From Mexico this week: Looking back at our 2013 missions trip

Our work here in Vicente Guerrero, Mexico this week is finally complete. Both Aloha and Tigard Churches of God journeyed down here again from Oregon to expand a house for Ophelia (mother of Jose, pictured a few times below, of Welcome Home Outreach Ministries) to shelter her family of 10. And we started building a house for another U.S. work team to complete next week!

It may be a while before we gather everyone's Mexico pics from this week. In the meantime, I've dusted off an unpublished Mexico post that Kathy wrote last summer. Many of these photos have never been shared publicly.

I think we'll all agree that this post  written by Kathy  was worth the year-long wait!

Our 2013 Mexico work team at Welcome Home Outreach Ministries:  Elaine, Cara, Katie, Eddie, Josh, Wendy, Kathy, Tim, Garth, Patricia, and Leah

At 5:00 on a dark August morning, there was excitement, energy and sleepiness.  Two groups, Aloha Church of God and Tigard Church of God, had met to begin a week long, life change journey together.  Destination:  Vicente Guerrero, Mexico in Baja California.  The van was loaded and we were off.

The first driving day proved to be uneventful and we made it safely to First Church of God in Tulare, CA.  The second day we headed to San Diego to pick up Garth who had to fly due to his work schedule.  So where did we meet Garth?  The only logical place:

In-n-Out Burger, San Diego

With our tummies full and after another very necessary stop, we were on our way to Vicente Guerrero.

After witnessing some crazy and intense driving, we had finally arrived to Welcome Home Outreach Ministries.

On Sunday morning, we worshiped at a local church.

Calvary Chapel Church in Vicente Guerrero

We then spent Sunday afternoon and evening relaxing and exploring the town.  On Monday we would begin our house building project; the main reason we had come to Mexico.

The house we began building on Monday was located in a very poor community where the typical house is made from sheets of plastic and whatever other materials can be found.  This particular house would be a simple one-room home with three windows and one door made from cement blocks and mortar.

With most of us not knowing what we were doing, our foremen/teachers, Jose, Josiah, and Mateo quickly taught us the ways of manual cement mixing and brick laying.

Throughout the week, each of us also took turns helping out with the children and doing chores around the home base of Welcome Home Outreach Ministries.

The kids took an excursion to the beach after work on Wednesday.

A couple of evenings during the week we had the opportunity to visit some local ministries.  The first one we went to was a nursing home for the elderly homeless or the elderly whose families no longer want them:

Pastor Juan, the worship leader from Calvary Chapel, had a vision from God to begin this ministry.  He even went to nursing school so he could better care for his patients.  The one thing that stands out about this nursing facility is that 100% of operating costs are based on 100% faith.  The patients don’t pay a monthly fee so Pastor Juan relies on donations for food, utilities and medical supplies.  With an amazing faith in God, monthly needs are usually met.

One other night we visited a voluntary men’s rehab center and were able to participate in one of their worship services.  It was inspiring to hear their testimonies of life before Christ and the transformation taking place now.

Garth had the privilege of sharing an encouraging message with the men.

This rehab center is different than what we find in the states.  The men come here choosing to seek help and can stay for as long as they need to.  There is no 12- step program, but a daily routine of morning worship, studying the scriptures and an evening service.  As with the nursing home, all expenses are based on 100% faith.

A favorite place or two to eat dinner was at Tico's Pizza and El Pollo Loco taco stand.

Tico’s makes a jumbo pizza that has 35 slices.  The biggest we’ve ever seen.

El Pollo Loco or Papa Reuben’s, as the locals call it, makes the best quesatacos ever.

All that good food fueled us for the rest of our busy work week:

By Thursday afternoon, the house was complete with windows, a locking door, a roof, stucco and paint.

Esteban, his wife and their six children (soon to be seven) were delighted when Garth offered a prayer of dedication and handed over the keys.  This family of 8 was thrilled to enter their 450 sq. ft home that had a solid foundation and a roof over their heads.

It was a week of hard physical work in the hot sun, but a week we would choose to do again.  Not only were Esteban and his family’s life changed, ours were forever changed as well.

Saying goodbye to the neighborhood kids as we closed the van door to drive home to the States.

Seaside Surfing: Baby Levi, meet the Pacific Ocean

For any readers who missed Saturday's post about our plans to climb Mount Rainier this past weekend, click here (link).

After that devastating disappointment, our replacement family hike Saturday on Mount Hood (near Paradise Park, one of last summer's backpacking trips) was just the salve my heart needed to cheer me up.  Those hiking photos with Lena, Levi, and Kathy will be posted here soon!

Our 6 month old Levi finally saw the ocean with his own eyes a month ago. He may not be popping up on a surfboard just yet, but that day will come soon enough!

Wind speeds of at least 15 knots and some 7 foot swells provided plenty of waves to ride throughout the afternoon.  The slightly stormy weather made for a fun, if a little choppy, day of uncrowded surfing at Seaside.

