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.