CHill on a Mission: Better than the snow in Colorado

So it was another great week. The busy spring season of groups is winding to a close. We have found ourselves continuing our work in Sparks, still repairing damaged homes from the flooding of 2 1/2 years ago. It is very difficult to see some of the conditions these families are still living in. Most of the time, when there are groups, they elect to have the meal plan as well, which is when Rita cooks for them, and it is generally amazing food, however it can get old over time when it is a very similar menu week in and week out. The last 2 groups of the spring have elected to cook for themselves, so those of us who are here, are also having to plan our own meals. Having Erin here has been fantastic, it is so nice to have someone else living on the campus who shares my love and desire to serve here at Ysleta. Last week, we decided that we should cook together, because it is much easier to cook for two than one. (I think she likes the fact that I used to be a chef too :). We planned our meals, and our shopping lists and we are really enjoying doing this. Some of the highlights of this week were chicken and broccoli alfredo, sloppy joes, and BBQ chicken salad. We have even talked about doing it even when groups are on the meal plan to break up the routine. I really enjoy spending time with her, and we have developed a great friendship, and it's funny that we get asked a lot if we are dating, but no, we are not. We are just really good friends who will be there for each other through thick and thin. It makes me feel very special to have a friend like that, as many of my "friends" from the restaurant business have turned out to be anything but. So, be nice to her, otherwise it will be like you are not being nice to me, and we wouldn't want me to get FIRED UP!!!!!!

This week we had a group from suburban Chicago work on several projects, both on campus and in Sparks. Additionally, they did the first ever VBS in Sparks because the kids are on break from their yearround school. The attendance wasn't as high as we had hoped for, but those who came had a blast. I'll be posting a VBS blog shortly.

Since I began working in Sparks in July of last year, I feel that I have developed a very strong relationship with a few families in the area, none stronger than the bond Erin and I have made with the family we've been working with this past week. Erin brought up a good point the other day about how we feel that Sparks is kind of our town now, and that no matter how long it takes, we would eventually like to repair almost every home in need. However, we have to do that one home at a time, and this was has proven to be quite the challenge. Every time we go to repair the initial project, we find 2 or 3 other things that must be done either before we can start to repair it or before we can finish it. For example, we pull the old water-damaged drywall off the ceiling and find rotted and cracked rafters, so we were forced to replace the rafters from the inside. Or, we pull off old floor tile that's badly broken and damaged and then realize that we have to replace the entire subfloor in a bedroom before we can put the tile down. As you will see in the photos below, we just thought we were replacing an old, nasty, broken toilet. But no, that was not actually the case. We actually did replace the toilet, but also had to run over 50 feet of PVC so it would connect to the sewer line. Erin really wanted to be involved in the repair of this home because we have such a strong bond with the family, so she decided that she was going to be responsible for all the plumbing in the house. One day when we were at Lowe's getting 10 ft. long pieces of PVC, I accidentally hit her in the head with it while we were loading it in my truck.

I truly appreciate the fact that I am here working for the mission, and that once the job is done or a week is over, I don't return to my hometown and occasionally think of a family that I was able to help. I frequently see a wonderful lady named Perla and her daughter at events at the community center or I stop by to say hi while we're in Sparks, and now we have an even stronger bond with a new family. Maria had mentioned to Erin and myself that she didn't just want us to fix her house and be gone, that she wanted to keep in contact with us. She asked about our church, so we took her a brochure and invited her to attend with us this past Sunday. We picked her up because her family doesn't have the money right now to get new license plates so they can drive their vehicle. We brought her and 3 of her 4 children to the service and we feel that she really enjoyed our small, close-knit church. As Erin was taking her home, she mentioned that she would like to come back again next week, as well as enroll 2 of her children in the first communion classes that they were speaking about in the announcements.

As usual, I had more I wanted to write about but I can't remember what it is. Enjoy the multitude of pictures and have a great week!

The youngest daughter Alejandra, who is just adorable. She says hello to us like 40 times a day and hates it when we have to leave.

She is very ticklish and we love her laugh.

My pseudo-niece.

She still needs a little work on her painting skills, but she certainly wanted to be helpful.

She's way too clean--this must have been early in the process.

Her brothter, Junior, got a little on him too.

She seemed like she understood how to do it.

Doesn't that look good?

I was helping get it out but I didn't get it stuck. I actually had to tow it out with my truck!

One of the ladies from the group sprang for the rental truck to haul 2.5 tons--that's over 5,000 lbs.--to the dump.

What a great place to spend spring break!

This was the shower before.

This is the new shower. Which do you like better?

She's mesmerized with how it works and apparently wants to get that paint off of her right now!

This is E-MAC's first toilet installation. She took great pride in her work.

Taking out the old one.

This is were the toilet drained to. Open air and the ground. Grrrrrr!!!

The first piece of the pvc puzzle.

Starting the long journey to the sewer inlet.

Wow, that's far. Notice how the existing brackets for the pipe on the trailer don't keep the pipe at the correct slope?

Putting in the final piece of the puzzle. This is on the complete opposite side of the trailer from the bathroom, and you can see how big it is from the picture of the fresh paint. Erin did a fantastic job with the plumbing. She is well on her way to becoming a master plumber.

After the toilet, it was time for the sink, I think she really enjoyed throwing the old sink into the trash pile, and this was the first take with the camera. What a great photo.

So, here I am uninstalling the old sink. It was kind of a tight fit for me, where is E-MAC?