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Friday, March 31, 2006
Today was a really great day! Allie and I had two dates. We ended up going out for breakfast together and then we went and ate it at a park in the sun. We then spent that time to pray together and read a chapter from the bible. It was a good time. We ended up getting back about 30 minutes before our next class started so Allie had to go print some things while she had the time for it. My next class was pretty normal and I think fell asleep in it some. After that I returned to my room to get some homework done. By the time my next class came around it was 3:20 or so. I went and waiting there for about 5 minutes with the others in the class and then our teachers secratary came in to let us know he wasn't going to be able to make it to class that day. So that gave Allie and I an extra 2-3 hours today. That was great! I wanted to go see Narnia but if we would have gone to see the late showing we wouldn't have made it back in time for hall meeting. But since my class was cancelled it worked out and we were able to go see the 3:50 showing. I was glad I got to see it, but I think I expected it to be more then it was. It was great to spend some time with Allie though. We haven't been on a date for a long while. After the movie we went out to panera bread for dinner and we both ordered a bread bowl soup. It was really good. We sat there and talked for awhile about some stuff. After that we just came back to campus so we could get some of our homework done. I was behind on what I wanted to have done today though so I had a lot to do. I finally got it all figured out now though and just about ready for bed. Anyway.. great day today! Night!
posted by Jeremy Dillinger @ 2:51 AM 
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Thursday, March 30, 2006
Nother long day for me. Sleepy time it is. Not much to report on for the day anyway, work, school and church was all. Night!
posted by Jeremy Dillinger @ 1:40 AM 
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Wednesday, March 29, 2006
Today the weather was nice enough and I was actually to fly. As I was heading over there though My instructor called me and said the Plane I was signed up for was down for maintenace because the flaps were broken. None of the other planes I normally fly were available today either. But my instructor gave me the option to try a completely different airplane. I ended up Flying Piper Warrior today instead of my standard Cessna 152. It was a little more expensive per hour but it was worth it. This plane is a four seater and it has the low wing instead of the highwing layout. Also all the controlls are in different places in the cockpit, so I had to find everything again. Even with all the changes though I ended up doing really good with it. The feel is quite a bit different then the other plane though so I'm not sure if the practice I did today will be as helpful when I get back to the other one. It was still good to learn a new plane though. I will need to do that eventually anyway. The rest of the day I worked on homework sporatically through the day. Every chance I had between classes and flying and dinner and stuff I was working on a project or a paper or something. I feel like I got a lot accomplished today so thats nice. I think its time for me to turn in for the night though. Adios!
posted by Jeremy Dillinger @ 12:40 AM 
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Tuesday, March 28, 2006
I had to go to work this morning, so I didn't go to convo or anything, It was pretty typical, but not very busy today. I leaft at 4:15 so I could head to my next class. It was a project managment class and its 3 hours long. Today seemed to just really drag on We had to do three different presentations today for that class. After that I had to get some homework done so I started doing some of it until I had to stop and head to a prayer leader meeting. It was kind of enough time to sit and think through what I was going to do. After the meeting I then walked Allie back to her room and came back to my room to get my project started some more. I'm at a stopping point now though so I think I"m going to head to bed. Night!
posted by Jeremy Dillinger @ 2:46 AM 
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Sunday, March 26, 2006
I didn't end up getting to go flying today. The sky was too hazy, and it was snowing. So it was a no go. I just worked this morning then came back to my room and studied for the past 10 hours. I got a lot done. It was good. Time for bed now though. Night!
posted by Jeremy Dillinger @ 1:01 AM 
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Saturday, March 25, 2006
This morning I woke up a little bit extra early so I could head to the religion hall for an interview for a possible missions trip. I have the opportunity maybe to go to Equador where Nate Saint Served with the Woadoni (Auca Indians). I'm not sure if the trip will work out for me specifically, but I'm at least going through the process just incase. The interview itself didn't take too long, but waiting in line for it took a good while. I finally got done just as convo was starting. Instead of being late for convo though I just went to ministry chapel instead. I met up with Allie for a few minutes afterwards but then had to go to work. Everything at work today was pretty smooth and actualy kind of slow. Seemed like the day dragged on though. After work I stopped in over at the Donnebergs for what was only going to be a few minutes, but instead I ended up hanging out for a couple hours and for dinner too. It was fun, but I couldn't stay long because I needed to get back to my room so I could get some more of my homework done. Its moving right along now I think. But it still seems like my pile of work hasn't gotten any smaller. Oh well, for now I'm going to head to bed. I have work in the morning, then I have an appointment to go flying. Pray the weather stays clear for me! Anyway.. Night!
posted by Jeremy Dillinger @ 1:35 AM 
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Friday, March 24, 2006
I was able to be pretty productive today. I finished (for the most part) a project I had to have done for my web class. You can see it if you want at http://php.jerdill.com I think it turned out pretty well. Anyway, I can't think of anything too exciting to write about today. Mostly was just a typical day catching up on stuff. I'm gonna head to bed now. Night!
posted by Jeremy Dillinger @ 1:40 AM 
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Wednesday, March 22, 2006
I feel better now, two of the major things I needed to get done are done now. I was up really late last night getting both worked on. It was a releif to get those out of the way. I did my presentation today and that went really well I think. Then Allie and I went to breakfast and we kind of had our own personal debreifing about the Mexico trip together. That was really good and we talked about some good stuff. The rest of the day I worked on more homework assignments. That trip did set be back quite a bit on homework and I'm not ahead anymore. Everything is getting done by the wire now. Hopefully that won't be for too much longer. Anyway, it turned out to be a productive day. So that was good. I think I'm going to head to bed now. Night!
