Day2-Carly Donohue

Today was AMAZING!!! I could really feels God's presence while we were working on the house. There were soo many people who I was encouraged by it just made me want to work even harder. Like some of the people from the team were shoveling dirt and a couple of kids from the house that we were building came to help us shovel and it was just an encouraging moment for me. So far this trip and God are changing my life in so many ways that I wouldn't even expect. This such an eye opening experience for me and I can't wait to see what the Lord has for me for the rest of the week so then I can share this life changing experience with the people at my school, my neighborhood, and in life.

Just keep praying for me that God will show is Love and Beauty to me and that I will remember before I get up in the morning is to always think of Micah 6:8 which says "He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the Lord has required of you? Love justice, do kindness, and walk humbly with Him." Just keep praying that before I get each morning here and at home that this verse will come to my mind. THANK YOU SOO MUCH!!!!

Day 2, trampoline day- Jared Rohrer

Today was a blast!

A quick recount of the day, we got up at 7ish (bleh), then we all ate and got loaded into the vans and shipped off to our site where we proceeded to build not one but TWO houses during that day!! Praise God! During the building we all got a lot closer, some of us got to hang out with the kids and get to know them by playing with the little kids toys with them, and playing soccer with the older ones.

Me Zach and justin (Flavel that is) got together with about 7 of the kids in the neighborhood and played (more like got schooled in) soccer with them for about an hour and a half! Seeing the families faces and how grateful they were after we were all finished was so rewarding. Just knowing that we got to minister and show them Gods grace is what this is all about.

Afterwards we got back here and had some super taco ( the best thing ever...but better). And after that we got to get in depth with each other and learn about what we all learned throughout the day, we did this thing where we all said a word that described the day for us.

Here are the names of the people and the words they said.

Adrian Lozoya-fellowship

Breanne "the shadow" Williams- testing

Carly "Weapon X" Donohue- eye opening

Cheyenne Moscoso- Blessed

Courtney Maul- Worthwhile

Dylan "Mexico" Rohrer- Unique

Heidi Jourgenson- Different

Jacob Maul- Work

Jacob "squeaks" Phan- Draining

Jared "Scorpion" Rohrer- Witness

Jazzi "Poka-dot-dot" Lindsay- entertainment

John "asbestus" Miller- Fun

Juleah Kenny- Blessed

Lexi Wilson- Humbling

Mary Lindsay- Overwhelming

Morgan Jandreau- Thankful

Nina Majzoub- Blessed

Payton "Rocket" Thomas- Humbling

Rachelle Balella- Grounding

Tim "Doc" Moscoso- Fun

Zach "Rose" Schubert- Fun

Cliff Maul- Poverty

Jennifer Maul- Blessed

Ryan Maul- blessed

Justin Nunes- Grateful

Stephanie Nunes- Emotional

Justin "Yellow ninja" Flavel- Great

Linda Barngraff- Humbling

Maribel Lozoya- United

Scott Wilson- awe

Tony "bubbles" Tiemann- Fire

Today was eye opening for everyone and we can't wait to see what God has in store for the rest of the week.

This is Jared Rohrer, signing off.

Thank You-Rafael Lopez

Dear Friends and Parents, I want to thank you for having faith in the staff at Parkway Community Church for sending your kids with them, because I know that the media has portrayed the border town of Tijuana as a very violent place to be, due to the drug cartels. I thank God for putting in your hearts, the courage to send your kids here and for having faith in God that your kids will be safe here in the Spectrum Dorms. Our faith lies on Jesus Christ who is the rock.

may His face shine upon you all and may His blessings fill you to overflowing,

Spectrum Ministries.

To Him be the Glory!

Gracias

-Rafa.

Day 1 of Mexico Experience- John Miller

We met at the church at early o'clock, and I was immediately reassured in my decision to come on this trip. If not for anything else, I love these people.

The bus ride up was not very eventful. There was a lot of very loud singing, and dancing, and sleeping, and laughing. We listened to Crazy Love chapter 7 on the audiotape, which I thought was a nice method. I felt like we all opened up and shared what was significant in the chapter, and it's very reaffirming to know that I am not going through this journey alone. Many of my peers are struggling with similar things and we are all learning together.

Breakfast and lunch were standard for these trips--nothing terrible unordinary to report.

When we got to Mexico (this is my first time here), I got really excited to be here. I thanked God for this opportunity, and I hope that I continue to pray for His will constantly throughout the rest of the trip.

Dinner was a lot of fun. Some of the Spanglish was hilarious, like "six tacos and dos drinks." I had a taco with tongue.

We did some worship, and I felt like we gave the worship up to God. Then we discussed the journals we did today (about obsessions), and a lot of people seemed to open up, which was refreshing and comforting. Finally we got ready for bed.

I'm feeling overwhelmed with gratefulness with what God has given me and motivation to apply what I'm learning to my everyday life. I pray that He will change our hearts and actions.

Day 1 of Mexico Experience- Lexi Willson

At 5:30 this morning, our Mexico team departed to Tijuana, Mexico with heavy hearts ready to serve our God. There are a few memorable moments from this trip I would like to share with you all...

--At around 7:30 this morning one of our vans' tires blew up as we were driving on the freeway. Tony had to drop all of us that were in his van off at a nearby Starbucks so he could attend to the blown up tire. The tire was fixed, and within the next hour we were on the road.

--As we reached the border, two of our vans were stopped by border control. After we stopped, they proceeded to go to the back of the van, open the door and check things out. After that, they asked the driver of the car questions such as, what are you doing in Mexico and how many people are present in the car. After the questions were answered, we continued on with our journey Tijuana!

--This is my first year in Mexico, so I experienced my first taco at Super Taco. Some of the students thought it would be funny to play a "freshman" joke on me. Before I was going to pay, I was told that I could not pay in dollar bills and I was supposed to exchange my dollar bills for pesos when we were getting our insurance before we reached the border. Because this is my first time in Mexico, I did not know any better and believed them wholeheartedly. They had me going for maybe 5 minutes when suddenly they all started bursting out in laughter and I realized that I had just been tricked. Nevertheless, it was a very fun time and I felt very welcomed.

We thank you all for your prayers and support during the preparation of this trip! We just ask you to please to continue to pray for us throughout the week for our safety, to be as selfless as possible, and for us to having serving hearts, and to help spread the good Word of Jesus Christ!

First Blog Entry

Our Mexico Experience is April 5th-10th, 2010. The team will be blogging throughout the week we are there as well as posting pictures. We have a meeting tomorrow at Parkway. Please pray that God would put the team He wants together. Thanks for your prayers as we are getting closer to the trip.