From mail at berkshiremission.org Tue Mar 2 18:45:07 2010 From: mail at berkshiremission.org (Berkshire Mission) Date: Tue, 2 Mar 2010 18:45:07 -0500 Subject: [News] Feb 27, 2010 Message-ID: <71329F5FE97C44A1BA116F55DF904CD7@eric> Feb. 27, 2010 Happy Sabbath. And what a glorious, spectacular Sabbath it has been. We are all riding so high on lofty winds that I don't know where to start. I guess the first thing I will tell you is that there were 19 baptisms last night and not 17 as we first thought. Plus 20 other people stood to proclaim their desire for future baptism. This morning we started out our Sabbath school with testimony time. First ,Berkshire Mission told their blessings and then next the Mexican folks. The church was packed and looked absolutely beautiful. It was all decorated with beautiful fresh flowers on the window grates and on the pews in honor of the weddings to take place. The 2 little bides were dressed in gowns of which I am sure some of the church ladies supplied,. They looked lovely. Especially the Tzotzil Indian woman, her features were just gorgeous. She was so very shy, one reason is she had no idea of anything that was said. She only speaks Tzotzil, and the custom of these people is one of shyness. She hardly ever would hold eye contact with anyone. Both couples were just so proud and happy about their beautiful wedding. Pastor Bill gave a wonderful talk about how to keep a marriage happy. Oh how I wish that were a talk that every person even thinking about marriage would have to listen too and then take an exam on. Very wise counsel indeed. Pastor Dwight did the wedding vows and also told with a tear in his eye about how happy and full of joy his 50 year marriage to Betty has been. When you follow the Lord's counsel wonderful things are in store for you. After the wedding many of our group presented the brides with a gift of money. Both couples were extremely poor but the Tzotzil woman didn't have a bit of furniture and when they were visited by the Pastor's they all sat on the dirt floor. I had the honor of preaching for the divine service and the topic was on being faithful to preach the gospel to all men. Paul presented the Pastor with a wonderful gift. He makes box's using the wood from various places. This one was made from the old wood of the very first 7th day Adventist church in Washington, N. H. A wonderful present in deed.. After the service and the wedding the Mayor of Jitotol, who they refer to as "President of Jitotol" stopped with many of his police officials. He has to travel with them because of the great chance of kidnapping here in Mexico. He came to tell us how impressed he and his town is with our work. He told us he is of Mayan decent and is a Catholic who sees God in us. He had diplomas., awards and certificates to hand out to Eric and Bob, along with a beautiful Mayan carving. The policemen passed out carved bowls,. And other carvings to each of us in the group. We certainly felt very honored and humbled by the officials gratitude. Next the church women came forward and presented a gorgeous hand woven purse to each of our women and the men passed out shirts of Jitotol to our men. We had so many gifts we could hardly hold them all. Then the hugs and tears started between all of us. To see these wonderful lovely people actually break down and cry over our leaving was hard to take and of course we started crying. Then they all wanted us to sign their Bibles and take pictures with us. Especially with Amy. In the mean time dr. Mark slipped away into the bus with an elderly woman and proceeded to extract a hurting rotten tooth. He came prepared with everything he would need to painlessly help this poor woman before we left. We could barely get away and our hearts certainly didn't want to. leave We have been involved in many missions but this one has been something above and beyond special. We have been so blessed, more abundantly than we had ever hoped for. Our cup is running over! In this trip we have delivered a baby, baptized many and had 2 weddings. Later in the afternoon we all gathered for our group picture at the University. Pastor Rigo suggested we all form a circle in the field and thank God for our many blessings on this trip. The experience was heavenly. This evening the University wanted to do a musical performance for us. One that was typical of Mexican style music and singing. We went to their auditorium and heard fabulous solo singers, a pan pipe player, and a violinist who happens to have graduated from AUC around 1980. She is now " Professor" Ruth Urdiales. Two of the students were dressed in costumes of Vera Cruz style. Paul once again presented one of his box's with the wood from the original church to the school. They were thrilled and said it would be put in the museum here. After this was over all the students came to take pictures of and with us. And to have us sign their Bibles. Poor Pastor Rigo, all the girls lined up to have their picture taken with him. Well, you know, some one has to do it right? And then there is the case of little Dillon...hmmmm what can I say? He ended up getting kissed again tonight by more than one older college girl. And then they told his mom to please bring him back when he is older! We are going to have to make sure he makes it on to the bus tomorrow. Along with Courtney who had a young man come to her room to give her his shirt. And it even smells like him she saidJ Then John, our interpreter gave her his hat. And if that wasn't enough there were boys coming to get her signature And called her a pop star. I am going to make sure I count heads tomorrow as we pull out of here at 5:30 