8 Cities, 3 Weeks, and. . .12 Grey Whales?

Yes, that's right: 12 grey whales. As I sit here on a mattress (yeah!) in La Paz, BCS, finally taking a moment to count the number of cities on our itinerary in the last several weeks of Outreach, I can't help but smile at the memories. Since leaving Loreto two weeks ago, we've been from the Sea of Cortez to the Pacific and back again, and from a beat up, off road ranch to one of the hottest tourist cities in Mexico. We've had a couple days of rest and presented the gospel and message of hope and encouragement in 6 churches and at least that many communities. Sometimes it's in the form of dramas and testimonies; other times, it looks like praying with a neighbor or painting a room in the church. God has blessed, broken, stretched, given, taken away, and pursued each of us on the team. But words are cheap; I'll let some pictures tell the story.

Remember Rocio from my last story? We got another chance to go out to the migrant camp again, and this time my camera was working!




Students entertaining the crowd with a funny skit to break the ice. But be careful, because "La Casa Se Quema!"

Just last night, we got a chance to minister in a colonia outside La Paz. After the program, we helped with the church's main ministry: distributing food to the people who came.

At one of our first stops in Vicente Guerrero, Luisa gives an explanation of one of our puppet skits.

Handing out balloons is one of the kids' favorite parts of the program, and it gives us a chance to make friends and give a hug.

The majority of our programs have been open-air, so we made sure all our stuff was very flexible to our environment- check out the busy puppets!

Sometimes, just watching the kids' faces makes the chaos worth it!

The road to San Javier, about 30 km outside Loreto, takes at least an hour and half to travel, through creeks and potholes and hairpin turns. At least the view is beautiful!

One morning in Loreto, several of the students and I got up early and walked to the waterfront watch the sunrise- God's beauty makes me breathless in some moments, this being one of them!

One of our presentation tools is Stomp, making rhythms with your hands and feet as a group.

Even if we announce a certain program as focused on children, the mothers and grandmothers often come along. It's a really cool chance to minister to them as well!

After all the moving and intense ministry schedule, we got a chance to rest up a bit in Cabo San Lucas. . . after sleeping on cement floors and taking cold bucket showers for weeks, we all appreciated the soft beds and warm showers-and the lack of spiders on the ceiling!

And now its back to the old grind, but maybe with little Miss Sunshine in the mornings, we'll all make it!

We arrive back in TJ on February 7th for a week of debrief and processing the last 5 months and all that God has done, but we still have a week of ministry left. Who knows what God's got up His sleeve?

As for the 12 grey whales, at one of our stops in Puerto San Carlos, there is a bay where grey whales come to mate and give birth. A couple of fisherman from the church we were working with took us out to see them. . . there's nothing quite like watching a 2 ton whale swim under your small fishing boat about 10 feet under the surface!