DIA DE LOS MUERTOS..........It's a big thing in Mexico and it has being growing inside the united states. The town where I was born and raised part of my life is named Armeria. Is a small town in the state of Colima that has grown over the years. It's near the ocean, about 4 miles. I lived in a two room house with a kitchen. Which is still standing. My sister, her husband and three son's live there now.
Across the road from my house is a cemetery. It sounds scary. And it was to live there. All the creepy sound and the scary stories that people told still remain in my memory without fading away. As a little kid I know think and remember how much that affected me growing up. But I don't want to talk about that. I want to write about the tradition of el dia de los muertos as I remember it.
One of the things people did on Dia de los Muertos was they would visit the burial ground of their dead. Painted faces holding candles would traffic all around the cemetery. Holding lit up candles to certain saints to watch over the souls of their dead. It's a tradition to clean around the burial site. And to water the lose dirt that lays ontop of it. Leaving fresh flowers and a veladora with a picture of a certain saint. For us kids Dia de los Muertos meant making money. People would pay us to clean the burial site. And carry full buckets of water to that site. We would use the money to buy churros and atole that old ladies would sell at the entrance of the cemetery. It's a rich tradition.
My grandpa died two years ago. That's one of the reason I was thinking about that. I was 8 and a half years old the last time I saw Papa Adrian. The only grandparent I ever knew. The reason was that my mom had me when she was 39. By that time both my dad's parents and my mom's mom had died. So, I'm glad I got to know my grandpa for at least 8 1/2 years. I didn't live near him or see him all the time. I saw him at least 2 times a year. The times I saw him were good. Papa Adrian grew corn up in the mountains where him and his wife Eluteria lived. He did that to survive. He also had some cows and donkeys. I remember going out with him to the corn fields to help him pick corn. I remember him having a good sense of humor. Always joking around. And people liking him.
He always had some to say to me. Always a hard worker. He chopped(sp?) wood everyday and was a good dancer. He sung and played in a mariachi band him and his old friends had. I guess that's where my mom gets her singing side from.
Before crossing la frontera my mom and I left Colima and went to Michoacan on a road trip. We stayed with my grandpa and Eluteria for a week. I can't remeber much of what i did execept help Eluteria and i going up the river that flowed near their shack and get water from a water hole. It was up stream near a tree that stood by the river. I don't remember saying good bye to him or Eluteria. I guess I didn't realize that i was leaving Mexico. After we visited with Papa Adrian we went to say good bye to the rest of my mom's family.
Too many to name. That was the last time I saw Papa Adrian in person. I miss him sometimes. Especially when my friends tell me about their grandparents. I pray that God will allow me to have children and let my parents live long enough for my children to enjoy their grandparents.

Qvo locos! Just got back from Santa Catalina Island. Our time up there was out of sight. Nothing like being on an island. It was good.
FRIDAY: We took the Catalina express from San Pedro into Avalon which is the only city on the island. From there "T" picked us up on a small speed boat for a real cool ride to Campus by the Sea. The guys were having fun going over the sea swells on the boat. It takes about ten minutes to get from Avalon to Campus by the Sea. We got there ate dinner and watched a video so the guys could learn more about the Island.
After that we were all pretty much tired so we all agreed to go to sleep.
SATURDAY: Got up early, well, the guys did. They had the chance to do some exploring before eating breakfast. After breakfast, we started working. We worked from 9am to 3pm. We had lunch at noon and took a little hike. A group that was there the weekend before us had already taken the cabin down. So, our job was to bring all the wood to the bottom of the hill. We cleaned out the area were the cabin sat. Then we picked and shovel a few feet into the hill slope. Making the flat were the cabin sat a little wider. It was hard work. I have the blisters to prove it. The guys did good. They were actually falling over by the time we got done working. But learned a lot. Doug helped a lot with teaching them values about being a good worker. I was just glad we got the chance to work, And be an example to them. After work we went sea kayaking. Jeffrey and Carlos were on a kayak and Johnny and I on the other one.
Here is the sad part. I took many good pictures. And I thought maybe i should take the camera with me so I can take pictures of the guys kayaking. So i did. Well, the swells started picking up. We were sideways on the swells and Johnny as he paddled to get us straight shift his body to one side a bit too much and we ended up flipping over. I never saw the camera again. Which is cool. The memories stayed in our hearts and minds. Good thing Doug took some pictures of us working. So, he is going to send me one. I'll put it up when I get it. After we got done kayaking we cleaned up, had an awsome dinner and fished, and had an awsome fire by the ocean. It was an incredible time.
SUNDAY: Doug the cook made an awsome breakfast for us and a couple hours later came back.

