Fellowship Forum

every year we have a big house build with a lot of people that come down that have been here before. The event is called the Fellowship Forum, we will build 5 houses on Sunday and Monday; this group is a deluxe team so that means that they are staying at a hotel at night and not here on the base and usually they eat breakfasts and dinners at the hotel but on Monday they will all be here for breakfast. Its going to be a tremendous breakfast! I heve been getting ready for this for several days now, I dropped off a shopping list at Costco on Christmas eve in the afternoon, and yesterday I paid for all the stuff that was picked and today it will be delivered and sorted out for the 5 teams. Now I just hope for nice calm weather, but it has been really windy during the days and sometimes a lot of rain so I and waiting and seeing.

Christmas was fun, the kids got their presents and we had dinner at home and hung out together. We got to see our friend William Keomany who visits here; William brought some gifts for the kids and Joey got and Action Figure, for a day he was calling it an Action Finger. That was a good laugh for a while but I helped gently straighten him out.

Christmas Season is upon us here....

We are in the Christmas season, at YWAM Ensenada, it is about to get really quiet for a couple of weeks, lots of people will go home to visit, some of us will stay here and finish another week of school, and spend a family Christmas together in Mexico. Take a deep breath and get ready to build a bunch of houses during the week between Christmas and New Years.


We had a Staff Conference and land dedication event the first 3 days of the week in Tijuana, the Tijuana Rosarita property is just about ready to occupy and use and we were all there to celebrate and dedicate and pray for what will happen there. So I (Bill) made it to monday and it was awesome worship and the messages by the speakers was good, I didn't have to worry about arranging anything involving the lunches or dinner and I was able to fully engage myself in what was going on. What a change, I really liked it, Misty was in Sparks, Nevada on Tuesday and Wednesday to celebrate her friend Lisa's birthday. Yeah Lisa, looking great at 39!

Last night we had our annual Ensenada Christmas party, we had food, presents and fun. Things were starting to get ugly as a nice snuggly warm bathrobe was repeatedly taken and retaken, and again and again past counting; finally, the presents exchange was finished and the entertainment started and that was the cue to take kids home and get pajamas on and watch them run around with the new Barbie and Nerf Dart gun.

Seeing Old Friends, making relationships

Hey everybody, I was looking at yesterdays post and I forgot to mention something that is actually very important. We had a great time with the church that came down last week before thanksgiving. They were always offering to help out, most of the time I was alright; Thursday afternoon though they were a big help. Friday morning, same story, I came in and could tell that my two assistants were not going to be with me so I asked the couple that was there hanging out in the dining room to pitch in and and they and others helped me get out a meal for 235 hungry people from 2 churches, the base staffers and our Discipleship Training School Students. I have learned that the Lord always sends the right people to me when I am needing to get a meal out and I need to just do the essential things, STAY CALM and FRIENDLY and somehow when its time the bell gets rung and we have our meal.

Also part of what goes on in the kitchen is "Ministry". Thursday afternoon one of the helpers was a 20 something young woman who really loves the Lord and while they were working away Misty and her had the best conversation about what its like to be that age and wishing you were married, and trusting God to lead you to the right husband, and wondering why you are still single. Misty was encourageing her and sharing her wisdom and experience with our friend. I am so proud of Misty, I am so excited when things like that happen in the kitchen.

Wow that was a quick 30 days!

I was in such a great mood from getting my special gift of recognition that I forgot to write on the BLOG. Actually I am great at only a couple of areas of my life at a time. For the past month I have been concentrating on the areas of making food for the base and shopping, going to a spinning class with Misty, and getting ready for Thanksgiving. Actually thats more of the first part of my life, so I can say that I have been spending a lot of time concentrating on the cooking part of my life.

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! We have been really busy hosting teams this past month. Which is awesome becuase it means that families here in Ensenada are given the gift of hope, by receiving a new home!

Yesterday Bill was in the kitchen and cooked over 110 pounds of turkey and close to 50 pounds of ham, not to mention all the fix'ins, Misty and the kids were on the decorating commitee they covered all the tables with yellow and green table clothes and fresh cut flowers. One person did mention it looked like a John Deer Party, but then the flowers went on, and the candles too and it was a beautiful sight. We were scheduled to make food for 150. People just kept coming, and God kept providing, we had lots of full tummys, and lots of left overs. AWESOME!

