Final Mexico update (Friday July 4)

Friday's email from Greg Mulligan... (this may be the last update before the team arrives home - please pray for safe travels as they make their way home for Monday night)

Hi everyone … it’s Friday evening, and we’re back at the base for a free time evening, which is so needed for all of us!

Today was our final full day in Ensenada – we spent the morning going to both houses that we had built this week, to pray (all 67 of us in a big circle around the house – was very cool), and to give a few more gifts to the families and a small gift of thanks to each of the national builders that worked with us. And after the second house, we stayed there for a “fiesta” – a party – where both families that had received the houses were cooking for us – and we enjoyed a great feast of fish tacos! (Someone just mentioned to me that they aren’t going to want tacos for at least 6 months after this trip – even though it has all been very good).

Then after our fiesta, we loaded all the vans and drove to an area south of Ensenada that is commonly nicknamed “YUGOslavia” … because it is incredible poor and dirty and filled with house after house that YUGO has built over the past decades! Even after working here for the past 4 days, driving past poor neighborhoods and run down houses/yards, I was deeply impacted by what we witnessed on this drive. My heart was broken, and I don’t know if I will ever get those images out of my head again (which is probably very good). The need is so great, and the contrast to my life so drastic – I have a great responsibility to do so much more with the amazing blessings that God has given to me!

Following this side trip, we proceeded to La Boofadora, a natural wonder about 35-40 minutes south of Ensenada. It is apparently one of only 3 natural oceanic blowholes in the world, and it was an amazing site to see when the water spewed up in the air 40-50 feet! The street leading to the actual water site is a long and windy one, lined on both sides with shop after shop of merchants and food … so it is a great place to shop for tourist items, which we did! It was fun watching everyone learn how to barter with the vendors, and even more fun comparing the deals we had received on our items later. We all found various options for supper while we were there, and met again at 6pm to drive back to the base for the evening of free time.

Tomorrow we leave this place … and each and every one of us will leave a little piece of their heart behind, I am sure. God opened our eyes to see with different lenses while we were here … and I am asking you to pray unceasingly over the next few days, that we would not lose those lenses as we leave Ensenada and begin to transition back into life in Grande Prairie. We desperately need to be impact players in our world back home, and this experience has positioned us to be just that, IF AND ONLY IF we can keep this all at the forefront of our hearts and minds over the days and weeks ahead.

Pray also for traveling safety for us tomorrow, as we drive south to San Quentin for a day at the hotel on the beach there … a much deserved day of R&R on the shores of the Pacific Ocean! And in case I am unable to send an update from there tomorrow, pray on Sunday for safe travels and great patience in our 6-hr drive (and likely 4-hr wait time at the Mexico/US border) as we head back to Los Angeles.

Thanks for standing (or kneeling) with us through this trip … God has answered your prayers in such phenomenal ways, and we can’t wait to share this with you face to face … just a few days more! God bless each of you this day.

Thursday July 3 Mexico update

It’s been a day that few of us will EVER forget! Here’s the recap:


VBS Team … this was their final day with the kids, and they presented the salvation message in the morning, and had a “fiesta” in the afternoon.

It was a very tiring 4 days for this team, but an awesome experience … and they will ALL have great stories to tell when they get back home!

Please pray for them now as they “come down” from this … that God would keep the passion alive even though they are finished with the task they had been given.

Mercy Team … spent the day at a local orphanage, and were deeply moved by this experience.
Not being able to open their lunch cooler, because there wasn’t nearly enough food to share with the multitude of hungry children, made the day a little longer … but they survived! And being able to supply the orphanage with about $2000 worth of food and other supplies was a wonderful privilege!

Please pray for them as they process all that they experienced … that it would change/impact them in exactly the way God wants!

Building Teams … both teams “gave the keys” to their respective families today, in ceremonies that brought tears to just about every eye in attendance!

