Uploaded by Michael Wender 31st July, 2008

I can’t think of a better birthday treat that to cavort around on Coronado Island in a surrey with my wife and two of our friends. And, that’s exactly what we did this past Monday.

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They may look like they’re lying down on the job, but Deanna and Beth are actually testing out the new bunk beds that Chris and his crew built on Friday.

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On Friday, we began the day with these goals: 1) Get the cabinets primed and painted. Plus, connect the plumbing and attend to other kitchen details. 2) Build two bunk beds. 3) Spend time praying for the women at the shelter. We worked hard through the day with several of us taking an afternoon break to visit with the women and pray for each individually. Around 8:30pm we reluctantly set aside some remaining minor details for the next group to attend to. We finished our work by cleaning the house and taking the second bunk bed up to the third story. There were many thanks and hugs as we placed each of the beds in their spots. There will be more stories to share, but for now I’ll end by saying it was a God blessed week of hard work, deepened relationships and experiencing God’s love in Tijuana, Mexico.

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It’s day five on our mission trip, and we’re finishing up our projects. Caroline and Angie are in the kitchen priming the new counters. Outside Jessie is helping the guys build some bunk beds for a family that arrived just this week.

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Our kitchen cabinet project has been progressing nicely. Here’s a quick checkin with Bart to see where we stand.

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During our stay in Tijuana, our team has enjoyed reading notecards from our friends.

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Caroline and Doug attempt a twlight escape along the Mexico/US border after a full day of work and play in Mexico.

Today we attended two church services bringing our weekend total to three (perhaps we should consider changing denominations). This afternoon we dropped in at the Rosarito children’s home to grab some ice cream just as the high school group group from our church was leaving. Then we spent the afternoon cleaning out the dorms. We finished our evening by attending a small church on an adjacent hillside along with 30 or so children from the home.

On our way back to Tijuana, we stopped for ice cream at the beach, and I snapped the picture you see in this post. Now we’re headed off to bed looking forward to tomorrow’s full day of work.

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Today we’re going to church followed by an afternoon in Rosarito at the children’s home. Here’s a shot of Mark catching some morning hoops before we head off.

Starting July 19th and running through July 26th, I will be helping to lead my third mission trip to the Tijuana Christian Mission in Tijuana, Mexico. In all there will be ten of us ranging in age from the late twenties to the mid-forties. At the request of Sara Gomez, church liaison for TCM’s City of Refuge Orphanage, our team will be helping to train the TCM staff to work with children who are victims of physical and sexual abuse (one of our team is a licensed therapist). Additionally, we will most likely be involved in some small construction projects and playing with the children who make their home at TCM. Continue Reading

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A couple of weeks ago I bought a new phone. Now after a little tinkering, I’m able to post pictures, video and text directly from it.

As my first video post, I thought I’d share this funny video of Beth hiding from the camera.