It has been a very crazy week.  Last weekend we took some young men  from Tijuana to Rancho Santa Veronica for a Junior Leadership Retreat.  Santa Veronica is in the mountains east of Tecate.  We were at about 2,500 feet and Saturday evening the temperature dropped to about 34 degrees.  The theme of the weekend was goal setting and planning.  We had times of teaching, reflection and fun.  The guys participated in group discussions and showed a desire to walk with the Lord.  These young men will be our leaders in the 2014 Timoteos Discipleship Camping Program.  We had a great breakfast at the restaurant in Santa Veronica which all enjoyed.  It was a good time of team building and fun.

Monday was a great day.  Eloy Garcia, one of our Pastors, sent several men to my house and helped us dig out the front yard to facilitate the replacement of our cast iron pipes.  Monday night was good at Bible Club.  Fourteen kids from the Arroyo went in the van to the Bible Club.  They are working on their memory verses and look forward to our bowling trip which is a reward for memorizing all of their memory verses.  The bowling trip will be in December.  

Tuesday and Wednesday were work days in the States.  Thank the Lord for the work He provides for me.

Today my son Ryan and I are traveling south for the Baja 1000.  We will return on Sunday.  We love camping in Mexico and spending some time together.  I love the Baja 1000.  My first Baja 1000 experience was in 1976.  I have been to almost all the 1000's since except when I was away at school.  I had the privilege to work for Honda for many years pitting the motorcycles for the best in the sport.  I am thankful for these trips over the years.  

Mario Andretti said about Baja in the movie "Dust to Glory"  "Every thing goes wrong and works out perfectly".  Sometimes this is how it goes in the wonderful place we love called Baja California.

Bye for now.  I write when we return on Sunday.  

Please pray for a young man named Angel for his salvation and for the family of Vanessa as the are all sick.

Thanks

Good Day

Thursday we served in the neighborhood of Laguna.  We have worked in Laguna for many years.  There are many long and deep relationships here.  We were blessed to have a group from Georgia serving with us this year.  We arrived early and got set up for the day.  Being early allowed me to enjoy visiting with many people.  This is my favorite part of the day.  One of my early activities is to be the Tooth Fairy.  In Mexico we say the Tooth Mouse.  The kids bring me a tooth and trade it for a dollar.  On any given day I might receive up to 35 teeth.  We washed the kids hair and feet and played games with them.  The boys were able to have a hair cut. I must have been looking a little rough around the edges because our barber Lili kidnapped me and gave me a haircut.  We passed out vegetables to the community and there was a Bible study for the kids.  After the activity Grandpa and I gave people rides home in Laguna to Los Cruces and Pana.  After our taxi duties were completed, we visited several families in the arroyo.  Theresa has ten children and needs some help working on her house.  Felipe and Lupe also need some work on the roof of their house.  These families are both Christian and attend local churches.  Teresa gave permission for her son Gustavo to join our camping discipleship group next year.  Next we had lunch at the house of Vanessa.  She has six kids and recently returned to walking with the Lord.  She is attending church and two Bible studies a week.  Vanessa and some of her children are attending Monday night Bible club.  Vanessa helps keep order in the van by running a Bible quiz game on the way home from Bible club. We average around twenty kids in the van every Monday.  Gustavo also attends Club.  Vanessa made tuna burritos for our lunch.  They were delicious.  Next we visited the house of Santiago and Erica.  They have three boys and one girl.  They also are a Christian family.  Santiago Jr. will also be a Timoteo next year.  Their son Eric goes to Club.  Santiago went last year but he is in junior high this year and gets out of school after Club starts.  A few weeks ago the Clairemont Emmanuel Men's Bible study group put new windows in Erica's house and a new roof on her neighbor Gladys's house. We talked with Erica and Gladys about our project on Jan. 4th to add a bathroom to each of their houses.  Currently both families have to use the bathroom and shower of a neighbor.  Next we visited the home of Ramon and Yesenia.  They have six kids- most are Christians.  They also attend Club and Jennifer and Josefina help me in the van on Monday nights.  They were my first friends in the arroyo.  Our families are very close and we attend all family events of the their family.  I usually have lunch or dinner there several times a week.  Several of the kids have visited us in the U.S. and Jennifer will be attending high school in the States next year.  We have been through many great and tough times together.  I thank the Lord for our link with this family.  After having coffee and swapping a few stories, all the kids piled into the van and we were off.  We dropped Josefina off at the house of the Pastora to go to Youth Group.  We picked up another friend Carmen and two of her kids and went to the grocery store.  What a blast- eleven people going grocery shopping together!  Kids and carts everywhere.  We shopped in two stores and returned to the arroyo.  Carmen's husband owns the local used tire and tire repair shop in the arroyo.  Carmen is a Christian and her husband Bri is a Jehovah's Witness.  Please pray for opportunities to share the gospel with Bri and for his salvation.  The kids sporadically attend Club. After we dropped off the Chico family and groceries, Grandpa and I returned home.. On the way I picked up 25 sheets of plywood for a house build.  Aaron and I will deliver it tomorrow morning.  9:30 p.m. back home.  Thank you Lord for a great day.

