Retreo Juvenil - Games "Juegos"

Rally time! Two boys teams and two girls teams attempting to complete an impossible obstacle course.  First you pass each person over a volleyball net, then 2 people carry another person in a "chair" for about 150 yards.  Then you touch a tree and hop in pairs back to the volleyball net.  Over the volleyball net again, repeat the chair thing and then pairs "wheelbarrow" back to the volleyball net.  I could only go around 25 yards as the wheelbarrow!  

Here's me and Pastor Marco attempting to hop- also not easy for 150 yards!

Retreo Juvenil Horses and Schoolwork

Not the best picture, but it tells the story of all of the fun things even Alistair can find here in Mexico.  Exploring new places is really in our genes, and Alistair thought this was pretty cool.  Let’s not forget the different bugs, plants, military helicopters, rivers and countless other things a 3 year old can discover on an old Mexican rancho.

Retreo Juvenil New Friends

God always seems to provide what we need at the right time.  To the right of Sydney is a girl named Genesis who recently moved to Tepic from Kansas because her mother needed medical treatment that she couldn’t afford in the US.  Genesis has been missing her friends in the US so when she saw Sydney she immediately wanted to talk with her.  Sydney and Genesis sat together for the teaching times and Genesis translated the teaching for Sydney!

Just like Hume Lake or Forrest Home, every camp has a swimming pool, but neither of the US has a swimming pool heated by a hot spring!  Here’s Sydney and the girls during recreation time.

Retreo Junevil Rock Star

Rock star for a day.

“Where do you live?”

“Do you now Justin Beiber?”

“When is your birthday?”

“What food do you like?  Do you like tacos?”

“Do you like Taco Bell?”

While Ethan experienced Spanish immersion (all of the questions above were asked of Ethan in Spanish).  The Mexican youth were more interested in knowing about what life was like in the US.

Day 4 Mazatlan to Tepic to Guadalajara

After some brief visits with pastors in Sinaloa, we’re off to a ranch just west of Guadalajara for a youth retreat with Iglesia de Catedral de Valle led by Pastor Marco Reyes.   Pastor Marco is one of Mexican leaders and main teachers for the conferences in Chacala.  For Ethan and Sydney this will be 4 days of Spanish immersion as they bunk with Mexican boys and girls and learn a little bit more of estilo Mexicano (Mexican style).  Sydney’s hoping for fewer beans so we’ll see . . .

In the foreground is Abram, Pastor Marco’s son.  The white building behind Abram is the church, and the bus is what everyone is taking (well minus our family and Pastor Marco in his truck).

That’s right.  The first thing you do before going on a long journey (anything over an hour) is stop and check the oil, water and whatever else looks in need of inspection.  Just so we’re clear the bus stopped for gas also, and then we all stopped about 40 minutes into the trip for a bathroom stop along the toll road to Guadalajara.  After 3 hours, we’re here!

Day 3 Ciudad Obregon to Tepic via Guamuchil

Guamuchil, Sinaloa

At least all that driving has paid off!  While Colleen and I visit with Pastor Rufino and his wife Guadalupe (see picture below) the kids enjoyed a well deserved dip in the local hotel’s pool.  Ministry isn’t all bad!  When we first drove through Guamuchil in 2007 the town was riddled with drug addicts.  The problem then was that the addicts were mostly children!  One of the churches here had even started a drug rehabilitation ministry in Guamuchil and were overwhelmed with street kids as young as 6 years old who were addicted to meth.  The rehabilitation center was then quickly turned into an orphanage where many young children were rescued from an early death on the streets.  Unfortunately, with the recent down-turn in the economy this led the church to have to close the orphanage and place the children in homes.  That was then.  Now, Guamuchil, along with the capitol city of Sinaloa, Culiacan, which lies 1 hour to the south, have become blighted with chronic drug violence from rival cartels.  The only plus-side to the violence has been a steep decline in drug addiction among the local people as very few people now venture out after dark.  Pastor Rufino and Guadalupe shared how difficult it has been to do ministry when most people can’t leave their homes after dark to attend church services or small groups.

Day 2 Yuma to Ciudad Obregon

Well we only made it to Yuma, but since today’s journey traverses a more dangerous part of Mexico we’ll be traveling through Nogales and then down the autopista (tollway) to Ciudad Obregon. Pipe organ cactus gives way to ocotillos and then the beginning of the agricultural areas of southern Sonora.

Ever looked out the window of an airplane and wondered what the terrain was really like? For many years we wondered the same thing about this fascinating country of Mexico. Do people really live out in the desert? The answer is YES. Even more interesting are the occasions when we drive by people, usually men, who are walking along the highway and there isn’t a visible “home” for miles! We often talk about where they might be going, and what it takes to survive in a desert.