Thursday July 11

"Doing lines of crack in Mexico" - cracks in the concrete floor that is!

We have had the most fun with this term the last few days. The concrete floor that was poured is not even. There are cracks in between the slabs that were poured. We can not lay tile on uneven floor. So several of us have been using sledgehammers and chisels to break up the floor to even it out. Then we often need to add more concrete to make it smooth. Here's a few lines:

'Come check out my crack'

'I'm teaching you how to do lines of crack'

'Is my crack deep enough'

Now on to serious stuff.

3 Things I'm thankful for:

1. Being healthy when so many are having intestinal problems

2. Being two more days until I see my girls!

3. The yummy lasagna that Melissa made for supper.

James stayed at the house today to rest. Melissa and Allie kept an eye on him while they were cooking and doing the laundry. He rested most of the day and drank several bottles of electrolyte solution. Tomorrow he really wants to go back to the work site for the last day. He has enjoyed being helpful to Manuel the Maestro brick layer. He was up this evening so I am hopeful.

I helped with pounding the concrete today. Lexie got to lay several rows of tile with Lori. Maybe she will get good enough to tile at our house!

I forgot to add about playing in the rain last night. As we went to get a street taco last evening, it began to sprinkle. The sprinkle turned to a monsoon! The Center is on a sloping street and when it rains that hard it is like crossing a river. The courtyard was flooded with the wind and rain. Our kids from Kansas have not played in the rain enough. They enjoyed dancing in the rain!

Tomorrow is our last day. It's bittersweet. I'm ready to be home even though we will be heading to kids camp on Monday. But I also hate to leave when the project is not completely finished. I also hate to leave the beautiful weather! I heard it was hot today back home. 

Wednesday July 10

To Market, To Market to buy a ...... Sombero? purse? coconut? anything!

3 Things I'm Thankful for:
1. I'm getting better at understanding money terms in Spanish.
2. Coconut water - its yummy!
3. Friends who will pray immediately when the need arises.

Wednesday is market day in Ajijic. They have a street designated to booths/tables full of items to sell from fruits/veggies to fish/meat to cheese and also purses, jewelry and more. After the market we could go into the town square for more vendors and booths.

James has been hit by the Mexican intestinal bug. He lasted about an hour at the market then requested a ride back home where the bathroom and his bedroom is closer. It has hit hard and fast. Hoping it will be short lived and he can finish out the week.












Since James went back, Lexie and I wandered the market shops and some of the stores in Ajijic. We soon found the rest of the group and went to lunch at Los Telares. Since I was expecting the menu in Spanish, I was a little confused when it was in both. One column was written in Spanish and the next column was translated into English with Spanish words. I had molcajette stew which is served boiling hot in a lava bowl. It was not spicy hot and had a tomato based sauce. The meat in it was very good.

Lexie went horseback riding with the other teens after the market. They can rent horses for one hour for 100 pesos ($10). The horses are trained where they are allowed to go. Part of their ride was down near the beach. Of course two adults did accompany them on that ride. I can only imagine what 5 teens would do on horseback in a Mexican village.

Thursday is back to work in Mezcala. It is hard to believe that we only have two work days left!

The Project

Clint and Lori Hendershot felt the call to help the people of Mexico for several years. Together, they have made many trips to this area.  Most of their work here was building churches - the physical church. In some occasions the church is located behind the pastor's own home. Clint was diagnosed with lung cancer about seven years ago and was given six months to live. He lasted six years and six months! He continued to participate in building projects even up to a few months before his death. Clint passed away last September. Before he passed, he committed to building the church in Mezcala. Lori has given Clint's memorial money toward this project and the church is dedicated in his memory. At first Lori was not sure she was going to be able to pull together a team to complete this project. Now she not only has a team, she has two teams! The Kansas team is here for two weeks. The day we leave for home a team from Virginia arrives for one week. God has put everything in place to make this project happen.

The church is located in the front of the Pastor's property. His family has owned the property and in this town the only way to own property is to have it passed on through the family. Currently  the lower level of the church (which will be the activity room eventually) is mostly finished. It has walls, roof, and is painted. There are two bathrooms, a kitchen, and a storage room that all have tiled floors. The main room is what we are completing with tiles.