This month is special for us as a family, A young man named Richie taught us what it means to live life to the full. Despite his battle with cancer he chose to go out into the world and share the love of Jesus with others. Richie's legacy lives on! It is our hope that everyday we can further along his and God's desire for everyone to know Jesus. We love you all Shannon Family!

"A thief is only there to steal and kill and destroy. I came so they can have real and eternal life, more and better life than they ever dreamed of." John 10:10 (The Message)

This is what the Moss family is thankful for!

My big surprise

This morning I went to the morning staff meeting before shopping; I was sitting with Misty and our Finance office manager came up to make a special presentation. She had a big bag from a candle shop and I thought what is this for? Then I thought of THE OFFICE and how Jan has a home business selling candles so I thought Tee Hee "Candles by Jan" Anyhow as the presentation was going on our finance manager Shirley was talking about working behind the scenes and how faithful this person is and I start to think hey who is this for and I started thinking of a Bugs Bunny cartoon I saw long ago where Daffy Duck is thinking he is going to be honored and is getting more and more excited for himself and then the Honoree is actually Bugs Bunny. So I am thinking good thoughts of my Hotel Services Manager Tamara and how deserving she would be and how hard she works and really rooting as much as I can for Tamara, but the gift was for me, I was so surprised and then I am kinda crying laughing at the same time. So I got this cute Chef figure that has a candle holder, so I need to clear out a spot in our little hutch to put this in to keep little fingers off of it, or else I can put it in my desk area too. It was nice to be thought of.

Cue the music from the TV show "COPS"

The excitement for Wednesday was as follows. Misty was at home in the late afternoon sitting at the kitchen table helping Joey with his homework and watching the kids that hangout at our skateramp. A car rolled up and a guy and girl came out and started acting suspiciously arranging things on the picnic table we have out there and Misty was seeing it all, then they noticed Misty and the girl moved back inside the car and continued. Misty called the security guy we have on the base whose name is Eliazer and he got hold of the Youth Ministry Director and they talked and called the Police who then Swooped in with 3 pickup trucks and arrests were made.

So thats good, we really want to have a place for local kids to come and skate but we dont want it to be a place to come and get high or drunk, or to come and sell drugs. But we are also a little bit worried that we could have incurred the wrath of some local drug lord who is gonna send a truckload of Shotgun wielding killers to the ramps and shoot at us through our window or even worse have Anton Chigur come by at night with a captive bolt pistol asking us to hold still.

I express this somewhat humorously but it is serious actually, so could you please pray for us to be safe while we wait for this all to settle out. I have been concerned and have spent time praying about the drug traffickers versus the Police and Soldiers that I see here. There are a lot of Police vehicles always driving around and pulling people over, sometimes I see the Military vehicles with a dozen soldiers all holding Large Caliber Rifles and wearing black facecoverings on their way, or pulling over a car and talking to the driver. Also the highways have military checkpoints where they stop vehicles with Mexican plates to ask what you are doing and where you are going. All of this is part of the Mexican governments war on drugs. We see news stories sometimes especially stories about Tijuana and routine killings and its kinda scary, but then I really feel bad because the drugs are on the way to the United States so our US citizens that like to toke up, and smoke crack and do Meth can get their drugs. SO I pray for safety for the honest police and soldiers, safety for the President of Mexico, and also that back home there could be a spiritual revolution so that lives would be spent serving God and being excited about the Lord and not lives that are so filled with boredom and hopelessness that need to be filled up with drugs.

Stay Cation resting

For the last couple of weeks I have been on vacation, I needed a break and it was good to take a break. On Monday I am going to get back into the kitchen and start thinking about Thanksgiving! We have a group that comes down every year to spend a week building, visiting orphanages and doing ministry there and also particiapate on the base. So I am going to get everything super organized so we can have a big delicious but not too stressful Thanksgiving holiday here in Ensenada.

I actually have spent a lot of Thanksgivings during my life working that day whether it was in the Navy, working in a casino, and during my days of Mercy Ships. Some were pretty fun actually, others were just memorable. My favorite thanksgiving during my Navy days was the one in McMurdo Station Antarctica, we all participated in the kitchen and the meal was great. I was in the Bakery that time and I think I made about 350 pies pumpkin and pecan. I can't think of a "fun" thanksgiving working in a casino, but I do remember once at the "Clarion" working from 11 in the morning till about 2 the next morning, I was in the employee cafeteria and I came in and worked my shift, stayed late for the guy who was on swing shift, he wanted to spend the time with his new girlfriend, and then at 11 pm the graveyard shift cook didn't show up so I stayed till 2 in the morning until the coffee shop sent someone in to relieve me. The thing I remember the most is that around 12:45 in the morning I was so mentally tired and ready to go and Conan O'Brian was on the TV in the Employee dining room and I saw Conan's visit to a modern day indian reservation to see how things are going for the Indians since that first Thanksgiving with the Pilgrims. They filmed it at a GIANT Indian Casino and I was about to lose it I was laughing so hard, it was really the mental exhaustion though. My favorite Thanksgiving during Mercy Ships was when we had made an emergency trip to Nicaragua after hurricanes in 1998, we delivered relief supplies and visited a community we had spent 3 months working with that was almost destroyed completly by a 10 foot mudslide. On our way home we did thanksgiving, it wasn't really a celebration, it was more of a time of thanksgiving for how blessed we really were and there was also such a spirit of Unity on the ship during that whole time period. Anyhow, what I am trying to say is that I am really looking forward to this Thanksgiving and I am excited to see how it turns out and I look forward to an awesome time together as a base.

Joseph and Emily have been having a good beginning of the school year, Joey is really settling in at his new school, does homework just about every afternoon right after school and Emily is doing great and gets cute remarks and smiley faces in her school book that the teacher writes in every day No red or blue stickers for Emily.

Misty really enjoyed her visit home and time she spent at the Ladies retreat, it was good for her to see friends, and she really heard from God during the retreat as well.

Clear Vision

These past few weeks we have been searching with God what our individual vision is. God has shown Bill a big picture of his role here in Ensenada. I wanted to share it with you all.

Big Picture of kitchen


Where I want to go with the Kitchen, and my work with YWAM San Diego Baja.

I know I am called to this Ministry area. I have been here for 2 years now and I see more clearly my vision. I want to have a Kitchen that is fun to work in, respected by the community, clean, organized and sanitary. We will have good professional equipment, and the kitchen will be staffed sufficiently with a team. We will serve excellent nutritious food that is prepared in the kitchen.


I (Bill) want the kitchen to be working efficiently, my life balanced and spending more time with the Lord seeking his face, getting exercise, spending time with my family and getting rest on days off. I also want to have the time to build my faith and skills as a missionary with YWAM, and enhance my professional knowledge. I want to grow professionally, be learning and teaching others to cook.

DTS Students and staffers will have the opportunity and structure to learn to cook, and to be loved in the kitchen and have their lives poured into. I want everybody who steps into the kitchen and puts on an apron to be honored and excited that they get to participate in what is going on. The kitchen will be a positive place to be in, not a last chance dead end for dirtbags who need to be reformed.

For YWAM Ensenada Baja, I want this to succeed, and really work in a practical way.

GOOD FOOD, INSPIRED STAFFERS/STUDENTS/KITCHEN TEAM

This is something that we can then teach and multiply here at the other locations, especially Tijuana Del Mar, Tecate and then to international locations within YWAM as a whole.

His days consisted of playing with dirt and a dog

We have people who come to the door of the kitchen asking for leftovers or water. A drunk guy coming from the beach stopped by to ask for a taco. If we have food we give it! We offer a glass of juice, water or a cup of coffee. A woman who is in her 30's dropped by with her three year old son. As we began to listen to her story we found out that her husband and her live nearby in a small trailer with no electricity or running water. They didn’t come here under the greatest of circumstances, We don’t really know the exact story but we do know it involves the husband and people that wear uniforms and badges. The little boy Aidan would be covered head to foot with dirt, he was a true boy, his days consisted of playing in the dirt with his only friend the family dog. We would give the family food, and we would think is there anything else we can do? One of our staff members and our human resources department begin to speak with her. She began to do some simple task around the base to help out. Then as time went by and relationships began we saw how God was working in this family. John was able to get a paying job, Linda helps us on a regular basis in the kitchen and Aidan has started his first year of kindergarten, a real milestone for him is learning to play with other kids and begin the process of getting more socialized. Since he has never been around other kids we have had to help him learn about finding a toilet to pee in when he had the urge, previously he would just whip it out and go wherever he was standing outside. We are all excited to be apart of this families story. It all started with seeing a need and meeting that need and then journeying
alongside.

