Ben: Hi I’m Ben! Today we’ll tell you what we did.
Matt: Hola! I’m Matt Pauls and I will assist the great storyteller Benjamin Waldal.
Ben: Thank you, Matt. We got up early this morning (What else is new) to go on a deep sea fishing trip. I was pleasantly surprised how well some other people (not myself) managed to not get lethally sunburned. Matt will now tell you what we did with the next part of our day.
Matt: At the start of our fishing trip, it appereared that we were much better at the whole “fishing for men” thing than actual fishing. However, the trip was great with an awesome panoramic view, and we ended up catching enough fish for fish tacos (even I caught two fish, and the only other thing I have ever caught in my life is a “sea onion”).
Ben: You still caught more than I did. Anyways, after that we visited Ancla de Amor. We learned about their ministry. It was really cool! They help a lot of kids who don’t have parents. They work hard to be an effective instrument of God’s mercy. The visit was fun but fairly brief. Matt will now elaborate and stuff.
Matt:Yes, Ben is right. Even in the brief tour that we went on, it was clear that Ancla is doing great work. The time and effort that is being poured into the children is evident. We briefly went over their future plans, which include solar power and base expansion. Ancla is a great place! Their ministry is definitely worth supporting!
Ben: Couldn’t agree more, Matt. Afterwards we went to another small church in nearby Fatima (the church there was called “City of Refuge”) and put on a program for some kids. They seemed to enjoy it! (Not to brag or anything) Matt brought down the house with his fabulous magic show. Afterwards we served the kids a meal. The Mexican kids are really cool. I definitely enjoyed talking with all of them in my terrible Spanish, and misinterpreting what they said. (Sorry Wyatt, I guess they weren’t actually asking for sixty pushups) Serving these people has been such a joy, I’ll be sad that it’s all done tomorrow. *sniff* back to you, Matt.
Matt: Ben is most definitely right. This whole trip has been a hugely eye-opening experience for me. The people everywhere we have gone are extremely friendly, and serving them had been a joy. It is easy to see God moving here, and God has been doing great things in my life here. Thank you for supporting us financially and in prayer!
Friday, March 29, 2019
Wednesday, March 27, 2019
Blog: San Bernardo
We may or may not be the right people to have been asked to do this but here goes...
Tuesday the 26, the group woke up early to start the trip to San Bernardo. After the longer than expected trek we arrived at our hotel. We then when straight to work at Pastor Rafael’s place where we poured concrete and painted. After a full day of hard work and accomplishing more than expected, we headed back to the hotel for supper. After supper and showers we all grouped again to do devos and team encouragement. After building one another up we headed to bed, some of us teary eyed.
After a good nights sleep, for most of us, we heade back out to Pastor Rafael’s house to finish the job we had started. Upon completing the few jobs we had left, we had the opportunity to share God’s work with the children at the middle school nearby. To finish the day,we hosted a kids club at pastor Rafael’s place out of the building we just constructed and furnished.
Atia: On Tuesday, in the morning we all got on the bus and pretty much played Mofia the entire way. I had the opportunity to paint Pastor Rafael’s place. I helped to seal the outside and then also paint the kitchen, the main area where they feed the kids that come every week. Then we headed back where I got the much needed shower and nap before I went for supper. Afterwards we had team time where we all wrote encouragement letter to each other. On Wednesday, we left around 7:30 am to head back and finish our work at Pasotr Rafael’s place. Faith and I finished painting the laundry room and I learned how to put together a toilet! We went to the school nearby and shared with them and I palace volleyball with the kids there. After we went to do our vbs program that we had set up and I helped with the crafts, making bracelets with many of the kids there. At the time when we were supposed to leave I was ready to take about half the kids there back with me! My favourite part so far has most definitely been doing the vbs thing and getting to know some of these amazing children!
