Trip Registration Deadline: January 10, 2010

What do you need to do to sign up?
A non-refundable $100 deposit needs to be turned in to the RCofC office no later than December 20. Please write “Impact Mexico “ in the memo. Siblings may pay a combined non-refundable deposit of $150. If you need to adjust this date, it can be done. But contact Kent before the deadline.

Impact Mexico 2010--July 24-31

We will be working together with Scott and Anna Wester at the Ensenada Outreach Center in Ensenada, Mexico. This promises to be a great week of service to God and to others as we will have the opportunity to build houses for needy families in the local villages. In a week’s time you will build a house from the ground up and have the opportunity to meet and spend some time with the family you will be serving.

• Open to current senior high students and those who will be entering senior high in fall 2010.
• Eligibility requirements:

1. People with a servant’s heart interested in serving others and open to God’s calling in their lives.
2. People submitted to the Lordship of Jesus Christ as evidenced by regular Bible reading, an active prayer life, the sharing of Christ with others, and an active involvement in ministry at their local church.
3. People physically able to participate in vigorous activity.

To learn more about the trip (including estimated costs and sign-up deadlines), students and parents are encouraged to join us for an Impact Mexico informational meeting. You can attend either one of the following sessions on Sunday October 25:

9:35-9:55a.m. in the new mobile classroom (bring coffee and snacks from the fellowship hall) or

12:15-1:00p.m. in the fellowship hall (Lunch will be provided for this meeting)

Friday Update

The house is finished! The RCofC group did an excellent job of construction and furnishing the house. After the house was completed, we formed a circle, prayed for the family and handed them the keys to their new home. Tim Sperry presented the keys to the family on behalf of the group. The family members were excited and grateful to receive their new home. As much as anything else, having a home that you can actually lock is a big deal here.

They prepared a lunch of taquitos for us. Then, we posed for pictures and said goodbye. There is so much more that should be said about this day, but it's hard to put it into words. I have placed before and after pictures in this blog. Newer pictures are up at the link to photos.

Today, we head to La Bufadora for souvenir shopping. Then, we begin our return trip at 3 pm local time. We hope to be in San Diego betwee 6 and 7 local time. On Saturday, we fly back to Richmond. We are scheduled to return at 5:45 pm tomorrow. I will send Twitter updates for those who want to track our progress.

Even Newer link for photos

Hopefully, this is the last change:

http://web.me.com/kentchilders/missiontrip2009/RCofC_Impact_Mexico_Photos.html

Thursday Update

We have finished the outdoor trim, installed the windows, and mudded the house. This year we are doing things a little differently on the house. Our foreman, Ricardo, uses a sprayer to apply the second coat of mud. This means almost no sanding was needed. That was always the only tedious part of the construction process for me, and now it's gone!

Last night, we were invited to the church that our family attends. The building wasn't impressive on the outside, but the worship service was incredible. The sang contemporary choruses with lots of energy. There was a band, a good sound system, and they were using powerpoint.

They invited us to speak, with Eleina Espigh of Velocity Church serving as translator. I spoke for a few minutes followed by James Stallings. The church had the entire group come up and they prayed for us as well as "Pastor Kent" and "Pastor James" (congratulate him on his ordination when you see him). They then had the families come forward that we and Velocity are working with this week. We all placed hands on them and prayed for them.

I'll have a few new pictures up in the next few minutes. The picture you are viewing in this post is of the house our family is currently living in.

I will be adding pictures of the Velocity group so that their families can view them.

Today will be our last day on the job site. We will present our family with the key to their house. This will be a big day for us and them. Not only will they have a significantly better house, they will finally have a house with a lock.

It will be a big day for us, because our team has bonded with the family very closely this week. Months before they met us, they and their church have been praying for us.

YUGO is building 71 houses in Ensenada this year. Seven are being built this week. At the start of the year, they had selected 109 families to receive houses based on early church registrations. As of now, 38 families will be waiting at the end of the year. Pray that YUGO will find ways to be able to meet the needs of as many of these families as possible.

New (slightly new) link for photos

Use this link to access the photos:

http://web.me.com/kentchilders/missiontrip2009/Photos.html

Tuesday Update

Everyone worked on the roof today. Erica, Kyran, Hannah, & Jacob put all the shingles on the roof. The roof is finished. Almost all of the drywall is up. Two of the rooms have the mudding finished.

During the afternoon, we bought some furniture, a new two burner lp stove, and a new lp gas tank for our family. We also got a few other furnishings from Home Depot. I couldn't find the curtain rods, so I decided to ask a sales associate if he could tell me where to find them. My Spanish worked well. He knew what was asking for and was glad to tell me where they were. Unfortunately, my Spanish wasn't good enough to figure out where he was sending me.