Speakers, Home work, and...

OH MY! This week has been amazing and it's only Wednesday! I (misty) have been attending a "Go Team Seminar". This seminar is giving us essential tools for building support. It's been exciting and draining at the same time. We get to make vision/mission statements, revamp budgets, research websites, newsletters, draw up communication pieces, etc. all the while listening to some amazing stories, and biblical philosophy on how God has and will provide. It's all right up my alley! I love this kind of stuff!
Then... I hear that negative voice in the back of my head say, You can't do this... You're not good enough... You should pack it in... You are a failure... Has God really chosen you and Bill to do this...

ABSOLUTELY HE HAS!! and I recognized that all those little voices are LIES from the PIT.

Bill and I have a passion to encourage and serve others in anyway the Lord sees fit. If that means fixing sandwiches and cooking scrumptious meals for teams to come down to build a home for a family who has nothing. Than we will do it! We love being apart of what God is doing here in Ensenada. We also would like to journey alongside you and others who have chosen to share the message of God's mercy, love and grace, to others! We are all tools for God! No matter where we live and what we are doing, we are all about building the Kingdom of God in every nation, in every city, in every work place, and HOME.

SO YES I can do this! YES I am Good Enough! YES I should be prepared to move at any notice wherever God is leading our family, and lastly I have not failed, I'm only starting to grasp all that God has planned for us.... Well the last one is a stretch:) Who can even grasp God. But you get what I mean! Be encouraged friends! I am certain that God, who began the good work within you, will continue his work until it is finally finished on the day when Christ Jesus returns. Phil. 1:6

Amen!! let's get in the GAME:)

AND SO IT BEGINS...

Mission adventures is over and now we welcome the Homes of Hope season. These past couple of weeks we have been cleaning the base and getting the kids off to begin a new year in school. Joey is attending a private school for Grade one and Emily is in her second year of Kindergarten at the same private school as last year. She even has the same teacher! Both of the kids are excited to begin school again. Bill and Misty are excited for the fall to come, to us it means new teams, new students attending DTS, and new staff to pour into. Bill has been praying about starting a class for Mexicans to learn English. This past week we found out that a Juvenile Hall has offered to let our Youth Ministry "Revolution" in and they would like us to teach English twice a week to about 20 or so High schoolers. Praise God! Bill will begin this adventure in October. Misty has been given the task of aiding the Base leader in various duties, one she has come particularly fond of is transportation. She is using her organizational skills to insure that people who visit our facility get picked up from the airport and make it all the way down to our base and then back home again. She's really good at it, and enjoys it. She is also beginning a small group for the staff ladies. This too will begin in October. She's in the midst of searching for material to study. So if you have any suggestions don't hesitate to sign in and give your idea, she is always open for ideas! We are so blessed to be able to do this adventure! We thank God everyday for those of who are supporting us on a daily basis. Please know that we could not do this with out your prayers and finical support! So to you we say THANK YOU! You are making a life long difference for sure!!

The Season is almost over and its time to name the most valuable player

Yes the Mission Adventures season in finishing, we are now into the outreach portion of the 5th cycle. I need to give a big shout out to a very special person who has been a huge help and encouragement to me in the kitchen this Summer... Aubrey Faith. She spent a lot of time helping out and making my life more manageable. I had plenty of time to do all my planning, shopping, spending time with Misty and is just really an amazing person. Jesus is doing a lot of neat stuff in her life and she is getting ready to go to Australia to attend a YWAM school about primary health care. Its going to be a sad day when she leaves but me and Misty wish her the best.

