Mission Trip 2009

My Dad flew out to visit and to go on a Mission trip with Amber and I. It was so incredible to have three generations. There are special memories that I will always have from this trip. I couldn't help myself but include A LOT of photo's. I hope that this will give my friends and family a taste of what this experience was like, because it was so worth sharing. Here is "The Mission"We did 5 programs while we were there and gave out 250-300 backpacks. The kids received stickers, balloons, a backpack and most importantly the gospel. We saw many children and adults give their life to Christ.

This is the main room, it is where we ate all our meals in and sat around to talked before and after the programs.We had a table in our room which was perfect for Amber to do her homework on every day. She did a good job too, she would work on it when we had down time.
We had bunk beds in our dorm room. Amber picked an upper bunk by the bathroom and door. I was in the same type of bunk but down below. I learned from my last trip, a bunk bed is not as fun as it looks when it comes to getting down. Dad's bed was a double with a single bunk up top.

We all got together for devotional time each morning after breakfast

There were four little dogs at the mission, all the same kind, can you guess what kind that would be?There was a small swingset in the main room of the mission. The kids loved playing on it and riding the little bikes around this area too. How often do you get to ride a bike inside - cool.The girls had a lot of fun with the playhouse and their fans that they got from the marketWe went to eat at the Happy Chicken one night, the food was good but the kids area was incredible.This is the little movie theater they had next to the kids play area at the Happy Chicken. The kids watched Bolt (in Spanish) and they even got to eat in there. They brought in little tables for them.We had the chance one afternoon to go to the local market. It was amazing!The vegetable/fruit market was something I wouldn't mind having in the statesI was amazed at all the bags of beans and rice (which we had for most every meal)James was a little tall for the market, but he liked the pinatas as much as the kids did =)O'pa standing outside the chicken stand at the marketFish in baskets at the market, I know you can see it with this picture, but I really wish you could smell it (hee hee)We all helped get the popcorn ready for the first night program. The popcorn machine didn't work so we popped it in big pots on the stove . . . it was very interestingDad and JamesJust before leaving for our first program and the three girls are already best of friends =)Our first night, our first program, Amber and Dad jumped right in and helped with everything - I was so proud of them bothWe walked down the stree to tell people about the program and invite them to come.

Our first night program with a movie and popcorn. The only night we really had a bug problem since it was right next to the jungle (the jungle is right behind the fence)We handed out the popcorn and O'pa yelled "salsa" and the kids came running. He poured it on and they loved it. It wasn't really salsa as we know it, it was hot sauce - aaaaaahh

The kids enjoying the movie night program . . . no they did not get salsa on their popcornI tried to help with puppets, but it's not as easy as it looks.Amber loved helping with the puppet shows - it was one of her favorite things to doThe main reason we came . . . to hand out backpacks, what fun =)Amber wanted to buy a pink dress in Mexico to replace the one I bought her last time which she grew out of, she really liked this girls dressVenancio talking with the kids outside one church where we had a programCan you tell we are all doing our best to follow Brian . . .we really didn't know what to expect so we just tried to follow his lead. He taught us a couple of songs right on the spotO'pa helped with the puppet shows, it was crowded and let me tell you, doing puppets is not easy!It was so much fun to hand out the backpacks =)Amber up front handing out stickersAll the kids helped with blowing up balloonsThe church was so crowded the girls couldn't see so Brian helped them out . . . upA lot of the women wanted their picture taken holding baby David, but they got a few with Amber and Elizabeth.After just a few minutes Amber was ready to go out in the middle of things and help do her part =)Dad helped out by blowing up balloons and handing them off to be made into a sword, flower, dog etc.They kind of surprised us and had us sing Cristo Te Ama at the last minute. Thankfully Amber and Dad picked it up pretty quickAmber is the puppet closest to me =)Venancio really like to call (Gilberto) O'pa up front to help =)We gave most of the backpacks to Amber and Elizabeth to hand out - so the children would be receiving the backpacks from our children - and they worked hardAmber and Dad are pumping up any balls that were in the backpacksAmber figured out how to work the balloon pump pretty quicklyYou can see Amber, Nathan, Elizabeth and Jesslyn all helping hand out stickersAmber liked handing out the stickersAmber handed out balloons to the kids, she was such a great helper.All the kids helped with singing up front for the program.This was the church where we had our program on the last night. The program was held outside, but we ended up staying as they made dinner for us and we ate that inside this church.O'pa (Gilberto) helped up front on our last night of programsThe pastor from the last church that we had a program at invited us all to dinner for the next night at a "Taco stand". We were a bit hesitant, not knowing what to expect, and were pleasantly surprised to end up at this nice restaurant, inside, with the best food! It really was an awesome meal! We ate very well the entire trip, Ricardo who cooks at the Mission is an awesome chef as well. We had tortillas and black beans at every meal, authentic Mexican cooking, very good - we all loved it.When the mission programs were over we had some free time. We went to Aqua World to ride a "glass bottom" boat. We had to take a different boat out to the ocean where the "glass bottom" boat was (it seemed more like a submarine to me). It was a fun ride! It was a bit rough on the ocean though.I can't believe I got this picture, it was soooo rough and we were bouncing all over the place, that is why the kids are laughing so hard. This is as close as you can get to diving without getting wet. It was awesome!For our Free Day we caught a ferry to the Island of Women, just like I did in 2007, it was nice to know what to do and where to go, especially since this was the only time the three of us were on our own.Amber loved the golf cart, but the only time she sat in front was for this picture. She liked the back.We had a yummy lunch, right on the beach, which included the lounge chairs, umbrella and a little table. It made our ocean experience incredible =) It was the exact same spot I went to in 2007 - O'pa and Amber enjoying the Ocean (she did not like getting salt water in her mouth though)We went to a turtle farm and got to touch and see a lot of cool turtles, star fish etc.We went up a little light house at the tip of the island and got some great pic's.Amber rode on the back of the golf cart all day. We saw this sign while driving around the island and had to take a picture. This is what O'pa was known as during the trip =)This was our team from Freedom on the last night =) We had an awesome trip and have all come back flu free, safe and sound =) Amber didn't get a pink dress, but she is wearing the dress she did end up getting in this picture. It is hard to end this because there is still so much I have left out and so many people I would love to tell you about and include, but I tried to cut this down (believe it or not). The people at the Mission are incredible! We were blessed to be able to be a part of what they do!