As far as tasks for the day the ladies worked hard under the direction of Shelly to sort through endless items of clothing that the church will be having a 'bazaar' to sell to nearby needy people. You may ask why would they sell and not give? Well as these people are already the rejected and looked down upon people, Arbol de Vida wants to send a message that they are valued and loved. The church doesn't want to send a message of pity to them and that they need handouts but rather provide for them with clothing for mere pasos and cultivate their own sense of worth in their ability to purchase quality items for their families and themselves. Interestingly only the untorn and unstained items are put up for sale. Money from this sale in the past has helped Arbol de Vida send out its own teams to places like Haiti for missions. What a sweet way to have their own community assist in a mission to more needy people. In all this sorting our ladies were able to work side by side with some of the Mexican ladies who put in even longer hours helping with the sorting.
The men were outside again working hard to finish up a couple projects and continue to prep a trench that was dug where a footing of concrete will be poured for a retaining wall. We too were able to work side by side with some of the local Mexican people. What a challenge to try and communicate. It is amazing what you can say with your face and hands!! I think in general we all felt some more of the pain of not knowing the language to go along with the pain in our backs, muscles, hands (blisters), elbows, and necks from two days of hard labor! Today was a much hotter day as well. I'm guessing but would figure it must have been close to 30 C. We sure felt the heat while drilling holes into the side of the building, that the sun was beating down on, for rebar to support the concrete walkway we will pour possibly tomorrow.
After an incredible lunch of chicken noodle soup to go along with flat style hard shell tacos with chicken that I cannot remember the real name for, we did some cleaning up and then headed out with new friends Cornielius and Yolanda to go to the local zoo. It was a good chance to see the city as well as a bunch of cool animals. On the return trip Cornielius and Yolanda introduced us to Horchata, a great Mexican drink made from fresh coconuts. It was amazingly refreshing and my best description would be it is like a thin sweet eggnog with a coconut flavour. When we arrived back at the church it was time for us to go for supper with the Hildebrand's (Ed and Terry). They are retired teachers who are presently missionaries here as well. It was fun to have them take us for incredible hot dogs from a street vendor and then for a delicious desert of Churro which is like a sugary deep fried crispy donut like treat. I also have to say that these hot dog were like nothing you have ever seen. Wrapped in bacon and with about a dozen different topping to put on them. Beans, more bacon, lettuce, tomatoes, ground up sausage, onions, cheese, salsas, etc, etc!
Walking around with our desert we visited a local cemetery. It was interesting to see how vastly different they look and the obvious influence of the Catholic faith here. While there Shelly told us of the huge tragedy from four years ago of a daycare/preschool that had 49 children die when it caught on fire. It is Mexico's greatest accident! She spoke of the special building being built in one of the cemeteries for these children to remember them. It is also amazing to see the opportunities that she has had to minister to these families who have lost or who have severely disabled kids due to the fire. They have run a couple of 'Burn Camps' for these kids and some families have come to Christ through this tragedy. God has put her in the right place and with the right skills to help heal these people's deep wounds while pointing them to Christ.
Perhaps we didn't get a lot of projects completed this afternoon, but all I can say is a big 'thank you' to these missionaries for spending time with us today. Their love for their city just spills out all over you like my hot dog did tonight! To hear their stories of the relationships they have built and to feel their hospitality first hand is incredible. I can only hope that us being here is some source of encouragement to them. Thank you Greg and Shelly, Cornielius and Yolanda, Ed and Terry for including us in your day!
To end our day we have to wish Bev a Happy Birthday! We bought her a cake but we couldn't even eat it after all the food we had tonight. Something to look forward to at lunch tomorrow I guess! Happy 29th Birthday again Bev!!
Dwight
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