Wednesday Morning

As the week rolls on I am busy in the kitchen, Misty is getting the house ALL HOMEY. I told her that yesterday, when I was a kid our house was alright, when I was on my own I would try to make things look nice but I never succeeded, but Misty always has made our house or apartment lokk so much like a home wherever we are whatever we are doing. I really appreciate that about her. We have been really blessed by the Kalin family who are here for the second year. Tom, Mindy and their daughter Ashley are here for a few weeks and they have helped so much with getting stuff for us, and Tom reinstalling our satellite dish, spoon racks, electrical things, ripping out the old kitchen etc etc. As soon as we get the kitchen all straight I will post pictures of the finished project and the view overlooking the skate ramps and volleyball court on the side of the YWAM base. The ocean too!

I was tired from all the weekend activity, and yesterday I needed the alarm clock to wake up; today I am back to normal and awake at 4 having to try to be quiet as a mouse while I have coffee and read emails and everything else so early. I do have my work desk set up now though, so once I get an actual key to the office I can go up there in the early morning and do stuff and be noisy and out of earshot of the people here that actually sleep normally. I actually like the quiet of the morning to piddle around and wake up gradually so that at 6 when the action starts I am at temperature and ready to go and not standing like a zombie. I also go to bed a bit earlier too though.

Misty's boss Kody has been away for a few days, he was with a group that went to Juarez Mexico to help out the YWAM base there. Flooding had damaged the area where they are and we came down to help in the neighborhood, and try to do repairs to the Wall at the base. It was still raining with more floods happening though so every project they were trying to do was wiped out before they finished. I heard that and I was sad, then I thought "that reminds me of the kitchen" Anyhow all the team arrived back on Monday afternoon, tired and a little bit in need of a good hot shower. That base has a master plan being worked on and I think it involves some sort of flood control or flood diversion. I will ask the person who is working on that project what is going on so I can report what the plan is so readers will have a sense of closure.

Monday!!! Another Cycle starts!!!!

Last weekend was pretty fast, I had no time to even have a computer on much less post on the blog. We have been in the process of changing apartments from across the street to a 2nd floor apartment here on the actual YWAM Base; we are pretty much settled in except for one small detail: our kitchen cupboards need to be purchased and installed. We also need to move our Satellite dish over and get it re installed, along with a ceiling fan we have at the other apartment. The important thing is that the beds are over and the living room is set up and it is a lot roomier than across the street. The living room is wider, we had to make a sacrifice, and have everyone together in the bedroom though to get the roomier living room and awesome view of the ocean. It took a lot of thinking about it till we found a way it would work but Misty and I feel good about it. The way the walls were set up and the giant wardrobe in one corner that was installed there was no way to have 2 rooms out of that space. We are going to set some privacy dividers but for now its a good arrangement, everyone has lots of space and the goofy wall next to the bedroom window makes an awesome walk in closet with PLENTY of space for the stuff we have. A lot of people helped us move during the weekend and without them it would have been impossible.

The kids are having a good time living on the base and they have been spending a lot of time playing with the other base kids in an unhurried fashion and things don't get cut short when it is time for mom or dad to have a time out, all we have to do now is just go home and keep the door open to hear what is going on.

SO that's how things are today,

Praising God

Hey everybody!!!

So right now it is friday morning and I just got back from across the street at the YWAM base where I enjoyed a cup of coffee. It was really quiet there and I sat in the courtyard and just thought about stuff; I thought about our apartment and our moving process, yesterdays trip to the water park in Tijuana, my children, the birds that were hopping around in the courtyard, I also thought about how blessed I am today that I can get up and just relax and think for a few moments before the day really gets going. It was nice.

We have a DTS going on at the San Diego office this summer. I think that is a great place to do a DTS in the summer because the schedule is so crazy here in the summer that they get lost in the shuffle while Mission Adventures is happening. The Students are going to come here for a week though pretty soon to build a house and spend a week of lecture here in Ensenada. I was thinking of the worship times they have so when I came back home I got on YouTube and looked up David Crowder and I found a neat version of his O Praise Him song that has a guy walking around a city listening on his headphones and then Praising God in the Streets here is the link here I hope it works ....