Good Morning,
I haven't been using my blog for sometime now.  I want to try to stay in better contact with friends and partners in ministry.  Thank you all for your help and prayers over the years.  The work on the blog is a process and I hope to have all of the elements working soon.  Thank you all for your support and prayers in ministry over the last years,.  Lots of exciting things are happening in Mexico.  God is truly working in the lives of people in Tijuana.  We have had the privilege of being God's hands and feet to help meet the physical and spiritual needs of many people.  I truly believe that Ministry is doing life together.  I thank the Lord for the opportunity to develop many friendships and relationships in Mexico.  Each day is different. One day we may work on helping a family by making a roof repair or bringing some much needed food to help.  The highlight of another day might be playing with a kid or tying their shoes.  One day a child might bring a tooth for the tooth mouse to trade it for a dollar.  Another day taking a van full of kids to Monday night Bible Club.  On Thursdays and Saturdays we have a Hygiene Day washing children's feet and hair.  One of my favorite activities is having a meal with a family and enjoying the day. This week we are preparing for a youth leadership retreat on the weekend.  These boys will leaders in the 2014 Discipleship Camping trips.  We will have six trips and six activities in Tijuana in 2014.  Time to go!

Motor News

Today was a great day. I picked up my engine from the repair shop and took it to the machine shop. It is great seeing some forward motion toward getting the Bronco back in service. I also wanted to note that Cathy Dodd did a great job making a new banner for our booth at Spirit West Coast. It is totally awesome! I will be leaving early tomorrow morning to go to Mexico. Spectrum is going to pour a slab for a new house in Tijuana so the discipleship meeting has been moved to 6:00 am. I am looking forward to seeing the guys in the group.

Spirit West Coast was a great experience. We had a Spectrum Ministries booth there. It made for three long days. We worked until 11:30p.m. on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Thursday was set up day and on Monday everything got put away. Thank you all who helped in so many ways to make this possible. Grandpa helped us set up on Thursday and put things away on Monday. David Wright was there every day. He helped preparing things, manning the booth, and taking care of all the IT responsibilities. Brenda, Sheryl, Paul, Sam and Rudy helped us man the booth. We made a lot of good contacts and met a lot of people who love the Lord and are excited about missions.

The weekend before we made a trip to Tribu de Jesus with a Korean Fellowship from UCSD. It was great to play with the kids and bless them. Please pray for Marcos. He is a great kid but not doing well in school and is having attitude problems right now. There is a church in the Los Angeles area who will be donating $200.00 a month to make sure the orphanage will have enough water. The Russian church donated $450.00 to buy the needed transformer to allow power to come into the orphanage. Praise the Lord!!! The guys in the Wednesday discipleship group are doing well and growing in the Lord. We have a group from Georgia with us at the dorm. It is a real blessing to see them. They come several times a year to work with us. Please pray that the kids that partner with us this summer will be a blessing to those they serve in Tijuana and will be challenged to Missionary work. Many great blessings are occurring every day.

I am very excited to be going to the Baja 500 on Friday. I work with team Honda at the Baja races. I really enjoy the races. We will be in Valle de Trinidad. a town east of Ensenada. Our job is to fuel the motorcycles and make any needed repairs. We will serve around 40 bikes on Saturday. It will be a great time. Please pray for safe travel for us. Some of our friends from the Russian church will be making a missions trip to Kenya and Russia. They will be leaving this month. Please keep them lifted up in prayer for safe travel and that they will be a blessing and challenge to those they meet on the trip. This group has a passion for missions. They have been a tremendous help and blessing to us at Spectrum.

Blessings, Dave

Closing up a great weekend at Spirit West Coast

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