San Diego: I love San Diego! Our host once again was the Ocean View Church. I simply love this church. The praise & worship is off the charts! The preaching of The Word is right on target. I really enjoyed worshipping with OVC on Sunday. The people there are so friendly!
I had the opportunity to drive a wee bit in San Diego, something I had not done before. I was able to navigate between the church, the supermarket, and Starbucks. Of course, I was white-knuckling the wheel in this big, big city, but God brought me through.
Tijuana: The border crossing went very well, and we got through with no problems at all. It's a bit of a culture shock to see everything in Spanish. If I thought driving in San Diego was crazy, Tijuana was even crazier! Stop signs are merely suggestions, and we came very close to crashing into other drivers, the scariest time almost being hit by a semi truck. Missed us by a few feet! I was not doing the driving by any means. We had a great driver (Hi, Eder, if you're reading this) who knew how to maneuver the streets and wild drivers. One thing that still catches me off guard, even though I've seen it before, is the poverty. It's not unusual to see houses with missing walls, doors, and/or ceilings. And everyone has a dog (which we don't pet, by the way, for obvious reasons). However, most houses have satellite dishes on the tops of them. It's just something you have to see for yourself to grasp it completely.
Colina de Luz: We arrived at the orphanage at about 9am on Monday. The orphanage is named Colina de Luz, which means "Hill of Light." This is a wonderful place. Some of our newer team members were expecting a compound, but what they found was a well-kept campus. None of the kids were out playing, as they were engaged in other activities, so after we settled in, we got to work transporting sand to other parts of the campus that needed to be raised a bit. Afterwards, we ate lunch, and the kids joined us. Many of them have grown over the last year, and it was so good to see them! Sadly, one of the boys who I had formed a connection with over the past 2 trips (Oscar) was no longer at the orphanage. He was the one who I had looked forward to seeing the most. Another boy (Bryan) whom I had connected with was also not there. I had known about Bryan, but not Oscar. I felt like I'd been punched. I hope both of those boys are doing well, wherever they are. But, God brought Edwin into my life. He is a sweet 6 year old boy with a big smile wherever he goes. He brightened my day when we got to visit at lunch or on the playground. All of the Colina kids are clean, happy, and well-taken care of. They don't have all the toys and things that American kids have, but they have some small things, and they are happy with what they get. They appreciate the food they receive, and practically nothing gets thrown away. They clean their plates! It pains me when I see kids in our schools throwing away mountains of food because "they don't like it." Our kids here in the states could sure learn something from the kids in Mexico.
Carnivals: Every day, we took a carnival to some of the other communities that are partnered with OVC or Colina. A carnival consists of a large inflatable water slide, face and nail painting, popcorn and juice, and a presentation of the Gospel, in which we used colored Frisbees to share the story of the Wordless Book. In some carnivals, we filled up bags with food items (beans, rice, coffee, etc) and gave them to the families. Before the carnivals started, we canvassed the neighborhoods, inviting the kids out to our carnival. In many instances, there were very young kids left at home alone because the parents had to work. And the poverty. Many of the houses were made of sheets of plywood or cardboard. The streets were littered with garbage, and there were loose dogs and goats along the way. But we showed God's love to the kids as we gave them invitations to our carnival and made balloon animals for them. We had pretty good turnouts to our events, and the kids were loving it! The big hit was the waterslide! The kids enjoyed splashing water all over our team members, who splashed them back! We built good relationships with those kids and their parents.
Friday: Friday was the saddest day. That was the day we had to pack up and say good-bye to these kids who had become so precious to us. We hugged them and some of them didn't want us to leave. The feeling was mutual. It was tough getting into that van, waving good-bye to the kids that were waving back at us.
There is simply no possible way on earth that I can enclose all of the feelings and emotions into a blog post. I only hope that you can somehow get a simple image of what this week was all about. Throughout the week, the phrase "Whatever It Takes" kept coming up in different circumstances. We need to do whatever we can to show the love of God....not just to the kids in Mexico, but to all people everywhere! Whether it means letting the kids splash you with water, or play soccer with them when you have no energy left in your body. We learned that in order to bless the body of Christ, we need to do "Whatever It Takes."
What Now? This is the part everyone is waiting to hear. If you skipped the first part of my blog and came straight to this part, go back and read it, so that this part will make sense. In fact, this part may come as no surprise to those of you who know me well. The desire to get back to the San Diego/Tijuana area is stronger than ever. My heart is still there with the kids. I guess I could sing, "I Left My Heart In Tijuana." All joking aside, I want to be back there. Don't get me wrong, I love my life here, with all of my friends and family, but God is drawing me to serve and minister to another group of people about 1,000 miles away, and the distance between us hurts me. What has God asked me to do? Here's what God revealed to me this week.