Parker: Ok so Tuesday was a hoot and 3/4! We played WAY too many games on the bus on the way to San Bernardo, showed up at our hotel, unpacked and settled into our rooms. We headed out about 15 minutes after arriving and got straight to work at pastor Rafael’s house. About half of us sealed and planted the interior and exterior of the house that was mostly used to host the feeding program. The other half of us were put to work mixing and pouring concrete for a new floor and sidewalk for the house. We worked at this for the entirety of the day and ended up accomplishing much more than we expected to finish. We went back to “base”(the hotel) and had supper. We all broke apart to shower then later re-assembled in the kitchen for team devos. We shared our highlights from the day and joked around a bit, then came the paper-passing... we each had a paper with our name in one corner, these papers were then passed one by one around the circle so that each of us had a chance to write a few words of encouragement on everyone’s paper. At the end, we all shake out our sore hands and split up to read what everyone wrote on our papers. This is where most of us let the tears well up. Of course I would NEVER cry(I definitely cried, I’m a softie). I’m gunna stop there because the rest you have already heard.
Tuesday the 26, the group woke up early to start the trip to San Bernardo. After the longer than expected trek we arrived at our hotel. We then when straight to work at Pastor Rafael’s place where we poured concrete and painted. After a full day of hard work and accomplishing more than expected, we headed back to the hotel for supper. After supper and showers we all grouped again to do devos and team encouragement. After building one another up we headed to bed, some of us teary eyed.
After a good nights sleep, for most of us, we heade back out to Pastor Rafael’s house to finish the job we had started. Upon completing the few jobs we had left, we had the opportunity to share God’s work with the children at the middle school nearby. To finish the day,we hosted a kids club at pastor Rafael’s place out of the building we just constructed and furnished.
Atia: On Tuesday, in the morning we all got on the bus and pretty much played Mofia the entire way. I had the opportunity to paint Pastor Rafael’s place. I helped to seal the outside and then also paint the kitchen, the main area where they feed the kids that come every week. Then we headed back where I got the much needed shower and nap before I went for supper. Afterwards we had team time where we all wrote encouragement letter to each other. On Wednesday, we left around 7:30 am to head back and finish our work at Pasotr Rafael’s place. Faith and I finished painting the laundry room and I learned how to put together a toilet! We went to the school nearby and shared with them and I palace volleyball with the kids there. After we went to do our vbs program that we had set up and I helped with the crafts, making bracelets with many of the kids there. At the time when we were supposed to leave I was ready to take about half the kids there back with me! My favourite part so far has most definitely been doing the vbs thing and getting to know some of these amazing children!
Parker: Ok so Tuesday was a hoot and 3/4! We played WAY too many games on the bus on the way to San Bernardo, showed up at our hotel, unpacked and settled into our rooms. We headed out about 15 minutes after arriving and got straight to work at pastor Rafael’s house. About half of us sealed and planted the interior and exterior of the house that was mostly used to host the feeding program. The other half of us were put to work mixing and pouring concrete for a new floor and sidewalk for the house. We worked at this for the entirety of the day and ended up accomplishing much more than we expected to finish. We went back to “base”(the hotel) and had supper. We all broke apart to shower then later re-assembled in the kitchen for team devos. We shared our highlights from the day and joked around a bit, then came the paper-passing... we each had a paper with our name in one corner, these papers were then passed one by one around the circle so that each of us had a chance to write a few words of encouragement on everyone’s paper. At the end, we all shake out our sore hands and split up to read what everyone wrote on our papers. This is where most of us let the tears well up. Of course I would NEVER cry(I definitely cried, I’m a softie). I’m gunna stop there because the rest you have already heard.
Tuesday, March 26, 2019
Splatters and friendships
Waking up to a sunny morning and walking up a mountain that God has made is how we started our morning! With a few too many cactus incidents, we made it up and took in the view. Each finding a special spot to do our daily devotions and just praising God for all he’s done. Then we sat together and began to worship in song. And you can’t forget the millions of pictures everyone took together afterwards! Back at Brenda’s was breakfast which included eggs, refried beans and a tortilla casserole.
