Month: August 2008

Sukiyaki Western Django

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I am not a Quentin Tarantino fan. He’s about as gratuitous as they get. I still have not watched Kill Bill and probably won’t. However – since he merely recommends this upcoming filming and has a guest spot I think I might go see it. It’s actually a pretty interesting looking concept. The name alone is worth checking the film out for: Sukiyaki Western Django.
 
There are a couple of trailers up on Rottentomatoes.com that I have watched and they give the impression that this film is like a Japanese manga (comic) that’s gone stright to live action. Very interesting. Anyhow the trailer is at the following address – let me know what you think:
 
 
Also – I forgot to mention the other post that the Indian movie we watched had a trailer for an animated film called Persepolis. It looks REALLY good as well and is based on a graphic novel that documents a young girl’s journey through the Islamic revolution in Iran to France where she struggles with her identity – is she Persian? French? Muslim? European? All of the above? Or something completly different?
 

Saawariya

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Interesting thing. An Indian family moved to Altona and bought the South Froty Cafe about a year ago. It’s a Mennonite cafe in a Mennonite town owned by an Indian family. Every couple of months though they have an all-you-can-eat Indian Buffet and they let me know and I gather 20-30 people and we head over there and stuff ourselves silly. Tonight was one of those nights. We went to Altona with a pile of friends and had some REALLY GOOD Indian food.
 
Afterwards some of our friends decided to come over to our place and we watched an Indian movie (It was a spur of the moment thing). The movie was one we had just rented – Saawariya (loosely translated as Oh My Love). This is a great example of a typical Indian movie with some fantastic music, choreographed dance scences and singing. Of course, being an Indian movie it was a romance. The set design was very good and reminded M. of Moulin Rouge.
 
The movie is based on the Fyodor Dostoevsky short story White Nights and has some really brilliant moments throughout. It shines during the singing and dancing scenes but drags a bit in between. All in all a great Indian theme night with great friends. For those interested in exploring Indian film I recommend the movie or if you want to ease into it you can check out Hollywood/Bollywood which was fimed by the great Indian director Deepa Mehta in Toronto. The term Bollywood is used to describe the Indian film industry which is every bit as vibrant as Hollywood was in its golden age and is turning out a boatload more movies.

Mexico Mission Trip: Post-Mortem

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We arrived home yesterday evening at about 9 pm. We crossed the border without incident and made it to our homes and our loved ones intact but changed. I have to say this trip, as an experience, ranks up there after my marriage and the birth of my kids. I cannot begin to write about all that God has taught me about myself and others on this trip. Themes like trust, faith and relationship kept coming back.
 
I know when we left for Mexico I was travelling with 22 people some of whom were friends most of whom were acquaintences, but when we returned I came back with 22 friends. Very powerful bonds were forged. I will never forget our late night walks. The laughing, and praying, and talking about all things serious and frivolous. We were a team of men and women, old and young, outgoing and introverted.
 
I’m not sure if I mentioned it but sleeping in Tijuana is like sleeping inside a giant life-sized pinball machine with all the sounds and excitement.
 
Tonight I was blessed to be able to baptize one our team members. It was a nice evening baptism service of friends and family and many of the mission team were there too. To close the service we invited people to join us in singing one of the spanish songs – Viste Tu. It was very fitting.
 
It will take a while for me to process everything that we’ve been through. It was an unforgettable experience.

Mexico Mission Trip: Day 9.2

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Well – we are here at our hotel. We are glad to be back and are excited about sleeping in real beds and not on sponge. We have had an excellent debriefing meeting and are getting some relax time before bed. We’ll be up for breakfast early, get some swimming and window shopping done at M of A and the Swedish Superstore before hitting the road around noon and we’ll be back in Morden between 8-9 pm.
 
Everybody is excited to see their families again and is looking forward to getting back to Morden!!!!
 
Adios amigos!

Mexico Mission Trip: Day 9.1

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We have successfully landed in Denver after an uneventful flight. This is just a quick update from the FREE Wi-fi at the Denver airport (take that Minneapolis) and will be taking off again in about an hour. We’ll spend the night in Minneapolis and then be back by late tomorrow afternoon or evening. One more e-mail from the hotel tonight will have the eta for pick up time.
 
Talk to y’all later. Adios amigos!

Mexico Mssion Trip: Day Nine

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Well – I am sending this update from the San Diego airport. Yes – we made it back to the US alive. Everybody got through the border very quickly and now we’re finishing breakfast at McDonalds. I will try to update again from the Denver Airport as well…don’t expect anything from the Minneapolis Airport because they are too cheap to provide free internet.
 
Last night was great. Our last walk into Tijuana went well. The closing service at the church was good too. The church service ran from 10:30 to 3 pm…think about that. Wow. It was very good though. They had loads of music, healing prayer, anointing with oil and a great sermon in Spanish (I had a personal translator). Everybody had a really good time. We really feel a great deal closer…like a big extended family with all the annoying brothers, sisters and the weird aunts and uncles too.
 
