Today we arrived back in Michigan. We have had a loooooooooooong couple of days. Last night we arrived at our hotel in California, we arrived at about 2:00 am and had 3 hours to shower and then left for the airport at about 5:15. One of the flights left at 6:20 so it was quite a rush to get on the plane. With God on our side we made it to the plane with only minutes to spare. We arrived safely at the hotel in Detroit at about 5:00 pm., we are all excited to shower, swim, eat pizza and sleep. We are all very excited to see you all as well!
Love,
Mexicali 2008
Hello all!
It seems CRAZY that tomorrow is our last day in Mexico!!!
The students have gotten into the groove and everything is going really well. I know they are super excited to share everything with you when they get home. Our translators are exhausted mentally, but hanging in there!
The building team is on schedule, but planning on working long into the night to stay that way and finish at a reasonable time tomorrow. The fact that the electricity will be in this evening is both good and bad. Great because the team can work longer….bad because the team, who really needs to sleep….can work longer! They are at a point today where there is a lot of work that the kids can help with!
This evening we are all meeting for dinner at Danny´s (an annual event) and then heading to services. Everyone has a choice between a service at Purple Mongoose´s site or going to the candlelight service at camp. We have 25 going to the church service (a 3 hour one, by the way) about 10 staying at the buildsite, and 10 going to the candlelight service.
Almost all students got a shower yesterday, so they no longer stink….you should smell those boy´s tents, though!!! YUCK! TO the parents who will be washing their clothes when they get home…I am sooooo sorry. They stink!
I know this update is a bit more random…but we have hit the middle of the week. All is going well, everyone is happy, and I think all are going to be shocked when it sinks in that tomorrow is the last day!
Looking forward to seeing all of you again, but NOT to the cold weather that you all keep telling us about!
In His Grip,
Amy and the Mexicali 2008 Team
Hey all!
Just wanted to say thanks for the comments! We read them each morning. Finkles, we love the randomness…game updates and the cleaning of rooms and whatnot! John H.everyone was excited to hear from you since you have been gone so long! Wives of Jamie and Mike, you must know that your boys miss you! They miss the mornings when we read the comments because they are already at the build sites. They are funny in the evening when they stalk me and wait up until they can catch me to give them the sheets with the love notes sent from their wives!! Somehow Scott from the buld team is always around when we read them…I have not figured out yet how he manages that one…the build site is faaaar from camp and they only have one vehicle. I think he can secretly teleport!
John H., you asked about the house we built last year. We have good news and bad news to report. The house is looking great, they have done a lot of work on it since we left! I spoke to the mom today and she is really excited because DIF (Mexican Social Services) is going to put electricity in for the fam. I have been picking up about 6 kids from the house each day to take them to VBS…I really have no idea where they all come from. Only 3 of them are from the house! On the bad side, some of the kids have been taken away again and are living with DIF. Upon speaking to DIF, I have learned that the reason is that the mom went to work and left the kids at home alone. DIF showed up and found out, so they took them again. SHe should have them back soon, though. The dad is in jail for stealing.
I am excited for this year, because DIF took the time to really consider which family should receive a house. They went over many files to determine who would be best served with a new house and who would take the best care of it. There are immense differences between the family this year and last year. I can even only take the kids to VBS for about 2 hours, because they are so concerned about getting back to the house to help build! DIF also purchased the electrical supplies, which was a HUGE help!!
ok, that´s all I have to say about the comments…
Thanks for shaing your love and prayers with us!!
In His Grip,
Amy
Hello Hello!
Today, we have our team updates! yeah!! Here they are…
Les is More (Ashli, Joey, Melanie, Sara, Sam Biggs, Calire, Dan Minnie, Ryan, Beth and Les)
Sarah, Sam and Les, were reunited with seom familiar faces at Pastor Luna´s site on Saturday. The rest of us were blessed with the chance to meet Pastor´s family and the kids around the site. The kids were amazing and so full of love. On Sunday we started our VBS. We played soccer, colored, and played Rock, Paper, Scissors, all day long. We have already formed quite the bond withthe kids! We have diligently been working towards involving the community in our dramas. Pastor Luna even gave an object lesson after our drama. It was awesome! Beth started women´s crafts today as well. The women loved it and all went well. We are excited for the rest of the week and the adventures in store for us!