After splitting into two groups, either painting or housekeeping/yardwork, we began to serve. The three of us were in the painting group and all I can say is that we did not come back clean! Seeing the upgrades at the church from two years ago is so encouraging! We were so happy to be a part of this work God gave us! We painted the outside walls of the church and the house on the property for a few hours, until we were almost out of paint and had accomplished more than we had expected. We went back to Brenda’s and met up with the rest of our group there for lunch. We had a delicious lunch which consisted of chicken, boiled potatoes, tortillas, and two different salads. We were stuffed full of delicious food and relaxed for an hour by playing games and chatting before leaving for our next mission.
We all loaded into a bus and drove to North-Guaymas to put together a kids club. When we arrived at the park where the afternoon would take place, we split into groups and went door to door, inviting kids of all ages to come and join us. After this, some of the kids came to the park and we got to know some of them by playing basketball, jumping rope, volleyball, and drawing chalk on the sidewalk with some of the little girls. After doing this for a while and waiting for more kids to arrive, we all sat down under a hut in the park. We started by teaching them two songs, one of them taught by our translators, and one of them taught by the teaching group, and teaching them the actions to go with it. They began to all get engaged and interested, especially when Matthew did his magic show. One of his “tricks” showed how God takes the sin out of our lives, and the kids were so engaged.
After the magic show and some other talking, we did crafts with the kids. The little ones coloured and made caterpillars, while the older ones made friendship bracelets. I think that this is the point where most of us made really great bonds with these children and we found that the language barrier didn’t really matter all that much. We could still communicate with these children and make them giggle and laugh. After a while of crafts, we gathered everyone together to play some games with a big parachute that we brought. Most of us stuck beside our new little friends and we all had a blast playing these games getting to know the kids. After taking some pictures and saying our goodbyes, we got on the bus to leave. The kids enjoyed their time learning about God and getting to know us so well, that they blocked our path on the road because they didn’t want us to leave. It was so great and incredible to see. We then headed back to Brenda’s for a delicious supper.
After eating supper, which was chicken or shrimp, rice and salad, with a homemade apple crisp for dessert, we spent the next hour or so looking around the market! From ponchos to bracelets and everything in between. But what’s even better is that God gave those sales people the gift to serve by making these items for people to buy. The talent God has given then is truly remarkable!! After everyone had finished buying all the things they wanted, the guys were kind enough to make a fire for us girls and bring out wood and chairs so we could have a great evening together! During this time we shared our testimonies and prayed and the presence of a God was HUGE! Hearing everyone’s stories was an amazing way to grow our relationships with not only each other but with God as well. While we were getting all emotional and bonding, the guys were doing the same except scrap the emotional part! They all loaded into the back of a truck and took a trip to town where they got cokes and just spent the evening “chilling out” and praying for each other as well! It was a great day!
I had a really incredible day. I did not go on the trip two years ago and I was able to experience things during this day that I have never experienced before. I loved seeing the amazing view from the top of the mountain and seeing the beauty that God has created. I also really enjoyed painting the church because I know that God gave our group this job so that we could serve him and help those in the community. My favourite part of the day though, and the part that I felt very called to, was the Kids Club that we held. I loved seeing all of the happy and curious expressions on the children’s faces and seeing how intrigued they were when we were teaching them. When I was colouring with some of the little girls, I made two incredible friends that I will always remember. Their names were Romina and Miah and they gave me their pictures they coloured, played the parachute game by sticking by my side, and giving me hugs and holding my hands. They were truly amazing and I felt so called to be there. I was sad to leave them, but glad that we had all made an impact on them. The last part of the day was our girls night and I really was able to grow closer and get to know all of the girls, and I feel as though this trip will and has been an incredible and growthful experience for me.