1) God wants me on the mission field. I feel drawn to Mexico, so that is where I feel He wants
me.
2) I need to brush up on my Spanish starting immediately!
3) It's time to start some serious fundraising. I am praying that individuals and churches will
feel God's pull on their heart to begin supporting me monthly. If you are involved in a
church that would be willing to take on a guy who wants to bless in Mexico, I'd love to visit
with you. I'm not a pastor, nor am I chartered with a missionary organization, I am
partnered with God, and we're doing this together.
4) I am looking for an individual who would be willing to help me make a promotional DVD
that I could use, should I be invited to share my vision with a local church.
5) I'm praying that my baking business will pick up.
This is just for starters. It's not much different than last year, except that I need to start raising support. More than anything, though, I need your prayers! I'm needing guidance from God, because I want to be in the center of His Will in every step. The long and short of it is that if God truly wants me to be in Tijuana, He will make it happen. He will cause everything to fall into place.
(Heavy sigh) If you made it this far, thanks for sticking with me. Thanks for reading and hearing my heart. Most of all, thanks for praying! I am dead-tired, and am ready for a good, long nap. God bless you!
Carnivals: Every day, we took a carnival to some of the other communities that are partnered with OVC or Colina. A carnival consists of a large inflatable water slide, face and nail painting, popcorn and juice, and a presentation of the Gospel, in which we used colored Frisbees to share the story of the Wordless Book. In some carnivals, we filled up bags with food items (beans, rice, coffee, etc) and gave them to the families. Before the carnivals started, we canvassed the neighborhoods, inviting the kids out to our carnival. In many instances, there were very young kids left at home alone because the parents had to work. And the poverty. Many of the houses were made of sheets of plywood or cardboard. The streets were littered with garbage, and there were loose dogs and goats along the way. But we showed God's love to the kids as we gave them invitations to our carnival and made balloon animals for them. We had pretty good turnouts to our events, and the kids were loving it! The big hit was the waterslide! The kids enjoyed splashing water all over our team members, who splashed them back! We built good relationships with those kids and their parents.
Friday: Friday was the saddest day. That was the day we had to pack up and say good-bye to these kids who had become so precious to us. We hugged them and some of them didn't want us to leave. The feeling was mutual. It was tough getting into that van, waving good-bye to the kids that were waving back at us.
There is simply no possible way on earth that I can enclose all of the feelings and emotions into a blog post. I only hope that you can somehow get a simple image of what this week was all about. Throughout the week, the phrase "Whatever It Takes" kept coming up in different circumstances. We need to do whatever we can to show the love of God....not just to the kids in Mexico, but to all people everywhere! Whether it means letting the kids splash you with water, or play soccer with them when you have no energy left in your body. We learned that in order to bless the body of Christ, we need to do "Whatever It Takes."
What Now? This is the part everyone is waiting to hear. If you skipped the first part of my blog and came straight to this part, go back and read it, so that this part will make sense. In fact, this part may come as no surprise to those of you who know me well. The desire to get back to the San Diego/Tijuana area is stronger than ever. My heart is still there with the kids. I guess I could sing, "I Left My Heart In Tijuana." All joking aside, I want to be back there. Don't get me wrong, I love my life here, with all of my friends and family, but God is drawing me to serve and minister to another group of people about 1,000 miles away, and the distance between us hurts me. What has God asked me to do? Here's what God revealed to me this week.
1) God wants me on the mission field. I feel drawn to Mexico, so that is where I feel He wants
me.
2) I need to brush up on my Spanish starting immediately!
3) It's time to start some serious fundraising. I am praying that individuals and churches will
feel God's pull on their heart to begin supporting me monthly. If you are involved in a
church that would be willing to take on a guy who wants to bless in Mexico, I'd love to visit
with you. I'm not a pastor, nor am I chartered with a missionary organization, I am
partnered with God, and we're doing this together.
4) I am looking for an individual who would be willing to help me make a promotional DVD
that I could use, should I be invited to share my vision with a local church.
5) I'm praying that my baking business will pick up.
This is just for starters. It's not much different than last year, except that I need to start raising support. More than anything, though, I need your prayers! I'm needing guidance from God, because I want to be in the center of His Will in every step. The long and short of it is that if God truly wants me to be in Tijuana, He will make it happen. He will cause everything to fall into place.
(Heavy sigh) If you made it this far, thanks for sticking with me. Thanks for reading and hearing my heart. Most of all, thanks for praying! I am dead-tired, and am ready for a good, long nap. God bless you!
Your words are a blessing to my soul Rob. Make no mistake, God pays for what He orders...We are living proof of that! The Barker household will join you in prayer as you begin your journey "home to San Diego." Looking forward to the day that we can cross the border together! :)
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