missionaryMAC

One room of the General Assistance building that needs to be tiled down, a bunch more to go. Don't worry, we ate BBQ when we were done! P.S. I like this kind of tile (VCT=Vinyl Compsition Tile) better than peel and stick because there are gooey substances involved that I can get all over me!

The Saturday after Drury and MSU finished finals (May 16), my friends Erica and Kate drove down to El Paso to spend a week with me! They drove straight through from Springfield and decided that it wasn't actually that bad split between the 2 of them, but neither one of them ever wants to live in West Texas. They both agreed though, that it suits me perfectly and that this is definitely where God wants me to be serving right now. The week was a good mix of exploration and relaxation. We ate lots of yummy Chris food, saw some sights around El Paso, crossed the border a few times, and even put them to work in the thrift store one morning. One place we went in El Paso was the Border Patrol Museum--who knew there was one of those?!? Even though it was small, when you get the 3 of us together (+ Kristine, the summer volunteer who got here a week ago today), we managed to entertain ourselves ;) It actually all started when we drove up and there were a bunch of guys standing in a circle in...

I am pretty proud of the French Silk pie I mentioned in my entry yesterday, so here are a couple pictures of it. I even made the crust myself and didn't use Pillsbury pie crust-in-a-box that you unroll into the pan like I normally would. If you want to read the full story of how I made it and see step-by-step photos, visit http://www.thekneadychefs.blogspot.com/ . Alejandra liked it too! Chris and I took it over to her house because it was Maria's birthday yesterday, and all she could talk about during dinner was the "pastel." When it was finally time for dessert, Chris cut her a piece and then asked her, "Porque quieres pastel?" (Why do you want pie?), to which she replied, "Para comerme toda!" (So I can eat it all!). You should also go look at the Spring 2009 edition of the YLM newsletter, which came out today ( http://www.ylm.org/acrobat/YLMnews2009a.pdf ). Page 5 is my personal favorite... ;) Until next time, blessings!

...I didn't. It's just a slow time of year at the mission. The first group of the summer arrives on June 3, so lately I've been spending part of the day in the office (answering e-mails, sending reminders to upcoming groups to get their forms/$$$ in, working on weekly schedules, helping Chris write grant proposals, etc.) and then I'll go for a walk or read or bake (I made a French Silk pie yesterday for this blog called The Kneady Chefs that Chris and I are a part of--each month is a new challenge and this month's is pie--I even made my own crust and lived to tell about it!) or work on my scrapbook (I just ordered a new batch of pictures yesterday too). In general I like to be busy all the time but it's nice to relax now and then. I am also looking forward to Saturday because 2 of my friends from college are driving down to see me after school gets out. I am going to take them to church at Santisima and the Mercado Juarez, and we are going camping at Carlsbad an...

Join Hands Day is held every year on the 1st Saturday in May. It's a national day of service, kind of like the national day of prayer or something, sponsored by America's Fraternal Benefit Societies (like the Red Cross, FFA, FBLA, VFA, and the Salvation Army) with the goal of uniting youth and adults in grassroots volunteerism. Somehow, I wound up being in charge of the project we hosted here at the mission--assembling food baskets and school supply kits. I think it went pretty well for never having been around for it before and then having the reins land in my lap. Definitely some things we could improve on for next year, but we had around 130 volunteers (120 on the sign-up sheet but I'm pretty sure there were more) who worked 273.5 hours and made 250 food baskets and 200 school supply kits. I was pretty busy running around all morning but did take a couple pics so I could document my event: Bulk bags of flour, sugar, rice, and beans that Chris used his chef connections to...

I recently moved into the dorms so that Rita and family, who were displaced by a fire that destroyed all their belongings, could move into building #2 where I had been living. Here are a couple pictures so that you can have a mental image: