Final get together

This Sunday we did a presentation to our church about our mission trip. It was kind of bittersweet, because we all really missed Mexico when we talked about it and watched the video. There is another trip already in the works for next year, and I know many of the same people will be signing up again.

What I miss about Oaxaca...and what I do not

We have been back home from Oaxaca for 9 days, the same amount of time we were there. I've been able to reflect on the 9 days in Mexico, and compare them to time at home.

What I miss about Oaxaca, Mexico

1. The people. They smile and invite you in, and genuinly want to get to know you.

2. Working everyday and knowing what you did made a big impact on another persons life.

3. The fabulous cheese!

4. The really cool things in the market

5.The vibrant colors and the old cathidrals

What I love about being home

1. Sanitary drinking water

2. A good sewage system (think about this...if the sewage can't process toilet paper, where do you put it?)

3. A huge honkin' salad and pizza

4. Greenness everywere

5. Sane (mostly) drivers

I know everybody from the team is missing Oaxaca dearly, and most would sign up to go back next year in a heartbeat.

Friday

It seemed like as soon as I touched down in soggy Oregon, I caught the cruddy cold that has been going around! I pretty much slept all weekend (as much as my son would let me), and now finally feel energized enough to stay up past 8pm...

Friday dawn clear and crisp, just like every other day in Mexico. The mornings are chilly, so we wear sweatshirts to breakfast. Usually by 9:30 or so we take them off, and don't put them back on until the wind kicks up in the evening around 5pm.

All weeks the high scholars had been trying to "do" something to Joel, the youth pastor. He warned them that he's been a youth pastor for 8 years, it would take some serious tricking for him to get pulled in by a prank. This morning they tried hot sauce in his coffee, but he caught them doing "shifty eyes", so he knew something was up. He switched his coffee with Suzan's, and unfortunately she took a big sip. It's a good thing she is so good humored. Her face was so disgusted, I bet it was awful!

We drove out to the sight, and discussed James. All week we had been reading the whole book of James before breakfast (or during) and discussing it on the bus ride out to the sight. The bus ride took about a half an hour, so we got some good discussions in everyday.

Our teams split up again, and my team finally stopped at a house. This house was actually next to the only concrete road in the community. This road was paved because it goes directly to the dump, and dump trucks roar up and down it all day.

This house was one of the worst ones we have seen. Actually, it might have been OK if not for the overwhelmingly strong smell of urine coming from the ground. You could see where the outhouse had overflowed and was seeping down into the earth a good 8 feet down hill from the outhouse.

Our job was to tear down the walls of the house, and start building it back up again. It was the usual routine of demolition, then digging holes for the support poles, and finally building support for the laminate before nailing that up. Our team got a good portion of it done before we had to leave. There were lots of bugs there, and a bunch of black widows. The man said "Don't get bit, because you only have 20 minutes with these guys, and there isn't a hospital 20 minutes from here." Yikes!!

We gave the family the care package, and prayed for them. The man had tears in his eyes as he thanked us. It was really moving.

We ate lunch at the church, and passed around papers to get everybodys contact information. It seemed like we had just met these people, and now we had to say goodbye!

After lunch we headed up the the church were we would be doing the bible club. It was actually in the same community, only about 4 "bocks" or so away. This church actually had a women's shelter right next to it that was in the process of being built. It was almost finished, it needed a roof and some other finishing touches. Mixie said that they hoped to have it done in a year.

The womens shelter

The bible club went much as yesterday, and when we finished, the girls and little boys stayed inside to color, while some of the girls came outside to get their fingernails painted. The rest of the kids played with a parachute and balls. There were little foam balls going everywhere!

Once we had painted all the little girls fingernails that wanted them painted, the high school girls moved on to their next target...the guys. The total list of victims includes; Joel, Andrew, Mauricio, Gherardo, and Steven.

When the children started to go home, clutching the little cloth bags full of little prizes, we circled up and prayed over the group. I was crying, and I'm sure that I was not the only person there who shed a few tears. Right then, I would have packed up my family and moved them down there to live and help! I didn't want to leave these fabulous people, I wanted to do more!!

Our bus ride home was very loud and boisterous (much like every other bus ride that week, actually.) We sang veggie tail songs, and were generally silly.

