Ensenada Outreach Center - YUGO

Well Christmas day has come and gone, but we here at EOC wanted to wish you a Merry Christmas & Happy New Year! We just enjoyed a week off to celebrate with friends & family... and a relaxing time away from the work and business of camp life.

For me, it was my first Christmas here in Mexico! It was awesome to experience new traditions and create new memories. The big Christmas celebrations here take place on Christmas eve - families get together for a night of food & fun! I had the privilege of getting to spend the evening with Ana's family... and what an incredible night it was.
Laughter. Feasting on tamales. Hilarious games. And even more hilarious gifts. Enjoying one another. Being together. Simple. Joy. The real joy Jesus was talking about, I think.

Christmas day was followed up with a relaxing day. Myself, a friend visiting from Canada, David & Kimyco hit up a Chinese buffet for lunch, and curled up to watch some movies and hang out. It was nice to just take time to be. not to be running around. or feeling the pressure of the Christmas bustle. the turkey. the presents. the expectations. but instead, to simple be. soaking up simple moments and time together.

This season we celebrate the birth of Jesus. Who was born in a stable... amidst animals and dirt and hay.
Quietly. Joyfully. Simply.
Stripping away the noise of life, the bustle of activity...
I can see a bit clearly more what Christmas...what life...what following Jesus... is really about.

So this entry will seem a little bit random, however it will all come together at the end.The first chunk of this entry is more or less an apology to my mom and dad. Growing up I had everything I could ever want, and more. My parents gave their left arm to make things possible for my sister and I. A beautiful home, food, clothing, protection, an education and so much love. The small things that parents do for their children usually go unnoticed as they simply make up part of a normal day. Always having food on the table, driving us to numberless places, always keeping us entertained and keeping us safe wherever we went. Looking back I will admit I was quite the spoiled child. My mom did my laundry for me, cleaned my room and did the dishes. I rarely helped out without a fuss, if at all. Both my mom and dad would drive me anywhere I needed to go, no matter what they had on their crazy schedule. My health was also super important to them. Physical, mental or emotional problems I had, they would do everything and anything possible to make things better. Sick in the middle of the night and my mom would be right by my side, tummy ache? My dad would get out of bed and I would be at the after hours clinic stat. I can think back to the endless school problems I had and my mom would do anything she could to solve my “life problems”.
So up until I was 19 I had been living with my parents, living what I would call, an easy life. Last summer I moved here, to Ensenada Mexico to do long term missionary work. I live with Rhonda and my best friend Brittney. However in great company, I am thus without the parents! First thoughts, Woo Hoo! Second thoughts, well this isn’t so easy. This is where the guilt sets in. Doing my laundry every week, cooking all own meals, being on the ball for appointments/meetings makes me really be thankful for all that my parents did for me. I am not at all complaining about needing to do these things on my own, however it has finally made me realize and appreciate my mom and dads hard work. Every time I get upset with people not doing their dishes, or not putting stuff away, I think how my parents must have felt time after time I argued to do the smallest of tasks. I’m sure most kids are the same in the fact of not being nearly appreciative
as they should be, however being here and witnessing some of these things has really put it upon my heart.
The children in most of these villages have nothing. One pair of shoes, if that, a few pieces of clothing and sometimes nothing to sleep on. Their parents, if both are still around, will work all day in the fields or elsewhere for a few dollars a day just to get by. These kids simply blow me away how thankful and happy they are with what they are provided. There are 7 year olds taking care of the rest of the family while the parents are at work. There are children running around with no shoes, empty bellies, filthy clothes and the biggest of smiles on their faces. Every time I look at these kids my heart breaks. I had it all, and took it all for granted. I am so grateful for everything my parents ever did for me and I can’t express how much I love them. I am who I am today because of them. I’m taking the love I feel from them and from my childhood and expressing it to the kids and family around me here. I want those kids to have the best and nothing less.
Steph Wignall.

