The Brits are coming! The Brits are coming!

Me, Omar, Ryder and Steph (my best friend) and Ste


A year ago I made two very dear friends when a couple British blokes named Jon and Stephen (Ste) decided to come spend a couple weeks in Ensenada with a mutual friend. Ste was turning 40 and wanted to do a landmark event for his 40th birthday. This is what brought him to Mexico where both of them quickly fell in love with the people and the country. During that time, a dream was born in Ste’s heart, a dream to bring youth from England to serve the nation of Mexico. I am happy to say that Ste’s dream was realized when I had the opportunity of meeting him and the 18 other people joining him at the airport a couple weeks ago.
It was such a joy for me to be able to join the team in Ensenada as we partnered with a few local pastors to minister in the community. One of the ministries we worked with is a day care center for children who’s parents are absent working or living somewhere else. The kids receive a lot of love and are taught about the love of God by the woman who runs it. One day as we played with the kids on the beach, which was incredibly exciting for them, Ste pulled me aside to help him interview Vicky who runs the day care center. For 20 minutes I got to translate as Vicky shared her story and how God had called her to these children. This was a very exciting step for me as far as speaking the Spanish language goes! I found myself translating more and more as the week went on and enjoyed so many wonderful conversations with people all in Spanish!
One day we were doing some fun activities with the children of a certain community in a local church. I was elected to teach English classes at the spur of a moment and was delighted to have a mother and daughter join me. Ariel and Yvonne. They were both so eager to learn and were so joyful. But what impressed me the most was their precious relationship. Yvonne had Ariel at an older age and almost could have been her grandmother. But despite the age difference, the two were like best friends, giggling together, encouraging each other as they learned new words and just having a lot of fun with everything they did together. It blessed me immensely.



Right before I left for South Africa, the team started building a home for a beautiful young family and I was able to get out a build the whole first day. After working 110% all day long, it was time to leave. I knew that I would not be back the next day and wanted to thank the family again for the delicious fresh juice they had made us at lunch time and also bless them before I left. As I spoke out a blessing on their home and their family, Rapahael, the father, welled up with tears and began to cry. He said to me that he never expected when we arrived that he would receive more than just a small basic house. But instead what he saw before him was a beautiful home that had been made with so much love. He then told me that his home was my home any time I needed and that I would always have friends in him and his wife. WOW! I was definitely the one who was the most blessed as the three of us stood there talking
What a perfect week it was! And now, here I am in South Africa. I’ve left summer behind and am nestled in winter clothes and a blanket with a steaming cup of Rooibos tea. More to come on my South African adventures!

The Rescue

Hey I know I haven't shut up about Invisible Children's The Rescue and you might be getting annoyed with how much I have been talking about it, but you're just going to have to get over it, because here I go some more.
I am just amazed and enthralled at what these guys and gals are doing for the nations of Uganda, the Congo and beyond. Their approach of putting a stop to an international atrocity and the tenacity they have shown in doing so is something that would inspire even the most apathetic cynic. For me, it stirs up that familiar longing to drop everything I'm doing and run to the rescue of hurting, exploited men women and children everywhere. Often I find myself asking God why He has me where I am doing what I do. I get restless living in America and long to change my life drastically in a way that will make the lives of others better. I want to give up more so that others will have. I WANT more so that I can give up more.
So back to The Rescue. The 100 city event to raise awareness about the plight of child soldiers in Africa culminated in an incredible way. The Rescue started Saturday the 26th and by the end of the weekend pretty much every city had been rescued by an A list celebrity or a politician EXCEPT for Chicago. People from all over America headed in towards Chicago in cars, buses and planes -Rescue Riders, to join Chicago's unrescued in solidarity. As more and more rescue riders showed up the energy and excitement about what was to come built. The plan was to go for the woman with a voice, Oprah. By thursday the 3 founders of Invisible Children had arrived from the cities they had been in and set about organizing the 500+ people for a fresh assault on Harpo studios. In 2 hours, 500 people pulled together an organized musical based on U2's Pride (in the name of love). They all marched to Oprah's studio, peace signs held high and proceeded to sing their hearts off for a couple hours. A lot of attention was turned their way, but it seemed that Oprah had turned a deaf ear. Eventually it was time to take off and regroup for the next day. After days of sleeplessness, everyone showed up outside of Harpo studio's once more by 5am Friday morning. Oprah showed up, took Jason, Bobby and Laren into the studio with her. Her best friend Gayle handed out gourmet cupcakes to people outside and soon the 3 guys came flying out of the studio screaming and yelling that they were on. What a celebration. Oprah gave Invisible Children the first 8 minutes of her show to Rescue the Chicago group and speak out on behalf of the children of Uganda. She told everyone to go to the website, www.invisiblechildren.com which of course meant the IC servers were crashed every hour from 1pm to 4pm San Diego time as millions of people across the nation did what Oprah told them to as her show aired.
Praise God! This fight against injustice in Africa has just been kicked up a lot of notches. Please inform yourself about the work Invisible Children is doing, tell other people, get involved by writing to your local politicians, give money to Invisible Children. DO SOMETHING!!!!!!
Peace and love to all

San Diego Mission Adventures

Worship on the beach



Tom and the Emo boys



Leaders meeting



Serving at the San Diego Food Bank




It's over, how sad. Our first ever Mission Adventures in SAN DIEGO was amazing. At least if you ask me. Yes there was chaos, yes there were many schedule changes, yes there was exhaustion and yes there were moments of confusion. But peoples lives were changed, touched and blessed. A guy named Tom wandered by as we worshiped God on the beach and ended up giving his life to Christ, we prayed for many people, sorted food in food banks and even inspired Starbucks employees to get out into their community's and serve as we got our 5 am coffee's every morning. We served alongside residents of St. Vincent's program for the homeless to get on their feet and off the streets. We served coffee on the street and brought meals to HIV and AIDS patients.
The night that Tom met Jesus was also the night that God hooked us up with some wonderful, passionate, young worshipers. Our regular worship leader wasn't able to come with us to our beach bonfire but when we arrived at the beach, I walked past a group of emo looking Mexican boys who were singing Jesus songs. A few of the guys went to talk to them and invited them to join us and asked if they would lead some worship. What a divine appointment it turned out to be. Our new friends are so excited about what God is doing in the city of San Diego and in Baja Mexico and have just been itching for ways to get involved. I will be meeting with them some time this week to hook them up with idea's and opportunity's for them to serve and love on their community's.
I pray that this was just the beginning of a new work of God in our community. It was too good for it not to happen again and again!

From 4 Months Ago. Merry Christmas!

I just found this blog that I had started writing over Christmas but never got around to finishing and posting. Here it is.....four months later. Ha ha

What do you do in the middle of the night when everyone in the house is awake crying, throwing up, and bustling around mothering? I guess write a blog. It is time to recap How the rest of the DTS outreach went anyways. I left off when we had arrived in the hilltribe mountain village of Doi Muser. Our team was able to spend just about 3 weeks working in Doi Muser with pastor Worrechet and his wife and had such a wonderful time. We daily went from house to house talking with the villagers, encouraging, praying with and discipling if they were Christians or doing simple things like shucking corn or sharing an impromptu meal in the street while talking and getting to know any of the non-Christians. Pastor Worrechet has quite a big job as even the majority of people who have accepted the Christian faith, are still entrenched in ancestor worship. There is an age old animistic world view in the Lisu and Lahu tribes that desperately needs to be replaced with the teaching, understanding and embracing of a biblical world view. We were also able to spend a lot of time at a small orphanage with 33 children in it. We fell so in love with each and every one of those kids and saying goodbye to them was definitely the hardest part about leaving. Many of the kids in the orphanage attended the Doi Muser school where we taught english most weekdays. All of the children were great, but of course we had a tendency to publicly praise our orphanage kids as often as possible for their brightness and ability to learn quickly. I will include some pictures of our kids. I was able to use my love for photography to bless them by giving each one of them a portrait of themselves. They loved it and so did I!



The second half of our time in Thailand took us from the lush, misty, mountainous jungles of the north to the chokingly crowded, busy metropolis of Bangkok. I LOVED IT! What a city. The other times I have been in Bangkok it was only for a few days and I didn't go far from where we stayed on the outskirts of the city. This time I learned how to use the sky train, bus and even river boat systems. Boy did I explore on our days off. I found that Bangkok, like most big city's, has little pockets of every region of the world scattered about. There is the Arab section, the Indian section, little Europe and so on. One day I sat in an Irish pub eating a delicious plate of Sunday pot roast with all the wonderful sides and by the looks of the place, the patrons and the live band playing Irish fiddle music, I could have been in Ireland. I just had to refrain from looking out the window at the huge billboards in Thai, the scooters zooming past and asian food markets. Oh ya, I had to try and put out of my mind that the entire Irish fiddle band were little Thai men.
So the ministry we worked with in Bangkok is called the MST project. MST stands for "Males and the Sex Trade". This ministry reaches out to the hundreds of thousands of men who come to Thailand as sex tourists every year. A lot of these guys are broken and hurting inside even though they do a good job of not showing it. We would be down in the red light district almost every night until 1 AM talking and praying with some of the guys. You really have to ask God for the right heart and attitude towards these guys as it would be so easy to judge and hate them for what they are doing. But when you see them as God does, you know that they are just as deserving of God's love and grace as anyone else and they are His son's.
I will bring this to a close as it is getting very long. To sum things up though, God put His love for the nation of Thailand in me and was so faithful to all of us through every step of the outreach. I learned new things, fell more in love with Jesus and was blessed immensely over and over again. Thank you to everyone who prayed for us during the time there. Until next time....

