My presentation at church this past Sunday went well. I get nervous in front of all those people, even though I know most of them. I didn't feel as organized as I'd like, but hopefully my vision for going to Mexicali came through.
The Sonship class at church is great for helping me to see the ways I'm not trusting Christ and acting like an orphan. Old habits die hard, and I still find myself relying in my own strength and wisdom instead of my heavenly Father's. "What love the Father has lavished on us that we should be called children of God"!
Wednesday, January 7, 2009
Thursday, December 18, 2008
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
Vision Trip - Mexicali, Mx, Dec. 4-8, 2008
Dear Friends,I'm back from my trip out west. I and my mom were able to visit Gary & Carol, who are BEAMM missionaries in Las Playas (The Beaches), a distric of Tijuana, and got to know them better. There were workers at the house they rent when we arrived. There was a hot water leak somewhere and some guys were drilling holes in the walk way on the side of the house trying to find it, which they eventually did. They fixed the leak and said they'd be back on Monday to patch up the holes, which meant Carol couldn't accomlpany us to Mexicali. There were also men putting new roof on the house. Gary says something like 60% of their time is taken up with living related things. Carol says she still has room for growth when it comes to being flexable and not complaining when God has 
something different in mind than what we planned. Here's Carol in the kitchen after us ladies went food shopping. Always close by are Socks, the cat, and their border collie, Dallas, who is trained to detect when Carol blood pressure spikes (it never does when he's with her).
something different in mind than what we planned. Here's Carol in the kitchen after us ladies went food shopping. Always close by are Socks, the cat, and their border collie, Dallas, who is trained to detect when Carol blood pressure spikes (it never does when he's with her).Friday afternoon Gary drove Mom and I to see some of the PCA churches in the area. Tijuana is very hilly, with bright patches of pink where the bugamvilla bushes were blooming. Gary reasured me there are no hills in Mexicali since it's in the desert. I drive a stick so the less hills the better, especially those that give you the best view from the top!
Next stop was to a new developement on the other side of the city where the Roe family lives. Morgan, Patti and their five children have recently joined the BEAMM team there in Tijuana, where Morgan is a Mercy Ministries Coordinator. Patti homeschools the kids and once a week they cross into San Diego for a full day of co-op classes. The kids are very polite and are learning Spanish well, with aditional practice from some neighbor girls who like to come over to play. After visiting for awhile, Morgan followed us back to the Nantt's where Carol had a yummy lunch ready for us. It was from a local restaurant consisting of rotissary chicken, fresh tortillas and salsa blend of salt and jalapinos! I didn't touch the stuff!
Afterward we sat around and talked some and then took the five minute walk down to La Playa (the beach) and walked along the boardwalk and watched the sun set. Actually, there's no dusk and goes straight to dark, so we headed back before then. We said goodbye to Morgan who had to get ready for a medical team that was coming in the next day.
In the evening we watched Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy. I finished reading "Same Kind of Different As Me" while on the trip and highly recommend it. Mexican pizza is really good!
Saturday we bade farwell to Carol and the animals and hit the road for our 140 mile ride east to Mexicali via US 
highway 8 throuh El Centro, then south through Calexico. After dropping off our bags at our motel in El Centro, we went to Mision Dios Soberano (Sovereign God) where Julio Navarro is the lay pastor. He and his wife, Arlette have two children, Paula and Isaac. When we arrived most of the congregation were working hard to finish fixing up the place before church tom
orrow. Because they are a growing group of people, they had taken out an interior wall which devided the adults from the children. Now they have the kids in the courtyard at the back of the storefront they rent. When the weather's nice they will have a tent with benches and tables where the kids meet for Childrens Church. Arlette is going through the catechism with them right now.
highway 8 throuh El Centro, then south through Calexico. After dropping off our bags at our motel in El Centro, we went to Mision Dios Soberano (Sovereign God) where Julio Navarro is the lay pastor. He and his wife, Arlette have two children, Paula and Isaac. When we arrived most of the congregation were working hard to finish fixing up the place before church tom
orrow. Because they are a growing group of people, they had taken out an interior wall which devided the adults from the children. Now they have the kids in the courtyard at the back of the storefront they rent. When the weather's nice they will have a tent with benches and tables where the kids meet for Childrens Church. Arlette is going through the catechism with them right now.My mom and I met those who were there and were warmly welcomed. There were people painting, putting up dry wall, and hanging curtains, so we didn't stay long. Gary wanted us to see some of Mexicali so we tagged along while he and Julio looked at lots for the meatal building being stored in El Centro. The first lot was just big enough and closer in town, whereas the second one was further out, larger and cheaper than the first. The city is growing so fast, thought, that if they took the lot farther away, the city would come to them in a couple years. They still have a few more places to look at before they make their descision.
