That's some good Texas Brew right there

Last week I worked with a group from my home congregation, Our Father Lutheran Church in Centennial, CO. Everyone on the trip had been here before, either over the summer or to serve Thanksgiving meals, or both. The original plan was to pour a slab on Monday, let it dry on Tuesday, get some framing and roofing done, and some little projects around the mission done for the rest of the week.

I went over to the Wildfire house on Saturday to do some prep work, in hopes that it would help us get done faster in the 106 degree heat expected for Monday. I installed the drainage for the toilet, shower, and 2 sinks, as well as some piping for the water to come into the house, and ran enough out that when we go to finish the plumbing, we will not have to chip out the slab. I then leveled out the area for the slab as best as I could until I realized I had already drank a quart of gatorade, a liter of Mexican diet coke, and 2 quarts of water. (It was only 103 that day). I felt we were set up well for Monday, so I headed back, and because I was super thirsty, I stopped at Jorge and Elvira's house for a glass of water. That glass of water turned into a nice brunch of ham and eggs, juice, soda, and even ice cream, plus some time to play around with their 4 girls, including Viviana. Nothing wrong with going for water and getting a bonus meal out of it as well.

We went to pour the slab on Monday, and thankfully the big fella upstairs was looking out for us. The planned 106 degree temps were no where to be found, and instead we had cloud cover and a great breeze for most of the day. We started out mixing the concrete by hand, but soon realized that would make it impossible to finish, so Looooooooooomis (there really is only 2 o's but i like to drag it out when I call him) went to Lowe's and got a concrete mixer. The rest of the day went well, except I had to leave at 5:20 so I could be back in time to start my History class, while the group stayed another hour to mix the last couple batches of the good Texas/North Mexico concrete brews.

We headed to San Lucas in Anapra on Tuesday with the intention of finishing the tiling, after prepping everything and laying a couple tiles, we realized that if we continued to lay the tile, it would look awful, break, and not set well, thus forcing another group to tear it up and we would have completely wasted time and materials. I took a few minutes thinking of options, and presented some to the group. Ultimately, we decided to stop by the market on the way back to the mission and then work on some more tiling in the dorms on campus. Mike was already working on room G, so we just joined up with him and knocked out the kitchen as well.

The rest of the week we were able to frame, roof, and insulate the bathroom and kitchen addition to the wildfire house, and it looks like one of our other groups in July will be able to put the finishing touches on a wonderful new addition to the Wildfire house. The best part of the week was when members of the group were interviewed for a new video the mission was making, and to see the witnessing done to Mayra and showing her the great love that our Lord has for her and her family. This was a family that was living in a rundown trailer with no floor or window's, kitchen, bath, or water, and now they are the verge of being able to enjoy a home cooked meal around a dining table in their soon to be new kitchen, and not have to go to their relative's house for a shower or to use the facilities. Such a wonderful feeling to see the love so many have for their brothers and sisters in Christ.

Volcano #1...

Assembling the concrete mixer I went and bought after we realized that there was NO possible way we would come close to finishing without some sort of fancy help. We tried to borrow one from a family, but it kept breaking down and slipping the belt before we could even finish one batch.

Water girl!

Looooooooooomis pouring out a nice batch of north Mexico style concrete brew

Kids playing under our shade tent.

Putting on the finishing touches for the slab.

We fully intended to finish the tile that day.

Fireworks before we figured out this was not going to work

Elise holding the tile down. I think she was a little tired by this time.

Ann and Looooooooooomis in room G.

Mike working on the new tile in room G

The shade tent turned into the cutting tent.

Erin sawing out the doorframe on the interior wall.

Erin sawing extra siding off the side of the exterior door frame. She was making some sort of really funny face but I couldn't get a good picture of it.

Loooooooooooos's tarring technique.

The roof team, they all stayed pretty clean except for Looooooooooomis.

Lot's of fiberglass dust after the final sweep

Didn't think about it so well when we did the first house, this window is going to be taken out and put in the kitchen, the space is going to be a door connecting the two sections of Mayra's house, and we didn't really need to paint this side.

The OFLC team plus Mayra and her 3 kids.