Hola from Mexico!

Hey everybody! I'm sitting on the balcony of our condo, watching the sunset over the ocean; pretty sweet view, eh!? AND I've made it almost two whole weeks without getting in trouble with my new wife :p

I hope you all are having a good start to the summer.

I just wanted to write a quick post as the date for Serve '09 is quickly approaching and I had talked about trying to make alternate arrangements with Siloam Mission for a service project of our own with them in August. As of yet, I have still not heard back from Siloam and I wrote them three weeks ago now (I also have not heard back from most of you concerning your vacation schedules). So as of right now, I am not sure if a project with Siloam is at all possible.

This got me to thinking a little bit. This past Sunday, Katie and I attended a church service at a neighbouring resort. This small church runs a mission at the Puerto Vallarta city garbage dump. Yes, at the garbage dump. You see, some families live at the dump; they make homes out of scraps found in the dump and try to eek out a living by collecting recyclables and scrap metal to sell. The people live, eat, and breathe in the city garbage dump every day of their lives! This picture to the right is a picture of some of their homes. The brown bed mattress with vertical stripes in the middle of the picture is actually the doorway to a family's home.

So Katie and I decided to go with the group and help distribute breakfast to the children that live there and play some games with them for a few hours on Tuesday morning. The kids came running out at each of the three usual stops, some with shopping bags so they can carry food back for their younger siblings, and all with smiles on their faces, though they were a little bit shy. It was so hot there (and a little bit stinky) that I found it hard trying to imagine what it would be like to live in such conditions.

The program is actually run by Canadians who now live in Puerto Vallarta full time; some of them used to go to my sister-in-law's church in Winnipeg so we had heard about this program a few months ago and had actually decided then that we would spend one day of our honeymoon working with this group. It wasn't much really; we took four hours out of our two weeks down here to "help" in a very tiny way. But I thought there was a great lesson here for all of us . . . We don't need to fund-raise and plan a year ahead to help others.



Wherever we are, there are always opportunities to serve others - and in doing so, serving Christ at the same time - it doesn't have to be with other youth groups, or even organisations like this one in Mexico. The opportunity is always there and, as young disciples of Christ, it is up to us to take advantage of those opportunities. One more quick example: on our first full day in Mexico we decided to walk a half hour down the beach to a small town just to look at the little shops and have lunch at one of the great restaurants on the beach. MMMM, fish tacos! Walking the beach you are constantly bombarded by people selling all sorts of things; there are especially a large number of families and young children selling necklaces and different crafts. The children are likely used as a "pity factor". If I had the money I definitely would buy from every young boy and girl on the beach; unfortunately, I'm so broke I can't even pay attention :p Anyways, Katie and I had our great lunch, but there was so much that we were unable to finish it. We waved two of the little girls selling necklaces on the beach over and shared the remainder of our lunch with them. There was a slight language barrier to say the least, but with my weak Spanish, and a few gestures we were able to discover each other's names, their ages, and that . . . they have Jesus in their hearts. God provides opportunities for us to share our resources and to share His love with others every second of every day!

This isn't a post to say "look at Michael, he's such a good Christian." It's a simple, humble post, using my life as a small example of what we are all capable of doing, whether you are at Serve '09 in Swift Current, on your honeymoon in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, on summer vacation in Winnipeg, MB, or wherever else you are and what you're doing right now! It's great to participate in things like Serve with other youth groups (and we will next summer in Flin Flon, MB!) but God is always calling us to serve others. Please think about this and discuss it as a family! What are ways you can serve others and God right in your neighbourhood, church, school, band camp, etc.?

Can't wait to see everybody again in a few weeks! Hope your summer is going well!
Love and Blessings,
Michael

p.s. I have lots more to say! lol, but for now, just check out the rest of the pics below :)