So, this is our first week after our Spanish teacher has left. We all miss having our teacher/ne friend around. It's funny when we meet people and they often times say they hope that we would visit. I always take those offers lightly, because many people do it as a kind gesture. Jorge said we were like family and offered me many times to visit him in Chiappas Mexico, I am pretty sure he was serious about the offer, but if he wasn't, he is going to just have to deal with it because i want to check out this town he told me about. He said the whether there is always perfect, well sometimes it can be cold, but there is jungle and beautiful mountains and waterfalls and a lot of short people. I can maybe become a tourist attraction down there ha-ha.
Well now that we don't have Spanish in the afternoons, we are trying to plan things to do, on weds the guys are meeting together and will be in small groups( spiritual growth groups, or accountability groups). I am glad that we are going to be having a formal time where we can get closer to one another and help one another out with our struggles along the way.
We will be required to commit to a ministry in town once a week for a few hours and also become friends with someone in the area who we can practice Spanish with and really get to know. This will help us with culture and help us get more comfortable here in town. Another reason, is we want to have an impact on the town we are in, if we just stay on campus all day, we will never have the chance to get out there and love on the town we are in.
I was thinking about what i will do, and i think i want to help teach English in some way. I always though teaching English was what every missionary does because it is the only thing we really have to offer, but i jokingly tell everyone the reason i struggle with Spanish is i never really learned English the proper way. Maybe i can teach myself as i go along. And for a relationship, i was thinking about going down the the gym on the weekends and making a friend. At one of the gyms, there is a climbing wall. I don't know how serious of a climbing wall it is, but i bet if some tall white guys is at it every week, i will meet someone here or there. It worked in Riverside, maybe i can do it here too in Mexico. it is also good, because i enjoy rock climbing, so its a win win situation.
well, time to go bug the roomy.

Today in class, we read some more of 1st peter, where it talks about women submitting and husbands need to respect your wives. I never thought growing up that men were more superior to women and i still don't. In chapter 3 vs 8,it says "Finally, all of you, live in harmony with one another; be sympathetic, love as brothers, be compassionate and humble. 9Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult, but with blessing, because to this you were called so that you may inherit a blessing".
I struggle with this more now than ever, i know we need to live together in harmony but i seem to always want to stir things up. sometimes i think it is good to have ideas stirred up and to be on your toes, but i am starting to feel bad when i poke fun at someone or don't feel for someone when they are feeling a certain way(pain, sadness, joy) i have become so guarded that i don't care about people anymore.

The next few are tough as well because it says something about loving others as brothers/sisters. my family has never really been super lovey dovey, so when i think of love like a brother, i think about the way i love my brother. He may never know it, but i have always been one of his protectors. Yeah i picked on him and we never have deep conversations about our lives. I would love to have a relationship with him like you see on TV, but he is so anti social. so back to loving others like i love my brother, I think i already do this in the way i love him, i show my love in weird ways, like making fun of everyone and always having people back when they need me. I'm there when they need money, a ride or even someone who will just listen. Maybe i should stop beating myself up about the way i love, because it truly is my way, i just need to be more conscious of how the other party receives my actions of brotherhood.

Today is day two in our study on 1st peter. The teacher this week is the student pastor from a church in Olympia Wa. He seems to know his Bible and seems to read a lot of books. We are going through a chapter a day, so we are taking it kinda slow. This study has opened up a few topics for debate and discussion. We discussed the topic of predestination, like if God predestins who will go to heaven and who will go to hell. We were also talking about suffering and trials, if they were the same of different. I think suffering is trials, but not all trials cause suffering. I hope to discuss more of these topics tonight or tomorrow with my roomate Rory, he seems to have studied a lot of this prior to Baja Bible.

This last thursday we had spanish class at the beach. After the party Kelly and i walked across the border to meet our friend Matt. He brought us to the castillo where we were having a fairwell party to say bye to the group from Ventana Minestries. The party was a retro party, so everyone was dressed up. We had a BBQ, retro music and a pumkin carving contest.
After the party, Matt drove me to my parents house in Riverside. I had to take care of some things in town so i was verry lucky to have the help of him and Brandon to be my transportation. On Friday, i went to the beach and had a bon fire with a few friends. We did manly things like walk across 2x4's that were on fire and stand next to the fire to see who could do it the longest. I had a good time hanging out with them, and enjoyed our good conversations that we had about missions. Saturday i had lunch with a friend and even fed the ducks at freemont park. It was a good time, i dont think that i have fed the ducks in over a year or so. Sat night i watched the angels game at Brandons house with a few other people.
Sunday was church at sandals. The sermon was really good, Matt was saying how we need to represent God wherever we are. The way i took the message was, that so many people want to go out on short mission trips to help others, when they dont even help their town. Riverside needs tons of help and people make excuses for why they are unable to help around town. Yeah i may be in T.J right now, and im not here for the sole purpose to help the town of T.J. but i do plan on helping around town however i can. I do the same thing when im home, bassically we need to help and spread God wherever we are.