- FAITH
Being able to wake up and not be sick is already very encouraging!! Walking up the mountain is always something I have enjoyed even if heights aren’t my thing. Being able to see the creation and view that God has created is amazing. But the highlight of my day was definitely spending the afternoon with Courtney painting the railings at the church. Being able to share some stuff with her was great because I needed to get some things off my heart. This was a great afternoon and filled with Gods presence. In the evening, I was able to share my testimony and be so open with the girls in this group. I have felt God calling me to share my testimony this week and I finally got the chance to! I feel so much more vulnerable with this group and it’s totally God working in my life. So overall my day was great and I’m excited to see where the rest of the week takes me!!
-ZOEE
After splitting into two groups, either painting or housekeeping/yardwork, we began to serve. The three of us were in the painting group and all I can say is that we did not come back clean! Seeing the upgrades at the church from two years ago is so encouraging! We were so happy to be a part of this work God gave us! We painted the outside walls of the church and the house on the property for a few hours, until we were almost out of paint and had accomplished more than we had expected. We went back to Brenda’s and met up with the rest of our group there for lunch. We had a delicious lunch which consisted of chicken, boiled potatoes, tortillas, and two different salads. We were stuffed full of delicious food and relaxed for an hour by playing games and chatting before leaving for our next mission.
We all loaded into a bus and drove to North-Guaymas to put together a kids club. When we arrived at the park where the afternoon would take place, we split into groups and went door to door, inviting kids of all ages to come and join us. After this, some of the kids came to the park and we got to know some of them by playing basketball, jumping rope, volleyball, and drawing chalk on the sidewalk with some of the little girls. After doing this for a while and waiting for more kids to arrive, we all sat down under a hut in the park. We started by teaching them two songs, one of them taught by our translators, and one of them taught by the teaching group, and teaching them the actions to go with it. They began to all get engaged and interested, especially when Matthew did his magic show. One of his “tricks” showed how God takes the sin out of our lives, and the kids were so engaged.
After the magic show and some other talking, we did crafts with the kids. The little ones coloured and made caterpillars, while the older ones made friendship bracelets. I think that this is the point where most of us made really great bonds with these children and we found that the language barrier didn’t really matter all that much. We could still communicate with these children and make them giggle and laugh. After a while of crafts, we gathered everyone together to play some games with a big parachute that we brought. Most of us stuck beside our new little friends and we all had a blast playing these games getting to know the kids. After taking some pictures and saying our goodbyes, we got on the bus to leave. The kids enjoyed their time learning about God and getting to know us so well, that they blocked our path on the road because they didn’t want us to leave. It was so great and incredible to see. We then headed back to Brenda’s for a delicious supper.
After eating supper, which was chicken or shrimp, rice and salad, with a homemade apple crisp for dessert, we spent the next hour or so looking around the market! From ponchos to bracelets and everything in between. But what’s even better is that God gave those sales people the gift to serve by making these items for people to buy. The talent God has given then is truly remarkable!! After everyone had finished buying all the things they wanted, the guys were kind enough to make a fire for us girls and bring out wood and chairs so we could have a great evening together! During this time we shared our testimonies and prayed and the presence of a God was HUGE! Hearing everyone’s stories was an amazing way to grow our relationships with not only each other but with God as well. While we were getting all emotional and bonding, the guys were doing the same except scrap the emotional part! They all loaded into the back of a truck and took a trip to town where they got cokes and just spent the evening “chilling out” and praying for each other as well! It was a great day!
I had a really incredible day. I did not go on the trip two years ago and I was able to experience things during this day that I have never experienced before. I loved seeing the amazing view from the top of the mountain and seeing the beauty that God has created. I also really enjoyed painting the church because I know that God gave our group this job so that we could serve him and help those in the community. My favourite part of the day though, and the part that I felt very called to, was the Kids Club that we held. I loved seeing all of the happy and curious expressions on the children’s faces and seeing how intrigued they were when we were teaching them. When I was colouring with some of the little girls, I made two incredible friends that I will always remember. Their names were Romina and Miah and they gave me their pictures they coloured, played the parachute game by sticking by my side, and giving me hugs and holding my hands. They were truly amazing and I felt so called to be there. I was sad to leave them, but glad that we had all made an impact on them. The last part of the day was our girls night and I really was able to grow closer and get to know all of the girls, and I feel as though this trip will and has been an incredible and growthful experience for me.