When we got home, we were tired. We showered and ate dinner, and packed to go home. We needed to get up at 5am the next morning to catch our flight, and so most of us turned in early.

We had a great week, and we were glad to be going home.

Link for photo's

I am currently uploading my photos so you can all look at them...There are 500 of them (whittled down from 725!).

http://picasaweb.google.com/wildlightning716/OaxacaMexico#

An entry for Friday is coming, I promise!!

Friday

Here is a picture diary of Friday.


The team working hard

The Bible Club

The women convinced the men to get their nails painted......

And this is what happened!

Thursday

This is what I wrote in my journal Thursday morning......

"7 am feels way to early to be getting up. Really! I am so tired, my face is puffy and I just want more sleep!"

By the time Thursday rolled around, we were really beginning to feel the effects of our breakneck pace. Our muscles were starting to hurt, and more than one of us were burnt or had some interesting injuries.

We loaded the things on the bus, but many of us did not realize how much stuff we would be taking. It took so long to get the bus ready we almost got a ticket. The next street down had some major construction, and the police liked to keep things moving.

We got to the colony, and we split up again. We had the same groups as yesterday, except AT and Steven switched groups, so now Steven was with us. The first group unloaded at a house we had been driving by all week, on a ravine. Susan said it was so neat to finally get to work on that house, because she has been coming down here for many years, and recognized it from previous visits.

Our group drove less than a half a mile away to a house right on the edge of the dump. Mauricio, our bus driver, told us that the woman (Romania) who lived here is a very angry person. He also said that she was a brand new Christian whom Gloria and Felix were working with. Thank goodness that there are wonderful people like Gloria and Felix who are able to work with these people and give them answers and pray for them. They really are a godsend to this community.

We didn't get to meet Romania, because she was not there when we got there. Her daughters and family were there though, and we met them. Our project was to replace three sheets of roofing (laminate). Kimmee and Steven climbed up onto the tin roof with no fear. There was no way I was getting up there! It was just tin and flimsy boards, and I could just imagine me crashing through the roof. No way.

There was really only room for two people on the roof, so Kimmee and Steven did most of the project. Kelli and I pounded nails for a new support below, and also prepared the bottle caps. Jeff and Abram directed shenanigans up on the roof.

Kimmee and Steven finished up the roof before 1pm, and we collected up our tools to head back to the sight. This was the first time we had finished a project, and it felt good.

We presented the food box, bible and apron to Romania's giggling daughter, and Gloria took a photograph.

We had lunch at the church in the community run by Gloria and Felix's son, and then packed up our stuff to head to the bible club we would be holding for the little kids in another community. The drive there was only about 10 miles as the crow flies, but because of the roads in Oaxaca, it was a very bumpy, long ride. At one point we even became separated from Abram in the truck leading the way, and we got a little lost. Our wonderful bus driver got us found quickly however, and we finally arrived at the little community church. There were kids running around everywhere, and dogs running in and out of the church. Pepe (the person from Manos de Vida who runs the bible clubs all around Oaxaca) was keeping the kids entertained by playing Simon Says.


When we got ourselves inside the church with all our stuff, things got rolling. Pepe taught us the hand movements and words to a silly Spanish song, and then had us come up to the front to do it with the kids. We ran through Son of Abraham (once in Spanish, then once in English....it was pure craziness), and the Lord's Army. Pepe also taught us another song in Spanish about a little frog.



After the songs we did our skit, and the kids just about fell out of their seats laughing. I'm pretty sure I had tears running down my face from laughing so hard.

Suzan ran through the memory verse (Romans 15:7) and then called kids up to recite it. Each kid who came up got a little cross necklace.



When Suzan was finished, the men took the boys outside to play soccer. The girls stayed inside to color, and Kimmee, Kelli, Taylor and I painted their nails. Joy and Suzan played duck, duck, goose with some of the other kids. It was a really fun time, and I loved painting the little girls nails.

We ended the bible club by handing out little bags of goodies to each child. There were toothbrushes, toothpaste, necklaces, stickers, Slinky's, toy cars, bracelets, foam airplanes, and other fun stuff in the bags.



We got home late again, but it had been a good day. Friday was going to be just like it, and we needed to get to bed so we could survive!

Mauricio driving us home as the sun sets....

Getting ready to come home.....

Yesterday and today were very long days, and we were practically delirious coming home on the bus today. We sang every Veggi Tale song we knew.