As each team member passed the keys along the circle, they spoke a word or two of blessing and/or appreciation to the family, which was translated by Pastor Tony. And then we prayed for the family and for their new home.

Please pray for all 67 of us on Friday morning, as we go back to each home with additional gifts of furnishings, and as we surround these homes in a huge circle of prayer, that we would represent Jesus and His church well, and that we would demonstrate His love to these folks through this!
Then following the gifts and prayers at each house, we will be enjoying homemade fish tacos (apparently a much-sought-after treat here) at a giant FIESTA celebration at the new home of the single mom and her 2 daughters! It’s going to be so great!

Also on Friday (afternoon, supper) will be our “tourist trip” to La Boofadora, one of only 3 natural oceanic blowholes in the world (or so I’m told) … where we have a few hours to shop/barter and have our supper, as we begin to wind down from a very emotional and impactful week of ministry here. Pray for safety and fun together in all of this.

On behalf of your co-laborers in His kingdom …

Wednesday Mexico update

Don’t be confused … I’m writing this on July 3rd, but it’s 6:45am here, and by the time I got to my room last night, it was WAY too late to give the day’s update. Sorry about that … hope this still makes the rounds.

What an amazing day we had on Wednesday! There must be a huge amount of family & friends praying for us, because God is working so powerfully in our midst here! I’m changing up the format of the report today for something different, and because God was doing too many cool things yesterday that crossed over from team to team, so reporting by team won’t work as well. Here’s the highlights:

- One house (Building Team #2/Wooden) is basically done … all they have left to do is hang the front door on Thursday!

- The other house (Building Team #1/Hewko) is coming along very well, and some of Team #2 moved over to this location on Wednesday to help with bringing it to completion faster

- Both houses had beds built in yesterday (this is an “extra” that isn’t in the original plans) … so all 6 kids will have bunk beds to sleep in, and Maria (single mom) will have a “double bed” to rest on in her new bedroom

- We made arrangements at both house locations to have the power hooked up to the house as soon as possible … it may even be by the end of this week (another “extra”)!

- James Nelson took a few people from Building Team #2, along with Maria and her girls, and Pastor Tony’s wife (to interpret) to Walmart on Wednesday, and completely outfitted all 3 with new clothes for the next year, AND a full assortment of school supplies for the girls! You should have seen James’ face when they returned … I don’t think he’s EVER had that much fun before! And the family was SO grateful and overwhelmed by this gesture … in fact, Shar Shoff had to “teach” Maria how to shop for herself, because in all her life she has never done so … always lived on hand-me-downs from her sister, and the only purchases she has ever made were just for her daughters.

- When I arrived at Building Site #1, I found Ryan Law sitting on the gravel, with a toy paddle in his hands, playing a game with a little guy that couldn’t have been over 2 or 3 years old … was the cutest picture.

- The VBS Crew was having another busy and fun day with the kids … we lost count on Wednesday of the numbers of children, but it didn’t matter … I have some great pictures and video of smiling faces and great singing! The children all received toothbrushes/toothpaste today, along with an awesome demonstration of how to brush your teeth by Jess Nelson. This VBS team is amazing … we’re going to have to figure out how to do some city-wide/area-wide VBS programs at home in the future, because they are great!

- The Youth Centre is finished, and it looks amazing! Doors are in, windows are in, and the paint job is unbelievable! I’ve attached a picture, the quality of which isn’t that great … but it does give you a bit of an idea of the incredible paint job inside the room … WHICH WAS DONE COMPLETELY BY FINGERPAINTING (since the Mercy Team didn’t have the right size of brushes to do the detail work). The man giving the thumbs-up is Tony Jr. – the youth/worship pastor for the church … and the man in the yellow shirt behind him a ways is his dad – Pastor Tony.

