Wow, what a great week it has been!!!! On Thursday, I took my Russian friends from UCSD down to Tribu De Jesus. Then I dropped off some of the Tribu kids to school because their van was not working. It was a lot of fun. The road into La Gloria was closed and we took a cool detour. I enjoyed learning some new roads in TJ. Another group of people came to Tribu unexpectedly and they were also Russians. They were from a church in Portland, Oregon, and they were just stopping by. The UCSD group told them about their project to get water piped over to where the older boys were housed. They were so excited about the project that they went to the building supply store and bought all the needed supplies. What a blessing! There were a lot of workers and they quickly built the framework to support the water tank. All the wood work was done before they left that evening. I left the UCSD group for three days to let them complete the project and would return on Saturday to pick them up.

On Friday, Grandpa and I took a young man from the church to the airport in Tijuana. This was a lot of fun because we had never done this before. They have a very nice airport. On the way home we were looking for a place to eat lunch and we found a killer taco shop called Checkos Fish Tacos. This place is way off the main drag down in the neighborhood near the Otay border crossing. The owner has been in business for only a month. He is a cool guy and we look forward to eating there again. His tacos were to die for. After dinner we picked up some building supplies for Juan and went to Imperial Beach to pick up a refrigerator for Hortensia and a microwave.

On Saturday, we had a wash day at Pipila. I had the privilege of working with a group who comes to help us often. I met a man from our church and I enjoyed getting to know him while we served together. After the work day we went to pick up the group at Tribu de Jesus. This made for a long day. Martha and Dan who were riding with me enjoyed visiting Tribu and joined in painting a room. The UCSD group had a blessed time as they served and got to know the staff and kids better. They did a great job of working on the plumbing. Although plumbing and carpentry are not high on their skills list, they stepped out of their comfort zone and God used them in a great way. I took four boys to the .99 cent store and then we took 16 boys out for ice cream. We played games with the kids and then began our journey home. Of course, we made a stop at the local taco shop and another visit to the ice cream store. It was a long day but it was so much fun. I love serving the Lord in Mexico. It does not get any better. The group invited me to their church, Light of the World, in Encinitas on Sunday afternoon. It was nice to watch the response of the church to the story of the trip. The church is so supportive of the missions work that these young people are doing. After church, we had dinner with a family that are missionaries from Kenya. I enjoyed getting to know them better. Stephan has been the speaker at the last two Missions conferences at UCSD. The church will be building a house in Tijuana soon. They are very excited about serving in Mexico. On Thursday, David and his pastor will come down with me to check out the work at the orphanage and to see what we at Spectrum are doing. I am very blessed to have met these great folks and enjoy attending their church even if most of the service is in Russian. The students from UCSD have become very good friends and coworkers.

Today Grandpa and I built a pirate ship for the stage at our upcoming camp in May. Please be praying for the kids that they will grow in Christ. For those who do not know Him yet, we pray that they will understand and believe in Jesus Christ as their personal Lord and Savior.

I am looking for some folks to donate some "bling" for the girls to enjoy. We have been giving them some little bracelets, beads, fingernail polish, little girlie purses, rings and hair stuff. I am also looking for some small dolls for the little girls. It's great to see their faces light up when they receive these little gifts. If you are interested in helping with this, please give me a call.