What the kitchen looks like now

  

And what the kitchen used to look like...

  

A Childs Christmas in Mexico..... with apologies to Dylan Thomas

 

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all who are reading this BLOG.

We had a visit from Misty's Mom, Momma Mary was here for a couple of days and then they went to California and visited Knott's Berry Farm. I, your humble author stayed behind and got into my Christmas project. While they had a nice time together at the park and in Los Angeles I was changing up the kitchen. The kitchen had a bunch of LARGE lunch coolers stacked in a corner and I got them moved into a dark closet that had a bunch of shelving I didn't really like. The closet was 5 feet high and not lighted and it was hard to find or store things inside there. Where the coolers were are now some new steel shelves that we bought at the local Costco; now we have plenty of space for the things we get and they are accessable. I also took down a couple of hanging spice rack/ utensil holders, replaced a fan we keep in the window and sorted through all the neat stuff that was hidden inside the small dark storage closet. I found a new blender, 2 crock pots, a Cuisinart Food Processor, 2 small bug traps and enough mustard and mayo packets to last till the final installment of the Chronicles of Narnia film series.

While I was waiting for the family to return home I also went Christmas shopping for a present for Misty, and I went grocery shopping for the Christmas dinner we had today. When everybody arrived at lunchtime we had a hotdog and cheese pizza for the kids at the store I mention all the time and then went inside that madhouse to get some ice cream for the Christmas dinner. It was a beautiful shopping experience, Full on wall to wall people and also right before we went in Emily crapped her pants and we didn't have the diaper bag with us so we went through and I took the kids to the car while Misty paid. I loaded the kids in the car and helped a lady in the car next to me put a case of soda away for her it was too heavy and she may have been pregnant. I went down the road to Pedro Loyola Blvd and got some tacos at a taco stand for dinner, and eventually the kids went to bed and we put the presents out undr the tree. I slept some but woke up early and Joey was up at 4 and he saw all the presents and got really excited about how Santa Claus had come to our house then he ran into the bedroom and woke up Misty and Emily and we were all up at 4 opening our presents and by 5 the Superman returns DVD was playing and Misty was back in bed and I was snoozing in the chair while Joey and Emily played with the baby stroller and Spiderman and Coast Guard Rescue Helicopter. I LOVE CHRISTMAS

Since everybody is gone we didn't have a Christmas service and we as a family didn't really know where to go to a Christmas eve service we just spent time to together but it was actually really nice not having to race all over town to make stops everywhere to visit for too short a time and run off to the next place before finally making it to Christmas dinner at usually Misty's parents house. I cooked some Carne Asada and beans and rice for Christmas dinner for those of us around the base. I didn't event hear Christmas Carolers, here in Ensenada they do something really cool though for Christmas eve and it is still going on as I type. People set off really powerful fireworks, I feel like I am in a warzone. Thats ok though cause I am going to buy some fireworks myself and I am going to organize a bonfire at the beach as we burn at least 3 Christmas trees in a couple of days or on New Years eve and blow off some explosives, it should be fun. I hope I dont get arrested. I will keep all those who are interested informed..... 

Saturday Dec 16th at a building site

 

Saturday we all went to a building site to check out the special design of the houses built last week, we dont have any pictures of the actual house because we got there very early at the build project. But Misty and Emily sat with the Mama and her daughters and played with dolls and visited as they watched the house getting put together. The house was on a road that was on a hill and the other kids in the neighborhood were riding their kiddie kars down the hill. Joey got in on the fun by chasing them and running alongside. I got a lot of action shots. I had a good time being there watching the progress of the building, we had a lot of visitors there from the base, and the Tijuana base, and San Diego; all were there to see the new experimental design. I think the major difference is that the houses we currently build are made of press board, sheet rock, type of material and this one has 3 inch thick vinyl siding with foam insulation inside that was in 18 inch wide pieces that were silicon glued and then screwed together, the house also has an indoor bathroom with a shower for the family. I don't know if this is the type of house that will be built here by YWAM and the teams, but I guess it is the wave of the future.

But what I really want to say is how much of a joy it was to be there and see the kids having fun and seeing the family as they had their house built. 

Friday's Christmas Program

 

On Friday the 15th Misty and I went to the school where we have Joey and Emily enrolled and there was a Christmas program by Joey's class. We met some people and watched the kids in action, had a snack (chicken and refried beans and a slice of french bread) and there was a hot fruit punch as well. The kids sang songs, played pinata and even had a visit from Santa Claus. At the beginning we had to go back outside of the gate and sing a song, we were told it was a Mexico tradition, it is called "La Posada" and it commemorates when Joseph and Mary were trying to find a place to stay in Bethleham. Misty and I had a good time and it actually was very exciting to be meeting other parents and seeing the other kids that are in Joey's class. One of the things we were hoping to happen when we came here was to build actual relationships in the community. 

Joey at the Building Site

 

Ok so this picture is a few weeks old but we wanted to use it for a visual.

We had the city council of Ensenada over yesterday to visit us and we had a lunch for them. The menu was Penne pasta with Alfredo sauce with some chicken on top and along with it was some Caesar salad, sliced Baguettes, and a Caprese Salad but we used some rolled up cheese and salami loaves that were bought at Costco instead of Mozzerella...something a bit different we wanted to try. Misty loves salami, and hasn't had it for awhile so it was a nice treat.

The meeting was for our base leaders and the Chief Operating Officer and the City council of Ensenada. One of the City councilmen got up and told a personal story of someone who had recieved a house five years ago and it had turned the life around for the family, and it was HIS family that got the house five years ago. We were all really excited to hear that, Misty and I had big tears in our eyes as Kody was sharing with us the news. The circle continues, this man was given the gift of a home and the love of Christ and he and his family turned around and gave the gift of God's love by becomming a servant for his community!

There is another family who serves as a full time staffer with her husband and her family has a house from "Homes of Hope" also. Over 2000 "Homes of Hope" houses have been built here in Ensenada and Tijuana. People lives are being changed, and we as a family, and you as our supporter, reader, prayer partner, adventurer, get to be a apart of it, isn't that COOL!

Today and tomorrow we have a staff conference here on the base. So all the baja staff will be here. Misty and I will be busy in the kitchen preparing the meals and etc. for everyone.

Just a side note Gramma Mary will be joining us for a couple of days next week we are all excitied to see her and can't wait to spend some time with her!! 

Emily and Joey

 
these photos are from the night of the Christmas Party and also a couple from a week back when we had a pinata at my cousins house and visited them. 

Today we visited a House building site

 

We were off work today and we went to a building site in the morning. When we got there they were about to raise two walls and some painting was also going on. Joey got right in there and wanted to help. I will try to get out there and get a picture of the finished project tomorrow. 

Jimmie in a Helicopter in Iraq

  

Joey and cousin Jimmie on a Helicopter

 
Joey and I went to the Mirimar Marine Corps Base in San Diego and looked at a helicopter with my cousin. He recently returned home from Iraq and spent a lot of hours holding on to a machine gun in a helicopter just like it. 

Hello Everybody!

  

The Moss Family Adventure

The Moss Family Adventure

Today is Monday and I am off today, I have some laundry going and soon it will be breakfast time. The kids are off school today as they were on Friday, I think it has to do with the presidential change that happened during the last weekend. I am a bit fuzzy when it comes to Mexican Current Events and news but I hear stuff from other people here. For instance I have noticed a lot of barges about 250 yards off the beach and they have been dredging for weeks now and I heard the other day that it is for the Queen Elizabeth passenger ship that will stop in Ensenada when there is a channel deep enough. We get cruise ships here on wednesdays and saturdays, that's the day that everything is super crowded and expensive downtown; it is great for the local economy. If I look out and see the ship and know it is a tourist day, then I will usually see people riding 4 wheelers to the beach or around town. On non tourist days I have been to the beach and have seen some of the locals riding their 4 wheelers. First you hear them a mile away, then you see the exhaust coming out of the tailpipe and the rider will have no helmet on and will be hooning down the beach about 45 or 50 miles and hour. It is crazy here sometimes.

Tonight we are traveling to the Tijuana base for their annual Christmas dinner party. I haven't been there yet to visit so for that reason alone I am excited to be there. On the 11th we are having our own Christmas party here at the base and the Moss family needs to get a costume theme sorted out and fast! Since it is a Costume Party, Any ideas? use the post a comment now and tell us yours, you can sign in as anonymous so you don't need a blogger account.

The Moss Family Adventure

The Moss Family Adventure
Tuesday

Hey everybody, I didn't post too much last week it was a hard week to get through. We have been pretty sad about Richie Shannon and his going home to be with the Lord. We have told a few others but it is hard to help them understand the whole situation so they can't really be on the same page with you when you tell them what's going on. I have noticed this sometimes throughout my life about myself and others (not you the reader of course) we are all in our own little world and don't really care too much about other people or places very often. Hopefully I don't sound too much like a Grinch here.

OK so during the weekend we went into San Diego and visited my cousin, went to church, and went to the store. Misty needed a Jacket, I bought a few dry food items that I wanted to use but could not find in Ensenada. I got some spices that do not involve hot chile peppers, some Arborio rice to make Risotto with and also a big bag of Basmati Rice for the Saffron Rice we will eat on Friday. Saffron is cheap in Mexico, it is grown here somewhere and you can get a decent sized bag for around 4 dollars or so at Smart and Final. It is not the Saffron from India but it is still good. The spices will be used when I make some sausage here. I can buy pork with no problem at Costco but the main sausage that is found here is Chorizo and it is hot, spicy and very greasy. I am going to make some Italian ground sausage, and some breakfast sausage patties.

The past week was a lot of work, of course we had Thanksgiving and that turned out really well; we also had two teams to feed that were building houses over the weekend right after Thanksgiving. One team was one of the Deluxe build that was a real estate developer and his family and others. They stay at a hotel instead of the base and a couple other items were also in their lunches. So there I was on Thursday morning at Costco with Misty finding the snacks and other lunch items I needed to put in their lunch coolers. We have another group like that coming right after Christmas so I am ready now, it should go smoother. During the week we also were hosting a church from Seattle, Washington. It was a lot of people and I ended up having a great time with them. We had so many people helping out with the meals and cleaning and plus we had a brother and sister working in the kitchen during the early mornings. Their names were Forest and Andrea and they totally helped out in an amazing way.

I want to say also something about thanksgiving day, the best part was when it was time for the people to start going through the line to get food and eat and Joey grabbed a battery powered bullhorn that was laying around and started talking into it and giving everyone a big Thanksgiving day shout out.

In Remeberance of Richie Shannon

 
Richie Shannon, was an amazing young man! Richie came to Ensenada YWAM base for the past two years, despite the cancer that was attacking his body. He swung a hammer, dressed up like a clown for the kids, played guitar, and did whatever was needed of him. Richie knew how to live life to the full! He will be terrible missed! We Love You Rich, Sheri, and Randy, we pray that you'll have tons of loving family and friends gathered around you. If you'd like to learn more about the extraordinary family you can read a journal that was kept by Rich and Sheri. Check out their site http://www3.caringbridge.org/nv/richie/
We are truly blessed to have know Richie, and know now that he is having an amazing Fiesta with our Savior!! Party on Richie TILL WE MEET AGAIN!

Time is so short! So people get living!!

From the Moss family in Mexico we would like to wish You all in the States a Happy Thanksgiving! And to our Canadian buddies Happy Thursday!!

The Moss Family Adventure

The Moss Family Adventure
HAPPY THANKSGIVING

Ok it's a day early but still Happy Thanksgiving. I haven't posted a lot lately but I will try to get a bit more regular. I was getting tired of saying I am busy in the kitchen etc etc all the time. But, that's pretty much the story. Cooking, shopping for the food, kids in school or playing with other kids.... that's it on our end. As far as YWAM San Diego Baja, I guess about 16 houses have been built by teams while we have been here, as well as the conference we had in October. My part in all of this is to feed the people who are coming here and get the lunches made for teams and make sure all the supplies are purchased and here on the base to use. At some point we are going to get out and actually participate in a building project as a family, this will be good for us to see the bigger picture. We got to visit a building site last summer it was good to see but the best thing will be to actually participate in an actual building project. We will definately have a video of it.

Thanks to everyone that is involved in our adventure, we cannot be here without your prayers and financial support so thank you.

Jackson Pollock by Miltos Manetas, original design by Stamen, press any key to s

Jackson Pollock by Miltos Manetas, original design by Stamen, press any key to s

Here is something I found this morning when I was looking at the News Forum Lucianne dot com. Just click on the screen and Volia! You are an Artiste! Enjoy!!
The site is jacksonpollack.org

Emily in the Tub

 
Here is the tub we have for Joey and Emily to clean up in. This actually the second one we are using, the first one was cracked when we first used it. Emily had her bath and when it was Joey's turn we changed the water and told him to come in and so he shouted out something (should have been COWABUNGA) and jumped into the little tub and it broke. We have three of them around holding shoes and whatnot so we just switched one out the next day. 

The Moss Family Adventure

The Moss Family Adventure
Monday morning
We are all here in San Diego staying at an apartment that YWAM has here and resting and having a weekend visiting my cousin and doing laundry.

Joey has a cute Batman costume from halloween that he wears, he looks really cool when he is riding around in the plastic kiddie car while wearing his batman suit. The quality of these outfits has increased dramatically since I was a child; now kids can wear their super hero or princess clothes all year long. Also they can mix and match. Cinderella dress combined with a Spiderman mask is my favorite; a couple of days ago Joey was "SuperBatman".

Tomorrow night we are going to have a wedding dinner party for a couple on the base, they are Julio and Ana. Ana works in hospitality getting rooms ready for visitors and Julio is busy doing a lot of everthing, now that I have been here a while I see that he is one of the people that holds our base together especially when there is something big going on. Since it is a big potluck I get to just make one thing to add to the party, I am making some roasted beef and I will get a special sauce together and we will have Roast Beef with Jardinierre Sauce.

I thought I would talk about what is also going on at Base in regards to "Spiritual Life" I hate to use that term, if you are truly doing everything to the glory of the Lord then there no difference between the sacred and the spiritual. Anyhow we have morning staff meetings during the work week and on day we have a short message usually by one of the staffers, the next day is intercessory prayer and then the next is worship time. We also have a community meeting on Thursday evenings, with worship and a message from ususally the visiting Discipleship Training School speaker. When we are working we try to remember to pray before we get started and when the DTS students come in the afternoons for work duties we pray with them also, as long as I remember. Also for me personally I have been doing the morning prayer from the Book of Common Prayer using an online edition.

Click here to see it
I usually use this because I try to have a quiet time together with God and this is a good tool for me to keep the focus on the Lord. I have noticed when I start to just pray everything starts to sound like ME ME ME ME ME. Anyone who is still reading will start laughing we know Bill it is all about you you you you you as you dominate the So called MOSS FAMILY ADVENTURE Blog. Hey I am aware of this, Joey and Emily can't read or write yet and Misty doesn't post as often as I do.

The Moss Family Adventure

The Moss Family Adventure
So, as we continue on our adventure we have a couple of harder working days ahead. Misty is doing a project of organizing all the loose jumbled keys that were in a key box. The more she takes care the more that come out of the woodwork to be organized. Misty also took on helping people with visa issues get their passports photocopied. Today she is going to be helping me in the kitchen and with the shopping for the teams that are arriving tomorrow night. I bought some frozen shrimp and will be thawing it today and it is for tonights meal; I met the first person I really need to avoid when I bought the shrimp. Last spring long before I got here YWAM SDBAJA ended up hiring a local woman to cook when the kitchen manager went to the US, it was a nightmare and caused a lot of problems and is not really welcome here. I didn't know that until she walked in last week wanting to sell us shrimp and then returning a couple of days ago and wanting to help out in the kitchen with lunch. I thought sure I am shopping we need a hand so great come on in. I got back and heard the whole long bad story.

I talked on the phone with Brett Curtis yesterday I need to determine how much money I really need when I get the supplies for the meals and also the dry paper stuff we are husing to eat from. Then we are really getting rolling with getting some new equipment to put in the kitchen and I need to make a list of ovens etc and then the priority of what I need the most. I think the biggest thing right now is a double stacked convection oven, a dishwashing unit so we can use real plates and flatware etc and some stainless steel shelves to stack cans and other dry food items on.

Joey and Emily are doing well, Emilys hair is growing out, Misty can put little hair clips in it and she is talking more and more and is really cute when she is playing in the courtyard with all the kids at the YWAM base, she is also a little charmer as she gets to know everybody's name and says Hi. Joey is learrning more and more spanish words, he isn't fluent yet but we will probably get really going soon. The other day he said " daddy what does 'Cochino' mean?" I told him that 'Cochino' means Pig. Then Joey said that's what the kids at school say when he burps. I thought "GREAT" to myself and I guess whatever it takes.