- FAITH
Being able to wake up and not be sick is already very encouraging!! Walking up the mountain is always something I have enjoyed even if heights aren’t my thing. Being able to see the creation and view that God has created is amazing. But the highlight of my day was definitely spending the afternoon with Courtney painting the railings at the church. Being able to share some stuff with her was great because I needed to get some things off my heart. This was a great afternoon and filled with Gods presence. In the evening, I was able to share my testimony and be so open with the girls in this group. I have felt God calling me to share my testimony this week and I finally got the chance to! I feel so much more vulnerable with this group and it’s totally God working in my life. So overall my day was great and I’m excited to see where the rest of the week takes me!!
-ZOEE
Monday, March 25, 2019
Blog day 308: A Chapter from The Wild Tundra of San Carlos
Once upon a time at roughly 7-ish am, we woke up in San Carlos, Mexico. We had breakfast consisting of cinnamon buns, fruit, and yogurt accompanied by a wide assortment of juices. After we completed our sinful gluttony of breakfast we boarded a bus (not our bus because that is still in the U S of A), we headed to a church in the middle of Guaymas. Along the way we were blessed by Juan Carlos' true Mexican driving experience, we gently tapped a pole. It was fabutastical (a word created by Samuel Pauls). We were given part of the service to do our cardboard testimonies, Wyatt Harms and Parker Friesen shared their testimonies, a sermon was also given by none other than our own Andrew John Neufy. All was greeted by applause. Following the service there was a fundraiser fellowship lunch which was going towards A/C for the church. The food was top SHELF (drawer for the simple folk). The fellowship meal soon turned into a dance party where we had the chance to showcase our few dancing talents. Afterwards we were split into groups of about 5 people along with a translator for food hamper distribution. Our groups were assigned certain areas to hand out the hampers and pray for the recipients. All in all it was a great experience and we were exposed to a new side of living that most have not experienced before. Personally the poverty was an overwhelming experience. There was a family that we encountered that lived in a two room shack which only had half a roof. It was eye opening to see how happy they still were while living with very little. After our food distribution, we headed beach-ward. We spent the rest of the afternoon frolicking in the salty waves of the Sea of Cortez. After bathing in the salt for about 1 Mexican hour (2 Canadian hours), we left the beach in search of supper which we happily found back at the base. Supper was Carne Esadas (steak tacos), which were also fabutastical. To finish the day we had team time then we went and wrote a master piece which is this blog. This is Wyatt J. De Roo and Samuel J. Pauls coming at you from the cool humid atmosphere of San Carlos, MX.
Sunday, March 24, 2019
Safe and Sound
Gooday all followers!
A lot of you have likely been following us on instagram, but we have made it to Koenes Ministries (Casa de esperanza) safe and sound. We got here a little later than planned but all things considered it was a good day. Our friends from the mission base met us at the border and picked us up with a 15 passenger van, an SUV and a Suburban with a trailer. We were blown away how they made a 6 hr drive at the drop of a hat to help us out.
I must say I knew whoever hopped in with Juan Carlos (one of the translators from the mission base) was going to have a fun introduction to Mexico. (He drives quick) It was a lot of fun asking Vern Reimer, Cindy Reimer, Carol Pauls, and Nathan Lepp what kind of ride they had :) Needless to say they made it to the mission base a lot sooner than the rest of us.
Thanks for all of your prayers. It seems our friends from the mission base are going to figure out our bus permit for us, and will drive one of us bus drivers back to Nogales on Monday to pick up the bus so we can bring it down here to San Carlos, second times a charm!
There is another youth group at the base right now as well. They are from Montana and their mission here was giving away wheelchairs last week. We will get to serve along with them for the next two days around San Carlos. Pretty fun meeting new friends and how it doesn't matter where you're from how we are united in mission with Christ.
