Mexico - An Epic

Compiled over a span of 4 days while in Mexico:



June 25 - "This is gonna suck"

So we just crossed the border into Mexico for our first day of work. Dad's car got stopped...maybe if he wouldn't try to smuggle stuff across the border on a church trip.. Anyway, today is supposed to be our toughest day of work but of course I love that. Mexico so far is a pretty cool sight, but only that. The living conditions are horrible. It is a very busy city here in Juarez, alot of people just out and alot of cars on the road. Our guide is pretty cool, she is a tough one...she doesn't say much. I told Lucas she could probably beat him up so he needs to watch his back. I slept on a church pew in El Paso last night in the ole' Mistral bag and it was a surprisingly good night's rest so as I write I am ready to go. Right now we are driving to the shed to get Kelsey's tools then to the church to unload then to the house to start work.



Kelsey's truck broke down that puts us back a while and also, the cement truck didn't come to the site so another thing goes wrong the first day we are here. They are scheduled to come early tomorrow morning.



June 26 - "It's friggin' hot"

Today has been another difficult day and from the looks of it, a harder day than yesterday. The concrete truck came four hours late, so we are continually being slowed in our progress. I am sitting here at the iglesia during our siesta which is planned to be about a three hour break in the middle of the day to eat lunch and get some rest before heading back out to the site. I am polishing off a turkey/ham sandwich, some gogurt, sun chips, and a gatorade...not a bad lunch for being in Mexico. We have had a few people already get sick on this full day of work and a couple people puked their guts up...exciting start. I have felt fine so far and I really hope it stays that way. The temperature broke 107 today at the site and our days are long. I got a blister from working in the concrete, pushing it around real quickly and everything. But it came up and busted quick so that wasn't fun. I also had concrete up to my shins in my only pair of jeans to work in, so I knew i would have some fun dealing with that. As for my blister, I just soaked it in a wet wipe when i got to the church to clean it out good...it burned. Last night, we had a little episode with cockroaches around 1:30 in the morning so all the girls were up slapping flip-flops and screaming and everything. Lucas and I weren't touched. We had only been asleep for a little over and hour, but when I woke up I really thought it was morning and time to go and I felt ready...a little power nap really did it for me. It wasn't though, so we went back to bed. Despite waking up for that, I sleep very well again. Working so far has been concrete foundation, building walls, posting chicken wire all over the walls and it will definitely be tough on the second stretch of our long day. We go in very late last night so we didn't get to sit and talk about anything really. It was eat and go to bed. From the looks of it, we aren't going to finish by tomorrow night as planned. We may actually end up working up until our dedication time set for Thursday morning.



June 26 - "Don't worry....we listened to Freebird"

So after our siesta, we headed back out to the site to finish off our first full day of slave labor in Juarez. Our initial plan for the afternoon/night was to work from 4:00-8:00...just 4 hours. But of course, things didn't go as planned and we left the site around 9:45 leading to another late meal and short rest through the night. I am sitting here, very tired and on edge much like everyone else, about to lay my head down to sleep.

My shoes were and jeans were nasty from the morning in the concrete, but at least they were dry. I didn't suffer much from them much although it was gross and I know ill have to deal with them all week. On the way to the site, we heard Buy you a Drank and Freebird so we were just positive that it would be a good day. Wrong. The work sucked today because we are so behind and have so much to do. I moved into serious worker mode cause I was getting pissed and hungry. Honestly, I wanted to just go home. I really feel that this trip hasn't rewarded me and that is selfish but I don't like when I cant feel what is happening. I like to feel God working and right now I cant. I know why we are here and what we are doing but I just feel like I'm not on that train but, again like last night, we didn't spend any time talking tonight about what we did because we had such a late night again. I need those talks and those reflections to understand and I wish my outlook could change. Right now I am sitting on my mattress knowing I need to sleep because we have to be on site at 6:00 on the morning to attempt to catch up. Everyone is tired and most are feeling pretty miserable about the trip as a whole...I have trouble blaming them. It definitely didn't help that we had 4 people stay back because we missed the man power that much this afternoon. Getting back to El Paso will be very nice for everyone including myself because the trip is really turning into straight slave labor. I am trying to keep a positive attitude and wont speak up about it of course but I really just don't feel positive. I am really praying tonight to be broken down in a different way tomorrow and to have an awakening as to feeling in my heart why I am here and why I am doing what I am doing.

June 27 - "Te gusta bailar?"

Today has been much better. We go to the site at six in the morning so we could attempt to get back on schedule as best we could. I got very involved with the kids this morning and that definitely helped move the trip into a better light. We taught David and Maria the pancake and the heel-toe and played limbo. They are so carefree and kind and I can already tell that leaving will be tough because of these people. The love comes so freely from everyone we have met here. Although leaving the work will not be missed. We got the whole frame up and got to work on blackboarding the two side walls. This afternoon will be chicken wire and stucco and insulation. We hope to have the house finished and ready to dedicate by tomorrow at noon but we are optimistic about being done earlier in the morning. Apart from spending time with all the kids, I still am struggling to enjoy this trip or attempt to take something from it. It is just touch doing construction all day when you really hate it and so many times you feel as if nothign is getting done. Hopefully this afternoon will be better with regards to work but of course now all I want to do is play with the ninos...

June 27 - "RULE #1!!"

