missionaryMAC

As was mentioned in my previous entry, the group last week from St. Paul in Mt. Prospect, IL, recorded an important milestone in the life of the mission: the first ever VBS in Sparks. The event was held from Tuesday through Thursday, 1-3 pm, at the Socorro Ramirez Community Center, which is actually only a block away from the Morales's trailer. Although less kids came than we would have maybe liked (19 was the most on any given day), everyone who was there seemed to have a great time, and it definitely got our foot in the door for further outreach-related activities in the future. Yesterday already we did a health kit/school kit distribution, which we mostly advertised for at VBS so I was a little worried that not many people would show up, and the line was out the door. Maybe via the violence in Juarez, which has caused so many teams to switch their work project to El Paso instead of Mexico, God is opening a door to a brand new mission field right in our own backyard. Enjoy the ph...

The Moraleses came to church with us yesterday! I don't remember if I put it on here or not, but Maria asked me at one point last week about coming to our church b/c she didn't want to stop seeing us once we were done working (which is taking way longer than we thought because EVERYTHING is a gazillion times more complicated than it should be), so they did yesterday! Chris and I picked her up because they don't have any legal transporation right now (their truck works just fine but the plates are expired...we would like to find a way to get them new ones if we can round up the money and the proper documentation), and she seemed to have a great time. She told me she wants to come back next week with her husband and oldest son, who didn't come this week, and she also wants to sign the 2 middle kids up for San Pablo's 1st communion classes. How cool is that? Maybe I love this family so much because I see them as the epitome of what the mission is trying to do. We can...

Got a CD of pictures from the Minot, ND, group (2/28-3/7) in the mail the other day...here are a couple of my favorites that I stole ;)

Putting in the final piece of the puzzle... Success! Now it's time for the sink...there goes the old one! I had a lot of fun doing this by the way ;)

MORE work on the Morales home this week with a group from the Chicago area. Chris says I'm on my way to becoming a master plumber...let's see what happens when we flush the toilet...to be continued... First we had to rip out the old one. Then this is what we found underneath...aisle 13 here I come! I see you! I did it all by myself (with a little direction from Chris)! That big mark on my head is from where Chris hit me in the head with a 10 foot long piece of 3 in. PVC...it was an accident!!! This is as far as we got today...we decided to go along the edge of the trailer instead of diagonally underneath (the sewer hookup is on the opposite end of the trailer on the front side). Less fire ants!

Aside from doing normal stuff this week (3 days in the office and then building an over-roof with a group from North Dakota State University on Thursday and Friday), I also came to realize how exciting it is that I came to YLM when I did. I had no idea about the myriad things that are on the verge of happening around here. Two things--Stephen's Powerpoint presentation in lieu of the normal Bible study last Sunday morning and a scouting trip made by 3 members of the Barrington, IL, summer mission team--opened my eyes to the following: 1. Santisima Trinidad doesn't currently own the land that the church is on, but they are nearing the end of the process to become the legal proprieters. I went to Mexico on Monday with 3 members of St. Matthew's in Barrington, IL (their church has been conducting VBS there for many years and has developed a deep relationship with the people and the congregation at Santisima, and are therefore going to help pay for all that needs to happen), to ...

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OSB stands for Oriented Strand Board. I learned that this week, and I doubt, as Chris says, that I am the only person on the face of the planet that has ever wondered what OSB stood for. Next I want to know why 16 penny nails are called 16 penny nails. I can't help it that I ask a lot of obnoxious questions. Anyhow, I used a lot of OSB this week working with a group of college students from Martin Luther Chapel at Michigan State University. I mainly worked on the roof because there is just something about roofing--I love it. Probably because it means I get to climb up high and get really dirty. The old roof was just this sheet of metal that had a bunch of cracks in it, and when I feel like I'm going to fall through it with every step, you know it's bad. So, we built her an over-roof--we just ignored everything underneath and built the new one on top! The rafters got way jacked up in the process (long story, at least partially my fault even though Chris tells me otherwise), ...