The Moss Family Adventure

The Moss Family Adventure

I mentioned that I have a lot of work to do, but that isn't everything that is going on here...we have our teams that come to the base to build houses for families here in Ensenada. This weekend there are going to be two large teams that will be each building three houses over the course of the weekend. Every week on a bulletin board there is information and pictures of the families. I am trying to get to a building site so we can shoot some video and post it. I also see the families when they come to a meeting in the dining room on monday morning.

The Moss Family Adventure

The Moss Family Adventure

Tuesday
My work week starts again and I have a huge task ahead that I see...
The easy part is the actual cooking, that is the fun part; the hard part is changing the way we work, that's what I have to do. I was off yesterday but I walked through the kitchen as I was on my way to make some coffee in the dining room. I saw the leftover stew still sitting on the counter in the kitchen. So the extra that we were going to use for monday's lunch as an extra item had to be tossed out. So that is the fourth time in a month that something wasn't put away and it had to be tossed out. I was so frustrated. I have a ton of other issues to address involving cleanliness, work ethic, neatness, laundry and more also. Like I said I have a huge task in front of me.

I have two people assigned to the kitchen right now one guy doesn't really cook but he is there for now. He can do a good job but he just needs to be told to do it, my other person is there and struggling. I am not sure what is really up with her, she is a nice person and has some good skills and talents but unfortunately they are not things really great in the kitchen. I hope and pray she finds something that she loves to do so she can really truly blossom as a human being and find whatever it is that the Lord has for her. I feel like her spirit has been crushed while she has been here or something.

On a lighter note, Misty and I went to lunch at some sort of Brazilian Buffet in Downtown Ensenada yesterday, they had a little salad bar with some hot items and then as you eat the waiter comes out with some meat on a big skewer and will stop at your table and slice a chunk off for you. They had beef, pork, lamb and turkey, and also some sausage made with turkey. So if you are traveling through Ensenada you should check it out. We also went to the beach and took a walk and buried our feet in the sand, someday we will go to one of the areas down the highway and spend some time at one of the beaches there, I guess if you ride down for another hor or so you get to the real isolated areas.

Hallopalooza 06' at CVCF

 
This was an amazing night! Great outreach event for this church. Here is a note from the pastor of the church regarding this event.

November 2, 2006
Dear E-church,
Hallopalooza was awesome, and you all were amazing!!! Thanks to an extra advertising push from KUSI on Tuesday morning, we estimate we hosted more than 2,500 people who came from as far as Escondido to check out what we were doing. Some of the cool, subtle ways we were able to share the Gospel this year were awesome, and we are always working on ways to do this in the future.
John Soderman, a reporter from KUSI who came to cover the event for the evening news, saw our vision statement written on the wall of the foyer… In a City, Loving a City, Impacting a City for Jesus… He turned to me and said you really believe in this, don’t you?
Yes! We do. We totally believe we can love this city and influence this city for Jesus.
Really, that is the story of everything we do. And that is the story of the Tribulation and ultimate glorious appearing of Jesus Christ! This weekend is Chapter Five in our series on the end times, and we want to look at this tragic and wondrous story, and how it tells the story of mankind in the past and future as well as the story of us today.

Blessings,

Pastor Mike

**for more info on this church check out www.cvcf.com** 

WILL ROCK FOR FOOD

 

here is Joey playing in front of cousin Jimmies house. 

The Moss Family Adventure

The Moss Family Adventure
Friday night, As I type this I am having Salsa Music blasting through the walls from somewhere nearby....

It is 7 pm and I had a really good day at work, I helped get the hot breakfast out and then Misty came to the dining room and we had some breakfast. I had written a menu for the coming week and we wrote out a shopping list and went to Costco and Smart and Final. I still have a lot of money left with a little bit more to buy. We will be under budget this week; I think.... I am only mentioning this because Misty was an amazing help to me and I had a truly blessed time as we shopped and got our stuff. After that was over she reorganized the shelves in the kitchen and helped put food away, I returned with an hour to spare before lunch, I had enough time to make a pot of soup. Misty was cleaning and reorganizing the whole time. We had lunch together and I had a thrilling meeting, and then I talked to Kody Spang the base leader about going to the nezt DTS here along with Misty in January. He said he will see what he can do....

Dinner was good we had pasta with meat sauce, pesto sauce and caesar salad. I am now home and cleaned up with the kids in pajamas and Joey watching the Iron Giant. Misty goes to San Diego tommorrow to watch a band competition of Cousin Jimmie's son Chris.

The Moss Family Adventure

The Moss Family Adventure
Friday November 3, 2006
I started off the day yesterday by having some coffee and since it was so early and I had a really good chance I took a walk on the beach. Then the fun started, We had intercessory prayer time for our morning staff meeting, we were mostly praying for Mike and Melissa who had lost their baby, we also did an offering for them to help out with medical expenses. Misty was with the kids yesterday since school was closed, she did talk to Sam who is the wife of the discipleship training school leader Tym; they are from England and they have 4 boys ages 12, 10, 4, and 2....sounds exciting doesn't it. Misty and I have been praying about her upcoming DTS and I think I should go as well, that we we can do it together and be on the same page and process all the information together. We will probably be doing a lot of praying and crying together as well during this time. Yeah, so Misty had a good talk with Sam about that, and I worked on lunch and eventually did a bunch of shopping at Costco and Smart and Final. Today I will be doing a little more shopping and I have to get my menu togeher for next week and figure out how many people we are feeding.

The Moss Family Adventure

The Moss Family Adventure

Thursday november 2, 2006
I haven't posted because I was busy and I would barely have enough time to get up and have some quiet time and exercise a bit before working. Twice I got a post together and it wouldn't go through for some reason.

Last weeks conference.....
We fed a lot of people, I had a lot of good help, we all survived. I am supposed to get some new equipment so next time we have to feed so many people at once we can manage it better. I made it to some of the teaching sessions there is a DVD coming out sometime so I can see what I missed. I met some neat people while I was around at breaks or during the mealtimes.

Last weekend we went to San Diego to relax, get tires for the van, and see my cousin Jimmie from the Marines. It was a good visit. I have some pictures to stick up on the BLOG later.

I came back to work yesterday, things went well for me, but it was a tough day, a coworker was pregnant and miscarried the night before, so we are dealing with her and her husbands loss (the news hasn't really spread yet though). I am now in the part of my work here where I have to figure out how to get most of the food delivered instead of picking it up, training workers, finding someone to do some of the other dirty jobs here I don't have time for, etc.

Misty has found a project, there is a keybox that has a bunch of unidentified keys inside so she is finding what they open by going to all the doors and locks to try them out then she labels the keys. Joey and Emily are off from school today because it is DAY OF THE DEAD, I have heard of this but I don't know enough about it yet to say anything, later I will run a search on it and find out. Right now it means there a lot of pictures of skeletons that are dressed up nicely, imagine a town filled with Grateful Dead posters everywhere.

Gotta go I will post later.

The Moss Family Adventure

The Moss Family Adventure

I hope you haven't missed my usually more often blah blah blah.....
Like I said before I have been pretty busy, most days though I was able to sneak out around 3 in the afternoon and go to the afternoon session of the conference. I was also able to go to the morning worship times as well; Peter Warren from YWAM Denver led worship with the team and it was great! He spoke at the DTS I went to 10 years ago, I remember something he said there it was so true and clear as a bell....

Sometimes there is a sin that keeps getting to people over and over again. It can be one of three things; maybe its a physical addiction, maybe its a case of Demonic oppression, but in my experience its usually the third thing..... pauses for effect.... its Idolatry, you love that sin more than you love the Lord.

I was really floored by that one, let me tell you. In my life story that is so true. But getting back to the conference it has been good to hear the stories of YWAM told by the founders and early members. We heard about a great tool called the 4K project, it is a website where you can make a coustom map to show various demographics and areas of need.click here to check it out. We met over the course of the week a lot of neat people and saw others I haven't seen for a good long while. Misty met a couple of the board members from Homes of Hope, now they know who we are. I had the people from one of YWAM's other ministries try to recruit me......twice. Dont worry we are staying in Ensenada, I really feel so called to this area and also this base. I think God is calling me to something very special in the future here, and I have been praying and need to meet with the leaders about an idea I have had for several years but I had forgotton about it. I will share details when they happen, I am just teasing everyone right now.

so, for now adios

The Moss Family Adventure

The Moss Family Adventure

Wednesday is here already, I am actually not working today; the menu is easy and this is an opportunity to relax a bit today and go to a couple of the conference sessions and this afternoon to maybe go down to the beach and look at the water.

