Day 6

Day 6 - 6/11/23 (Jodie)

Hola friends! It's church day!

Today we woke up late (our new usual), BUT, we weren't the latest to breakfast despite waking up to the breakfast bell because brother Chris didn't show up for breakfast until 30 minutes in (which we would've done too if we didn't like food so much). 

The church we attended didn't start their service until 12:00 pm, so, we had a lot of time to rest before heading out. A few of us chose to use that time to relax in our rooms, some others spent that time preparing their testimonies or practicing for the kids' story. 

Before leaving base, we had a little dance session in the courtyard. Feeling energized and excited for church, we packed into our van and headed to a grocery store to pick up some food and supplies for the church! Today we are attending church at Corazon Llano (which, if you have been following our blog, was actually the orphanage/soup kitchen we visited on our first day of outreach!). The pastor and owner there, Mirna, had given us a list of items she would love for us to donate, and so we went on our way to the grocery store in hopes of completing Mirna's wish list.

From the grocery store, we embarked on a quick, five minute drive to Corazon Llano! Once there, we greeted the children, many of them familiar to us as we had met them on our first day of outreach. We also worshipped with the rest of the congregation. And of course, the highlight of our church day: Rachel and Clement got up and shared their testimonies in front of the entire congregation!

After finishing the church session, we said our heartfelt goodbyes to the children and Mirna, and we hopped back on the van. Instead of heading back to base like we usually do, we were given the opportunity to visit downtown Ensenada and shop around! BUT FIRST, someone on our team (definitely not me) had come up with the brilliant idea to have a habanero eating session. So, while we were grocery shopping in the morning, brother Chris and I graciously bought seven habanero peppers. And so on our way to downtown Ensenada, I pulled out these habanero peppers and brother Chris, Nathan, our translator Ricardo, and I said "cheers" and took our bites.

Needless to say, I was humbled and now understand that my spice tolerance does not exceed that of a habanero pepper. (Pro tip: if you ever find yourself dying of habanero spice in a moving vehicle, stand up, open a window, stick your head out, and open your mouth).

After recovering from feeling the fiery wrath of habanero peppers, we arrived in downtown Ensenada! We wandered around for about an hour and a half, and we ate all the yummy desserts we could find: ice cream, frozen yogurt, chocolate-filled churros, caramel-filled churros, smoothies, etc. 

After a fun afternoon in downtown Ensenada, we drove back to the YWAM base with full hearts and fuller stomaches. After a dinner of burgers and fries (which many of us had an incredibly hard time finishing as we were stuffed with yummy desserts), brother Chris, Paul, Nathan, Grace, and I decided to go play volleyball where we were joined by many others from the Alaskan team!

After a tiring yet incredibly fun game of volleyball, we all got ready for our second to last evening session. Tonight, we started, as usual, with a game. However, unlike the usual, tonight's came was actually a rematch of the sticky note game we played this morning. Except, the twist is that it's for leaders only! So, we sent up Uncle Guangli and brother Chris! As Uncle Guangli's hat says, "[we] didn't win, but we had a good time". 

Tonight, Jud spoke about how each and every one of us is called by God to be a light in this world. I really liked his analogy of: if you only take deep breaths in, and never breathe out, you will die - similar to how, as a Christian, if you only take in the word of God and do not go out and share it, you will not thrive. Jud spoke about how he has a post-it by his bed that reads "I am a servant of you, God, how do you want me to be a light in this world today?". This way every day he can wake up and be reminded that he is on Earth to glorify God and to be a representation of Christ. During worship, all the MA staff and church leaders stood at the front of the stage and we had the opportunity to walk up to anyone and have them pray over us. Jud talked about how walking up would be a display that you are willing to wholeheartedly give your life to Jesus and truly live for him!!

After session, we unexpectedly had a breakdance session where Clement taught us how to breakdance and we came up with a church cheer (watch the vlog for more). It was a great time of bonding where we were all able to just be open and a little goofy around each other. I was especially proud of how unashamed we were to be doing such silly things since we were in the main quad with many others groups around us. I saw it as a testament to how much we have grown this week - from timid and scared to loud and passionate. I am so beyond proud of the growth I have seen not only within this team as a whole, but within every single team member!

After tiring ourselves out with breakdancing, we retreated to our respective rooms! As tomorrow will be our last full day, and last mail box session, we are all furiously writing letters to everyone who has touched our hearts in some way throughout this week!

I'm incredibly sad that our time here in Ensenada is coming to an end, but I am also just so excited to bring this newfound passion and fervent love for the Lord back to you guys in the Tri-Valley! I have truly truly truly seen God's AMAZING work in every single one of these people this week! All good things must come to an end, but the love of our God - the ultimate good thing - will NEVER END!!!

Adios friends!

~ Jodie

P.s. I ended last year's blog post talking about how I was still waiting to see a cat. Well, this year God has heard me and sent me not one, not two, but twelve cat sightings, so I guess bless the Lord for that!!!