- Myself and the other Pastor Greg spent pretty much the entire workday driving around Ensenada/Chepultapec with the cargo van … picking up furniture that had been pre-purchased by Gwen Rubie … purchasing additional furnishings for both homes, and lumber to build the beds … and buying a huge tarp to cover the new shelter built at the church for the services! Pastor Tony travelled with us most of the day as well, and as we found each thing we were looking for, he would get goosebumps and tear up a bit … this week has been somewhat overwhelming for him already too!

These are all great things, and even if the day had ended after all of this, we would have been thrilled! But the BEST was still yet to come! We had an early supper at the YUGO base, and then at 6:30pm the entire team of 67 loaded in the vans and drove back to Pastor Tony’s church … all decked out in our good clothes (Ryan Law even had on a tie – with a bright red Canadian flag on it). There we joined with about 100 people from the church … and together we had an incredible 2 hours of worship & testimonies together, with Pastor Greg Clark bringing a great message at the end. This was probably THE highlight of the week for everyone … and everyone sensed a very special moving of the Holy Spirit in our midst there. Families with small children … grandpas and grandmas … men from the halfway house that the church owns/operates … teens and leaders from Canada … all lifting their voices, their hands (and even their bodies … the children, the pastor and some of the men jump during the singing – so you KNOW a ton of our kids joined in too!) in worship of Christ our Saviour! What a night! What a night!

So what can you pray for today?
- As I type, it is spitting a bit of rain outside right now, and while we don’t mind the cool, we really would prefer to not have a lot of rain today as we finish the houses and the final day of VBS.
- The Mercy Team will be going to an orphanage this morning – which is really cool, since they have spent the week so far covered in paint and having very little contact with local people – so they are understandably excited about this. But please pray especially for them as they go this morning … I am a bit concerned about the emotional overload of this trip today, as they are very worked up to go, and wanting desperately to get the most out of these couple of hours with the kids.
- Pray for safety for those who will be connecting the power to the houses today (none of our kids).
- Pray for the salvation emphasis of the VBS program this morning … that it would be delivered in a way that is clear and understandable to the children, and that they would respond because of God’s move in their hearts (not because their friends are responding).

Wow … very long email this morning … sorry about that! But as each day goes by, it becomes clearer to me that this trip is much bigger than I ever imagined it might be, and you are getting the overflow of what is happening in my heart! THANK YOU SO MUCH for praying for us … we believe that it is the prayers of our supporters at home that are being used by God in all that is taking place in Ensenada! May God bless you as He has been blessing us!

And a little note from 'our' Pastor Greg as well:

"So tonight was one of those nights where we planned on doing something but God had better plans.

We went to Pastor Tony's church and worshipped together there and it felt like heaven. We didn't want to leave. God really moved through our group tonight in an amazing way!"

Tuesday Mexico update

Happy Canada Day! We started our day today by singing the Canadian National Anthem at our chapel time … very cool! With about 80% of the 168 people here this week from Canada, you can just imagine how loud that anthem was this morning!

Well, I’m emailing at 10:30pm local time here in Ensenada … it’s been a very busy day, and I’m finally getting a chance to sit down and write an update. Here’s today’s updates from each of the 4 teams:

1. Building Team #1 (led by Daryl Hewko)
a. Highlights … the team is really working well, and is getting along great! There are absolutely NO bad attitudes in this entire group! PTL!
b. Answers to Prayer: those who had taken on too much sun on Monday, were just fine today! Thanks for praying for them!
c. Prayer Request: the team hasn’t had great opportunity yet to interact well with the family that will be receiving the new house … please pray that God would break down whatever barriers are there for them on Wednesday.