This weekend we had a group here that went out to the villages to do Project Joy. Project Joy is also what many people call the "shoe-box-ministry." The group that came was a small youth group from LA. They brought down over 200 boxes filled with gender-oriented toys and school supplies to hand out as Christmas presents. They started out the day in the village by doing a regular VBS; playing games in the street, singing songs and showing a short bible-based drama followed by group prayer. after that was done they organized the large crowd of kids into two lines: boys and girls. then they handed each child a wrapped shoe box. the kids all filed back into the church and "on the count of three" they all opened their gifts. It was so moving to see the amount of excitement in the faces of these kids as they opened the boxes. They were so happy about the few things they got. The kind of things that we would just fill our stockings with. Things like stickers and play dough. They were so grateful. There were enough gifts that we were able to pass them out at two different churches. My favorite part of the day was after we had already left the second church and we were on our way back to the EOC. We passed an orphanage that had housed teens with special needs. Fortunately, we had some left-over presents still in the car. The group automatically wanted to stop and hand out the rest of the presents to the kids they saw. When we stopped and got out with the gifts the seven children out front started screaming with excitement. They were overwhelmed with joy. As we were driving away after passing them out, one of the kids that was in a wheel chair sat there with his new toys and blew us kisses until we drove out of sight. Another one of them with Down Syndrome was jumping up and down as he rummaged through his new box of toys.

As I'm getting ready to go home for Christmas I've been thinking a lot about what I'm going to be getting for my family or what I'm going to ask for my family to get me. This weekend was a reminder for me that I cant forget what I'm doing here while i'm back home in Sacramento. Its so easy to go home and (as Scott would say) "leave my cross at the border". While I'm down here in Mexico i live with a constant appreciation for the life i have at home. There's a constant feeling of gratefulness knowing that back in California i have all the comforts i want. I never really feel like I'm 'in need' of anything while i'm here. but as my trip home gets closer I start to have that feeling again. My mind goes back into the "what the world thinks I need" instead of the "what does my life actually need" mindset. I was reminded many times this weekend that as I go home for Christmas I need to be careful as my heart shifts back into the comforts of home. I need to not forget the difference between my 'wants' and my 'needs'. God will always provide. :)

i have these moments. these moments when everything seems surreal and right and spiritual and a whole whack of other emotions. i had a few of those this week...

This past week we had a special week at EOC. We got to work on a house build project together as a whole staff. No teams. Just the staff. The 'hired pros', the office staff, the kitchen folks, the interns, all of us! We invited our family members, some pastors, and got to really live out community this week. It was a beautiful thing. We ate phenomenal breakfasts served by various people during the week. We savored incredible lunches prepared by Ana and her family (who conveniently happen to be neighbors to the family we were building for). We enjoyed working together for once... a first in EOC history. It was really special for many of us. Alejandro shared before the build he'd be dreaming about this opportunity! And Jose shared that he hopes this won't be the last of these types of builds!
we laughed. we built - fast. we learned. we served.
And we fell in love with the wonderful family we were building for. Their story is rich and full of struggles, health issues, perseverance, joy, and smiles that were so full of love...
So when we were dedicating the house on Thursday, I had one of those moments. standing with my friends. from 3 nations. from different spaces and places. for one purpose. to love. so often, even here in the ministry we make it so much more complicated than that..

That evening we had a grand feast. my first american thanksgiving. in mexico.
We invited staff, families, neighbors, pastors, friends... over 100 were there to celebrate. to bread break together.
It was a night of abundance. joy. fullness. diversity. community.
After watching the highlight video together of our week's work i had another moment.
Looking around the room, some faces i didn't know, some i only recognized, and others who i can now call real friends. These people were my family.

As the evening unfolded I had just finished saying farewell to Marisol, the young woman (and new friend) who we built the house for. Then suddenly I see someone calling me over...
it was Christina. Christina was part of the family I helped build a house for the very first time my youth group came down to Ensenada! Over 5 years ago we met Christina and her mom and we built a home for her. She's now married, with two children. I've been able to visit with her a few times since my return and she's always excited to see me; always telling me she's never forgotten us! And so I sat with Christina, holding her baby... and had yet another moment. Who would have thought... over 5 years later I'd be sitting here holding Christina's newborn. Who would have thought... over 5 years later I'd be sitting among these people and calling it home...

.moments. that shake me. and remind me Im apart of something really cool...
and indeed I am thankful.