Ensenada 2009: Part 2

The Y.W.A.M. base in Ensenada is a renovated hotel, with dorm-style housing for short-termers and apartments for long-term missionaries and students. Besides housing Mission Adventure students, the base houses a School of Worship, where musicians from around the world come to learn about biblical worship and to sharpen their musical skills. The housing building on the base is shaped somewhat like a "U," with a tall, sturdy fence closing off its open side. The "courtyard formed by the four walls is used for dining and recreation (Notice the playground in the picture below, used for children of staff and students.). Through an opening in the bottom floor, shown on the first picture below, one can enter a second courtyard, which includes two more buildings, used for worship sessions and resource storage. Our first assignments on base were signing in, filling out name tags, and receiving our room assignments (In the above picture, we are waiting in line to get name tags.). I was assigned to a room in one corner of the third floor, along with adult leader, Sonja, and four other high school girls. We had five bunk beds in our room, as well as a bathroom, a vanity with an extra sink, and some cupboards. Since the base is right across the road from the beach, our window looked out over the ocean and we fell asleep to the crashing of the waves each night. It was amazing!

The next few pictures are of the view from Dan's room. Our room was one floor up from his, so we got just a bit more of an ocean view, but still got to enjoy the skate park stunts.

We saw lots and lots of ships passing by each day. Everything from cargo ships to cruise ships!

Next to the skate park was this volleyball court. It was very busy all ten days, with both students and staff playing games every spare minute!

Our meal times and free times were often spent talking at these picnic tables in the courtyard.

Soon after we arrived, we started heading across the road to the beach. I am on the far right in the above picture.

Chow time! Here we are in the dinner line! The guy on the far right was Carl, a British singer/guitar player studying at the School of Worship. He had a very cool accent!

We decided our name tags looked too bland, so we dressed them up a bit with permanent marker designs. I am on the left-hand side, slipping my name tag over my head. We wore those tags every day, all day long for the duration of our time in Ensenada, but I still didn't learn everyone's name. The guy on the right in this picture is a rapper from Holland and another student at the school of worship. I can't remember his first name right now, but I got to hear his music. I don't normally like rap, but his song was incredible and very worshipful.

Every night, all eighteen members of our team met in the game room to share news from the day, discuss the next day's plans, and to pray together. Everyone got to share the best thing that happened in his/her day and the worst thing. It was a great time to regroup, hear each other's hearts, and support our fellow team members.

One day, during free time, some friends and I went down to the beach to collect seashells. In the above picture, I'm bending down, probably to pick up a sand dollar. We found dozens of delicate sand dollars, some coral, and lots of beautiful shells of all shapes and sizes.

Here's a view of the base from the water's edge.

Karl and Kayley, two members of our team, stand by the Y.W.A.M. San Diego/Baja sign.

This picture gives a great view of the courtyard during a drama practice. Our first three days in Ensenada were spent training for our outreaches. We went to devotional and worship sessions in the mornings and evenings. Our devotional speaker, Mark Peacock, was from Birmingham, Alabama. He gave some very thought-provoking lessons on the importance of making godly choices while we are young, because the choices we make now will affect the rest of our lives. He also talked about reacting to the needs we see around us and serving to meet those needs. During the afternoons on those training days, fifteen out of the eighteen members of our team learned dramas set to music. The seven dramas they learned served to be valuable ministry tools that stretched across the language barrier to share the hope of Christ with the Mexican people.

There are several families living on base, and we often got to play with their little ones during free times on the training days. This little girl had lots of fun getting piggyback rides from Kayley!

One night we got to have worship in the courtyard. It was amazing to hear the ocean waves, feel the soft breeze on our faces, and praise the Lord in English and Spanish. The three worship leaders, Jesse, Kaitlyn, and Axel, are amazing musicians and passionate about worshipping our God. Jesse and Axel are both Mexicans and have strong Spanish accents. In fact, Axel claims to have learned English by watching Star Wars movies!

Here are more drama practice pictures, both depicting the battle going on for human souls by God and Satan.

While the rest of our team learned these dramas, Sonja, J.D., and I attended V.B.S. training sessions, in which we familiarized ourselves with the Y.W.A.M. V.B.S. resource bins and learned crafts, games, songs, and other helpful tools for working with children in Mexico.

On the last training day on base, each student got to choose between four seminars: Beginning Spanish Phrases, Intermediate Spanish Phrases, Leading Someone to Christ, and Worship in Spanish. Some friends and I went to Intermediate Spanish Phrases, taught by translator Felipe.

Two friends of mine, Nikkilee and Abi, on the left in the above picture, went to Worship in Spanish, and then performed one of the songs they learned at the evening worship session. I love this song, and I'm learning to play it on the guitar now that I'm home.

Every morning, several members of our team, and some from a team from Montana, jogged on the beach to kick-start their days. Sometimes they even saw dolphins!

Almost every day we saw people horseback riding on the beach. So cool!

I'm off to my grandparents' for the week, so I probably won't be posting for a while, but when I get back, I'll share all about our outreach days, which were by far the highlights of our trip!