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.

My first "A"

Well that's 24 down and 104 to go. That would be college credits. This past week I wrapped up my first actual (not culinary school) college course. It was called communication fundamentals. I certainly picked up some good pointers from the class and enjoyed it for the most part. I am definitely getting more out of the chats in my current writing course than I did on the communication chats, but the discussion boards for communication were great.

I had 20 credits transfer from culinary school, and I need 128 to graduate, and there are about 50 in my actual program. So I basically need like 41 more general education credits after I finish the classes I am already enrolled for. Intro to Literature and Principles of Contemporary Mathematics start next week, Intro to Psychology in mid April and US History part 1 starts in early June. Anyone who has some suggestions that you think I would like, please let me know.

Also if you know of places I might be able to find some financial aid, please let me know. I have applied for our district scholarship and will be applying for one from my home church, but if you have ideas, please send them my way. I ask that you keep me in your prayers as I tackle this college adventure and that I am able to find some funding sources. I will keep you updated as we go.

I believe my cohort (not real sure what that is) starts in September, and I will have to go to the campus for a few days at the start of that, but otherwise, a majority of my education will be done online. It is a style that I like. Very fast paced, however I can work at my pace and can finish classes nearly twice as fast as traditional classroom style.

Blessings on you week. Tune in soon for a blog about the new building on the YLM campus.

Fun with Viviana and her family

One of the things Kristine wanted to do when she was here was to see Jorge, Elvira, and the girls. We decided to have a bbq one night when Jorge came to pick up Elvira, so the girls came from the sitter's and we had Carne Asada, homemade Mac-n-Cheese, Baked Beans, and Biscuits. As usual, I spent most of the time playing with the girls, especially the goddaughter Viviana. It is so awesome how she just smiles all big when she sees me and always wants to be in my arms. Granted, she likes anyone to hold her, but I feel special when I see that smile. There are a few pictures below, including some that Camila (she is 3) took. She wanted to get involved in the action and got upset when she couldn't, so I tied my camera around her just in case she dropped it and she went to town. Some of them weren't too bad. Have a great week.

Vivi chillin' in my chair

Vivi meeting bear

All the girls hanging out with me

Just the girls, it was hard to get Vivi and Camila to look at the camera at the same time

One of Erin that Camila took. Not bad

One of Chata and Kristine that Camila took.

My favorite picture in a long time. Viviana getting a kiss from Bear.

WildFire

Ahh, spring is in the air, and what better place to be than outside? Our spring started out a little frustrating last week because we ended up having to pour a slab on Friday that we were going to build on Saturday. All week, as Erin and I took materials to Horizon City to build a house for a lady we worked with at Thanksgiving, she told us she had people to help pour the slab. Well, we showed up with a load on Thursday afternoon, and the area hadn't been touched yet. We came back to the mission, grabbed Felipe and Genaro and went back out to Horizon to level the ground and set the forms. We showed up Friday and Mayra had some family there, so we all started busting out the slab. We had hoped the 50 mile an hour winds would help dry it enough so we wouldn't sink the next morning.

It wasn't completely dry the next morning, but it was workable. Just didn't want to hit it with the hammer, and we scraped a little off, but it was a fantastic slab for making a nice square house. The group had sent some extra money down because they had 14 people, so we were able to do some extra things for the house. Erin and I talked with the leader Dari, about if they wanted to do anything more, and we all felt that paint and a tile floor would be fantastic. Dari said they had some money left in the budget for that, so we were able to make it really into a home for Mayra and her 3 children.

Team Chicago, as I called them earlier in the week was up to the task. In just 5 days they did the full build, 3 coats of paint including the primer on both inside and outside, tiled the floor and still had time for some extra curricular projects we will talk about later. They were a blast to work with, and maybe now I have an excuse to go visit a city that I have never been to. Enjoy the pics and have a great week. OH! and the name of the color of the outside is WildFire. Mayra picked it and Dari started singing Wild Fire, you make my heart sing, and then the rest of the week, every time I looked at the outside I screamed, WILD FIRE!!!!!

Team slab

Erin and Kristine's job was to smooth the cement with the 2x4. I feel we used a lot of the materials for the house on the slab, so I wonder how they do the slabs because the materials are normally not there.

Look at that beauty

So good, I signed may name to it. Erin did too, but that pic didn't turn out great.

OH BOY. WHAT A SLAB

Standing the wall. Josh and I gave each other a hard time all week, so it was his birthday at Andale thursday night. Even though his birthday is really in January.

I have a picture of that level bubble as well.

Erin prepping her roof cuts

Team sheetrock. Notice the shorts, how about that snow up North?

Hi Glen

La Changa (The Monkey) climbing all around the roof to move the curves of the rafters

Team roof, notice the start of the WildFire

More of team sheetrock

This is the only picture of the "Drywall fit on the first try dance". It will be gone forever in 24 hours.

Erin was tired, so I told her to grab a seat and help set the first few pieces of tile.

After she rested on the tile, it was time to dig the electric trench. See videos below.

Some of Team Chicago called it the little Rio Grande, I said it sure looks like it. NO water.

I didn't pull enough wire to reach the box underground, so we went to macgyver mode

She is really trying hard not to freak out because a Cubs shirt is touching her. She hates tar more than she hates Satan, but I think the cubs may be in between.

A nice welcome mat was included in the gift basket from the group.

They also got her some purple flowers that really matched well with the WildFire. There is us all together. What a great group. And they made Mayra's day with all the extras they provided.

I was playing air guitar all week on brooms, trim boards, roofing felt, rafters, etc., and Erin managed to get the only picture. GRRRRR!

We have been making up a lot of dances lately, and this is Erin's I dug the trench dance.

A video of her digging the trench

Dusty Trail

Lots of changes are going on to the mission buildings this year. You may have read about our goals to revitalize the buildings on mine or Erin's blog, well #3 where I live has been a recipient of some improvements. First about a year ago, Erin and I put down a new tile floor to replace the carpet that was damaged by the dogs. Then a few weeks ago, it received a new roof. The bathroom remodel was talked about just a couple blogs ago, and then this week, since Kristine is here, we knocked out the task of painting the living room. Kristine is our summer volunteer from last year and she came down for a relaxing spring break from school. Also, this afternoon, a couple from Albuquerque is putting some new tile on the bathroom floor. I will post pictures of that later. Tonight we are having a barbecue and tomorrow getting materials ready for the group that arrives on Friday.

You may recall that I have a lovely goddaughter now, who is growing so fast. It is awesome that every time I walk into the office, she smiles at me and wants to come be held by me. I have a feeling that pretty soon her "nino", easier for babies to say than padrino, is going to be wrapped around that little finger. There are some pics of her with her "nino and nina" below. Have a great week.

Erin and Kristine relaxing in the newly painted living room

It's called dusty trail, and it really matches the colors of some leaves on the couch pillows

I have a picture like this when she is little and she just stayed on my stomach, now I have to kind of hold her there.

With her "nina", we almost got one of her beautiful smiles.

On her special seat.