Thursday, October 30, 2008

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.

Thursday, October 23, 2008

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.

Sunday, October 19, 2008

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.

Thursday, October 02, 2008

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.