posted by Jeremy Dillinger @ 12:44 AM 
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Tuesday, March 21, 2006
Got some good new and bad news. Good news first.. I got a decent amount of sleep last night and that was nice. Bad news... I just lost all of it tonight as I had to stay up to finish a group project thats due tomorrow and also get some articles found/read/analized that needs to be turned in tomorrow. I still have two more of those to do tomorrow before I'm completely done. Anyway.. this week is going to make me crazy getting back on track from the missions trip. I have sooooo much stuff due this week. I might as well go to sleep and get the two and a half hours tonight if I can. Night!
posted by Jeremy Dillinger @ 3:25 AM 
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Monday, March 20, 2006
Hey everybody, I made it back. Just wanted to make a post to let you know I returned safely. I don't have time right now to elaborate on the flight back though. Gotta get to sleep. Only slept two hours in the past 48! night!
posted by Jeremy Dillinger @ 12:19 AM 
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Saturday, March 18, 2006
Friday 17th 2006
Friday ended up being a decent last day here in mexico. It was planned for us to go hand out rice and beans at a garbage dump and a nearby dump neighborhood. We split up in two teams that morning and I stayed with a team here at the orphanage that filled bags with rice and beans for handing out. Another group went back to california and separated clothes like we had done on tuesday. My group was done pretty quickly though and had about two hours free while we waited for the other team to get back. I ended up using that two hours to play with some of the kids. I started with two of them and we came to the computer and I showed them how to play with Microsoft Paint. They were really excited about that. Eventually like six kids were surrounding me and all wanted to hold the mouse to draw stuff. It was really cool. We drew little stick figure pictures of ourselfs and I typed our names above our heads. It was good fun. We actually did that until the other team came back, It was cool that the kids were so interested in that. After they returned we ate a quick lunch and then loaded up the vans with the rice and beans and stuff. Before we left though Sara brought us into the chapel and she wanted to explain what it would be like ahead of time and give us some directions. Turns out that our Liberty team was assigned the surrounding neighborhood and the catholic team was assigned the garabage dump itself. When I heard that, I was somewhat dissapointed again because I wanted to see what the garbage dump was like. The neighborhood we went to was pretty shocking and it was hard to see people live in those conditions, but I have a feeling the dump was even worse and in a way I wanted to see that too. It was a truly great experience to have the opportunity and hand out the food to the people living in those neighborhoods though, and I was glad to have that chance. I wish we could have known some spanish better so we could talk to them some more. Mostly all we could say was "God Bless". It was a good experience and you begin to see the world through different eyes when you look on that lifestyle. After we ran out of rice and beans we then got back in the vans and headed over to the womens shelter to see the kids over there. The view from the hill it was on was amazing and you could see the city all around. After going inside we found out that most of the kids were at school unfortantly so we weren't able to see probalby 70% of them. BUt the few that were there were so cute and fun to play with. They loved having us there and were excited to have some attention. One girl in particular that I played with laughed a lot when I would just touch her and play with her. She was so cute. It was sooooo sad though when they were told we had to leave now. She went from a big laughing smile to a straight face with almost no emotion. It was so hard to see that. I was just thinking that all thier life's consisted of was people leaving. They never have any consistency and I'm sure that is soo difficult for them. Anytime they feel comfortable enough with someone to love, they end up being left behind as that person goes back to thier own life. I can only imagine the scars that can bring in a little childs life. Hard one to think about....

That was the last main thing we had to do here in MX before we setup to leave the next day. After we finished at the shelter we returned for a quick break to the orphanage. Another group from Sandiego was arriving and they were bringing a bunch of things for the kids too. They had a big night planned with them with activites and stuff. They were a group of highschoolers and they just came down for one night to do this. So while they setup and had thier little party, our group had to go out for dinner. When we got there it was two hours before our reservation though, so Sara has us do some shopping down the main street for awhile. There wasn't much that was too different from the first place we went the first day though so it was kinda just to kill time. One store we found was a lot different though and Allie really liked that place. I got some on video. We ended up wandering back to the restarunt about 45 minutes early but they let us in that time so that was good. The meal was pre-selected by sara for all of us before we even got there so we all had the same thing. It was good, but it would have been nice to try a variety of what they had. It was rice and beans (of course) with an enchalada, taco, and burrito. I wasn't able to quite finish mine though. I think I ate way too many chips and salsa before hand. The restarunte was the same place we had dessert the other night, so the band was there to sing again and everything. It was nice once again, but some of the team wanted to get back to the orphange and see the kids once more since we were leaving the next day. They didn't want to sit and just hang out, I didn't really blame them though. I thought it was good that we left when we did. We arrived just in time as the kids were heading to bed. Everybody ran to see the kid that clings to them most and was able to say goodbye to them. It was a sad, but fun sight to see. After the kids fell asleep, I pretty much went upstairs and tried to go to sleep too. That other group that was here though was sprawled out everywhere so we had to figure out a spot where our bags would lay flat. Plus lots of them were watching movies on laptops and stuff and being really loud while doing that, That made it difficult to sleep. Anyway, I set my alarm for 6am since we would be leaving at 7am and finally fell asleep.
