Wow! We had nineteen students come down from a church in Arizona this last week, and it was so amazing! This group came despite all the dramatized news about Mexico and all the violent events down here. The group had shrunk drastically in size, so we just got the most dedicated students who really knew that God were calling them down here. And let me tell you, the Holy Spirit moved. I got to meet a couple students that are for sure doing Ventana next year, and that was beyond awesome. I love watching students come and dedicate their weeks to serving the people of Porvenir. God just really likes to begin to put cracks in the walls that they have built around their hearts; walls of pride, or hurt, or just plain selfishness. Its so funny to see them realize that this life is not all about them, but about loving and giving glory to God. Praise the Lord for Camp Ventanas and the ways that they impact people's lives.
Just something for everyone to keep in their prayers...Ventana is continuing to have financial problems, and Doug and Carrie and their boys just really need prayer. They sacrificed everything they had to start this ministry for God, and its been a hard four years trying to get it off the ground. People have been so generous, and really, the Vom Steeg family is continuing to make sacrifices to keep it going, and so are all us students...just pray that Ventana can continue to impact the world by preparing servants and warriors for Christ. I didn't know how unprepared I was for college, for life in general, before I came on this trip, and I know that my faith was so shaken by what happened to Dad, that I might have just become one of the statistics of a Christian youth who lost her faith during her first year in college. Now, I know what I believe in, why I believe it, and how to support my faith with Scripture. Praise God for all the things in my life He has radiacally changed. Lets pray that this kind of change can continue to move through hundreds of other young students through out the years to come! Thanks everybody!
God bless you all, and thank you for keeping up with me on this amazing journey that God has led me through. Wow, God is so GOOD!
Monday, March 23, 2009
Thursday, March 12, 2009
Getting to Know Porvenir
I just wanted to fill you all in on the grand town of Porvenir that all of us Ventaneros are living in. It is a really small, little country-bumpkin town with dirt streets and one main road. "The Mall" is a building with four stores inside of it, but only two are open on a regular basis. There are a few churches here...we live right next door to the big Catholic Church, and our church, Iglesia Cristiana de Porvenir, is an awesome, brightly painted building with several rooms and a kitchen...we eat after every service! I love the people in this town! They are so sweet and loving...very welcoming to us gringos :) We are very involved with the youth group here, and have made several good friends who we hang out with. My mom and the boys got to meet a few of them at church which was really fun for me...cause now all the talk about is how tall my family is! Haha...
We are going to a thing called a CONFRA on Saturday afternoon. A CONFRA is something directed by Pastor Marcos (our pastor) and it normally has about 700 people there. It is geared towards youth, but plenty of adults come too. It is just a big youth rally for the Christian youth here to come together and worship God. It is really awesome, this will be our second one since we've been here.
We got two Ventana puppies while we were in Culiacan and they both got sick about two weeks ago. They apparently had Parvo...which is a deadly disease common among dogs who don't have their shots. Someone accidentally gave Carrie the wrong information about when the shots were supposed to be given...so now we only have one puppy. Sunny, our little lightening bolt died on Tuesday morning between 12-2 a.m. Rachel and I had been nursing her all day on Monday, checking up on her every 45 minutes to an hour, and even got up every hour during the night, but she was just too dehydrated and sick for anything to be done. she climbed up onto the boy's porch and died...it was very sad, especailly for Micah, the directors' seven-year-old son, and we had a little memorial service for her. It is a miracle that Sunny's sister, Dot, is still alive. She got sick first, but recovered on her own. She is now super lonely since she no longer has her playmate, but is doing fine. We are going to begin trainging her tomorrow. I get to be the first teacher!
Just wanted to give you a picture of what life is like here on a regular basis...I won't be online for another two weeks because we have two youth groups coming down...this next week is a church from Pheonix, Arizona, and the one after that is from Portland, Oregon. We are very excited! I get to be the game director for the week! Whoo-hoo!
Thanks for your prayers! Much love to everyone!
Mikaela
We are going to a thing called a CONFRA on Saturday afternoon. A CONFRA is something directed by Pastor Marcos (our pastor) and it normally has about 700 people there. It is geared towards youth, but plenty of adults come too. It is just a big youth rally for the Christian youth here to come together and worship God. It is really awesome, this will be our second one since we've been here.
We got two Ventana puppies while we were in Culiacan and they both got sick about two weeks ago. They apparently had Parvo...which is a deadly disease common among dogs who don't have their shots. Someone accidentally gave Carrie the wrong information about when the shots were supposed to be given...so now we only have one puppy. Sunny, our little lightening bolt died on Tuesday morning between 12-2 a.m. Rachel and I had been nursing her all day on Monday, checking up on her every 45 minutes to an hour, and even got up every hour during the night, but she was just too dehydrated and sick for anything to be done. she climbed up onto the boy's porch and died...it was very sad, especailly for Micah, the directors' seven-year-old son, and we had a little memorial service for her. It is a miracle that Sunny's sister, Dot, is still alive. She got sick first, but recovered on her own. She is now super lonely since she no longer has her playmate, but is doing fine. We are going to begin trainging her tomorrow. I get to be the first teacher!
Just wanted to give you a picture of what life is like here on a regular basis...I won't be online for another two weeks because we have two youth groups coming down...this next week is a church from Pheonix, Arizona, and the one after that is from Portland, Oregon. We are very excited! I get to be the game director for the week! Whoo-hoo!
Thanks for your prayers! Much love to everyone!
Mikaela
Sunday, March 8, 2009
Family Makes Things So Much Better!
