sunday's sermon video

of sunburn, blisters and bruises

Tuesday's done! I'm sorry that these blog updates are a day behind, but maybe that's the culture of Mexico don't hurry or worry!
As far as our house things are progressing nicely today (Wednesday) we've got some shingling to do, a few more pieces of dry wall to hang, then lots and lots of drywall mud to do! I titled this sunburn, blisters and bruises because that's exactly what a lot of are. It comes with hard work and it comes with stretching ourselves to do and try new things that most of our students have never done. And it is all good.
Later today I'm hoping to upload pictures so stay tuned.

hmmmm update but no real title

Well its 6:21 Tuesday morning here in Mexico, if you are a parent reading this your kids are a live and well! San Diego was fun, We allowed the kids to eat at In&Out burger and I look them to Luigi's pizza. If you are a fan of the show "diners, dives and drive ins" you might have seen this place! Its a small pizza place in San Diego with some amazing pizza. Then we drove out to Mission beach for a while late Saturday evening. Sunday we attended church at "the rock" a super cool and growing church in San Diego. I think it was an amazing experience to see a couple of thousand people who are excited about worshiping and serving God. Later that day we drove down the coast to Ensenada to the YUGO camp.
Once we arrived here at camp we had supper with the family we are building for, its was pretty neat to get a chance to talk to them for a while. . . at least through our translator.
Monday started with heading our to our job site to start building. let's say things were slow and leave it at that! But at the end of the day we have four walls up and siding on them. Today we'll be working on the roof and running the electrical and hopefully catching up a bit!
Last couple of things I ask it you'll pray for our team as we work. One of the things we talked about in our team debriefing time is that we are the hand and feet of Jesus this week. Our desire it to build a house, but also verbally and non-verbally teach a lesson, that God loves them. Also pray for me! My plan was to use my laptop to write these updates and upload pictures but in San Diego some setting in my internet / computer changed so I can't. I've had several people down here look at it and no go! And for those who know me, know I hate it and stress when my plans become hmmm. . .changed is what I'll say. . With this computer change I'll be uploading less pictures because of the dinosaur of a computer I'm working on!
Out for now. . .more to come. . .

Questions I’ve always wanted to ask.

I'm really excited about the series we embarked on last week, "Questions I've always wanted to ask God," that gives the opportunity for you to ask some really cool questions that maybe you've never had a chance to ask.  Or maybe you were asked by someone else and didn't know the answer!  Either way, this series is all about questions! This past Sunday we tried to answer the question, "Why Bad Things Happen to Good People" . . .  why there is evil in the world!  We touched on the ideas that we live in a "fallen world," where man has "free will."  But as we explored the Book of Job, we saw that in all the suffering that Job endured, God never really gave him an answer to why. 

This week we'll be answering the question . . . If a person lives a good life helping others, giving of themselves for others, but doesn't consider themselves Christian, why would they not be welcome into heaven?  Is being good, good enough?  If you've ever wondered this, please make sure you're with us this Sunday!

I was also handed another question that intrigued me, the premise of the question is "Where did Adam's children get their wives?" If we are to believe that Adam and Eve were the first man and woman, where did their wives come from?   So I started doing some research and thought you might be interested in my conclusion.  A lot of this information comes from a book by Josh McDowell entitled "Answers to Tough Questions."

In the book of Genesis we read: Cain lay with his wife, and she became pregnant and gave birth to Enoch. Cain was then building a city, and he named it after his son Enoch. Genesis 4:17 

First question is why does this matter where she came from?  Well if we believe in a literal translation of the Bible that the creation of the world happened just as the Book of Genesis' said, then we're faced with this question—where did this woman come from?   One idea is that there were "other" people living on the earth. But this is directly in conflict with scriptures like 1^st Corinthians 15:45 . . . So it is written: "The first man Adam became a living being;" the last Adam, a life-giving spirit. Genesis 3:20 . . . And Adam named his wife Eve, because she would become the mother of all the living.

Genesis 5:4 says, After Seth was born, Adam lived 800 years and had other sons and daughters, so if we believe in a literal Genesis' (and I do); with the long lives led by the people of that day, it is quite possible that Cain married a sister, niece or grandniece.  Going further on with this thought process; McDowell says that in a conservative estimate that the population at the time could have been several million.  And from our Sunday school flannel boards we see Cain and Abel as young men, but hundreds of years could have passed.  

So the question is "Did they practice incest?"  According to the Law of Moses, isn't that scripturally forbidden!  First one of the commands that God gave to the earth was what? –"be fruitful and multiply," but this time is "pre-Moses." Also, McDowell says in his book, "Since Adam and Eve were created directly by God, and perfect, it can be presumed that their genes were perfect.  When sin entered the world at the time of the fall, bringing with it death, disease and destruction, the gene pool would gradually become corrupted.  Incest was prohibited in Moses' time, from a biological standpoint, because it now was dangerous and resulted in deformed or otherwise defected offspring.  At the initial formation of the family structure in Cain's day, it is difficult to presume what happened with intermarriage. Thus, we cannot be sure to what extent incest occurred.  One thing is certain: after God's ordained family structure stabilized, incest was sin.