posted by Jeremy Dillinger @ 8:52 AM 
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Thursday 16th 2006
Thursday when I found out what we were doing I found myself to be somewhat disappointed. I had my hopes up to go to the womens shelter that day. Well after breakfast Ashley informed us that we were going to be going back to Rosearito and finish up some more construction work. A lot of us ended up having to go back to our rooms and change into our work clothes before we left because nobody knew of the schedule change until 10 minutes before we left. At first it was somewhat disheartening. On the drive over, I got myself excited again though just to think about how many weeks ahead of schedule the project would be. I was still sore and wasn't ready to do very much manual labor, but I was ready to work. After getting there my first job was on the team that moved a dirt pile into an area where they needed more dirt. The pile was right below the spot that needed it, so we didn't use a wheelbarrow or anything. We instead put dirt in 5gallon buckets and lifted them up over the ledge and put the dirt where it went. My job was lifting the buckets up over the ledge. I was only able to do that for about two hours before I had to stop. While we were moving the dirt piles, in the background behind us, one of the guys was trying to re-park a schoolbus. For some reason he was backing it up and the back end went over a ledge with a large pile of loose dirt. The bad part was that it was also down hill, so he got to one point while trying to get himself out that the bus almost tiped over and rolled down the hill. If it would have tiped and rolled, it would have ended up hitting one of the finished buildings and most likely damaged it pretty bad. The girls were all screaming anytime he tried to gas it to get out as the bus leaned almost 45 degress. The driver finaly quit and jumped out of the bus, he then had some of us get behind and start to dig out the loose dirt that was under the wheels. Then once he had what he thought was a clear enough path he then had us all pile on the bus and push up against the opposite side of the bus for extra weight and balance. It was a little nerve racking knowing how close to tiping that bus was and climing on it anyway. But with the dirt pile gone and the extra wieght he was able to get himself out alright. But it was a trying experience for sure to see who would get on and who wouldn't. Allie actually got on the bus too. I was proud of her for that. Looking back it was funny to see how such a simple thing of re-parking a bus turned into a huge ordeal. Anyway, it made a good memory. So.. back to work we went. After I gave up on lifting the buckets I ended up going with a team to clean out a storage area that had random stuff and dust everywhere. Our goal was to make a big open area inside where we could eat lunch. Sounded like they wanted to make it thier permanant lunch place even after we left though. But that turned out to be a decent assignment for me as my arms were pretty much jello at that point. We finished that job just in time for lunch too.. it worked out perfectly. The lunch came in just as the last full dust pan went out. After a good lunch, back to work we went. We worked for another two hours or so on moving dirt piles into areas that needed to be leveled. It ended up being really nice though when the guy in charge said.. "Ok lets go" about two hours early. I knew I was ready to go at that point. So we all quit working, but we still didn't leave right away. One group wanted to go on a hike for some reason. I was completely out of leg energy so I wouldn't have been able to walk up a steep hill. But still a group of about 11 headed up a nearby mountain to check out the view. Apparently they had a great time though. For those that stayed behind, we ended up waiting for about an hour and a half for them to get back. We just sat around the whole time. SOmeone ended up bringing us some fresh picked oranges though so We ate those while we waited. Allie even liked the fresh picked oranages and that was cool because normally she doesn't like oranges at all. I don't understand that though because she likes mandrine and clementine oranges and they're basicly the same thing. Oh well.. The world may never know... So finally the group returned from the mountain hike and we hit the road back to the orphanage. On the way back we stopped at a candy store to pick up some filler for a pinada we were doing later that night with the kids. It was a huge bulk candy store and it was like a small wearhouse full of sugary goodness. Ashley gave us the opportunity to pick out two packages of something per person and give it to her for purchase as part of the childrens pinata filler. We were actually there for awhile before everybody decided and we were checked out. So anyway, we had to sneak all the chocolate and stuff back into the orphanage without any of the kids seeing. It worked out well though because the kids were in a chapel service by the time we got back. Shortly after dinner we started the party. It was going to be our last night for quality time with the kids so we made it a great time for them. The pinata was fun and it didn't take long before it was broken. We also were on ledges around the orphanage throwing candy down from there too since it didn't all fit in the pinata. It was a mad house for awhile with them all scurrying about gathering up as much as they could. After things calmed down a little bit we brought them all into the chapel to do a little craft with them. We had them make little picture frames and they could decorate them with stickers and stuff. A lot of them were too interested in the candy to care about that though. After we gave them some time to do that, Allie and I then handed out the toys we brought from our church. We tried best we could to make sure the girls got toys they could play with and the boys got all the cars and stuff. There was just quite not enough girl toys though, so a few of the girls got cars too. But I don't think they really minded that much. They were just happy to get stuff. They started out in a single file line to try and get stuff from us, but that didn't last very long at all. Soon I was swarmed with boys grabbing for stuff. There was enough for everyone to get two I think. I started with one each but by the time I got done with handing them all one, there was still quite a bit left. I think they all ended up getting at least two. It was very cool to see the smiles on thier faces. The rest of the evening we just played with them as much as possible since we wouldn't have much time Friday. It was a great night and the kids and us all had a great time. God really used us to bless the kids here this week. After all the kids went to bed I was ready to get to bed also. Ashley told us we were supposed to have a meeting later on though so I tried to stay awake for that. SOme of the older orphanage girls were doing all the other girls' hair on our team with braids and things. So Ashley was going to wait until they finished everyones hair. Turns out that after they were all done, she decided not to have a meeting because a lot of people had already gone to sleep. That was kind of disappointing because I was really tired and could have gone to bed like an hour and a half earlier. Plus if we would have had a meeting I would have had some fun stuff to share with the group that time and I never got another chance to do it. Oh well, things happen I guess. I was able to see one of the girls start the process on Allie's hair though before I went to bed. That was cool so I could get a picture of it. Anyway, I went to bed after that finally and I think I was asleep almost as soon as I hit the pillow.