Guinea Pigs (ESL…Eric Herhuth, Kelly, Sam Poet, Joan, Liz)
It has been amazing to see what God has done so far! Each day we have been going to two different sites. At each one we have had around ten to fifteen people in attendance. We have been doing crossword puzzles, singing songs, reading dialogs, and playing games with them in order to help them learn or better their English. They are very eager and excited to learn. We can´ñt wait to see what else God has in store for the rest of this week!
Purple Mongoose (Chris, Chris, Jeff, Julie, Amanda, Connor, Steve, Matt, Eric S., Jamie, and Michelle)
Today we started off going to the building site to get los ninos. (the kids!). We stop by and get the kids from both the house we built last year, as well as from the new house we are building to take them to VBS. We actually invited 3 kids. Each day we have about 8 show up! The house is coming along quite nicely. The church that we are working with is growing and in the process of being built. The air conditioning is very primitive, on four steel stands. THe Pastor´s wife Lily remembers us and is very welcoming and supportive of our VBS program. We couldn´t ask for more. Our Spanish and our soccer skills are improving every day. God´s power is felt here every day! Our team has double duty, as after we leave the church site each day, we head over to the build site, where we work on the house with the building team. It is keeping us very busy and extremely tired!!! It is, howeever, great!!
Team Sincronizado (Chet, Carissa, Sydney, Christina, Jake, Ian, Saul, CJ, Amy S., Dan, Cara, Daniella)
So, we have to be honest here in that we can not actually find this team´s update!! We will fill you in, however, and give you their actual version tomorrow!! This team also has double duty, as they are doing VBS programs at two different churches each day. In the morning, they are at Pastor Carlos site. This is the location that we built a church on a couple years ago. It is also the place where there were only a few kids 2 years ago. It is amazing to see that now they have well over 50 kids at their site!!!!
The team then heads over to Saul´s church, which is a mission. The church meets at Saul´s house, actually! This is a family that Octane has had ties to for over 6 years!!! It is a great place to be- and they have offered their shower to us too! YEAH!!!
Building Team
The house is coming along well! The concrete was poured yesterday and dried well. Today all the walls that the students built will be put up!! It is great to see it all happening! We will update you more on the house tomorrow!!
Overall, everything is going well. Keep praying. No health concerns, no fighting, no problems of any sort. We have even come in under our budget in many areas. After the building team goes over their budget by $500, then I THINK we will only come home $3500 short or so (much better than the $15,000 short a couple weeks ago!). We are confident that this will come in through the left over Aunt Polly letters…so tell people that we are DEFINITELY still taking donations!!
We love hearing your comments each day and appreciate all the prayers and support that you are sending our way!!
In His Grip,
Amy and the Mexicali 2008 teams!
Buenas Tardes, todos! Toda esta bien aqui en Mexicali….
oh! English!! 
Today should be shorter. We are awaiting team updates with bated breath…so Becky and I will just tell you what we know from visiting them!
First off, Build Team…
The pipes have all been laid, walls built, concrete poured, and trusses finished. They are doing an amazing job. It is hard to believe that even though we brought a building team of 4, there are constantly upwards of 20 people working at the site. Today, however, was a bit shorter as after the concrete was laid and the trusses finished, we had to wait until tomorrow to continue building! This is good, as the team has been putting in looooooooong days already!! The building team has tried to shower twice, yet once couldn´t find the showers….then found them and they were closed. Maybe tonight! It seems that, with enough prayers, we can finish the house on time this year!
English as a Second Language (Guinea Pigs riding in the Guinea Mini!)….
WOW! This team is an experiment this year. We had no idea what to expect. It has been AMAZING!! At Pastor Carlos´site alone, they had 12 students today! It is incredible to see them in action, and to see how excited the Mexicans are to be there! I can´t wait until you all see the video!
VBS teams…
All is going well. Each team has found their own way to incorporate the community into their programs. They love what they are doing and are extremely excited. I don´t think we have even one student who is not happy and excited with their ministry site! I will leave telling more up to them in their updates for tomorrow!!
Pray for a few things…
1. Energy. Derived from SLEEEEEEEEEEEEP!!!!!
(All of Octane has been asleep at least 30 min BEFORE lights out each night!!)
2. Continued progress and safety at the build site!!
3. Team Unity for each of our teams, as well as our team as a whole.
4. That each person on the trip grows in their walk with God.
5. THANKSGIVING! Things have been going really well!
K, We´re out! We will hopefully talk to you manana! (Tomorrow for you non’Spanish speakers!)