Tomorrow we are going to a new church in an area we haven't been before. This church has invited our group to do the main portion of the service. A couple students will share there testimonies, we will do a group skit, (the other group from Montana is going to do some songs), and then I get the honour of bringing the message. Please pray that our group wakes up bright eyed and bushy tailed to take on the day! After the service we will have a fellowship meal with that church, and then we will go to a poor area where we will be handing out food hampers (basket of groceries with the necessities). This is always a very rewarding and challenging day as we get to meet many people, and pray with them that God would continue to supply for them both physically and spiritually. For supper and the evening we will likely come back to the base and have some group debriefing time, and possibly hear a testimony from one of the translators here from the base during team time.
Really appreciate all of your thoughts and prayers!
-Andy
Saturday, March 23, 2019
Border Delays
Hello followers.
This is Andy reporting from the gas station in Nogales, AZ. We had an amazingly smooth drive all the way to Tucson. Beautiful weather, happy, healthy kids. It was great easy driving and we had a great time.
This morning we woke up early and attempted to cross the border. We were made aware there is a policy we weren't aware of that we needed to buy a bus certificate. We were hoping that the guards were going to let us go without this but they wouldn't budge. The place where we buy the bus certificates in Nogales was closed and doesn't open up again until Monday morning. We turned around back into Arizona and we are now waiting for Juan Carlos and Brenda to pick us up. They are driving their 15 passenger vans to the border and are going to bring us the rest of the way.
They should be here within a half an hour, so were hoping to be to San Carlos by 11pm-12am. One of us bus drivers plan to come back on monday, buy the bus certificate and then drive the bus down to San Carlos.
Anyways, the kids are handling this all very well. Probably my highlight so far was when Donny Kimball was waiting outside the bus this morning, he looks over at Nathan Lepp with a bewildered look and says "Nathan! I didn't know you were coming on this trip!" I looked at Donny and said, "Donny, its day 3 of the trip, you just noticed him now?". So funny. This group really is awesome and I guess the Lord had different plans than we were hoping for today. Please continue to pray. I know tomorrow is a pretty full day with Church Service/Food hampers. I'm looking forward to being there! Its always a highlight and challenging day for all involved. Just a reminder that you can also follow our adventure on @csy_youth on instagram.
Thanks for now! Will try to post again tonight or tomorrow. Until next time.
Andy :)
This is Andy reporting from the gas station in Nogales, AZ. We had an amazingly smooth drive all the way to Tucson. Beautiful weather, happy, healthy kids. It was great easy driving and we had a great time.
This morning we woke up early and attempted to cross the border. We were made aware there is a policy we weren't aware of that we needed to buy a bus certificate. We were hoping that the guards were going to let us go without this but they wouldn't budge. The place where we buy the bus certificates in Nogales was closed and doesn't open up again until Monday morning. We turned around back into Arizona and we are now waiting for Juan Carlos and Brenda to pick us up. They are driving their 15 passenger vans to the border and are going to bring us the rest of the way.
They should be here within a half an hour, so were hoping to be to San Carlos by 11pm-12am. One of us bus drivers plan to come back on monday, buy the bus certificate and then drive the bus down to San Carlos.
Anyways, the kids are handling this all very well. Probably my highlight so far was when Donny Kimball was waiting outside the bus this morning, he looks over at Nathan Lepp with a bewildered look and says "Nathan! I didn't know you were coming on this trip!" I looked at Donny and said, "Donny, its day 3 of the trip, you just noticed him now?". So funny. This group really is awesome and I guess the Lord had different plans than we were hoping for today. Please continue to pray. I know tomorrow is a pretty full day with Church Service/Food hampers. I'm looking forward to being there! Its always a highlight and challenging day for all involved. Just a reminder that you can also follow our adventure on @csy_youth on instagram.
Thanks for now! Will try to post again tonight or tomorrow. Until next time.
Andy :)
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