Walking into the church Sunday morning.

The doors to the left are the bathrooms and the
doors to the right are the kitchen and storage.

The piles of sand, dirt, and bricks that will be moved.

We began the walls to create classrooms to one side of the church on Monday. There are three local men actually laying the bricks and our job is to help them so that all they do is lay the bricks(ladrillo). We help make the mud, hand them bricks, clean up, anything that makes their job go faster(rapido). Since the guys only speak Spanish their helpers are learning many terms in Spanish.

By Friday we have the walls mostly up and began pouring the concrete posts. The team also unloaded 10,000 bricks on to the current roof which will begin the work on the second level. That level will be the main sanctuary. That level will also have a nursery and more bathrooms. Since the building is built on a hill, the second level is actually at street level.

Laying the floor tile began on Tuesday. They ended up taking up the first tiles they laid as the floor was not level enough. They have mixed some concrete to level the floor before the tiles go down and as of Friday there was about a quarter of the floor laid.

It will be wonderful to see how much of the project we are able to complete by the time we leave.

Tuesday July 9

3 Things I'm thankful for:
1. Ibuprophen for aches and pains
2. Teens who will do what is asked of them, even when they may not want to.
3. The abarrote(store) next to the work site that sells Coke

Working at the job site was dusty and loud. We are trying to finish as much of the tile as possible. However the floor that was laid is not completely level or smooth. So we had to pound out cracks and uneven spots so that they would be level for the tiles to be laid. This involves a sledge hammer or a chisel and  using a level. The kids got to go on the roof to wash the rust off the beams that were delivered last night and then paint them with primer.

Last night Bobbi, Tom, James, and Eldridge worked until 11pm on the tiles. They were interrupted for an hour to unload the I beams that weighed 450lbs EACH onto the roof. The truck driver that delivered them wanted to drop them in the street or on the driveway instead of waiting to move them. They gathered a couple men from off the streets to help and offered payment but the men refused.

 
We stayed until 5:00p today to get as far as possible with the tile. This is the last day for Bobbi and Tom to work on the tile as they  fly out Thursday. In total they laid over 1300 sq ft of tile. Since the teens finished their job of painting the beams they were allowed to go down to the lake. The girls waded in and the boys took advantage of a nice swim.
 

James carrying more cement.

The tile we have finished!

They also poured two more of the columns. They took a long time to get the forms just right.

This is the grove of Avocado trees that are behind the church between the church and the pastor's house. We have been told that the church women sell the Avocados with the money going to support the church.

Tomorrow is a non-work day and we will get to go back to the Market for shopping and sightseeing.

Oops I forgot!

I forgot to list my thankful things for the last two posts. I was in a hurry to get to bed for an extra hour of sleep and missed listing what I am thankful for.
So....
Sunday
1. Bacon and desert for breakfast
2. Beautiful weather for a long walk
3. Being able to Skype with my girls and talk to my mom during that Skype call


Monday
1. My kitchen back at home
2. Trying something new and it turns out awesome
3. My clothes dryer at home

Now on to the post for Tuesday......after I eat David's wonderful Lasagna!

Monday July 9

The group left by 7am this morning to get to the work site. James and several others are going to stay with the pastor there tonight to work later in the day on the tile. The brick layers work 7am to 3pm so after 3:00 we are finished working on the brick. But the tile laying is a project that is only completed by our group members. They will work later today then get started again first thing in the morning in order to hopefully get completed this week.

I stayed back to cook supper tonight - Chicken and noodles, mashed potatoes, and brown sugar carrots. I felt like I stepped back in time a few years today. First we went to the meat market to buy the WHOLE chicken. Well it wasn't exactly whole as it did not have a head or feet. And thankfully it was mostly plucked. Then we came back. The chickens were trimmed up then went into the stock pot to simmer all day. While they simmered I made homemade egg noodles. They were not quite as good as the ones my brother makes - grandma taught him well - but they did turn out very well. While the chicken was cooking and the noodles were drying I did two loads of laundry and hung it on the line to dry.

