In my mind for a long time

I wrote a four word letter,
Post-script in crooked lines,"Though I'd lived I'd never been alive."
And you know who I am
You held my hem
As I traveled blind
Listening to the whispering in my ear,
Soft but getting stronger.
Telling me the only purpose of my being here
Is to stay a bit longer.
a bicycle chain,
As the handlebars crashed to the ground,
The back wheel detached from the frame,
It kept rolling yeah,
But aimlessly drifting around

Oh Doubters,
Lets go down, Lets go down, Won't you come on down?
Oh Doubters, Lets go down, Down to the river to pray

"But I'm so small I can barely be seen
how can this great love be inside of me?"
Look at your eyes
they're small in size
but they see enormous things

Wearing black canvas slippers
And our frog-on-a-lily-pad pose
We sewed buttons and zippers
To Chinese pink silk and olive night clothes
If you can someday stop by
Somehow we'll show you the pictures
And fix you some tea
See, my dad's getting a bit older now
And just imaginably lonely

Oh pretender, Lets go down, Lets go down
Won't you come on down?
Oh pretender
Lets go down
Down to the river and pray
"Oh but I'm so afraid
I'm set in my ways"
But he'll make the rabbits and rocks sing his praise
"Oh but I'm too tired
I won't last long"
No he'll use the weak to overcome the strong

Oh Amanda, Lets go down, Lets go down
Won't you come on down?
Mama, Nana, Lets go down, Down in the dirt
By the river to pray

A wick to fit the wax
Wood to fit the wire

You strike the match
Why not be utterly changed to fire?
And sacrifice the shadow in the mist
Of a brief life you never much liked son
If you'd care to come along
We're gonna curb all our never-ending,
clever complaining
And who's ever heard of a singer criticized by his song?

We hunger,
Though all that we eat brings us little relief
We don't know quite what else to do
We have all our beliefs
But we don't want our beliefs
God of peace,
We want you.

Crazy!!

Have you ever been to Tijuana?
I think Tijuana means craziness! If it's summertime you have to wear a jacket and if it's November, OF COURSE you have to wear lots of sunscreen!
When it's super sunny outside and you think you are going to be able to go to the ocean and swim, you will find out (sometimes) that you cannot feel your body and instead of swimming, you SHIVER!

In fact, i actually like it!

People say: " The people of Tijuana are so dangerous"
I say: " The people of Tijuana are so kind, very happy, and they're so thankful for what they have. They do not hesitate to smile and they help each other out..."

People could easily find poverty, prostitution, hunger, racism and fear but I find hope, happy families, looooooots of delicious food (my goodness, those tacos!!!) Hospitality is a major value as well!

I believe in this place, I think Tijuana is such a great city, such a blessed city!
But sadly, there is a lot of people who do not think so, and over and over again they declare horrible things over this place.


HEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEELP US!!!

Tomorrow we will march declaring that "WE BELIEVE IN TIJUANA!!!

And of course, YOU have to be a part of it. If you live here, YOU NEED TO COME!
If you don't live here, please HELP US PRAY!!!

"Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruit" (Proverbs 18:21)

WALKING CIRCLE!

One random day, somebody thought of this formula:

Learning+ Having Fun= Walking Circle.

"It is a formula you cannot understand until you live it," they said. I did not believe it.
One time I got to go and help out with one group. My goodness! It was like when I had chocolate for the first time. Once you've had it, you can never get enough of it.

The mission of the walking circle is to provide children in the community a safe place where they can learn about God and practice math and reading skills.


A little bit about the circle:
We (or they did cuz I was not here yet) started with 8-12 kids and now there is a lot of them!!! I think they're like 80. Because they're so many we've divided them into 4 different groups:
Kinder, 1-2, 3-4, 5-6. If they wanna be part of the circle, they have to know the 3 rules, which we mention every time we open the circle (multicolor parachute): "Respect each other," "congratulate each other" and the one that I like the most: "YOU FIRST!"
I have had the kinder group for almost one year now, and it's beautiful to have fun, show God and learn with them. They are so cute!

