The only thing better than roofing...

...is 2nd story roofing! 16 feet off the ground! This past week Chris's mom Carol brought a group from CO, and we worked on building a 2nd story addition for Nelson, Lupe's son. Lupe was the construction manager for Santisima who passed away suddenly on June 10, 2008, while the CO group was here last year. His death is a big part of the reason why Chris is here. Even though I never knew him, he was obviously near and dear to the group, and it was neat to be able to honor his memory by serving his wonderful family. Lupe's wife's name is Xochitl, and they have 2 daughters, Karlita, 4, and Lizbeth, almost 10.

Obviously my favorite part was the roof, but here are some pics from the rest of the week too:

The group singing "Amazing Grace" after the service at Santisima on Sunday.

We all stayed afterwards for the benefit dinner held for Josefina, Lupe's widow. She actually did the cooking because it was a surprise--she thought all the $$$ was going to the church--so we all stuffed ourselves on burritos and then hung around to play with the kiddos. Later in the week she made us gorditas for lunch one day and then fresh tortillas the next!

The longest Spanish word I have ever seen is on the way to Nelson's house. Don't ask me what it means.

Carol and I framing.

One day we had some reporters from CA tag along with us. They heard about a group from their area cancelling and decided to do a story on how the wave of cancellations has affected needy families.

Good thing I wear my glasses all the time...

Nelson and I.

The most precise roof I have ever seen.

See us WAY up there?

The roofing crew consisted of Nelson, me, Kristine, and Hanna.

Look how CLEAN I am after being around roofing tar ALL morning!

Hanna and Diana, who came with us Thursday and Friday after she got out of school.

Me trimming soffet.

We all held hands and sang "Alabare" during the blessing service on Friday afternoonl. Pastor Hernandez was out of town so Carol talked and I interpreted.

One other story from the week is when I tried to smuggle an apple across the border. You can't bring fruits or vegetables, along with a bunch of other stuff, into the U.S., but I happened to have an apple on my lap as we were almost across the bridge and nearing the guard station (I actually brought it for Chris because we had worked late that day and I didn't want him to get crabby in the car on the way home because he was hungry, but he didn't want it and I forgot about it). A guard roaming the aisles of cars happened to walk by and see it, so he stopped, asked me where I got it, and told me to either eat it or declare it (that's some good border guarding to notice that, I must say). I wound up just eating the entire thing because I was kind of scared to declare it (even though they just throw it away for you as long as you tell them about it), but the guard who stopped us said if I hadn't it would have cost $300! For an apple!

Until next time, blessings!