Our work continues in Mexicali.

It hasn't been easy to upload photos to the Internet here in Mexico. You have to find an Internet cafe and the connections are slow. Here are a few to give you a taste of what life has been like. On our third day here we added a third site to our work. We began working at Buen Samaritano, the church where we served last year. It has been great.

Up above you see the crew tilling the soil so the folks could plant grass at Primera Iglesia de Mexicali.



Chad and Stacy get their picture taken with our missionary, Mercy Gonzales Barnes.



Michelle uses a drill. She has become quite good at it.




A second story was added to Buen Samaratino and we did some sheet rocking in the classes.




Matt, Ann and Amber enjoyed the time getting to know each other in the vans.


Sarah and Amber helped us out with Spanish and did a lot of work.



George was covered in Sheetrock dust and Nancy had to clean him up.




The kids all love Amanda.



Sue had to make sure ev erything went on the walls as it was supposed to.




Alma and her friend were so excited to see us.



Michelle and Mercy planned the VBS schedule.



Ann and all of the rest of us helped at VBS.



The kids enjoyed talking Spanish with Sarah




Mark, Sue and Ann help with primary class crafts.


On Friday night we went for Ice Cream at.... Dairy Queen.

Mission Mexico Day 2

Day two was a busy one as the group split up and began working at the seminary and at Primera Iglesia de Mexicali. At the seminary George Rezendes and Rob Wagner took the lead and did some electrical work and helped organize some work to be done in a couple of the bathrooms. At Primera the group split up into two teams and one worked inside and the other outside. The inside group worked on putting together the air conditioning ducts and preparing the room to put in a false ceiling. Others worked outside to prepare the ground for a cement slab that would be the nursery area once walls were constructed.

We had lunch with the students at the seminary and then after a break, we headed to a neighborhood of one of the familyb members in the church to talk about Vacation Bible School and to distribute flyers to the kids in the area. It was a good first day of work.

Our journey to Mexicali as short term missionaries

Hello all,

I just wanted to share some pictures from our adventure down in Mexico. Twenty of us left on Tuesday and arrived in Mexicali at about 7:00 p.m. last night. We had a few snags along the way (The rental car company didn't have any vans for us!) Rick and Mercy told us to be flexible and we have been. Today everyone is working. One group is working at the seminary and the other group is at First Baptist Mexicali. Spirits are high and we are having fun!

Cal

Our journey to Mexicali as short term missionaries

Hello all,

I just wanted to share some pictures from our adventure down in Mexico. Twenty of us left on Tuesday and arrived in Mexicali at about 7:00 p.m. last night. We had a few snags along the way (The rental car company didn't have any vans for us!) Rick and Mercy told us to be flexible and we have been. Today everyone is working. One group is working at the seminary and the other group is at First Baptist Mexicali. Spirits are high and we are having fun!

Cal

A big send off in worship

This morning we made the final preparations for our mission trip to Mexico. During our worship service we prayed for and then commissioned our team as they head off to Mexico this week. Steve Contois and our praise team sang a song to set the tone titled, "Praise Him." Then member of last year's team, Carol Calkins, Sharon Fishkin and Connie Jensen, distributed gift bags to each of the members of this year's team. Pastor Michelle Madsen Bibeau prepared them for us and put in little goodies that we can use on the trip.

Curt Brockway led us in the prayer as the whole congregation gathered around the team members and laid hands on them. It was a moving moment that reminded us that we are all a part of God's mission. Then I distributed friendship bracelets to the children and talked about praying for our friends, old and new.



The choir sang "Fairest Lord Jesus" and I talked about mountaintop experiences in my sermon. I noted how many of us see worship as a mountaintop experience that helps us connect to God so we can get through the week. I noted that for those of us who have gone on previous mission trips, we had that same kind of exhilaration that Peter, James and John had on the mount of Transfiguration. Yet, Jesus stated that we weren't meant to stay on the mountain. Our job is to share the good news, the hop with the people in the valleys of life.





We had a number of family members and friends joining us for the service and it turned out to be a very good day.

Cal

A quick look back at the week just past

I need to make these blog posts in the morning when I am fresh. I get to seven or eight o'clock at night and I am just too tired to write too much. This has been a good week at church. On Tuesday night the choir met and continued working on a sing they are going to do with the Praise team. I think you will like it.

On Thursday night the Deacons met and talked about worship and made plans for the coming weeks. On March 1 we will have a service of song led by the Praise Team. They will lead the singing and share a few stories along the way in stead of having sermon. We also noted the fact that Communion will be observed on March 8th instead of on the first Sunday as usual.

On Friday night our kids played basketball at Teachers and continued their winning ways. Our team is undefeated and very good. Look for a big write up in the March newsletter. We hope to have all the kids and their families with us in worship at the end of March. Stay tuned.

Today we hosted the Miss Connecticut Organization for a meeting. All of the Executive Directors from local pageants across the state met in Fellowship Hall.

Tomorrow we will finish one week and begin another with a special worship service. I hope you can be with us.

Cal

A busy day of procrastinating

I began the day with the idea that I would finish cleaning my office. I got sidetracked by a couple of meetings that were on my schedule.

First I met with Greg Perry, the pastor of the Greenville Congregational Church. He and I volunteered to work on an interfaith worship celebration in conjunction with the 350th anniversary of Norwich. He shared some of his ideas and I got pretty excited. We will meet again early next month with a few others and flesh out the service in more detail.

After lunch I met Randy Sargent and Ray Deptulski at Home Depot. We picked up the materials for the suspended ceiling and lighting fixtures for the nursery and brought them back to church. The Property Committee has been working hard to brighten up the church nursery for Rosie and the kids. The walls have been painted, a television and dvd player were donated. In the next couple of weeks it will be finished and today's supply run makes it possible.

I came back before choir and jumped right back into cleaning. I started going through my old sermons and tossed about 95 % of them. Some of them are on the computer. I don't know why I keep them. I guess I just wanted them in case I needed to use them again. The problem is that they just don't preach well a second time. I also kept them in case I needed them at my next church. After twenty four years, that excuse just doesn't work anymore. So today I decided to toss them.

Anyway tomorrow I'll try to finish the cleaning. We'll see how far I get.

Cal