In His Grip,
Amy and Becky
Hello Everyone!!!!
It has only been a couple days since we wrote, but SOOO much has happened!!
So, here is the update so far….
On Thursday, we all visited La Jolla. Everyone had a great time on the beach and spent time meshing as a team! In the afternoon, we split in half. Some went to Mission Beach ….a beach with a roller coaster, souvenir shops, and some nice sand. Others went to Seaport Village downtown, while 10 of us went sailing on Mike´s sailboat! Dinner, of course, was In and Out Burger. Overall, it was an awesome, relaxing day!
On Friday, we had quite the interesting day. We like to say that we had a bad day and didn´t even realize it because we were so busy enjoying each other and sunny Cali! We started the morning with an awesome faith experience. Ask your students about the donuts they received in Cali! We then spent the morning hanging out inthe hotel, swimming, and getting ready to cross the border. We then went to Fiesta Island to have a 20 minute lunch while Becky picked up Mike and Jamie from the airport….only we were there for about 2 hours! The airline had lost Mike´s luggage, so we had to hang around and see if it was going to show up. Never fear…it did! …the next day. It worked out perfectly, though, because we had two San Diego visitors coming down the next day. They picked up his luggage so that we could head across the border!
We then headed towards Mexico. The drive went quickly, the border crossing easy. Then within a quarter mile of crossing the border, The Silver Bullet…Jeff and Chris´s van…went up a curb and came down with two flat tires! Some say this was because Team Purple Mongoose stole the Silver Bullet from Team Les is More. It was amazing, however, to see how well everyone handled the problem. WIthin a couple minutes, the guys were out of the cars, taking charge of the situation. No one was stressed or upset and everyone was back on the road in just a few minutes! We finally made it to camp, where we set up tents, picked up Saul from his house, ordered DELICIOUS pizza and had our AWESOME Good Friday Experience! Overall, it was a great day to build our team unity and transition to the mission portion of our trip!
On to Saturday…
Here I must pause to say that our team this year is comprised totally and completely of incredibly awesome, wonderful, fantastic students and leaders!!!! The teams all stayed at camp all morning and built 17 walls for the house! This took many hours in the HOT HOT sun. We went through 15 5 gallon waters!!! The teams worked together and had a great time building the walls. Through’out camp, we heard many compliments.
The building team went to the actual site to build the house. They were remotely surprised to find that not all the houes had been demolished and the family is once again planning on staying onsite while the construction takes place. Although…what would Mexicali be without a few fun surprises?!?!? They handled it really well and went right to work. What some of you may not know, is that our building team, who is going to build and entire house complete with plumbing and electricity, is only comprised of 4, yes, count them, FOUR guys!! It was amazing, then, to look up an hour later and realize that over 20 people were working on the house!!!!! Many neighbors, friends, and family members were helping. It was great!
After the wall building, each team took the time to visit with their pastors and their church. They then returned to camp where we had our opening worship. While lights out was not until 10:30, all of our students were quietly in bed by 10:00…and many even before this!!! Yes, we exhausted your kids yesterday! They did love it, though!
FINALLY, today, EASTER Sunday! We started witha sunrise praise…after the sun was up…oooops. All the nails had been taken out of our cross overnight and the sins that had been on there from Friday were in ashes at the base of the cross. There were flowers on the cross and white drapings. We then had our morning worship with the entire camp and headed out to our sites. We will let you know how everyone´s first day went tomorrow. We SHOULD be able to write daily now!
Everyone seems to be happy, healthy, and hydrated. Everything is going AMAZINGLY well, and both youth and adults alike are incredible!!!
Thank you for sharing your family with the Mexican community on this special and important day!
In his Grip,
Amy and Becky
Hello!!
We made it safely to San Diego! Everyone is happily on the beach in La Jolla! We were also on the news last night in Detroit! Chek out the link below to see us!!
We will write more after we travel to Mexico tomorrow!
In His Grip,
Amy & the team
< ?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = “urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office” />
- Emergency Numbers
- Travel Days & California
- Amy 586-764-2285
- Becky 586-322-8778
- In < ?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = “urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags” />
Mexico
Azusa Pacific (626) 812-3027 (They will get a message to us)
- Communication while in
Mexico :
- We will update the weblog as often as possible while in both Cali & Mexico. Check it out NOW to make sure you know how to get on it and that you can read it!! If you leave comments, we will read these to the students! http://mexicali.octaneministry.com
- Your students will not be able to call you while in
Mexico .
