Blessed to serve.....

…and that is what they did. This past Wednesday a group of 25 from my home church made their 15^th annual pilgrimage from Denver to El Paso. They joined up with Erin’s family from St. Louis to serve the Lord on the border. The theme for the week was blessed to serve. Not only did they cook, transport, and serve over 1200 Thanksgiving dinners consisting of turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy, corn, beans, salsa, bread, and cake to their friends on both sides of the border, but they also prepared a meal for over 100 Saturday volunteers and left enough product prepared and frozen for Rosy to serve at the King's Table luncheon this Wednesday at Sin Paredes. Meals were served at the YLM campus, San Lucas in Anapra, Cristo Rey, and Santisima Trinidad.

To many, over 1200 dinners would be enough to keep everyone occupied for the three work days that were put in, but not for this group. Not only did they do all the foodservice, but they also painted building number 1 on the YLM campus, formerly leased to El Paso County and now home to the mariachi group and Sunday school classrooms. The colors are actually called Queen Anne’s Lace and Burgundy Wine, but for those of us who only see in like 16 colors, they are white and purplish red. The building really does look sharp. Hope is to paint the rest of the campus buildings this color as well.

Just in case that wasn’t enough, the servant event also helped “winterize” a trailer in Horizon City. The family basically lived in an 8 foot by 26 foot trailer that you would tow on the back of your truck when you went camping. Leaking roofs, a plywood floor and broken windows were all tackled by some members of the group. A new roof was built over the trailer and sealed to prevent water and cold air from getting in through the top, windows were sealed, and new tile was laid on the floor. Please pray that we will be able to build this family a new home in the coming months.

The rest of the time was spent with a trip to the market in Juarez and devotions/Bible studies that tied in a “minor” Bible character that was devoted and another who was saved in with their theme of the week which again was “blessed to serve.”

If you have a facebook account, please become a fan of the Ysleta Lutheran Mission Servant Events fan page. There you will find many more pictures of this week and many other groups in the future as well as fun discussions, links, and other information about the servant event program here at YLM.

The last exciting thing of this week was that I am now a godfather. J Viviana was baptized on Thanksgiving day and parents Jorge and Elvira asked Erin and I to stand up as godparents. I couldn’t be happier. Look for pics and a blog on that over the next couple days.

I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving, and have a wonderful holiday season with your friends and family.

Turkey dinner at YLM

The people of Cristo Rey signed a special thank you note for me

and one for the group as well

The "kids" table at Cristo Rey

The group that went to Cristo Rey, the other half of the group served at San Lucas at the same time.

Team ready to serve at San Lucas

The kids coming through

Everyone got a plate first, and many took home to go boxes as well. The kids also left with a special treat bag.

Lining up at San Lucas

Someone had to feed the servants as well. Thanks Dad for heading up the breakfast and lunch crew each day.

The children's choir at Santisima Trinidad welcomed us with 3 songs, and then showed everyone their excellent skills at el pato (the duck) dance.

Serving line at Santisima Trinidad

Ruby, a young girl at Santisima that always runs to greet Erin and I with a hug whenever she sees one of us. Please excuse the apron. (She got A LOT of Cardinals stuff for her birthday.)

Lupe's granddaughters, Lizbeth and Karla, we built them a second story this past summer.

This nice lady, whose name we do not know, made mom a special tortilla cloth just as a thank you for 15 years of coming with the special turkey dinner service.

Painting building number 1

Doesn't it look sharp?

Erin supervising Mike putting on the roofing felt

She finally decided to help him.

Kecia and Bob putting in the new tile

This is the third picture I have of Erin threatening to eat construction adhesive. I think maybe I should try it.

Shouldn't this be the other way around with her giving him a ride? We tried, he only wanted to push.

Where we worked

The awesome group.

