On the road again...

Thursday, March 22 2012 as finally arrived.

For those of you on Facebook, you may remember my very first post about this trip 6 months ago. You certainly have seen Adam Doty counting down the days for the past month and a half. And just like a kid on Christmas Eve, I have been counting down the hours for the past 3 days.

I am thankful that you are reading this blog. After the positive response from those that followed our recent Uganda team's blog, I thought it would be fun to have our Mexico team do a blog this year. I asked Tarena B. to put one together, and asked her to share from the perspective of a first time participant (which she and her family are). Other members of our team will also be sharing their experiences from time to time as well.

What is the Spring Break Mexico Missions Trip all about? This is our 8th year of doing it, but I bet most of you do not know what we do and who it is for. So, I thought I would give a brief history of how the trip got started and what we do. Of course every trip is unique and we are always surprised by what God has in store for us.

In 2004, I was asked to join the Missions Committee for Canby Christian Church. At the time Allison Hartwell was the head of the committee. One of the goals that I stated was that we would have a second Mexico missions trip, one that would compliment the summer trip that the High School group did. Since it was my idea, it was immediately my responsibility (funny how that works). We decided that we wanted a trip that would have a family focus, but be open to anyone that has a desire to serve our Lord. Allison had a friend that had recently come back from a Mexico missions trip and she shared with me a website for a missions organization.

I was sure trusting. Based on that one recommendation, reading a website and one phone call, I sent off our deposit of $200 and reserved the time during Spring Break of 2005. I had about 4 months to put together a team. I spoke in front of the church services several times, and spoke to each Sunday School class, inviting people to join the team.

By the time we made it through the Christams season, we had a team of 20 people - this just so happened to be the minimum number needed to have a missions team with the organization would be working with in Mexico. The trip was a huge success and we were hooked, we have been working with Go Missions to Mexico every year since (www.GoMissionsToMexico.com).

So what do we do on the Spring Break Mexico Missions Trip? Well, since it is a family focussed trip, and we have had people of all ages participate (1 yr old - 77 yr old), we knew that it could not be a construction focussed trip like the high school group does each year. During this trip, there is usually some construction work - but the reason is to build a relationship with the Mexican people we are working with, not to actually finish the project.

The biggest focus of the trip is the relationships with the people. We will be doing four evening outreach services, 2 general outreaches and 2 aimed at teens and young adults. We will be putting on 5 VBS programs - in the past we have had as many as 350 kids during one afternoon of VBS. We will be doing a door to door prayer and evangelism ministry each morning. Finally we will be doing a Bible study program for the women who's children are at the VBS each day. We will be busy and tired, and amazingly every year we come back refreshed and on fire and ready to serve at home.

I hope that throughout the next week and a half that you will get to share with us some exciting experiences - from the comfort of your home. We really do appreciate your prayers and support.

Now I had better get off of here, I have a lot of work to do before we leave Canby in six hours.

In His Service,
Brandon Chase

I Love It When A Plan Comes Together.

Don't get me wrong, I love participating in missions trips. But, there is something I really enjoy about planning for the trip. I guess it isn't only missions trips, really its any trip. I love planning. I don't know why, maybe it just makes the trip that more satisfying - to see the plan come together???

I feel like this trip is the culmination of eight years of planning. As I put together the agendas for each of our planning meetings I used the same agendas that I first used in 2005 on our first Spring Break Mexico Missions Trip, each year I just change the date at the top and maybe add or subract one or two topics. The same is true of our driver's packets that I put together for each vehicle. Its the same thing as we used in 2005, but fine tuned with adjustments that we had to make last year and in anticipation of new things for this year. I spend hours in front of my computer mapping our trip and planning each stop. Google Maps is my best friend.

I keep telling myself that this should be the last time I ever have to adjust our driving schedule, but I'm sure next year will be a little different and require lots of new research. Oh well...I enjoy it.

So much planning to do for a missions trip. On this trip, we will be doing some construction work on the local community church, 5 VBS sessions, 2 community wide outreaches, 2 young adult outreaches, a door to door visitation and prayer ministry, a women's Bible study and 2 meals for the church and people of the community (chili hot dogs and omelets). And that takes lots of planning. Thankfully God has provided an excellent team, each person with a heart for serving the Lord and a willingness to plan each critical area mentioned above...not to mention cooking our meals at the base, making sure our vehicles are road worthy and doing all of the shopping - just to name a few.

And after all this planning, hours and hours of it, each of us expects that God will step right in and say "now let Me show you how this is really going to happen." On a missions trip, it is very rare for things to go as planned. We have all the best intentions, want to be in control, want to do things our way. I truely feel that each person on our team wants to go to Mexico to help those who are in need, share the Bible with those that have not heard, and expand the Kingdom of God. But those of us that have participated in a mission trip in the past know that God will work his plan through us, in His way, not ours. Those on our team who have not been on a missions trip before will learn this quickly.

I want to thank a few of our team members for all that they have done and will be doing to make this trip a success. I know everyone has been busy, but I want to give a special thanks to the following people:

Gary & Geri Dunfee -
These two have put in so many countless hours preparing for the trip. They truely have servant's hearts. Gary had taken it upon himself to make sure that the church vehicles are ready to make the long trip, and Geri has done all of the shopping for our food and supplies that we will need while at the base.

Geoff Barrett & Adam Doty-
Geoff has taken it upon himself to put together the young adult outreaches that we will be doing. Geoff has a real heart for young people and looks forward to sharing the love of Christ with them. Adam has a heart for theater and is coordinating a group of our young people to put on skits while in Mexico, he will also be helping Geoff by speaking in the youth outreach services.

Michelle Doty -
Michelle, with the help and guidance of Geri and Melissa Renner has taken over a lot of the responsiblities of preparing for our VBS activities. (We expect 200+ kids each day, thats a lot of prep work)

Pat Smith-
Pat will be responsible for cooking and feeding our team while at the base camp. That is 2 meals a day for 6 days for 38 people.

I know that all 38 of us will be contributing in some way, and your work and efforts are very appreciated.

Each of us knows that we are there to serve those in Mexico, and to show the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ in all of our actions. We know that even though we have our own plans, God has even bigger plans.

"For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." Jeremiah 29:11

I love it when a plan comes together.

In His Service,
Brandon Chase

T-Shirt Design!

Brandon designed these t-shirts and was able to get them for $10 for anyone who wanted one! 

Great job!

New note from Brandon:

Found this on Facebook today:

"Hello Everybody. So, we made it through Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years and the Rose Bowl. What's next? Planning for the Spring Break Mexico Missions Trip of course. We will be hitting the road to Mexico 11 weeks from this coming Thursday (hard to believe, huh?). I have 2 very important dates I need to share with you.

1) Sunday, January 15 - Mandatory Planning Meeting. We will meet at CCC in the fellowship hall after 2nd service. Please plan on the meeting lasting 1 - 1.5 hours. All adults, high school and older, should be in attendance. Attendance by children is optional.

2) Saturday & Sunday, January 28 & 29 - Taco Feed Fund Raiser. This is our only mandatory fund raiser. Please set aside both days. The funds earned are used to pay for our food while in Mexico. If you choose not to participate, $50 will be added to the cost of your trip.

Please pass this message along to anybody that might need the info, but isn't getting it through Facebook. Also, pass it along to anybody that might be interested in joining the group.

Finally, if you have not yet applied for your passport, you need to do it ASAP. Please contact me if you need help with the process."

Oh, me oh my! Can the trip really be that soon???

Passports-oh yeah. I better get on that!

Serving Him,
tarena