day even though it was only 05:20. We also decided to earn some points by making Hann and KC their lunches. A breakfast meeting is soon to start so I'm signing off now.

March 22 2009 - 08:38 (Waiting for Kamar to lead us to our work site)

Apparently our work sites are some of the steepest Kamar has ever seen so she is leading the vans up to our respective sites one at a time. If it starts raining (and it looks very much like it could start any moment) we have to immediately get the vans down the hill and back to where we are right now (by a small community church) because the roads will become treacherous instantly. Kamar warned us that even if it only starts misting we MUST bring the vans down right away.

I think we're all a bit nervous but also very excited to finally start building a house. The people we're building for are among the poorest and most desperate that Kamar has dealt with in Tijuana so we can feel good about helping people who really need it.

March 22 2009 - 14:55 (Amor camp)

Yep, we're back at camp before afternoon tea time. Kamar has pulled us out of the field after some pretty good dumps of rain made driving almost impossible in our community.

We finally got up to our family work site at around 09:00 this morning. After meeting the family (somewhat awkwardly) we took inventory of our work area and the tools and supplies that were there for us to use. We concluded that our site was pretty decent and there were enough tools to get a good start. Our supplies also looked to be in good order. It was immediately apparent that our family is very poor. The roof on their current house looks ready to collapse at any moment. The outhouse is very basic - just a hole in a sheet of plywood and used toilet paper on the floor. A simple blanket serves as the door. The family guard dog is in a full body chain and looks pretty mean but his partner looks pathetically thin and with a brood of brand new pups I don't know if she'll last the week! There are some cute little kids running around our site as well. They all appear to have head lice but their smiles make up for their disheveled condition!

We started leveling the site for the concrete pad and I quickly realized that my limited experience with pouring concrete sidewalks at Vanderveen's Greenhouses a life time ago was going to help immensely with this part of the project. The house we are assembling is built on a 22' long by 11' wide 3.5" deep concrete pad with an 8" footing around the entire pad to hold it in place. Instead of rebar we will use a fluffy white fiberglass substance to reinforce the mix (just a tiny pinch for each shovel of concrete mix). Everything on the work site is done by hand - no power tools allowed.

(The reasoning behind no power tools is that we are not only building a house for people, we are trying to build a house with people. Amor is not a house building organization but a hope building one. By building a house with simple tools, they are trying to offer hope and a realization to the Mexican people that they are capable of helping themselves too. By assisting us and by seeing how 'easy' it is to build a house they are getting a lesson in hope and possibilities.)

Of course we asked the family exactly where they wanted the pad positioned but most of the leveling on the site was supposed to be done already before we got there. We discovered that we had some work to do and set about getting the form level and square before moving dirt around. (Some other work sites required a LOT of leveling work which put them behind the 8 ball almost immediately.) The weather held while we started building the form. The going was slow but we managed to make our form square before the first rain drops started to fall.

In order to appreciate why we needed to move the vans off the hills at the first hint of moisture you need a mental picture of the area we are in.

We are building our houses on the sides of a steep dirt hill. There are dogs walking around everywhere. The roads are dusty (or muddy) and very deeply rutted. Sewage and waste water from the houses runs into the streets and down the hill, making the ruts bigger and the walking tricky. The surrounding houses are all shanty structures. Most don't have a complete roof and very few have secure doors. You can smell burning and decaying garbage everywhere. We drove past at least 3 dead dogs laying in the road or the ditches on the way to our work site from camp this morning.

When it rains, the muddy clay combined with sewage, garbage and huge ruts combines for an impossible driving scenario in any vehicle, much less a 15 passenger van!

Since Kamar had warned us to move the vans as soon as it started to rain we weren't surprised to see her beckoning us urgently down the hill. I jumped into our van and proceeded to slip and slide down the road, almost going over a steep embankment on the way! The road surface was like warm butter, the back end of the van didn't want to stay straight and kept sliding into the deep 1 foot ruts in the road. I could smell burning rubber as I forced the van somehow up a rutted roadway and back to the church.

By some miracle we all managed to get the vans to the church meeting spot. I trudged back to the work site from the van in a pouring rain storm and strong north wind to try to complete the form and leveling work - we knew that pouring concrete was out of the question while the storm continued. Half the group ate lunch in the vans while the other half worked in the rain and mud. Then we tried to switch off. The rain soon stopped but it was too late for the roads! We worked a bit longer with assistance from "Angel" and his brothers (I think he's married to one of the girls from our site). Angel knows construction and is fluent in English. He was born in the USA. He comes across as a bit 'slick' but he helped us out quite a bit.

