Everyone Loves Gin!!

No, not the drink. Although I've heard that some love that too. Our good friend, and Auntie Gin to Caedence, has (like all our other dear friends and family) left us for the summer. She is Down Under. Carolyn, have an awesome time. Keep us up to date on your awesome adventures. We love ya!!

Camping 2006

The family had a great camping trip up at Cultus Lake. Lalainia's sister, and her sister's husband and son came along, also. Spent 2 nights and 3 extremely hot days. Although the mornings were a comfortable temperature until about 11:00 AM (because we were surrounded by trees), the afternoons were crazy hot, and were spent driving into Chilliwack to find refuge in a Dairy Queen or an air conditioned dollar store. Then, at about 3-4pm we would make our way back to the lake for some swimming, and dinner by the fire.
Lalainia and I had a great time with the little guy, and he was sad to have to leave. We plan on going up again before the summer is over.
I must say evenings with the family, in front of a camp fire, are pretty much irreplaceable.

Saul Alonzo Update!

Here's a new updated picture of our little guy Saul Alonzo that we sponsor through World Vision.

We received a letter from his mother and himself telling us more about him. He said in the letter that he wanted to be an excellent lawyer when he grew up -- too cute!

We also received a tracing of his hand (he's a year older then Caedence).

Please, if anyone is remotely interested in sponsoring a child, check out the World Vision link that Brad has put in the margin of this page. It is SO worth the small amount of money that it takes to see how it changes a child and a family's life!!

Mexico Pics

About the Trip

Well, it has been a great week. Being with my family has been very refreshing. There is a part of me that misses Mexico, but obviously, the faces of Lalainia and Caedence were on my mind throughout my trip.

For those of you wondering what the team actually did in Mexico, let me explain.
For the first week, we spent half the day working on building a farm house and clearing land for farming. Pastor Tomas Bencomo, from Juarez, has a heart for the Tarahumaran people of southern Chuihuahua. In order to teach them better farming techniques, he invites them 5 hours north to Rio Chico (his base of operations), has them live with him for several months, then sends them back to their people with a better farming techniques, a handful of pigs, a mule, and the knowledge of the Gospel. The farm we were building was for those he was teaching.

While in Mexico, I had the opportunity to preach in a small community called Pena Blanca (White Rock). It was quite an experience teaching with a translator, pausing for each sentence, so that Brenda(our guide, translator, and good friend) could translate for me. I also made some quick changes to my sermon, as I figured many of my illustrations were cultural in nature, and may have confused rather than enlightened.

On the day before we left Mexico, we found ourselves in Ciudad de Juarez; a city close to Vancouver in its size. Since Pastor Tomas was informed (by whom I still do not know) that I HAD a short career in music, he asked if I would sing at his church. After much prodding, and since I though his church would be similar in size to all the others we visited in Mexico (approx. 30) I agreed. However, when I walked into the church I found there to be more along the lines of 300 people. I was immediately nervous, but they were kind (it was my first "performance" of a song for which I played guitar). So it was a growing experience.
The Second week, we drove 6 hours further south, near the town of Creel. From there we drove 2-3 hours (lost all sense of time) driving off road. At times on pure rock, and at an angle I feared we would not be able to stop on. After this, and a night of rest we hiked further into the bush to deliver food to the Tarahumaran.
The hike itself was probably the biggest test of my will, and stamina I have ever experienced. Several were carried our via mule.

Check the post above for more shots of my trip; our work on the farm, some of the environments we traveled through, and some of the critters we encountered.

In the words of the sappiest Gospel song of all time: Pray for Me

I know that many of you who read our family blog are "people of faith", and with that in mind, I have a request. PRAY FOR US.
The past year and a half, have been a little confusing for me. I have the continual feeling that I should be doing something different with my life. This of course manifests itself by me telling Lalainia every second week that I have a new goal set, or a new idea for a carreer that is so obvious that I cannot believe I've missed it. I feel that I am suffering from MPD, with a head full of ideas one day and a new set the next. This, I feel, is totally unfair to my family. But the bottom line is I believe that I was meant to be doing more than I am doing right now.

This feeling, is perhaps never stronger than when I return from a trip such as the one I have just returned from. Whenever, I find myself involved in a ministry, whether preaching, or working on a missions trip, working in youth ministry, praying with someone, etc, I feel at home.

Over the next little while Lalainia and I will be asking a lot of God: clarity, understanding, wisdom, maybe I'll even become Gideon enough to ask for a blatant sign, so that I don't really need to think about it. I also plan on asking for some advice from those much smarter than I am; pastors, parents, missionaries, etc.

So, please remember us in your prayers. Especially Lalainia, my extremely patient, loving "stand by your man" woman. Pray that God's will (I am very uncomfortable using that word, as I am not completely sure what it means) will be evident.

Here are some more shots from my Mexico trip.

Back Home!

I am sitting in the Phoenix airport reevaluating my life. Not in some big major way, but in the same way I do every time I return from a short term missions trip. I have met people who are satisfied with very little. Who when giving simple gifts, like frizbees and toothpaste, had no idea how such things were used.
I met a man who has made it his life goal to reach a group of natives who still live in the wilderness, dying of starvation; physically and spiritually. I have met people who once or twice a month travel 18 hours, (3 of which are on mountain road unsuitable for anything but an all terrain vehicle beyond human comprehension), and 5 hours of which are hiking through jungle, down a canyon, four times deeper than the Grand Canyon (and back up again), in order to reach these people with food and the gospel.
What am I doing?

I have many stories, and many pictures to post, but since my time is limited here, I will leave it at this.