A.M. Oh it has been a wonderful, thrilling day, full of joy, and a taste of heaven. We are so blessed. Thank you to all that have donated Bibles, money, toys and other various items. You have blessed people abundantly. Your heart felt gifts are recorded in Heaven. The people you have touched through this will be looking for you when we all get to our eternal home. I know they are going to want to thank you personally. Keep looking up to Jesus for every answer. He longs to hold you tenderly and walk through the garden with you. Blessings to you our dear friends. We will be headed to Cancun for a couple days of well deserved R+R and you will not hear from us till we are back in the states. Pray for our brothers in Chili,. The quake hit in the town we built the church in 2 years ago. Smiles as Always, Jennifer Young, Mission Reporter -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From mail at berkshiremission.org Wed Mar 10 17:13:20 2010 From: mail at berkshiremission.org (Berkshire Mission) Date: Wed, 10 Mar 2010 17:13:20 -0500 Subject: [News] Bouncing problem fixed Message-ID: <6C9C8379468F4A49B835CD6593B06A93@eric> Many of you have been calling and telling me that your email address was removed from the newsletter for Berkshire Mission due to (excessive bounces). We have fixed the problems on the server and your names have been put back on the list. All the newsletters that were sent while we were in Mexico are now on our website at www.berkshiremission.org click on the 2010 link on the left side of the page, also alot of updated photos from the project. Eric -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From mail at berkshiremission.org Wed Mar 10 19:36:37 2010 From: mail at berkshiremission.org (Berkshire Mission) Date: Wed, 10 Mar 2010 19:36:37 -0500 Subject: [News] Bird watching list from Mexico Message-ID: For all of our bird watching mission friends, here is the list of birds Pastor Taylor saw during our Mexico trip. You might also enjoy knowing that I just found out Pastor Taylor holds the #2 place in all of Texas for birding! Pretty impressive I would say. Smiles, Jennifer 66 total with 11 of them "lifers" (new) for him. House Sparrow Cattle Egret Black Vulture Turkey Vulture White Hawk Rufous-collard Robin Lesser Nighthawk Great Tailed Grackle Rufous and White Wren Wilson's Warbler Tropical Mockingbird Ruby-crowned Kinglet Acorn Woodpecker Green Jay Mountain Thrush Bar-winged oriole Gold-fronted Woodpecker Summer Tanager Southern House Wren Rufous-napped Wren Mexican Whip-poor-Will Social flycatcher Grace's Warbler Tropical Parula Rusty Sparrow Black-polled Yellow throat Black-Headed Siskin Banded-back Wren Pine Flycatcher White-lored Gnatcatcher Golden-cheeked Warbler Hairy Woodpecker Golden-olive Woodpecker White-collard Seedeater Blue Seedeater Belted Flycatcher Painted Redstart White-tipped Dove Greater Pewee Blackburnian Warbler Eastern Bluebird White-winged Dove Band-tailed Pigeon Beryline Hummingbird Grey-Silky Flycatcher Wood Thrush Streak-headed Woodcreeper Black-throated Shrike Tanager Townsend's Warbler American Kestrel Brown Pelican Magnificent Frigatebird American Herring Gull Blue Grosbeak Couch's Kingbird Cinnamon Humingbird Altamira Oriole Tropical Kingbird Ruddy Woodcreeper Black and White Warbler Brown Jay Rough-Winged Swallow Aztec Parakeet Olivacious Cormorant Franklin's Gull Caspian Tern -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From mail at berkshiremission.org Thu Mar 11 18:36:09 2010 From: mail at berkshiremission.org (Berkshire Mission) Date: Thu, 11 Mar 2010 18:36:09 -0500 Subject: [News] The rest of the Story Message-ID: The rest of the story. Early in the morning we picked up the last of our wonderful meals provided by the Linda Vista University caf?. At 5 A.M. that morning they had made breakfast and lunch and packed it all to go. We put them all in a tote, loaded onto the bus and off we went. It is always sad departing because we leave part of our heart at each mission area. In this case some of us left part of our stomach also. The 3 hour drive to Tuxtla with all of its continual curves, one after another was something not all would miss. The sites were glorious though, it is a beautiful area with incredible peaks and valleys. All went well in Tuxtla airport getting the returning totes and luggage checked and headed to Cancun. And of Cancun! It is hard to even think this area is part of Mexico it is so luxurious. We stayed at the Crown Paradise Resort which was more than any missionary could ever expect to experience. We had to split and come in on two separate flights to accommodate our large group but it all went well. We were met at the Hotel with delicious, beautiful fruit drinks made especially for us with no alcohol. It was an all inclusive resort which worked well all the way around. For us because of the huge selection of various food areas and for them because we are a cheap date .most not being meat eaters and all of us not being alcohol drinkers. This is one reason Bob is always able to work a great deal for us to have such a fantastic place for our well needed R+R before coming home. The hotel was not only beautiful; it sat right in front of that beautiful shade of blue ocean water. Many enjoyed the daily dip in the ocean with all its waves and others chose one or all of 6 different pools to play in. Pastor Bill had a scary experience in that he was hit by a series of rogue waves that hit him, knocking him over. The under tow was so strong that with each wave he only had enough time to catch a breath before he was under again and being pulled out further. He finally was able to get back up and make it out to safety. Bob was more than happy about that as he said it doesn?t look good on his resume to come back missing a Pastor!J Dillon and Alyssa were able to talk many adults into going down the water slide in one of the pools and it really became a fun adventure. No one surpassed their dad Jeff?s water landing though. That landing had the largest and furthest splash, soaking everyone sunning on the chairs pool side! .Ron and Pam road the mechanical bull that was in one of the restaurants? and I sure wish I could have witnessed that. I am sure it was fun. Eric, Courtney, Amy, Pastor Dwight, and Renita are a few I know that went on the zip line tour. They liked it but agreed that after the one in Guatemala it just couldn?t compare in thrill value. There were also a few of us that went to swim with the dolphins which I thought was absolutely fantastic, much better than the one in Honduras. A few of us also had the very exciting privilege of seeing the Mexican President?s motorcade come down the middle of the road heading to a resort in Cancun where he was having a meeting. It was more than a little impressive. They had put 2 military boats in the water, complete with long range arms pointed towards the road. Also there were military men in trucks on the side of the road with machine guns pointed right towards us as the brigade passed by. That was a little uncomfortable but to be expected. Police ran on foot down the side of the road directing cars to pull onto each side of the road as the Presidential brigade proceeded down the middle. I think probably all of our folks went to the flea market via bus from the hotel. It was fun shopping and down right hysterical as each of the shop owners came out yelling to us to come in their shop. The words they used were ?come in here, I can rip you off better!? Or ?give me a chance to rip you off?. Back at the hotel when ever you saw one of our group they looked happy and were having fun, either being active in one of sports or just relaxing next to a pool or on the beach. One thing is for sure, all of us are certain this has been the best trip ever. Something very special that we all feel so humbled to be part of. We left Mexico having changed lives and having our life changed in the process. It reminds me once more of that great song ?Why me Lord?? It goes on to say what have I ever done, to receive even one, of the pleasures I?ve known.? I challenge you my friend, if you have never been on one of these mission trips, try it and see, you can not out give God. The more you put in to bless others the more that comes back to you. We serve such a magnificent God that He has made it a natural law of reaping and sowing. Set out to bless another life and see what happens! What an exciting life Jesus has in store for those who follow Him, along with great peace and happiness. There are no ho-hum experiences for those that work for Christ. Thank you Jesus for allowing us to serve you. All glory and honor to the King of Kings whom we wait and long to see coming in the clouds of Glory. Smiling in gladness, Jennifer Young, Mission Reporter -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From missionlist at berkshiremission.org Wed Mar 17 22:08:34 2010 From: missionlist at berkshiremission.org (Berkshire Mission) Date: Wed, 17 Mar 2010 22:08:34 -0400 Subject: [News] Mission Trip program Message-ID: <6492277CF8354348965E6ABD1F92D8F9@eric> Berkshire Mission is planning a get together for Sabbath morning March 27 for everybody that wants to here about our recent trip to Mexico.This will be a good opportunity to share your trip with your friends and family. We will have lots of pictures and stories from members of the team. If you have something that you want to share, please contact us right away and we will put you in the program. We will also have a picture swap after the program. Please bring any items that you picked up in Mexico to display for others to see. Bring your laptops, memory sticks, cd,s etc and copies of your pictures and we can share photos. We will meet at the Berkshire Hills church at 10:45am. If you are planning on attending please email me back so we have a count. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From mail at berkshiremission.org Mon Mar 22 21:02:35 2010 From: mail at berkshiremission.org (Berkshire Mission) Date: Mon, 22 Mar 2010 21:02:35 -0400 Subject: [News] Mission Meeting change Message-ID: Hello Mission Friends Hope all is well with you and things are back to normal. Because of the notes and emails we have been receiving about next weeks mission meeting. I have decided to cancel it to possibly another time. its too much work to put together for just a few to show up. maybe you could email me and give me a better time for us to meet, Possibly even another location if that would help. I will be sending out my last email for the Mexico trip in just a short time. God Bless you all. Sincerely Bob -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From mail at berkshiremission.org Tue Mar 23 20:20:57 2010 From: mail at berkshiremission.org (Berkshire Mission) Date: Tue, 23 Mar 2010 20:20:57 -0400 Subject: [News] Berkshire Mission evaluation Message-ID: <22489255195A4DBAB4F10E16837C690E@eric> Hello Berkshire Mission Team. For those of you who went to Mexico with Berkshire Mission I have one more thing to ask of you. Please go to www.maranatha.org/evaluation and fill out the evaluation form online. These forms go directly to Maranatha. It only takes a few minutes. Please select the proper group in the pull down list. "BERKSHIRE MISSION 2010". Thanks Eric Young -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: