Five Days in Mexico

When they said we were going to a conference in the YWAM base in Tijuana, Mexico, we thought they were insane. But, as it turned out, we were wrong. We had a great time. It was like a huge prayer and intercession meeting. We had amazing speakers. The food was great, the people, friendly. The weather, gorgeous, the views, spectacular. We had a day of outreach, where the LA DTS group went to this village and repainted the inside of a church and a house, taught at an orphanage, and fixed a roof. I met some awesome Kiwis (New Zealanders). Our last night there we went to a base-wide soccer game, where the Kiwis played for the first time. They did a Haka before the game and I almost cried. If you don't know what a Haka is, you have to know, because its amazing. I suggest Bing.
This morning, before we left, they did another one, where I actually did cry.

I've noticed that YWAMers are very emotional. In a good way. We cry together, we scream together, and then cry some more. I don't think I've ever seen so many people screaming together in a 'God setting' before, except at a Chris Tomlin concert and that was loud and a ton of people. But in Tijuana, there were only, like, 250 of us and we were louder. We were totally stoked for Jesus!

The trip into Tijuana was a trip like no other. The van I was on got lost. Yes, it was the van, because I'm not going to blame Shaun. None of us knew Spanish, and all of the road signs were in Spanish. Some guy tried to get in the van, then we drove into downtown Tijuana, which is the most dangerous part. Did I mention that it was night? Then we passed a shootout. Truly terrifying, yet so fun. We arrived safely on base and we were the last of the LA group to get there.  We went into the evening session, but all of us were so confused. It was almost over, anyway. We got into our beds that night, and I was so high on adrenaline from the drive that I had a hard time getting to sleep. The trip home was a little less exciting, but it was still fun. We got to sit at the border for a while, mostly because the line was moving so slow. Then, Eric, Katlyn, Breana, and I laughed for a long time. Actually, I did most of the laughing. Then I fell asleep and had weird dreams. But we got home safely.

It's funny that we all call the LA base home now. We've only been here for three weeks. But it has become home because this has become the familiar. None of us really want to leave.