Time to head home. We made a lot of great friends and had a great time. Pray for Wiwi (above) and Andrew as they continue what was started this week through Remnant Skate ministry. It was great to have a lasting impact on the skateboard ministry down in Mazatlan. This is what Andrew from the Remnant Skate Ministry had to say about our visit. "Before you guys came down I knew maybe 10 skaters in Mazatlan, but now thanks to you guys being here I know over 50!" It was great to meet them and work along side with them to get to know the skaters of Mazatlan and share Christ's love with them.
It is a beautiful place, with beautiful people. We will all miss a piece of it as we return home. We hope and pray that it will continue to flourish in Mexico and that we are able to bring what we learned back home and continue to change the lives of kids here in Canada. As I chatted with our kids on the way home, I think the main learning theme that our kids came away with was the understanding that we have so much and not to take things for granted. This is something we all need to learn more about. Thank you to all of you who made it possible for the kids to make it. They truly had a life changing experience. It was amazing, and we look forward to continuing to build and foster the relationships that have started.
Surf day. Our last day in Mazatlan we decided to take the guys surfing. A few of us had done it before but none of us were experts. The kids had a blast and some of them caught on pretty quick. It was a ton of fun and a great reward for all the hard work the kids had put in through the whole week. The only incident was one of the kids getting hit in the face with his surf board. He had a bit of a bloody nose but nothing too bad. It was a great morning and afternoon on the beach.
Later that evening we had a taco party at the YWAM base. About 20 of the Mexican skaters came and joined us. There are usually not a lot of Mexicans at the YWAM base, we learned. It's a bit of a 'white zone' but after a week of making great friendships and sharing Christ these barriers were broken down. We found out that a few of our guys had gone to the town hall meeting and got to witness the Mexicans getting permission from the government to build a skatepark! It was awesome to be there to witness that! Also the locals brought a Mexican skate video and were really excited to show us. It was really good and very cool to see another culture as excited about skateboarding as we are!
The sun set on the last day of our trip. We made a lot of great friends, and had an amazing eye opening experience, but I am excited to be heading home to see my family. One more day of cleaning and packing and tomorrow afternoon we fly home. What an amazing trip!
Today was contest day. It is our 2nd last full day in Mazatlan and we are excited to put on a big contest for the locals. We've got a bunch of prizes and we are going to bring a sound system, tent and some more ramps down to la werta to throw a big contest. The kids are all pretty excited about it because now they have all built really great friendships despite the language barrier. It has been really cool to watch. And now they get to hang out and compete in the contest with all their new friends.
We did it so that there was intermediate and expert divisions. Almost everyone there competed, even me! It was a lot of fun, everyone really got into it. We had an english and a spanish announcer and a lot of riders. I think we had over 40 participants and a lot of spectators! The mexican skaters took first in both expert and intermediate. Nester got first in Expert and Axel got 1st in intermediate. It was a great day. It was awesome to spend most of the day just hanging out with the local skaters. We had such a good time with them.
Today was a needed off day. After working hard all day in the sun, exhaustion set in for a bunch of us. I had my first siesta, until Joel's bed broke and woke me. Luckily he wasn't sleeping above me, just across from me. It was great to just hang out and take in the beauty of our surroundings. Some guys went skateboarding, others went to the market, me and a few others went and checked out the surf contest that was happening at the beach. It was cool to watch.
After a little relaxing, we decided to go pick some mangoes fresh from the tree. You just grab a big stick and throw it up into the tree and the mangoes come falling down. They were delicious. Way better than the ones you buy in the store. We definitely ate our share of mangoes during the week.
Today was a real working man's day. We split up into 5 groups and got to work. Spencer, David, Chris (from YWAM) and me went to la werta skate spot and did some maintenance. We hired a man walking by with a machete to hack back the jungle and we cleaned up the garbage and swept the giant concrete slab. About 10 mexican skaters came and gave us a hand, it was neat to see them come and get so involved in the initiatives we were taking on. Luke and Joel went out and about getting materials for building a ledge at la werta. Later that day I gave them a hand putting the finishing touches on the ledge. It looks great!
Today was a day that won't easily be forgotten. We started the morning out by making a lot of sandwiches. We were going to pack them up with some water and head to the Garbage Dump. We were told that there are a lot of people that live there and work there. No one was really sure what to expect. What we found was not pretty. People live in a small village at the base of the dump, and some do not have enough money to live in the houses there so they make their own houses in the dump itself out of garbage. 
Up bright and early for breakfast. 7 am... I think only 5 or 6 of us had breakfast. Good luck getting 20 skateboarders up at 7 am for breakfast. I definitely did not have luck getting anyone up to join me for breakfast. 
