We are joining our Church group and going to Tecate Mexico to build 6 houses. These are small but for the homeless, they will be "home".

We leave Dec 25th and will be on sire until Dec 31st. The lumber is pre-cut so it is just a matter of assembly, very straight forward.

After Dec 31st or perhaps on New year's Eve will drive to Yuma AZ and visit a close friend there. Gary Carter will you be there then? Any others? From Yuma will make our way back North with no plans or routes, Have friends in LA and Santa Barbara that we may try to see. Bill h will you be in the area?

Hope the weather improves, raining like crazy here for the last days, wouldn't be fun in the rain although I will be equipped.

quote:

Originally posted by MWrench:

After Dec 31st or perhaps on New year's Eve will drive to Yuma AZ and visit a close friend there. Have friends in LA and Santa Barbara that we may try to see. Bill h will you be in the area?

We plan on being in AZ (Walnut Grove) over New Year then down to Q than back and forth to do some barn and house layout stuff and try out my new post hole digger.

Bill, did you finally buy a place in Az? Gonna sell the Ca. place?

Yes, finally.

Yes, in a little while.

Be back in Yuma Jan 4. Spending Christmas in MN

As our schedule is VERY flexible, we will keep posting our where-abouts during the trip, Hope to link up this time with some of you!

Be very careful of Mexico!!! Nowhere is safe. Our friends were scheduled to go to Acuna (Del Rio Texas) on mission work and the Mexican gov't convinced them to wait until the country finds a solution to the drug wars.

HI Tom, Yes, I am a bit nervous about that also, we are supposed to be with 200+ people going there BUT if there is ANY hint of danger at the border, I head elsewhere.

Thanks for the advice!

You might not need this but many US citizens think if they take a weapon with them they can defend themselves, BUT it is illegal to bring a weapon into Mexico and they will arrest and jail anyone found with one. The only way around this (which some have done) is to buy one on the street after clearing their customs and disposing of it before returning to the US. On several trips via sailboat the need for defensive weapons was greater than the benefit of the trip so we just quit going there. It is OK to have weapons at sea but not to bring them into the country. I would suggest checking the US State department web site for the Foreign Clearance Guide for the country and they update warning s and contact information daily. There is a classified one but you can't get to that, however the unclassified version is quite good.

The Guide requires a DOD authorization that most people won't have but here is another way to check: http://travel.state.gov/travel...a_tw/tw/tw_4755.html
Hope it helps.

What's the logic of going to Mexico to help homeless people when we have so many here (homeless and needy people)? I'm not against the concept of helping the most needy, but doesn't charity begin at home? Might you not be enabling the messed up politics down there?

Stay home, stay safe, or at least head somewhere where you are wanted. I'll suggest you start in DC, although it may be no safer!!

quote:

Originally posted by Moonbeam-Express:
What's the logic of going to Mexico to help homeless people when we have so many here (homeless and needy people)?

Why Mexico only? Why not Anyplace, USA?

Boy, that is a loaded question....

Here's where I have come from and what I have experienced....

Many times, people here in the US are so bitten by the "entitlement bug" that there is no end to helping them or not actually helping but giving and giving and giving to them.....it's kind of like giving them a fish and then they keep coming back every meal

"asking where their fish is".....

Whereas, many people in other lands, are so overwhelmed when they realize that I took time off of work, paid my own way to their country, and worked to help them. This happened when I went on a mission trip to Russia. The Russians could not believe that I did this...they wondered what my ulterior motive was...when they realized this, it really allowed them to see the true love of God....

quote:

Many times, people here in the US are so bitten by the "entitlement bug"

I respectfully reject that argument, but recognize it is your reality and respect it as such. If a 5 year old underprivileged kid with no concept of Christmas (or where the next meal comes from) feels "entitled" then I do have it all wrong!

I don't want to bring religion into this website, but I'm afraid that "making people feel the true love of God" and just plain 'helping needy people" may be completely separate venues.

God Bless you K&E. You are a true ambassador...

quote:

Originally posted by K&E:
it's kind of like giving them a fish and then they keep coming back every meal

"asking where their fish is".....

I subscribe to the philosophy of teaching someone to fish so they can fend for themselves... More of a HAND UP approach than a HAND OUT approach.

K&E, I agree with you... to a point. I see people who prey on the same very people you talk about to enrich themselves. I get burned up every time I hear the likes of people like Al Sharpton wanting "Social Justice" when it's their very policy of "Social Justice" that is keeping themselves enslaved in a vicious cycle of poverty and despair.

HAND UPS should be the Hand Out. Not the handout only.

I was only asking because if MWrench can't go to Mexico - could his church do something in the USA instead? I just was trying to find out if it was Mexico or no go...