A Message from President of YWAM San Diego/Baja

A Message from Sean Lambert
President, YWAM San Diego/Baja

“The Perfect Storm,” a phrase made popular by author Sebastian Junger’s novel and movie of the same name, is based on the true story of the deadly Nor’easter that hit the east coast of North America in 1991.  The title refers to the simultaneous occurrence of major weather events that, individually, would be much less powerful than the storm resulting from their chance occurrence.

Our own perfect storm began to form in the fall of 2008 when the media began reporting that the U.S. economy was beginning to falter. Economically, our country started shutting down. Then in November 2008 reports of horrific gang violence in Northern Baja created a blanket of terror over the region, and many tourists stopped traveling to Mexico. And just a few weeks ago the N1H1 flu (swine flu) outbreak was identified as originating from Mexico City; today, the country of Mexico is being maligned by the world.

With news of the failing economy, sensationalized gang-on-gang violence, and widespread fears over the N1H1 flu epidemic we have seen a dramatic decrease in our team participation. Another kind of perfect storm has formed—three unique factors all coming together to create a very tenuous situation for our ministry and the people we serve.

The first thing our leaders and staff did to respond to this perfect storm was to start praying.  Matthew 8:23-26 tells the true story of Jesus’ power over man and nature.

While traveling by boat with His disciples a storm came up. Although Jesus was asleep below deck He was aware of the storm raging above. The panicked disciples woke Him pleading, “Lord save us! We’re going to drown.”  Jesus replied, “You of little faith, why are you so afraid?” Then Jesus rebuked the winds and quieted the seas and it was completely calm.

In the face of this current storm we will…
•    Continue our calling to serve those who are spiritually and physically poor and needy…whether we have teams participating or not.
•    Seek peace in Northern Baja where the people we serve and some of our staff lives.
•    Pray that God would calm this present “storm” and restore stability and blessings to the people of the country of Mexico.

How you can help…
•    Pray for God’s peace to preside over the Northern Baja region.
•    Support us with a general financial contribution. Our operations budget has been severely depleted by those teams that have canceled.
•    Financially support our full time staff. Not one staffer has left and each one is committed to this ministry.
•    Donate your time or resources to serve those families in Mexico left behind by this crisis. We have many families waiting to receive homes and we are still fully operational at each of our three campuses in Ensenada, Tijuana del Mar and Tecate. We believe it to be safe and would not keep our staff of nearly 100 adults and their children in the country if we felt otherwise.

In the midst of these troubled times I continue to have great hope and excitement about our future as a ministry.  With Jesus in our boat we have nothing to fear.

If you feel called to donate your time or resources to help Maria and other families like theirs click here or contact me directly for more information.

 

Sheril Brasher
Mission Adventures Manager, Ensenada
YWAM San Diego/Baja
100 West 35^th Street, Suite C
National City, CA  91950
Direct Phone in Ensenada:  619-240-7874
Personal email:  sheril.brasher@ywamsdb.org

 

 

More information about what I do in Mexico!

Perspectives

I grew up in a Christian home. My parents were godly and, to the world, everything seemed great. But on the inside everything was falling apart. After almost 18 years of marriage, my parents filed for divorce. I was almost fifteen. After their divorce I was forced to stay with my dad on the weekends. I never liked going and would beg to stay home. The last time I stayed with my dad, I overheard him talking on the phone to my mom about me. They were arguing about me, but not in a good way. They were fighting over who had to have me because neither one wanted me. This one conversation from my perspective changed my life forever.

After this, I was extremely angry with everyone in my family. I chased my little brother and sister around the house with a baseball bat. I beat a hole in my mother’s bathroom door after they locked themselves in to get away from me. I hated my dad and refused to talk to him.

But God is gracious and compassionate and he has taught me a lot. I have finally been able to see my dad as a human being. I’ve forgiven him. God has changed my heart towards my dad and we have the beginnings of a great relationship now.

We can choose to be the victim or choose to allow God do something about it. You may be living in a difficult family situation but you can choose to allow God to make a difference or you can choose to allow that situation to rule the rest of your life in a negative way. Romans 8:28 says that God can make all things good. Isaiah 61 says that God wants to give you beauty instead of crap.


This past September 2008 by dad and step-mom came down to visit me in Ensenada. They are one of my biggest supporters in my answer to the call, in my Mexican Adventure! Praise God that He restores the years that the locusts have eaten!!!

A Little Tidbit About Me

So there has been this random facts survey going around facebook so I decided to give you guys a little bit of information about myself. Hopefully this will help you get to know me a little better. I am not a very interesting person so I am sorry if this is less that you hoped for!!! It is really long so I apologize up front!!!

1. I have attended the same church for 28 of my 30 years of life (when I began going at the ripe old age of 2, the church had just started 2 months previously and had about 15 or so members). For the last 2 years I have attended via Podcasts of the sermons and when I visit home as I live in another country. I pray for the church all the time as it is going through some MAJOR changes right now!!!

2. I gave my heart to God at the age of 2 (no lie) and through divine understanding, knew exactly what that meant. If you are interested in hearing the story, just ask.

3. My lifelong dream growing up was to be a cheerleader so I tried out for the cheerleading squad as soon as I was old enough. I was a cheerleader in 9th grade and chickened out of trying out for 10th grade because a standing back-handspring was required (I think it also had something to do with my parents divorce).

4. I took gymnastics and dance for about 2 years in elementary school. When I got older, I taught myself how to do a front-handspring, front-walkover, back-walkover and various other things but of course was too afraid of breaking my neck to attempt any type of backwards flips.

5. I have never broken a bone in my body although I used to fall out of trees while climbing all the time. I also used to play this game when I was younger where we would ride our bikes down the asphalt street in front of my house as fast as we could and someone else would try to put sticks in the spokes so that we would flip over our bikes. That was the best game ever!!!

6. Because my parents spent so much money on my sister and brother's dental work, I didn't go to the dentist for 15 years. When I did go back finally, I still didn't have any cavities!!! I have really good strong teeth!!!

7. I have had 2 warrants issued for my arrest but have never been arrested!! It is not as exciting as it sounds, but if you really want to know the reason behind the warrants, just ask.

8. I moved to Mexico to be a missionary at the age of 28 with an organization called Youth With a Mission. I was one of the oldest people in my training class. I was older than most of the staff. It was fun and all the girls in my room called me MOM!!!

9. My current lifelong dream is to be a wife and a mom. I am patiently waiting on God to provide for both of those dreams. He has promised that He will so I will wait for His perfect Timing!!

10. I have never been on a date, weird I know!!! I've never been asked, SAD!!!

11. I have also never been kissed, weird I know!!!

12. I am full of useless information about a TON of different subjects, but my most knowledgeable subject would have to be movies and tv shows.

13. I own over 300 DVD movies and my collection is ever growing. I love all types of moves and tv shows.

14. I have always looked alot younger than I am and people often times think that I am in my early 20's when in actuality I turned 30 this past year. Many people mistake my sister, who is 3 1/2 years younger than me, as my older sister (or if people have known us since we were little, they think she is me and I am her). I am secretly really happy about this!!! I've been carded on many occasion at the movie theatre (true story even at the age of 27) and I was carded at a bar/club I went to with some friends to eat. It was AWESOME!!!

15. I don't have much of a southern accent even though I was born in Tennessee and raised in Alabama. I am not sure how that happened as my parents and my sister have really country accents. My brother and I sound more like the midwest (though we have never lived there). Most people when talking with me think I am from California.

16. I have an amazing sense of direction. I love getting lost places that I have never been before and driving around to find my way out.

17. I am horrible at judging distances, weights, etc. I am also horrible at guesstimating. I can't do it!!!

18. I am a very laid-back, easy-going person and always have an opinion about where to go and what to do but I ALWAYS defer to the other person as I pride myself on being very flexible. I am not that picky and it REALLY doesn't matter to me!!! THIS DRIVES MY FRIENDS CRAZY!!!!

19. For about a year I worked 5 jobs at the same time. I was a live-in nanny, youth pastor, restaurant hostess, taught preschoolers for a bible study, and worked as a preschool teacher in a different church. All of them were as full-time as they could be and my days and nights were REALLY FULL all week long!!!!

20. My favorite subjects in high school were chemistry and algebra. I love Math and Science on the chemistry/algebra side but definitely NOT the geometry/biology side. I hated geometry and biology. I think I just like the idea of mixing chemicals for really cool reactions.

21. I only completed 2 years of college (at Lee University in Cleveland, TN, across the street from where I was born). I was studying to be a teacher with the original thought that I wanted to teach high school. I couldn't decide on a subject to major in as I couldn't justify majoring in Chemistry to teach it in high school. I figured if I were to major in Chemistry, I should go into the medical field or scientific research of some kind. I ended up just taking my core classes and the basic education classes.

22. I made a commitment to the Lord when I was in high school to never drink alcohol. I have many family members who are alcoholics and I have seen how this has affected their lives and the lives of those around them. I felt like this was something God was asking me to do. I have never had any alcohol (except what little is in cough syrup).

23. I really love singing and have been in a recording studio on several occasions. I recorded a worship CD with my youth group while I was a youth volunteer. My mom also bought me studio time for my birthday one year but I was unable to finish. I would love to go back. Music runs in my family. My parents were members of a southern gospel group called "The King's Minstrels" when I was little and my sister and I used to sing for the offering. Our favorite song was "He's Still Working on Me".

24. My mom is a copyrighted songwriter. She writes songs all the time and wrote a several songs for the southern gospel group mentioned above. My favorite song that she has ever written is a song she wrote for me!!! I had watched the news on night when I was like 5 and there was a story about a little boy who had died. I promptly asked my mom if Jesus had a backyard that he could play in. She didn't know but after a few days wrote me a song as an answer. It is called "Jesus's Backyard". I would love to record it for her one day and tried several years ago to do so as a surprise gift.

25. One of my biggest regrets is not getting to know people in my high school better. I feel as though I didn't give of myself. I didn't have a lot of friends in high school as most of the people I hung out with were from my church. I look at all the pictures on facebook now of people I went to high school with and wish I had been there. Same with old friends from church that I haven't kept in touch with. One of my biggest fears is that I will grow old alone, without close friends or a family of my own.

26. (I'm adding two more, sue me.) I was also a miracle baby and almost died 3 times when I was first born and then when I was 2 or 3 swallowed a whole bottle of baby aspirin (the chewable orange flavored ones, I still love that taste). God spared me for His Glory!!!! I serve Him everyday in thanks!!!

27. I chased my brother and sister around the house with a baseball bat and beat a hole in the bathroom door after they locked themselves inside to get away from me. I also got into a fist fight with one of my mom's boyfriends. Needless to say, I had MAJOR anger issues!!! I do not say this to brag or say how cool I am but to share as a witness to God's power and how He can change anybody. God has dealt with me on that and I am in control of my anger by His grace. You may not have EVER known that about me because I hid it fairly well and only took things out on my family. Don't assume that those around you aren't hurting or dealing with major issues. Ask God to give you His eyes for people. Alisha and Bo, I am so sorry that I hurt you guys!!! I love you more than you will ever know and more than I will ever be able to show!!!

I know this was long but if you know me at all, you know that I am a talker!!!! Hopefully you find at least one thing interesting in this small recitation of my life.