Dear Friends,

The past two weeks have been very busy and I have been out of time to keep the journal up to date. I will therefore describe a few of the highlights that have happened over that time.

For the main part the week leading up to Easter had me busy getting ready for the team from California. We had been informed that we would have 32 people but a few days prior that number was increased to 45.

The group that came were young high schoolers who had the week after Easter off to have a holiday. Most had not seemingly been out of the US so coming this far down into Mexico was a big cultural change. On the most part they did well and by the end of their time had adapted well to the different situations.

So that they would be busy and enjoy their time more, we (the El Refugio staff/team) gave them different jobs each day. They came already in teams so each day we moved the teams to new locations to do different things in the community. Some planted grass and painted walls at El Refugio; others went to the local orphanage and dug a large hole that will be used for the septic tank; others organised a Vacation Bible School that was held every afternoon; the fourth group helped with the food for the team and also at Aroma Divino.

On the Saturday just gone we held a surfing competition at the point break for the under 18's in both stand-ups and boogers. The event went well and enough youth came to compete. The comp was organised by us on behalf of Aroma Divino and a local clothing company MexPipe. Heaps of prizes were supplied by the Californians so everyone who entered got more than their money back. At the presentation ceremony one of the team members gave a 10 minute message and had a local non-Christian surfer translate.

The food we had each day was great and not what I or the others would usually eat every day. At night we went to local restaurants and sampled the choice Mexican cooking. It was difficult for some of the kitchens to cook for 50 of us but they got by. Some of the teenagers did complain and tried to not eat the food but I strongly encouraged then to "get the food down and ask God to keep it down!"

For me it was also concerning how much they did waste. It reminded me how different us westerners are and how we take for granted so many things that others in the world really only dream about. There were times where people could share so I was able to give them all a bit of insight into the culture and comment as to how they might fit in that little bit better.

After they all left yesterday I was very tired as the amount of sleep I got each day had been getting less and less. I spent much of the afternoon asleep and caught up on more in the night. For dinner all the staff went out to farewell Andy who leaves tomorrow. He has been a great friend and an amazing workhorse. Things will be strange without him here but one will just have to cope.

I have been going well spiritually and have had the desire to get stuck into the scripture. I have been going through my Spanish/English Bible and making note of the key things that I find. It has been exciting to have the desire and the time to study and get my relationship right with God. The exciting thing is that many of the things I am rediscovering have been used each day as I come in contact with people.

This trip to Mexico has been especially impacting on my faith and understanding of God's power that he has given to us to use. I have lost count as to how many people have been completely healed from the small to the large problems. We would usually say that these sicknesses/problems need medical assistance but when we use the authority that Jesus gave to us his children we through him can do the same things.

All of the youth who came on the missions trip last week went home with the same understanding as they saw many of their friends get sick or hurt themselves and then after pray they were COMPLETELY healed. I wish that we who live in the West would take hold of God's word more often expect God to do the things He says he wants to do for us.

At this stage I really want to return to Mexico early next year but first need to complete the Worldview college course. I will be returning to Australia on June 9th and start the college course on the 18th. Thanks again for your support and may you know Gods' blessing on your life.

MIKE [Miguel] ALLBUTT