The first few days have been a lot of work, we got our numbers up to 275 people or so and it was hard to stay with the demand the first day. Monday's lunch was the worst I didn't start early enough on the cooking of the chicken and we didn't have quite enough, I had to stay calm and do the best I could while the chicken we had was cooking and as we waited for Melissa to return with about 12 whole roasted chickens from the Costco. Roasted chicken is a popular item around here, its called Rostizados and they are 2 for 98 pesos at a couple of places around here, they even deliver! So after a while Melissa arrived from the emergency trip to Costco and we had a couple of pans of Chicken out to finish the lunch with. It ended up being left over but they ended being used that night when we ran out of the braised beef that we served for dinner. Tuesday we had enough amounts to go around, we are adjusting to the crazy crowds we have. We are serving food from 3 lines and when the the meal is being served we are able to get everyone through in 15 minutes. The most amazing part is that we are getting a lot of this done with people that are here just for the conference and working in 90 minute mini shifts doing dishes, prepping salads, serving the meals etc.

I have been able to go to the morning worship at the conference sessions, I have also been to the teaching times the past 2 afternoons, we have been talking about the foundational values of YWAM I am tying to keep these things in mind as I work with the people in the kitchen and interact with people on the base and in the community. I have a copy of the YWAM Foundational values, I posted them a couple of months ago but since that is the subject of this post and week here I will stick them up again.

The Foundational Values of Youth With A Mission


Youth With A Mission (YWAM) affirms the Bible as the authoritative word of God and, with the Holy Spirit's inspiration, the absolute reference point for every aspect of life and ministry. Based upon God's word, who He is, and His initiative of salvation, the following responses are strongly emphasized in YWAM:
Worship: We are called to praise and worship God alone
Holiness: We are called to lead holy and righteous lives that exemplify the nature and character of God
Witness: We are called to share the gospel of Jesus Christ with those who do not know Him
Prayer: We are called to engage in intercessory prayer for the people and causes on God's heart, including standing against evil in every form
Fellowship: We are called to commit to the Church in both its local nurturing expression and its mobile multiplying expression

The Foundational Values of Youth With A Mission are the expression of our basic beliefs coupled with specific directives given by God since YWAM's beginning in 1960. They are recorded here in order to pass on to successive generations that which God has emphasized to us. These shared beliefs and values are the guiding principles for both the past and future growth of our mission. Some are common to all Christians everywhere; others are distinctive to Youth With A Mission. The combination of these beliefs and values make up the unique family characteristics of YWAM--our "DNA." They are values we hold in high regard which determine who we are, how we live and how we make decisions.

1. KNOW GOD
YWAM is committed to know God, His nature, His character and His ways. We seek to reflect who He is in every aspect of our lives and ministry. The automatic overflow of knowing and enjoying fellowship with God is a desire to share Him with others.

2. MAKE GOD KNOWN
YWAM is called to make God known throughout the whole world, and into every arena of society through evangelism, training and mercy ministries. We believe that salvation of souls should result in transformation of societies, thus obeying Jesus' command to make disciples of all nations.

3. HEAR GOD'S VOICE
YWAM is committed to creating with God through listening to Him, praying His prayers and obeying His commands in matters great and small. We are dependent upon hearing His voice as individuals, together in team contexts and in larger corporate gatherings. This is an integral part of our process for decision making.

4. PRACTICE WORSHIP AND INTERCESSORY PRAYER
YWAM is dedicated to worship Jesus and engage in intercessory prayer as integral aspects of daily life. We also recognize the intent of Satan to destroy the work of God and we call upon God's power and the Holy Spirit to overcome his strategies in the lives of individuals and in the affairs of nations.

5. BE VISIONARY
YWAM is called to be visionary, continually receiving, nurturing and releasing fresh vision from God. We support the pioneering of new ministries and methods, always willing to be radical in order to be relevant to every generation, people group, and sphere of society. We believe that the apostolic call of YWAM requires the integration of spiritual eldership, freedom in the Spirit and relationship, centered on the Word of God.

6. CHAMPION YOUNG PEOPLE
YWAM is called to champion youth. We believe God has gifted and called young people to spearhead vision and ministry. We are committed to value them, trust them, train them, support them, make space for them and release them. They are not only the Church of the future; they are the Church of today. We commit to follow where they lead, in the will of God.

7. BE BROAD-STRUCTURED AND DECENTRALIZED
YWAM is broad-structured and diverse, yet integrated. We are a global family of ministries held together by shared purpose, vision, values and relationship. We believe that structures should serve the people and the purposes of God. Every ministry at every level has the privilege and responsibility of accountability to a circle of elders, with overall international accountability to the YWAM Global Leadership Team.

8. BE INTERNATIONAL AND INTERDENOMINATIONAL
YWAM is international and interdenominational in its global scope as well as its local constituency. We believe that ethnic, linguistic and denominational diversity, along with redeemed aspects of culture, are positive factors that contribute to the health and growth of the mission.

9. HAVE A BIBLICAL WORLDVIEW
YWAM is called to a Biblical worldview. We believe that the Bible makes a clear division between good and evil; right and wrong. The practical dimensions of life are no less spiritual than the ministry expressions. Everything done in obedience to God is spiritual. We seek to honor God with all that we do, equipping and mobilizing men and women of God to take roles of service and influence in every arena of society.

10. FUNCTION IN TEAMS
YWAM is called to function in teams in all aspects of ministry and leadership. We believe that a combination of complementary gifts, callings, perspectives, ministries and generations working together in unity at all levels of our mission provides wisdom and safety . Seeking God's will and making decisions in a team context allows accountability and contributes to greater relationship, motivation, responsibility and ownership of the vision.

11. EXHIBIT SERVANT LEADERSHIP
YWAM is called to servant leadership as a lifestyle, rather than a leadership hierarchy. A servant leader is one who honors the gifts and callings of those under his/her care and guards their rights and privileges. Just as Jesus served His disciples, we stress the importance of those with leadership responsibilities serving those whom they lead.

12. DO FIRST, THEN TEACH
YWAM is committed to doing first, then teaching. We believe that firsthand experience gives authority to our words. Godly character and a call from God are more important than an individual's gifts, abilities and expertise.

13. BE RELATIONSHIP-ORIENTED
YWAM is dedicated to being relationship-oriented in our living and working together. We desire to be united through lives of holiness, mutual support, transparency, humility, and open communication, rather than a dependence on structures or rules.

14. VALUE THE INDIVIDUAL
YWAM is called to value each individual. We believe in equal opportunity and justice for all. Created in the image of God, people of all nationalities, ages and functions have distinctive contributions and callings. We are committed to honoring God-given leadership and ministry gifts in both men and women.

15. VALUE FAMILIES
YWAM affirms the importance of families serving God together in missions, not just the father and/or mother. We encourage the development of strong and healthy family units, with each member sharing the call to missions and contributing their gifts in unique and complementary ways.

16. RELY ON RELATIONSHIP-BASED SUPPORT
YWAM is called to a relationship-based support system, depending upon God and His people for financial provision, both corporately and individually. We believe that relationship-based support promotes responsibility, accountability, communication, and mutual prayer. It involves the donor as a partner in ministry. As God and others have been generous toward us, so we desire to be generous. YWAMers give themselves, their time and talents to God through the mission with no expectation of remuneration.

17. PRACTICE HOSPITALITY
YWAM affirms the ministry of hospitality as an expression of God's character and the value of people. We believe it is important to open our hearts, homes and campuses to serve and honor one another, our guests and the poor and needy, not as acts of social protocol, but as expressions of generosity.


Several of these values really apply to me in the kitchen, championing young people and working in teams.

I will post again in a couple of days and hopefully it will be a good report about how everything went even better!!

Joey's Harley Ride


This footage was taken with my new camera, from the staff at SCF. You guys rock! Here's to many more videos! Thanks Randy, for taking Joe for a ride with out a helmet!! It's a great memory for Joe and for all of us! This was taken back in Reno in Sept. just right before we left, in the parking lot of our old apartments.