I'm going to wait on blogging yesterday and today because we all still need to shower, eat dinner, and to pack to leave tomorrow at 5am (3am there!) I'll probably get to it Sunday, unless I get super lucky and find an Internet cafe in the Huston airport for our 7 hour layover.

So this is Adios for now, and I'll see you on the other side!

Wednesday

Wednesday we all woke up very tired. We have been running from 7am to 10:30 pm each day, and it is really starting to wear us out. We had pancakes for breakfast, and Taylor said they were delicioso! I agreed.

We piled onto the bus at 9am, and as we were waiting to leave, these two very obviously American boys climbed aboard. Their names were Steven and AT. Steven is 18, and he is living in Mexico for a while before going to college in September. AT just graduated from college, and he is traveling the world until he figures out what he wants to do. He was just accepted to Peace Corps, and he has 10 days to decide if he wants to go. I can´t remember where he would be going, but someplace in South America where they speak Dutch. I´m sure that narrows it down a bit.

They were both living with a missionary family in Oaxaca, and the family sent them to help us with the construction. We are always glad for the help, though sometimes we have too many hands for the job (or not enough ladders).

The teams were split up again, and my team had Brandon, Jeff, Kimmee, Kelli, and myself. We also had Abram ( a Manos de Vida worker) and AT. Our team arrived at the sight, and we figured out that we would be framing out a roof on a small brick house. The brick is actually a light pumice type stone mixed with a lot of sand and very little cement. The blocks are surprisingly light, and a bit crumbly.

I was a bit unsure about how exactly we would be making the supports for the roof, since the beams were all 8 feet long, and the house was about 15 ft x 25 ft. (It would be housing 12 people) I learned a lot about construction in Mexico, however, and here is the secret. Splicing! A lot of it. Kimmee, Kelli and I pounded nails for a long time, and we were good! The men were impressed we could actually pound nails with accuracy, and we were pretty fast as well.

There was a little boy about 6 or 7 years old (he didn´t really know) who talked to us nonstop the whole time we were working. He didn´t seem to care that we didn´t understand most of what he said. He tried to teach us Spanish, and he showed us many times how strong he was. He was totally cute.

By the time lunch rolled around, we had framed out the roof really well, and it was surprisingly strong. Abram was able to hang his whole weight from the beams, and he was at least 250 pounds. We presented the food box and bible with the apron, and headed to lunch.

We ate lunch at one of the churches in the colony. It actually was one of the churches that Gloria and Felix preach at, and where Mixie teaches English classes to children and adults. The other group had been working on building a small house on the church property where a family and a small child would be staying. I didn't understand what happened, but they were homeless, and there is no work for them. They were crying when we prayed for them and presented the food box and bible. The little boy reminded me so much of my son that I had a hard time not crying. I played with him with a little hot-wheel car.

We actually left the projects on time today, and got home around 4pm. We showered and all headed out to the market to look around and shop. Dinner was at the Zocolo again, and then we headed back to the hotel to practice our skit for the bible club on Thursday. It was pretty funny, and we were laughing so hard that some of the workers came to watch. I got burnt on my face, and many other people got a lot of sun as well.

We headed to bed relatively early, around 9:30. Thank goodness....I needed it.

Tuesday

Yesterday was a good, busy day. We once again headed out to the colony's outside of town to do repair work on some houses. The house that my team went to needed four new poles, a new wall, and part of the roof replaced. We dug the holes, and they were so deep our arms didn´t even reach the bottom. We needed Andrew to finish out the holes with his Go-Go Gadget arms. Then we filled in about five inches of the hole because it was too deep! This is construction in Mexico at it's finest. We just go with the flow and make adjustments as necessary.

The house we worked on was on the edge of the colony, and the view was amazing. In Albany it would be at least a half a million dollar view, and in Seattle it would be a 2 million dollar view. In Mexico this is where the squatters, the poorest people, and the city dump is.

We learned that the population of these colonies is mostly people who have moved from the mountains down into Oaxaca because there are schools, better jobs, and better opportunities for families. Usually what they do when then first move down to the community is be a garbage picker. This means going into the dump and picking through the garbage for cardboard, glass, tin, aluminum, and plastic. They then sell this the the recycling companies for small amounts of money. There are stray dogs everywhere, and a ton of vultures above the dump waiting for a new load to be dumped so they can scavenge. We didn't see it, but I imagine there are a few fights between the dogs and the vultures for the food.

