My Experience - Gavin

Well, here we are, our last day at work and 2 days until we leave. We all agreed that we would update the blog with a short summary of our experiences, so heres mine...

God has really spoken to me during my time here, He has helped me to understand some valuable life lessons. I am a Cross-cultural studies and Business major, so this trip for me was a great insight and good experience. Maybe not enhancing the productivity of a Christian bookstore business, but living in uncomfortable environments, trying to communicate with people and having difficulty understanding each other and having to adjust to other cultures and their ways of life will be things I have to deal with for the rest of my life. God has taught me much patience during my time here. In Cancun; trying to plan or sticking to a schedule is not something they like to do, but God is good, as frustrating as it can be God has helped me to be flexible and available.

At the bookstore, we have accomplished so much. They now have an organized store and stock cupboard. Everything is categorized, alphabetized and tidy. The owners now have an accurate account of how much stock they actually own and a website for selling their products online. Even more so the store owners and employees have been trained how to effectively use the system and keep the store organized.

The store owners and their family have been a complete blessing to us all. Hosting 5 young adults for 3 weeks isn't an easy job. However, Lupita, Mario Snr and Mario Jr have more than taken care of us. They have made this experience better than we expected. I will definitely miss Lupita's amazing dinners!

Just a final Thanks, firstly to the Lord for blessing me with this awesome opportunity. Secondly to the Escobar  family for their great hospitality. Thirdly to my team; Pierro, Carolina, Steph and Farrah, it was fun experiencing this adventure with you guys! Finally to all of you that kept us in your prayers.

Many Thanks and God Bless you all

Gavin :-)

PRAYER NEEDED!!!!

This week is becoming very long, and very tiring... The past 3 days we have spent sitting at a table, on our laptops, researching the products the store owns to upload them online. After entering all the CD's and DVD's on the shelves we have now started on the books. All of this is excluding all of the extra stock that needs to be added from the stock room. Days seem to be dragging because the work can seem very tedious and tiring. Our backs are getting stiff and eyes and hands tired! Also not forgetting that we have now been here for over 2 weeks and we are missing loved ones, Satan is definitely trying to get a foot hold. However, praise be to God, He spoke clearly to me today with this:

He who began a good work in me will be faithful and complete it! Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up....

For the rest of this week we will continue to work hard and try to finish entering in inventory...

You can check out the website at www.libreriaunidadcristiana.com to see our progress!

On another note we are starting to collect injuries here too, Stephanie fell playing basketball and scrapped her knee, Gavin stubbed his toe in the sea and split his toenail, Farrah slipped on the rocks at the beach and scrapped her arm, and just last night Pierro was playing soccer with some locals and hurt his ankle trying to block a shot... PRAY FOR CAROLINA!!!

We would like to ask you all to keep us in your prayers to keep us safe and protected and that God will give us strength to see us through until next Thursday when we leave here and return home.

To loved ones, we love you and are missing you... and to America and England congratulations on making it through to the round of 16 in the World Cup...

Thank you for your prayers to date.

God Bless you all!

Update!

An update of what we have accomplished so far. We started the fourteen day trial with volusion but with the trial we could only upload 100 items of inventory so Monday morning we were able to purchase volusion. We’ve had some technical issues with merging the trial and the program we got but are hoping that by tomorrow it will be able to merge in. The 100 products that we have on the inventory are in with all the details like pictures and prices. Farrah has been able to continue her work on the website and we now have a logo and its looking really good. While we wait to be able to put more inventory in the system Gavin and Steph organized all the CDs in alphabetical order and today we organized ALL the books in categories and also in alphabetical order. Piero and I have been working on translating the website. We have also been trying to figure out what to use for the sales online because of the Mexican laws it’s not as easy but after many calls and long research Piero was able to find one. As soon as we are able to merge with the new program and the trial we hope to add more inventory and complete this project successfully!

Good Job Team! : )

Besides work we have been enjoying the food, the blazzing heat lol, watching soccer games (Go Mexico! tomorrow), our friends (cockroaches and lizards lol): Farrah, Steph and Gavin continue to improve their spanish skills :)



Keep us in your prayers as we continue serving here.

Blessings,

Carolina : )

The past couple of days have been busy.. The team has been working hard doing inventory, we have a long way to go... as of now we reached 100 products in the system, and for the next few weeks we will be working long hours to get as much done as we possibly can.
All I can really say at this point is PLEASE PRAY for us...

Also those of you who have been watching the world cup, I would just like to say GO U.S.A.!!!
we did a great job not letting those english beat us.
Im Proud to be an American!

-Stephanie

For most of today we were all learning new things. The bookstore owners decided that they would like to go with the Volusion system as it would be most beneficial for their business. So we all spent much of today online, chatting to customer services about things we didn't understand. As the working day came to a close, we were clear on how the system works and how we were to go about setting up the system. After leaving the bookstore we headed over to the orphanage where a group of students from Nyack, including Professor Muckell, Gavin, Pierro and Stephanie, came and did some work in January. We can delightfully update that much progression has taken place, even in this blazing heat! The orphanage is looking better and better. We also met Pastor Armando (The guy incharge of the orphanage construction) he is hopefull that the Orpahnage will be in full operation in one year from now. They need to raise about 16,000,000 Peso's (about $1,000,000) to complete it.

Yesterday was the first full day of being at the bookstore and what a wonderfully busy day it was! 
The morning consisted of Mario and his mother explaining the ins and outs of what happens in front as well as behind the scenes at the bookstore. The conclusion of the morning meeting was that Mario's mother (the owner) is the computer, accounting system, inventory keeper, and manager ALL in one. Talk about a lot of numbers to keep in your head..
The afternoon meeting consisted of Pierro and I explaining the accounting/inventry systems the bookstore could invest in to make managing so much easier and organized.
After a very productive day we headed to the hotel zone for a great swim on the beach. It was BEAUTIFUL!
Today starts Day 2 of a fully day at the bookstore where hopefully we can map out a plan for our stay here.


God Bless,

Farrah

the adventure begins!

Saludos desde Cancun, Mexico!

Monday June 7 started very early for all of us as we made it to the airport (Newark) by 4am. Some of us didn't sleep at all, others sleep for an hour and Gavin traveled from London to NJ and the final destination was Cancun. We all made it safely to Cancun by the afternoon. As soon as we stepped out of the airport we were greeted by the blazing sun and humidity. After having some Subway lunch which included some extra ingredients like guacamole and jalapeno Doritos we headed to the YWAM base where we will be staying. We were able to visit the bookstore and we will be having a meeting today to learn more about the business and what we will be doing. We ended our day with some good Mexican food and drinks. So the adventure begins!

Please continue to keep us in your prayers that God will continue to use us and guide us :)

Blessings,

Carolina

Update News

Approximately two weeks ago I have received an e-mail from the General Manager of Kairos Bookstore located in Lima-Peru, one of the biggest bookstores in Lima. He strongly recommends Point of Sale Accounting and Inventory system and also gave us some hints for the designing of the web page. He is been using this accounting system not long ago, and he said this system has been and still very successful for his business. Carolina and I will be working on the translation of the e-mail before we depart from Newark to Cancun, then we will post it on the blog. Please keep us on your prayers. God Bless you,

Piero Gorriti (Member of the Cancun team)