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IpVsF4W8V2Y




And now to provide more details about other things I mentioned. Our Apartment situation is that we are getting an Apartment at the YWAM base, we ripped out the old cabinets in the kitchen and cleaned that all up with a lot of help from the Kalin Family who are spending a few weeks here working with us. Dad Tom does construction and all kinds of other stuff back home in Washington and Mom Mindy and Daughter Ashley are very handy as well. SO the kitchen is ready to receive the new cabinets and the apartment is all cleaned up and ready to move into, we have already brought things over and its just mostly big stuff. Misty and all the above mentioned painted the living room and dining area with some fresh paint and it will be very livable in just a couple of weeks.

Yesterday we went to the water park in Tijuana as a small group of just a few families and had a good time, I did slides and Misty and Joey did even more than me, I was really impressed with Joey going down the big water slide on a tube. He is the real man in the family. It was a good day, the terror of slinding down a steep tube in the dark as I am gasping for air because of the fright is so mind clearing!

So after this weekend we will get started with cycle 4 of Mission Adventures, this group is just 2 churches but the last group on Cycle 5 are going to be massive, we are going to go out with a bang this year. Today I am going to drop off the shopping list at Costco for Mondays delivery and get my office area upstairs finally cleared out, I have been doing any kind of administrtive task at home in our apartment in the past but those days are soon over because the dining table will be a dining table. My summer resolution is to not have the table all covered up with a laptop and papers and my Macho Kitchen Man Bag etc.

Tuesday July 22, 2008

Well, two years ago today we were in Ensenada visiting the YWAM Base and checking this place out before finalizing plans to come here. It was the end of the 3rd cycle of Mission Adventures and we arrived in the early afternoon and went for a whirlwind tour of Ensenada and visited a building site. Enjoyed a pizza dinner and watched part of the final evenings program. So, here we are and as the second year of actually working here is about to finish I feel we have laid a foundation for ministry. We are getting more and more fluent at Spanish, we are building relationships in the community, we are finding our way around much quicker than ever before and we are seeing more and more opportunities to serve the Lord, encourage other people here on the YWAM base and really feel at home here.

I (Bill) am in the kitchen and as the days and months go by I see that I have opportunities to get to know the other staffers here on the base and when schools are going on I get to meet and work with and spend a lot of time with the students in the afternoons when we do work duties. I used to want to be on DTS staff years ago when I was first in YWAM but that never happened but now I finally see that I get to spend more time with the students than they do with speakers or most of their school leaders. SO many minds to poison SO little time!!! Actually I am not poisoning minds I plan to spend lots of time encouraging them however that happens as we are doing life together those afternoons. Misty is busy keeping up with the tasks that Kody the base leader gives her, but she is always seeming to get into really good conversations with the other girls on the base and I see her pouring herself into these girls and young women and I am so proud of her.
Joey and Emily are as sweet and wonderful as ever and it so fun to listen to them talking to the spanish speaking people on the base or out in town.

So, what we are saying is we really want to stay and keep on doing what we are doing. I will be sharing more about what is going on this summer, we have a lot of stories that we are behind on so watch out more is coming.

SCF is HERE!

Hi everyone Summer time is flying fast! Generation from SCF landed here in Ensenada on Monday, and now it's friday! WOW! They have been a huge blessing to us here. Today they take all the training the have been doing out in to the city. First stop one of our local church's they will do dramas, games, and a vacation bible school program for the kids in this colonial.  To see some photos of our team through out this week check out this website at http://www.flickr.com/photos/ensmaphotos . Then choose the the MA Summer set and pick the date you would like to view. These sets are placed up their daily so check back to see your favorite missionaries:) Please continue to pray for these students here, like I said previously they are heading out for the outreach part of their training. Pray that God would use these dramas, and VBS to reach the kids and teens and maybe even some adults to begin their journey with Christ. We are really excited to have SCF here it always feels like home when they are here!

Joey's Turning 6

Yep he made it to 6 well almost. Joey's birthday is June 13 and once again we are hosting Dress up as a Superhero birthday party! All the staff and the Mission Adventure staff get so excited to make their costumes it a great sight and a wonderful time for Joey and the base kids to not to be the only ones dressed up. If you would like to contribute to Joey's b-day, you can send him b-day cards, E-mail notes, Legos, Any action figures, or whatever God puts on  your heart. He loves to get mail and who doesn't love to get presents. If you have a desire to send something off to Joe or Emily or any of the base kids, send them to Joey Moss Ywam Ensenada Base 1oo west 35th street Suite C, National City, CA 91950.

