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Published: September 11th 2001
St Margaret's Church, Peachland, B.C.
Bryan at the altar as Advent begins.
ENTRY 50 —
March 4th, 2002
PEACHLAND YOUTH MINISTRY A Youth Fellowship member mentioned to me that the local wing of AMOR Ministries was planning an excursion to Tecate, Mexico. The purpose: to build houses. AMOR was in need of chaplains. This was an ecumenical project involving all the churches of the Okanagan Valley. The Peachland group was to be led by Dave Roy, and I was to be the chaplain. There would be twelve teens in the group. Our assignment was to build a house for a man named Gilberto and his family. It was to take us seven days.
The Problem - Scott and Linda
Pastor Kevin from the Community Church looked worn. His phone had been ringing off the hook. He informed me that Scott and Linda, two of the youth going to Tecate, had gotten married.
"What's wrong with that?" I inquired. "They're a nice couple."
Kevin, shaking his head, said, "They got up early in the morning and married themselves on the beach near
Swim Bay...just the two of them, no pastor, no marriage license. Now they have become
Peachland BC
Bryan and Deanna sexually active. I hope they don't set a trend for the young people at the Community Church. In any event, the parents of the rest of the Tecate delegation are concerned about them on the trip. I told the parents that you were chaplain to the youth and would deal with the "newlyweds". I also said that there would be no sexual activity on the trip to Mexico!"
Although I was never as conservative as Pastor Kevin, I felt more than a little concern about our trip to Mexico turning into a "honeymoon" for the youth of Peachland.
I called on the newlyweds and asked to hear their side of it. Their explanation could be summed up as follows:
1) They loved each other and had made their marriage vows in the presence of God.
2) They had studied and fulfilled the requirements of Holy Scripture.
Scott and Linda quoted many Bible passages to support their position. At the end of the discussion I realized I had lost the argument. Therefore, I changed tactics. I explained, "You have a strong case. All I can say is if you have put forward a clever argument that
Mini-church
Mini-church held at the home of John and Lee. (Spring 1998 FotoetimePhoto CR) you don't believe, then God will not be pleased. However, your personal life is not the issue. Many parents are concerned about young people having a love fest in Mexico."
The discussion continued. We reached an agreement. Everyone, both married and single, would focus on building houses for the poor and refrain from sexual activity while on the trip. I told Pastor Kevin that the problem was solved and that everyone had agreed that the focus of the trip was to help a Mexican family by building a house.
(* Note: The youth remained true to their word. Scott and Linda did get married in a church several years later. I have yet to ask them on which date they celebrate their wedding anniversary.)
Tecate Trip - Day #1 Dave Roy led us to the site. The ground had been leveled and we were to lay the foundation. Everyone laughed at me as I waited for the cement truck to arrive: there was not going to be a cement truck. We had to mix the cement ourselves. For eight hours our group toiled under the hot Mexican sun. Three shifts rotated. For the first
The Peachland Youth
Bryan and some of the house builders in Tecate, Mexico. This photo is taken just before the construction begins. hour, my shift mixed the cement by hand. I learned that this mixture was far heavier than I imagined. When my muscles were about to give out, Dave shifted us to the wheel barrel brigade. We moved the cement mixture to the site. During the third hour, we were shifted to the job of laying the concrete. Then we started all over again!
Dave's theory was that each job required a different set of muscles, allowing one set of muscles to rest up while using another. Of course the problem with that rotation theory was that over the course of eight hours I strained every muscle in my body. The bad news was, notwithstanding how tired we were, once we started laying the foundation we could not stop until the job was done.
That evening after supper, every muscle in my body seized up. I went to the nurse and she asked me where it hurt. I pointed to my chin, saying that was the only part that did not hurt. She gave me some anti-inflammatory medicine and muscle relaxers. I went to my tent, where I lay, unable to move. I pondered the fact that at 47
Tecate, Mexico
Off to work building houses! I was not yet old, but was no longer young.
The situation was made worse by the fact that I was supposed to be a chaperon for the party the teens were having. Scott came into the tent wondering what I was doing.
"Praying," was my response.
Tecate Trip - Day #2 The second day was much easier. It was spent framing. Due to an extremely effective house design, we finished in six hours.
Tecate Trip - Day #3 I actually enjoyed making the walls, except for one episode with chicken wire.
Tecate Trip - Day #4 More work on the walls. We actually finished by noon.
A nine year old Mexican boy approached me with some of his friends. He had a new soccer ball (his prized possession) and he wanted me to play with them. The soccer ball was extremely cheap, resembling a heavy balloon rather than a soccer ball.
To make a long story short, one of my more powerful shots missed the goal and the ball impaled itself upon a long thorn cactus. Both the ball and the once-proud
owner deflated immediately. I gave the boy enough money to buy a proper soccer ball. For the rest of my time there, kids would bring me their old soccer balls, saying, "Me too, me too!"
Tijuana We actually finished building the house early and had a great time in Tijuana and San Diego. All the young people were saying we should do this again next year. I secretly thought to myself, "Never again."
Tecate Revisited
Almost two years later, Miranda and I decided to visit Gilberto and his family to see what they had made of the house that had been built by the Peachland team. We booked into a hotel overlooking the Tecate town square. The beds were hard and the lights were dim, but it was certainly better than sleeping in tents!