When the form was complete we leveled the pad and it was time to start thinking about mixing and pouring the concrete. Of course it had to start raining again! Kamar was taking no more chances. She called for an immediate evacuation of the work area. She was really nervous because all the locals who had vehicles (not many) were bailing them off the hill and completely out of the area! She figured if the locals were bailing it was high time for us to get out while we still could. We were running the risk of being stuck in the community over night and that was not a good proposition. During the day the area is relatively safe but at night it's a different story. It was extremely disappointing to leave early on our first day but we simply can't afford to compromise the safety of our teams. The junior high team started pouring concrete (we're supposed to be done pouring concrete today!) but no other team even started the concrete work.

As I finish writing this at 16:07 the sky is cleared off and the sun is shining brightly! I'm sitting in a van to get away from the cool breeze, looking at a lively game of football across the field. Niko and Mattias are playing soccer and KC and Abbi are in the van with me playing quietly. Everyone else is scattered around camp reading books or talking. We are behind schedule now because even if we pour our concrete tomorrow we can't build walls on the pad till Tuesday. Good thing we can try to pre-fab the walls and roof while another crew does the concrete. If we have to come back to LA a day later than planned we'll survive! Hann is gone to the market with Kamar and some other group leaders.

(The funny story behind the market is that when Hann and Lisette said 'market' they were thinking an outdoor vendor market. Kamar thought they mean 'super market' and brought them to a super market like Wal-Mart! At least they got some bulk vanilla extract on the cheap... ;-))

March 22 2009 - 21:16 (Amor campfire)

I'm getting about ready to turn in. We had a site leader meeting to organize our teams for tomorrow. We're trying to maximize efficiency so we can get done building our houses on time. The basic plan is to involve all the kids in the process by employing a child labor / factory mentality! :-) It's kind of cool how on these trips you end up doing things you never thought possible in your life time. I'm a leader on a house build! No one who knows me well would believe that I would ever be able to pull this off. Even I'm not always convinced. I know Hanneke was surprised by the fact that I knew the concrete / form stuff so maybe I'll just continue to surprise. ;-)

We just had a great campfire discussion led by Gary. He facilitated discussion with the kids about why God allows the bad stuff they saw today to happen. Gary pointed out that this was not part of God's perfect plan for us but that our choosing of sin separates us from Him and each other. Lisette told us about a mother on one of the sites being embarrassed by her child's lice and trying to hide that fact from her.

After the discussion some of us began a small discussion with Kamar about Mexico and the things we noticed on our first day in the community. Apparently there's thousands and thousands of people living like this in Mexico and our work area is among the poorest Kamar has seen. Most families can not afford enough food, especially healthy food, so they end up buying snacks from little local stores all the time (they obviously can't drive anywhere to pick up groceries). By purchasing each of our families a water filtration system we are saving them enough money to send another (or 1 of their) child to school for a year - what a change in their lives! Kamar says that even if we came back in 10 years to visit the families would remember us and welcome us as family because of what we're doing for them.

I am asking myself questions like, "Why aren't I doing more? What gives me the right to have such an easy time living my life back in Calgary every day? Why don't I do more meaningful work?" Good questions I figure. Good night too.

March 23 2009 - 07:01 (Amor camp - breakfast)

I just finished breakfast and we're getting ready to head out for the day. This time the sky is clear. It was cold last night - at least down to 2 degrees or so! Nothing too exciting happened last night unless you consider gunfire at around 02:00 exciting! Hanneke and I live in the northeast in Calgary and both raised our heads off the pillow at the distinct crack of a gunshot last night, knowing full well what it sounds like! All the dogs within 10 miles started barking and we nervously tensed for more shots but they never came. We were OK with one shot but any more and we were going to have to start getting a bit more concerned. It was loud enough to be fairly local to our camp but was probably just some guy shooting his dog, or maybe his neighbors dog! Hopefully not his neighbor. ;-)

The sun is finally getting warm on my face. A van is playing Mexican music in the background and people are milling around getting ready for the work day. We had a brief moment of doubt when Hanneke almost fainted by the campfire! She claims it was getting up early (05:15) and smoke from the fire and I tend to believe her. She really hates getting out of bed early!

Today we are convoying with two other groups so I'm not sure we'll be away as early as we'd like but it's all good. I'll check in a bit later.

March 23 2009 - 17:25 (Tijuana - waiting for the last group before heading to camp)

We are waiting for the last van to get to the church before heading home after a very busy day on the work sites. We managed to get our concrete slab poured by around noon with a really good assembly line system that Steve Dewitt and Gary outlined for us last night at camp. Everyone on our team worked their tails off today and I'm really proud of each and every one of them!

