Day 5 and 6 in Mexico's taco capitol!

August 23, 2009- Sunday- Day 5

This morning a group from California lead a church service in Spanish. We sang songs like how great is our God and mighty to save in Spanish it was a lot of fun. I really loved listening to the story of David and Goliath that they told… well at least what I could understand. Then that team left and the kids went off to their church. Chelsea and I stayed behind with the older kids. We sang some songs and just relaxed. Lots of new kids came today so we have been trying to learn all their names and take pictures of them.

We decided to kind of decorate our room up with verses and pictures to make it feel a little more like home. Chelsea and I tried to take a nap today but it was so hot out that our room was ridiculous. Really today was very laid back and I was able to speak to people from back at home. Tonight we watched a movie with a couple kids and tomorrow we are going to help them get shoes for school. They actually start school tomorrow and so I have no idea what Chelsea and I will do when they are gone. We will figure it out. One thing that came to our attention was that a lot of the kids don’t have backpacks. So we are going to try to find a way to buy at least 30 backpacks for them. Israel is going to take us to see how much they will cost and we will try to get people to sponsor it. Just an idea!

August 24, 2009-Monday- Day 6

It was the first day of school for most of the kids. They woke up a lot earlier and played all morning then headed out for school around 1pm. We were able to go with Israel and some kids to get shoes right before school started. It was an interesting experience but nothing could have prepared me for taking the kids to school. We took the first batch, which was 2^nd to youngest group… we had 23 children and 3 adults in a 15-passenger van. It was crazy! The thing that blessed me was that some of the kids had to kiss and hug us goodbye before they headed off out of the van. J

Then we took the older kids to school and found out that some of them start the next week so we had to go pick them back up. We drove up a steep dirt narrow road with cars all around. It seemed to take forever. Roberto (one of the main helpers at the orphanage) was driving and hit another car which I guess happens all the time and no one really cares. We headed back to the orphanage and talked to Israel about getting backpacks for the kids. After awhile we headed out with him, his wife, and one son Alberto to get some cokes, then fish/shrimp tacos (which were absolutely amazing!) and then looked at supplies for school. My plan is to find a way to get them the supplies that they need. I will raise the money from churches at home. I believe it will only be around $1000, I didn’t think that was bad at all. For 30 kids to get backpacks and over 30 kids to get supplies.

So my God moment today was definitely driving with Israel. He had this CD in that had many Christian songs in Spanish that Chelsea and I knew in English. Israel sang with all his heart and we sang with all of ours. It was a great time of realizing that our God is a God that knows everyone from every domination, country, and language. He also drove us to a place where we could see a great view of Tijuana… it was amazing. I believe there are around 3 million people that live in Tijuana. It is crazy! Oh so we also saw a lot of McDonalds, Burger Kings, KFCs, Sam Clubs, and other America places all over as we drove. I think it is so crazy how Americanized places are. Israel told us today when we were eating tacos that he grew up in an orphanage and that it was not always good all the time so that he wants City of Angels to be wonderful for the kids and place that actually feels like home. I thanked him for letting us come and he said that we have no idea how much it means to the kids that we are here. He remembers when he was a kid people coming and they will always be in his heart. That really touched my heart to know that we are making a difference.