Circulo highlights from March

my favorite moment of Circulo: after we say the 3 rules, we all go inside the parachute together to pray for our day. (As I pray, the kids repeat after me.) When we go under the parachute, the littlest kids come running at me to see who will get to sit on my lap during the prayer. :)

Spring is here! Which means the weather is crazy and we never know what it expect. It can be cold and windy at the base and then we get to the colonia and its warm and sunny, we never know! Praise God it hasn't rained on any Tuesday or Thursday, which would cause us to have to cancel the Circle, as we do the classes outside on a basketball court. So far so good! A few weeks ago, the kids at the Circle starting to invite us to come and see them dance at their school. Each time we had Circle, they would remind us of the day and time and ask us if we were going to come. Well, we did go and we had a great time! They had a spring assembly and each class prepared a song and dance to perform. The children dressed up in homemade costumes to perform their dances. Xochil(above) is one of my girls from the Circle and her class did a traditional Mexican dance. Below is the 1st grade class and they did an adorable dance about Froggies! It was fun to see them at school, they were all SUPER excited to see us there. Also, a few of the boys in my group took me to meet their school teacher and introduced me as their "other teacher" hahaha.

At the Circle, we are in our 3rd month of doing a library program with the kids. The kids are doing a great job of taking care of the books and returning them, I'm so proud of them! They are really developing a love for reading too, each time we arrive in Antorcha, the kids are always asking when they get to check out their next book. They can't wait to get their hands on a new book! They also are filling out reading responses, where they have to write why they liked their book and what was their favorite part. Here 3rd grader Sarai shows off her response paper and her book.

The other day I went to a book exchange at the Cultural Center (CECUT) in downtown Tijuana to try to get some new books for the kids. Since the kids are so excited about the library, it makes us want to keep making it better! Right now, the toolboxes (recycled from old Homes of Hope stuff) that we use to carry the books in are almost overflowing. I'm trying to think of a new idea for our "mobile library"... any ideas? Please help!

We also have new kids coming to the Circle each week. It's crazy! Seriously I thought when we reached 100 they would stop coming, but they didnt, hahaha. I had my largest class of 3rd and 4th graders ever - 34 kids! I felt like I should have been in their real classroom as their real teacher! Below is a photo of 3 of my new girls that we pick up from a different colonia and bring them with us to the Circle: Camila (left), her family received a Homes of Hope house about a year ago, we recently reconnected with them and now she is coming to the Circle. Mayte (right), her mom works at the orphanage that we visit and asked if we could pick her up to bring her to the classes as well. Jenifer (center) doesn't go to school, she can't really read or write, so I'm really happy that she's started coming to I can work extra with her to try to catch her up to her peers.

I'm also really excited to have 2 new staff for the Circle. Alisha just finished a Children at Risk school at our base in Tijuana and will be helping us out for the next 6 months. Right now she is working with Laurena and the kinder/pre-k kids. Also, there is a girl from Chile named Vivi who just came on full-time staff with us, she is going to be doing Bible studies with the moms and one-on-one counseling with them. Praise God! This is a great answer to prayer, as we have been waiting for someone to come and invest in the lives of our kids' moms. I am so happy to have both of these amazing women working with us in Antorcha!

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"Start Children off in the way they should go, and even when they are old they will not turn from it." ~Proverbs 22:6

February 2011 Newsletter

2011 is passing very quickly! Below is my newsletter for February 2011. There are some very exciting things happening in my ministry, my city, and my personal life. Check it out! Click on the images and zoom in to make them bigger....

If you would like to support me and my ministry, you can send a check made out to "YWAM San Diego/Baja" to the following address:

YWAM San Diego/Baja

100 W. 35th St. Suite C

National City, CA 91950

Please include a note saying it is for the support of Susie Walter. Thanks for your support!

Doing Justice in Tijuana

"He has shown you, O man, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you?

To do justly, to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God."
~Micah 6:8

How can we really relate to someone who lives in extreme poverty? How can we really know what it's like to be hungry if we've never experience hunger?

Here at YWAM Tijuana we are learning about what it means to "DO justice." There are hundreds of injustices in this world: slave labor, hunger, poverty, unclean water, lack of education, child prostitution, etc. We believe that God wants us to do something about these injustices. Although we don't live in these situations on a daily basis, there are definitely things we can do to feel more compassion and empathy for the people suffering for injustices worldwide.

So every Monday at our base, we have a time of prayer and intercession for people in the world that are experience injustice in our world. This way we get God's heart for those who are suffering. Then on Tuesdays, we take Steps of Justice - we take action.

Week 1 we talked about hunger. We prayed on behalf of the child who dies every 5 seconds because of a hunger-related illness. This is something that can be prevented, and is completely unjust. Besides that, there are over 1 billion people in the world that live in hunger - that includes an estimated 49 million people in the United States. That's 1 in 7 households that struggle to put food on the table. Wow, I guess the problem of injustice isn't that far from home after all.

Week 2 we focused on water. Unclean drinking water causes several different illnesses, including diarrhea and dysentery, and children are especially at-risk because there bodies are not strong enough to fight off these sicknesses. On that Monday, we arrived at the base and there were water bottles full of dirty water - brown, cloudy, things floating and the top and dirt sitting at the bottom. We were faced with the reality that for some people in the world, that's all they have access too.

