MEXICO!

From Jill: nosotros estamos aqui! We are here!!!!! We arrived in Puerto Nuevo on Monday afternoon, the location of Mexican Medical Ministries staff retreat. Puerto Nuevo is about 45 minutes south of the border, right on the coast. It's a beautiful facility that has been perfect for our retreat. There are about 20 of us from all up and down the Baja Peninsula, from the many Mexican Medical Ministries outposts. We spend time in the evening visiting, singing and praying. During the day we are having training and meetings. Ed and I have also had time to visit one on one with the President of MMM, Steve Crews and his wife Jan, regarding the Gabriel House. Today we had some free time and walked into the village of Pueto Nuevo to look in the shops and go swimming. We are so grateful for this experience - Thank you to all of you who helped make this visit possible!
This has been the first opportunity to check in and say "Hola"... hopefully tomorrow (Wednesday) we'll have time to write more and post photos. Adios!

Senor Ed THE BLOGGER

Hola
Buenos-Dias. Como esta?
I have spent some-time learning more Spanish this weekend!! My favorite color is ROJO, My favorite number is Nueve, and my favorite month is Diciembre. I am looking forward to going to the retreat in a few hours and learning from other missionaries!! Please pray for safety in travel and for me to be still and listen to God's promptings!!
Dois Le Bendiga
Senor Ed

24 Hours

From Jill: it's amazing what one can pack into 24 hours! Hopefully you've read all that we've been doing since our arrival in California. Tonight we topped off our family time with dinner in the park with cousin George and Sheri (see photo). Tomorrow it's MEXICO time! We are excited to see what God has in store for us at the Mexican Medical Ministries retreat.

I wanted to share some highlights from my cousin Philip's message Sunday morning... it's amazing how God connects everything together. One thing I know that we'll be talking about at the retreat are vision statements, and that came up in the message! The message talked about Jesus in Film: the Bucket List (a movie about 2 guys ready to kick the bucket, and all the things they want to accomplish before they do).

So here's what I wanted to share with you:

What we do with our life matters. Live more of our NOW moments in ways that truly matter. In the movie Braveheart is the line "All men die, but not all men truly live." So consider making your own list. Not a Bucket List but a Life List - answer some of these questions: what do I really want too accomplish in this life? Who do I want to be? Who do I want to influence? What kind of life do I want to leave behind? Then consider finding and living your life's passion. Do you have a faith that guides your life and defines who you are? Finally, LOVE people, LIVE for God and find the JOY there! Psalm 16:11 "You have made known to me the path of life; You will fill me with JOY in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand."

The most important thing is to KNOW your eternal destination. 1 John 5:11-13 "For God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son... believe in the Name of the Son of God that you may know that you have eternal life!"

So, that's it in a nutshell! You can get more of the message at Philip's blog (PhilipWagner.com)

Thanks for letting me share it with you! Like I said earlier, it's neat how God brings things together. We'll be remembering this at our retreat, and hopefully sharing it with other missionaries as well, especially when we work on and share our vision statements. I look forward to sharing those with you later!

Okay, it's time for bed on the West Coast. We'll see how off my body clock is tomorrow morning! Good night!

The Sunday Experience

From Jill: (don't worry- Ed WILL blog soon!) Early this morning we (Jamie and I) gave Ed a continuation of the speed tour...driving down Hollywood Blvd, seeing the sidewalk of the Stars, A drive through of James' work studio, and the La Brea Tar Pits! All on the way to Church! We are on our way to Mexico, but it's amazing what one can fit inito a small time frame! At Oasis Church great message on finding Jesus in Film: The Bucket List. More on that later, because it was GREAT! We were able to visit with cousin preacher Philip and his daughter Paris after, then stuffed the three of us back into Jamie's compact pick-up truck cab to divre to San Diego. On the way, a quick stop at Denny's for lunch with two more of my California cousins Karen and Tim! Then stuffed back in the truck cab for and hour and half ride to see cousins George and Sheri Morgan in Coronado (Next door to San Diego). They have extended an open invitation to their inn anytime we're in the area! Enjoy the pictures of our fun fun day! God is awesome in the big and the small!!

Jet Lag!

From Jill: Well it's 5:30am here and my body says 8:30am so I'm up! (Ed's still asleep dreaming about Patriot's tickets....) God was so gracious yesterday for all of travel! We had no problems on the flights. The day was very relaxing, and then when we met up with Jay... Mr. Funny Bone! He keeps us in stitches, and Ed's laugh can be heard all down the streets! Here are a few more photos from yesterday.... Ed "flying" around the airport, our reunion with my brother Jay, and sunset photos from Venice Beach... enjoy!

Hello West Coast!

From Jill: After stops in Baltimore and Nashville, we arrived to brother Jay in LA! Our trip was long but Southwest was definitely the way to go: free baggage, snacks and drinks, with a little humor thrown in! On the plane we practiced up a bit on our Spanish. I learned Acts 4:12 - Hechos 4:12 "Y en ningun otro hay salvacion, porque no hay otro nombre bajo el cielo dado a los hombres en que podamos ser salvos." (I'm still rusty at it, it took me several tries to type it correctly!) In english it reads: "Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved."

My brother James took us to our LA lodgings (his place) via Venice Beach, where we got to watch the end of a beautiful sunset. First thing tomorrow morning we are going to attend my cousin Philip's church, Oasis Christian Center in LA - it should be an AWESOME experience! I can't wait for Ed to share it with me! Following church we hope to have brunch with a few more cousins, then head south to San Diego. My cousins George and Sheri will be hosting us Sunday night, then will taxi us to the Mexican Medical Ministries Office on Monday.

Buenas Noches!

We're on our way!

We are leaving our first host family and heading to Manchester Airport in about 2 minutes! Our good friends, the Hunters, hosted us overnight, but now we have to leave them to go on to the next stage of our journey. We can't wait to reach LA to see Jill's brother Jamie. We pray that we can show Christ's love throughout the day as we travel. You never know who you are going to encounter!

Mexico Visit!

From Jill: We will be visiting Mexico for two weeks and are SO EXCITED!!!! We will spend Friday night near the airport at a dear friends house, then fly out Saturday morning. We will be met in LA by my brother Jamie, who will then give Ed an evening speed tour of Hollywood! Sunday morning we have the joy of attending Oasis Christian Center where my cousin Philip Wagner preaches, then off to San Diego. We spend one night in San Diego at our Morgan cousins home, then it's off to Mexico on Monday! Hooray!
We will attend a Mexican Medical Missions annual retreat in Puerto Nuevo with many of the missionaries from the Baja peninsula. We don't know quite what to expect, since it's our first one, but there will probably be lots of fellowship, prayer and training.
After the retreat we head further south to the Gabriel House, which is home to the 30 or so handicapped children that we hope to work with full time. We are PUMPED for this visit! Spending time with the children and our hosts Ted and Renie Faver will be the highlight of our trip!
After the Gabriel House we head back to the States for a few days of intensive training. Then we spend our last hours with my brother again in LA, and continue the speed tour! We'll fly back east on Saturday the 11th. Maybe we'll even make it to church on the 12th!
Please Pray for travel mercies, for us to be flexible and open to what God has planned for us, and for us to be blessings to all those we encounter.
We will be posting blogs often and with photos! Please keep checking in! Blog ya later! Dios le Bendiga! (God Bless you!)