The next morning Gary took us to Denny's for a late breakfast since church didn't start until noon. Church was really nice and I picked up words here and there from the songs we were singing and from Gary's sermon. They have a time in the service where folks can give thanks and prayer requests. I liked that. I know I need to be giving thanks to God more than I do and it blessed me to see my brothers and sisters praising & petitioning our heavenly Father, even though I don't know what they said. After the service the children sang happy birthday to Alexandra who was working the power point (in red). She turned 21 and her mom baked her a cake.
Church ended around 3:00 and Mom and I with broken Spanish conversed with some ladies whith broken English. They were a lovely group of people and am excited about coming back to live among them and learn from them. There's about 6 or 7 youth in the church and no program for them other than Sunday morning. So that's one area they said I could really help with. Also there's some other local churches that support a couple orphanages in town giving me another possible opportunity to work with children. Other things might be speaking English with people, helping when teams come in, and assisting the Call family who will be joining the BEAMM team
in Mexicali. They have five children on the youngish side. I was very glad to hear that I'd be kept busy because I don't want to have much time alone to think about getting homesick. It looks like the Navarros will be finding me an apartment near the church. When some of the people there heard I was to come in August, they kept telling me how hot it will be. Gary says because it's in the desert, in
the Summer it can get up to 120 degrees but drastically cool off at night.
in Mexicali. They have five children on the youngish side. I was very glad to hear that I'd be kept busy because I don't want to have much time alone to think about getting homesick. It looks like the Navarros will be finding me an apartment near the church. When some of the people there heard I was to come in August, they kept telling me how hot it will be. Gary says because it's in the desert, in
the Summer it can get up to 120 degrees but drastically cool off at night.For lunch most of us went to a chinese restaurant. It was funny to have an asian waiter speaking Spanish! Just like the evening before at the Toqueria, it was good food shared with new friends. I need to be more bold in speaking Spanish, though. Mom and I are resolved to learn it better and speak it more around the house. "Not by strength nor by power, but by my Spirit says the Lord"...that's the only way I can do it.
Well, here's me 
with a bunch of the kids from church. Cutest little girls you'll ever see! We said goodbye and headed back over the border. Which brings me to another new experience: walking through border security. Gary has a Century Pass on his car (like a toll tag) so he can zip on through, depending on the line. Only he's registered for his vehicle so he told us where to meet him when we passed through security. There's really not much to it. They ask you a few questions while looking over your passport..."why were you in Mexico?", "do you have anything to declare?", "where are you going?" and you answer and that's that. Mom did forget about her Yemen stamp and had to explain why she was there. So after what seemed like a long time we were through :-) We ended back where we started at the seaside San Diego airport. We said adios to Gary and thanked him again for hosting, driving, housing and feeding us. I enjoyed good mother/daughter time, too!
with a bunch of the kids from church. Cutest little girls you'll ever see! We said goodbye and headed back over the border. Which brings me to another new experience: walking through border security. Gary has a Century Pass on his car (like a toll tag) so he can zip on through, depending on the line. Only he's registered for his vehicle so he told us where to meet him when we passed through security. There's really not much to it. They ask you a few questions while looking over your passport..."why were you in Mexico?", "do you have anything to declare?", "where are you going?" and you answer and that's that. Mom did forget about her Yemen stamp and had to explain why she was there. So after what seemed like a long time we were through :-) We ended back where we started at the seaside San Diego airport. We said adios to Gary and thanked him again for hosting, driving, housing and feeding us. I enjoyed good mother/daughter time, too!So in conclusion, it was a really cool trip with many new experiences in a new land, meeting new friends. There's many things to be done before I leave, but I believe God is in all this and He will get me there they way he sees fit at the time that He wants me there. I'm so glad it's not up to me to make these things work smoothly. I know this was really long, but I hope you enjoyed it and know better how to be praying for me...and boy! do I need your prayers!
