Fixin' up the place

One of our goals this year is to revitalize our mission facilities. Both here on the YLM campus and at the sites across the border. We had a group from Fremont Nebraska join us from Tuesday through Tuesday. A little bit out of the norm for group schedules, but since April was wide open, what the heck.

We spent the week in Anapra doing some much needed improvements at San Lucas. A solid week of work, even more projects got done than imagined, and I can still think of several more, so don't be afraid to get a group together and come down and tackle some of these projects.

We knocked out over 30 gallons of paint, both inside and out, tiled the shower floors, hung shower panels, fixed plumbing and electric, put a new door on one bathroom, etc. What a great week. Panchis said when the congregation came to worship on Sunday some were wondering if they were at the right church. It was great to see how much the congregation appreciated and loved the work. Some ladies got together and brought us a yummy comida de traje which meand food of bringing. (pot luck). We had gorditas, burritos, picadillo, 2 kinds of rice, chips, etc, and I made sure to take a little out of every dish so I wouldn't get in trouble for not trying someones food. (Javier got in trouble for only trying one type of gordita). There are some pics below, enjoy. Have a blessed week.

Putting some new siding on the back where the old stuff was all gross. We did this on the front too. Notice the new paint as well?

Shot of the front, those tan window grates are now black and they look sharp against the new white background.

Lois with her brush on a stick invention

New shower tile

Erin peeking out of the new bathroom door. Check out the Christmas tree in the back corner.

Thats me, peek a boo

Finishing the first coat around the back, got the second on done too.

Big G helping scrape some old paint of the corner before painting

Same corner after painting.

Caulking the corner by the new shower panels

A couple girls came by each day after school to help

Painting the men's room light sage. Kind of redundant to me because sage is light anyway. Why didn't they just call it sage? or better yet, light green. Paint colors are strugglin'.

These were extra helpers on monday from the potluck. We actually did a house for their family over the New Year with the Group from Mayer MN.

I need to vent

I apologize for the negativeness of this blog, I just need to vent. It kind of follows the same path as Erin's blog from a while back about all the groups canceling.

Yes, they are killing people in Juarez, Yes it is dangerous, Yes I feel horrible for everyone who has been affected by the violence. NO, I am not scared. NO, they are not bothering human service organizations. NO, I have not seen anything, nor do I think I will. YES, the people over there need Christ's light more than ever. Satan can not make it more clear that he does not want us to help those in need in Juarez, so I plan to go whenever I am called. YES, I am taking precautions to stay safe, such as not being there after dark, or doing anything other than showing God's love and lending a helping hand. Imagine how I feel when two precious little girls that I see at Santisima Trinidad's Easter service ask me why I haven't been around much, and if I don't want to help out the people anymore. What do you say to that?

I guess the reason I am writing this blog stems from a conference call I had yesterday. We were discussing the situation in Juarez, and I was told by the person we were talking to that he did some research, and found out that Juarez is the second most dangerous city in the world. Guess what he found out was fourth? Any ideas? NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA. Another city in need of help, especially in the rebuilding after the hurricane. Several mission trips are sent there each year, I bet with not even 1% of the concern posted over Juarez. The National Youth Gathering is being held there this summer, I hope groups know that it is such a dangerous city and take precautions. El Paso was voted the second safest city in America behind Honolulu, but for some reason, because of the actions of the bad men across the border, people feel it is not even safe to bring their groups here and help the many of our neighbors in need on this side of the border.

Please continue to pray for the people of Juarez and the staff/volunteers of the mission as we continue to bring Christ's light to such a dark place.

The new mission building

I attempted to keep you all in suspense a little bit in my last blog about a new mission building, but for those of you who read Erin's blog, you already know about it. For the others, here it is. Last week, the group was basically waiting for paint to dry, and some people were looking for some things to do, so I suggested that they could take some scrap wood from the house and build a doghouse for Ninja and Bear. They jumped right on it and got the frame done and we brought it back to the mission. I asked Erin if she wanted to paint it, and she did, and said she had a great idea for it. She got it painted a few days ago, and it looks a lot like the other mission buildings. The dogs go in it a little bit, but hopefully they figure out it is their shelter. I bet they will when it is over 100 degrees out. Check out the pictures and have a great week.

Putting the frame together

Body is done

Roof is on and Erin is starting to paint it

See it on the right, how it looks like the big house?

There it is, it even has a brown bottom like the big house.

Since each building has a LCMS cross with the number on it, and I live in building 3, Erin thought the doghouse should be number 3.5.