The way we worked the concrete was as follows;

One person would shovel 3 scoops of sand into a 5 gallon pail. Another person would shovel another 2 scoops of gravel into the pail (the sand and gravel were mixed into one lopsided pile so it was a bit of a guessing game to get that mix correct). The pails were then carried up the hill where another person put 1 scoop of concrete in the mix. Then another worker would put a pinch of the 'rebar fluff' and the mix was ready to be carried to one of the four concrete mixing stations we had going. Every time a concrete station was emptied the mixer would call for "more mix please!". First the dry mix would be thoroughly raked and shoveled into one consistent substance, then the mixer would call for "water please Britney!" and she would come with a 5 gallon pail of water and pour some of it into the mix. The mixer would then mix the concrete, calling for more water as he or she needed it. The mixing was hard and hot work. Once the mix was "like oatmeal" it was ready to pour into the form. I was the guy who would first screed the concrete with a flat shovel and then with the help of someone else I would screed it with a long 2x4 across the form to level it out nicely.

Since everyone had a function and everyone only had to do one thing the concrete work went quickly and consistently. The father of our house worked as a mixer all morning. He never took a break, not even for a drink of water!

March 23 2009 - 21:32 (Amor campfire)

I'm sitting by a cozy fire after some real dramatics. We finally got back to camp after following two huge city buses into camp (from another group). Shortly after arriving back at camp one of the girls that had been working at our site collapsed near the fire pits, out cold! People ran for help while others scrambled to get as many blankets as possible. There were some very scary moments as the people attending her couldn't find a pulse. Apparently she's been sick the whole trip already and today she worked hard on our concrete pad. After the concrete work she was beat so she sat in the sun and forgot to drink water all afternoon, setting herself up for heat stroke. Someone from the camp helped get her stabilized and after about 10 minutes she woke up.

A team of Lisette and two of her close friends hopped in a van and took off for San Diego behind an Amor staff person to get her checked out at a hospital. They will stay in San Diego tonight and will hopefully be back tomorrow morning. Hopefully the girl is OK. Pretty scary moment for sure.

Tonight's supper was pretty good again, we had fettuccine lasagna. I had two helpings because apparently concrete work makes me hungry! Niko discovered a friend, Luke in camp and ended up playing soccer with him all afternoon and even eating supper with him at another camp fire some where in the Amor compound. Mattias had some stomach problems and by around noon it was obvious that he should go back to the Amor camp. Our kids went with him and enjoyed a nice afternoon playing around the camp. The Amor compound is much fuller than this morning with tents popping up all over the place. Some groups come in their own buses and bring their own massive cook tents and cooking gear. We are going through an organization called "Camping Pros" out of San Diego who set up all our tents and supplies us with all our food and cooking needs. This cost us a bit extra but there's no way we could have brought all the necessary gear from Calgary for cheaper than we're paying Camping Pros.

We started building our walls this afternoon, once the concrete pad was poured. We only have a couple more walls to put together tomorrow. We may be caught up to where we should be by tomorrow afternoon. Since stuccoing is next and it needs a night to dry the first coat, this would be just in time.

As we started building our walls the father on our site came out with a power saw (he saw us trying to cut 2x4's by hand and apparently thought we'd never get done!). He turned the saw on to show us how to use it and nearly sliced his left ear clean off his head! The blade was in backwards!! When he got that 'little' problem fixed the saw still didn't work very good. We were not about to use it and he soon gave up and helped us do the cutting work by hand.

Today we noticed that the local kids, especially one named "Alberto" had to be watched around the vans. Alberto has very quick hands and even a quicker mouth. Any moment the vans were unlocked he would be in them looking to steal or 'borrow' stuff. He constantly begged for money too. At first we felt sorry for him but then we realized he was a bit of a hustler. Only 12 years old but he is shaping up to no good. The other kids seem scared of him but they are much more likable and polite. Towards the end of the day Alberto seemed to sense he wasn't wanted around. He became more threatening. Once, when I told him, "no" he picked up a hammer and snarled at me. He swore at Lisette when she kicked him out of a van and that wore out his welcome. We are going to try to ignore him from now on. Some of the local parents talked to our guys who know Spanish (Alex and Zach) and told them that Alberto is known as a bad apple and we should avoid him.

After supper I had a very funny conversation with Steve, Jerry and Brad about the Mexican way of life. Some things around here are just so bizarre you can hardly believe them! Some examples? We know the way to our work sites because we have to "turn right at the dead dog"! I saw a mini van with the side door open today, and a full size fridge jammed only half in the open side - the other half swung out over the highway! Yesterday when we were driving back to camp we saw some guy just crashed on the road, totally awake but just sitting there in the mud without a care for the traffic whizzing past him. His one leg was all bent in a funny position but he had a smile on his face and a friendly wave for our vans. "Da nada". "It's nothing". That's the Mexican lifestyle and I love it.

March 24 2009 - 07:23 (Amor camp)

We've signed a waiver which allows us to drive to and from our work site without an Amor escort. This avoids having to wait for other mission groups at the end of the day and traveling in such a huge (and slow) convoy. It adds some risk too but we know that we have to "turn right at the dead dog" so how bad can it be? :-)

Yesterday before we left the community we noticed how the mood changes around 17:00 when the workers start coming home from the factories. During the day there are lots of smiles and waves and "Ola"s. At around 5pm when dusk is starting to settle in the atmosphere changes. At first it's subtle and then it's more obvious if you're looking for it. All of a sudden not everyone has an easy smile for the white vans anymore.

