Sunday, November 30, 2008

Welcome To The Ends of the Earth

To The Ends of the Earth is the new blog home for Woodbury Community Church mission trips. We're excited about what God is going to do through this page, and through our upcoming trips. As of now, our next scheduled mission trip is with Youth With a Mission's Houses of Hope Project, February 18-22, 2009 in Ensenada, Mexico.

Ensenada is a port city of 500,000 located on the western coast of the Baja peninsula of Mexico. It is about one hour south of the San Diego, CA and Tijuana, Mexico border. Like Tijuana, it is a city with a wide variety of social and spiritual needs. As a port city, Ensenada is home to many cruise ships and tourist attractions. Parts of the city, which cater to the many wealthy visitors, are extremely beautiful and modern. However, not too far from these areas are hillside barrios, dirt streets, and small one-room shacks that serve as homes for many of the city's residents. Much of the population consists of migrant workers and native Mexicans who live in extreme poverty being paid almost nothing and barely scraping out an existence. Some of these people are seasonal, coming to help with crops and other work. Many, however, who live there year-round are seeking ways they can better provide for their families and themselves. They are hard working people looking for an opportunity that will make a positive difference in their lives.

YWAM (Youth With a Mission), along with groups like ours, seeks to establish relationships with these people, help them with their practical needs and share with them the eternal hope of life with God through Jesus. Woodbury Community Church will partner with YWAM to share God's love with them by meeting one of their basic needs, shelter. God will also open up opportunities to meet spiritual needs as well. We'll be bringing a team of 22 people with us to Ensenada. Join us through the gift of prayer by holding up our team as we prepare to go to Mexico.

Specific prayer requests would be that God would provide the funds needed to bring a team of 22 to Ensenada. Pray that God will prepare our hearts for what we will see, and that he will prepare the hearts of the people of Ensenada for the good news of Jesus Christ. Pray for the family that we will be building a home for. Pray that God would use this home to be a blessing in their home and that they will in turn use their home to bless their community. Pray for our team that is working on the home to be safe as they do the work. Pray for our team that is working with children to be ready for what God brings their way.

We'll be updating this blog with periodic updates, but until that time, here is a video of what Houses of Hope is all about:



And, here is a video of last year's Woodbury Community Church team: