Sweet Sixteen

 I stole this title from the web article because I couldn't think of anything better.  At least I am not just copying the web articles over to the blog as well :).  Trinity Centralia joined us this summer for the 16th trip.  Bert, the leader, always jokes with me that he has to live 4 years longer than my mother, so he can at least tie her for the most annual trips to YLM.

This is a great group.  They bring a lot of skill, and often volunteer to work on their own in an effort to ease the workload of the YLM staff.  Some may have seen this as a bad thing, but it is actually very nice.  They like to get up and be on the road by 5:30 and often work late into the afternoon trying to accomplish as many projects as possible.  This year, they built a house and tiled Pastor Hernandez's office at Santisima Trinidad.  The one sad thing about them working on their own is that I don't get to hang out with them a lot.  They are fun, and I like to hang out with fun people, but at least we had some time at night to joke around and scour the tool shop for that one evasive thing that would really help their project.

The thing that impresses me, after their willingness to serve and help out wherever is the ability of the group members to sleep ANYWHERE!!.  I guess Bert and Judy must work them too hard, or they stay up too late, or maybe both, but as I went through the photos, there were pictures of people napping everywhere.  In the van on the bridge, on the floor of the church, sitting on the couch of the office, in the dirt under the tree at the job site, etc.  I mean anywhere you can imagine, they were sleeping.  I am a big fan of the nap, but I am amazed at their skills.  I hope next year they can teach me their secret, because there are times where I would love a 10 minute power nap, but can't fall asleep.

Thanks to Trinity for another great year, I pray that you continue to receive the support you hope for.

Off to San Antonio today.  YLM has a booth at the National Lutheran Youth Workers Conference.

The cross at Santisma in the early morning

Their first view of the clouds that were painted on "their" sky.  Nice job Erin Mackenzie

Pastor Pepe showing off his new window unit.

Preciosa the wonder dog.  Friendly as can be if you enter the church by legal means, but don't you dare try to climb the fence of come when no one is there.

Beginnings of the tile project

They had to rip up all the tile that was laid the next morning because many were loose, and then scrape up all the mortar.

Oh, you put mortar on this side too!?!?

Second try looks great

Since he didn't have an office, he had to do his work somewhere

Moved back in to his newly tiled office

Why is Judy working and they are watching?

Now everyone is watching Bert work

Long lines for a couple days...

...so Tyson got a part time job

House team

Mad napping skills

Friday afternoon, the team went evangelizing near Santisima, here they are in action.

Records Were Made To.....

...stand.  In the summer of 2009, a group from St. John's Lutheran Church in West Bend, Wisconsin came to YLM and broke the record for the quickest building of a house.  They finished sanding the drywall by mid afternoon on Wednesday.  The following summer, they tried to break their own record, but fell just short.  This summer, a group of 6 made the long drive from Wisconsin to build another house in Anapra.

There was not much talk of the record prior to the trip, but as the miles rolled by, there was talk over Facebook and text message about breaking the record, and once they arrived, I jumped on the bandwagon as well and began to tell some of the original team that the record could fall.  Although the record still stands, some members from this year say it needs an * by it.  Fewer people finished up by mid morning on Thursday, but they also did an extra coat of mud and sanding.  However they did use nail guns that one member of the group brought.  They were cordless and worked via a can of compressed air or gas.  They were super cool.

If you have been to Anapra, you know how there are several hills in the area.  This build site was on top of hill off the main street you take to get to San Lucas church.  The views were incredible from here.  You could see Mt. Cristo Rey, west El Paso, Anapra, and the border.  I could totally see myself sitting at the table reading the paper, having a coffee and looking at the views.  People would pay millions of dollars for a home with this view in the United States, and here we were on a plot of land with electric, but not water, sewer, or bathroom.  Makes you think.

It is always a joy to work with the groups from St. John's.  They are relaxed, flexible, and wanting to serve above all.  I look forward to working with them again in the future.  There is talk of a combined house build/Youth Gathering trip next year since the Gathering is in San Antonio next year.