Signing off!
Bekah
Sunday, November 16, 2008
Here's a better map I found from BEAMM's (Border Evangelism and Mercy Ministry) web site: http://beamm.org/index.htm
I'll be working with missionaries of BEAMM, but the agency I was approved through is MTW (Mission to the World). Please check out BEAMM's site to find out more of what the Lord is doing along the US/MX border and specifically in Mexicali.
Facts about Mexicali, Mx:
pop. - 1,000,010
State - Baja California
founded - March 19, 1903
Chinatown, Mexicali
The city claims to have the largest per capita concentration of residents of Chinese origin, around 5,000. While this does not compare to U.S. cities like San Francisco or New York, early in the 20th century Mexicali was numerically and culturally more Chinese than Mexican. The Chinese arrived to the area as laborers for the Colorado River Land Company, an American enterprise which designed and built an extensive irrigation system in the Valley of Mexicali. Some immigrants came from the United States, often fleeing anti-Chinese policies there, while others sailed directly from China. Thousands of Chinese were lured to the area by the promise of high wages, but for most that never materialised.
ABSA shopping center near Lopez Mateos Street
Many of the Chinese labourers who came to the irrigation system stayed on after its completion, congregating in an area of Mexicali today known as Chinesca ('Chinatown'). During Prohibition in the U.S., many Chinese laborers and farmers came to the town to open bars, restaurants and hotels to cater thier American clientle Chinesca eventually housed just about all of the city's casinos and bars, and an underground tunnel system to connect bordellos and opium dens , Calexico on the U.S. side. Bootleggers also used this route to supply the U.S. with booze purchased in Mexico.
By 1920, Mexicali's Chinese population outnumbered the Mexican 10,000 to 700. A group of 5,000 single Chinese males started the Asociacion China, a Mexicali social organisation at least partly devoted to finding Chinese wives from overseas, which remains active today. In 1927, a series of Tong wars here and other parts of Northern Mexico erupted over control of gambling and prostitution rings. Mexican alarm over the Chinese organised crime led to the government-encouraged Movimiento Anti-Chino. In the late 1920s, a wave of anti-immigrant sentiment that swept the country and led to the torture and murder of hundreds of Chinese in northern Mexico--similar to what happened on a larger scale in California in the 1880s. However, the Chinese in this city were numerous enough and politically strong enough to protect themselves. After anti-Chinese sentiment faded, more Chinese arrived here, and it became the Mexican headquarters for the Kuomintang, or the Nationalist Chinese Party. After events during World War II and the Communist takeover of China, a large number of Chinese refugees came to Mexico in the mid-century. The town was the site of the Taiwan consulate in the 1960's until Mexico withdrew its recognition of the island nation, ending immigration of ethnic Chinese to this area.
Plaza de la Amistad (Friendship Plaza) pagodas, located just outside the border crossing to the USA
The percentage of Chinese was so high here that in the 1940's the town had only two cinemas, both of which played Chinese movies almost exclusively. However, in the latter half of the 20th century, steady influx of Mexican migrants here diluted the Chinese population, until once again they became a minority.
La Chinesca, or Chinatown, still survives near the border close to the intersection of Avenida Madero and Clle Melgar,although it is much smaller than in the past. However, Mexicali still boasts more Chinese restaurants per capita than any other city in Mexico, more than 100 for the whole town, most with Cantonese-style cuisine. Local Chinese associations struggle to preserve the arts and culture of the homeland through the sponsorship of Chinese festivals, calligraphy clubs, and language classes. However, much of Chinese cultural life here has blended with local Mexican and American traditions to create a unique, hybrid culture.
Like many Chinese restaurants outside of Asia, cooks here have adapted their native cuisine to local tastes. For example, restaurants here serve thier dishes with a small bowl of a sauce that is similar to a generic steak sauce, common in Northern Mexico. In many of these restaurants, it is not uncommon to see Chinese men wearing stiff straw cowboy hats, meeting over hamburgers and green tea and speaking a mixture of Cantonese and Spanish. Along with burgers and chow mein, many restaurants here also offer shark-fin tacos.