In Thailand

We are in a National Geographic photo spread! Our group has traveled into the lush green mountains outside of a town called Tak in north west Thailand. This area is populated by the Lisu and Lahu tribes and we are the first team of foreigners to serve in the area. So far we have spent a lot of time teaching english in the charity school here as well as the very populated orphanage. The pastor and his wife who we are staying with have taken advantage of our growing skills as english teachers as well and are surpassing us in the race to learn each others languages. We are also spending time with members of the burdgeoning church who are thirsty for discipleship and teaching. They are all still very steeped in their tribal practice of ancestor worship. So we are busy teaching basic Christianity and what it is to have a true relationship with Jesus. Pray for health as one after another we have been coming down with colds. The mountains are much colder than what we were prepared for. The guys love it, not so much the girls. Look for another update when we come down from the mountain again on the 6th of October. Blessings!

Indonesia (old post)

Hey everyone, greetings from J-city. Unlike the Mexico City team that hit the ground running with ministry, we have hit the ground praying and praying and praying. We've also been praying in case I forgot to mention that. The city we are in is a very closed city as far as our Father goes. And the predominant faith here is currently celebrating their most holy season…Ram./adan. Yesterday we were with some leaders of the flock in the Fathers house and were able to encourage them immensely. Each one of us shared a word that was being spoken to us by the Lord and we all prayed and worshiped together. Everyone was filled up! In the evening we played a little soccer with children in a slum. The kids are very shy and it took awhile for them to not run screaming down the street from us. The desire to see pictures of themselves on the camera’s LCD finally won them over though. This morning we are teaching English in two schools and will speak about our family’s and the love that leads us. Lot’s of prayers please! Love to all -J team

Pray for us

The following message is an email that my friend Craig wrote after I spoke with him on skype. Craig, thanks for writing all of this down and getting the word out



Good Morning,

I just had a Skype call with Felicia this morning. She contacted me requesting our prayers. Here are some notes from our conversation:

She and the team are in good spirits. Morale is excellent, and they are in intense prayer and worship daily.

They are experiencing some spiritual oppression at times.
- Liz had a very intense dream and had the impression of a heavy weight on her chest. She was unable to speak above a whisper. Thankfully, another team member heard her struggle and immediately moved to intercede for her and the oppression lifted
- The team was able to enter Asia's largest mosque and walked through praying and interceding. Afterwards, they met at a nearby catholic church to debrief and continue praying. At the church, Felicia felt an intense heaviness and felt like a hand had been placed over her mouth. She couldn't breathe or speak. She even blacked out for a moment.

The MegaCities coordinators hooked our team up with a local pastor. However, the pastor seemingly doesn't have any time for them. The team feels a bit like a burden to the church. The church has only set up a couple of "outreach" events for the team--mostly teaching English in an environment where they're not allowed to share the gospel. There is a real timid feeling about evangelism among the believers there. The church is unable to provide translators.

The church appears to be going through some difficulty. Some young people that are interested in evangelism and outreach have left the church. Felicia feels torn, because she wants to support the young people's vision, but also wants to honor the leadership of the church.

The team has gone into a slum area on their own on at least one occasion. They pray intensely going in and going out. Without any translators, they have been able to play soccer with some kids and make some connection there. She also shared about how fun it was to help a woman with her laundry, even though there was no way to communicate. Can you imagine what it may have been like for this woman where some strangers from far away and no way to speak spent time... Let's pray that somehow God's message of goodness is expressed by this team...

Okay, that's the extent of what I remember about our conversation. Felicia requests that we pray for them as much as we can. So I encourage you to join with our DTS and ask God for favor and blessing. The team will be in Jakarta for the rest of the week, and heads to Thailand on Saturday. Pray for their continued safety.

I shared with Felicia an impression about generations. I was reminded that God often works in generations--He's the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Maybe the body of Christ in Indonesia is in a wrestling kind of season, like Jacob wrestled with God... and that sometime in the next generation there will be a breakthrough, but that this generation is required to wrestle for their blessing. If that resonates with you, feel free to pray along those lines.

