hello from ensenada! meghan and i snuck away to an internet cafe while everyone else is walking around town. we've been here for a week and let me tell you, it's been amazing. we arrived at the ranch on saturday night and then went to pastor cande's church on sunday. it was so great to see him and his family and be at their church. we were able to present them with enough money for the next stage of their construction project, which was the money we had been raising all summer in the fellowship hall. they were so grateful and in his sermon that day cande talked about how he questioned God - in this time of economic hardship, did He really want them to go forward with this massive construction project? but God told him just trust in me. so far they have taken it day by day and have gotten everything done that they wanted to. monday and tuesday we got ready for kids camp. our team worked so hard, harder than any other kids camp that i've ever experienced. the kids came wednesday and stayed thursday and friday. we had a lot of fun. the singer got dylan ackley, eliseo (pastor cande's son), and i to dance on stage every time we had chapel. it was hilarious and so much fun. the camp was really small with about 150 kids. it was a blessing too, though, because everything was easier. it was easier to connect with kids, easier to feed them, easier to keep them quiet during chapel, and way easier to put them to bed. the speaker did an altar call for kids who felt that they had no hope for some reason - they were abused, or felt unloved, or like they were all alone - which was incredibly moving and quite an experience to be a part of.
saturday was our day off - very much needed. our team was just really spent. kids camp was awesome, like i said, but it was a lot of work. we were gone all day and when we came back, all the american kids had arrived. it's such a crazy transition. kids camp is when kids from the city of ensenada come to rancho el refugio (where mexico outreach hosts camps) and have kind of a sleep away camp for 3 days and 2 nights. they are in groups of 8 -10 with a counselor and helper to each group. there's chapel twice a day and the kids do some bible lessons with their groups as well. we set up a water park with these huge inflatable slides and they rotate through that, games, sports, and arts and crafts. all of the staff except our team is mexican, so obviously everyone's speaking spanish. when the american teams come, everything's the same, except the kids speak english! it honestly takes some time to get used to.
we went to pastor cande's church again - iglesia roca de salvacion - and had an awesome service. eliseo spoke about kids camp and how great it was for the mexicans and americans to be working together for the same purpose - bringing the kids closer to God. graham, lourdes, and i gave our testimonies and the band led us in some incredible worship. it's amazing - in one week i am able to understand immeasurably more spanish. it's such an awesome feeling. last week pastor cande invited us up to be given a blessing, and i asked for prayer with my spanish. he prayed a beautiful prayer - that my eyes and ears would be opened to understand and speak the language. i truly believe that God is central in my spanish improving.

i was expecting to be more and more nervous as the weeks progressed and it got closer to when hopewell would drop me off, but i couldn't be more excited. i saw a lot of familiar faces at kids camp and people were so great - giving me their phone numbers so i could meet up with them, telling me to call if i need anything, and just being so hospitable. i've been telling so many people about what's going on and stuff has just been falling in my lap - a woman came down with a lot of school supplies because she knew they would be needed somewhere. guess where they're going? conmigo to gabriel house! she also has a lot of shoes, and in the kids camp trailer i found a whole box of big books in spanish. i asked al and rosa if i could take them to gabriel house and they said absolutely.

it's been a week and God has been so visible in so many ways. in a year...i can't even imagine the breadth of what's going to happen. thanks for your prayers and support!