¿¿¿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.