I am sitting in a little cafe with my brothers Pearce and Ike, and my mommy and it is so wonderful...They are leaving tomorrow and I am heading back to Porvenir for class...sigh. We have been staying in a beach house that is owned by the pastor of the local church in Porvenir. It has been so nice, and we have spent some time on the beach, some out in the market place, and some time at church and the Ventana compound. I have been able to show them the places we like to hang out, and introduce them to my Mexican National friends. Its just been awesome!
Jason was the person to tell me that my family came...he knocked on my door and said "Two things..do you think your mom can give me and my sister a ride to Ensenada? Oh, and they're here by the way." I yelled at him and told him he was a brat (totally kidding by the way) and then ran out to meet them. I gave them all huge, big, long hugs and we have been having a blast ever since. Thats just a little, short update before they leave. Love you all!
Jason was the person to tell me that my family came...he knocked on my door and said "Two things..do you think your mom can give me and my sister a ride to Ensenada? Oh, and they're here by the way." I yelled at him and told him he was a brat (totally kidding by the way) and then ran out to meet them. I gave them all huge, big, long hugs and we have been having a blast ever since. Thats just a little, short update before they leave. Love you all!
Monday, March 2, 2009
Hellllllooooooo
Hey all...I'm just sitting here in Ensenada struggling to keep my internet connection up...its a bummer when it just crashes every few minutes...but its a sacrifice I have to be willing to make...bah.
So I just got done with our service time at Casa Gabriel and it was so amazing, as usual. I hung out with one girl named Rosa. She has three sisters who all have the same progressive disease, so the older one is bedridden, and the others are all in wheelchairs and in different stages. They are all four so precious and sweet. They love to laugh. The cool thing is that they are completely cognitive! They can understand everything you say and answer you with a nod or shake of the head. Rosa, being the youngest (nine years old) can still move her arms a little, so she sort of bekons to where she wants to go. She kept laughing and pretending to role her wheelchair away. I would pretend to cry and say "Nooo, mi amiga! Donde vas?" And she would role back laughing and smiling super big... Her sister Ellie is so sweet, she is the second oldest, and she just sat there and watched me play with her sister and she would smile and laugh as best she could...her older sister cannot make any noises and her waist is completely turned around, its really weird and I don't know how it works...The third oldest sister, Sonia, loves to sing (she just makes some noises in the back of her throat, and then laughs; its absolutely beautiful!) and today Liz, my fellow Venatnera, and I sang songs with the four of them, and Sonia joined in while Rosa did the hand motions she could handle. It was super sweet! These kids just keep growing on me, and I am so excited for the next time we get to go and visit them!
I have started to volunteer a few hours a week at the local orphanage...and it is so much fun. I go every Thursday to help clean and work with the little babies if needed, and then every Friday a group of us goes and puts on a program for the older children there, who are between five to seven years old. They are absolutlely adorable...and I get to take my Mom and brothers there with me if they want to go, and then they can experience the cuteness of them all....
We had our second youth group come down the week after we got back from Culiacan, and they were super awesome! We have four other churches coming down starting in the middle of this month, and we are super pumped for that. We love it when the youth groups come down because we get to work out in the community with a bunch of high school students and remember what it was like for us when we were on our missions trips when we were the same age. Its funny cause we all feel so much older than we did in high school...but we really aren't. Its so silly:)
Anyways...thats whats up..I'll tell you about my awesome time with my family in my next post! Please keep them in your prayers as they travel down here...its always scary the first time!
Love,
Mikaela
So I just got done with our service time at Casa Gabriel and it was so amazing, as usual. I hung out with one girl named Rosa. She has three sisters who all have the same progressive disease, so the older one is bedridden, and the others are all in wheelchairs and in different stages. They are all four so precious and sweet. They love to laugh. The cool thing is that they are completely cognitive! They can understand everything you say and answer you with a nod or shake of the head. Rosa, being the youngest (nine years old) can still move her arms a little, so she sort of bekons to where she wants to go. She kept laughing and pretending to role her wheelchair away. I would pretend to cry and say "Nooo, mi amiga! Donde vas?" And she would role back laughing and smiling super big... Her sister Ellie is so sweet, she is the second oldest, and she just sat there and watched me play with her sister and she would smile and laugh as best she could...her older sister cannot make any noises and her waist is completely turned around, its really weird and I don't know how it works...The third oldest sister, Sonia, loves to sing (she just makes some noises in the back of her throat, and then laughs; its absolutely beautiful!) and today Liz, my fellow Venatnera, and I sang songs with the four of them, and Sonia joined in while Rosa did the hand motions she could handle. It was super sweet! These kids just keep growing on me, and I am so excited for the next time we get to go and visit them!
I have started to volunteer a few hours a week at the local orphanage...and it is so much fun. I go every Thursday to help clean and work with the little babies if needed, and then every Friday a group of us goes and puts on a program for the older children there, who are between five to seven years old. They are absolutlely adorable...and I get to take my Mom and brothers there with me if they want to go, and then they can experience the cuteness of them all....
We had our second youth group come down the week after we got back from Culiacan, and they were super awesome! We have four other churches coming down starting in the middle of this month, and we are super pumped for that. We love it when the youth groups come down because we get to work out in the community with a bunch of high school students and remember what it was like for us when we were on our missions trips when we were the same age. Its funny cause we all feel so much older than we did in high school...but we really aren't. Its so silly:)
Anyways...thats whats up..I'll tell you about my awesome time with my family in my next post! Please keep them in your prayers as they travel down here...its always scary the first time!
Love,
Mikaela
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