notes so far from mexico (updated)

[UPDATED: i added the part that was missing from the july 12th entry)

7.10.07 -- 5.11 am

it's 5.11 am and we're finally here. "here" is on a plane on our way to guadalajara mexico. it's been many months ago when i was discussing with our church staff if we should even consider going on a trip this year. and know we're on a plane getting ready to take off. there's 7 of us: myself, danielle, maggie, cathy, nancy, vernice, & keven. we are so excited, maybe a little anxious, and a big dose of tired right now. (we had to wake up at 2 am to be at the airport on time -- my room didn't get to sleep till between 10-11pm) well we're about to take off. more later.


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7.10.07 -- 4.00 pm

right now i'm on a bus with some of the "engage missions" students and the other team from stone church. we're running low on sleep. this bus is very bumpy, thus the reason for the sloppiness - not the lack sleep. (although i'm typing this after writing this and it's not sloppy at all.) i bought a mexican KIT-KAT -- mmmm mm mmm! it was really good and since ther was no nutritional label - "No Calories!!" =-) well i'm don with this chicken scratch. i'll write more later.

PS. an interesting personal note -- i sold my macbook the day before we left. thus i'm here on a trip 'sans' a computer! (maggie has hers that i'm using, but still it's not the same.)


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7.12.07 -- 8.47 am

well it's day 3 here in mexico and all is well. (almost all - nancy is still without luggage and it actually won't get to her until tomorrow.)

i went running again this morning for the second time. i found out yesterday after coming back exhausted that the elevation of guadalajara is 5,030 feet!! (grandview is at about 840) so we're almost a mile up and a good 4,200 feet above grandview.

[ i wrote more stuff here in my journal but don't have it with me right now to type it in, i'll update it later ]

{yesterday and the day before we spent most of the time learning some dramas and dances to music. the hotel is nice and roomy. the beds are really low and not as soft as us "americans" are used to. but i'm grateful for a place to sleep. no cockroaches yet in our room, hooray! i actually haven't seen any while we've been here.}


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7.13.07 -- 8.58 am

the daily update today is that we had a slight miscommunication yesterday during our free time at the mall. so half our team ended up separated and didn't make it back to the bus at the hotel at the right time. well we ended up finding each other so all is well.

in other news, earlier in the day danielle woke up early in the morning and couldn't find me (i was going to go running as was waiting for someone in another room). she walked out of our hotel room in her pajamas crying down the "outside" hallway, "i can't find my daddy!" thankfully another gal from the stone church group heard her and walked out of her room and picked her up. they walked down to the lobby looking for me. i came out of the other room i was in just as they were coming up the stairs back to our room. (i didn't know that tamera had gotten her just a few doors down from our room so when i saw her coming up the stairs i thought that danielle had made it all the way to the lobby in her pajamas looking for me.)

well he had a good heart to heart talk about not leaving the room alone and should only go places with people from our group. praise God for his protection and guidance.

oh and in yet still other news we had our first children's outreach yesterday. it was in an area where the engage students have been going to for a while and are looking to plant a church next sept. another team from atlanta showed up at the same park we were at and had some "teenmania-like" drama. later we went back to the same neighborhood but a different park and did another outreach - sans the atlanta team. and then we started cleaning up until there was a tropical deluge of rain. i mean within 5 minutes all our clothes were soaking wet.

we've got a great new day ahead of us. i'll update pictures later. thanks for your prayers so far and keep praying for us.


// today i'm thankful for:
1. your prayers
2. internet connection in mexico
3. having my clothes (nancy should get her today)
4. video iChats
5. knowing my wife loves me

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