We're off to another work day. Hann and the kids are waiting in camp for the van that took Britney to the hospital in San Diego last night. This suited Hanneke just fine because she got to sleep in a bit and is looking forward to washing her hair! We didn't hear gun shots last night but those roosters are sure getting annoying.

March 24 2009 - 19:37 (Amor campfire)

Today was a very productive day! We got a lot of the building done under a clear blue sky and hot Mexico sun. We finished building our last two walls and stood them up on the concrete pad. It felt amazing to see the walls standing. The family was smiling ear-to-ear when the saw that we actually knew how to follow simple instructions - I know for a fact that they had their doubts about us some times! The father of the family is a proud man and he knows his construction. I could tell that some times it drove him nuts to see us bumbling around. The problem was that we were building and placing walls and that required a lot of instant communication so getting the father's help was a bit harder today. We did find ways to involve him, he helped with cutting boards, raising the roof and the walls.

It was definitely one of the coolest moments of my life when I stood in the house and looked out the opening for the window. It was a great moment. I don't feel like that often in my career so I will treasure it. It is true that in those moments you realize that not only are we helping people in a bad situation but we are also in a bad situation with our rich and often pointless North American life styles and are being helped just as much as the Mexican families through this work.

March 24 2009 - 21:55 (Amor camp - in bed)

I've moved to bed now, it's very chilly again and I'm pretty tired after today. I'd say about 2/3rds of the kids are in bed already but I can hear the chatter of the camp still going strong all around our area.

Today I wandered away from our work site for a couple of hours to visit the other sites and take some photos and video of them hard at work. The local kids loved it when I took their pictures and then showed them the results on my camera. Video clips were even a bigger hit! I always asked permission first and would show the results afterward for confirmation. I don't want to abuse the privilege of working and living in their community. They have a right to their dignity. I was never turned down for a photo. One really odd thing that I noticed while snapping photos were the dog's behavior. Every time I would try to get a good picture of a dog, it would look at me and then slither off like it was ashamed or something. Very, very strange. This happened at least 3 or 4 times.

It's time for bed, we have a lot of work to do tomorrow yet. We have to finish the roof, finish sheeting and wiring the walls and get our first coat of stucco done. There is probably no way that we'll get the second coat of stucco on tomorrow which means a longer day on Thursday than we originally planned. Good night.

March 25 2009 - 07:27 (Amor camp - breakfast)

We're ready to leave for another work day. The sun is shining and is already getting warm on my neck. We have a lot to do today but hopefully we are ready for the challenge. I had a good night's sleep last night, every night is a bit better as I get used to sleeping on the ground again.

March 25 2009 - 17:04 (Tijuana - waiting for the last group again!)

We are waiting for the last group after a very long and hard work day. Today around noon we realized that we were going to have to go hard on things to get done our first coat of stucco today. Somehow, after doing the roof and getting the wire frame tightened and tar papered we seemed to be behind of where we should have been. By the time we realized that we should be further along it was almost too late! After a lively game of soccer under a hot sun we all seemed energized and attacked the stucco work. Our house finished the first coat in 1 hour and 40 minutes and then we went over to some of the other work sites and helped them out.

(In case you're wondering why we're always done work around 17:00 (5pm) it's because the sun starts setting already before this and by 18:00 it's pretty much dark.)

March 25 2009 - 20:03 (Amor campfire)

Carlos, our cook, did it again! He's been feeding us excellent breakfast, lunch and supper. Our suppers have been tacos, hamburgers and lasagna. My favorite so far was the fettuccine lasagna. We prepare our own lunch before breakfast at around 05:30. Lunch is meat and cheese sandwiches or peanut butter and jam, with granola bars, fruit and a small bag of chips.

Breakfast is always served promptly at 06:00 and alternates between bacon and eggs with hash browns and pancakes and french toast with sausages. I prefer the bacon and eggs.

As I was writing earlier, once we realized that we may not even make our first coat of stucco today we really turned up the heat on the work site - not that we needed more heat today! The chicken wire went on quickly and then we tightened it and took out the extra 'bubbles'. Then it was time to stucco! We were always told that concrete day is the toughest, but for us the stucco was just as much work because we moved so quickly on it. We ended up being done around 16:00 which allowed us time to help the other groups get done their first coats. A small (!) miracle later and all the houses were done their first coats by the 17:30 deadline. We really didn't expect to get done this much today but the Friends Church also helped us out. Kamar brought them over when it became obvious that we needed it.

Our dead dog "route marker" is more like a smudge now so we've had to resort to more permanent landmarks to remember our route. I like the fact that I'm starting to know some of the kids a bit better. On my team, I'm really impressed with all the kids. I've been working a lot with Even, Travis, Kevin, Mo and Alex. They're all hard working kids and they make me laugh with all their teenage antics. They have a great way of looking at life too. Cindy, Paige, Britney, Caitlyn and Charissa are working hard. Britney is a hit with the local boys because she pays attention to them, which is very cool. They're always trying to pose with her.

Tonight I heard a very sad story. One of the sites has a very poor family, even considering all the other poor families around, they are extra bad off. They have a young man in a wheel chair from a gun shot wound and a 14 year old girl with a child. They noticed that the girl was wearing a lot of clothes considering how warm it was outside and never thought much about it. They were shocked when they came to the work site today and the girl was making gestures that implied her new baby had died last night! As it turns out, she was actually making a comment about another baby of hers. She'd had an abortion earlier in the week. What a sad story! She simply could not afford another child.

I'm getting tired. Time for bed!

March 26 2009 - 06:55 (Amor camp - breakfast)

Once again Carlos is a champ! We are packing up before heading out for our last work day. The goal is to be done by noon and then to hand out keys to our families. It should be a fun day but bittersweet. The best part of our trip is almost over already. After the key ceremonies we have to drive all the way back to LA, through the craziness of Tijuana and down the freeway in rush hour traffic. It's difficult for me to think that in 10 or 12 hours I'll be immersed back into the crazy rat race that is the "developed" world.

I honestly can't say that I'm stoked about going back but thankfully we are going to miss the fancy dinner tonight so I don't have to dress up at least! I'm not sure I'm ready for any of those extravagances just yet. It just doesn't seem worth it right now.

March 26 2009 - 12:55 (Tijuana - Taco Market)

I am sitting on a warm curb in the heat of a high noon sun enjoying a cold cola and watching everyone munch contentedly on their fresh tacos! We've all finished the second coat of stucco and are waiting for some of the family's kids to come home from school (at 13:00) so we can include the entire family in the key ceremonies. It feels strange to be sitting on a curb in 28 degrees in a large parking lot. Niko and Mattias are having a burping contest behind me thanks to their colas!

There are two boys on bikes whipping around the mostly empty parking lot. They seem to find us very amusing - it helps that Zach is yelling stuff in Spanish to them! We are in some sort of brand new plaza. It's been set up to try to improve the area but so far there are only 2 or 3 businesses occupying the building. One of them is a grocery store that sells some pretty good looking food including fresh vegetables and chocolate bars. We were craving chocolate so I bought some M+M's.

March 26 2009 - 17:02 (USA Border - waiting in line)

We are stuck in a pretty big line at the USA border, waiting a bit nervously to cross back into the United States.

Only 3 of the 6 vans are here. The 3 of us managed, by no small miracle, to keep close to Kamar as she led us through the craziness that is Tijuana traffic but unfortunately the other 3 vans simply could not keep with the group. Kamar has actually turned around and is presently driving the streets of Tijuana looking for the lost vans!

On hindsight the route back to the border is pretty straight forward, but I know that if I had let Steve get too far ahead of me I would have been lost so fast my head would have been spinning. I'm sure they'll be OK but it's a nervous situation. We all just want to get to San Clemente to have a nice shower and some sleep. The only way I didn't join the lost vans was by running a number of very solid red lights and careening around a very fresh accident between a city bus and a semi! I'm pretty sure the other group stopped for that accident.

Today's work went good. As the afternoon crept by Kamar was getting more and more tense. By around 14:30 she was coaxing us along. We had to be out of the community by 15:00 at the latest, in order to give us time to pack up the vans and get across the border before dark.

As Lisette and I were driving around, taking pictures of the teams with their finished houses and the proud new owners we encountered a woman that Lisette had seen before. She was trying to sell us her prized watch. She didn't have enough money to feed her baby and was desperate for cash. I gave her my last 17 US dollars and never felt worse for not having more to give. If I'd had $100 I would have given it all to her, no question. This incident really tugged my heartstrings. What can you do when someone literally can not feed their own small child? It breaks your heart. And this is one of millions that we can help.

We left the last house, ours, at exactly one minute after 3 o'clock. It was a very emotional few minutes for me and just about everyone who worked on our house. We gave our gifts to the family and when she saw them the mother at our site had tears streaming down her face. Soon we were all trying to hide our emotions behind sunglasses and bowed heads. It was impossible for me not to tear up when the father refused to shake my hand and hugged me instead! He's a proud man, and he doesn't hug very many people. For me to earn enough respect from him to get a hug meant an awful lot.