Today in class we are going over the Sermon on the Mount. Our teacher is pastor Jason from Astoria Oregon. Today we were discussing what was the purpose of the Sermon on the Mount. Was it a way to live by so we can reach salvation? Is it rules to follow as believers in Christ? The conclusion that we came up with was it is neither; The sermon on the mount is an image of what the kingdom of God should look like in us.
So the next question is, how do we live this way? The spirit of God is the only way we can truly change. Jason had a cool quote that I enjoyed because it made things more clear. He said “Growing up in a town with lots of trees, I never saw a single fruit tree struggling to pop out a fruit from its branches”. Fruit is not produced by machines. We as Christian often try to do “good things” or things that we think and know God would want us to do, but we sometimes do it just because we know we should do them, not because we want to. So I think the way to answer the question, as to how we live the way the Bible teaches, is to Abide (stay) with Christ. By doing so, his spirit will run our lives. We want to create our own fruit rather than let God create in through us.
We need to stop trying so hard to be good people and “relax” and let go of things so that Christ will lead us and run our lives, then we will be able to truly represent Christ and his teachings. If I would just do this, it would change me more and more. I would be a better Brother, son father (in the future) Example to others as a Christian. So what’s holding us back?
Another thing that came in to my brain during class was, have you ever been in love? I mean like really in love? With a women, man? If so, you know how it feels to just desire and to really Love them. That’s what God gives us, and for what? Nothing, he loves us and gives us Grace because of it.
So this is what I got out of the first day of class on the Sermon on the Mount. The Sermon on the Mount was not intended to be a list of rules for us as Christians to follow or for people to do these things for Salvation.

This weekend I ran in the Long Beach Half Marathon. I was training for it but I don’t think that I took it seriously enough. I got through the first half pretty good, and around mile ten I really felt the pain from all of the running. Around mile 11 or 12 I walked a lot and I barely jogged past the finish line.
A few other from church ran in it as well and did an awesome job, I was impressed with the dedication and strength everyone had and gained from the training. We were trained by a volunteer from Sandals Church who enjoys those kinds of things.
While we trained, we would meet weekly and discuss things we were encountering and apply Gods word to our training. We would run, stretch and finish in prayer. One thing that was said in our email conversations was “Just like our base we have built up in training for the marathon, so is our base built up with God. Even if we fall away from him for a little while or miss a little bit of training, it is still some work but easier to get back into our training or relationship with God again.
I never thought that I was capable of running such distances or ever thought that I would want to run more than a mile, but after joining the Ripped group, I learned a few new things about myself. I currently am studying abroad in Mexico, but when I get back in town I would like to join the next ripped group and maybe train for a full marathon (that’s 26.2 miles).
Thanks Tony for your knowledge that you shared with the training and guiding us along with our walk. Thanks to everyone who was encouraging and helped me to push myself further than I thought my body was capable of.
I strongly recommend staying in shape and even if you don’t think you can, push yourself and stay on track and you will be able to do it.

This week we had a teacher name Bill Spear. He was a really nice guy and his wife was also very friendly and good to have here. Bill taught on the book of Genesis. we went through the whole book in one week and explained what was going on and why God allows for some of those things to happen.
Before coming here, i was fighting on actually wanting to go, beccause i wanted to be comfortable back at home, but now that i have been here for a few weeks, i am groing closer to God and trying to work on my relationship with him and others. Ever since my close friend past away, i have not had the greates relationship with both friends and God, i hope to be able to grow so much more during my time here in mexico.
One more week of spanish and then im on my own to learning. I have learned a lot becuase on my teacher Jorge, but it sure was tough.
Ill be home this weekend for a half marathon and next weekend to take care of some buisness. maybe ill see ya maybe i wont. but i hope to. untill then. tty

Today was sunday and a few of us went to church in la playas of tj. Playas= beach. It was a nice church that i enjoyed much. After church i came home and had leftovers from the other night for lunch. We then drove to Rosarito to ride horses on the beach. The horses didnt go very fast even though we tried hard to make them trot. We spent some time in Rosarito and saw a pretty cool sunset, pics to follow.
After another dinner at renays tacos, i was working out in my room while my roomate was talking to his dad on the phone. i discovered that doing sit ups with my shirt off makes a farting sound because of the suction from my back on the floor mat. My roomate and i couldnt stop laughing, cause everyone loves a good fart noise. We even made a video for it. but i cant upload it cause the internet down here sucks for hte most part.
well ta ta for now

last night after class a few of us crossed over to san diego and rode the trolly up north a bit. the trollies are cool cause its like 5 bucks for an allday pass or 9 bucks for a 2 day pass. it takes you pretty far up north, but its kinda slow. so last night got some in and out and explored a bit of the town. today i went back into sd to see what else i could find to do. i ended up going to a rock climbing gym that was ok, nothing like the ones back home. at the gym i made a friend named alex. he and i top roped together, cause the bouldering section sucks there. after that i met up with my friend addie who now lives in sd. we went to coronado cause i had never been there before. we explored a cool hotel and saw a wedding reception on the beach. it was pretty cool. the sun was awesome too. after that we got some frozen yogurt and then she dropped me off back at the border. oh by the wya i walked to and from the border, it was an hour walk each way. man it was tough.

I got some help from Ryan Douglas to help the look of my blog. Thanks Ryan!

If there is something broken let me know (and I'll tell Ryan). Also, if you have a blog and want it added to the blog roll give me the link.

Yesterday was one of the staff's birthday. She turned 21 so we had a little party for her. Everyone got a little dressed up, so i had to bring out the hair gel and make sure i was looking Slick. Dont be frightened by our gangsta looks, we wont kill you. haha. it was a fun night with cake sparkling cider and soda. fun was had by all.

So today i was telling one of the guys that i need to get out for a night and do something, so one of my friends suggested a movie. The movie costs 3.05 and was cool. we saw the new john travolta film where he hijacks the train. i think its called taking metro 123 or something like that. but anyways, it was a good time and helped my mind relax for a few hours.it was also good to hang out with some of the guys here.
spanish is still stressing me out, but my teacher told me that we are doing well. i think i am sucking at it, but ill keep on keepin on till its over. i think this weeked im going to run away to sandiego for the day so i can have what i use to consider a normal day. go rock climbing, go to the beach and maybe visit a few friends down there.