The other group went to a different house, and it was a very small project and they were done in a short time. Once the wall was repaired, they painted the kids fingernails and played soccer with them. This family was relatively rich compared to their neighbors. They had cement floors in their house, a large yard and a large shed where they stored their car (most families don´t have cars). The father is a lumber truck driver, so their house had more wood than most houses.

We gave both families food boxes and aprons, and prayed for both. We didn't get to finish our project at the first house, but that is ok. The family then works together to finish it.

At 3pm, we split up into three groups (with one translator per group) and we went to visit families in the community. We had a food box and an apron for each family we visited. The first family my group visited lived on a small plot of land. They purchased their land a year ago and were slowly building a latrine and a house. The father was a police officer (one of the easiest jobs to get in Oaxaca), and this was his day off. They work 24 hours on, and 24 hours off. He and his wife came from the mountains, but they met in Oaxaca. They had three children, two little girls and one little boy. We talked to them for about a half an hour, then presented them with the food and aprons. We prayed for them before we left.

The second house we went to had a similar story. They came here about 7 years ago, and purchased a plot of land. The woman had 7 children, and they moved so the children could go to school. She was a believer, and she gave her testimony to us. The father, Omar, was not a believer, and he told us about some things that have happened in his life that has made him wary of the church. He told us about his uncle who was a pastor and got a girl pregnant, then got into alcohol really bad. He told us about another pastor who committed adultery, and the whole church knew about it but ignored it. Also, a few years ago, he had a near death experience, and he said that he saw nothing. No God, just emptiness. He also said something that was very interesting. He said ¨I hope I don't offend you, but this is what I think. We have a saying here, sweep your own house before you sweep someone else's. You guys come down here, but you need to focus on your country first.¨ The pastor talked to him for a long time, and ministered to his hurt and confusion. It was pretty awesome to see, and a really good experience for the team. We talked a lot about it last night. We felt that there was a pretty big spiritual battle going on with Omar, and he was throwing everything he had at us. Luckily they have some fantastic pastors there to help minister to him and give him some answers he desperately is searching for, even though I don't think he knows he is searching.

When we got back to the hotel, it was almost 7pm. We got Pizza from up the street, and celebrated Joy's birthday. After we had eaten the pizza, Joel pulled out the Chapolines, the little baked grasshoppers that are sold on every corner. He told Joy he had put about 10 in her pizza! We then all had to eat one, and they were gross. I'm pretty sure Kimmee, Kelli and Taylor almost threw theirs back up. They were squishy and salty, and the most disgusting thing I have ever put in my mouth!!!!
We had our nightly debrief and prayer, and then headed to bed after 10. A lonnnngggg day!!!

Monday

Monday morning we tried to get up early, because we needed to have all of our stuff ready before breakfast at 8. The hotel manager noticed yesterday that some of us had not eaten much breakfast, so he had the cook make ham and eggs for us. I thought that was very thoughtful.
We ate, and at 9am a bus with Manos de Vida (Hands of Life) pulled up in front of the hotel. Manos de Vida is the church and organization we are working through while down here.

It was nice we got the bus, because last year they all had to pile into a SUV, and it was very cozy. The bus had much more room, and we did not need to sit on each others laps. Score!
We rode about a half an hour to the outskirts of Oaxaca, to a community. Every building was made of tin and wood, and all the roads were deeply rutted. We bumped around until we located the first house we would be repairing, and we all piled out. Half of us stayed there, while the other half went to a second house we would be repairing.

We were shown what to do, and we started in. Our project was to tear down one wall of the house, and expand it about 6 feet. I was working with Taylor, Kelli, Joel, and Brandon. We also had Mixie, a student staying with the Pastors of Manos de Vida. She actually lived in Albany for a short period when she was young, and then her parents moved to Portland. What a small world!

We worked hard, ripping down tin (they call them laminates), and pulling nails out of boards. We then needed to dig holes for the support poles to go into. This is hard work, because you use a sharp iron rod to break up the dirt, then you scoop it out by hand. When the frame was in place, we started nailing the tin on. It was very loud! They use metal bottle caps as washers, so the nails do not go into the tin and make to big of a hole. The kids wanted to help, so we let them pound the nails into the bottle caps. They kept asking, we are good workers? Si, Si muy biueno! The kids were 4 and 6. The little boy, Carlitos, was the cutest little guy. He scurried around trying to help, handing us nails, or picking up rusty ones to put in a small can. When we left, I gave him my wooden cross necklace. We also gave the family a food box, and a bible with an apron.