For those two issues, we went fasted for a day to empathize with those who go hungry, and went without water for understand better what it's like to be without access to clean water. This week was Week 3 and we went without shoes for a day. This topic was very real to me because I see homeless people walking the streets without shoes or children running around barefoot in the colonia almost every day. But how is this an injustice? Well, although it can be fun to run barefoot in the grass in the summer time, here it's not a choice - it's the lifestyle of those living in poverty and have to choose between putting food on the table or buying shoes for their kids. Not an easy choice to make, considering going barefoot in the dirt leads to all kinds of soil-related diseases that can penetrate the skin, not to mention the danger of stepping on broken glass or a rusty nail. Not having shoes also keeps kids from being able to go to school here in Mexico, as its a required part of the uniform even in public schools.

So yesterday I went without shoes. It was cold, and my feet hurt walking on the rocks and dirt, but that's nothing compared to what those living in poverty experience every day. As a community here at YWAM Tijuana, we took off our shoes and decided to donate them to the people living on the streets that don't have any. That was our way of "doing justice" this week.

It has been said that "Justice is what Love looks like in public." That's what we're trying to do, just as God requires of us.

Get more info about how you can take "Steps of Justice" with us at http://www.stepsofjustice.org

Back to the Basics in 2011

When I came on staff with YWAM TJ, I moved to Mexico just knowing I wanted to love God and love people. Since then, its been a whirlwind year and a half of...
...changing houses
...changing ministries
...changing offices
...changing meal plans
...changing staff
...changing relationships
...changing schools
...changing health plans
...changing leadership roles
...etc!

Whoa, its been hard to keep my feet on the ground around here! Now that I'm starting off a new year and reaching the 1.5-year mark of my 2-year commitment with YWAM TJ, I think its time to get back to the basics...

...Love God.
...Love People.

Done. *sigh* I feel better already, how 'bout you? Sometimes we complicate things that are really meant to be so simple.

So, what does this look like in my every day life?

-Digging deep into God's Word for to learn more about his character and how I am to reflect that to a fallen world
-Walking closely in the calling that God has on my life
-Praying earnestly for more revelation about how make a change in my colonia (Antorcha), my city (Tijuana) and my country (Mexico)
-Taking time to enjoy the relationships I have and wonderful people I have around me
-Giving endless amounts of hugs to my kids in the colonia to let them know how much they are loved
-Lending a listening ear to the moms of my kids as they share their heartaches and struggles

And so much more. "Walk in love" is says in 2 John 1:6. I think it means moving forward in love, living out love as a lifestyle, act out of love for God and for others, let love be sprinkled everywhere you step.

It also says in Ephesians 5 to "Follow God's example and walk in the way of love." What was God's example for us? It was Jesus, who "gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God." (Ephesians 5:2) Have you ever had someone go past you who was wearing so much perfume that their fragrance stayed with you long after they walked away? Maybe you turned around to see who it was? Maybe you stopped to ask them what perfume they're wearing.

I think that's how love is supposed to be - that after we've shared with someone out of love for them and love for God, the effect of that love lingers long after we're gone; that after we offer ourselves in self-sacrifice for someone else, they remember us and ask us what kind of love we have that makes us want to share it with others.

Will you go back to the basics with me in 2011, and simply "walk in love"? Maybe then we'll see the change we want to see in our homes, our relationships, our jobs, our ministries, our communities, and our world.

2011: Here I come! :)

Christmas in the States 2010

Road Trip anyone??

Day 1 of my vacation, I left from Tijuana at 8 am, crossed the border, flight got delayed in San Diego making me miss my connecting flight in Houston, got on a later flight and arrived in Charlotte at 10:45pm - whew!!! Check out this cutie that was there to greet me at the airport...

My niece Faith, 15 months

I knew it was gonna be a really fun week. My niece now walks, talks and get into everything!! I had so much fun taking care of her while my sister was at work. She also opened her first Christmas presents, and loved playing with the paper. We continued in the Christmas Spirit by taking her to see Santa, but she freaked out and barely got a picture with her on his lap. Later we went to the racetrack where they had a christmas lights show and had a great time there.

After 4 days in Charlotte, we took the looooong overnight drive to Chicago - 15 hours in the car with a baby and a big fat dog. But we survived, anda few short hours after arriving to Chicago we got back in the car to go to Milwaukee Wisconsin to go to a wedding.

I was the Nanny at the wedding and it was lots of fun! for the most part... I had my first experience of poop in the bathtub, which I will definitely never forget! While my sister got ready as a bridesmaid I took the baby with my brother-in-law to the pool! So nice after freezing in the cold Wisconsin air, to take a dip in the hot tub :)

Back in Chicago, it was great to see my family. Most of my days were spent running around catching up with people. And I got to visit my brand new cousin, Victoria, just 2 weeks old!!

We had new fun experiences with my niece, she loved looking at my mom's rotating Christmas tree, see all the ornaments, and watching Bentley run around in the snow. We made cookies too and she put on the sprinkles :)

Also it was so amazing to see my friends from IWU again! We have a tradition of all getting together on Christmas night, after all the family craziness is over to hang out and catch up. This year was no different. Oh my loves, how I miss you all...
So overall a great time catching up and seeing everyone. Far from the restful and relaxing vacation I needed, but what is Christmas for other than to spend with your crazy family, right? :)

"For unto us a child is born, to us a child is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace." ~ Isaiah 9:6