Bill and Misty this whole week have been in training for Mission Adventures, It's been great getting to know these students. We can't wait for Sparks Christian Fellowship to come down and serve alongside us this summer. This year they will be building a home for the Hernandez Chavez Family. Gillermo age 20 and his wife Azucena age 35, Erik age 18, Areli age 11, Jorge age 5. The text below is from the Homes of Hope selection.   

Gillermo and Azucena have been married for 2 years.  Guillermo is Azucena’s second husband.  5 years ago she decided to separate from the father of her children because he hit her a lot. 

Her husband is very young, but very responsible.  He loves Azucena and her children like they were his own.  Her and her mother-in-law bought a piece of land on credit, and are sharing the payments. When they finish paying off the lot, they are going to change the title to be for two separate lots.  Their property is divided into two parts, and on her mother-in-law’s side, another organization built her a small wood house because she had always lived with Azucena. Please be in prayer for this family and for the Sparks Christian Fellowship team that will be building their home

Let Me Tell You How I Really Feel About Emily and Joey

As you can see from looking at the History of this BLOG there is a lot of material in here about Joseph and Emily. It's because we are proud of them and they are very easy on the eyes too. Especially compared to looking at pictures of Bill. But I do want to say in all seriousness, we are so happy they are here with us and they get to participate in Ministry stuff with the parents and they open doors that would have been closed had they not been there.

Building Houses, building Lives

Hey I know it may sound a little bit corny, but that's a good way to describe what we do here with YWAM Sa Diego Baja. This photo is from last November but it is important to publish now because so many things are in the picture.

First the Lord is glorified because some of His Children stepped out of their comfort zone to make a LONG drive to build a house and then quickly turn around and make another LONG drive to go back home and get back to their regular lives.

They blessed a family that needed a clean dry place to live; giving them more of a future for themselves and their children than they had before. For years this family will remember how they were blessed with this house and how incredible GOD is that He provided them with this house.

While the house was being built relationships were made between the family and the team from Sparks Christian Fellowship that came to build, between the Team and the Staffers from YWAM San Diego Baja, and even family ties were strengthened while the house was being built.

Yeah so this is one of the things the Moss family is up to here in Ensenada, Baja California, Mexico. Thank you for allowing us to be part of this.

1 day of baseball practice

Enjoy! These boys are soo cute:) Oh to be 5 and 6 again!

Spring Break Update

Ok so now it’s the 24th of March and we are a couple of weeks into spring Mission Adventures, in the morning it is off the hook with over 250 people eating breakfast and then off to build or do evangelism in town. This week we have a lot of skateboarders with us so in the afternoon when they come home they take over the parking lot of the apartments and generate a lot of noise. Mostly it is the boodaloodaloodaloodaloop sound of wheels going on the tile walkways. I made the same sound myself when I was a freshman in High School and the Vice Principal promptly confiscated my skateboard, for right now at least it is a skater friendly area so there will be no confiscations of skateboards or any other toys for that matter.

Misty has finished the Spanish School and is now practicing and it has truly given her the courage to just get out and communicate, and be free to make mistakes and learn out on the streets. So THANK YOU Sparks Christian Fellowship for the financial assistance, and good job Misty.

We are into the second week of Spring vacation for our 2 kindergarten students; I had seen them getting pretty stressed out from all the exams and research projects they were having to turn in, plus there was the chemistry lab in the afternoons’. They are doing pretty good right now though, today we went to see Horton Hears a Who. In Spanish it is called Horton y el Mundial de los Quien. I also saw that a new comedy that came out called Drillbit Taylor is there also but in Mexico it is titled Guardespalda Escolar, which means school bodyguard. Emily and Joey liked the movie.