When we got back to the Amor camp it was a mad scramble to get all the luggage back in vans. Then we had to get the right passports and parental consent forms with the right people in the right vehicles. Believe it or not, we managed to get all of this done in just 38 minutes! By 16:08 we were driving out of the Amor camp for the final time. I felt sad as we drove out. I could have stayed much longer and so could Hanneke and the kids.

March 26 2009 - 17:35 (USA Border - still waiting in line)

We're still waiting in line. Our line seems to be moving a bit slower than the other lines (typical! :-)) but we'll get through eventually. We can see border guards from the United States checking under waiting vehicles with mirrors and peering into them even before they get to the crossing. Quite a bit different than the Mexico side where they're sitting around with machine guns, chatting in the late day sun, smoking a cigar!

We are anxious for the other 3 vans but we can't reach them anymore on the cell phones. There is no reception this close to the border. Hopefully they are still together and trusting God to bail them out!

There are street vendors everywhere here. Some people in the van are having a very hard time ignoring them, especially the little girls who are banging on the van doors and juggling 4 balls at a time in a desperate bid to get our cash before we're gone into the land-of-plenty only 150 meters away. It feels mean, but we can't even look at them or they will literally hang onto the door. There is simply too many people to help - we can't even start without causing a stampede. There are old men with no legs in wheelchairs and one guy is hopping around with a nasty looking leg hanging out of the one side of his pants. The truth is that I literally have NO money left - I gave the last 17 dollars I had to that woman who needed it to feed her baby this afternoon. Hanneke and I even spotted a couple of rats crossing the road! It's strange to be sitting here in Mexico and yet we are so close to a completely different country just up the road where all these desperate people can't get to. It's sad - really sad and depressing.

March 27 2009 - 00:03 (San Clemente Inn - bed)

I'm laying in bed at a very lovely hotel in the very lovely city of San Clemente, California! We finally made it after yet another miracle. The 3 vans that were lost in Tijuana for over an hour finally made it through the border. It turns out that the vans got lost after an accident (probably that bus / semi incident that I went right through) closed off an intersection and they were forced to turn away from our route. Once off the route and away from Kamar they were hopelessly lost.

As they bumbled around downtown Tijuana they prayed for help. Colin even phoned a friend back in Canada and tried to locate the route via Google Maps and his phone! Unbelievably they soon ran into 3 English speaking missionaries! The missionaries told them where to find the border and the rest is history. Isn't life with God an amazing trip some times? Crazy. Of course they also had the good pleasure of making secondary search at the border, but the guards were nice and friendly and nothing bad happened.

We made it through the border, no issues, with our 3 vans. We decided to pull immediately into a McDonalds about 8 feet over the border (how appropriate eh?) to wait for the other 3 vans. Gary and I kept a watchful eye on the border as we knew there was almost no chance the vans would get our phone calls or texts in time to turn into our location after crossing the border. We figured they would wait for each other before bombing up towards San Clemente and we would follow them there. We actually managed to get a couple of vans to make the turn off into McDonalds, while Randy's van flew on up the freeway! Soon we were following him.

On arrival at the San Clemente Inn we were met (joyfully) by Peter and Leah Pas, Lisette's parents. They were worried when we didn't show up on time and were very relieved when we called them after getting into the USA. They had already gone to CostCo and bought enough food for the whole group! They are serving brunch in their apartment in about 8.5 hours. Hanneke was over joyed to hear this because she thought she'd have to go shopping yet tonight for food.

We showered our kids and got them into bed. Now I'm ready to sleep!

March 27 2009 - 10:58 (San Clemente state park beach)

I'm sitting here on a rock, in warm sunshine. KC and I walked about 25 minutes from our hotel earlier this morning. KC is chattering away and the Pacific Ocean is adding it's dull roar to the background. Sea gulls are crying out and every once in a while someone walks slowly past our little haven. No one seems to be in a hurry here, which makes a lot of sense. On a wonderful day like today why would you want to hurry?

This is one of the most relaxing moments in my life over the past 5 years. We are so far away from the stress of the border crossings and poverty of Mexico, it's hard to express. It's hard for me to process how close we are to such poverty and yet here I am, enjoying luxury and peace in one of the richest areas of one of the richest countries on Earth. I keep seeing the smiling face of the mother on our site as we stumbled and bumbled our way through giving her and her family the greatest gift they will ever receive this side of Heaven. I'm not sure how I balance that poverty and hardship with my own physical and financial freedom. I suspect that this question doesn't have an easy answer for me and I will continue to struggle with it for a long time.

KC and I just spotted a pod of Dolphins swimming past our beach area. Even they weren't in a big hurry!

This is such a peaceful moment, I never want to leave it. KC and I decided that life is a lot like the meeting of the Pacific and the North American continent. Loud most of the time, with the briefest pauses of absolute silence. I think that's what's so attractive about the waves, they drown out extraneous noise - temporarily at least.