The other group went to another sight about 5 blocks away (they actually did not have blocks, so that is an estimate). They were with the pastors of one church (Gloria) and the family made up of grandparents, the parents and two boys, Christian and David, 3 and 7 years old. Christian was really shy, but very cute, and David warmed up after a while and
started talking to the group. He played futbol with Andrew, and they had a great time, though they could not understand each other.

The group tore down a dilapidated wall, made of bricks, wood and tin. The bricks had small spaces in them, and there were a ton of bugs. Cockroaches, spiders, and pill bugs all came scurrying out from the wall when it was being torn down. The chickens quickly gobbled up the bugs that came from the bricks. They were also warned against black widows, and they actually saw some.

The room that was being renovated was the kitchen/living room, and when it will be finished in a few months, it will have a cement floor (piso), a new roof and new walls. The team from Monday was just replacing the walls. The dirt floor was covered in rusty nails, broken pieces of metal and other dibree, and the children were walking around barefoot.

They were really appreciative of the new walls, and we also gave them a food box, a bible and an apron that was made by someone from NACC. Manos de Vida requires the families to pay for a small percentage of the project (10% or less), so the people can feel some sense of ownership and pride in what they are getting, instead of getting simply a hand out. The coordinator calls it giving them a hand up, instead of a handout.

Even in their poverty, they were reaching out to us. Joy was having her birthday the next day, and they purchased a cake for her. These are people who do not have enough resources to properly feed their children, and yet they still want to give back to us.

We got back late, and we were very tired. It was a good day though, and we all looked forward to Tuesday.

I will probably only be blogging every other day because we have been getting back very late. Also, I have been trying and trying to upload pictures, but it just will not work. I am going to stop trying, and when we get home, I will add pictures to the narration. I will also create a huge web photo album, and provide the link. I hope this is OK with everybody!! Keep checking back after we have returned, and you will be able to see some awesome pictures.

Sunday

Sunday we felt very good and refreshed. We got up and had breakfast at 8am, in the hotel courtyard. We were still getting acclimated to the food, and breakfast was very different from back home. I'm not really sure what it was, but it looked like tortillas in a green chili sauce with cheese and sour cream.

We zoomed through Oaxaca in three taxis to get to church, and we got there just as the first service was ending. (I do not have pictures because I was a ding-a-ling, and forgot my camera.) There were four young women and four young men warming up in front of the stage. The men had flags, and the woman had long dresses and tambourines. When the service started, the woman danced and the men twirled the flags. It was very beautiful, and moving.
Lucky for us, the words to the songs were up on the screen, and we could follow along as best we could. It was great to sing in Spanish, not really knowing what you were saying, but knowing you were praising the Lord anyway. We recognized one song, but most were new to us. It was really fabulous.
The sermon was an hour long, and was on Jealousy and envy. I (Jennifer) was able to follow it a tiny bit, but the pastor spoke so fast it hurt my head to try and keep up. We were able to follow along with the bible verses, though, so that made us understand a tiny bit of what he was talking about.

When the service was ended, we headed back to the hotel and then out to lunch. We went to the Zocalo (the town square), and had lunch. We spied some signs advertising the Superbowl, (and they had a big screen TV inside), so the group decided to come back to the restaurant to watch the Superbowl and eat dinner. I was very tired so I rested in my room and watched the Superbowl there.

We all tried to turn in early to rest up for Monday, because we knew it would be a long day.

Saturday

Saturday, we had a bit of a free day before the work began. We learned about how wool blankets were made, and saw the biggest tree in the world. We also got to see the Zapotec Indians ruins in Malta. It was nice to be able to rest up after the very long day Friday.

La Casa De La Tia, our Inn

I am trying to post pictures, but the computer will not let me. What I may end up doing, since this seems to be a problem here, is creating an online album when I get back, and posting the link. I might also add pictures when I am back in the United States, and computers work!

¿¿¿What????