The husband and wife who are receiving our house have been helping just about every step of the way. The house that they are living in now has pallets for walls, covered by cardboard on the outside, with a tarp for the roof. The "roof" is held up by sticks. Their bed is on the ground. Oscar, the father of the family, has a job working on a farm helping to prepare vegetables that will be served on cruise ships. He makes less than $12 a day. Cruise ship traffic has declined this year. As a result, he is getting fewer days to work.

The work of YUGO the past ten years can be seen on this hillside through all the houses the ministry has built. It's amazing the reception you get when you pull into one of these areas with a white rental van with California tags. The people know why you are there and can see God at work in their neighborhood through you

Tomorrow, after work, we will visit the church in the neighborhood for Wednesday evening services.

New pictures are up.

Monday Evening

Today was our first day on the job-site. Our team made great progress. The walls & siding are up, the doors & windows have been cut out, the rafters & joists are completed, and the electrical wiring & boxes are installed. It's been an amazing day. God has blessed us.

Pictures have been updated.

The family receiving our house might have the roughest living conditions I have encountered on these trips. They have been wonderful to work with. We are building for a family of three: husband, wife, & 3 year old son. I will try to add some more photos of them tomorrow. The father, Oscar, helped us with construction today. He obviously has previous construction experience.

Impact Mexico Photos

Monday Morning Update: We spent our first night in Ensenada last night. We also got to meet and have supper with the family that will receiving our house. Everybody's ready to get to work. We head to the job site in less than an hour.

Photos from the trip will be added daily and can be viewed from the old Impact Mexico RCofC page. The link is:
http://web.me.com/kentchilders/missiontrip2009/ImpactMexico_Home.html

The photos will be disorganized at first today. I'll clean up the page and update it later.

Impact Mexico Day 1

We arrived in San Diego at approximately 10 a.m. It was a long trip, but the flights went well. Next, we got our rental vans and had lunch at In-N-Out Burger. At 12:30, we went back to the airport and picked up the students from Mechanicsville Church of Christ. Then, we went shopping to buy for some of the needs of the family who will be receiving our house. You can meet them at the following link:
http://eocyugohomes.blogspot.com/2009/07/smov-july-19-24.html

Their home burned down recently and they have nothing.

The team is enjoying southern California this evening. The weather is fantastic. Later, we plan on catching the sunset off the Pacific Coast.

More photos soon.

We cross over into Mexico tomorrow between 3:30-4:00 local time. Construction begins on Monday.

YUGO Ministries--Ensenada Outreach Center

YUGO Ministries' Ensenada Outreach Center has hosted teams from Student Ministries of Virginia since 2003.

YUGO's missionaries work to evangelize Mexicans, plant churches and train Mexican pastors. YUGO's also brings teams from the U.S. and Canada to enhance their efforts in Mexico by working alongside local Mexican churches.

YUGO hosts over 3,000 North Americans each year on evangelistic outreaches in Mexico.

EOC webpage
Pre-Arrival Videos

Ensenada, Baja California, Mexico

Yugo Ministries Ensenada Outreach Center is located about 4 miles south of the city of Ensenada. Ensenada is in the Mexican state of Baja California and is about 90 miles south of San Diego, CA. Ensenada is a growing city and a popular tourist destination for people travelling by cruise ship and drivers crossing the border from California.

The neigborhood where the outreach center is located is quieter than the city. Yugo describes their it this way:

In general, the community is clean and rich in Mexican culture. It is deeper into Mexico than most of the border cities YUGO ministers in, and is more representative of the Mexican culture. 
The climate is unusually temperate and comfortable for ministry throughout the year.  Ensenada is situated along the west coast of Baja California, Mexico, approximately 60 miles south of the border.  Ensenada is an area often overlooked for short-term missions because of its reputation for tourism.  However, less than 1% of the 600,000 people of Ensenada are tourists, and less than 5% are evangelical Christians.

Click here for the Wikipedia entry on Ensenada.

About Impact Mexico

Since 2003, hundreds of students & sponsors from Christian Churches and Churches of Christ in Virginia have been spending a week during the summer serving in Mexico. Working with Student Ministries of Virginia, Yugo Ministries, and local ministers, these students have built houses, met new friends, and have planted seeds that have led people to Christ.

In July, a team from Rappahannock Church of Christ will be part of a group of students and sponsors from Virginia working under Student Ministries of Virginia in Ensenda, Mexico. We will fly to California on Saturday, July 18. On Sunday, we will attend worship and cross the border. Construction begins on Monday. By the end of the day on Thursday, we will present a family their new home. We return on Saturday, July 25th.

Student Ministries of Virginia

Rappahannock Church of Christ
9514 Richmond Road
Warsaw, VA 22572