Ensenada 2009: Part 1

Here it is: the first of my promised posts with pictures from my trip to Ensenada, Mexico! I only took a few pictures myself, but thanks to one of our dear adult leaders (You rock, Dan!), I have a CD with nearly 400 pictures to share! (Don't worry, I won't post all of them ;-) I've decided to blog just a day or two of the trip at a time, so I won't overwhelm you with one insanely long post. This post will cover our trip from the time we left my hometown on June 14th to the time we arrived at the Y.W.A.M. (Youth With A Mission) base in Ensenada on June 15th. All of the pictures below were taken on the 15th.

On Sunday, June 14th, after our morning church service, all eighteen members of our team (four adult leaders and fourteen high school students) enjoyed a quick pizza lunch with our families, took care of last minute details (like tying matching red ribbons on all of our bags--how cute!), and prayed together for health, safety, team unity, growth opportunities, and effective ministry. Then it was time to say goodbye. There were many tears and lots of hugs all around! Before we knew it, all our luggage had been loaded onto the trailer and we were off in three minivans, heading to Minneapolis!

After four and a half hours of driving, we arrived at a church in the Cities (which we hooked up with through some college friends of our youth pastor, Jerry) and ate dinner with their youth group. We also played Dodgeball and Playdoughnary (like Pictionary, only with Playdough instead of pencil and paper), and sang worship songs with them. Then our team shared testimonies and their youth pastor prayed for us.

When we left that church, we were driven to a church member's house, where there were snacks, showers, and warm, cozy beds awaiting us. We were so grateful to this family for giving up their home for the night! We went to bed at 11:00, because we knew it would be an early morning. We woke up at 3:30 (Yes, that's a.m.!) to a fabulous breakfast our hosts had prepared, and left at 4:30 to head to the airport. Our flight left at 6:30 and arrived in Denver mid-morning. By then, we had been up so long it felt like lunchtime. So, we had a bite to eat, rode on the Tram, and sat down to rest and wait for our next flight. Here's where the pictures begin.

Jerry, our fearless leader, takes a well-deserved rest. He worked hard to take care of our team!

Just hanging out at the gate.

Our flight from Denver to San Diego landed at around 12:30 (if my memory serves me right--that's a big if!)

The guys on the team got all our bags from baggage claim (That's where the red ribbons came in handy!) and we had a few minutes to wait for our ride to Ensenada.

Here, my room leader, Sonja, and my friend, J.D., guard the bags while some of us girls take a much-needed bathroom break. There is a price to pay for staying hydrated while traveling ;-)!

Does everyone have their bags? Okay! Here we go!

Someone looks excited! Above is my dear friend, Belle.

Once everyone had found their luggage, two YWAMmers (That's code for Y.W.A.M. staff members ;-), named Josh and Sarah, picked us up from the San Diego airport in two fifteen-passenger vans. As we drove through the streets of San Diego, I spotted the ocean for the first time ever! There were so many ships to see, as well! I was very excited. Since it was now after one o'clock, we were all ready for supper, and the YWAMmers took us to In-N-Out, a burger chain that definitely does not exist in MN. The food was amazing, and all of the cups and baskets have Bible verse references on them. Very cool!

Here we are at the In-N-Out being entertained by Will (the black-haired guy in the white shirt), one of the Ensenada staffers. He was definitely a "life-of-the-party" kind of guy, not to mention an incredible artist (specializing in permanent marker tattoos :-). And for the record, no, I didn't get one.) Will grew up a Buddhist, and has an amazing testimony of how the Lord changed his life.

After our incredible, calorie-packed lunch, we were taken to the Y.W.A.M. San Diego base, where we hung out on the amazingly squooshy grass, waiting for more staff members to arrive. While there, we met another missions team from Montana, which we had the privilege of working with in Ensenada.

Then we crossed the border into the crazy, colorful country of Mexico, where turn signals are seen as over-rated, and speed limits are just suggestions. Add to that two college-aged drivers racing each other on curvy roads along the ocean and what do you get? Lots of very carsick Minnesotans praying that solid ground would find us soon! After about an hour and a half, we were starting to wonder why fifteen-passenger vans aren't stocked with barf bags.

Somewhere between Tijuana and Ensenada, Josh pointed out this statue of Jesus on the top of a hill across the road from the ocean.

They are kind of hard to see in this picture, but someone told us all those white rings on the water are fishing nets. I don't know if that's true or not, but it made for a good story.

Finally, we arrived at the base...and that's where I'll leave off for tonight. Tune in next time for more rambling on my wild adventures in Mexico. Thanks for reading!