Felicia asked that we pass this info on to the other team from our DTS, but I don't have any contact info for them. BC, can you get that info to me, or can you make sure that this message is passed on to them in a timely way?

Thanks!

Dean Sherman, Ensenada, photos and FOOD!

The San Diego DTS made the move down to Ensenada about a week ago for an action packed 9 days of activity. Our first stop was just across the border at one of our accountant's parent's home in Tijuana where we were blessed by a mouth watering smorgasbord of mexican food. This began the theme of the week for me... eat a lot of authentic Mexican food!
We then continued down to Ensenada arriving just to fall into bed after a long week of class. We were up early the next morning ready to build a house for the Ramirez family. We arrived at the build site and realized we were about to be the all time largest homes of hope team ever! A little side note here, more people does not translate into finishing the house faster. It usually means that there are a ton of people on top of each other, in the way and a generally slower house build. This time it ended up being the most wonderfully diverse group of people ever. We had our DTS which is mostly American with a token South Korean thrown in and a Mexican girl. Along side a few Mexican staff, I was the representative Canadian in the bunch. Then we had two family's from New Zealand one of which had about 8 children. Then there was a good sized handful of British to round us all off. What fun we had. We all walked away from the weekend richly blessed (especially by Blancas delicious empanadas) having made special new friendships.
Monday ushered in the legendary Dean Sherman. Spiritual warfare. Come on you guys! and a few arm jerks every now and again to encourage us to "think outside the box". Another thought provoking, life changing week of hearing from God through one of our speakers. Dean brought a message to our entire YWAM San Diego Baja family on wednesday night that I so wish we could have recorded. It was a milestone message for us I believe and completely prophetic. Dean called us out so to speak. He told us that at different times in the history of YWAM, certain bases have been in the spotlight. And that right now we are in that spotlight, so we had better be careful. What a huge thing to hear from Dean Sherman, what a humbling thing, and in a way, what a scary thing. It's true, if we are in the spotlight we had better be careful to make sure we are every day asking God's presence to go before us, every day be consciously clothed in the armor of God and looking to be in the center of His will. It's an exciting word too! I am extremely fired up over this and yes, humbled to be a part of one of God's movements, one of God's special projects.
We capped today off with some mandatory fun at a water park south of Ensenada and have some big things in store for the rest of the weekend. More to come later...

Homeless Ministry

5:15 am on a Saturday morning and my alarm reminds me to sacrifice a little. Myself and my two roommates roll out of bed and drive through the gray marine layer that has settled thick over the city. We head for the office to start making coffee. In a slight state of grogginess I prayerfully go about the task of making pot after pot of coffee. Eventually we fill a ten gallon cooler with coffee, pile into the vans and head downtown to Harbor Drive where the homeless are beginning to wake up for the day. Some of us end up on the street across from the Convention Center where the homeless crowd is a little older and reserved while the rest of us end up on the other side of Petco Park with the rowdier party crowd. As most people start to wake up they are really grateful to wake up to a cup of coffee and a muffin they don't need to go looking for. And everyone is looking forward to just having someone to chat with. I spend quite a bit of time talking with a guy named Chris who's always been on the street. If I had run into him anywhere else in the city I wouldn't have had a clue he was homeless. Nice guy, articulate, well kept pretty balanced sort of person. Somehow the coming DTS outreach to Thailand came up and he asked all kinds of question that opened the door for me to share why we would go half way across the world or even come downtown to help people. The love of Jesus. So it was the beginning of one of many new relationships made again this past weekend. A chance to step outside of my comfort and sit in someone else's living room (sidewalk) for a bit. One of many

"The Manor"

The hallway smelled like urine and the doors to each room were stained with years of dirt. Through open doorways I could see frail bodies crumpled into balls on cots. As we followed the director of the nursing home down corridor after corridor, my heart was wrenched with sadness at these forgotten peoples lives. The worst part...I wasn't in some third world country, I was next door to my home. And when I say next door, I mean next door. I can see into the concrete courtyard of the nursing home from the windows of the apartment where I live with all of the DTS girls.
For over a year I have walked by, driven by The Manor and felt a stirring in my heart to help in some way. The morning I finally walked in there to offer the help of 16 young people, the activity's director threw her hands up and said, " I prayed for you all this morning!"
So there we were pushing wheel chairs down the hall, serving coffee, juice and cookies and just listening to people who were desperate to be heard. I listened to a Mexican man named Bernardo tell me over and over again how him and his wife had worked really hard all their lives to have nice things and how they never even had children because they just wanted to work hard. Now Bernardo's wife is gone, he has no children and he sits alone with only an occasional cigarette to look forward to.
So here we are, being used to bring a little light and love into ordinarily dark and lonely days. Here we are taking blind people for walks when they would normally just lie in bed all day every day. My heart hurts for these forgotten ones, I wish I could spend hours upon hours with each and every one. For now I'll do the little that I can and pray for more hearts to be touched to come and give a little of their life and their love.