- Actual Flight Info
- When? Everyone MUST be at the airport by
4:00 pm !! - Where? Frontier Terminal – REGARDLESS of YOUR airline!!
- See attached page for more times & details.
- Hotel Info:
Detroit : April 21st : Best Western Gateway International Hotel
- www.bestwetern.com , phone #: 734-728-2800
(call or mapquest for directions)
- Pick up your kids:
Noon on Saturday March 29th @ the Best Western.
- Other Items to Know:
- ALL, ALL, ALL medications go to Beth Lukas. This includes and OTC meds!
- Passport or Birth certificates/photo Ids should all be turned in to Kelly Kamm Sunday.
- Students can bring their …
- extra item (tent, cooler, guitar, bin) Don’t forget!!!!!!!!!
- 1 carry-on
- 1 50 pound hockey bag – PLEASE weigh!!
- NO cell phones, unless specific permission has been given. If they are brought they will BECOME OURS…potentially FOREVER!!!!
- Musical Devices may NOT be brought, unless they have been requested by an adult for team van use only. They WILL become ours if brought. Students MAY bring CD’s to play in the van. These MUST be appropriate…not even boarder-line, or once again become ours. (burned copies recommended)
- Digital Cameras/video equipment may be brought, but make sure your student is VERY responsible, as they can get broken/lost very easily.
- Put your student’s name in sharpie on all disposable cameras!!
- Bathing suits for girls MUST meet in the middle.
- Pack in Gallon Size ziplock bags.
- Send hand sanitizers to keep your kids healthy!!!!!
- Girls can wear capris/jeans this year.
- Please remember – no white shirts!
Please read through this with your traveler.
Hello Hello Hello to all Friends and Family Members!!!
We have gotten a few questions about details. So, here they are!!
We will all meet at the Frontier Terminal at 4:00 Pm tomorrow, WEDNESDAY.
Anything that your student would like to eat or drink on the way to San Diego will need to be purchased or brought with them. Remember, no liquids over 3 oz will be allowed thru security. An empty water bottle can be filled on the other side of security and will save some money!
We will go directly to the hotel and to sleep that evening. Thursday we will spend the whole day in Cali. We will go to the beach, or the outdoor mall, or some other fabulous San Diego attraction that is FREE!
We are all really excited that we get to cross into Mexico a day early this year. Friday we will drive in vans to the border, and cross over into Mexico. We will set up camp and have our Good Friday service.
The next day, Saturday, everyone will help build walls for the house at camp. Then they will head out to their church sites to do some planning with their pastors. This is the first evening that we will be with 800+ other Christians at camp!
As far as food, the $25 you sent in covers all food plus the cost of the chairs that your students buy each year. We have a hot breakfast at the hotel each morning, sandwiches for lunch, and in and out burger or pizza for the evenings. The only food cost left is airport food.
As far as spending money, they will probably want to buy at least a blanket ($12), a bit of food in Mexico ($15?), a T-shirt in San Diego, and possibly a sweatshirt in Mexicali (usually $35). There are many other souvenirs and items to buy and barter for and the students generally love to go to the market every day. We also go to Wal-Mart each day where students can buy anything they need or have forgotten,
This will be updated as often as possible, most likely beginning in Mexico. If you leave comments, we will print them off and read them to the students as a group as often as possible!
Thanks and Have a GREAT EASTER!!!
OH! Also, I have gotten a couple questions about Tax letters. Those who have not received them will have them sent out within a couple weeks of our return to the states!
As far as money, we are within $4,000 of our goal. We are relatively confident that this will come in through Aunt Polly letters while we are gone and in the following weeks. Please let anyone that is still considering donating know that we can still really use it!!
We will be praying for you while we are gone, please remember to pray for us!