The Zoo is closed

Actually, it wasn't closed, but every time someone says let's go to the zoo, I always say "the zoo is closed." I guess I get that from the movie Jerry Maguire. There is one scene where he is talking to the kid and they are going back and forth about stupid facts, then the kid says "let's go to the zoo"and because it is like midnight, Jerry says "the ------- zoo is closed" and it always makes me laugh when he say it. So we were trying to figure out a cheap way to kill a few hours in St. Louis before we left for the conference and Erin said, lets go to the zoo. I said, the zoo is closed. She said no it isn't and then I had to explain it. She hasn't see the movie, so she didn't find it as funny as I did. Anyway, the zoo is free, so that worked out nice. It is a pretty cool zoo too. I would go back. Here are some pics that I took.

This is the only bear that we saw. A couple were hiding and the polar bear recently passed away.

Penguins all running around

Except for these two who took it upon themselves to hit the buffet line early.

Some flamingos

Chimpanzees were having a great time flying around.

This one was having a snack and wouldn't share with anyone

This one actually had a leaf and was doing some housework.

This one was having a salad and kind of supervising the rest of the family making sure they were not causing trouble.

Taking a nap and doing nothing (typical of cats, even the big ones)

Different breed, same result.

I guess some things never change. Cats like to do nothing and sleep. Big or small. Doesn't matter. Don't get me wrong, I like cats, but I prefer dogs.

Mexican Beaded Lizard, one of only two types of poisonous lizards in the world. The Gila Monster is the other. Some say Komodo dragon, but the sign at the zoo said these two and google said the komodo and mexican beaded are like cousins.

Big snake

Giving the turtles a bath, then they went right back in the mud.

There was a monkey sitting in the corner. We figured he must have been in time out for not behaving.

Gateway to the West

One afternoon while we were waiting for our conference to start, Erin and I met up with one of her friends from high school and spent a few hours enjoying the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial. This encompasses The Gateway Arch, The Old Courthouse, a museum and 2 movie theaters that are actually under the Arch. The museum is where I learned about Take Me Out To The Ballgame that I wrote about in the last blog.

This blog is going to mostly talk about the Arch. Erin said it was 630 feet high, as well as 630 feet from leg to leg. When we were driving to it, I didn't think it looked that high, so I said it wasn't 630 feet, and then when we got closer, I told her I believed it, but it for sure wasn't 630 feet from leg to leg. She called me Doubting Thomas, which actually is a good nickname for me, so I decided to step it off. If one of my steps is approximately 3 feet, it should have taken me 210 steps from leg to leg. So after 210 steps I was standing just about exactly in the middle of the opposite leg. Adjust a little for smaller or bigger steps, and you get the 630 feet that she was positive it was. Go figure.

Overall it was really cool. The weather was perfect, I told everyone we brought it from El Paso and they owed us, and one lady actually paid up. We were at a country store after the conference in Illinois and I told the cashier I brought the weather and I should get a free muffin, so she asked if I had been there before, I told her no, so she said wait and brought me a blueberry muffin. It was great. Enjoy the pics and look for a few more blogs soon.

Walking up to the arch from the park. That is when I decided it was that tall.

I was still thinking about that distance.

Erin was pondering how high the Mississippi was

Standing under the Arch with the Old Courthouse in the background

I had to hold up the flagpole so the river didn't take it away.

Zoomed in on the observation deck windows

Getting into the little bubble car for the ride to the top. If you know Erin, you will know how small the door is. I had to crawl into it. :)

Erin made sure to point out the elevation

Overlooking the Mississippi into Illinois

Cool shot of the Arch shadow into the river.

Busch Stadium where the Cardinals play

Barge going down the river

Those are people laying in the grass

See, I zoomed in.

See, it really doesn't look like 630 feet.

There was like 12 inches of rain in October (more than we get in a year) and the Mississippi was flowing a little high. This is a sidewalk by the river.

Cool shadow of the Arch in a building when we were heading back to Erin's for my first honest to goodness home cooked (albeit early) Thanksgiving dinner in like 15 years. Thanks Barb. :)

They had some bonnets for sale in the levee mercantile. I wanted Erin to get this pink one for the summer construction season to keep the sun out of her eyes. If you can't find me, she probably hid the body after killing me for putting this picture on here.