Broken Legged Lamb

Here comes a renewed effort to post weekly updates on my blog...
The first ever San Diego DTS has been in session for almost a month now and let me tell you, it has been something special. With a group of 12 students and 4 staff, there is a very family oriented flavor to this school. We have been hearing amazing, life changing teaching and spent a lot of time praying and interceding for different areas of our city and world together. I have been thrown back into extreme community living with a vengeance as I am living in a 3 bedroom apartment with 9 other girls. It's been crazy and fun.



On a personal note... I have been walking through a very difficult season of life for awhile now as a result of a few different things. For a long time I have tried very hard to keep up appearances and be all things to all people or live up to the expectations that I imagine people are putting on me. But eventually that all falls apart and we come to a place of complete and utter dependence on God's grace and mercy. Which is where I find myself. I have been so comforted by the truth of Jesus being our shepherd. Right now I am that lamb that strayed away and the shepherd had to bring me back and as shepherd's do, break my legs and carry me on his shoulders to have me grow so intimately accustomed to His voice. It is a place of pain yes, but also of a real closeness to my Lord and savior.
I really do apologize for my extended silence. It seems that it is always harder to communicate when one really needs to in a time of difficulty, than it is in good times. But I am coming back again. Much love to all.

Skate Event Update

It's been awhile now since the Revolution Youth Ministry skate event, but I did promise that I would put up some pictures and give an update on how it all went down. So here you have it. For months prior to the event Omar and Stephanie put many, many hours into organizing all the little details that must be covered to legally shut a street down in downtown Ensenada. As you can imagine there were piles of redtape to work through that kept on going right until the end. They found out only days before that they had to hire an ambulance and police officers to work the event in case anything happend. Permits were needed, Business owners on the street had to sign a release allowing the event to go forward and so on.



Finally the day came, the pro skaters with King Of Kings Skate Ministry(KKSM) arrived in San Diego where I met them and hopped a ride. It was time to set up the ramps. KKSM brought a trailer full of ramps down that they donated to the Revolution Ministry which was an awesome blessing. Thanks guys! Finally the skating began. A lot of local talent got to show their stuff and we had a great competition. The KKSM skaters did a demo for quite awhile and Zac set the pace displaying some crazy talent. We even had a suprise guest show up that added to the whole night. Danny Way and his brother were wandering around downtown when they came across the event. If you don't know who Danny Way is, Google him. He is one of the biggest skaters of all time and is best known for the fact that he jumped the Great Wall of China on a skateboard. Incredible. He put up a $100 bill to judge an improptu trick comp.
Side note-I ended up running into Danny a few weeks later in Ikea and stalked him for 45 minutes while he talked on his cell before I was able to chat with him. I told him where I had seen him and thanked his for stopping by and let him know how cool that was for everyone involved. He was really stoked to hear about the skate ministry and offered help if it was ever needed. Good guy.
The night ended with Eli sharing his testimony and giving an awesome gospel message of grace and love. A bunch of the kids there came forward to pray and invite Christ into their lives. It was a really beautiful time. Praise God for what He did!

Photography is fun

Hey everyone! Here are a few pictures from last weekends house builds in TJ. We did 3 houses with a company from Chicago and had a great time. All 3 of the family's were absolutely lovely as usual and will have a very special place in everyones heart's. One of the family's even made roasted chicken for the team which made me so happy after I talked about how much I was craving roasted chicken all weekend. The best part of the weekend for me was that a man who received a home last month came and worked harder than anyone else all weekend because he wanted to be a part of blessing someone in the same way he and his family were blessed. I remember when we were saying goodbye to him last month, one of the team members said to him, "this home is a free gift to you from us and a demonstration of God's love for you. But it dosn't stop there, now it is up to you to spread the love and the blessing to others who are in need." To see this man serving another in his community was such beautiful proof of how God touched his heart. I was training my new friend and roomate Chrissy in doing the team photography which was a lot of fun.



Coolest space toys ever!