Hey peeps! I'm having my breakfast. Sipping on some coffee. I just got back from school. I go in early and get my stuff done. So, I can come back home and work.
I'm leaving today. I'm taking some 3 of my guys for the weekend to Campus bye the Sea. A camp owned by Inter Varsity Christian Fellowship. I'm expecting God to do something big with these boys. I'm excited to take them. The plan is to go and help with bringing a cabin down. They are helping to pay for half the cost of the trip. Which is cool of them. "Word up Doug." Doug is camp director. I'm just excited to take them. Carlso Cruz, Jeffrey Rogel and Jhonny Rogel. Please pray for them and I. That God can use this time to teach them something about His plan in their life.
I went to Jeffrey's back to school open house last night. He is doing good in school. All the teachers gave me a good report. Which made me feel good. I want to be able to spend a lot of time with all three of them. My hopes for them is that by the time I leave they would be able to step into my shoes and take my spot with NorthWest Neighbors. Who knows, maybe pull one of them up north with me. I'm excited about the things that I'm learning here. I want to go back to Washington to pilot a ministry house during the summer. In the next couple years. Get something going up there.
For now. I'm here doing JC's work. And happy about it. Even though it gets hard sometimes. Well. Blessings and dreams.

God has been good to me. Let be known that I Sergio Castaneda praise God for His mercy on my life.
Hey! I want everyone to know that prayer is necessary to live. Especially friends who pray for you. There is several places in the Bible where we see people helping people get closer to Jesus. There is one story in the Bible when Jesus is preaching in the synagogue(sp). Two guys carry a guy who is an invalid. To the top of the roof of the building where Jesus was make a hole and drop the guy down in front of Jesus.
Now, I'm just thinking this is funny. These guys were some serious friends who believed in Jesus. Now, I down think they lowered the guy down. They were problably thinking. Our friend is already jacked up. If we drop him in Jesus will be able to fix him. So, they took this man and dropped him through the roof. Awsome story. I've notice in my reliationship with my peers that we need that. But sometimes our sin dosen't let us see the good our Christian brothers are trying to do for us. Wanting to pray for and with us. Hang out spend some time. Jesus spend some much time hanging with people. Eating was a big thing. Sometimes I think the reason Jesus used the time during meals to preach and talk because while everybody was busy eating He could talk without being interrupted.
I've tried it. It works. We need friends to pray for us, to hugh us, to kick our butt when we need to be kicked. God knows I need that.
And that's part what I portray where I live. Hanging out with the locals guys. And my two deciples. Just kicking it. Eating together. Talking mess to each other. I have a friend that has done that for me on my college side. She is a girl(aaaayyyy!!!!!) Her name is Wendy.
Awsome character. She has played a big role in my pushing towards studying and getting my college stuff together. She motivates me to want to accomplish more and be "good" student. Thank you Wendy.

Orale que pasa? I'm at school at the moment. Finishing a rough draft para my term paper. We been taking midterms here at Pasadena City College. I'm happy mine are over with. I'be been busy the last week going over notes and making sure I knew everything for the midterm. I did good.
Last Saturday I hung out with one of my deciples. Carlos Cruz. Ninth grader. He is a cool kid, and love him like my little bro.
He wanted me to take him to go see "Knock Around Guys." With a wide cast. Including Vin Diesiel and Seth Green.
The movie is a story about a young guy and his friends. It's another story about the mafia. It was interesting to Carlos and I.
We started conversating after the movie about what it would be like to be in the mafia. It was fun listening to Carlos talk about how he would be like and what kind of guys would be in his entourage. To me the movie took me back in time.
WHEN I TURNED 16 one of my brothers gave me a AK-47 assault riffle for my birthday and a gold necklace with an ak-47 emblem(sp?) haning from it. And a big gold ring. This was when I was 16. I didn't realize that I was been in a way trained for something.
At 17 was when I started doing runs. Runs are when you deliver and collect for a dealer. I remeber one time I got asked to go check on a lady who was a distributor for someone on my brothers crew. Like everytime i did a run. I had my entourage. No more then two guys. We got to the place. It was a trailer in Benton City. We got there and came in I started talking to the lady. Whom was in her 30's and pregnant. She was acting crazy talking about her boyfriend stold the stuff(drugs). So, I got her to tell me what had happen. She just said that the boyfriend got it and took off with his uncle. A couple minutes later we see a car pull up. My guy gets post it behind the door and pulls out a .45 caliber had gun. I got to admit I was scared. The boyfriend walks in and starts talking smack(insulting) to me. Right away my guy puts the gun to his head from behind the door. The boyfriend gets scared and pulls out the stuff from inside his jacket and throws it on the coffee table. So, we get him to sit and tell us what was going on.
He told me he was just trying to stop her from smoking it up because she was pregnant with his child. So, I started asking her is she was smoking the drugs. She told me that it was just a little. I have my standards. So, i took the stuff from her.
My brother's partner wasn't too happy I did that. I never heard about her or her boyfriend again.
This is one of the stories from my youth. God has sure been looking out for me.

My mom was in pain 23 years ago today. 1979 was the year I was born. I wonder if my mom ever thought I would become a youth worker\pastor.