Month: August 2008

Trip to Mexico: Day 4

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So we slept well again last night. I took some youth on another late night venture deeper into the heart of Tijuana. We walked past the army base where the world’s largest flag is (seriously this thing is huge – maybe 50 feet high and 100 feet long). If you Google Earth Tijuana search for the giant flag – we are staying just north of it. If you go to http://maps.google.com and enter the following numbers into the search field it will show you exactly where we are:

32.516867, -117.039478

Tonight we may venture as far as the circus, a fair ways downtown – we’ll see.

VBS was STUPENDOUS (running out of adjectives) again today. We almost doubled our numbers today with 50 kids. They are sooooooo much fun. They have really connected well with the team and I think the best times have been when we are all outside playing with them…soccer, frisbee, catch, tag etc.Some of them will wander over to one of the team and take their hand or drag them over to see something. Everyday they bring more friends.

Tonights meet was genuine tacos with soft tortillas, home-made beans, slices of beef etc. Everybody tries everything.

That’s it for now. More updates to come.

Trip to Mexico: Day Three

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So far so good: Day ThreeWell we launched VBS today and had about 30 kids which was FANTASTIC. They will invite more of their amigos tomorrow. It has been an exhausting week. There is great enthusiasm amongst our crew here. Food is fantastic. I (Pete) took some kids (Josh, Jeremey, Heather and Tim) on a late night walk into Tijuana. It was quite the fun time watching them climb over the fence from the dorms into the street (ask Josh to tell you the story).

People are VERY friendly and helpful. We slept fine last night (no gunshots). Even the dogs were quiet. The dorms have three “guard” dogs – two chihuahua’s and a very friendly boxer. Myself, Wes and Nathan have been having snoring competitions in the guys dorm but the other guys are keeping up with us in the creation of noxious gasses. You children and loved ones have learned to take 3-minute showers…you should enforce that when they return 🙂

Our hosts, Dave & Donna have been great and feed us very well. Please pray for Corinna as she has had some headache issues.

That’s all for now – blessings! Pete

P.S. All the pics are over 1 meg in size and this lame-o blog only allows pics of under 1 meg. Sorry.

Trip to Mexico: Segundo Dia

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Well we’re at the tail end of day two here is Tijuana and it has been pretty excitingly exhausting. We went to bed after midnight here (about 2 am Morden time) and spent the night listening to the lullaby of Tijuana which generally consisted of car alarms, barking dogs, the odd scream and two explosions (really). All in all we were well rested all things considered.

We woke at 7:30 am and began working on prep for the VBS week ahead. Breakfast was at 8 am after a leisurely 3-minute shower (conserving hot water for everyone). Dave and Donna picked us up (we’re staying at a local Bible College) at 9:30 am and we drove to the first of two church services at El Encuentro which is an upscale church/coffee house not far from where our hosts live. At about noon we drove over to our second church in a less priviledged community. After church at about 4 pm we had lunch and then hit the streets in teams to hand out balloons and VBS invitations to children in the area. Then we went over to El Encuentra’s community and again walked around and handed out invitations. Now as we near 7 pm we are relaxing at our host’s home, resting our feet while Donna prepares a light dinner for us.

All in all a very good day. Here are some more pics:

Trip to Mexico: Update 1

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Here’s a quick e-mail from the Denver Airport where I am mooching off the free wifi. 23 of us are on the way to Tijuana for a mission trip bringing our Vacation Bible School with us. It’s been a great trip so far with a 10 minute stop at the border (we bused to Minneapolis) and got through airport security without a problem.

Everybody has had a great time so far and we’re looking forward to getting to San Diego and then driving to Tijuana. Here’s some pics to prove to you all that everybody’s still ok:

Giving Voice to Hatred

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I sent the following letter to CTV News after they decided to "advertise" an upcoming protest by the Phelp’s Family (they’re are not a church) of Tim McLean’s funeral. The article is basically free advertising and becomes a platform for Phelp’s vile, sinful hatred and is loaded with nasty quotes. The letter speaks for itself. As a former journalist with a degree in English Lit I staunchly oppose most forms of censorship – that being said the CTV article is terribly one-sided and smacks of journalism of the worst kind.
 
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Editors,
 
I am very disappointed in CTV for choosing to give voice to hatred by providing Phelp’s Church with free advertising. They are a known fringe group of 70 people who somehow are capable of gaining front page news simply by announcing another hateful protest. As the associate pastor of a loving church congregation I ask you to honestly answer the following question:
 
If our congregation of more than 400 people decided we were going to head to the McLean funeral in a show of loving support and sent out a press release would CTV cover this? No. Why? Not because it lacks news merit but because it is not sensationalist hate-mongering.
 
Once again – very disappointing.

The Drive-In

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When I was a kid growing up in Guelph the drive-in was a rare treat (mostly because we never owned a car). I remember my dad brought us once and we ended up seeing Heavy Metal…bad choice of movies for a 14-year-old (but I remember liking it as I’m sure most 14-year-old boys would).
 
Well – every summer here in Morden our local drive-in (The Stardust) has triple features on long weekend Sundays. They don’t start till 10 pm because here in the sub-Arctic it doesn’t get dark enough in the summer till around that time. We went last night and had a blast with some friends.
 
Here are the mini-reviews for the movies we saw:
 
1. Hellboy II: The Golden Army – 3/5 – Typical Hellboy fare. Great special effects and campy comic humor. It seemed a little rushed and cramped. The director, Guilermo Del Toro is going to be directing the two Hobbit movies when they come out. He has a great sense for fantasy and imagery so I think he’ll do a good job.
 
2. The Incredible Hulk – 4/5 – Very good story and faithful to the comics. The special effects were very well done and there was a good mix of story and action elements. The pacing was excellent. This is Marvel Studios’ second film after Ironman and based on these two movies it was a good idea for Marvel to start there own studio. There is a great cameo by Ironman’s Tony Stark in the film. For comic nerds there is plenty of evidence that Marvel is building a movie strategy that will lead to The Avengers which were made up of Ironman, Hulk, Thor, Captain America while keeping close connection to S.H.I.E.L.D. and Nick Fury. Nick Fury has a cameo in the Ironman movie played by Samuel L. Jackson. S.H.I.E.L.D. factors in both movies. Marvel is currently developing Thor, Captain America, The Avengers, Nick Fury, and others as future releases.
 
3. Wanted – 1/5 – Excellent idea with fantastic actors and great effects absolutely wrecked by a poor script and unnecessary foul language that does not even remotely help the film. Not even worth renting.