We are excited to be coming back. As soon as we crossed the border we felt the vast difference in wealth between the two countries. It is an odd feeling.
Well – that’s it for now. Talk to you later. God is good! Bueno es Dios!
 
Adios.

Mexico Mission Trip: Day Eight

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Today was our free day between the end of VBS and church on Sunday. We went to a great restaurant and had a Mexican breakfast (desayunas). From there we went to the beach and soaked in the Pacific for a while – lots of great pictures were taken.
 
Last nigt we had our closing celebration with some sweeeeet Mexican food and enjoyed meeting the parents who all got involved with the singing and dancing. None of the parents are followers of Christ.
 
After the ocean we went to the market for a couple of hours and haggled our way out of money. Now we are briefly at Dave & Donna’s before we head to their neighbor’s house for dinner. Tonio is a doctor (Dave calls her his gynecologist) and has invited all 23 of us to a celebratory Mexican dinner.
 
Sorry for the short update. This may be the last before we get back on Tuesday. We’ll see.
 
Buenos Noche amigos!

Mexico Mission Trip: Day Seven

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Well – it is the seventh day but we are not resting yet!!! Everybody has had a chance to eat cactus and it was a big hit! Lot’s of new experiences. The kids received Bibles and so has the moms. Since the VBS began the church started a small group for mothers since they don’t typically leave their kids alone. Well – this whole idea of a mom’s group has never happened here before and after we leave the pastor told us the mom’s want to continue meeting every week together – praise God relationships are being built and lives are being changed.
Tonight and Sunday we have farewell celebrations with the kids and their parents. It will be a great chance to try out our growing Spanish vocabulary. Thannk you for your continued prayers.
Many of the local families have already asked if we would come back again next year. One mother said that if we were to continue a second week we’d have 300 children since by word of mouth we have new kids every day – we even had more today on our last VBS day.
Tomorrow we go to a Mexican restaurant for a genuine Mexican breakfast and there are plans for the market, the ocean etc. Of course no matter how late we get home tonight I’ll lead some folks on our night walk – we’ve discovered Blvd. Revolucion which is loaded with life and light and sound. Fantastic. So we’ll probably head there.
We are coming back home with deepened relationships and a much greater understanding of one-another than we had before. It is awesome to have moved from so many acquaintences to so many friendships.
Peter Sawatzky spent the week building a garbage and recycling depot for the church which was very well received. It keeps all the waste out of sight and beautifies the area. He did a fantastic job.
Corinna has been a super hard worker/leader providing encouragement, strength and direction wherever they go. We would be lost without them. Corissa has been a tornado of energy and has connected very well with the mom’s. Wes has been a huge hit as Rowdy. Shirley has really managed the crafts well – an area that may be the kids favorite.
Nathan and Mary Anne have really done a great job showing passion in their story time acting keeping the kids riveted and laughing. Gloria’s passion as mucis leader has been wonderful to watch and was evident in how well Jennifer and Bryanne did when she had to take a break due to illness.
Of course the morter holding all this together has been the youth. These are the greatest kids in the world. They have been our joy and strength. You should be very proud of them.
Not sure how regular the updates will be after this. Stay tuned.
Adios.

Mexico Mission Trip – Day 6

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Ok – we have come to the end of Day Six and continue to be amazed and overwhelmed by the culture. The kids are fantastic and many have formed special bonds with our youth leaders. Some of them have to go EVERYWHERE with them holding hands.

Soccer is a great experience here. Most of the kids are experts. I have had such a blast taking walks into Tijuana I will probably continue the practice back home.

Today, at 6 am, a market was birthed in front of our dorms – it ran the whole length of the street (which has a steep 30 degree downward slope) – maybe 1/2 a kilometre. We went out on some exploratory trips and bought some stuff. Great time!

Today was the delivery of a very powerful salvation message and we had even more kids! The president of the community we are doing VBS in sent Dave & Donna an e-mail expressing his gratitude for how much of a positive impact we’ve had. We are VERY encouraged and appreciate your prayers.

Till tomorrow – adios.

Mexico Mission Trip – Day Five

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Well – Day five is closing and we’re awaiting our next fantastic meal from our hostess Donna. Today was somewhat challenging. Pray for Gloria as she is definitely not feeling well but is receiving some awesome care.

The kids remain amazing and trusting and loving VBS. We are all exhausted but the genuine joy of this all carries everyone through it. We still go for ever longer walks into Tijuana. Jeremy believes the city was planned specifically for skateboarders and wants to move here now.

The city is spectacularly alive. There are signs of vibrant life everywhere all the time. Music plays well into the night, dogs barking, roosters crowing, car alarms going off all the time, people out walking at all hours. It is a blur of brilliant living chaos.

We will walk again tonight and see where we are led. We go to the local equivalent of 7-11 which is called OXXO – the kids call it the "Hug-Kiss-Kiss-Hug" store. On the way there last night we stopped in front of a storefront kick-boxing operations and watched the sparring for a while.

God is good. God bless you all.