missionaryMAC

According to the Chinese it's the Year of the Tiger, but according to us it's the Year of the Mission Building. One of our goals for 2010, with servant events and otherwise, is to identify our biggest priorities and then actually TACKLE them. We are discovering that most of those "biggest priorities" are right here on the mission's campus! Two weeks ago building #3 (currently Chris's house) got a new roof, last week Monday when his mom was in town for the board meeting the 3 of us scrubbed mold off his bathroom wall and then painted it "Blonde Beauty," and then on Tuesday and Wednesday it was #13b(currently my apartment)'s turn. The project was a new floor in the living room/kitchen/hallway. The old linoleum, although it wasn't necessarily bothering me, was broken and stained in several areas, so Stephen had added it to Dave and Paige's project list. Before laying the new tile, they peeled up the linoleum and did a LOT of prep work on the

I feel like most of the time I write about positive, exciting things on here. However, I want my blog to be a place where I can share whatever I'm feeling at the moment, and currently that's frustrated. I want someone to tell me why I feel like a whole bunch of groups have canceled recently due to not having "enough" people, which doesn't even really make sense to me because we (and God) can use however many people groups are able to put together; sometimes smaller is even better. Without even really thinking very hard, I listed off five groups earlier when I was venting to Chris that were either penciled in or booked, predominately in March, and are no longer on the schedule for 2010. I could probably come up with more if I tried. Spring break season looks a little pathetic in all honesty. Please don't read more into this than is necessary. I still love what I do, and I don't mean any disrespect to the groups that ARE coming in the next few weeks--I'm

This past Saturday YLM had its annual Have a Heart volunteer recognition luncheon. Have a Heart is held each year on a Saturday around Valentine's Day in honor of all the people who give of their time, talents, and treasures to make the mission a better place, and as usual Chris cooked (BBQ chicken, corn, macaroni and cheese) and a weekend servant event from Rio Rancho, NM, provided extra hands to help with service and clean-up. They also generously purchased all of the decorations you see in the photos below. The 15 people they brought were a HUGE help, and it wasn't just me that noticed how helpful and hardworking they were. After being Chris's sous chef all morning, it was a wonderful feeling to sit down and enjoy my lunch, the Mariachi San Pablo serenade, and the program portion of the event. Elvira and Stephen emceed; here are some of the stats they had calculated for 2009: 1000+ volunteers 45,000+ volunteer hours 4 people with 2000+ hours 1 person with 700+ hours The

Today is Ash Wednesday, the official start of Lent (and baseball season, if you're a Cardinals fan). This year, I decided to give up sweets. All of them. I wanted a challenge and I think I have one ahead of me. I have done chocolate lots of times in the past but that's too easy; one year I did facebook which was way harder than chocolate, but I use that as a communication tool for my job entirely too much to function without it for 40 days. So sweets it is. Last night Chris and his mom and I went to Baskin Robbins for $1 scoop night and I had some super-rich chocolatey flavor; no more until Easter! I have a feeling I will have to make some judgement calls on what exactly counts as a sweet and what doesn't, but I'll deal with those as they come up I guess. I know I am not Catholic and I don't HAVE to give something up for Lent, but I feel like it helps me focus my attention so much more on the wonderful and yet bittersweet season of the church year that is ahead of u

The group the week of January 30 was from Bella Vista, AR, which means "Beautiful View" in Spanish. They worked in Anapra so we went to church at San Lucas on Sunday, and as usual Javier wanted to do a brief introduction of the group in front of the congregation. When I told him they were from Arkansas, he looked at me like I was nuts for thinking he was even going to try and pronounce that, but after I told him the city was called Bella Vista, he looked significantly more relaxed. Of course, in the U.S., except maybe in 97% Hispanic areas like El Paso, it's pronounced in true gringo fashion... Anyways, two of the group members, Ivan and Millie, had already been here for about 2 weeks and will be here for 2-3 more, when the rest of the group arrived; they are one of 3 couples that chose to spend a few months this winter serving the Lord on the border. Together with 4 others from their church, they completed their assigned project as well as several other pending tasks and

--The mission got a $2500 grant from Home Depot! Praise God (and way to go Development Director Chris)! We should tell Lowe's about this... --Our first "Give a Day, Get a Disney Day" volunteers have been fantastic! Two teenage boys did some odd jobs for Elvira, mainly in the warehouses, and a family of 6 picked up trash and helped with yardwork. It was a bit of a hassle for me to figure out how to verify their attendance so that they could actually get their free passes--THEY first had to actually "sign-up," which they received a link to via e-mail but they all just skimmed it too quickly and skipped that step--but after several obnoxious recordings I finally got to talk to a human who directed me to the correct FAQ so I could send the volunteers the link again! --I am on the ballot for San Pablo's church council under secretary. I have mixed feelings about whether I want to win or not...elections are this upcoming Sunday, February 7, so I guess we'll fi