Day 1 in Mexico - thoughts from Caleb

Had a good trip to mexico. Plane ride to Calgary was not too turbulent and the plane ride to P.V. was even better. Our flight from Calgary to P.V. was delayed a hour so we just hung out in the airport for awhile. When we landed, a bus from La Fuenta picked us up and we had a three hour bus ride to Tepic. We got to where we were staying at aroud one o-clock. We had a light bedtime snack and went to bed. The weather is really nice, it was 27 degrees when we landed. So far having a good time, food is great weather is nice.

-Caleb.

I just heard from our team in Mexico.  They have landed safely in Puerto Vallarta and are on the bus travelling to Tepic.  Their long day of travel has gone quite smoothly.
They should be able to post an update tomorrow themselves once they get settled.

On our Way!

Receiving final instructions before we load up and leave Westpark

Today is the Big Day! No more count-downs! This is our first day of our ten-day Impact Mission trip. At 7:00 am most of our Mexico team loaded in 4 vans and a truck and left the school to meet with the rest of the group at the Winnipeg International Airport. The group was excited, though bleary-eyed due to the lack of sleep we had the previous night. Checking in with Westjet was slow, but steady, and security was fast, though one of our group members was stopped for having scissors in the carry-on. First person to guess the guilty party gets a point! (Only one guess per reader!)

In the Airport, waiting to be checked in.

After buying breakfast (most of us patronizing Tim Horton’s), we had a short wait and then boarded our plane, occupying 4 full rows of the plane. Most students chatted away happily or watched the on-board videos for the two hour flight. There was some wind in Calgary when we landed, though Nic said the take-off was worse than the landing.

We are now in Calgary Airport, waiting for a couple of hours before we board again, with a possible delay of half an hour.

Our next flight will be longer and over the supper hour. We all have had lunch and have been encouraged to buy our supper in the airport before we get on our next plane.

Overall, travel has been going without a hitch. A Westjet service personnel commented how impressed she was on how well behaved our group was. Way to go Westpark!

We anticipate to land in Puerto Vallarta in the evening with a long drive to Tepic, so we don’t anticipate to update the blog until Tuesday sometime. Until then!

Last day in Manitoba before our trip!

 
We are now counting down the hours until we start our much-anticipated Impact Mexico 2012 trip! A few days ago (Thursday) we had a final run through of nearly all of our material, ironing out some of the wrinkles that creep up after a month without practising. As we continued our routines, solving electronic and mechanical glitches, we got more and more confident that we know our presentations.

After our run-through, Mr. Ferguson prepared the group on how to stay healthy and safe, and informed us some of the cultural differences we will encounter. We packed up our Westpark Impact shirts (look for them in our future blogs!) and school kits the Early Years students put together for us to bring along to La Fuente Ministries in Tepic.


We are happy to use our skills, gifts and talents to share the stories of God to people in Mexico. We hope to develop a good friendship with the people we meet, knowing the love of Christ flows over the boundaries of culture and language.

Please pray for travelling graces, our safety, health, energy and our effectiveness in our ministries. We will try to update our blog on a daily basis, so visit often and please leave comments!



Mr. Stoesz

Getting geared up to go to Mexico!

In about two weeks, 20 students and 4 staff from Westpark School in Portage La Prairie will leave home to serve ten days in Tepic, Mexico. We will be working closely with La Fuenta Ministries, visiting schools and churches in the region. To prepare, we have spent the past few months learning and perfecting two separate programs which include dancing, drama, drawing, balloons, illusions and faith stories. We are also prepared to do manual labour and community building while there.



Mexico Impact Team 2012.
Back Row: Alison, Kayly, Raela, Kaitlin
Fourth Row: Stephanie, Travis, Megan, Kenzie
 Third Row: Steven, Nic, Jon, Caleb, Brittany
Second Row: Josh, Trent, Danica, Hillary, Mikayla, Nathan
Front Row: Mr. Ferguson, Mr. Stoesz, Ms. Stahl, Mrs. McCucteon
Missing: MaryBeth



We will be leaving on January 30, 2012, blogging about our experiences and sharing pictures on a daily basis. We would love feedback from home. Please visit the blog often and comment on our posts, and, as always, pray for our safety and effectiveness in our ministry.

Hasta luego! (see you soon!)