A recycling adventure

So in Mexico, recycling is not common like in the states. No one is going to come to your house and pick up your recycling to save the earth for you. You have to make an effort to do it.

And that is just want Gloria did. Gloria is my friend from my School of Ministry Development. She is from Korea but lives in Canada and decided to come to Mexico. She wanted to start a recycling program on our base, so the past few months she has been collecting cardboard, cans and plastic bottles to take to recycle. In Mexico if you collect enough of these recycling items and can find a recycling center, they will pay you for your garbage.

So this weekend Gloria, Sandra (our mexican driver and amiga) and I went on an adventure to try to find a recycling center in Rosarito. We stuffed huge garbage bags and us into the pathfinder and drove around a while and finally found a place with the 3 arrows on the outside sign. We get in there and they only take metal and cardboard. Well we didnt the cardboard because it didn't fit in the car. But we did have one bag of cans and such so we turned that it and made.... (drum roll please....) 12 pesos!!

Now I know that's not alot but it wasn't about the money. It was the effort to do something proactive to get some income for the Circulo Andante kids ministry we do. And also, we really do believe in taking care of the earth God's given us. So after we got our 12 pesos, we got in the car, and prayed that God would multiply it to 12 hundred pesos or 12 thousand pesos someday. Stuffed back in the car full of trash (we only had one bag of cans among a car full of trash) and tried to find somewhere where we could take the plastic. but nothing. so we went back to the base, not disappointed but proud of our 12 pesos and pleased that we had made the effort to better our ministry, our base, and our earth.
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Psalm 24:1 - The earth is the LORD's, and everything in it; the world, and all who live in it.

Visa News

So I've been living in Mexico for almost 6 months now. When I arrived I got a tourist visa, but clearly I am not a tourist. So I started to apply for my FM-3 visa, which gives me visitor's permit and allows me legal residence in Mexico. It was quite a process, I needed photos and copies of every page of my passport, and a bank statement, and a letter from YWAM... then I had to go to the bank and pay all these fees... then on Friday me, Blanca (the woman in charge of visas at the base) and a few others went to the border and we had to go to this little stand and have someone type up our application (and of course pay more money) and then finally we got into immigration. We waited and hoped and prayed while Blanca talked to the official... and then she came over to us and said, "Ok let's go." We looked at each other puzzled, and asked,"That's it?" For now, that was it. We were all approved for FM-3 visas and now have to wait 6 weeks while they are printed out and we will go back to have our fingerprints taken and receive our visas.

So, that's it! I'm legal, I live in Mexico, and I love it! And as an added bonus, in 10 years, I can become a Mexican citizen!! :)
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Ruth 2: 11-12 "...you left your father and mother and your homeland and came to live with a people you did not know before. May the LORD repay you for what you have done. May you be richly rewarded by the LORD, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to take refuge."

Hebrews 11: 13- 16 "All these people (Abel, Noah, Abraham & Sarah) were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance. And they admitted that they were aliens and strangers on earth. People who say such things show that they are looking for a country of their own. If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had opportunity to return. Instead, they were longing for a better country—a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them."

A Typical Day at Circulo Andante

Here is a video that my friend Elsi and I made showing what it's like at our ministry, Circulo Andante/Walking Circle. We are growing in numbers, with almost 50 kids this week. It's also getting pretty cold there, so we are searching and praying for somewhere indoors where we can have the Circulo in the winter. I hope you enjoy this little window into my life and my ministry here in Tijuana.