I hope that answers the question that I was asked and I hope that you, the reader, will either agree or disagree! But don't just take it on my word, get your Bible out and read it!  Remember, we've got a few more weeks of this series, and if you have a question, please send an e-mail to mitch.caton@gmail.com.  

Have a great week, and bring someone to church Sunday . . . you could save their life!

 
 

Mitch

 
 

Day 8

Wow, I can't believe that this week is over I am so ready to be home and in my own bed! But also I'm not ready to leave here yet. I'm certainly not ready to sit on an airplane for 5 hours. My flight leaves San Diego at 12:35 PM and I get back to Norfolk at 11:30 PM. I guess to continue to stretch my faith, Scott said that the fastest way for us to get over the board is for me to walk! Actually what we are doing, because he travels to the States so much has a "sentry pass" meaning that he's been investigated by the government so he can pass quicker though the lines. So he'll drop me off at the walking line in Tijuana and I'll walk over the border then he'll pick me up. this should take about 1 to 2 hours depending on the wait. It actually sounds interesting and something I've never done before.
Let me share a little of my day, Thursday is "finish the house day" and that's what we did, we had finished the drywall mud yesterday and today we sanded it for about a hour, then moved to painting, hanging the door, trimming window and soforth . For lunch we had Pozole, which is a chicken soup with hominy corn and spices served with fresh made tortillas. After lunch we finished all the left over jobs, I made the sweetest table ever! It was square and level it was for them to use as a kitchen counter I guess. . .I'll post pictures later. And I might be taking orders for holidays!
My time is to write this is running out, I need to get to bed so I can get up. But let me just in this last post from Mexico share with you confirmation why this place (EOC) these people (the poorest of the poor) consume me. And for you NBCC people why I ask for you and your kids to take this adventure with me every year. Today as we gather to give the keys to this family, the mother said a few words but then Diego the local pastor who we were working with spoke for her. He said for 23 years this woman has been praying for a house . . . and today she has one. I'm not sure how or why but God allowed me to be part of an answered prayer. And I believe that God has answered my prayers and hopefully some of yours, God has taught me a lot and he's spiritually recharged me. I made a great new friend and reconnected with old ones. And maybe just maybe my Spanish got just a little bit better.
My plan is to blog again tomorrow night (or early Saturday morning) and post a ton of pictures so if you've been keeping up with me this week there is one more left!

Mitch

day 7

Well gang tomorrow should finish the house completely, Yadi and Chris did an amazing job on the roof! I'm not sure what I did today, but I'm sore from it! Not only did we get tons of work done, but it was really great to see the kids from Mechanicsville interacting with the kids. Even with a language barrier you can tell that the kids know that they are loved and that these Americans care about them. Really isn't that exactly what God has called us to do, love people no matter if they are in Mexico or you share a fence right in your own backyard. We are called to love!
Just some random interesting things I've learned today:
Sometimes, if your lucky... when a window falls out it doesn't break
Its only funny when someone else hits their finger with a hammer!
Nearly losing your balance on a ladder is scary ...
Turkeys are good at thanksgiving, but don't like to be chased!
There are bad tacos in Ensenada -(I learned this from Rob and Josh)
Gravity, a hammer, and the human skull aren't a good combination (I learned this from Yadi)
The middle finger has universal appeal (I learn this from one of the kids at the job site) !

Well that's all for tonight. . .I will say this . . I love my wife. . who has done some editing to my blog!

Mitch

Day 6

First let me just say. . .I am tired! It has been a super long day, but progress on the house is muy bueno, the team that I'm leading did a fantastic job working together. Tomorrow we'll be finishing the dry wall and shingling the roof, that only leaves paint and trim for Thursday.
When we arrived back at camp Pablano's (the best Taco shop in Ensenada) was here cooking for us, I had two "tacos de Scott", (inside joke!) they were loaded with avocado, beans, onions, cilantro cheese and salsa. The meat is cooked over an little grill heated by wood I might just have another one tonight!
Every evening we have chapel, I'll attach some pictures of the worship team, but let me tell you these two ladies can sing! Tonight Abram will be speaking, he'll be preaching in Spanish with the help of a translator, its funny, but I recognize about every 10th word. . but as I tried to remember what they mean he's moved on so its doesn't matter!. Abram works for YUGO, he's serving and coordinates the contact between YUGO and the local churches. Good stuff, God is really moving here. Yady showed me today where her father and his church ministers to the poor and the building they use.
Today I woke up at about 4:30 again, I was laying on my bed, well its not really a bed, its two mattresses stacked on the floor! Since I was awake, I grabbed my IPOD and started listening to some music, one of my current favorite songs came on, its titled "God of Justice" we've sang it at NBCC a few times, one of the lines that really kicks my butt is "keep us from just singing" my impression of that is ever changing, but today I feel that God is calling me to do more than just sing. . . I believe that God calls all Christians to do more than Sing on Sundays. . . so the question I'll ask myself before bed tonight is this. . am I doing more than just singing. . .and if anyone actually reads this. . .are you doing more than singing?

Keep praying for me. . because I'm praying for you anyway!
From the Taco stands of Mexico
Mitch