Though it's a shame that we don't have more photos of Mommy and Levi himself, here are a few pics from Lena and Levi's first ever day at the Oregon Coast together:

Arriving at Seaside, after strapping my surfboard onto our new Honda (New to us, anyway-- Thanks Bo and Vive!)  for the first time

A kiss from Lena before Daddy paddles out

Levi feels the sand in his hands for the first time

Racing Lena back onto dry sand

Surfing lessons-  Lena has the balance!

Lena, Mommy, and Levi wait on the beach for Daddy to surf back to the shore.

Lena is happy as a clam as she pulls her "dog" with a leash...

...But Lena's not so happy when I take away her "dog" and strap it back onto the roof of the car.

And finally, Kathy's friends on Facebook have most likely seen this final pic.  It's one of the most precious photos she has ever taken:

A special Daddy-daughter moment at Seaside's U Street Pub and Eatery, also with Mommy and Levi

Mount Rainier climb- Still to come!

2 weeks ago: Standing on the summit of Mount Adams, with Mount Rainier over my shoulder

Less than two hours from now, the plan was for us to be breaking camp at midnight near the base of Mount Rainier and beginning our two-day ascent.  But as of this morning, our climb has been postponed until a later weekend.


Significant shifts within our climbing party occurred in past 72 hours, calling for a new plan of attack.  The drastic nature of this new plan requires a special permit in addition to the climbing pass.  Unfortunately, I do not yet meet the qualifications for that special permit.  After such overwhelming anticipation, this news was devastating.


On the bright side, Mount Rainier will be a climb worth waiting for!  I don't usually Tweet or blog about specific dates for upcoming events, but I'll drop some hints as the date gets closer for us to regroup and make another attempt at the climb.



Readers, let's all get outside and play this weekend.  As for me, I'll be taking little Lena (and hopefully Kathy and baby Levi!) hiking on some local trails.


And early next week, I'll be sharing an all-new surfing post!

Thanks for reading.

Fear of the Unknown: Hiking Wahkeena Falls to Larch Mountain

Last weekend's Mount Adams climb was the latest in a series of training climbs before we summit Mount Rainier.

Several new blog posts about those climbs, as well as hiking, surfing, traveling, and a student ministry update are all on the way!

Sometimes good hikes go bad. And sometimes bad titles happen to good blog posts.

Both scenarios came into play for Shaun's and my disastrous hike up Larch Mountain via the Wahkeena Falls trail, briefly mentioned in last month's "Best of 2014 all-new hiking photos" post (link).

Here's the whole story of that lingeringly painful (for me) and terrifying (for Shaun) day:

Our hike/trail run up Larch Mountain in late spring didn't need to spiral into an 18+ mile hike/scramble.  But multiple trail closures near Multnomah Falls left us with limited options, especially later when a crucial "Trail Closed" sign had gone missing for our return route.


The approach to Larch via the Wahkeena Falls trail adds miles.  But even with Sheamus the Energizer Bunny/Dog running along with us, we made up plenty of time with a breathless pace.


Wet weather during our hike/run up from the lower elevations...

...Eventually turned to snow, fog, and high winds as we neared the top.

Fingers freezing*, we were in a tremendous hurry to run back down from the top of Larch. Unfortunately, we hurried too tremendously to avoid a couple of missteps on our alternate route down:


Bad idea #1: Blowing through trail intersections at full speed without slowing down to process the signs

Bad idea #2: Taking turns navigating (as opposed to BOTH trail runners paying attention), based on whomever happens to be taking the lead at the time


Loyal Garth's Blog readers may remember that this is the second time in 15 years or so that Shaun and I have missed or overshot a trail junction, as we did last year near Munra Point.

I'll never tell which of us happened to be "navigating" this time when we ran off course.  But when I finally realized where we were, I was admittedly responsible for THIS doozy:


Bad idea #3: Turning onto a familiar trail which, we discovered later, was missing its well deserved "Trail Closed" warning sign

*If a certain hiking buddy is reading this, Shaun is gonna need those gloves back that I left in your car after our recent Dog Mountain hike.  Pretty please?

The Fear of the Unknown

This once-popular trail (name withheld, to prevent copycat hikers from getting fined by the US Forest Service) didn't start out so bad.   But soon, we were pushing, climbing, ducking, and hopping our way through the increasingly overgrown segments.  We began to question whether or not the path was still legit.



And then the trail completely dropped out.   We rounded a corner to encounter a cliff where the trail used to be.  Shaun, normally as brave and occasionally reckless on the trails as I am, froze up.

"All I can see is death," Shaun replied to my optimistic suggestion that there MUST be a way to cross the chasm in front of us.

Shaun continued to object, "There's just a giant broken staircase, crashed over on its side. Who knows what is beyond that?   Another drop-off?  A bigger cliff?"

