The Kemps in Mexico

Last weekend we were Joined by Loren & Darlene Cunningham, the founders of Youth With A Mission, to Celebrate 50 years of the mission.
Our Event was number 27 out of 43, that the couple were leading all over the world.
We started off the weekend with looking back at our History and the early days, as Loren & Dar shared stories of the miracles they had seen and how God had shaped the mission in the early days.

As the Weekend went on, we spent time looking at where YWAM was now, and then to Some of the Exciting new strategies YWAM is using to reach the World.
According to latest figures, YWAM now has over 1800 operating locations and around 20000 full time staff. With campuses or outreach locations in Every Country on the planet. WOW...

With over 400 YWAMers, Old and new, everyone had an amazing weekend. Celebrating the past 50 years and looking forward to the next. The event finished on the Tuesday afternoon as we all shared communion and signed TheJubileeCovenant, committing ourselves to Gods Work. This event has definitely got us more excited about what we do, and being part of YWAM, as we look to what God has for us in the future.

16 students from 7 nations.3 months of teaching and training in Ensenada. 2 months of outreach in central Mexico. Tonight we celebrated the past 5 months of these students lives. With our graduation ceremony.
The evening started with the final performance of thier production; Los Suenos. It included Stories from thier time on outreach. We ate some great food and then finished with a time of worship lead by the students.
As with every school, it is a pleasure to be part of the lives of these students.

Some of you know i can be a bit of a Techy Geek, so i apologize.  But thanks to Google Street View, you can see where we live, and get a feel for the area around us.
Take a look, it's pretty cool. (The pink building is our YWAM base...)

Let me introduce you to the Escalente Perez family. Originally from Chiapas in southern Mexico, they moved to Ensenada 4 years ago in search of medical help. Their oldest son was born with a cleft lip and pallet. The Father Reynoldo is 40, and Maria is 24 years old. They have 5 Children aged between 1 & 7.
Reynoldo is a field worker, and earns up to a maximum of $12 dollars a day to support his family. During the past weeks, we have had alot of rain here in Ensenada, which for Reynoldo means no work. When we met them, because of the weather and no work, the family had not eaten for 3 days.

Their current living conditions were some of the worst i have seen for a family. 7 people (Mum, Dad & 5 kids) all living under a tarpaulin shack. It was cold, damp with 1 small bed. Cooking was done outside on an open fire and the bathroom was a hole in the ground with a curtain hung up around it.  

2 Weeks ago, we had the privilege to go out and build a new home for this family. No longer would they be sleeping on a dirt floor, no longer would they be getting wet when it rains. Their lives have been changed forever.

Join us for a LIve Update from from Terry Snow. Director of YWAM Haiti. Broadcast Live HERE and at www.linkupamericas.org
Terry will be broadcasting at 1pm (PST) thats 9pm (GMT)

It is hard for anyone in the World not to feel some sympathy for the people of Haiti, and all that has gone in on over the past 2 weeks on that small island.

YWAM Ensenada currently has members of staff in Haiti helping YWAM Haiti with the relief efforts.

The small Caribbean nation of Haiti has gone from poverty to total devastation after a 7.3 earthquake hit on January 12th this year. The desperation of the Haitian people is seen on the news each night and it is easy to respond with a feeling of despair, as it seems like very little aid is getting to those who need it most.   Youth With A Mission has operated in Haiti for almost two decades.  With operating locations in four cities, they have been caring for the people of Haiti through ministries including schools, health care programs, agricultural development, micro-enterprise and Christian training.  They were involved in responding to the victims of the 2008 hurricanes which destroyed much of the island and continue to partner with other YWAM centres in rebuilding homes lost in that disaster.   YWAM’s national office in St. Marc is more than 60 miles from Port au Prince but as over 500,000 people have fled the devastated capital city they have taken a lead in coordinating the aid effort alongside local churches and other agencies in their province.   Hundreds of survivors are arriving daily, seeking food and medical care.  YWAM teams have created supply centres and camps to provide for 8000+ refugees, many of whom are badly wounded.  For one pound a day, they can feed and accommodate victims in a three week program which allows them to recover, receive medical attention and then earn some money to go home and rebuild their lives.   Though the situation is desperate and the tasks daunting, Terry Snow says his staff sees the opportunity to help the Haitian people as they build from the ground up – literally and spiritually rebuilding on a firm foundation.   In the face of staggering need, YWAM teams are motivated by God’s love to help the Haitian people. It will be a very long road to restore communities in this devastated nation, but Snow and his staff are relying on supernatural strength.  “When I am weak He is strong!” says Snow. “If we help others within our ability we have done an awesome thing, but when we help others beyond our ability that is an act of faith that causes men to glorify God!”