The Moss Family Adventure

The Moss Family Adventure
Early Saturday Morning

I woke up at 1 in the morning after going to sleep around 9:30, I had gotten up to use the toilet and had to fiddle around with the flushing mechanism, and then I looked in the living room and saw Joey on the couch. So I ended up laying him inside our bed and by then I was good and awake. Then I tried to lay back down but I couldn't fall back asleep, plus I hear every half hour the security guard for our apartments and his radio squawking and beeping and I also hear him.." CINCO NUEVE" I guess 5 9 is his number. He also cleans up at night so I will hear him sweeping the sidewalks and parking lot, the first night we were here I heard this at 2 am and I saw his shadow through our window and I was disoriented and I was very scared. So now I am up and posting on the blog, I think I will get some rest later on I don't have to work today.

The YWAM base has been a hive of activity as we get ready for the YWAM DNA conference, Loren Cunningham the founder of YWAM is coming to speak and the occasion has been used to launch a conference for all the Latin American YWAM base leaders to come and hear about the foundational values of Youth With A Mission. Hopefully I will be able to sit in on sessions, I am going to be busy cooking though. I have a lot of helpers in the kitchen which is good. I have really been learning this week about how to find jobs for people to do and pointing them in the right direction, and also rapidly training people who aren't really experts at cooking in the secrets of producing large quantities of food. As long as the helpers have a good attitude things go super good. Last nights dinner went smooth as silk, we served beef and chicken Kabobs with Teryaki sauce, baked potatoes, and sauteed vegetables. It really was a team effort though and the DTS students did all the hard grunt work that takes a lot of time, also Misty was in there with me for an hour and a half after lunch cutting onions and Peppers for the Kabobs. We had everything ready for the students when they started at 3:30. Breakfast was also a blast, we have different people from the base working different mornings, and yesterday we had a lot of fun together getting the meal out. The equipment we have is another story; I feel like I'm trying to compete in the Indianapolis 500 with a beat up old Dodge Dart, but hopefully by the grace of God we will get through this week. Meanwhile I hear the voice of Scotty from Star Trek in my head... "I'm giving it all she's got Captain... I can't defy the laws of physics" or to to paraphrase Bones... "I'm a cook not a magician Jim!"

Here's some extra excitement, our back door to the kitchen is directly on the street (dirt road) that goes to the beach, there is a semi violent "homeless" guy that shows up and has been a nuisance and actually spit on one of the girls that works in the kitchen, so if he ends up coming back inside the kitchen I have to grab him and get the police here to take him to jail. The same jail I visited 12 years ago when I went on my first mission trip ever. If that ever happens I will make a post about the experience, I just worry about what may happen and I hope I dont get hurt or in trouble when it all goes down.

More excitement... my cousin Jimmie is supposed to get back from Iraq today, he has been there for the past 8 months. we will be seeing him soon right after my birthday. We got to visit a bunch when he was in Sparks last January when my grandmother died, sad occasion but afterwards it was a great experience getting to kinow him, we ate, had fun, visited other relatives, did a lot of talking. We also laughed a lot... a whole lot, I never have laughed so hard as when he was making fun of Bruce Jenner when we were watching SKATING WITH THE STARS, Bruce was skating to the song from AN OFFICER AND A GENTLEMAN and Jimmie was just going off about Bruce and his Navy uniform.

I will post again later with more interesting stuff, about Joey and Emily

The Moss Family Adventure

The Moss Family Adventure
Thursday

So as you can see below Joey and Emily sure look cute in their school uniforms. Joey is having fun, I think Emily is too we haven't recieved any calls telling us to come pick her up she is screaming. Misty is going to take the kids to school and then go to San Diego to do laundry and then maybe get the tires we need for the van, we had a blowout the first week we were here and its time to change anyhow, they were worn out tires when we bought this van used and like I said its time. There are places here but a mechanic from the San Diego base said the tires here aren't as good.

Misty also helped out in the kitchen yesterday, I made a great lunch but there was a problem though I didn't get enough Chicken Breasts and we ran out. Same story with the vegetables, so we ended up cooking off some pork chops that were there and I found some frozen vege's to cook off and some leftover bow tie pasta, I wish I could have had the chicken and sauteed vegetables though they looked pretty good. This morning by the grace of Gog I am going to make the crepes filled with ham eggs and cheese. It's kind of hard to find certain items here in Ensenada, for example I was looking for swiss cheese for the crepes, I finally found some really nice imported Emmanthaler from Switzerland buts its kind of pricey.

Joey and Emily's First Day at School

  

The Moss Family Adventure

The Moss Family Adventure
It is Wednesday already!!!

Misty and I have been super busy, On Monday we went shopping for groceries, I am practicing the menu for our conference. We are expecting to feed 300 people out of kitchen. Yesterday I cooked Pork loin with some Raspberry / Chipotle bbq sauce on top and for dinner I made some Pasta with meat sauce and also pesto cream sauce. I put some pine nuts in the oven to toast and I forgot them so a little while later I remembered and they looked like black beans. I cooled them off and threw them away, a few fell on the floor and Juana from hospitality saw them and asked if they were rat turds. For the next week and a half I expect to be going full on, I will have some good helpers cooking with me on the week of the actual conference so that will be good.

The kids started pre school, we have them there to get them going in spanish, the teacher said yesterday that Joey understands but just can't speak it yet. So hopefully in a couple of weeks he will be better off. The Ywam base is needing certified teachers then they can have a private school for the kids here, I heard there were a couple of Brazilian girls but they would have to spend some time learning English first. We are also hoping to build some local neighborhood relationships through the school thing.

Prayer requests...
Kids to have fun in school
Bill to stay calm in Kitchen and remember what he has learned as he has been on his cooking journey
Misty to be able to keep building relationships

The Moss Family Adventure

The Moss Family Adventure
Monday morning here and I want to make a quick entry here about the rest of the weekend...

We tried to go to church we drove to San Diego, but the border crossing took too long so we had lunch, went to WalMart and got a few items and then to the storage unit to get a couple of kitchen equipment boxes. Then we met our cousin Michelle, she is married to my cousin Jimmie who is in the Marine Corps we visited had dinner and went to a exotic bird store where one of the kids works. That was neat. We left right as it was getting dark and got home around 8:45 at night. When we got home the kids were pretty wound up and it took forever to get them to fall asleep. A side note about Michelle, she is from Reno too and when she was a little kid her family went to RCF, like back when Jim Kilgore was doing the worship. She told me last week how they they had a going away party for Jim and she was so sad he was leaving she was crying.

As we were driving, as Misty was driving actually we talked about how the week went and Misty told me she really liked talking to the people from the house building teams that were here for a couple days and the best part was when she was home with Emily and would be doing something on the computer or cleaning up the place and Emily would come to her and say: "sit Mama, sit" then they would cuddle together.

The Moss Family Adventure

Hey, we have been having a great Saturday here. After breakfast I was looking at my menu for the conference and watching Joey as he was using the play equipment. I was off work today so we managed to go to the store to get some stuff for the kids school, had a hot dog at Costco, drove through a nearby neighborhood as we start our search for a rental house next summer, and we went to the beach for a while in the afternoon. Tonight is the night we were sent out to town to have tacos, we found a nearby restaurant that opened this evening, Acupulco style tacos and chicken Pozole. It was good and all for 140 pesos... a bit less than 14 dollars.

Misty had someone asking about the kitchen Mishap, what happened is that I was pulling a pan of Lasagne from the oven and my grip slipped and I lost about a third of the pan to the floor. The worst part was the greasy mess I had to clean up.

I had a nice restful day though and I am looking forward to doing it again next Saturday if I can. I will need to rest up for the week ahead.

Bill

The Moss Family Adventure

The Moss Family Adventure
Hey!!!

It's been a few days. We have been pretty busy during the daytime with the kids, Bill's kitchen duties, and mom's various excursions. Special things came out of the kitchen last night we were grilling some smoked porkchops and those came out nicely and we also were supposed to have some mashed potatoes along with but a water delivery delay kept us from cooking boiling the potatoes early enough so I ended up tossing the cooked potatoes in some cilantro, margerine and spices. It turned out really well and we will call them Ensenada cilantro potatoes. The potatoes were cooked but not totally soft for mashing. This morning I made some chicken noodle soup for lunch and this afternoon we continued the cleaning project we are getting going in the kitchen. I have to reorganize a cleaning schedule when the change comes and figure out a good way to spread the labor around so we get the work all done without working 12 hour days. Maybe after the conference we are hosting.

