Carla's corner

Hey! If you are trucking thru Baja, and come thru San Vicente, be sure and lunch or dine at our friend Carla's little food place.
Carla is a good friend thru the church, and we've been neighbors for awhile (she and her 4 kids rent the place next door to us). Carla has had it tough, but she's resiliant, and moved from selling home-made tamales daily to having this little corner shop. She already has the reputation of having the best Torta de Machata in San V (we'll have one tomorrow).
Carla is a testimony of the Grace of God that is flowing in the Nazarene church we work thru here in the Village.
You go, Carla!

Aqui en la Tianges...

Chris here, in San Vicente
A huge slice of life here in the Village is the Tianges. It's a take on the Swap Meet, but a bit more important to Mexican life here. San Vicente only has a few little clothing and accessory shops with a limited selection and high prices. The Tianges is a roving 'second-hand shop PLUS' that puts up in the town square each Thurs and Sat. There are vendors with used clothing, household supplies, tools, appliances, etc... AND there are some new products, vegetable vendors, car parts... nothing has a price listed, so it's old-fashioned 'barter' system...
How would we make it without our beloved Tianges...??? I personally LOVE shopping at Thrift stores in the USA, so I'm diggin the Tianges...
Cris

WHETHER, WEATHER...

WHETHER, WEATHER

25 Mar. Chris here.

We’re gearing up for the next stint down south. Once again, a spring storm will goof with our plans.

Folks who don’t live on the west coast/SW USA/North Baja don’t understand the complex thing that storms are here. They come off the Pacific Ocean, mostly from the Gulf of Alaska. Because of that, predicting is very hard to do. Will they be a light-shower (?) or torrential downpour with freezing temps down to 2000 ft elevation and dangerous to travel, especially thru the three mountain passes we have to go thru to get to San Vicente (????)…. That’s the tension….

Travel during a rainstorm is tricky in Mexico. Roads are not constructed for drainage, there are few broad side-shoulders… a travel-tolerable rainstorm in the US could be dangerous-travel in Mexico. Besides, in the cities (we have to go thru Tijuana and Ensenada) the street water mixes with sewage…

So, we’ve become quite adept at weather charts. Thanks to my dad’s education as a kid (he was a private-pilot flight instructor), I can read the weather maps directly from the Natl Weather Service, and we have all the direct weather satellite servers ‘book-marked’. Give me 20 minutes and I can tell ya what’s up in the next 12 hours…

Fortunately, our storm season is late October thru end of April. We get May thru late October as basically sunny…

Another small puzzle piece of our crazy existence… your bro, Chris

San Vicente missions this week

BLOG 15 MAR 2012

<>Driving down the Baja ‘Mex 1’ highway toward San Vicente, it’s unbelievable how GREEN everything is! The rainy season has been kind, even the previous fire zone’s black-charred scar is now covered in green growth.
<>The Mex gov’t has ‘done themselves proud’ in the road construction through the mountains. There’s only a few stretches of unpaved detour… Soon, very soon…
<>Economics in San Vicente have gotten a bit harsher. For some of our friends, both parents have had to move into picking vegetables in the fields.
<>Wednesday church, sat in as the bass player. Where do they get all these different songs I’ve never heard before. Oh well, just ‘chart-play’ my way thru the tunes…
<>After church, quite an intense conversation with a guy I’ve known for awhile. I asked him if he’s single. No, he says, separated, with a 3-yr old son in Chihuahua. We talk about what God has been saying to him about all that. He (reluctantly) says he’s supposed to attempt a reconciliation, and be closer to son… but he’s enjoying the peaceful village and warm-fellowship in the church. I pose to him that maybe it’s time to move to Chihuahua and start the process. Yeah, I’m feeling that too, he says… we pray together…
<>Lori spending time with one of her ‘cottage industry kids’ who are trying some new ways to improve their family… we enjoy some ‘free range chicken eggs’ (scrambled) for breakfast, cooked on the little hot-plate in our ‘field house’…
<>I’ll be following two new patients long-term. One is diabetic, being ‘upped’ to insulin injections. The other, a ‘chronic anemia’ patient now getting B12 shots. Both are less than enthused with their health problems.
<>Have to cut the trip short by a few days, huge storm coming south, arrives Friday night. We try to avoid trips thru the mountains in the rain, very dangerous.

Yep, that’s the week of ministry... your bro, Chris

Wanna Be a Health-Care Missionary?

8 March Here in Chula Vista, getting ready for our next trip to San Vicente... somebody asked I post this bit that's been presented in a number of conferences... enjoy..


“I want to be a health-care missionary…”
Time-tested advice to those that want to serve abroad
From Chris Bajkiewicz MSN RN CNS-BC, Healthcare missionary

Steps:
–If nursing student, complete studies, pass Boards (NCLEX, ANCC, NLN, etc.) secure credentials (RN, CNS, NP, CNM, etc)
–Work for 1 full year to [a] perfect new skill-set, [b] pay off all loans/debt
–Pay off ALL debt (credit card, mortgage, auto loan, school/educational loans)
–Begin working in local ministry to poor/marginalized/homeless IN economically challenged area
–Dig out the Scriptures on God’s heart and thoughts regarding the poor, the hurting, the broken…
–Begin ‘de-accumulating’ and living very simple life-style
–Find a pastoral leader (gender-same) to begin praying with you and ‘seeking the Lord’s future’ for you + become keystone to ‘sending leadership’ at home port
--Begin to discern people-group calling, and begin to press into contextual language/culture acquisition locally
–Attend mission conferences and begin to understand the long-term vocation aspect
–Go on ‘short-term health outreach’ trips, but prefer groups who also do long-term projects, investigate long-term opportunity, return to same location 3-4 times to gain ‘long-term’ perspective
--Investigate established mission groups working with the people group and locale you are called to internationally. Large, experienced groups have much to offer.
--Investigate health laws in desired region, consider legal and legitimate licensure as a nurse in that country.


Matthew Ch 10 (The Message) [note: the entire chapter is on-topic]

– 5-8Jesus sent his twelve harvest hands out with this charge: "Don't begin by traveling to some far-off place to convert unbelievers. And don't try to be dramatic by tackling some public enemy. Go to the lost, confused people right here in the neighborhood. Tell them that the kingdom is here. Bring health to the sick. Raise the dead. Touch the untouchables. Kick out the demons. You have been treated generously, so live generously. “