The Kemps in Mexico

This year marks the 50th anniversary of Youth Mith a Mission around the World. To mark this momentous landmark, The founders of YWAM, Loren & Darlene Cunningham are travelling around the globe hosting anniversary celebrations at select YWAM bases. Our Tijuana campus has been lucky enough to be chosen as a host location. On 5th - 7th September, we have over 450 people from all over Mexico & the USA coming together to Celebrate the past years and look forward to the next.

We have all been working hard to get the campus ready for the event. Tym especially has dusted off his toolkit and headphones, and has been overseeing the installation of a the new sound and video systems in the auditorium.

Loren(75) & Darlene pictured here at a 50th Celebration in Eastern Africa. Check the blog & facebook during the event in September to catch a glimpse of all that is going on.

For more info about your local 50th Celebration, go to www.ywam50.org

It's funny how the strangest things can seam like they're contagious. We have good friends who run a YWAM location over in Conneticut. Over the years MANY of the families in that ministry have adopted children from all over the world. It is also partly through their influence, that we started to look at adoption.

With our adoption of Micah & Tianna now nearly 3 years into the process, the end is nearly in sight, We now have our own spout of families pursuing adoptions here in Mexico. Currently we have 3 other families in the process of adopting Mexican children. One family from our San Diego office are adopting a 10 year old girl from Juarez.  Our Neighbours Steve & Gemma  are adopting through DIF in Ensenada, and Tammy & Eddie are pusuing the adoption of young Esthela. The Girl they helped get through a Kidney transplant 2 years ago. Who now needs another one.
Here is a video of their story...

Please be praying for us and the other families as we fight to do justice, and give these children no less than they deserve; the love of a Mum & Dad.
If you want to know more about any of the stories, or would like to help in any way, Then please GET IN TOUCH

Warning, don't come too close, or you may catch the adoption vibe too...

Have you ever wondered what it's like here in Ensenada? Well you can take a look into the depths of our lives. We have Webcams set up in our main courtyard and our main meeting room.
Take a look and see if you can see us.

VIEW THE WEBCAMS - www.thekemps.me.uk

Our latest E-Blast is available online now, and should be coming into your emails as i write this. If you have not recieved it yet, you can view in online HERE

We are also getting ready for our summer Snail Mail newsletter. Please spend a few minutes online and give us your details for our Database. HERE

You may remember a story that we put on the website back in November 2008, about this young girl Esthella, and her Kidney transplant operation. CLICK HERE TO GO TO THE STORY
Over the past 2 years, Esthella has had many ups and downs. Without going into too much detail, Esthella's Mum is wanting to abandon her daughter, so our good friends, and Esthella's carers for the past 2 years, have decided to start the process of adopting her.

Last week, Tammy & Eddie went to visit the doctor to talk about Esthella's progress. This was the alarming report;

"  Esthela's kidney is in chronic failure. Why did this happen? The doctor's best guess is because it wasn't taken care of well enough. While Eddie and I were gone doing DTS in Minnesota and spending the summer with my family she was hospitalized a few times and had trouble taking her medication at the right times.This is the most likely reason for the kidney failure. He says the kidney should have lasted 15-20 years.
Within a year Esthela will most likely have to go on dialysis. When that happens she will be able to be put on the list for a new kidney. The doctor said that if Esthela stays with her mother that no doctor will do the transplant because if the kidney failed due to not being taken care of then a second one will as well. We told him that we are wanting to adopt Esthela and he said that if that was the case then he would do everything possible to make sure that Esthela got another kidney. He wanted us to be aware that there was still a chance of the second kidney to be rejected as well.
We realize that all of our work still could result in Esthela suffering and, possibly passing away, but we know that it is the only chance that Esthela has"
Please be in prayer for this new family as they tackle the challenges ahead. If you feel you can help in any way, then please GET IN TOUCH

Our next One Voice online event is on Friday 4th June at 3pm (UK TIME) or 8am (West Coast time)
8 YWAM locations from around the world will join together.
You can join in here at www.thekemps.me.uk

See if you recognise the bass player from Ensenada..

This weekend we had the honor of taking the familyout and building a home for a family in Ensenada. Joining us was also Sam's brother Chris, His wife Shan, and thier sister Becca.

Our family was the Hernandez Mora family. Salvador, Patricia, with thier kids; Evelin, Perla & Braulio, have never had their own home. They always rented. A bit over a year ago they bought some land. They now have a small home there, they went to move there soon after buying it, because they couldn't keep paying the rent and the land payments at the same time. Their current home is in very bad conditions. It is very old, the roof now doesn't work and it has been very badly damaged by the rain.

For Salvador it is very difficult to build a better home, because he is still paying off the land. He is the only one in the famiyl who works. His salary is quite small and is not enough to cover all their expenses

It was a great privilege to see my kids workng together, and to be along side them while they painted and hammered. Living in Ensenada for so long, you can get blasay to the immense need here. But as you go out and meet the people, and work along side them, you learn to understand, that the smallest things can make you so happy. JAcob was fitting the windows on this house, and as thier yougest child saw them, he got very excited saying " We are going to have real windows that open!!"

The day was finished with a very moving dedication ceremony, with many tears from the family and builders.

For More pictures of the weekend go to picasaweb.google.com/tymkemp/

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.

One of the biggest privaledges of my job, is the opportunity to go and visit my outreach teams in other parts of the world. Last week i had the chance to go down to Central Mexico to visit my team.

Our trip started, arriving in Mexico City, folowed by a 2 hour bus ride to Pachuca. This was great as i have a number of friends at YWAM Pachuca but have never had the chance to visit thier city. We then got thte midnight bus along the windy and bumpy road to San Felipe. Finally arrivng in Huitzitzilingo for breakfast.
This was a town, unlike anywhere i have been to in Mexico. At times it was hard to believe i was in the same country as my home in Ensenada. Here the students were giving English classes, teaching in schools, practical help in the local community, and performing thier presentation "Los Sueños" (dreams)

During thier time in Huitzitzilingo, the took some time to visit some of the surrounding villages. Some of these had never had "White Missionary" visitors before, so it was a great privaledge to be pioneers in thier towns. One of these towns was Tultitlan. We turned up in early evening, and went to find the local Delegado to get permission to perform in the town square. They were very happy and even helped us set up for the show. While we were doing this the team went around the village to advertise the evening, and by the time we started, the whole village was there.  It was a great evening, and many people were encouraged by our presentation.

Our next "Base" town was Tamazunchale. This was a much bigger town than the last, with more chalenges and opportunities. Our first night there was a trip up to a Jungle Village (which i never found out the name of) In a lot of these small communites, Spanish is thier second language, so our presentations had to be translated from Spanish to the local dialect. Again a great night encouraging and praying for the local people. We even saw one lady healed from a medical conditions she had for years.

My final day with the team was another performance in the local town square in Tamazunchale. Sunday night is a busy day there, and by the time our presentaion started, there was around 300 people gathered round to watch. We had a great evening as our team gave a very moving performance. It made me very proud to be part of the lives of these amazing students.

After another Very long and even bumpier 7 hour bus ride, i finally arrived at Mexico City. As my flight was not until the evening, i took the opportunity to spend a few hours doing some "Tourist Stuff" and learning a bit about the city and the history of this Great Nation.

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...)