It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

We are on a major countdown with only 9 days until we arrive in Mexico! The office is bustling with packing, craft preparation, photocopying and organizing. Some moments I feel like my brain may just explode with all the information I'm trying to retain! I do know that once all these things get dealt with, we are going to have an amazing trip to Mexico. For the first time in 9 years, Gary and Lisa will be staying back this Christmas to enjoy the season in Abbotsford. Mike and I will be leading the team and we are thrilled to have along with us our children, Caleb, Abbi, and Sadie.

The rest of our team consists of Ron and Marilyn Peters and 3 of their chidren - Joshua, Matt and Micaela Peters (Mexico Missions veterans). Naomi and Dustin May and their two children, Halle and Sam. Scott and Sarah Born and their three children, Kianna,Jenaya, and Summer. Plus, we have Mike Woloshen who has enjoyed quite a few trips over the past year and a half and will be heading up our construction project. We also have Kierra Hughes, Betty and Emma Balzer and Don and Linda Fornwald, Mike's parents joining us.

We are focusing on a few key things this trip. We hope to lay the foundation for the new team building, we will be involved in setting up for the CDL Christmas production, we will be putting on a Health and Wellness day for CDL and La Hermosa Church and a spa night for the ladies, plus kids camps, Tijuana Breakfasts and more!! It will be a packed trip.

Please pray for us as we prepare and as we go to Mexico. We want to see God's Kingdom Come and join in with all that he is already doing in the lives of the families in Primo Tapia.

Jocelyn Fornwald

Looking ahead...

We are planning a few construction focused trips over the next several months to work on the team building that we started in December. If you would like to be part of a trip please contact Gary Stephens at gary@abbotsfordvineyard.com or Lia Neufeld at lia@abbotsfordvineyard.com. There are also plans for a Women's Trip in late Spring. Contact Lia Neufeld or Lisa Stephens for information on that trip and there is a young Adults trip in July. For information on the YA trip please contact Mike Fornwald at mike@abbotsfordvineyard.com.

God is moving and changing lives in Mexico and we feel so privileged to be a part of His work!

Mexico Missions 2012 from Abbotsford Vineyard Church on Vimeo.

Day Ten

Yesterday, when one of the food hamper teams was coming back from their trip, they stopped to hand out some toys to a few children before heading back to Casa de Luz. We came across three girls and we gave them frisbees. All of a sudden there were several children running down the road to greet us. We wanted to bless the children with toys and we gave away as many gifts as we had but we didn’t have enough for everyone. This morning, some of the team loaded up one of the vans with Frisbees, bouncy balls, candy, coloring books and crayons and cars. They drove to the same area that the children were at yesterday, honked the horn, and saw MANY children run down the hill. We were able to bless all the children with gifts and also invited them to our city-wide outreach event today.

A few guys finished up the construction project, which is now at lockup stage.

This afternoon we hosted the City-wide outreach event with La Hermosa church. There were about five hundred people there. We fed people hamburgers and hotdogs, did face painting for the children, played games with the kids, had bouncy houses and a mechanical bull (which was a big hit) and participated in Canada vs Mexico hockey and soccer games. Pastor Daniel shared the gospel message and invited people to receive Christ and 18 people came forward to give their lives to Jesus. The Canadian team had the privilege of praying with these people and we gave them Spanish New Testaments. They also met people from La Hermosa Church so that they can get connected into a supportive and loving community that will help them in their new walk with Christ.

Tonight is our last night here so we are having a celebration at Casa de Luz tonight before we head to Door of Faith Orphanage to pack up and get ready to leave tomorrow. Thank you everyone for your prayers! We really appreciate it!

See you soon!

Day Nine

A team from our group went to the former dumps of Tijuana to feed people breakfast early this morning. They also had a tour of the surrounding area and heard about the local church's plan to build a community centre and rehab facility. It is encouraging to see how God is moving in different parts of the area through different ministries.

Some of us spent the morning at Casa de Luz, holding babies, doing crafts, building lego towers and playing soccer. The children of Casa de Luz did something special for our entire team. Over the past few months the children have been doing extra jobs to raise money so that they could buy the Canadian team a gift while we are here. They did not ask their parents for any money, but instead, worked and saved the money and gave it to Marta, their amazing teacher who collected it for them. Today they presented each of us with a chocolate bar that was decorated and labelled with each of our names. It was so special to receive the gifts from these children who wanted to bless us and thank us for what they have received at Casa de Luz this year.