We love having trips with the kids and the last trip we had, was to THE BEACH!! and who enjoys the beach better than our kids?

Pray for the walking circle staff, kids and families. And that this program expands to more places.
Find us on facebook: WALKING CIRCLE if you want to know more about us.

Thank you so much for reading!!! God bless you tons!

NIKO it!

NIKO: Greek word which means "Victory of the people". People used to shout NIKO after they had won a war.

NIKO 2: Survival hiking adventure for 3 nights and 3 days.

NIKOer: Overcomer.


What a busy week!!!! We had to get ready for the Mexican Mission Adventures and we did not have enough time. It was Monday morning and the kids were gonna arrive at noon. The main leader; Naara got food poisoning. We were going to start camping that day and the maps were not printed out. I was supposed to have everything packed, and I did not. NO TIME, and many things had to get done. It was not exactly what I was expecting...
At 1pm we had the registration and all of the kids were excited to start the week since NIKO was part of the week and the only thing that they knew was that NIKO meant "survival camp".
For me, the biggest challenge was not sleeping on the ground nor the sweat or the sun, but a person.
Oh my goodness!!! Have you ever known someone that is so familiar to you and you don't like it at all?
It was like looking into a mirror, she was so like what I used to be... a Preppy girl.
It would always be the team hiking ahead of her or it would be her, hiking ahead of us, but never together.
She would take so much time to get ready. Always late but super pretty. You know? Fashion first!!
God is amazing and it was great to see her change her attitude during the week. It was awesome to see the kids the first day being all indifferent about everything and the last day they were hugging each other and dancing together.

And here... some numbers:

• 22 teenagers+10 staff members had something in common: We all thought and believed that a bag of Granola, a bag of beans, peaunut butter, powdered milk and powdered gatorade was the meaning of best food in the world.

• We hiked approximately 20 miles. and the first hike started at 11:30 PM.
  

• 3 Teams: Red, Green and the best one... BLUE!!

• In less than 30 minutes we fed about 50 people.

• 187329482654925702732... times I have been in awe because of God's love, (The view was AMAZING at NIKO!) and I praise He who paints the sky with a new picture everyday no matter what I do, no matter what I think, no matter what goes on around me, He is God, and shows me He loves me through his creation. Without him I can't NIKO anything.
  

Eating or Sleeping

I had not taken the spoon out of his little mouth when he started crying, wanting more mashed peaches.

While we were on outreach in Mexico City we got to minister to some street people.

A group of like 15 people were sniffing paint thinner while we were giving away sandwiches and while we were doing this we had no idea we were going to run into some babies. I had the opportunity to hold Raymundo who was the youngest, He had bronchitis, he was hungry and so tired. He started sucking the mayonnaise out of one of the sandwiches I had in my hand and at the same time he was falling asleep. WHAT A HARD DECISSION! Eating or sleeping.

I wanted to get him baby food but SURPRISE! I had forgotten my purse in the van which was like 15 minutes away, so I started asking the guys in my team if they had any money on them. Finally Efrain and I went to the store and by the time we bought the food, he had fallen asleep in my arms. But that all changed when I opened the jar of baby food and the smell of the peaches got into his nose.

HE ATE THE WHOLE JAR IN LESS THAN 2 MINUTES!!!

He had not had any food in like 30 hours! His 19 year old mom was too skinny that she could not even nurse him plus she had to feed the other 2 year old boy.

I wanted to keep Raymundo with me, I was so sad and mad and upset about the whole situation.

I wish we had helped them more than giving them only sandwiches. I think we did though. We prayed for them. We did our part and we let God do his part. I know that God is taking better care of Raymundo than I ever could.

Now I am back in Youth with a Mission Tijuana. I just started as a full time staff. Lets see what else God can do in my life! I can't wait for MORE OF GOD!

I have a lot more to share with you all, so wait for it!

end of this chapter.