Speaking of 'noise' and 'life', my back is killing me today. I think all the stuccoing above my head the past two days combined with carrying a bag of concrete mix uphill from one site to another yesterday did my back a whole lot of nastiness. If this is my payment for helping someone out then I'll take it, no problem. I may not be doing many rough rides at Disneyland tomorrow...

As I gaze out at the vastness of the ocean and meditate on the immensity of our world, I'm amazed by the power of our Creator. Hanneke and I were commenting yesterday how amazing it was to drive through the huge American cities with their impressive infrastructure and millions of people, and then ponder the countless tens of thousands of people living in their huts in Mexico and millions more in worse shape around the world. To know that God knows each and every one of these countless people, from the rich OC resident to the 14 year old getting an abortion in Mexico blows my mind. How could Jesus possibly die for every single one of us?! And yet he did. All we have to do to be covered and protected for all eternity by this great God is to acknowledge Him as the Lord of our life and we're done. Amazing Grace. Truly.

March 29 2009 - 00:15 (San Clemente Inn - bed)

Yep! Missed a whole day in the journal today! Disneyland was that busy. March 28th was a very full and long day. There are lots of good memories for the kids and us. Hanneke and KC had a few wild rides. Niko and KC were absolutely terrified on the Pirates of the Caribbean and the Indiana Jones rides. It's so funny how they never once had issues of being scared in Mexico but now, at an amusement park in California they are terrified! :-) At least their priorities are straight I guess!

I enjoyed Disney but have no cravings to go back soon. It was a real pleasure to watch how much fun the kids had though. Niko loved driving his car in the dark and KC loved her wild roller coaster rides. A fun, fun day. We have to get up early tomorrow for church so I'm turning in now.

March 29 2009 - 11:20 (Saddleback Church campus)

I'm watching a volleyball game, Canadian vs. Americans. It was a draw with the USA winning game 1 and the Canadians winning game 2. Amazing church experience with the kids but we have to leave now so I'll write more when we get back to the inn.

March 29 2009 - 14:38 (San Clemente Inn - poolside)

I'm watching these crazy kids, swimming in 18 degree / cloudy weather! It's cold out here. I spent the last 1.5 hours cleaning out my van at a local car wash. Wow. I've never spent so much time cleaning anything but it's done now so I can relax for an hour before we all go for dinner at a local Italian restaurant.

Most of the crew is shopping in the Leguna Hills shopping mall or scoping out Leguna Beach. It's not a very warm day but the kids don't seem to mind. We decided the younger kids would rather play by the pool then walk through a shopping mall and we were right.

It was a very interesting service this morning. We attended church at the "Refinery", a brand new church on the Saddleback campus. It was quite an experience to have parking attendants guide us into the right parking spot. It was quite another to realize that there are 4 different services at 3 or 4 different buildings over Saturday and Sunday! Because we were with high school kids it made sense for us to attend the senior high service in the Refinery. There's a junior and senior high auditorium in the Refinery. It would have been cool to attend the main service too but the service we attended was interesting.

The Refinery is a brand new building that's been designed and built to resemble an old factory, complete with the exposed piping and rusty trimming. It's 2 stories high, the second story is for teens only, visitors and parents are not allowed up there under any circumstances.

The senior high service was led by Doug Fields, a very well known pastor at Saddleback. The worship team was all teens and was amazing - LOUD, but amazing! The service was different than what I'm used to - but have you been around teens lately?! On top of the regular teen 'issues', the teens of the OC area come from some of the wealthiest families on the planet. There was live audience participation games with chocolate bars as rewards. Live in-service cell phone text voting with real time results displayed! There were even some Canadian jokes since we were pretty obvious walking in with almost 80 people, late to top it all off!

The message was part of a series called "Refuel" that is going on at Saddleback and was about the need to stop and let God be heard in our lives. Many of the kids at Saddleback have parents who teach and encourage them to "succeed". They must work harder, study more, play more and generally "do more" with their lives because of their privilege. We were told that just as Elijah heard God in a still, small wind and just as Jesus went to the quiet of the wilderness to pray, we should also have quiet moments to pray an let God speak in our lives. Many of the kids at Saddleback have parents who teach them that to 'succeed' they must work harder and 'do more' with their lives. The kids were told that just as Elijah heard God in a still, small wind and Jesus prayed in the quiet of the wilderness, they should have quiet moments to pray and let God be heard in their lives.

(Ironically one of the best ways to silence the noise is to shut off the cell phones but then, of course, there were live cell phone polls given during the service... ;-))

After the service there was some coffee and ice cream outside on the front lawn, followed by a very lively game of Canadians vs. Americans in beach volleyball.

Upon reflection the group leaders recognized that although the service was certainly different than what we were used to, something different does need to be done to connect with today's youth. You have to speak their language or you just won't be heard or understood. Connecting in this manner might not be easy or always pleasant for us but when kids are dealing with puberty, divorce, abandonment etc, you either find a way to connect or risk losing a whole generation to Satan and his way of life.