Many people's living conditions












Airborne and lovin it










One of the precious and deserving family's receiving a home












Handing over the word










Figuring out the funkiest electrical job ever...4 hours later












Looking into the future











Welcome to my life











Teamwork












Border town












Dreamin











Hecho en Mexico












Bird in captivity











Drink up

Summer Update

I have to say I really admire and look up to those people who faithfully update their blogs. You would think it should be a very easy thing to do, but somehow it's just not. At least for me. Life is good and busy and full and communication just seems to slip away from me. So this may be a long one as I have a lot to catch up on. Kudos to you if you read the whole way through.
The last time I wrote it was a letter written on behalf of Kaiden. Obviously that was a very difficult time that I am continuing to work through on a daily basis. I struggled with a lot of doubt and confusion and anger at what seemed and still seems at times to be God's silence. So many times I felt like I was just staring at God's turned back. Of course the pain of losing Kaiden remains, but life also goes on and is filled on a daily basis with God's grace and blessings! One day at a time.
Once the funeral was over and it was all said and done, I felt even more alone because Steph and Omar moved back down to Ensenada. They had become my life in a way and I felt at a loss as to what to do with myself once they were gone. So I set about focusing on some badly needed me and God time. I will admit it is a little difficult to have you and God time when you are a little perturbed with Him (just being honest), but it was good anyways. The summer months were wonderfully relaxing for me as the Mission Adventures program was going on at our ministry locations in Ensenada and Tijuana. This meant that I didn't have house building teams on the weekends to be with as well as office work during the week which is the norm for me throughout the rest of the year. I was able to get caught up on a ton of administrative things that tend to slip away from me throughout the building season.
Now I am back in the midst of a very hectic schedule which I love and thrive off of. I am enjoying my work more than ever right now, even the office stuff which is definitely a God thing. It seems that every team that comes down is more wonderful and every family we build a home for touches my heart in a deeper way. This "job" never gets old and I continue to cry at the expression of God's love lived out during the house dedications.
Please continue to pray for my friendship with God and that my life will be centered in His will every day. I desparately want my relationship with Him to grow stronger lately and pray for a deeper understanding of God.
I will post pictures of the Skate Competition that Omar and Stephanie planned in Ensenada a few weeks ago. There was an amazing turnout and God's word was proclaimed and heard in the downtown core of Ensenada. Awesome!

Kaidens Goodbye

Hi all, yes it has been awhile but with good reason. For those of you who weren't aware of what my life has revolved around the past few months, let me fill you in.
Last July my best friend Stephanie who is from Idaho and her husband Omar who is from Ensenada had their first baby, Kaiden Ezra Murillo. Kaiden was born in Boise as planned and then was to return promptly to Ensenada with his parents where they are missionaries. This plan changed when Kaiden became ill enough to be admitted to hospital only days before the Murillo's were to drive to Mexico. This began a long 10 months of hospital stays, blood transfusions, evasive surgeries and much much more. In all this time Kaiden was not able to eat as the main problems were with his digestive system not functioning. Kaiden was eventually transfered to the children's hospital down here in San Diego some time in Feburary. Since then I have spent any time out of work with Steph, Omar and Kaiden. At the end of March things just got worse when Omar was deported from the US on a technicality with his visa. This left Stephanie in San Diego with out her husband to help with the many medications that had to be prepared and given to Kaiden daily, the doctors/hospital visits and so on. Needless to say my time was dedicated to helping and supporting my sister/friend and being with Kaiden as much as possible. Praise God Omar was finally given a one month emergency visa on May 7th because Kaidens health soon took a turn for the worse which eventually saw him being air lifted to another hospital in Los Angeles. Omar and Steph spent days camping out in the hospital room until they were given a room at the Ronald Mcdonald house but were soon camping out in the room again when Kaidens situation worsened dramatically and he was moved to the ICU. At this point the doctors had no hope that Kaiden would survive even though we all still clung to the promise of God's healing. On Sunday May 27th I was building a house in Ensenada when I recieved a phone call that I needed to get to LA without delay. Stephanies parents and little sister had left Boise that morning and also drove straight for LA all day. By that evening Omar's parents and Stephanies parents had arrived at the hospital. By the next morning the doctors were telling us there was nothing else they could do and it was only a matter of hours. We prayed for a miracle, cried on each other and loved on Kaiden throughout the entire day. Around 5:45 that evening we stoof around Kaiden, holding on to each other as he went home to be with Jesus. It is still so hard to comprehend that our little warrior has left us. Stephanie still starts when she thinks to check on him at night, I still think I need to be quiet so as not to wake him when I walk into their room and I am sure that will go on for a long time. But I also rejoice that he is no longer in pain and is getting love from Jesus.
Thank you all so much for your prayers over the past months as we have gone through this difficult journey. If you would like to see Kaidens blog go to www.kaidenmurillo.blogspot.com. I kept the blog as if Kaiden was writing it and there are a bunch of pictures of our little man. The following is Kaidens last letter to everyone. Lot's of love, Felicia