The city claims to have the largest per capita concentration of residents of Chinese origin, around 5,000. While this does not compare to U.S. cities like San Francisco or New York, early in the 20th century Mexicali was numerically and culturally more Chinese than Mexican. The Chinese arrived to the area as laborers for the Colorado River Land Company, an American enterprise which designed and built an extensive irrigation system in the Valley of Mexicali. Some immigrants came from the United States, often fleeing anti-Chinese policies there, while others sailed directly from China. Thousands of Chinese were lured to the area by the promise of high wages, but for most that never materialised.
ABSA shopping center near Lopez Mateos Street
Many of the Chinese labourers who came to the irrigation system stayed on after its completion, congregating in an area of Mexicali today known as Chinesca ('Chinatown'). During Prohibition in the U.S., many Chinese laborers and farmers came to the town to open bars, restaurants and hotels to cater thier American clientle Chinesca eventually housed just about all of the city's casinos and bars, and an underground tunnel system to connect bordellos and opium dens , Calexico on the U.S. side. Bootleggers also used this route to supply the U.S. with booze purchased in Mexico.
By 1920, Mexicali's Chinese population outnumbered the Mexican 10,000 to 700. A group of 5,000 single Chinese males started the Asociacion China, a Mexicali social organisation at least partly devoted to finding Chinese wives from overseas, which remains active today. In 1927, a series of Tong wars here and other parts of Northern Mexico erupted over control of gambling and prostitution rings. Mexican alarm over the Chinese organised crime led to the government-encouraged Movimiento Anti-Chino. In the late 1920s, a wave of anti-immigrant sentiment that swept the country and led to the torture and murder of hundreds of Chinese in northern Mexico--similar to what happened on a larger scale in California in the 1880s. However, the Chinese in this city were numerous enough and politically strong enough to protect themselves. After anti-Chinese sentiment faded, more Chinese arrived here, and it became the Mexican headquarters for the Kuomintang, or the Nationalist Chinese Party. After events during World War II and the Communist takeover of China, a large number of Chinese refugees came to Mexico in the mid-century. The town was the site of the Taiwan consulate in the 1960's until Mexico withdrew its recognition of the island nation, ending immigration of ethnic Chinese to this area.
Plaza de la Amistad (Friendship Plaza) pagodas, located just outside the border crossing to the USA
The percentage of Chinese was so high here that in the 1940's the town had only two cinemas, both of which played Chinese movies almost exclusively. However, in the latter half of the 20th century, steady influx of Mexican migrants here diluted the Chinese population, until once again they became a minority.
La Chinesca, or Chinatown, still survives near the border close to the intersection of Avenida Madero and Clle Melgar,although it is much smaller than in the past. However, Mexicali still boasts more Chinese restaurants per capita than any other city in Mexico, more than 100 for the whole town, most with Cantonese-style cuisine. Local Chinese associations struggle to preserve the arts and culture of the homeland through the sponsorship of Chinese festivals, calligraphy clubs, and language classes. However, much of Chinese cultural life here has blended with local Mexican and American traditions to create a unique, hybrid culture.
Like many Chinese restaurants outside of Asia, cooks here have adapted their native cuisine to local tastes. For example, restaurants here serve thier dishes with a small bowl of a sauce that is similar to a generic steak sauce, common in Northern Mexico. In many of these restaurants, it is not uncommon to see Chinese men wearing stiff straw cowboy hats, meeting over hamburgers and green tea and speaking a mixture of Cantonese and Spanish. Along with burgers and chow mein, many restaurants here also offer shark-fin tacos.
Sunday, November 9, 2008
I'm really excited about my year-long internship next summer to Mexicali! Mom and I are going out there next month to meet with the team and hash out the details. It is a continual struggle to not worry or be fearful about it though. I know God has called me to this internship, but I feel ill equipped and get home-sick thinking about a whole year away from all that's familiar. I know He is faithful and will give me the grace to persevere, yet I feel sure I will be terribly lonely at times. But I am convinced that if it brings me to a closer walk with my Jesus, it will be all worth it. God is doing great things along the border for His kingdom and am thankful to be a part of it!
"For this reason also, since the day we heard of it, we have not ceased to pray for you and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so that you may walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, to please Him in all respects, bearing fruit in every good work and increading in the knowledge of God..." Col. 1:9 & 10
"For this reason also, since the day we heard of it, we have not ceased to pray for you and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so that you may walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, to please Him in all respects, bearing fruit in every good work and increading in the knowledge of God..." Col. 1:9 & 10
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