Satan never Quits
In spite of the title of my last blog, or perhaps because of it, Satan never quits trying to prevent us from doing what we do best. I stole the title of this blog from something someone said to me in conversation too--this time it was Becky, YLM's bookkeeper.
In case you haven't heard, a car bomb was detonated by gang members in Juarez on Thursday, July 15. The bombing took place somewhere near downtown Juarez, killed 4 people, and injured between 16 and 20 others. On Saturday of that week, police found a graffiti threat allegedly written by the gang that pulled off the car bomb, saying that if the authorities didn't stop "supporting" the rival gang, they would bomb another car in 15 days with 10x as much explosives. That date is this Sunday, August 1. I was actually in Juarez on the Saturday that the threat was found, at Gaby's quince. However, based on the bombing itself and the subsequent threat, we as a mission staff made the decision to keep groups out of Juarez until further notice. I suppose we'll make a new decision within a week or so of Sunday, since by then we will have been able to determine if it was an empty threat or if more things are going to get blown up. Satan never quits.
The decision has affected 3 groups thus far. I already told you the story of how one of them wound up on the news; the other two get in on Saturday and I am overwhelmingly pleased with what their response has been thus. I was expecting some resistance, maybe a cancellation or two, but I have been met with humble submission, praise for our hard work in arranging stateside alternatives, and thankfulness for our concern over everyone's safety. It feels good to know that people trust our decisions: it feels good when groups trust us in telling them that Juarez is reasonably safe, and it feels equally good when groups trust us in telling them it's best not to be over there.
As we were frantically running to Lowe's, designing flyers, and making phone calls last week in order to plan for next week's 2 groups that we pulled out of Juarez at the last minute, we were also trying to plan for this week's group (St. Matthew Lutheran Church in Barrington, IL) too, that was never scheduled to be in Juarez at all. They are running 2 Vacation Bible schools and wanted to do a house as well, so Chris, Felipe, Sergio, a couple of our Workforce Solutions volunteers, and I arrived at the trailer home of a fellow Workforce Solutions volunteer on Thursday morning to pour the slab. A drive-by by the Socorro Police Department, a drive-by by the City of Socorro Planning and Zoning Commission, and a visit to the Planning and Zoning office later, we arrived in Horizon City, at the Garcias,' whom we just finshed building a home for last week with the group from Holy Cross Lutheran Church in Flushing, MI; you don't recognize that name since I haven't put my blog about them up yet. Turns out you need a permit in Socorro...and plans, drawn to scale. Satan never quits. What are plans??? ;) We elected to build the Garcia's ANOTHER house yes, out of desperation because the slab needed to be done that day, but also because they are a wonderful family and can honestly use the additional space, even with 300 extra square feet already. We did finally finish pouring and smoothing around 5:30, and the construction portion of the Barrington group is on track to finish, including interior and exterior paint, by tomorrow. One of next week's groups is going to tile the floor. Satan never quits, but neither do we.
Here are a few pictures of the slab (well, mainly of the adorable Garcia girls...):
Elizabeth and Nadia with the turtle that they found in the road earlier that day. They named it Princess and it entertained them for hours, until its rightful owners came to claim it.
Chris let all the girls write their names in the concrete.
Even me!
I'm not sure how much moisture a newly poured slab can withstand, but I'm glad that Horizon City missed the bulk of this and only got a few sprinkles!
Until next time, blessings!
In case you haven't heard, a car bomb was detonated by gang members in Juarez on Thursday, July 15. The bombing took place somewhere near downtown Juarez, killed 4 people, and injured between 16 and 20 others. On Saturday of that week, police found a graffiti threat allegedly written by the gang that pulled off the car bomb, saying that if the authorities didn't stop "supporting" the rival gang, they would bomb another car in 15 days with 10x as much explosives. That date is this Sunday, August 1. I was actually in Juarez on the Saturday that the threat was found, at Gaby's quince. However, based on the bombing itself and the subsequent threat, we as a mission staff made the decision to keep groups out of Juarez until further notice. I suppose we'll make a new decision within a week or so of Sunday, since by then we will have been able to determine if it was an empty threat or if more things are going to get blown up. Satan never quits.
The decision has affected 3 groups thus far. I already told you the story of how one of them wound up on the news; the other two get in on Saturday and I am overwhelmingly pleased with what their response has been thus. I was expecting some resistance, maybe a cancellation or two, but I have been met with humble submission, praise for our hard work in arranging stateside alternatives, and thankfulness for our concern over everyone's safety. It feels good to know that people trust our decisions: it feels good when groups trust us in telling them that Juarez is reasonably safe, and it feels equally good when groups trust us in telling them it's best not to be over there.
As we were frantically running to Lowe's, designing flyers, and making phone calls last week in order to plan for next week's 2 groups that we pulled out of Juarez at the last minute, we were also trying to plan for this week's group (St. Matthew Lutheran Church in Barrington, IL) too, that was never scheduled to be in Juarez at all. They are running 2 Vacation Bible schools and wanted to do a house as well, so Chris, Felipe, Sergio, a couple of our Workforce Solutions volunteers, and I arrived at the trailer home of a fellow Workforce Solutions volunteer on Thursday morning to pour the slab. A drive-by by the Socorro Police Department, a drive-by by the City of Socorro Planning and Zoning Commission, and a visit to the Planning and Zoning office later, we arrived in Horizon City, at the Garcias,' whom we just finshed building a home for last week with the group from Holy Cross Lutheran Church in Flushing, MI; you don't recognize that name since I haven't put my blog about them up yet. Turns out you need a permit in Socorro...and plans, drawn to scale. Satan never quits. What are plans??? ;) We elected to build the Garcia's ANOTHER house yes, out of desperation because the slab needed to be done that day, but also because they are a wonderful family and can honestly use the additional space, even with 300 extra square feet already. We did finally finish pouring and smoothing around 5:30, and the construction portion of the Barrington group is on track to finish, including interior and exterior paint, by tomorrow. One of next week's groups is going to tile the floor. Satan never quits, but neither do we.
Here are a few pictures of the slab (well, mainly of the adorable Garcia girls...):
Elizabeth and Nadia with the turtle that they found in the road earlier that day. They named it Princess and it entertained them for hours, until its rightful owners came to claim it.
Chris let all the girls write their names in the concrete.
Even me!
I'm not sure how much moisture a newly poured slab can withstand, but I'm glad that Horizon City missed the bulk of this and only got a few sprinkles!Until next time, blessings!
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