Dear beloved friends,
This will be my last letter to you and I am in fact writing it from heaven. I really want to attempt to put your hearts and minds at ease even though I know you are all missing me so much. Thank you for the outpouring of love that each one of you has lavished on me and my family during my little life. Thank you for the many, many prayers on my behalf, on Papi and Mommy’s behalf. I know that your faith has been stretched immeasurably and some of you may wonder for what. I want to say that nothing has been fruitless and that God is so pleased with all of you. You have held onto God’s promises even when nothing made sense and now “the Lord will give strength to His people, the Lord will bless His people with peace.” You may never know what my journey, and your involvement in it, was all about until you get to the end of your life and look back at how it helped you or strengthened you in some other area of your own journey. In spite of the pain you are all going through, God is good in all His ways, He is faithful, He is loving and He is kind. And don’t I know it!
Now I get to be with Jesus.
Dear friends, I am finally whole and it feels so good. I can move freely and without pain and on top of that these Kaiden cheeks that you all loved to kiss so much are getting more than enough kisses from Jesus. So don’t worry about me anymore. Now I want you to take care of my Papi and Mommy. I can’t be there to brighten their days with smiles so I need you all to love on them like crazy. Pray for their hearts, hug them, cry with them, talk to them and share your best memories of me with them. “The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.” I love you all so much, you are in my heart and I will see you again some day soon.
Blessings from Kaiden in heaven.

A blubbering, sobbing emotional wreck

You would think that building houses for Mexican families would eventually get old. Well somehow it just keeps getting better and sweeter with time. I just got home from Tijuana where I was coordinating 2 house builds for a Canadian team. Two more families now have a real floor and a roof over their heads; a home to call their own. As well, 40 well to do Canadians have been touched deeply by the joy and love they witnessed in these family's with "nothing" despite their circumstances. Here are a few pictures of the weekend, they can do the talking.

Rain, Rain, Ahh Sweet Rain

Ok, so I am a little late, but you must admit, a month and a half is a lot better than what I had going before.
As I write this I can hear the pitter patter of rain on the roof begininng again. The last few days have seen a miraculous amount of rain fall in San Diego. We sure have had quite the weather lately. 2 weekends ago we were snowed on in Ensenada! That weekend was our Baja Vision event and we had 5 house building teams out in the colonias. Everyone froze to the bone as they were not prepared for snow in Mexico. Despite the terrible weather we all managed to have a wonderful weekend and God really moved hearts to support what we are doing in the northern Baja. One of the participants pledged 2 million dollars to our mission. Praise God! He is always faithful. This was such a wonderful answer to prayer as my department had really felt convicted to do some house cleaning as far as our relationships with donors goes. It was hard but the Lord rewarded us for our leaders obediance.
On a more personal note, I had a very nice weekend in Seattle a week ago visiting friends. I went to do wedding photography for some great YWAM friends of mine and was also able to see some of my adopted family in the Seattle area.
For those of you that have been following the happenings of my best friends baby, Kaiden, I am happy to announce that Omar, Steph and kaiden are on the road from Boise to San Diego as I type. After another round of surgeries and trauma for little Kaiden, his gastro intestinal doctor referred them to a specialist at the childrens hospital down here in SD. Needless to say I am absolutly thrilled that I will have them so near me for the next little while before they head the rest of the way down to their home in Ensenada.
Other than this I look forward to finally going to church this weekend. There is a church called Cornerstone that seems to continually be popping up wherever I turn so I am planning on checking it out on Sunday. I am dying to be connected with a church body again. It feels like it has been so long. Pray that I get plugged into the right place.

Oh Yikes!

September 22 to December17 without a single update. How does that happen? I really don't know. Well here I am again and I will say that I am making a pre-New Year's resolution right now. That is too update this thing on a bi-weekly basis. Maybe I will eventually make it to a weekly update but we won't push anything yet. I will briefly cover the last 3 and a half month's. Highlights only because I know I can be long winded.

