We are checked into our hotel, everyone has landed, and we are waiting on our giant pizzas! We have already heard some great stories!!

Today was officially the last day in Mexicali!  Team Heppa’s Peppas finished off their last day of ministry at the disability center, Refugio de Amor.  There they made bracelets, broke a pinata, and said a final prayer before separating.  All of the residents were tap sure to express their gratefulness and their appreciation for the team spending time with them the whole week.

Team Supercuernavacians finished off their day by packing all of the kids into the van, and heading off to the park site. The team played games with the kids, gave them candy, and joined hands to pray at the end.  Almost all of the team members were crying as they said their goodbyes.

After their sites, both teams met up at the build site for the key giving ceremony.  Everyone gathered in this family’s new home and thanked God for the amazing work he did.  The family members were all crying tears of joy, and it was truly amazing to see the end result of God working in and through the wonderful build team!  We handed over some gifts to the family, including a beautiful cross with the signatures of everyone from Octane, several handmade quilts, and extra building supplies and money that the family can use to better improve their new home.

I think everyone can say that this week was remarkable, and it was awesome to see the way God worked through each and every single person involved!  We crossed back into California with ease, and we are all currently at our hotel in San Diego, clean and showered!  The team members flying out of LAX will be leaving San Diego at around 12:30 tonight, and everyone is preparing for some lonnnng and early flights!

All I know is the team has crossed the border. I spoke to them a couple times today as they took care of last minute details. I know there have been some pretty awesome God stories and that everyone is excited to share!

So our team has taken on a totally new plan for this year. In the morning, we are at a children’s orphanage doing VBS and sharing God’s love with the youth which has so far been very successful and the kids are very involved and thankful to have us there. In the afternoon we are at a men’s disability center. At first, our team was having some trouble with this site. Considering we were planning our VBS for children, having found out we would be ministering to men offset plans. So, for the first day we felt frustrated, because we were unprepared. After talking and praying about it, we realized that this was God’s plan for our team, we were put at this specific site because God has a purpose for us. Some evenings we have been stopping by the build site offering our help to the team who works the hardest to build a home a family who deserves it. We are having so much fun in Mexico and the week is flying by. God is good!

Katie and the rest of the Peppas

The house is coming along nicely. The walls are all up. The electrical is run. The roof is mostly finished. (It was getting too hot down here yesterday). Today we will finish that roof. Drywall will be installed today. Chicken wire and tarpaper are going on the exterior walls to prepare for stucco.
The next door neighbor offered us showers at his house. This community is really building strong bonds.
We had a very nice surprise today: the four Fanta’s showed up to give us support.

The past 2 days have been absolutely amazing! As team Super Cuernavacians, we are privileged to be this year’s Team Stephen.
What is Team Stephen? Every year students from APU are leaders in community service projects that consist of cleaning up park, painting, and making a huge difference in the community through God’s love and spreading His word. We are so excited to be Team Stephen and today we already cleared and fixed up the volleyball court at a park the just needs some T.L.C.
Our second site is another park that Octane has been going to for years. We got to make new relationships and make even stronger relationships with past friends. The kids are fantastic and have tons of energy! We play soccer, make bracelets, color, and just have an amazing time. We are truly blessed to be able to do this missionary work: to spread Gods word and above all, see God work in unspeakable ways. We can’t wait to see what the days in front if us hold and get even closer to God than before.
God bless. We miss and love you all.

So it’s been a long but great day! We had our first shopping spree in the market, our first night of worship and we’ve received our sites!

So Heppa’s Peppas (John Hepper, Heather Hess, Kara Miller, Mackenzie Wille, Jenesa Brenton, Katie Kinzel, Danielle Briley, Sarah Miller, Brett Gibson and Mackenzie Ovensen) will be going to a disability clinic in the morning to work with and spend time with those in need there. In the afternoon they will be traveling to a new orphanage to do their programs and to love on kids that don’t always get that.

The Cuernavacians (Rachel Miller, Maddie Gareau, Andrea Carrabia, Ashli Falk, Matt Corsetti, Emili Wilson, Ali Briley, Ari Britz, Mitchell Porte and Mackenzie Haglund) will be taking over team Stephen. This I am pretty jealous about! Team Stephen is in charge of community service. Sooo, in the AM they will be leading other teams in the cleaning and painting of a park here in Mexicali! And they get free t-shirts! In the afternoon, they will be going to the park site that we have been ministering to for the past couple of years and do their program and love on the children of a broken neighborhood.

We are very excited to see what God has planned for us all in the week to come.

Jason and 2014 Octane Mexicali Mission Team

Friday morning started with picking up our final two vans, some Jamba Juice and wheat grass shots and some driving. We crossed the border and found the building where we needed to get our visas for the week. There was only one guy working at the time, so he was definitely happy to see 31 people walk in… but it went smoothly and we were ready to enter Mexico.

We arrived at camp and were greeted by all of our friends. We set up our tents and got all of our Mexico friends picked up. Yadira arrived with 100 homemade tacos to feed the crew! John Hepper led us in some worship and then we were all ready for bed.

This morning started as all Mexican mornings do, with the roosters at 3am! They are not too smart… everyone was up by 7:30am and ready to eat some breakfast. Today is a day of embracing Mexicali/Flexicali! We are helping set up camp and preparing for the week. This afternoon we will be meeting up with the build team to help build some walls and get that project underway.
I have been happy with how God has provided for us, nothing but smooth sailing so far.

We did receive some sad news from home for one of our leaders and we would ask for your prayers for him as he pushes on through this week. Thank you for your continued prayers and support. We love you all and will see you soon.

Jason

p.s. The build team reports in that all is going really well and that God has greatly provided. Our new family has an adorable set of twins and an extremely hard working dad who has worked hard along side the build team after coming home from work all day to provide for his wife and children. They have been blessed already by the generosity of the community, including a free extra day for the cement mixer!

Just wanted to let you all know that everyone is doing well in Mexicali. They have two posts written but are having a difficult time getting the reception to upload them! They are trying as we speak!!

Keep the love coming in the comments!!

In His Grip,

Amy

The team has crossed the border, gotten their tourist visas, and were on their way to camp last I heard!! If I had to venture a guess, I would say they are currently setting up tents and moving them around for the second or third time right now! Just thought I would let you know since I have had a couple questions.

Leave the team some love here in the comments. At least let them know you are reading it or it becomes super easy to stop writing on it because it appears that no one cares if you post!

In His Grip,

Amy