posted by Jeremy Dillinger @ 8:04 AM 
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Thursday, March 16, 2006
Wednesday 15th 2006
Wednesday was another day of good hard work. I wasn't too sure if I would be able to make it through considering the stiffness and soreness hanging around from Mondays work. But God truly enabled our bodies and gave us that extra energy we needed. It started out at 7am once again for breakfast. After breakfast we were about to have another meeting before going to work, but something came up and the meeting never happend. So We instead just piled straight in the vans and headed to the work site. Our mission for wednesday was to utilize the trenches we had dug on monday. Tuesday the workers had gone through and put rebar in all the holes and got them ready for the cement to be poured in. So Wednesday we had to mix cement, carry it across the site in wheel barrows and then get it dumped in the trenches while a team flattened it. We had three teams, one team did rocks, sand, water and concrete and poured it in the correct amounts into the cement mixer machine. (Allie did the rocks) Then A group of six worked three wheelbarrows one pushing and the other guiding each barrow. I was part of this group after lunch. The job I did for most of the morning before lunch was shoveling and flattening the concrete into the right amounts along the foundation-to-be. That was pretty fun. I had big wading boots on and was down in the trenches getting concrete poured all over the place. I had it in my hair and all over my face and hands. It was still a good time though. Allie did a great job shoveling those rocks too because that concrete just kept on coming. If I had to guess it took well over 100 wheelbarrow trips to get to where we did wednesday. We got about 85% done by the time we had to leave for the day. It was a very productive day though and we all felt like we accomplished a lot. The team is now ahead of schedule about 2weeks. After arriving back at the orphanage all the showers ended up getting taken. So I attempted to wait until they cleared up, by the time I was able to take one all the hot water was gone. I decided it wasn't worth it enough to be clean taking a cold shower, so I ended up just going to dinner with all the concrete still in my hair and on my face. I think dinner wednesday was the best dinner they've served us yet, we had tacos and guacamole and all the fixins. It was great! After dinner we then went out for dessert at a restarunt called Mariachis (not sure of the spelling). But we ate icecream and Allie had flan and they had the group sing mexican music to us while we were there. Allie got some of it on video to bring back with us. The dessert was really good and i think we all enjoyed ourselfs there. On the way back after leaving we stopped in to a grocery store to get a few needed items. Only 3 or 4 people went in and the rest stayed in the van and most fell asleep... that is until somone tried to get out and set the car alarm off (It sets itself when the doors lock). Well Ashley had the keys and she was inside the store still, We had no way to turn it off until she got back So the alarm was going off for about 5-10 minutes while we waited for her to come out. Everyone trying to sleep in the van at the time of course was not able to. It was a good laugh though and makes a good memory. I think the person parked sitting in his car nearby won't forget it either, he was laughing at us pretty good. Anyway after finally returning to the orphanage the water was hot once again so I was able to go get all the cement out of my hair. It was well worth waiting for the hot water though I'll say that for sure. It was nice to be clean again. After my shower I could finally get to bed.

One more thing I wanted to note before I close off is the fact that I realized how privledged I am to have great and Godly parents. Just seeing all these orphans that have no family or an abusive family really makes someone think. God has so blessed me with a family that loves me. I hope to never make the fact that my parents will be there for me if I need them insignificant. It is truly a great thing to have. Love you Mom and Dad!
posted by Jeremy Dillinger @ 6:08 AM 
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Wednesday, March 15, 2006
Tuesday 14th 2006

Tuesday turned out to be another work day, but it was of lesser magnitude. It was good though because I know a lot of us wouldn't have been very effective if we had to do the same thing we did monday. So Tuesday started out again with breakfast at 7am then a quick breifing meeting. We then found out that our job for today was to take place on the california side of the border. So we piled in the vans and headed north. It was only about a 20 minute drive to the border, but we were waiting in the border patrol line for another 15-20. It was good that it was a tuesday morning though and not a weekend or that line could have taken a few hours Sara said. Everything went smoothly for us though and they let us pass without any problems. Our first destination was to a storage unit there and we were to get some clothes there that had been donated to the mission. There was one storage cube I worked in with about 8 others that had about 20 large boxes full of clothing donated from "Forever 21" We had to go through them all and take all the hangers off and remove any tape that was on them. we also filled 5 suitcases with some of the clothing to bring back with us. I think we were there for almost 3 hours doing this. Normally Sara and shawna are the only ones doing that and they said that all of us doing it for them saved a couple days worth of work for them. That was sure nice. Meanwhile, without me knowing about it Allie was chosen to go with Shawna along with three other girls back to the californa admin office. It was cool that Allie was chosen though because they were going to be doing a newletter and stapling and mailing stuff. That has been her job for the past three years. So God had her in the right place tuesday. I unfortunatly had no idea she had gone somewhere.. so after finishing up at the storage facility they took us to a small strip mall area in Californa. One of the guys from our team had lost his luggage on the drive across the border somewhere, so we had to buy him some new clothes. I just assumed the whole time that Allie had gone in the other van with the first group. After my van got to the mall I didn't really even try to look for Allie, I assumed we would just run into each other or someting, so I just hung out with another group wandering the shops. When it came time to meet back up so we could pile back in the vans Allie never showed up. Both vans were full and Ashley asked if anybody was missing before we left. I spoke up and told her I hadn't seen Allie since