Tortilla Training

Erin was messing around with this tortilla maker at the market one day, and our buddy who owns a shop there told her to choose one, so she did, and I got one too. As we were sitting outside enjoying a manzana lift while the group was shopping, I said that we should have Blanca Tovar give us a tortilla lesson when she comes up from Chihuahua City to record the tv program. Genius I tell ya. So this past thursday, we showed up with ingredients and our tortilla machine, and proceeded to get Tortilla 101. I had a pretty good idea how to make them from my years as a chef, but there is something about the way they taste when they are authentic, without preservatives or anything. Know what the secret is? LARD!!!! Tastes so good, and oh so bad for you, but we gotta have it. So we learned little tricks, like how many seconds to wait before pressing it, and how to make sure we can always have fresh tortillas if we want. Overall I would say it was a success. I am going to make some big MAN size tortillas soon for quesadillas, but these were perfect for fajitas and breakfast burritos. I would love to teach you, but I feel this should be kept a secret like the best pizza place, but perhaps Erin will let you in on the secret if you ask her. I would probably make them for you though, just can't give away the special secrets.

All that you need for tortilla goodness

Learning from a pro.

Little balls of dough ready to be rolled out after they rise for a bit under a Wal-Mart bag.

Not bad for Erin's first try.

We had fajitas, chips and homemade guacamole, and Spanish rice for dinner Friday night and breakfast burritos on Saturday morning.

Hanover Helpers

One of our summer volunteers from 2008, brought down a group from his school for a trip over their spring break. They are on a trimester system, so that is why the spring break was at the end of April. Last year, they built a house in Mexico, and this year's plan was to visit and do work at several mission sites. We were going to do the roof of building 5 on campus, paint the new youth room at Santisima Trinidad, paint the exterior of San Pedro & San Pablo, and finish the week laying some floor tile in the bathrooms at San Lucas in Anapra.

We did get the roof done, got some of the youth room painted, and boy, did we lay a lot of tile, just not where we planned. After a couple of particularly violent days in Juarez, and because we said we would take action as needed, we chose to keep the group stateside for Thursday and Friday. Nelson actually finished up the painting for us, and the tile will still be waiting for us later in San Lucas, the safety was more important.

So a very gracious member of the group chipped in to help buy some tile and we began laying new VCT vinyl tile in the dorms. The goal was to do the front room, but after that was finished on Thursday, another donation was made and the hallway was planned for Friday. This group was determined to finish what they started, and actually worked until 2AM on Saturday trying to finish. What little was left was finished up by Erin, Myself, and a couple youth from San Pablo that came the next day for the congregational servant event.

The group spent their arrival Saturday shopping, and enjoying a Mariachi San Pablo performance in San Elizario at the celebration of the real first thanksgiving. Go ahead, research it, you'll see. Before they could leave for the fun, they were very helpful in corralling a couple renegade dogs that continue to find ways to escape. Luckily, they knew Jason and Bobby from last year, so they went to them, and went to their yard.

Enjoy the pictures, happy Mothers Day to my mom, and all the mom's that read this blog, and don't forget to boycott Arizona.

Jason and Bobby, rounding up the fence jumpers, luckily there is no stupid law here that put the doggies in jail for illegally passing the fence.

Bobby with his buds.

Demo of number 5 roof

Lauren demoing Vicky's roof.

Sharon modeling some new boards we put in to replace rotted or damaged ones

Team shingle...by the end of the day, Bobby was a cutting pro

Ruby and Joana helping sand at Santisima. We had to do a little touch up before painting

Jason painting the trim Silent Delight. I have decided I am coming out with my own paint line called Man Paint. Colors such as football field green, medium rare steak red, and infield brown. I am tired of the silly color names like Silent Delight and Perfectly purple. grrrrrrrrrr

Roberto with a second coat of compound on the ceiling

I always have to leave my mark

Since they finished shingling by lunch, they helped out in the warehouse getting ready for Saturday's food distribution. Here they are shucking some sweet corn.

A bunch of little bags of beans that they broke down for each food basket.

Since we didn't go to the market, the market came to them. Bobby got a little carried away.

Cutting tile for the floor

Team tile

Erin spreading some VCT adhesive. Not as sticky as spray insulation

Working down the hallway.

The almost finished entryway. It now has cove base and a divider between the brown and white tiles.

San Pablo Servant Event

I have worked with several groups, but on April 24th, I worked with one from El Paso. Right here from San Pablo. We had organized one for the youth group on the 24th and then one for the whole congregation the following Saturday May 1st. On the 24, we woke up to a chilly, and not surprisingly windy El Paso morning. It has been windy a lot lately, and I am kind of over it. We met at the mission, had some breakfast burritos and headed out to Sparks where we fixed a roof that was damaged in one of the many wind storms I mentioned above.

As the day progressed, Erin came out to join us and lead the tar crew, although I expect that was her last time doing anything within 25 feet of tar. Another group from a church in Sparks was actually out doing some visiting of neighbors and they wasted no time asking if we needed help and jumping right in and getting dirty. After finishing up the roof, it was off to Peter Piper for some pizza and then home to clean up. Unfortunately the turnout was low for the congregational event the following week, so we just finished up some tiling in the dorm. More on that later. Have a great day.

Getting started

Chilly and Windy

Hanging some new fascia boards

Starting to roll out and secure the roofing felt

Some of the rafters were a little to long and had to be trimmed

That wasn't the easiest task

Allright, got it going now.

More of the roofing felt

Starting to come together. Recognize the home?

Having a little fun

Peter Piper was good, thanks Pastor for treating.

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.