Mt. Cristo Rey from the door of the house

Views

Standing the first wall, with our supervisor in the lower right corner

St. John's team at Scenic Drive

Rafter time

The border from Scenic Drive

Here is that picture I take each time

Erasmo helped out a little each day

A place to hang out hats

Drywall 

Finished

Some of the kids that hung out each day

Interior is looking good

The team with Erasmo

A Little Bit Different

The final group of the first week of the year came to us from Hope Lutheran Church in Adrian, Michigan.  In order to save some money on airfare, the group arrived Monday night, and left the following Tuesday.  4 ladies came to YLM to serve wherever needed, and that is just what they did.  The first three days, they joined Trinity Lutheran from Lincoln on their VBS activities at San Francisco and San Pedro y Pablo.  Friday saw them host their own VBS at San Lucas in Anapra.  Saturday, the group had a fun day, in which they got manicures and went out to celebrate the 16th birthday of one of the girls.  Sunday, they joined with St. John's from West Bend, Wisconsin for church at San Lucas, and on Monday they helped St. John's with the first day of their house build.

Most groups come and work on one or two events, but this group jumped all over the place and loved every minute of it.  The obvious highlights were spending time with the kids at the Mexico missions, but they gave 100% wherever they were working.  Kat, the girl who would turn 16 on the day they left, was able to have several birthday celebrations.  Each mission site sang to her, she was serenaded by the Mariachi at practice and church on Sunday, they sang to her at the restaurants, and we even got bacon sundaes after Scenic Drive and shared them with Trinity to celebrate.

Being flexible is very important around here, and the group showed great flexibility in serving wherever needed.  I even got a text from the leader today, quoting one of the girls who came on the trip  it said:  "Can we go back to Texas?  It is 101 in Adrian with 60% humidity and in El Paso it's only 85 degrees".  The leader said she might also miss me and Rita's yummy food. 

Doing the puppet show at one of Trinity's VBS events.

Helping with nametags

Hey there Becky

Super bunny ears

Reading the story of Noah's ark at San Lucas

Superstar

Putting animal stamps on backpacks.

Yes he is

Water relay event

You know you are spoiled when someone carries you for the water relay

Pastor Javier giving message at VBS

The border from Scenic Drive

Every time I go to Scenic drive, I take this picture to compare different sunsets

The group at Scenic Drive

Serving in Many Ways

The third group of the busy first week of the summer came from Messiah Lutheran Church in Lakeville, MN.  For those of you who know Krysia Heimer, this is her home church, where her parents still attend.  The group wanted to not only serve the El Paso community,  but see a bit of El Paso as well.  Original plans for a sports camp along with VBS did not work out, so the group practiced our favorite word, flexibility, and had several one day events.

Although I was working with different groups during their week, I led their devotions each day and spent time with them whenever possible.  I left them in the very capable hands of my mother, and by the end of the week they had a great experience serving here in El Paso.  On Monday, they painted the exterior of the house, and the iron fence at the home of Maria, who volunteers a few days per week at the hot meal program at YLM.  Tuesday, they did some finishing work on the drywall at Norma Saucedo's home, and began the painting process for that.  Wednesday was a day trip to Hueco Tanks State Park, Thursday was a one day VBS at San Pablo and dinner at Andale, and finally on Friday, they finished painting at Norma's.  Phew, that was quite a list.  In addition to those events, they helped out wherever needed on small projects around the campus, such as helping in the warehouse and thrift store.

Below are some pictures of their week, I look forward to seeing them again soon, either here at YLM or when I head to Minnesota for school stuff.  

The team with Maria in front of her freshly painted home.

Mom and Maria

They served spaghetti and meatballs for lunch at VBS.

Joy with two of my favorite chicitas

Quick game of hangman.

Duck, Duck, Goose

Krysia, Jaden, and Alivia enjoyed the day.

Getting ready to work on the addition to Norma's house.

Sam

Always need a fun photo while painting.

Working on the hallway

Living room is done

Messiah group with the Saucedo Family

View from outside

Everyone enjoyed the juicy watermelon after lunch.