Cooking for all our staff & students and volunteers at the YWAM base is always a huge task, but we are constantly blessed by talented people who love to serve us. Our current chef, Ernesto, is a local man from Ensenada. He is a very talented cook with much experience and in the short time he has been serving with us, has done an amazing job. 
This weekend Ernesto gets a gift from us. A new Homes Of Hope...

Ernesto is a single dad. He is an indigenous Mixteco. He speaks 3 languages. His first language is Mixteco. Then he also speaks Spanish and English. He speaks perfect English because he lived 12 years in the USA. He was living with an American woman. They never married but had 2 kids. She was very irresponsible and didn’t want to look after the kids, she just wanted to go out with her friends and have a good time. Finally she left the home and didn’t care about abandoning her children.  Later Ernesto found out she was using drugs. He decided to fight for custody of the kids and he won. From this day forth she has not sought out any contact with her kids at all. This was 7 years ago. Ernesto had to return to Mexico, as he couldn’t look after his kids and work to provide for them by himself. He returned to live at his parents home. His mother and sister helped look after the kids while he worked. Until finally Ernesto decided that it was time for his children to have a home for them as a family. His parents home was small and 3 families lived there together. Ernesto wanted to buy some land on credit to build a good home for his kids. However he soon realized it wasn’t that easy. He had to pay the land payments each month, along with food, school fees, electricity, water and all the expenses for the home and family. So he decided to return to work in the USA for a little while, to be able to pay off the land and build a small home. For him, to make this decision was hard because he had to leave his children in Mexico. He crossed illegally, because he doesn’t have a passport. He worked some time there and a year ago was deported. He is very content now because he doesn’t owe anything on his land and he is back with his kids. He currently works in the field and also works as a gardener and a cook. He doesn’t have a stable job, and has not been able to build a better home. At this time he lives in a small room that he built with plywood. The roof is wood and covered with tarps. He has lived there for the last year and doesnt want to return to the USA as he doesn’t want to be away from his family again. 

So the day has come. The day we have been looking forward to and dreading at the same time for the past 18 years. The day Jacob leaves home. We drove him to Manchester to move into his new home.
For the next 10 months he'll be Living in the Trafford area of Manchester with 5 other guys while he takes the GENETIK SCHOOL with THE MESSAGE. Part of the school will be working with young people in the area that he is living. We are so proud of him and excited for this new step in his life. Over the past weeks we have seen some amazing provision for his school, with all the fees paid, and he has all the money for the first couple of month of living costs. Thanks to everyone who has been part of getting him there.
To Follow Jacobs Journey, Check out www.jacobsjourney.net