2. Building Team #2 (led by Dallas Wooden)
a. Highlights … another phenomenal day on this jobsite … we’ve finished shingling, putting on all the outside trim, painting the outside completely, and boarded, taped and mudded the entire interior. As one of the staff people here said when they saw the progress, “I never seen a house with shingles on it on Tuesday before!” This team is also working very well together – very awesome!
b. Answers to Prayer: what a GREAT day of getting to know Maria and her girls … this answer to prayer was HUGE! Today felt like family … and when one of our girls (Jayde Shoff) wasn’t able to come first thing in the morning due to feeling a bit sick, the 2 girls were obviously disappointed … but when Jayde joined us at 10:30, feeling much better – BIG HUGS from 2 very excited little girls! And we were able to begin communicating with Maria better, which was awesome.
c. Wednesday’s focus … sanding & painting the interior, raking and cleaning up the yard, and building a new bed in the new house for Maria.

3. VBS Team (led by Charity Vetsch)
a. Highlights … wow! God brought more new kids today (up to 35, with 6 of the first day attenders not back today!). Team is having TONS of fun, and God is blessing the work here.
b. Answers to Prayer: everyone’s health and strength were good today – God carried us through with flying colors!
c. Prayer Request: for continued health and energy levels for our team, and for the practical impact of handing out toothbrushes on Wednesday!

4. Mercy Team (led by Tracy Frey)
a. Highlights … the team is doing awesome, and has already accomplished more than Pastor Tony had hoped we would do all week, as well as some extra stuff he’s found for us already!
b. Answers to Prayer: good strength today … and some of the youth came and worked with us for a while today! PTL!
c. Prayer Request: for good understanding and communication with Pastor Tony … sometimes we think we are doing what he has explained, and then he either changes his mind, or explains it a different way, so we have to be VERY flexible and gracious … but it seems to be going well so far!

An update on Jocelyn … the girl who we had to take to the hospital on our first night (in Los Angeles) … she was diagnosed with TMJ (lock-jaw), and so between anti-inflamatory medication and hot presses, she has been mostly able to keep the pain to a minimum, and has been at the ministry site both days so far! And really cool is the fact that she “bumped into” a lady dentist here at YUGO today (here with another team), who was able to confirm the diagnosis and calm her concerns about the situation! God is too good!

One last comment … because of the financial support of so many of you, we’ve already been able to do some of those “extras” that we were hoping to do … things like purchasing some extra materials for the local church that we are ministering at (VBS & Mercy teams), building beds for the new houses (both teams), and even replacing some of the worn-out tools and supplies for YUGO. And last night we were told that because we submitted our finances on time to YUGO, there was a $20/person “refund” that was ours to do with as we pleased … so tonight we had the privilege of surprising a local staff member here at the base by telling her and her husband that we were transferring this refund to her support account instead! What an amazing gift that was for her, and God has blessed us so much to be able to be the instruments of it here! Thanks to each of you for your part in this too!

Thanks again for praying for us! Continue to pray for Amy Fehr’s brother, who had a car accident back in Grande Prairie last night … and for Amy, who is trusting God in this but is understandably struggling with being so far away during this time. God is faithful, and He will carry her (and us) through all that is in store during our time here!

June 30 Mexico update

(All of these updates are copied from emails that the 'other' Pastor Greg sent while the team was in Mexico.)

Copied and pasted from an email from Pastor Greg Mulligan:

It’s Monday, June 30th, and I’m emailing at 6:10 local time here in Ensenada, Mexico. What an amazing first day it’s been for us here at the YUGO EOC (Ensenada Outreach Centre)! Here’s a very brief update from each of the 4 work teams:

1. Building Team #1 (led by Daryl Hewko)
a. Highlights … the resourcefulness of people and the willingness to work. Daryl was VERY impressed with the hard work ethic and effort of his entire team. Normally the teams have a generator to power the mitre saw for quick and accurate cutting, but today the generator did not arrive for the first 2 hours of the project! So the team grabbed a handsaw from the work truck, began measuring and getting at it! What a team!
b. Prayer Request: for the health of those who took on too much sun today! A couple of sunburns … nothing serious, but tomorrow could be a tougher day for them.