We had a busy day today, but I did not know the inernet cafe closed at 8pm and it is 7:59 now:(, so I don´t have time to blog about it!

The cafe´s are closed on Sunday, so I guess the next time I will check in with you will be Monday night.

Kelli´s bag came in last night at ten pm, and no one is sick. We are doing fabuloso!!

We made it!

We made it safe and sound, after three very long flights. I (Jennifer) was able to only sleep about 40 minutes last night, but most everybody else was able to sleep a bit longer. If this blog seems a bit disjointed, it´s because I am trying to type while learning a new keyboard (Spanish keyboards are different...who knew?) as well as stay awake! I might just give you the highlights, and a few pictures.
Andrew kept us entertained while we waited for our flight to Texas.

Our flight left PDX last night around 11:50pm. We all agreed that it was one of the most uncomfortable flights we have all been on, along with some of the rudest stewardess! The next flight made up for it, however, with one of the nicest stewardess we have had. That flight was from Huston to Mexico City, and we arrived in Mexico City around 10:45 (8:45 Albany time). By the time we got to Oaxaca, it was 2:45 and we were ready to land. Kelli´s bag never showed up, and we figured it is off gallivanting around Mexico. We have been assured that an alert has been put out for it, and we will be notified ASAP when it comes in. For Kelli´s sake, I hope that it is soon! This is in the courtyard of our hotel.

We settled in, and then took a walk around town to gather our wits and get some money and water. We ended up eating dinner in the town square, I can´t remember what it is called right now. I´ll fill you in later when I can think again. Our dinners were fabulous, and cheep! We are all going to turn in early tonight, because we have a long day tomorrow. We are going on a four hour tour of Mitla (a smaller ruin), Teotilan (carpet weaving), and Tule (the biggest tree in the world). I am very excited! You can be assured that you will be seeing pictures from that!

Dinner! Finally!!!

Today's the day!

Tonight we will be leaving for Mexico. Our flight leaves PDX close to midnight. I'm sure that we will all be tired tomorrow when we finally get to Oaxaca, because we won't get there until 2 in the afternoon! Hopefully we will be able to sleep from Portland to Huston, because that is a 4 hour flight. Then we have a four hour layover in Texas before flying into Mexico City. We have another 3 hour layover there (just enough time to get us all through immigration!) and then it is just another one hour flight to Oaxaca!

It all seems so unreal that this day is here, we have been preparing for it for 8 months! Please pray for us tonight, and hopefully tomorrow I will have an update and some pictures. Adios!

Taylor's Bio

Hi I'm Taylor I'm sixteen and a junior at West Albany high school. I play volleyball all year and really enjoy it. I am so excited to go to Oaxaca because I've always wanted to see another culture. I also am excited to share the love of Jesus with the people there. I want to help there in any way I can and I hope to make a bunch of new friends :) I'm excited!

Only 4.5 days left!

The date for departure is zooming up at us (January 29th!), and we are all packing like mad. Well, some of us leave the packing to the last minute, which can be exhilarating....in a crazy way. I know a lot of us are nervous, and very excited. If you would like to pray for us, here are a few prayer requests.

• Prayer for safe travels while flying to and from Oaxaca and safe travels while driving in Oaxaca .
• Prayer for the team’s health during our stay.
• Prayer for unity and love in the midst of the team.
• Prayer that God’s love would be shown to the people of Oaxaca in everything we do and say, no matter how small the act.
• Prayer for the families of Oaxaca that they would be open to receiving and following Christ.
• Prayer for the local churches and their ministries in Oaxaca .
  
  

I also have an update on our project. It has changed somewhat from what our original project was, but we are still helping the community the same. From what I understand, we were placed on this project because this is a much higher need currently.

We will be ministering in the Vicente Guerrero II community about 45 min. outside of Ciudad de Oaxaca. The community church is a Bible House built by MTI (Medical Team International) volunteers.
We will work daily with the local pastor, 2 Manos de Vida staff and 2 other local volunteers to repair homes for families in need. We will visit other families to pray with them. The families that we visit and help will receive a food basket and Bible along with needed items for family members. On Thursday after we finish our work we will travel to the Lomas de San Juan Bible Club (last year’s work site) and help with doing a program for over 60 children. We will end Friday with doing a Bible Club program for the mothers and children of the Vicente Guerrero II community.