We then came to a horrible realization.There was no way we would ever find Gilberto's house. I only had my memory to determine where he lived. His house was quite far out of town and the roads had no street names, never mind addresses. On a quiet Saturday morning we went to City Hall hoping they might have
Building houses in Tecate, Mexico
Bryan with some Mexican Kids. They wanted to play a game of soccer. a town plan. While Miranda sat and waited, I got turned around and walked into the City Hall chambers, and discovered that there was a meeting in session.
I felt absolute horror when the mayor (El Presidente) asked what I was doing. I explained how we had built houses and that I was trying to find the home of Gilberto Galeana.
"Impossible," said the mayor, then started speaking to the rest of the group in Spanish. Finally, the mayor asked me to follow him (and I introduced him to Miranda along the way). He had prepared a motorcade and his assistant asked for a description of Gilberto and the general direction of his house.
Gilberto had lost an eye in an accident, and I could see one of the police escorts pointing to his eye when we stopped to ask directions regarding Gilberto. After an hour we pulled up to Gilberto's house.
Now in Mexico, when a police motorcade pulls up to your house it is generally
NOT a good thing. Gilberto and his family stood frozen in fear. It was only when they recognized me that smiles broke out. It turned out to be a
Back in Tecate
Bryan, El Presidente (the Mayor), Gilberto and family, in front of the house built by the Peachland contingent and AMOR ministries. We went back to find the house and see what had become of the family. wonderful visit.
The mayor then invited the two of us to a feast in another part of town. The food and entertainment were fantastic. It was a privilege to be a part of a festival (for Epiphany) in Mexico that had not been set up for tourists. We were amused when one of the mayor's entourage referred to the Magi as the "three wise guys".
The following day as we were returning to Tijuana by bus, it struck! I was desperate to use a washroom and would not make it to Tijuana. I asked the driver to stop the bus. He did so, and pointed to facilities across the road at a gas station. I did not think I was going to make it as I opened the door to the men's room, only to find it locked. Luckily, the washroom marked "Senora" was unlocked.
Fifteen minutes later I returned to a very unhappy busload of passengers. Miranda told me of how upset everyone was at having to wait for me. When I went up to the driver and gave him $10 (which was a lot of money in Mexico in the 1990s), he immediately brightened.
Miranda scolded me about being so extravagant. I told her it was money well spent, for if I needed to use the washroom again I had no doubt that he would stop for me.
The Turn of the Century
As the Millennium approached, we did notice a disturbing aspect -- attitude might be a better word -- filter through the community, particularly among our Christian friends. There was a sense that something terrible was going to happen to Western Civilization "at the stroke of midnight on New Year's Eve". Indeed, many took the prophecy literally and believed the West was on the verge of collapse. As hard as it may be to believe, some of our friends were actually stocking up with water and other goods as "The End" approached. It was creepy!
At the end of December 1999, people were telling me in detail the impact Y2K was going to have on our western civilization. During these conversations they quoted Scripture, and spoke with great authority. Most of what was said we had already learned from the Catholic Apostolic Church. However, there was one important difference. People believed that these things
Our living-room
The view of the lake was fantastic. would happen in the year 2000 (understanding it to be the first year of the new millennium). The Irvingites, on the other hand, believed that these things would happen to the "Woman on the Beast" in the year 2001. They had argued that 2000 was the last year of the 20th century while 2001 was the first year of the 21st century. I kept thinking how nit
-picky certain Christians can be.
It must be stated that it was not just Peachland that was getting caught up in the New Year's craziness, but the entire Western World. Groups were making pilgrimages to the Holy Land, others were heading for the hills, and almost everyone was getting their computer updated.
New Year's Eve 1999
I must say, for both believers and nonbelievers, this New Year's Eve was filled with electricity. We went to a karaoke bar with a number of friends (John, Shirley, Zane, Chris, etc.). Later we went back to John and Shirley's house and sipped Merlot.
Thanks to CNN, we rang in the New Year in several different countries around the world. Y2K and the end of western civilization had become the
View from our home.
Behind us is the parking for the beach. To the right is the path down to the water. joke of the century. Nothing bad happened anywhere. Christians had experienced another "Great Disappointment", something Miranda and I were quite prepared to live with.
September 11th, 2001
September is always a beautiful month in the Okanagan. I awoke, and, after taking my shower, turned on the upstairs television set. An astonished Peter Jennings was describing the worst military attack ever perpetrated on the continental United States.
Jihadists were waging a war of terror upon the West. They had hijacked a passenger plane and had flown it into the World Trade Center in New York City. A few moments later another airplane struck the second tower of the World Trade Center.
In Washington, Jihadists had actually successfully attacked the Pentagon, the heart of America's great military empire. Each of the planes had been loaded with tons of aviation fuel, transporting them into flying weapons of mass destruction.
Peter Jennings described the collapse of the first tower and then the second, as massive clouds of toxic dust covered the city. Miranda and I had never witnessed anything like it. We knew that thousands would die on that day and the effects of the toxic smoke
The Beach
Bryan on the beach near the path from our home. would kill many more thousands in years to come. Even more devastating to the West was America's reaction. They greatly overextended themselves. They borrowed money. I had not the slightest doubt the USA would face dire economic consequences in the near future.
Links:
Failed predictions
Clinton Fillmann
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