For once in our long history of crazy adventuring together, my favorite hiking buddy was paralyzed by the fear of the unknown.   And we were both especially concerned about the safety of his dog, Sheamus.



The drop-off didn't seem as severe in my eyes, though.  I volunteered to scramble down solo for a recon mission, to convince everyone that the route was doable.

I captured and Tweeted this pic of Shaun and Sheamus, standing on top of the cliff, as I climbed down.

The terrain below wasn't anywhere near as treacherous as imagined.  As I hollered my findings back up to Shaun, his facial expression morphed from fear into skepticism, and finally into relief.

I whispered a prayer as Sheamus bounded over the edge and down the various levels of slope, with Shaun sliding down after him.  No problems, as predicted.

Maneuvering a surreal section of the washed out trail

But not all of us walked away unscathed.  Sheamus accidentally set off a rock fall from the broken trail above me.  I dodged as many of those rocks as possible.  Some of the stones bounced off of me harmlessly, though the biggest rock landed directly on top of my left foot.

I didn't realize how badly my foot was injured (making a huge dent in this summer's hikes, climbs, and surfing) until my first step onto hard pavement at the end of the day. Incidentally, this was also the moment where we finally encountered the only remaining "Trail Closed" sign... as we exited onto the return trail towards my Jeep Wrangler.

My overly dramatic pole vault back onto the main trail (with that useless "Trail Closed" exit sign posted on the right)

**********

On our drive home from the Gorge, Shaun thanked me for talking him down from that ledge, literally.  It was a rare moment of paralyzing fear, and he was relieved that someone was there to snap him out of it.  Had we turned back at that late hour, we all would've been stuck on that trail until well after dark. Not to mention, his plan to use the closed (also due to damage) Benson Bridge as an escape route could have incurred a steep fine.


Sometimes the scariest things in life are the things we can't see.  Our imaginations can either create reasons for us to be afraid, or illuminate new ways to move us forward.   And on this eventful day in April, there was no reason to fear.

Baby Levi flips!

What the flip? Our baby boy Levi completely rolled over from his back onto his stomach yesterday morning! All by himself.

At nearly 6 months old, of course Levi has been flipping over for quite some time now... but with a literal catch. He hasn't quite been able to pull out his little left arm to complete the roll.

Just minutes before I left for work yesterday, that all changed. After kicking around on his back all morning, Levi executed the move perfectly.  He'll be climbing things with Daddy in no time.



Following the flip, Levi even did a little push-up for us.  Here are Levi's first moments of independently achieved tummy time:

Of course, Lena wouldn't stand idly by while Levi hogged the spotlight:

As soon as Lena heard my camera clicking (Thank you, Sprint and Samsung, for my Galaxy Note's loud, always-on artificial shutter sound!), she dove right in there.



Older siblings must feel they need to try extra hard to get noticed. Remind anyone of a different pair of Hamilton siblings?

Vintage photo credit:  Summer Sorenson's Facebook page

Twin Lakes hike- Mount Hood

Mid-climb, Mount St. Helens last Saturday:  Craig's SECOND best photobomb of the day

Last Saturday's jaunt up to the rim of Mount St. Helens (another training climb before we tackle Mount Rainier) was the most fun I've ever had climbing that mountain. Check back here soon for a Mount St. Helens post, featuring some wonderful friends!

But first, I'm sharing about a laid back hike on Mount Hood that a different group of us breezed through last month.

Rayven and Tony at Upper Twin Lake

Mount Hood provided us with one last chance this season to hike in cool weather last month.  The 7.5 mile Twin Lakes loop is a moderately graded, shady hike though forests and a lakeside campground.

Melissa, Rayven, Tony, Therese, Dan, and I carpooled from Portland in various vehicles to meet Kevin in Sandy.   We then caravaned from Sandy to the Frog Lake Sno-Park.  Sections of the Pacific Crest Trail #2000 and the Twin Lakes Trail #495 were included in our short trek.

Setting out from the Frog Lake trailhead, off of Forest Road #3531

The rolling 1300 foot elevation gain was not a problem for any of us. Even with my painful new orthotic inserts and a diverse hiking party, we easily reached Upper Twin Lake within a couple hours for an early lunch break.

Upper Twin Lake

Rayven texted me her pic of this comically big sandwich Kathy bought for me

Kevin and Melissa consult the topo map

The mostly flat trail became the slightest bit steeper, rockier, and narrower as we dropped down into Lower Twin Lake. As with Upper Twin, we had the misty views and tranquility all to ourselves.

Lower Twin Lake

Hiking out

We looped back around to the Frog Lake Sno-Park to complete the 7.5 mile loop in less than three hours. Mike stayed behind on Mount Hood to cache food and supplies for an upcoming multi-day backpacking trip.

The rest of us split up, with some heading home and some of us stopping in Zig Zag for a scrumptious meal at the down-home Skyway Bar and Grill.  Next time, we'll stay later to hear the local bands play. The Skyway seems like it would be a fun, cozy live venue!