After the chicken was cooked I had help to pick it all off the bone. Not my favorite activity!
I was concerned about how the chicken and noodles would turn out as they do not sell cream of chicken soup here. I had many compliments on the meal and with several of the group having some tummy difficulties, I think it was a perfect meal.

At the work site Lexie helped to fill in cracks in the concrete. I also heard that they rolled her down a hill in a barrel. I have yet to see the video and will post it when I can get it transferred. As James stayed there I will have to post about his day later. The pastor's wife was going to fix supper for them so I am sure he had a delicious meal!

This is a house across the drive way from the Center. They have been working on it since we got here and we wondered what color it would be. It's Green - Verde! Lexie matched the house today so I took her picture.

Sunday July 8

 

Today was a relaxing day. We were able to sleep in a little and then we were treated to breakfast at a restaurant that has a breakfast buffet. It is at the edge of the lake and we requested seating outside at the edge overlooking the lake. The buffet they made eggs to order however you requested. They also had a desert bar and I chose to have desert and bacon first. The flan was delicious and the cake was as well! James had an omelettes with everything - onion,  mushroom, peppers, chorizo, tomatoes, and cheese. I also tried a Manzana Lift soda - an apple soda. It was pretty good. It is difficult to get Dr. Pepper here. James had coffee with fresh milk and cream brought on the side in shot glasses.

The view of the buffet to the outside seating.

After we arrived back at the Center, we had a devotional time as our service. James played with the praise team again but he had to use a wooden table for a drum.

Then we were on our own time for a while, so we walked to Ajijic to see what shops were open. It is difficult to know what is a shop as they are random and often just out of the front of their house. So there will be a few houses then the next one is a store. We saw a large soccer stadium and an open air market in the town square. I tried three paletas (popsicles) before I found a yummy one - Oreo. Then we walked back and like home, we stopped at Walmart on the way to get some pop and snacks.

The Hispanic church service was going on when we arrived back. The service lasted about 2 1/2 hours. The children are dismissed and run and play in the yard during part of the service.

It was nice to have a relaxing day. The group is concerned about getting all the work completed this coming week so I anticipate working hard the next few days.

Saturday July 6

3 Things I am Thankful for:
1. Conner, Este, Brandon, Josh have made me appreciate having girls! (the boys wanted me to mention them in my blog) However they have been good workers and only have to be reminded a few times to do what they were asked.
2. Not being sick - a couple members in our group have been hit by the Montezuma's revenge, pray for their health.
3. The laughter of children no matter what language they are speaking.


We had the privilege of going to another church this morning to play with some children. There were about 15 children that regularly come to the church Saturday mornings for a meal and activity time. We brought them food to take home - PB& J and cookies, some candy, and bouncy balls. We spent time coloring with them and learning their names.

After the children left, we went to the shopping markets in Chapala. There were tent vendors for about 5 blocks along the lake boardwalk (malecon). We are getting good at making purchases in Spanish! We tried food from several vendors - tacos, roasted corn, corn cut off the cob with spices, and a drink that had a lot of lime juice plus cream and not sure what else. James liked it!

Angie and Lexie shopping

The man making the drink with the lime.

Fountain on the boardwalk

Saturday evening we went back to the work site at Mezcala. One of our team members - Lori (she is our cook and one of the coordinators of our trip) - her husband passed away last fall. They had traveled many times to this area of Mexico helping the churches here. This job is made possible from his memorial fund and the church is being dedicated in his memory. Since her daughter, her husband, and two children were here they choose Saturday night to dedicate the building, even though it was not finished yet. James played in the praise team band as we sang worship songs in both English and Spanish. It was a beautiful worship time together. Afterward, we were served tamales and sweet breads and champorado (hot chocolate).