The real high point is meeting and getting to know all the people here on the base, first there are the people I work with Melissa, Sammy, and Candace. Then we have the Long term base staff (too many to mention) and Discipleship Training School students; some of the students work in the kitchen. This morning I talked to a guy from England named Ben we had a good talk about music and worship music, and this afternoon I was talking to a guy from Scottsdale, Arizona. It turns out that his dad is a English professor at the Bible school I spent a couple of semesters at in 1980 and 1981. I guess dad will be visiting during thanksgiving and I guess I can give him the money for the toilet I blew up with a bottle rocket when I was a student there. We also meet the people that are coming here every week to build houses.

Next monday the kids will start pre school. We have to do this so Misty can have more time to work with me and help me out with administrative issues that come up and maybe go shopping for items together, and they will also be in during the Discipleship Training School. The side benefit is that the kids will be learning Spanish while in school. Then later when Joey is fluent we will take him out of the pre school and get him into regular school. Then in a year or two we will have our translator. This could be a big help when SCF sends teams to Ensenada. As I type this Joey is having a cheese stick and he handed me the wrapper. I put the wrapper in my pocket and Joey told his mother that: "He's the one putting stuff in the pocket" I guess that was an issue yesterday when Misty and the kids went to do laundry. Misty is a huge part of this keeping me going and doing stuff for me like making the menu I wrote look pretty for distribution. Plus she has been building a lot of relationships with various ladies here on the base.

Please continue to pray for us as we adjust to life on the base and in Ensenada. Especially the folkways we seem to discover daily.
I now have to go and attend to the rest of the duties of my evening.

Bill

The Moss Family Adventure

The Moss Family Adventure
Tired Bill Here... its a little before 9 in the evening and we have put the kids to bed. I went to Home depot and got some stuff to make some cinder block shelves for our apartment. I then went to my meeting, we spent a couple of hours talking about Budgets. And other fun subjects like saving money, equipment maintence, and the remodeling of the kitchen. I actually have a very challenging job ahead of me: menu's, training, cooking, getting a cleaning schedule going etc. I will be mentioning all these things as I experience them. After the meeting and lunch I put some Lasagne in the oven that was picked up from Costco. A couple hours later I learned something about the ovens that I needed to know for the conference that is coming up. THE OVENS DON'T WORK TOO WELL, I managed to get the meal out in time and no one was arrested so that's good I guess. Tomorrow I am going to go out and see more of Ensenada and find more about our food suppliers. And I am also easing my way into the kitchen to cook. Right now I am about to fall asleep at the keyboard so I will sign out

The Moss Family Adventure

The Moss Family Adventure
Tuesday
I (Bill) have a meeting today and we are still getting stuff put away, I made some fruit sauce yesterday for the ice cream at last nights dinner. I was just about to make it when Misty called and told me she had a tire blow out on the toll road coming back from San Diego, Now!! that is an Adventure!! She got some help from a guy who had a house a little ways off, I was going to try and meet her but the tire was changed before I had a chance to even get out of Ensenada.

The Moss Family Adventure

The Moss Family Adventure
Monday
We are in Ensenada and have been here since Friday afternoon. We have moved into our apartment and have done some shopping to get a couple of needed items. Once it is all complete we should post a picture so everyone can see how homey Misty will make it.


The weekend here was pretty quiet, the DTS students were still in Tijauna and one the two building teams left for the day it was just us and a couple other families and the kids. Bill had a meeting with Tamara and Melissa the hospitality director and the current kitchen manager. I spent some time in the early mornings working on the Menu for the Conference that will be happening in a couple of weeks. Today I am looking in the kitchen at what equipment we have and what we need. I found a couple of hampers full of dirty towels so I got them started in the laundry and later today I plan to go out with one of the cooks to see a couple of places where food is procured.

Meanwhile Misty is driving to San Diego today to pick up some stuff from our storage unit, and get a couple of floor rugs hopefully. We wanted to post earlier but the wireless internet key number was with someone who was in Tijuana, now I have it and we will be really rolling at home. I may even post the Saturday morning post I had ready but wasn't able to post during the weekend.

Thanks for the comments, keep them coming.
Bill

The Moss Family Adventure

The Moss Family Adventure
Thursday evening

Well we waited to hear about our visa's and I guess we might find out tomorrow. We did have breakfast with one of the leaders from the Ensenada Base. Cody Spang seems like a real good guy and has been married for a month. After breakfast we drove down to the zoo and looked around and saw animals with the kids. After a while they were getting too tired to enjoy the zoo, so we went home had naps and went to my cousin's wife and kids and visited and had some frozen yogurt at a fun place where they charge you 29 cents an ounce for your yogurt and toppings. We like seeing our cousins, we also miss my cousin Jimmie who is in Iraq with the USMC, soon we will be seeing him again though. I will end by saying that we are all ready to get on to Mexico, Joey was saying I want to go home, Joey...we all want to go home, soon we will be making our new home.

The Moss Family Adventure

The Moss Family Adventure
Thursday,October 5, 2006

There is a story in the bible about when Jesus sent out the 72 Disciples going out with only the clothes on their backs. I now think there is a lot of wisdom in that. We have packed and unpacked the van more than several times the past few days while we are waiting for our VISAS. Yesterday we tried to go to Knott's Berry Farm and use the passes that a friend gave us. That trip was cancelled because I needed to be at a meeting for the upcoming Conference in Ensenada. I will be there and cooking and coordinating for around 250 people. After that meeting I was told the Visa was good to go and lets leave; Misty was in our Motel room looking at all the stuff laying there plus the suitcases and asking if I was crazy. So after several hours of finishing errands and having lunch and about to go meet Cody from the Ensenada base at the San Diego office, Cody called us and said we were off for today. So back to the Motel we went...... Again.

We did take the kids to a science museum and had some Mexican food from a place called Roberto's These things are all over San Diego. I used to go to one when I was in the Navy.

Today, we have heard from Cody again and he is going to see whats going on with visa's and see if he can speed things along somehow. Meanwhile we will get some breakfast and find something to do with the kids and the 44 year old kid so we don't all go crazy here while we wait.

The Moss Family Adventure

The Moss Family Adventure
Tuesday October 3rd....
Today we have been a little busy. We had breakfast and got photos taken for our FM-3 visa that we need. Brett Curtis has taken them to Mexico so they can be processed. I hope that works. We also did some laundry had lunch and washed the car. Tonight we are having dinner with our friends the Hurst's. They have kids the same age as Joe and Em,they are having a blast!

Yesterday we did unload the truck (thanks to David and Nathan!) we had lunch, and enjoyed some great company! We returned the big rental truck to Budget, went swimming with the kids and we had dinner at the Olive Garden up the street from where we are staying.

I woke up early again by the way, I was dreaming about having a conversation with someone I will be working with in Mexico, this was around 3 in the early morning, then I sat and decided to try to pray about what's going on with our lives. Tomorrow we hope to go to Knotts Berry Farm. (Thanks to Mike and Bev David) we will let you know how it goes, and yes Misty did check to make sure the park is open! She learned from her mistake! Post us message please we long to hear what's going on at home!

The Moss Family Adventure

The Moss Family Adventure

Monday October 2, 2006
As usual I woke up early. I woke up at 4:30 after going to sleep around 10 AM. I was dreaming I was inside a really cheesy A&E Network True Crime documentary about Medical Insurance Fraud. It was pretty boring but still weird. The day before I woke up as I was dreaming that Jim Stafford had bought the Bonnie Hubbard brand of Food Products.

We have arrived in San Diego! We got here at about 8 at night and got the kids cleaned up said hi to friends and went to bed. Hopefully we can get that truck unloaded easily. We should also find out what is going to happen the next few days as we get our visa's taken care of. I am so happy we didn't come down and have to move again and then one more time. Yesterday we got going around 9 AM, We stopped at a roadside rest along California 99 and Joey was running and scratched his knee. The day before he had scratched his elbows when we stopped at a preschool near Auburn, California. The knee scrape was pretty painful and I listened to a lot of screaming and crying till we pulled over into some sort of depressed town on 99. It looked like something out of a horror movie. On our way we had lunch in a Denny's in Bakersfield and we also stopped in San Clemente for a few minutes at a beach. Then we got here after dark.

I will just add that I can't wait to get the Truck unloaded and this next couple of days finished because I don't like moving.

