Back from Mexico

Well, we're back from Mexico. We arrived Monday around Midnight. We were gone for 10 days... I missed home, and my family but it was an incredible trip. We built 7 houses for some families with some incredible stories. It was sad to watch the immediate change when crossing the border and going from San Diego to Tijuana. It's one city divided by a border... on one side "the land of opportunity" on the other is poverty... divided by a line... It is always powerful to give and share our blessings in order to bless others. It changes us. It changed our youth. Numerous youth decided to follow Jesus for the first time, and many others came back to Him with a determination to follow him more closely in Calgary. Mission changes us, and brings us together.
It is interesting how we separate "church" and "missions" in North America... how we come together for the sake of coming together... But I have become more convinced that the community that God designed us for is a result of mission. Community for the sake of community eventually becomes shallow and dies... But when we share a common mission, people come together in community. And what if half of the point of missions is about us? It seems God has wired us that way. Blessing others is crucial part of God transforming us.
I'm excited for the life change that happened on this trip. But now the real work begins. Pray for me, and our leaders here at SunWest that we will follow up well with these Youth and that they would get connected in the busy life of Calgary.

Milk and Popsicles?

While I was at work the other day 'mom' decided to feed my son his first taste of something that's not milk. What did Joel have.... a little bit of popsicle. ... And before I get everyone saying we're bad parents for exposing our child to such unhealthy junk... Popsicles are not a part of Joel's diet... FYI.

MEXICO

So every spring break we head to Mexico for a Missions trip with our Youth... and spring break is almost here. We are leaving on Friday morning. We will be going down with about 115 people (84 being Youth). We go to Tijiuana Mexico which is just South of San Diego, CA. We are going to build 7 houses while we are there. This is very exicitng, but obviously this means things have been crazy busy. And I'm not that excited to leave my family for 10 days... but that's part of it all I guess. I am so excited about what God is going to do in the lives of these Youth. I always find it fascinating how Missions and Community walk hand in hand. Community is a result of mission. I can't wait to see the walls that the kids have put up come down and then to see them let Jesus into their lives, and let eachother into their lives.

Here is a glimpse of the chaos in this picture... This was our last meeting before we left.

As I sit here and write about missions I have Derek Webb playing in the background. So I'll leave you some lyrics of his, continuing in the spirit of missions:

Rich Young Ruler

(vs. 1)poverty is so hard to seewhen it's only on your tv and twenty miles across town

where we're all living so good that we moved out of Jesus' neighborhood

where he's hungry and not feeling so good from going through our trash

he says, more than just your cash and coin i want your time, i want your voice

i want the things you just can't give me

(vs. 2)so what must we do

here in the west we want to follow you

we speak the language and we keep all the rules

even a few we made up

come on and follow me,but sell your house, sell your suv, sell your stocks, sell your security

and give it to the poor

what is this, hey what's the deal i don't sleep around and i don't steal

i want the things you just can't give me

(bridge)because what you do to the least of these

my brother's, you have done it to me

because i want the things you just can't give me

... More Joel

For those friends and family that are just waiting to see more pictures of Joel. Here are a couple of new pictures. In this picture to the right he is wearing an outfit he got from Auntie Traci and Uncle Dono.

This pic is one of him and Mom before going to church.

This last pic is him sucking on Mom's nose... he has a tendency to suck on whatever he finds in front of his mouth.

Training for the Bike Trip

Some of you may know, and some of you may not know that I am planning a bike trip from Calgary to Abbotsford with my good friends Gord Mills and Jon Hamm. The goal is to do this trip this coming summer. We have been biking quite a bit, but since the weathers been getting nicer we thought it was about time to get a little more serious and bike some longer stretches.

On Saturday Gord and I biked from Lisa's parents place to Cochrane. This was rather tough and put a lot of things in perspective. For those that don't know Cochrane has a Mother of a hill and this proved to be a good test for us.

Here are a few pics from Saturday... Gord and I... a view from the top of Cochrane hill... and I thought I'd just throw a pic of my bike in there as well. Stay tuned for more updates as we get closer to the trip.

New Friends

Last week, we hung out with our good friends Paul and Jackie who also had a son recently... named Isaac. So the two future friends met, and I thought I'd post this picture of the 2 of them "hanging out" together for the first time.

Joel Micah Dyck

Well... So I'd figure I'd try this Blog thing out finally...
Mostly to give our friends and family who do not live near us a chance to stay connected in some kind of way.
I'd thought a good way to start out would be posting some pics of Joel Micah Dyck. Who will be 3 weeks old tomorrow... time sure flies...