2. Building Team #2 (led by Dallas Wooden)
a. Highlights … the team got a TON accomplished today, and are apparently quite ahead of schedule on their house! As well, the son of the project foreman has been involved, and some of the boys are building a neat relationship with him through this.
b. Prayer Request: it has been difficult for the rest of the team to build relationships with the single mother and her 2 daughters, who will be receiving the home at the end of this week. Please pray that God would create those opportunities tomorrow for the team.

3. VBS Team (led by Charity Vetsch)
a. Highlights … awesome first day! There were 29 kids in attendance, and a number of other youth and adults from the church. And watching the youth interact with the children is very cool!
b. Prayer Request: health and energy levels for our team … the heat is very exhausting!

4. Mercy Team (led by Tracy Frey)
a. Highlights … the team got a TON of painting done on the new youth centre … and accomplished much more than Pastor Tony expected we would in the first day! Each team member worked very hard, and looked like a semi-professional painting crew by the end of day … covered in paint from head to toe!
b. Prayer Request: physical and emotional strength for tomorrow … and for the opportunity to work alongside some of the national people here (unfortunately our first day was spent working just as a team, with virtually no contact with people from here – please pray that we will be able to encourage Pastor Tony to recruit some of his youth group to come and help us in this, so we can interact with them as we work!).

From a pastoral perspective, we have already encountered some of the “adventure” that we were praying for during our Sunday night commissioning service in Grande Prairie … adventure that included being rerouted at the Mexican border and finding our own way through the heart of Tijuana, and being followed by a military vehicle upon our arrival in Ensenada (probably just making sure the convoy of 7 white vans was going to be OK)! Please continue to pray for a great adventure in all of this, and pray too for our patience and ability to be full of grace and love … the YUGO base is FULL this week (168 people from 4 different locations here all at the same time). And on an interesting side note … 3 of the 4 groups here this week are from Alberta!!!

Thanks for praying for us! We are counting on our team back home through each and every day!

Um, what about Mexico?

Last we heard from our friends the Clarks, there was a promise to post updates about the Mexico trip... oops!

I did post all the updates on the church blog from wherever I happened to be (I visited family in Edmonton and then friends in Airdrie while Greg was away) but totally forgot about here! So this week we will pretend that instead of July 21, this is actually June 30, and I'll repost all the updates here this week! (Try to use your imagination!) :)

A Clark in the (front page!) news

Greg made it into the Grande Prairie newspaper this week - a reporter had come out to Beaverlodge last Friday for the final Mexico team meeting and taken a bunch of pictures and interviewed Greg. Greg never told me about it, so I was glad that a friend from work emailed me the link when it went up online! :)

We've since had a couple of friends give us their paper copies, and there he is, right on the front page, along with a very nice picture!

Greg and the team left EARLY this morning, and are flying to L.A. and then driving down to Ensenada, Mexico. With our fancy new cell phones (yeah, we're Blackberry owners now) we can email back and forth even while he's down there, so hopefully I will have lots of updates to post here.

http://www.dailyheraldtribune.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=1086787&auth=TAMAS%20VIRAG%20-%20Herald-Tribune%20staff

Our vacation part 2 - Hamilton/Niagara Falls

We said our goodbyes in Toronto Friday morning and headed down to Hamilton to visit our friends Dustin and Jolene. Dustin and Jolene were our across-the-hall neighbors when we lived in Caronport, and now Dustin is working on his Doctorate at McMaster University. We hadn't seen them for about four years, since Gavin was just over a year and their son Nate was seven weeks old! The boys are now five and four, and we have five children between us!

We found our way to their house quite easily, and once we figured out where to park (they have some complicated system where on odd days with full moons and more than seven clouds in the sky you park on one side of the street, and then on even days with...I don't know, it confused us anyway!) we headed in.

We had a wonderful day together - the guys took Gavin and Nate to the park while the girls were napping, and we were going to join them later...but discovered Abby had used her dirty diaper to make a very big mess in their playpen before she fell asleep! We scrubbed and rinsed both Abby and the playpen, and finally headed out to the park, only to meet the guys already on their way home. We had a nice dinner together and then we headed down to Niagara Falls.