The Moss Family Adventure

The Moss Family Adventure

Saturday Sept. 30th

Today we finally started to travel. But first, we had to take care of some unfinished business. We cleaned up the apartment the rest of the way and got it ready for the final inspection. We got our TV Cable and internet stuff all ready to take to Charter Cable, and lastly we had to take our cat to the Humane Society. This really wasn't what we wanted to do and we have been trying for weeks to find someone to take him off of our hands. There was a lot of crying involved. Ironic that while we were crying, Gepeto(the cat) was aloof, he would scratch the kids when provoked, would wake you up at 2am if you didn't force him outside before sleeping and scratched up the arms of the couches and the patio screen door. He would also get into fights occasionally with other cats and get infected on his back from the bites of other cats; the first couple of times this happened we would take him to the vet and get him cleaned up and treated(very Pricey!). After Joey was born we had other things to do with our money so we became the Vets: Q-Tips, hydrogen pyroxide and Neo Sporin. Still we were sad to take Kitty to the Humane Society. the tech there did promise Misty that kitty looked realy healthy and should be adopted quickly, with a hug and a few klenex we were on to our next task, getting the kids! Then on to the road. We started on hwy 80 and then onto 99. were we stoped in Ripon, California. We are making good progress, and we will get to San Diego early in the afternoon tomorrow. when we get a chance we will be able to post some pics we have taken along the way.

This is a good adventure though. Till we write again!

The Moss Family Adventure

The Moss Family Adventure
Friday Sept. 29th
I am actually writing this on Saturday....

Today we finished packing boxes, and sent the kids over to the Glanzmann family so we could work with fewer interruptions(thank you Maria you are wonderful!). At a little before 1pm we picked up our moving truck and at 2 we had friends arriving to help move. So as boxes were picked up etc, I dismantled our giant bed. Then as the truck was getting more and more full I was trying to throw away stuff we suddenly didn't really need anymore. I had to part with some books I have had for years. I gave away some tire chains from our old vehicle(like we need them in Mexico) along with a couple of other things, Thanks Gram for taking all of our plants we know they are in good hands! Around 4 pm it was becoming apparent that we were not going to be able to travel till Saturday. That was a bummer but Rich Shannons mom (grandma Helen) gave us a free hotel room she had been given from a local casino. Hello at the Nugget on the 20th floor over looking Sparks! it was an amazing view and a great time to relax and just be. did I mention this was... FREE At the same time we were finding out that we weren't getting out of town we got a phone call from Brett Curtis the Chief Operating Officer for YWAM San Diego, the visa's that the Ensenada people had were no good as far as the local authorities in Ensenada were concerned. So when we get to San Diego we are going to be delayed a couple of days before we actually go to Mexico. It was good for us that Randy Siever the Global Outreach Pastor asked us to stay an extra week, we would have just gotten unpacked and then would have had to pack all over again! Clear as mud, for the rest of the story your gonna have to write a post and we'll try to catch you up.

So in the end we did manage to get the truck loaded, the kids spent the night with Brett and Maria Glanzmann, and we got to sleep on a bed.
HUGE THANKS to the Shannons, Grandma Helen, Carol Smitherman, Matt Burkhardt, Sandy Blancey, Jimmy Marshall and Evan Fox. We couldn't have done Friday with out you! You are all truley servants and we can't thank you enough! WE LOVE YOU!

Next time I name a BLOG I should call it: The Moss Family everything is smooth sailing, no problems at all and everyone is happy and all Family members think everythings great, and life is just dandy Adventure. Yeah Right :)

The Moss Family Adventure

The Moss Family Adventure
Good morning!

This is our last week in Reno, and it will be a busy week. Today I am going to be running an errand while Misty is home with the kids. We have almost everything boxed up and will get that done soon. We got to see some friends last night at a BBQ so that was really good. During the afternoon while Misty and Emily were taking naps I went to the Guitar store nearby and got some strings and stuff for the guitar I got recently. I am really enjoying the gutar by the way and it is inspiring me to play more than I have played in years.

I am looking for ward to getting back into a kitchen again and getting busy, I was calling the YWAM base in San Diego trying to get ahold of somebody and I ended up talking to a young woman who is going to be in the kitchen in Ensenada with me cooking. Her name is Jesse and she just finished spending 6 months cooking with the YWAM outreach doing relief for the ongoing Hurricane Katrina work. She told me she has been cooking for 300 people a day using a regular sized cooking stove like the ones you would have in your house. I am impressed, that is Herculean to get that much food out for so long with such equipment. I cannot say how optimistic I am after having that conversation. Today She is starting and I hope and pray that wverything goes great. If you are reading this pray for Jesse. Thanks.

Here are more prayer requests...
The Moss family to have a safe trip through Calofornia and on into Mexico.
That we would be able to get right into the action and settled in.
That I would get closer to God while we are in Mexico.
And lastly a friend of mine is a Realtor in a Flat slow market and I am praying that he would get business sent his way so he can provide for his family.

The Moss Family Adventure

The Moss Family Adventure
Today I woke up way early, and now I am tired. I can't wait to put the kids down for a nap. We still have more packing to do though and several items of furniture we are waiting for someone to pickup. I was planning our route for when we go to San Diego and we may need to go on a slight side trip to Oakland to visit friends. we shall see.

The Moss Family Adventure

The Moss Family Adventure
I have good news...
We are getting almost all of our support from a lot of generous people. I am really excited but also sobered at how God has provided for us and the GENEROSITY of all the people who are sponsering us. I remember when we were writing our letter and even when we were considering this whole thing and wondering if it was going to happen. But I just want to thank the Living God who provides for all our needs and thank Him also for the encouragement we have been given by so many friends at church.

So far we have raised

6725 dollars towards our initial move and Discipleship Training School expenses.

And 1575 dollars committed to our monthly Budget.

Our goal is 9000 dollars for the initial expenses and Misty's Discipleship Training School.
Our monthly budget is 2550 dollars each month


Like I said we are really blessed. Stay tuned.....

The Moss Family Adventure

The Moss Family Adventure
Well here is an update as to where we are...


We will be actually leaving on the 23rd of Sept early in the morning. We were asked to hang around another week to answer questions to people who may have them or want to take us out for coffee and really grill us. Misty finishes work on Friday, we still have more stuff to pack up and a lot of stuff has been taken care of. This will hopefully be not too bad of a move. We will see how it goes once we get to San Diego and have to unload and fill the storage unit. I guess I am just getting ready to start working again, I am getting bored with wrangling children.

Mom with the kids right after Emily's hair got chopped by her brother

  

Emily Moss reading

  

The Moss Family Adventure

The Moss Family Adventure
THE GREAT ESCAPE part two....
Yesterday I was flipping through the TV and the movie The Great Escape was on, unfortunately it was the last 10 minutes, and it was on AMC American Movie Classics where they have a commercial interupption every 3 minutes. Anyhow one of the prisoners was saying to another after they had been caught by the Germans "the planning and working on the escape had kept them alive" As he was speaking they all get cut down by a 50 caliber machine gun.

THE LETTER
Yesterday was spent emailing back and forth the pictures for the leter and stuffing the envelopes. I got everything off from the main post office at just about 9 last night. Now we are just praying that everything goes through and that God uses people to be part of our team. Last time I did this 10 years ago when I went to Mercy Ships it was pretty exciting, when I was on the ship it was a struggle for me to stay on top of communicating with friends through the mail. I hope it is a TOTALLY different story this time around. Now I have Misty to help and we can do it together. That's also why we have this BLOG site as well. Now we have to finish packing for our move, get rid of some stuff, and I am still trying to round up a bit more support to make sure everything is covered.

The Moss Family Adventure

The Moss Family Adventure

Here is our letter.
Greetings from the Moss Family,

A couple of months ago we were called by a friend who is working with Youth with a Mission (YWAM) in San Diego. He asked Bill to consider joining their staff team in Ensenada, Mexico, to serve as the Kitchen Manager. The last week of July, 2006 we visited the YWAM facility there and did a thorough investigation of the property, the people and the work that is going on in Ensenada. After thoughtful prayer and seeking advice from some of you, our friends and family, we felt that this opportunity would be a perfect fit for the whole Moss family. We agreed to pack it up and move south of the border to join with what YWAM is doing in Ensenada, Mexico.

What is YWAM doing in Ensenada?