Praise team song

(Click on the link above to hear the praise team song)

Friday July 5

3 Things I am thankful for:
1. Washing machines
2. Clothes dryers
3. Sunshine

Today was a different kind of work day. Melissa, Lexie, and I stayed behind when the work crew headed out. There was work to be done at the center. We had four jobs - laundry, baking cookies, mopping the floor, and pulling weeds. When we woke up at 6:30am it was raining! This is the rainy season in Mexico. And it rained most of the morning. Back home we would be praising the rain, however we had seven loads of laundry that needed to be washed then dried on the clothesline. That does not work well in the rain. We needed to mop the floor. However, there are several leaky spots in the roof so we could not clean those areas until the rain stopped. Which also meant we couldn't wash the towels that were cleaning up the drips either. So we started some laundry anyway and began baking cookies. We made 6 batches of cookies. The cookies are for the work days and for Saturday morning. On Saturday morning, we will be visiting some children and another church nearby. They have activities and feed the kids. Someone in our group suggested we also make PB & J sandwiches to give the kids to take home after. It is a poor area and anything to help would be appreciated. Lexie did an awesome job on the cookies and they turned out amazingly well. Since we are at a higher altitude, there are some adjustments that have to be made to the cooking or baking.

With the three of us, our jobs progressed quite easily and quickly. After lunch the sun came out and began drying the clothes. Of course that also meant we had sunshine while we were pulling weeds as well.

For the crew at the work site, they had the privilege of unloading 10,000 bricks onto the top of the building(the roof is at street level).

Friday evening after supper we loaded up and drove to Ixtlahuacan to show the Jesus film in the town square. The square had several vendors and we tried a filled Churro. It was very tasty with strawberry or caramel filling!
The film is about two hours in length and I was surprised how many stayed to the end. It was in Spanish, but it was the first time I have ever seen the film so it was interesting to watch the story of Jesus condensed into two hours! We learned tonight that there are no free public bathrooms in Mexico. If you have to go it will cost you 3 pesos! But they will give you toilet paper.

Thursday July 4th

The evenings have been full and I have been tired so there have been a few posts. So I will take a minute to get caught up on our activities. I have a friend who posts daily about three things she is thankful for, and I am going to steal that idea and add what I am thankful for. When traveling with a large group of folks that you are just getting to know it is easy to find faults or issues especially when traveling outside our own comfortable lifestyle.

3 things I am thankful for:
1.The cool weather that only gets really hot for a few hours each day
2.The beautiful land that God created - the mountains, the lake, the trees (even though I wish he had not made mountains quite so steep!)
3. Being an American

July 4th - Independence Day
The 4th was a work day just like any other here. We headed to the job site for a full day of work. Several people had asked a few days before about climbing the mountain near the work site. So a few stayed to help with the brick laying and several headed up the mountain on a hike. Lexie and I went on the hike and James stayed to help. Next week they will take another group up. We saw several burros and their owners heading either up or down the mountain. It was a narrow rocky path that zig zagged the whole way to the top. The view at the top was beautiful to see the mountains and the lake. However, we were not much help when we got back down the mountain! It was exhausting!

In the evening we had an American style picnic with hamburgers and hotdogs. We also deviled eggs and potato salad.

We missed celebrating the 4th with our girls and shooting fireworks, but we are definitely appreciating the country in which we live.

The Center de Capacitacion

Welcome to the Center de Capacitacion in San Antonio Tlayacapan. It is on a one way cobblestone street just a block off of the town square. This location serves many purposes. It is the residence for the missionaries. Pastor Jose has church here on Sunday evening and bible studies other times. It is also used for district meetings and work and witness groups. There is a full kitchen, bathrooms, etc. The one thing we do have to get used to is throwing toilet paper in the trash not the toilet.  I didn't include the picture, but the ceilings here are made of brick as well as the walls.  All buildings are brick, cement, or tile because so they have less issue with termites and mold.The town is located with mountains on one side and a lake on the other. The mornings are very pretty with the sun rising over the mountains. The lake keeps the temperature moderate. 

The first window on this side is the window near my bed.

The boys immediately found the basketball court.

The building to the right is the chapel end of the building.

The building to the left is the missionary's home.

The building is L shaped and this is the courtyard where we have our meals, hang our laundry, and find internet.

Just a lounging space near the bedrooms. It is also used for children's activities during church.

The view out my window of a woman hanging her laundry. The Gas and water trucks drive by all day selling propane gas and water.

More pictures of the courtyard.