Day 1

Day 1 - Tue 6/7/22 (Elaine)

Hola friends! Welcome to our blog, where we will be posting daily updates about our time here in Ensenada, Mexico! 

We arrived at church bright and early on Tuesday, meeting with the rest of the team around 7:00 AM. The morning was cool and refreshing, and we quickly sorted luggage and organized members into carpool groups. We joined hands and prayed together with our parents, saying goodbye to them (as well as Lisa's adorable dog Skipper), and got ready to leave for the San Jose Airport! Before taking off, we took this group picture:

Then, we were off! Thankfully, the traffic to San Jose wasn't too bad, and we enjoyed a brief and peaceful ride there. Once we arrived, we unloaded our bags (thank you, drivers!) and took another photo at the front of the airport:

We then successfully cleared TSA and got ready to board our flight to San Diego! While waiting, our team browsed nearby shops for breakfast. Most of us opted for Starbucks, and we enjoyed tasty coffees, teas, and pastries! We also got to meet the CCIC-Sunnyvale team, as we were on the same flight. Soon, it was time to board the plane, and luckily, we found seats very close to each other!

To our pleasant surprise, the flight flew by (pun intended), and it barely felt like an hour! Beverages and snacks were quickly served, I had just started reading my book, and Jodie had just fallen asleep before we landed in San Diego. We claimed our luggage and gathered outside with the CCIC-Sunnyvale team, waiting for the YWAM buses to pick us up. After we loaded our bags into the trunks, they drove us to a shopping center for lunch, where we enjoyed some Chick-fil-A and boba! 

Then, we headed for the Mexican border, where we stopped for around an hour to obtain our travel visas.

After driving for another hour and a half, we finally arrived at the YWAM base! The team welcomed us warmly with greetings and cheers, and they quickly showed us to our dorms, where we would be staying for the week. After unpacking, we were given a tour of the camp, which has a beautiful rooftop where you can enjoy a view of the city and ocean.

We talked with some of the youth from Sunnyvale and played 9-square with them while waiting for dinnertime! They were all very friendly and nice, as were the staff, who sat with us as we enjoyed authentic tacos for dinner. Afterward, our team played some tetherball and volleyball before meeting for the evening session at 8:00 PM. 

We had an amazing worship session (the team was so energetic) and played a few games before meeting our speaker for the week, Luke, who graduated from Biola University! He gave an inspirational welcome speech before we prayed and headed to rest for the night. Before doing so, our team went back to the rooftop to enjoy the night view and take some pictures!

We then got ready to sleep, as everyone was tired after a long day of travel! Everyone is relaxing in bed as I'm writing this, getting ready for a full day of training for mission work tomorrow! Praise God for allowing us to arrive safely! Please pray for a fruitful short-term mission as we embark on this life-changing spiritual journey!

Signing off,

Elaine