Youth from all over the world come to experience ten days serving out of the base facility at Ensenada. During this ten-day experience they receive extensive training on how to serve the local population and help them connect with Jesus Christ. Whether it's performing a drama or a puppet show for kids or giving a cup of hot chocolate and some food to the homeless on the street, these days are filled with serving. The last two days of the trip the team builds a house for a family in need, a program called, “Homes for Hope”. It is inspiring to watch these teens give unselfishly to help a less fortunate family in Mexico regain their life. During the spring break and summer there are four houses built per week. As of May 30, 2006, the YWAM ministry has enabled one thousand, nine hundred and ninety six homes to be built in the Tijuana and Ensenada communities. Families who had been living in homes with cardboard walls and tarp-draped roofs received real roofs, a firm foundation and strong walls to begin their life anew. That sounds a lot like what Jesus might do, to us.

Throughout the rest of the year YWAM gets students from surrounding cities in Mexico involved with a variety of community projects, including building a home for a less fortunate family in their own communities. YWAM also invites corporate businesses and families from around the world to get their hands dirty by building a home for the poor. Poor families are being helped, and those that serve them have their minds and hearts opened as they participate in God’s agenda to care for the poor of the world. To get more information on YWAM please visit their web site at www.ywamsandiegobaja.org.

What will you be doing?

Bill will get to use his amazing God-given gifts to cook, create new menus, supervise volunteers, teach others how to cook, maintain sanitation, and strive to have a friendly, fun atmosphere in the kitchen. Misty will attend Discipleship Training School (DTS) to be qualified to come on staff with YWAM. DTS, which is three months long, takes place on the base in Ensenada. After the schooling she will apply to be involved in the Video Department, which is what she has been doing in her current position at Sparks Christian Fellowship.

The Ensenada YWAM base is filled with kids, some the same age as our children, and some teen/college age. We hope to connect with and help create community amongst the staff and volunteers at the base, learn Spanish, and relate to the Mexican people. This should be fun, challenging and faith building for our whole family.

Wow! That sounds awesome! How much are they going to pay you?

Although YWAM does provide a modest salary, we need a lot of people like you to partner with us financially to enable them to do this. We are asking you to become part of a team of people who will commit to supporting us, both in prayer and with finances. We need to raise $2,555.00 a month, which will cover our housing, living expenses, insurance, medical expenses, transportation, school for the kids, and more (a detailed budget is available upon request). We also must raise an initial one-time expense of $9000.00 to cover moving expenses, DTS for Misty, and to ensure we can afford to return home when that time comes. Our initial commitment with YWAM is for 2 years, but we are only asking you to consider committing to one year at a time.

Would you be willing to join us on this adventure?

It’s a three-step process.

Step one:
Pray! Pray for our pending travel plans, for needed finances, and for the work God is going to do through us. And pray about joining our team by pledging a monthly gift and/or a one-time contribution. Pray about what your gift should be, and then pledge whatever God leads you to give… no more, and no less.

Step two:
Give! Checks should be made to “YWAM San Diego/ Baja”, and all contributions are tax-deductible. Make sure you enclose your pledge form with your check (for your first month’s contribution, if you can give monthly) so we can ensure that your gift will be credited to our account, and so we can have your current contact information. Please don’t put our name anywhere on your check.

Step three:
Mail! Use the self-addressed, stamped envelope for your convenience. Our deadline to hear back from you is September 20, 2006, so please don’t delay! We hope to depart for Ensenada as early as October 2006, but our support goals must be met prior to leaving.

Thank you so much for taking the time to read through this letter! Our hope is that you would consider joining the Moss Family Adventure and serve with us without having to leave home. Our commitment to those who commit to our team is to keep you “in the loop”. We commit to write to you monthly, preferably by email, but by snail-mail if you prefer. We have also set up a blog site: mossfamilyadventure.blogspot.com. This is a journaling site where we will post up to date information and even some video footage of our adventure along the way. Feel free to check it out anytime!

We are excited and look forward to hearing back from you soon. If you have any questions at all, please contact us at any of the numbers or addresses on the top of this letter. We’d love to hear from you!

The Moss Family
Bill, Misty, Joey and Emily

Picture of our family

  

The Moss Family Adventure

The Moss Family Adventure

We have had a busy week. We have been working on our fundraising letter for a while now but it is almost finished; we have also been to the office supply store to get paper, labels and envelopes. Right now the plan is to get a moving truck and pack it up on Friday the 22nd of September and start driving on Saturday and arrive in San Diego on the 24th after spending the night somewhere in California on Inerstate 5. I don't really have a burning desire to stop halfway in the middle of California but we don't want to kill the kids with too much traveling. I do think it will be quite an adventure for Joey to sit in the cab of the moving truck though.

I read a book over the past few days. THE GREAT ESCAPE this is the book that was the inspiration for the movie they made in the 1960's. It was a good read and even though the prisoners for the most part didn't make it out sucessfully;I think it was good for them to have done all the working and planning. They would have all gone crazy if they had just done nothing.

We also took a picture I will post it if I can get through all the hoops of my KODAK easy share program, that program and trying to wrangle my kids are the things in my life that make me feel like a monkey. The whole experience of gettingt he picture made me feel like a monkey also. We got a friend to take the picture at her house when we dropped the kids off for babysitting the other night. We tried to do it at the pool, but that didn't really work.

More posts to follow...

The Moss Family Adventure

I saw this guy on You Tube today adn I wanted to post this up here to see again. I wish he was my neighbor.

The Moss Family Adventure

The Moss Family Adventure
We met with the Global Outreach Commitee last night, the meeting went well, I think we were able to let them Know waht we are doing and what is going in Ensenada. We are going to be supported by Sparks Christian Fellowship, that's a good thing. After we got done I called Brett Curtis (Chief Operating Officer of YWAM San Siego/ Baja), he is excited for us and wants us to come down real soon. We are praying, and if everything was ready I would be there yesterday. We will see. I guess that will be my next post

Bill

The Moss Family Adventure

The Moss Family Adventure
Well, today is a Saturday morning and I am up drinking some coffee and thinking about what I will do in the next hour or so while I wait for Misty to get up. We have an errend to run; we need to pick up a Toddler bed from a friend we had given/loaned. Emily is still in her crib and although she hasn't totally outgroan the crib its time to move on. She has been in that for much longer than her brother was. Joey would wake up and start screaming and crying till you got him up so we had him with thte crib modified to kiddie bed about as soon as he could walk. Emily sleeps later and if she does wake up the she sits in the crib playing with the stuffed animals.
This past week we have gone to the Sparks Marina and taken a walk around the lake there, last night we saw a bunch of people we know and were saying hi over and over again. It was like a dream, we ended up walking and talking with Rich and Sherry. rich is Misty's boss at work, we really like Rich. He is a good guy, smart, organized, does well when he is talking to the students when he is at his job as a Youth Pastor. He is a good father, and is really an example to me of grace under pressure. His oldest son has cancer, I am not an Oncologist so I can't explain all the stuff involved but I guess there is a possibility of his son dying soon. The whole story of all that will be covered in a separate entry sometime soon. The main thing is that Rich is good, it makes it hard for Misty to go he is such a god person to work for. Right now Misty's work goes very smooth because Rich is organized.
Enough for now, Tomorrow is an important meeting with the Global Outreach Committee at church. We will talk to them about our plans and hopefully get supported by Sparks Christian Fellowship in our Adventure. I will post about of course it is very pertinent to this BLOG.

The Moss Family Adventure

The Moss Family Adventure
CROSS EVERY BORDER Graham Kendrick

We will cross every border
Throw wide every door
Joining our hands across the nations
We’ll proclaim Jesus is Lord

We will break sins oppression
Speak out for the poor
Announce the coming of Christ’s kingdom
From east to west and shore to shore

We will gather in the harvest
And work while its day
Though we may sow with tears of sadness
We will reap with shouts of joy

Soon our eyes shall see His glory
The Lamb our risen Lord
When He receives from every nation
His blood bought bride
His great reward
Then we’ll proclaim Jesus is Lord
We shall proclaim Jesus is Lord

One day in 1994 I was listening to a Worship CD a friend had loaned me. It was the first March For Jesus CD and I was really liking it. As the music went on and I was in my room I was really touched by the Lord. And when the song Cross Every Border finished I prayed.. I want to do your thing God, not my thing. I was just so overwhelmed with the vision declared in the song and also the last verse just blew me away.

I trace my getting serious about wanting to go to Mercy Ships and also our plans to go to Ensenada with YWAM back to that morning.

The Moss Family Adventure

Here is a video from Hisgh Schoolers from our church that went to Ensenada Mexico on their summer mission trip.

Emily Moss

  

The Moss Family Adventure

i am trying to really gget wild and crazy here and try to post video.
1st attempt