Tonight we go for a nice supper before coming back to the hotel. I'm hoping to get some sunset beach time but if that doesn't happen I'll try to get up early for sunrise.

March 29 2009 - 23:31 (In bed)

Finally getting to bed after a pretty intense evening around the Inn! We went to a very quaint Italian restaurant in the area for some of the best pasta I've ever had. Then we went back to the Inn for a group chat. The chat was all about what the group accomplished on the trip and who we represented --> God. Lisette spoke about how we all have to make a decision one way or the other about God and how even not making a decision, is still a decision.

After reflecting on some things that impacted us the most we had five minutes of complete silence to reflect on things. Lots of Kleenex were passed out during this time. For the next few hours the group leaders were available for the kids to talk to about anything still on their minds.

I had some amazing discussions with teens that seemed to get more about what it's 'all about' then I did at 30 years old! I really think that the trip changed some young lives - more then they probably even realize themselves at this point. There are a staggering number of hurting and broken teens out there and it's through missions like this that they learn how much they can contribute. By leading them we can also learn the same thing - praise God! Hanneke is off dealing with some late night drama with some teenage girls. I'm going to sleep.

March 30 2009 - 19:53 (Edmonton, Alberta)

Surprisingly the day has really flown by! It feels like we just left LAX and now we are 15 minutes from boarding our last flight to Calgary. Everyone slept on the flight from LA to Edmonton which made that flight go by much quicker. We all made it through the 3 lines of customs and baggage checks which is not bad for a group of 27 teens coming in from Tijuana and LA after spring break!

It's going to feel good to get home but coming back to the daily grind is also going to be a wee bit of a wake up. Funny how the wake up we got in Mexico is opposite of the one we'll get here. Time to board the plane. Over and out.

October 22 2009 - 15:55 (At home in Calgary, 6 months later)

As I finally finish typing this journal I find us planning another trip to Mexico! Yes, we're going on another trip as leaders for another group of young adults from Bow Valley Christian Church.

We are planning to bring our kids again too.

I've also just taken 4 months off work to reflect on life and take a break from the hectic life of a computer consultant. I'm anticipating a new job starting tomorrow and to be honest, I'm looking forward to a pay cheque again!

So what do I think after 6 months of reflection and a nice long break from work?

Considering that at least 4 of the youth that came along have dedicated their lives to Christ through baptism since the trip, I do not understand how anyone can call a trip like this a waste of time or a glorified 'vacation' (things I've heard since coming back). There are many people, even in our home church of Bow Valley that are opposed to the group going again - especially so soon. We feel strongly, along with Lisette and Kyle, that these trips are not about us at all!

Let me try to explain our perspective with a true story that I heard from one of the leaders coming on the trip again in December;

There was a teenage boy on the first trip back in March who dropped out of sight after coming home. There were rumors about him dealing drugs and being involved with family violence and divorce etc. (Don't forget that a lot of the kids we take along are not from stable, Christian homes.) Two weeks ago he showed up on the councilor's doorstep. "I hear you're doing another mission trip to Mexico", he said. "I want to come along". The only good thing this kid has ever experienced in his life on a broken Earth was the one week he contributed his skills and his muscles to someone who needed his assistance more than his drugs.

Some times it takes special focus to break out of a bad habit or a bad situation. This boy can only do this when he's away from the pressures and distractions of the Babylon culture we live in and plunks himself down in the middle of a dirty, rotten, poor, dangerous, smelly Mexican suburb with a hammer and shovel and a big, easy smile. I completely understand. This is not a 'vacation' or a waste of money according to us. This is what real life is all about. Sure! We can do local mission work, and we should still do that too, but some times I believe that we just need to get away from all the noise and concentrate on His work instead of ours.

Another thought I have is that doing these trips is not easy. It takes a lot of emotional, physical and spiritual energy. I used to have this idea that once I did one or two mission trips they would become easy. I'm finding myself having all the same doubts and struggles on this second trip that I had on the first one! It costs a lot of money to go with a family of four, and it takes a lot of energy and time to fund raise even 1/4 of the amount we need. At the end of the day it's still a darn big commitment! And if you know anything about me - I don't do commitment that well. :-)

A final thought is that all the work is worth it! I absolutely feel that our family has been blessed since and through our global mission trips. Scripture is so true to the fact that once we dedicate our lives to Him and His cause, the things and problems of the world around us grow dimmer and dimmer and so much less important.

If only one kid comes back in January with a renewed heart for Jesus and His cause on Earth then any amount of money that it cost is worth it!! Never mind the fact that more Mexican Christians will have a warm and dry house to bring up their families and more money to send their kids to school so they can read and study their own Bibles! That's the bonus.

Praise God! And may He come quickly!

V.