The construction crew worked on the building this morning and we are happy to report that we are very close to lockup stage, which was our goal for this team.

This afternoon we broke into groups and teamed up with translators from La Hermosa church and headed into different areas of the city to deliver gift and food hampers to families in need. Some of the situations that we saw were dire and a lot of the people were hungry. We were able to pray for each family - for healing, for provision, for health and for the love of Jesus to permeate each household and each life. We also invited them to our city-wide outreach event tomorrow.

Please pray for the outreach event tomorrow! We have invited a lot of people from the community. There is going to be a barbecue, face-painting and activities for children, bouncy houses, a mechanical bull and a Mexico verses Canada soccer game and hockey game. There will also be live music by one of the bands of La Hermosa Church and Pastor Daniel is going to speak about the love of Jesus! Last year we saw many people give their lives to Jesus and get into community at La Hermosa Church and we pray for an increase of that this year!

Thanks for praying with us! Good night from Primo Tapia!

Day Eight

Some people went to Tijuana to feed families breakfast at the Tijuana Breakfast program early this morning.

Others went to Casa de Luz. We took all the CDL children and some of their moms to a playground up the road and had a great time playing soccer, hockey and other games. After lunch we packed up seventy five food hampers while the kids watched a movie. We finished the day with crafts with the kids and some went on a prayer walk.

The construction team got the roof third story finished and the roof on the building which is great! Everyone has really worked hard to get the job done!

Last night at campfire we broke into groups and prayed for the city-wide outreach event on Saturday. Please pray with us – that redemption and love and the salvation of Jesus would come to Primo Tapia THIS week and that HIS name would be made famous here!

We had an encouraging thing happen last night. Josh Lockington went to a barber shop across the street from CDL to get a haircut. One of the men in the shop told him that since CDL has been in the neighbourhood, the community has already seen a positive change and he thanked us for the work we do here. It’s so encouraging to hear that someone local has seen lives changed through the love and light of Christ.

We are also praying for the families that we will visit tomorrow as we deliver food and gift hampers. We are looking forward to seeing God’s kingdom come as we continue to reach out and love those around us. Thanks for standing with us!

We’re headed to a church service at La Hermosa tonight. The night is dedicated to celebrating CDL’s first year. We will hear testimonies from three of the CDL moms and watch the children perform through tambourine, dance and worship! Will write more tomorrow.

Day Seven

Some of our team began the day early again by going to Tijuana to serve people breakfast and love people. They enjoyed their time there.

Others spent the day at Casa de Luz playing with the children, doing crafts, holding babies and playing hockey, soccer and games. We got to see the children rehearse their songs for the church service tomorrow. It is so heart-warming to see these children singing their hearts out and worshipping Jesus who has become so real and meaningful to them.

A team of nine went to Tijuana to purchase the food for the food hampers that we will be delivering on Friday. It was a huge but fun job. We filled about 20 grocery carts full of food. The hampers will also include candy bags, soccer balls, frisbees and other fun gifts. We will deliver 75 hampers to families in need with translators from La Hermosa Church.

The construction team continues to work hard! The exterior walls of the third floor are up, and electrical is done on the first and second floor. Our goal is to get the building to lockup stage by the end of this week and we hope to send small construction teams (plumbers, electricians, drywallers, etc.) down over the next several months to get the building completed by July 1 (AVC Young Adults trip). If you are interested in coming down in the next few months contact Gary Stephens or Lia Neufeld.

This afternoon a few of us went out into the neighbourhood and prayed for the area, spoke with people, handed out gifts to children and invited people to our city-wide outreach event which takes place on Saturday.

Thanks for praying for us! We are all doing well and are enjoying our time here!

Day Six

Some of our team headed to Tijuana to the breakfast program again this morning. Many of the men/teens worked on the jobsite and got a lot done. We’re very thankful for the sunny weather!

Casa de Luz was closed today because of the New Year’s Day holiday so we spent part of the morning at Door of Faith Orphanage (where we stay) and played with children and held babies in the nursery. La Hermosa Church had a church picnic up on the mountain and invited our team to join them. We played football, volleyball, rode horses and quads, ate a delicious lunch and broke a piñata. It was a fun day.

We want to thank you for praying for our team. Many of our team members had been sick and most of them have recovered very quickly which has been amazing!

Tonight we will have a campfire at Door of Faith before heading to bed. The team has been doing so well – pitching in, serving each other and others, and having a lot of fun together. It’s been great