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.
Wednesday, July 30, 2008
Monday, July 28, 2008
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,
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,
Friday, July 25, 2008
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.
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
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.
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.
Friday, July 04, 2008
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!