Andrew's Bio

Hi, my name is Andrew Valesano. I am a home schooled sophomore and am sixteen years old. This is the first time I have ever gone on a mission trip, and I am really excited to see how God will use me and our team for His purposes. I am a little nervous about not speaking Spanish, but I still believe that this will be a great opportunity to serve and be a witness of Christ to other people. I can’t wait to see what God has planned for me on this trip!

Jennifer's Bio

My name is Jennifer, and I am married with a little two year old kiddo. My son is my inspiration to go on this mission trip. God has blessed me and my family with so much, I want to be able to give some of it back. This is my first mission trip, and I am a little nervous. This is also the first time I will be away from my son overnight, not to mention 9 days! I hope God will use me in unexpected ways, and that I will grow in my spiritual walk.

Joel's Bio

Hi, my name is Joel. I'm the youth pastor at North Albany Community Church. When I was a 19 year old new believer, God graciously sent me on my first mission trip...and it changed my ministry life forever. Now, 11 years later, it's still my passion to see the students in our youth ministry have this same life changing experience. My prayer is that God would continually open all of our eyes to the ministry opportunities in our community, in our country, and in our world.

Kimmee's Bio

Hello my name is Kimmee Hoecker. I am a junior at West Albany High School and am seventeen years old. I am very excited to be visiting Mexico on this mission team especially after a recent experience in the mission field in Thailand. I love working with children and sharing with others what God has graciously blessed me with. I know this trip will be an amazing opportunity to do that, as well as grow in my relationship with God.

Kelli's Bio

Hi, my name is Kelli Hoecker. I'm seventeen years old and I'm a junior at West Albany High School. I'm going to Mexico because I feel God has prepared me to serve Him in missions work. I have been blessed to be able to travel around the world with my family of six since the time I was one and a half. I've seen a world in need and a world that can be impacted by those who are more fortunate. Going to Mexico is a way I can give back to God and the world what I have been so greatly blessed with. I'm also excited to get to work with a team that consists of my twin, my best friend, a couple veterans of missions work, my youth pastor, and friends that are becoming closer everyday.

Suzan's Bio

Hola, my name is Suzan. I’m the veteran of the team and a grandmother of 4 granddaughters. In February 1988 I went for the first time to Oaxaca with Medical Teams, Intl. God opened my eyes and heart to a world of hurt and need. Since that time God has laid in on my heart to encourage students to serve Him outside their comfort zone. I’ve seen God do amazing things in the lives of not only the students, but in the lives of those they came to serve. This will be my 15th team to Mexico and I’m looking forward to seeing what God will do in the hearts of this team. We'll minister through mixing cement, building latrines or pouring pisos, as well as being Jesus’ hands, feet and eyes as we interact with children and parents at the Bible Clubs. We'll also deliver food boxes & Bibles and pray with families searching for assurance of Jesus love for them.

Joy's Bio

My name is Joy and I currently work for Albany Parks & Recreation as an Event Coordinator. I am married and have one son. It has always been a goal of mine to go on a mission trip, its taken a little longer than I had thought it would but better late than never. I am excited about going and helping the people of Oaxaca and to share the love of the Lord.

Jeff's Bio

Hello my name is Jeff, I'm delighted to be going back to Oaxaca in 2009 with Pastor Joel, and the team of NACC . I fell in love with the people that we served,and got to know the young people of our team, and see how God is working in them. I am honored to be involved with a new team, and can't wait to see how God will use us.

Introducing the Mexico Team!

We are very excited to be going to Oaxaca during the first week in February. A few members of the team are even veterans, so that goes to show you how incredible this trip will be. We are all looking forward to working hard and impacting peoples lives in a big way. We still have some fundraising to left to do (about $3,000 to cover all the costs), but we have raised a ton of money already. What is a few thousand more in God's hands?

I will be posting short bios of all the team members over the next few weeks so you can get to know us a little better.

Back row from left: Joel, Brandon, Andrew, Joy

Middle row from left: Taylor, Suzan, Jeff

Front row from left: Kimmee, Kelli, Jennifer

New Mission!

It is time to begin preparing for the next mission trip. This year there is going to be 8 students going on the trip. There will also be some adults. Even though it is far away, now is the time for people to begin applying for the trip and begin fundraising because February comes up fast! With God's help, this will be a great mission. Check back in the future to see how you can help!