Weather down south is deceptively cold...

Hola amigos americanos! Greetings from down south. You'd think it would be warm this time of year, but it's actually cold and windy right now. That was great for the sports ministry team, but it made for a very cold day at VBS. We're about to have dinner before we head out to the church services. At the churches we plan to sing a few songs and share some student testimonies. It's always a great experience, especially for those students who have never been to Mexico.

The week has flown by! It's hard to believe that tomorrow is Friday and that we'll be back in the States soon. It still feels like Tuesday down here. We're hoping to get to the border around 4 pm tomorrow, and the usual line there is about two hours. So our hope is to be back in the States around 6 and finish the drive up to EV Free Fullerton. Our estimated time of arrival in Walnut Creek is 8 pm on Saturday.

Please be praying for our last work day tomorrow and for safe traveling. Also, we will be debriefing the trip Saturday morning before hitting the road; it's always a powerful time for students, so please be praying for that time of community sharing. God bless!

--The 209 Community

Greetings From Mexico!

Hello Walnut Creek! This is Brendan, writing on behalf on the 209 Community south of the border. We made it here safe and sound Monday afternoon...we had a great stay Sunday night at Pacific Beach Presbyterian. It was nice to have a break driving. We got up early Tuesday morning and split into our teams. Sports had a great day, even though we were shown what REAL soccer looks like. Construction had a little extra work tacked on...they had to demolish a wall in order to make more space for the house they're building. VBS is going very well; we've had more kids than ever before! Yesterday they all got to paint their own flower pot and plant a seed in it. We talked about having faith the size of a mustard seed and this was a really practical way to look at that story! All in all it's been a great trip so far. Everyone's tired and very dirty but we're having a great time. Every night we get to encourage one another with the "Sombrero de Amor" (Hat of Love) and it's a hard hat that's been decorated. You put it on a friend and encourage them in something you saw them do that day. It's been one of the highlights so far. Tomorrow night we're headed to a couple of different churches for service to give the students an insight into the different culture down here. So tomorrow's blog may be a little behind schedule, depending on what time we come back from that. We'll keep you posted, and please keep praying for us! Some things to pray for:
-Continued safety on the job sites
-Safe travels
-God continuing to work in the students

Adios!

-209 Community