In His Grip,
Amy & the rest of the Mexicali Team
| Flights to California |
||||
| Tuesday March 18th | Wednesday March 19th | Wednesday March 19th | ||
| Frontier Airlines | AirTran Airways | Frontier Airlines | ||
| Flight # 4939/561 | Flight # 432/615 | Flight # 624/563 | ||
| Departs 9:52 AM | Departs 3:10PM | Departs 7:45PM | ||
| Lands 2:48 PM | Lands 8:45 PM | Lands 11:01 PM | ||
| Steven Garrison | Rebecca Houghten | Ryan O’Connell | ||
| Christina Kade | ||||
| Continental Airlines | Delta | Christopher Trewhella | ||
| Flight # 1794/1547 | Flight # 4361/1121 | Elizabeth Bapst | ||
| Departs 5:20PM | 5:00PM | Jacob Sowles | ||
| Lands 10:35 PM | 11:00 PM | |||
| Jeffery Houghten | Christopher Troxell | Sarah Chapman | ||
| Amy Shinkle | ||||
| Joan Lyneman | ||||
| Friday March 21st | Julie Allen | Carissa Herhuth | ||
| Leslie Kuykendall Sr. | Eric Herhuth | |||
| Southwest Airlines | Matthew Gratopp | |||
| Flight # 2097/2091 | Crystal Carrow | |||
| Depart 7:25AM | Ashley Wilson | |||
| Land 11:45 AM | Chet Lukas | |||
| Daniel Lorenz | Chester Lukas | |||
| Michael Seaton | Sydney Lukas | |||
| Jamie Clussen | Connor Lukas | |||
| Samantha Toet (Poet) | Elizabeth Lukas | |||
| Andrea Smith | Amy Carrier | |||
| Joseph Finkle | ||||
| Delta | Jamie Glombowski | |||
| Flight # 5281/557 | Daniel Minnie | |||
| Departs 6:00PM | Melanie Troy | |||
| Lands 10:41 PM | Michelle Troy | |||
| Dale Phillips | ||||
| Eric Sylvester | ||||
| Ian Dippel | ||||
| Amanda Dippel | ||||
| Claire Haglund | ||||
| Kelly Kamm | ||||
| Carolyn Baumgras | ||||
| Samantha Biggs |
| Flights to Detroit |
||||
| Friday March 28th | Friday March 28th | Friday March 28th | ||
| Frontier Airlines | Delta | Frontier Airlines | ||
| Flight # 550/623 | Flight # 482/6016 | Flight # 566/4944 | ||
| 6:20AM | 7:20AM | Departs 9:28AM | ||
| Lands 3:10 PM | Lands 4:15 PM | Lands 4:27 | ||
| Ryan O’Connell | Christopher Troxell | Steven Garrison | ||
| Christina Kade | ||||
| Christopher Trewhella | 3CIFK5 | Frontier Airlines | ||
| Elizabeth Bapst | Julie Allen | Flight # 566/625 | ||
| Jacob Sowles | Leslie Kuykendall Sr. | Depart 9:28AM | ||
| Matthew Gratopp | Lands 7:05 PM | |||
| Crystal Carrow | Rebecca Houghten | |||
| Sarah Chapman | ||||
| Amy Shinkle | Friday March 28th | |||
| Joan Lyneman | Daniel Lorenz | Southwest Airlines | ||
| Carissa Herhuth | Flight # 536/1513 | |||
| Eric Herhuth | Depart 11:00AM | |||
| Samantha Toet (Poet) | Land 9:50 PM | |||
| Ashley Wilson | Michael Seaton | |||
| Chet Lukas | Andrea Smith | Jamie Clussen | ||
| Chester Lukas | ||||
| Sydney Lukas | Delta | |||
| Connor Lukas | Flight # 482/6016 | |||
| Elizabeth Lukas | Departs 7:20AM | |||
| Lands 4:15 PM | ||||
| Amy Carrier | Dale Phillips | |||
| Joseph Finkle | Eric Sylvester | |||
| Jamie Glombowski | Ian Dippel | |||
| Daniel Minnie | Amanda Dippel | |||
| Melanie Troy | Claire Haglund | |||
| Michelle Troy | Kelly Kamm | |||
| Continental Airlines | ||||
| Flight # 132/1088 | Carolyn Baumgras | |||
| Departs 6:40AM | Samantha Biggs | |||
| Lands 4:34 PM | ||||
| Jeffery Houghten |
Helllloooo again!!
Yes, yes, we are almost ready to go again. It seems like we just got back!
This year, we have 3 Vacation Bible School Teams, one team teaching English as a Second Language, and one team building a house. Things are going well, and our teams seem to be coming together amazingly well. Please keep praying, as we are still pretty short on money.
Our first team members will be leaving on Tuesday the 18th, while the majority of our travelers will be heading out to Cali on Wednesday the 19th. Keep checking for new updates and feel free to leave comments to be read to our teams!
In His Grip,
Amy