I have a very great helper in the kitchen right now named Imelda, she was here last year for about 5 months and returned last fall and did a Discipleship Training School. So for now I have her very able hands in the kitchen and it is a true blessing. Imelda is a graduate of the Cordon Bleu Cooking School in London England and has 6 years of experience in restaurants in England and Canada. We are going to have an intern from the Cordon Bleu school in Portland, Oregon here for a few months in the summer I am also looking forward to that, this intern did the baking and pastry program, so we will be trying to get a lot of homemade bread, pastries, and muffins. The main goal right now is to get a true team in the kitchen so the workload gets spread around a bit better.

Sunday March 9, 2008

Hello everybody, it is Bill here the Moss Family is enjoying an intimate breakfast of cereal and blueberry muffins and Herbie Rides Again is on the television. Tomorrow we will be ending a somewhat "quieter" season and will start the Spring version of Mission Adventures; we have 4 weeks of teams coming for a week at a time. There will be a lot of High Schoolers running around.

Misty is about to start the third week of her Spanish School, the class goes for 8 hours a day and she is doing really good. They started with lesson 1 and they are now on lesson 10, she has a couple more weeks left and then to practice. Joey and Emily are about to start spring break and this week they are going to participate in a Mini Olympics. They have been going to gymnastics on Mondays and Wednesdays for a few weeks now and Joey likes the bar and the trampoline. On the bar Joey does something called the Alligator where he moves hand to hand sideways along the bar. Emily likes practicing jumping with her class of 3 year olds and she also likes Cinderella which doesn't really have too much to do with Gymnastics but she talks a lot about Cinderella; she really wants to see Cinderellas house but for now we might just have to settle for a trip to Sleeping Beauty's house because Cinderella's house is in Florida.

Spanish School

The first week is over and I feel great! I've been fighting off a flu for the past ten days, the "Spanish Flu" as my friend Shelly says. I tell everyone I'm in Kindergarten, The teacher is soo nice and soo patient and our class is really small only four students the second level class that is also going at the same time has 9 people in it and they have to pay 5 pesos every time they speak english. My goal for the week was to get a star on the Special board.  Which I did on the last day in the last hours of class!! YA MISTY! We as a family went to church this weekend and for the first time since I've been here I could understand some of what the preacher was saying, and most of the words in the worship songs. I just need to keep practicing and know that for a while I'll sound a bit foolish to my Mexican Friends, but I need to keep it up! I've been given such an awesome opportunity to go to this school that I don't want to waste it! Bill as been amazing during this time, he has been Mr.MOM and he did and is doing a great job! The kids are excited that mom is finally going to speak Spanish. They've been practicing with me all weekend long, and Joey has been helping me with my numbers which I get mixed up all the time, it makes him laugh and that makes me smile! 

Joey and Emily at the Flag Ceremony at School

Hello Readers,

We have been home for about a month now, we celebrated Christmas, sent the fall DTS away on outreach to Peru, received the January DTS 23 students, hosted

 2 sets of Deluxe teams, and the kids started school after a long winter break.

  

We got to visit our cousin Jimmy for a couple of days right after New Years, his mom passed away and he came home on leave from Iraq. Considering the circumstances it was a good visit. We hung out, played board games, Misty got to go see Chris our cousins get sworn in to the Marine Corps, and Joey went to the Marine Corps base and came home with a regulation haircut they call it "high and tight".  It's growing out now and he's going let the freak flag fly for now, maybe in the spring we can get it cut again.

 

Joseph and Emily have been enjoying school, last Monday Mom and Dad went to watch the "honoring the flag" ceremony; it is a big deal there, so much so that if you are late to school during the previous week you do not get to participate. Misty is planning to post the video that we shot soon. Joey is getting more independent at home and doesn't need to be constantly entertained, and we are getting ready to change bed arrangements for the kids; we are going to put in a top bunk for Joey and put Emily on the twin size bed below and graduate Emily from the little toddler bed.  Emily is excited to have a big bed.

 

Bill has a kitchen team now, and we hired a guy named Salvador from Ensenada to help out with cleaning for a few months.  Salvador has been a huge blessing to us all and is filling a need we have on the base to just help out in the kitchen and clean and organize.  Also two other YWAMers, Saul and Moises are helping with the cooking also.

 

So that's what is going on lately, keep reading we will be posting again soon.