September was mostly me trying to get a handle on my job while getting settled into the house I am living in. I live in a truly international house right now. I have two permanent roomates, one from Fiji and one from California. We also have two "refugees" staying with us for the moment. One lady is from the Dominican Republic and the other is from Columbia. Both of these ladies are on staff down in Ensenada but have been kicked out of Mexico for the time being as our bases in Mexico have had some problems with immigration lately.
October really picked up as we had constant house building teams week after week. My energy went specifically into the business teams that our major financial donors come from. Most of these teams consist of corporate big wigs that don't understand the concept of a "mission's trip". They come to take part in a humanitarian effort and stay in 5 star resort's while in Mexico. It is a wonderful thing to hear the conversation in the van's morph from complaining about their house keepers to marveling at how fortunate they are by the end of their "effort". The funnest part is when they realize that none of the YWAM staff who are with them are payed to do what we do and we then get to explain why we do it. I've had some wonderful times of sharing Jesus and what He has done in my life with these people.
October also saw us hosting the week long DNA conference at our Ensenada base. over 300 YWAM'ers came from all over Mexico, the states and latin america to hear from Loren & Darleen Cunningham (the founders of YWAM) and David Hamilton (a strategic genius on world wide missions). For me it was a special time of seeing old friends, reviewing core curriculum from the LEadership Training School I did in '04 and God bringing new wholness to area's of my life.
November was when I learned how far I can push myself before I crash, and I did crash. I needlessly pushed myself too far in my work load and saying yes too one too many things before I woke up with the migraine of my life that caused me to vomit repeatedly. I'm still trying to figure out how to lay those boundries down before I push myself over the edge and am still recovering from too much. I actually came home from work just last week, layed down and woke up over 13 hours later. I guess I needed sleep. Thankfully I have a wonderful boss who gives me the freedom to stop when I need to. She has learned that she needs to tell me to stop at times now also.
For now I look forward to being home with my family for Christmas. The last 5 Christmas's have been spent in New Zealand, Mexico or India. So this will be a change and I just may freeze to death. My sister and I are planning on doing a special Christmas Eve ethnic feast of tamales, curry and egyptian food (my brother spent the past year in Egypt) to honor the cultures that are so much a part of my life now and I know I will miss dearly this Christmas season.
Thank you so much for reading and expect to hear from me again the beginning of January.
Feliz Navidad y Dios te bendiga (Merry Christmas and God bless)



I'm a bit of a diva

My Life Now

I drove and I drove and I drove some more. The landscape began with rugged forested mountains and lush green hills which gradually gave way to tawny prairie landscapes and then cactus littered desert. Along the way I marveled at the diversity and beauty of land that God created seemingly for my enjoyment alone.



From Calgary to San Diego I stopped often to spend time with dearly loved family and friends. After about 30 hours of driving and many U2 albums later I arrived in my new city of residence, sunny San Diego.

I am beginning to love this time of stepping into a whole new adventure with God. These times of leaving the blessings of the past behind and turning to the unknown blessings of the future.

I have now been officially at work in the development office of YWAM San DIego/Baja for the past two weeks now. The adjustment has been a little slow as far as finding a church, figuring out how I fit into my old friends lives again (they are all engaged or newly married now which throws a different spin on things) and so on. But I am finding all kinds of other things to do on my own that I always wished I had time to do. I finally took up knitting so now I can use up the balls and balls of yarn I bought the last time I was in India. I've been enjoying running more than ever before, and reading up a storm. Now I just need to find a tennis partner and I will be set.

In the office I have been busy preparing for all the house building teams that are starting to come down to build houses in Mexico for so many family's that are in need. There is a lot of work that needs to go into making things run smoothly so that this wonderful ministry of mercy can continue. Please pray for a sharp mind to absorb all the information and tasks flying around in my mind.

In other news I am so happy to be a double aunty now. My sister had her first baby, Katelyn, on June 14th and my best friend from Idaho had her first baby, Kaiden, July 13th. They are both an absolute joy to my life! Please be praying for Kaiden as he has been in the hospital for the past month and a half. If you would like to know more about his condition please check the blog that I have been updating daily for him. www.kaidenmurillo.blogspot.com


Aunty Felicia


Katelyn June Hildebrant

Kaiden Ezra Murillo

Extended Family

I have realized lately what an incredible circle of support and love I have around me. So much so that I am comletely humbled and floored at the the people God has put in my life to lift me up and gently push me forward. Not only do I have the most precious and loving family and friends spread across many provinces and states, but I have my parents cicle of friends who I am increasingly greatful for. These are couples who have been a part of my life for many years, who have watched me grow up and loved me along the way. I am so blessed to have grown into not only someone they are proud of but someone I can call friend. I spent the evening having dinner with one of these couples that have known me since I was a baby. When I left the husband siad, "I may not be able to hold you on my lap anymore, but we sure are proud of you and love you still." God really never leaves me alone, He provided all that I need and has surrounded me with more spiritual family than I ever could have imagined. I am thankful.