After checking into our hotel, we got everyone dressed in warmer clothes and went down to find a good spot to watch the fireworks from. Gavin had been talking about these fireworks for months, so he was pretty excited! The kids both were really impressed by them, and once some of the crowd cleared we went back to our hotel with two very tired kids (Rachel had slept through the fireworks in the sling).

Saturday morning Dustin and Jolene and their kids met us at our hotel and we spent the day together in Niagara. We did the Maid of the Mist boat ride, which was a great success even though a couple of us had to go to the washroom before we even got on the boat (we had assumed there would be a lobby-area inside to take care of these things, but once you pay for your ticket, it's just a big long line down the hill and into the elevators and onto the boat). Rachel was due to be fed as well, but thankfully she again was happily sleeping in the sling and didn't wake up until we were off the boat. We did remember to ring a waterproof camera on the Maid of the Mist, so we will have some pictures of that once we pick them up.

Like any touristy place, it seems to take a long time to get things done in Niagara (and I'm sure having five little kids with us didn't help!) so we had something to eat, visited the Hershey and Coca-Cola stores, and then somehow it was almost time to go already! We said goodbye after a wonderful couple of days filled with laughter - we had almost forgotten how much fun we have together!

Next...Part 3 - New York!

Nate and Gavin playing - they did really well together!

Getting ready for the fireworks

Niagara Falls at night - I would have loved to have tried more night photography there, but I didn't have my tripod and my hands were needed to watch children!

Our family at the Falls (Rachel's in the sling, of course - I had a lovely one-sided tan from carrying her all day)!

Dustin and Jolene and us

The rest of the Hamilton/Niagara pictures are at: http://fclark.smugmug.com/gallery/3386168#189169955

Hello from Niagara Falls!

We're in our hotel in Niagara Falls using Greg's laptop and taking advantage of the free wireless internet!

We've had a wonderful vacation so far - we just left this morning from a great visit with Farrell's Aunt Marilyn in Toronto. We spent a day at Ontario Place with the kids (which they loved, of course), and had a picnic by the lake with Farrell's cousins and their kids. This morning we drove down to Hamilton to visit our friends Dustin and Jolene who lived across the hall from us in our Caronport days. We haven't seen them since their oldest child was seven weeks and Gavin was 15 months! We had a wonderful day with them...apart from a rather gruesome incident involving Abby, a borrowed playpen, a dirty diaper, and some artistry on her part. (Sorry again guys!)

After supper we drove down here to Niagara Falls (and didn't hit any traffic, unlike last time we were here!), checked into our hotel, and then headed out to watch the fireworks. The kids both were very impressed. ;) Rachel slept right through the fireworks cuddled up with mommy in the sling. Tomorrow Dustin and Jolene are coming down to meet us in the morning and we're going to do the Maid of the Mist and some other attractions together. Tomorrow evening we head across the border to New York to visit Wade and Wendy!

We're having a wonderful time together as a family and will have lots of pictures to share when we get home! (I could technically post them now from Greg's computer, but honestly I'm too lazy to get up and do it right now!)

We hope everyone is having a good summer - we sure are!

And off we go!

We've got almost everything packed and ready to go and soon we'll be hitting the sack since we have to get up very early tomorrow to make it to the airport on time! Our flight leaves at 7am tomorrow and we'll be in Toronto by 4pm their time, 2pm our time.

We spent most of this week in Toronto visiting Farrell's aunt and spending a day at Ontario Place, and then visit with friends in Hamilton (they lived across the hall from us in Caronport). We're spending a night in Niagara Falls, and then driving across the border to New York to spend the week with friends there (the pastor that Greg interned under in Moose Jaw). We are really looking forward to it!

We will be checking email occasionally but probably won't post here until we get back in a couple of weeks. See you then!