We headed back out to the work site ready to hit it and get the job done today. Little did we know that all of our mishaps so far would be vastly overshadowed by one half day of work. As the work began, we just had many many errors on building that had to be backed up and redone. Everyone was messing up things and having to do them over, with me included. Boards werent flused, chicken wire was done all wrong, things were nailed all jacked up, etc. I really could go on and on about all the mess-ups we had today. Then, as the sun began to go down, rain clouds started moving in but we soon found out that there was little rain but a lot of lightning and wind. Being in a dusty, very flat country with those conditions are not favorable. To make all this even better, my Dad and I happened to be working on the roof during this and I have lightning when it is on top of me so I was pacing everywhere. Kelsey said we had to finish the roof because the rain would get in the house and ruin things, so we definitely pushed the limit, much to my dismay. We worked up until the point when BJ said he was taking us off the roof because it was just too dangerous, even though we weren't done like she wanted. So we all got off and sprinted for the cars. The people who weren't on the roof had packed all out tools in the van so we were set to go once we all got down. Everyone was set to go except the boys that were on the roof, so Dan tossed Lucas the keys to the Suburban to get us going and, of course, it doesn't start. He tries once more...nothing. So I get out and run through all sand storm about 50 yards up to the Expedition and tell my Dad that Dan needs a jump, so pull around. It takes us about 20 minutes to get it started, all the while standing in the sand storm and lightning overhead. As soon as we got it jumped, we took off...only for Dan to make a comment about his low air pressure light being on. We went over a bump and I felt it being more than low pressure. I said, "Back left..?" and he nodded. I knew this was gonna be bad...I rolled down the window and see that our tire is very much flat and getting worse. I am continually checking the tire, watching it get lower and lower and we move past the other cars and I flag them down out the window pointing to the tire to let them know there was another problem. We get ahead of everyone and pull into Rapidito's and survey the tire. It's gone. Lucas and I jump out and head over to the van with all the girls. By this time, I think it is all very funny because everything is going wrong and so we just start losing it. We joked all the way back to the church and even still some when we got there.

The second half of the day was an extreme opposite of the first part of the day. I guess you could say we leveled out but no...the accidents, errors, and mishaps have dominated this trip. God has definitely challenged us, I think, to keep our focus on what this is all about but frankly I just really haven't. All the brute labor really wears you down and pissed you off by the end of the day. Our youth group is built on reflection and discussion and its tough when we don't get that each night of this hard work. Considering that lack of fellowship, the frustration is obvious. It is just ridiculous at this point and people are tired of it all. All I have now is to pray that I realize all we have accomplished on the house and the teamwork we have developed as a group. It is a much different bonding experience, one we aren't accustomed to. It has sucked but hopefully we will find time in El Paso or Abilene to be able to talk about all this week. It has been even more hard for me because I felt so moved on the way down here with my book and and just doing a lot of thinking and a continuous shot like this week has definitely put me on my butt. I just hope that I can really get back on my feet spiritually after this very demoralizing week, but I still have the ride home to spend a lot of time thinking and reading to get my focus back and really understand what we did this week. I still have a hint of optimism in me, but it's fading fast.

June 28 - "Man, we could easily get drugs across this border"

The final day of work....wooo!!! But not really. We got up early again with hopes of finishing by 12 and getting back to El Paso early. As the day moved along, we kept working and working and working and we didn't finish the house until 6:00. We never took a siesta because we didn't think we would need to so we worked 13 straight hours with no lunch, save the food Lucia had for us. We didn't eat until 10:00 that night, so we went nearly 17 hours without a solid meal, working in the sun all day. Of course, the day fit right in with the others and sucked but working that long with that little food, you can expect a rough day. When we crossed the border, I stuck my head out the window and pumped my fist to Lady Liberty but lost my hat...the hits just keep coming. Then, we get to west El Paso and Kelsey's van breaks down...super. Dan, BJ, Lucas, Patrick and I get out and push it about 400 yards into a hotel parking lot and we leave that piece of trash.

As I look back on all that I wrote, I kind of chuckle because even through all that and looking back now...I have memories that surpass all of those. Our family was amazing. There were four of them and even though we couldn't always communicate verbally with them, it was apparent that God helped us communicate in a much better way that only He can do. It was amazing to see the impact we had on them and the gratitude they visibly showed to us. I wont ever see that family again, most likely, and the more I think on it the harder it gets because God brought us all together in those 4 days. Ill miss the love that Raul and Lucia showed each other and us, Jesus always wanting to be helping us and of course ill miss Maria always smiling and just lighting up every time we came around. For all the crap we went through this week, the short time spent at the dedication and saying goodbye with that family changes everything. It puts all the labor and and trials in perspective. It is truly mind blowing that I feel like this after a week with a family that doesn't even speak my language but I know that as members of the family of God, we built our bond on that which surpasses any physical barrier. My heart will always lie in the home of that family in Juarez with the hope that one day we will see each other again and we will pancake and limbo for eternity. I prayed that God would humble me this week and in that moment when we turned those keys over to the family, I was. I fought tears then because it was so overwhelming. I knew then that God had this plan all along and I was selfish to complain about it. I pray that I they are constantly on my mind and in my heart because I know I will never forget the short week I spent in their lives. I thank God for that family and pray that they may be so richly blessed by our efforts but mainly by the LORD himself because they are very much worthy.