the storage unit. Ashley didn't even know where she was either and neither did anybody else. So there was a little bit of worry in the air. But Shawna from the other van spoke up and reminded sara that there were some people back at the office, so we just had to assume one of them was her. After swinging by there to gather up the girls at the office we found her. Allie and Jessica ended up staying back with Shawna though after the other two girls left to finish up the work. So our vans left back to MX and they stayed in CA. Later that day they ended up having to walk across the border to be picked up on the other side by sara. It was easier to do that then have Sara wait in the customs line to drive all the way across just to turn around and go back. So Allie was excited about being able to do that. You'll want to ask her all the details about that later probalby. So anyway, after I got back to the orphanage I went back up to my room and attempted to start my devotions. I ended up falling asleep though and I never woke up until dinner. I went up there at about 1:30 and dinner was at 6:00. So I slept for about 4 hours. It was sure good stuff. By the time I went down for dinner Allie was back and that made me happy so I could finally hear about all that went on for her. That was the first chance I had to talk to her since we crossed the border that morning, I only heard what she was up to indirectly from what others told me. After dinner we didn't really have a set schedule for anything. I waited around for a bit to see for sure what was going to happen later that night, but nobody really knew, I don't think we even had a plan. SO I just went up to my room again and finished my devotions since I didn't really do them the first attempt. My devotions were pretty good tuesay too. While I was up there one of the guys from the catholic group came up and saw me reading my bible. So he shared with me a verse he had read that morning. Isaiah 1:16-18 It talked about taking care of the orphans. I thought it was a good verse, and I also thought it was cool that it was one from the catholic that shared it with me. Anyway after my quiet time I headed back down to the main area and all we ended up doign the rest of the evening was play with the kids and make sure they were loved. It was a good time. After they all went to bed, we had our debreif meeting and shared some more things that we have learned on the trip. Once we broke up from the meeting I decided to just go back up to bed even with my nap I was still tired. So turned out to be a good day. Wednesday we go back to the place we worked monday for some more gueling work. Eager for the ministry and service, not eager for the sore muscles....
posted by Jeremy Dillinger @ 7:58 AM 
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Monday 13th 2006

Monday was a really tough work day, but it was great. We had to wake up by 7:00am for breakfast. After breakfast, we helped clean up dishes and the dinning room and stuff. Then our group got together in the chapel for a quick briefing meeting. We had a short bible study then we went over what was going to happen that day. Our job for monday was to go to the the site where they are building a new orphanage complex and help the workers there. There was actually a lot to do, but at first it seemed like we stood around a lot waiting for a job. Once things got rolling we acomplished a lot though. one Job we had was moving cinder blocks from one side of a location to another. There were roughly 2-300 of them probably. We setup an assembly line though and we got them moved in about 40 minutes after that was completed they assigned some guys to trench digging and others to dirt moving and a group I was in had to move piles of trash into a burn pile. Its amazing how long it takes to move a pile of trash 60ft. With about 7 of us we were moving trash for well over an hour. It sure felt good to be doing something rather then stand around though. Once the trash pile was moved I went up to go help dig in the treches. We were working on a foundation so Our job was to get a trench dug that was about 16inches deep and 24inches wide around the border of where the building was going. Most of the trench was already there, but there was about a 30ft section that Me and two other guys had to dig out. It was cool, because I got to use a jackhammer to soften up the ground and chip away the sides some so we could dig it out better. I liked that thing, it was fun. Anyway, so I spent most of the day hunched over shoveling dirt out of a trench. My back is extremely sore right now. We ended up stopping for about a 40minute lunch in the middle and it was really good. They had PB&J sandwitches and also turkey and cheese sandwiches, It was kind of rough with the break in the middle though and then having to get back to work once it was over. One of the things about working there that was tough was the amount of tools they had. There were too many of us to all have a shovel or pickaxe etc. There was actually still a few people that had to stand around awhile while waiting for a job they could do. Overall the day was very productive though. The main person in charge said at the end before we left that we had helped them do about a weeks worth of work in only 7 hours and they were now ahead of schedule. That was good to see. On the drive back we took the beach route and we could see the ocean the whole trip back to the orphanage. It was cool for the part I saw, but I ended up falling asleep. I think Allie video taped some stuff while I was asleep though. After getting back we found out the water was back on and running so I hurried up to get a shower before the hot water went away. A warm shower (with major temp fluctuations however) sure was good. It was nice to be clean again. After the shower we just kind of relaxed for awhile until dinner was ready. The meal of course was again very good and was perfect after a hard day of work. We then just stuck around the orphanage and gave attention to the kids until it was time for them to go to bed. After they went to bed we had a debreifing meeting and shared things that we realized or learned so far on the trip. Those meeting have been pretty good. After the meeting, those that wanted to could go with the group and walk down the street a couple blocks and go to a little store to get some candy or chocolate or something. I went with them all, but I didn't end up buying anything there. I realized though on the trip there and back that it was hard to walk. My legs were sore and stiff and I kind of had to wadle to keep up. Allie kept trying to push me to go faster, but that didn't really help that much. Anyway after the walk back we kind of sat and hung out for awhile in the dinning hall but I didn't stay long. I was pretty tired so I just went on to bed.