One on my ever increasing jobs over the past year is to arrange and operate large scale events involving 100 of YWAM staff across the globe - without leaving my office. This is all done using YWAM's video conference Network - GENESIS (Global, Electronic, Network, Serving, Inspiring, Students) In laymans terms, It's a bit like Skype on acid.

GENESIS is designed to bring people serving in YWAM together from all over the World. Back in June of this year we were lucky enough to be addressed by YWAM's founder, Loren Cunningham. Loren addressed 24 bases across the Americas, but we were also joined another180+ locations joining on our web stream.

We are finding more and more uses for this technology. One way is our weekly operations meetings across our locations in San Diego and Mexico. Instead of driving for hours and paying $100's in Gas, we simply jump on our video machines and have a face to face meeting that way. We have weekly devotionals delivered by a speaker from "somewhere" in the world. We have global worship events and then the large scale addresses from senior leaders. GENESIS is also a great tool for smaller bases who may not have the resourses to fly in speakers for thier training schools. Instead they join over GENESIS.

Our next large scale event is on 11th November at 9am (PST). Darlene Cunningham, co-founder of YWAM,  will be joining us.
If you would like to join in and see what we do, you can find the live web stream at: LINK UP AMERICAS

Hurricane Jimena made landfall on 3rd September 2009 on the coast of Baja California in Mexico as a category two hurricane. The storm lasted for 80 hours over the area, causing major damages to homes and businesses located in the small cities along the coastline. The rain and heavy winds damaged rooftops while water levels of the Mulege River rose by 10 meters sweeping up everything in its way. Forty five per cent of the homes in Cuidad Constitucion, Puerto Lopez Mateos, Magadalena and Puerto Alcatraz, amongst other cities sustained roof top damages.

Hurricane Jimena generated 711 ml of rain in Guaymas and 360 ml in Empalme, both cities in the state of Sonora. The main road located between San Jose del Cabo and Tijuana is affected due to several creeks that overflowed. The airports in los Cabos, La Paz and Loreto which were temporarily closed are now functioning normally and did not sustain damages. Several ports were also temporarily closed and are currently operating.

The major sectors affected by Jimena were the electric and water systems, especially in Santa Rosalia, which remains without safe drinking water. The municipal government has supplied portable water units, but these are insufficient for the entire population. 70 per cent of the electricity network between the cities of Constitución and Santa Rosalia was affected due to damaged power lines and conduction towers. There are still electricity shortages at night. Preliminary reports indicate that Jimena caused over USD 37,544,866 in damages.

YWAM San Diego/Baja has a long history of providing shelter for needy families in the northern Baja region. Our passion is to help families that would not normally be able to help themselves, but also to partner with the local Church to help make a lasting difference.

Our recent scouting trip to the devastated areas has identified two projects that we are seeking support:

Project Mulege:
The town of Mulege, was by far the most devastated by the hurricane. A large portion of the town was devastated by the flood waters. Rain from the hurricane was channeled through the normally gentle river and dry creek beds, surged through the town carrying with it anything in its path. The clear need we heard from families and from a local pastor were for mattresses and bedding to replace those ruined by the flood waters.
For $5,250 we can purchase and deliver mattresses, pillows, sheets and blankets to 30 families ($175 per family).

Project Cuidad Constitution:
This town was hit hardest by the hurricane force winds with power lines down everywhere and bits of tin roof blown off many of the commercial buildings and factories. A large number of old wood and cardboard shacks were blown away. Working with Pastor Jesus Salinas Barraza we wish to send a team of staff builders to one of the poorer neighborhoods and help rebuild as many homes as we can, but also to rebuild the Church that was also destroyed.
For $6,000 we can rebuild a home.
For $10,000 we can rebuild the Church

To make a donation to our Hurricane Jimena Relief Project please click here and in the description write:
Hurricane – Bedding
Hurricane – House
Hurricane – Church

For more information please contact:
Malcolm Taylor     – malcolm.taylor@ywamsdb.org – (619) 495-8600
Jim Walker – jim.walker@ywamsdb.org – (619) 213-8451