Airdrie SkatePark!

Well this past weekend the newest park in Alberta opened up and I had a chance to skate it in the stretches of no rain... Not much but enough to know that New Line has done an awesome job on this park, it is great. I don't have any photos yet of the finished product but I will get some up later this week.

Adventures in Mazatlan: Day 8

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.

On the outset, we had two goals:

1) to help the YWAM workers (Andrew and Wiwi) build relationships with the local kids and begin sharing Christ with them

2)to invest in the local workers and equip them in any way to reach kids

Looking back I think we reached our goals. And learned so much in doing so. We attracted attention (as a group of 20 "locos gringos" or crazy white kids). God used this and now Andrew and Wiwi have an opportunity to continue what has begun. I was also encouraged to see that even now our kids are connecting to their new friends in Mexico over facebook. As funny as that sounds, its neat because they made real friendships and they can keep them up over the internet... until next year!

Bye Mazatlan! See you next year!

Adventures in Mazatlan: Day 7

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!

Adventures in Mazatlan: Day 6

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.

Adventures in Mazatlan: Day 5

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.

Time for club came, Spencer was no where to be found. I went looking and found him lying in bed in pretty rough shape. Too much sun, I decided to stick back with him and make sure that he was getting enough liquids and keeping cool, by the end of the night he was doing a lot better.

Adventures in Mazatlan: Day 4

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!

Dean and a couple of the kids spent the morning doing some painting at the YWAM base while the others did some major grounds clean up at the YWAM base as well. I now understand why you get a siesta in Mexico. It is hard work, slaving away under that hot sun... 36 degrees.

Dave Jonsson, one of the leaders from Vancouver did the talk at club. We didn't have a translator that day, but the kids were really excited to hear what he had to say and so they began translating to their friends what Dave was saying. We were encouraged by their enthusiasm.

Later in the evening Joel, Luke, me and 3 Mexican kids stuck around after club to finish the ledge. The kids that stuck around spoke no english and we spoke very little spanish, but it was awesome to build some community and see them get so excited about helping out and taking ownership of the ledge we wanted them to have to skateboard. It was neat to see, because there isn't a skate community like that in Canada, one so willing to work hard and help out. We have so much to learn.

Adventures in Mazatlan: Day 3

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.

It smells like a dump, it is hot, and there is dust and garbage blowing everywhere. A bunch of the kids met some 16 year old boys that were collecting tin cans and plastic bottles. We had run out of sandwiches long ago and now the kids we brought were looking for other ways to help. I took a look over and the kids were knee deep in garbage helping the mexican dump workers sort, bag and load the cans and bottles on a truck. It was amazing to see them be the hands of Jesus. I was blown away. The experience made for a quiet ride back to the base. Siesta time, and then getting ready for club night #2. The action never stops.

Club night #2 was great as well. There were almost twice as many skaters (40) as the first night and friendships were already building. The locals guys were inviting their friends to come and skate and hear the gospel message. God had prepared hearts ahead of us and that was neat to see.

And the kids we brought were learning so much too. After the dump experience a few of the kids felt that they could do with a little less so they decided to give away some of their skate gear to the locals, and take them out for tacos with us afterwards. Something they had learned the first club night of "seeing a need" was taking new shape as now it meant loosing something of their own. It was neat to see them learn and grow through the experience. After tacos, Spencer and Ty saw the owner's 2 year old little boy watching them skateboard and so they grabbed him and taught him to skateboard a bit, he loved it so much! It was neat to see, the day was a lot to handle but it was amazing to see God change and work through the kids we brought.

Adventures in Mazatlan: Day 2

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.

Today we headed to the lighthouse. It was a hike up the side of a mountain to a lighthouse that sat on the top looking out over the pacific. It was hot, but we managed to do it. The kids had a good time and it gave an amazing view of the city we would be calling home for the next 7 days.

After the hike it was definitely time for a swim in the ocean or a dip in the pool, and a little siesta. Later that night we would be doing our first club night with the local skaters, we had met some but I was getting excited to meet the crew and get to know them a bit better.

Tonight we had our first Club night. Word had gotten out that we were there and lots (20) of guys showed up to hang out skateboard and hear a piece of the gospel from Dean the first night through a translator (Andrew who works at the YWAM base). It was a really fun night and went really well.

Tonight I noticed our kids seeing needs and wanting to meet the needs of others around them. It became a trend I saw as the week progressed. We had given Andrew all the gear we brought down to distribute as he saw fit. But tonight kids saw needs and wanted to grab boards and give them out to their new friends.

Adventures in Mazatlan: Day 1

The chaos all began in the Calgary airport as 20 skateboarders from across Canada met to fly to Mazatlan. We gathered up over 100 skateboards and other various equipment to bring down with us to leave with the locals. It was indeed madness, but Westjet came through and got us on the plane without paying for any extra baggage or over weight bags. What a blessing that was for us. The plane ride was surprisingly quiet. And at the end of it we even received a compliment from a lady on the plane, saying that we were the most polite skateboarders she had ever met. We got off the plane and were met by

a blast of warm humid air, we were in Mexico. The kids were really excited, for some of them it was their first trip outside of Canada. They had no idea what was in store for them.

Our first day in Mexico was quiet as we learned the ropes of life at the YWAM base in Mazatlan and rolled around on our skateboards to explore our surroundings a little bit. It was overload for some of the kids as they were immersed into a culture and language they did not know. That night we went out and skateboarded the streets of Mazatlan, meeting a bunch of local skateboarders and enjoying the cooler temperatures. It was a crazy first day but we made it there in one piece and we were all excited to be there.