posted by Jeremy Dillinger @ 7:18 AM 
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Monday, March 13, 2006
Sunday 12th 2006
Sunday turned out to be a pretty good day, things picked up a little better today and i didn't feel so aimless wandering around doing nothing. First we had breakfast at 8am with the kids and then we hung around for a little bit, then at 10:30 we all headed out for a church service at the mexican church. It was in an old building where wrestling matches used to take place so the stage was in the middle and the people were all around it. It was kind of fun. Random translators took seats among us and people were translating all around us as they spoke. I was at a spot where it was still hard to hear though and i had a tough time following the message. Allie was able to keep track pretty well though and she filled me in at a few places. The service seemed a little longer then I was used to though, but it was probably mostly because I had a hard time understanding. From what I got out of the message it seemed like a good one. After the service we headed back to the orphanage to have some lunch. By the time we got there, the kids had pretty much eaten already so we just moved in and joined those left at the tables. There is another "mission trip" group here too while we are. They are a catholic group from Ohio. It so far has proven interesting working with them. We are all commited to being loving and respectful of them while we are here working together. It is our hope that we don't offend them in anyway, but we also want to make sure we portray to them the true hope that is in us and that we genuinely care. So anyway, we also ate with them for lunch sunday. I don't know for sure if they went to Mass sunday morning or what. But they were still at the orphanage when we left for church that morning and they were there again when we got back. Anyway, pray this week for not only our ministry with the mexican people here but also with our minisry workignn with this catholic group that we would be a good example of Christ for them.

After lunch the liberty group went to the market in the tourist area of tijuana. The missionary dropped us off there at around 2 and gave us two hours to shop around on the streets for awhile. It was a pretty fun experience and Allie found some good gift/souveneir stuff. I did find one thing there that I ended up getting though. It was a tijuana hoodie. I got it not only because it was a tijuana thing, but also because I really needed somethign thick wear around and while I was sleeping during this trip while the weather is so cold. It is a little big, but I like it a lot. So anyway, the missionay ended up comign back to get us roughly two hours later and we got back to the orphanage in time for a church service there in thier chapel with the kids and staff. At this service they ended up taking communion and with the language barrier our group got really confused as to what to do for it. Only some of our group was able to take communion. It was a little bit humorous though I thought. After the chapel service we prepared for dinner. I tried to see if they needed help in the kitchen or anything but they didn't need me for that. I just played with some of the small kids while I waited. Dinner again was extremley delicious and I am surprised by the quality of the food here, even when cooking for so many people. After dinner the missionary gathered up both the liberty group and the catholic group and asked to see who then wanted to drive to see and check out the beach. I ended up going and so did quite a few others. Even though by this time it was cold and dark there was a good turn out to go. We got there and ordered coffee at a little coffe shop there and some of the group played in the ocean. The coffee shop is apparently a hang out spot for a lot of the people around here and there was a lot of people packed into the place. They had a little band there that did drum music. They also had some girls that danced and stuff to it. meanwhile, it took us all about 15 minutes to get all our coffee ordered, then it took another 20 or so for us to get our order. It was extremly packed and confusing to keep track of everything. I think it worked out for the most part and only a few got somethign different. Anyway, while there a lot of the mexican people there mingled among us and watched us be college students. Some made fun of the people that went and waded in the ocean saying "Frio.. Frio" being that it was so cold and somewhat windy that night. It was cool to go and see it and the night life and everything, but I really hope we get a chance to go back in the day time. The beach just was not the same at all at night. We were able to see LA city light from the beach though and that was cool. I just want to go back so I can get good daylight pictures and hopefully sit in the sun there later this week. I know thats not why we are here though, and if there is more important work to do instead, I am ready for that more. So anyway, We returned from the beach around 9:30 and some people went right to bed. Other stayed up and hung around for a little while. The people that played in the ocean were hoping they could shower before bed, but the city has had the water turned off for most of the day, and it was still off by that time. So that didn't work out after all. I only stayed up for another hour or so after that and I went to bed. I was pretty tired from all this adjustment and excitement. I had to bring water up from the kitchen when I went so I could brush my teeth though. I wonder how long this water will be off... Good times! =)
posted by Jeremy Dillinger @ 8:10 AM 
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Hey everybody, I found a quick moment to update this while here in mexico.

Friday 10th 2006
Friday was pretty hectic. I still had to work friday so I had to make sure all my stuff was packed before I left in the morning. I was going to have to leave work early, but we would meet at 4:00 in the keyhole so I wouldn't have another chance to go to my dorm. So before going to work I loaded up my car with my suitcases and stuff. Work on friday went pretty smoothly but it was hard to concentrate because I was so excited to leave and get headed out. It felt like it took forever for 3:45 to hit as thats when I was going to leave. Finally I left and we met in the keyhole for some final trip keeping items and prayer. Then we got directions and headed out to Wash DC to catch our plane the next morning. I took 6 people up in my van following a couple other cars. It got crazy in a few places and I almost lost the person I was following, but we survived and we all made it to our meeting place at a mexican restaraunt for dinner. (I guess they wanted to prepare thier tastebuds for mexico). The meal was really good though. After eating we all went to drop the girls off at thier place they were staying for the night. Once they got settled us guys still had to drive another 30 minutes to get to where we were staying for the night. We had to drive around from place to place before that though to drop off a few guys that just hitched rides home with us as they lived close by. By the time we got to our host home it was roughly 11:30ish. We organized all our bags and found our rooms and stuff. Then I had to go park my van in thier back yard field. It was pretty cool because as I drove out there, there was 5 deer laying in the grass sleeping. Three of them stayed there as I stopped and got out of the car. I was withing feet of them as I left my car and walked back to the house. I asked out of curiosity if they were allowed to hunt in thier own backyard. They said they could but they couldn't shoot a firearm in that county so it would have to be bow & arrow and they would need to get special permission from the ajacent neighbors incase it wandered off in thier yard while wounded before falling. Anyway, that was cool to be that close to a group of them. We finally got organized at the house and I headed to bed between 12:30 and 1:00. I set my alarm for 3:00 so I would be able to get ready and we could be at the airport by 4:00. It was really a short night.

Saturday 11th 2006
We ended up running a little late satuday morning as some of the guys slept in a few extra minutes. But we were able to get to the airport by 4:30 still. Mikes dad (the host parent) ended up driving us all to the airport in the morning in thier 15 passenger van. Once we got there the girls had already been thier since 3:45 and they said they were the first ones at the airport. The line had already grown behind them fairly long, but we got in place at the back. Being the large airport that it was, once they opened up the check-in lines we all moved through pretty quickly. The girls were the first up and they checked in as a group. By the time us guys got to check in, the girls were still there finishing up thier checkin. So it worked out well and we didn't have to wait for each other too much there. I ended up going to a check out register and the ticket printer thing got a paper jam. I ended up having to talk to the lady and she had to print them for me. The first time though she printed me a ticket for another person, not sure how that happended. Then the next time she printed me a ticket she printed me two tickets for the same flight and not one for my connecting flight. I didn't notice at first but found out as I was looking at them going through security. So I just took care of that problem at the gate. Security for me went smoothly. I got cut off from the rest of the group though and I went through alone. I'm not sure how it happend though but after getting through security, riding the tram, and walking to our gate I ended up beating the rest of them there by about 10 minutes. I used the extra time before boarding to get my devotions done. There was defenantly excitment in the air as we all boarded the plane. That morning Allie wasn't feeling very good and she was kind of quesy. It was probably due to lack of sleep and food but it was really bothering her. After getting on the plane though she and I both napped most of the trip and she felt better after that. we both kind of woke up randomly through the whole flight but for the most part we probably slept may three of the six hours. As we were getting close to LA we flew over Las Vegas and we could see the strip and the city and everything. It was cool, but a lot smaller then I would have thought. Then as we got closer to Cali, the clouds were thick and low. We didn't get to see the ground after that until about 8 minutes from landing as we decended through them. Once we arrived in California the weather was cloudy and a fridgid 45 degrees. It was a lot warmer back in vA and it was pretty strange and somewhat disappointing. Anyway, we then deplaned, regrouped, and headed to our next gate. Our next gate (of course) was all the way on the other side of the airport. (That always happends). But we got there in time for other people in our group to get thier boarding pass as some of them also didn't get one from checkin at DC. The plane ended up being delayed for about 10 minutes but it worked out well. Because of the low clouds and the incoming storm they took this flight at a low 5000 feet. It was really cool because we flew right along the coast the whole time and because we were so low you could make out all the stuff on the ground the whole trip. Allie was sitting a couple rows behind me for this trip, but I knew she was very excited about that. It was really beautiful. The flight lasted about 25 minutes and we landed in Carlsbad (A small hole in the wall airport with one gate). After getting there and everybody getting luggage, we found out that one of Allie's bags and another girls bag were both missing. So we had to get that taken care of with United. It was kind of funny because when we told the lady that we were missing to bags she was like. "Only two.. thats pretty good." She was completely serious too.. So apparently that happends quite often. Anyway she tracked down the bags for us and determined they were left in LA. So she had them rushed on the next flight to carls bad about an hour and a half later. So we couldn't leave Carlsbad until those arrived. Ashley and the missionary that met us there decided we would all go out to lunch in carlsbad while we waited for the bags to show up. There was a little strip mall area with a bunch of places to eat. I ended up going to a little subshop place for my lunch. It was really good too. After lunch we made the quick stop back by the airport to pick up the missing bags (which arrived safetly!) and then hit the road for Mexico. It was a fun little trip and going from cali to mex across the border was quick and painless. We arrived at the orphanage saturday around 2:30 and we had the rest of the day to get ourselfs settled and relax from the day. It was cool to see all the kids once we got there, but there were a lot less then I expected at first. There were almost more of us college student then there were orphans. (I heard that would change later though). But anyway, now that we were there during these first few hours of hanging around I kind of had an attitude of "Now what?" It was weird aimlessly sitting around for 5 hours until something happend. It was very cold and windy too so that made it hard to just sit outside and enjoy the fact we were there. I did have some fun playing with a few of the kids for awhile but for the most part they did things on thier own and didn't really "need" us persay. (at least thats the feeling I had the first day) After dinner though - which was really good authentic mexican by the way - things picked up. We went to a little college age youth group type thing at the mexican church. That was kind of cool and there are actually quite a few of the people there that speak english quite well. It was fun, the music was good and the message was even good (heard through a translator). After the meetign some of the people in the group invited our group out for tacos at a side of the road open sidewalk restaruant. The food was really really good actually and we hung out there for a good long while. After finishing eating though I didn't expect to stay for as long as we did. The tempurature was still cold and it even hailed some while we were there. I was ready to leave quite awhile before we actually did. I am glad I went with the group though instead of just going back to the orphanage to go to sleep like some of the rest of the group did. Both Allie and I were pretty tired at this point and we had basicly been up 24 hours at that point. I think we finally got back to the orphanage around 12:00 or so. It turned out to be a really long day and I was so ready to go to sleep. The room that I slept in was still extremly cold and the door didn't shut all the way. I had a hard time staying warm that night, but since I was so tired, I slept fairly well still.
posted by Jeremy Dillinger @ 6:32 AM 
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Friday, March 10, 2006
Well everybody, I'm leaving tomorrow after work straight to Wash DC. to catch a flight to Mexico. This may be the last chance I have to blog for the week while I am down there. I don't know if I'll have access to a computer or not. You are welcome to check back and find out however. If I don't have a chance to write though, I'll be back March 19th and I'll for sure update you all once I get back. Keep us in prayer if you think about us down there!
posted by Jeremy Dillinger @ 1:05 AM 
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Wednesday, March 08, 2006
Today was a pretty decent day. My missions class was pretty fun today because we had a guest missionary speaker. He told us all about his life as a missionary kid. It was cool to hear about all that stuff. Then I went and spent some time with Allie for breakfast and we had a great time of prayer and conversation there today. After breakfast I headed back to my room to finish my devotions. I started a new prayer journal today. The other one has lasted me since April of 2004, I finally filled it up. Allie says I should pray more, I know she is right in a way because I could always pray more, but its not quite as bad as it sounds... I just write really small and fit two lines of writing within one line of college ruled paper. After my other class today I then went flying again, today was a weird flying day.. the winds were only between 8 and 10mph which is normaly ok, but they were switching directions pretty badly. There was no way to compensate easily for variable winds like today. It was good practice though. I just really had to keep on my toes to keep altitude and heading right. It was good though, I think I learned some more stuff. After flying I then went to look at a house for rent. I'm goign to need to start trying to find a place to stay now. So if you think about that, keep it in prayer. Idealy close to work and liberty (so I can be close to allie too). After that I had some dinner with allie and then headed back to my room for some more homework stuff. That stuff just never ends... Anyway.. sleep for me now. Night!
posted by Jeremy Dillinger @ 1:01 AM 
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Monday, March 06, 2006
I ran out of time to blog last night, but just wanted to write a quick on this morning. But first, I wanted to wish Allie a happy 11th Month for us. Thats pretty exciting. Yesterday we had a really good church service. A guy from my hall ended up coming with me, that was pretty cool to have him there. I think he liked it. After church I went for lunch over at the Donnebergs. That was fun and Chuck and I hung out for awhile. After that Allie and I got caught up on some American Idol episodes. We had about 5 hours to watch last night. (There were no comercials so it was faster then that) Anyway, it was pretty fun to just hang with her last night. We had to head out a little early though because we both had to be at a 9:30 meeting for our Mexico Missions trip. That was fun, and it sound like its going to be pretty exciting. Anyway, I gotta get ready to head out for work this morning. See Ya
posted by Jeremy Dillinger @ 8:37 AM 
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Sunday, March 05, 2006
Today I had to work from 10 to 3. After that I ended up hanging out at the church for a few hours for a drama practice thing. That went pretty well. The rest of the evening I basicly just did homework. I was able to have dinner with Allie for a few minutes tonight, but I've mostly just been in my room the whole time. I'm ready for bed now though. Night!
posted by Jeremy Dillinger @ 2:04 AM 
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Friday, March 03, 2006
I knew I was going to hate this corporate finance class!!!

The rest of the day was cool though, Allie and I intervied a Jaars Rep about Wycliffe and Jaars stuff and how they work and everything. It was nice. I also spent some time with my pastor this evening and we had a good conversation also. I also was able to fly for about half an hour today before the winds kicked up too bad. I think I did well considering the higher then normal winds. But ok, I need to get to sleep. Night!
posted by Jeremy Dillinger @ 1:57 AM 
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Thursday, March 02, 2006
Another late night for me.. I can't write much since I have to get to sleep. It was really cool today to have Steve Saint here though and hear more about the story and his take on it all. It was good stuff. Anyway, I have to get to bed. Night!
posted by Jeremy Dillinger @ 1:21 AM 
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Wednesday, March 01, 2006
Today was another pretty good missions class this morning. After that Allie and I sat and had breakfast and we talked for awhile. That was good. After breakfast we went to the Comp lab to try and get some stuff done before her next class. My other classes were cancelled today. It was really good though because I needed the extra time. First I was able to eat lunch today since I was free during that time. I went and ended up sitting with a missionay from MAF and one of the flight instructors here at Liberty. We had a good time dissussing options and things for my life. We also talked about MAF being in Brazil. It turns out that they don't actually have any missionaries stationed in Brazil because in order to be a pilot in brazil you have to have Brazilian citizenship. At first that was a little bit of a let down for me but it led to other good conversation about flexibility and just being open for anything to happen and stuff. So anyway, that was a good time. We talked for about an hour and a half or so. After leaving lunch though I ended up stopping by the Jaars booth on the way back to my dorm and brought up the Brazil question with him. (I knew Jaars had posts in Brazil and wondered how that worked). Turns out what they do is wait for a missionary family about to have a child and send them to Brazil. Then once the child is born in Brazil it will have brazilian citizenship. Therfore the parents can then have a Permanent visa and that is sufficent to get a pilots licence in Brazil. He said they have other ways around that Law, but that is the most common. So, anyway I was kind of worried about that for part of the day today, but it gave me the opportunity to think about willingness to go somewhere completely different other then Brazil. I always knew I would be willing to Go wherever God led, but I never considered that deeply the possibility I might have to go elsewhere. It was at first a let down, but in the end I decided none of that really mattered all that much. I was still releived however when I found out all the loopholes in the system from the Jaars recruter. After all that happend I just went back to my room to work on some more homework until dinner with Allie. Dinner was kind of quick because Allie had to leave and go to another class she is doing on Tuesday nights. But I just did homework mostly for the remainder of the eveing. I really have A LOT to do. Its not very fun. Anyway right now I need to get to sleep. I'm looking forward to tomorrows Convo as Steve Saint will be here with the Indian that killed his father. It should be great. Anyway night!
posted by Jeremy Dillinger @ 12:41 AM 
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