This is carole again. everyone is always so pushed for time at night that it is a bit of a challenge to get things posted to the blog. I will try to post pics when i am done with this narrative but I tried once and it got hung up. We had quite a physical work day today. Our work sites today were about a block apart. One group (Diane mattingly, tayla hodges, shaun marti, mark russell, becca sangwin, stefanie reynaud, bri diaz) were chartered with the demolition of a very old house that needed to come down since the new one from esparanza would be built in its place. norm schille assisted this team to ensure everyone knew what they were doing! The roof was the first thing done - taking off what shingles were there and then the underlayer and then board by board....siding and such same. The construction of this place was so poor and the place so small that it was actually accomplished in one day. I got out the first aid kit at least 5 times today for small abraisions - nothing serious at all.....but the kids were definitely feeling the work on their bodies.
The other work site - involved digging out the base for a foundation (digging is not what really occurred...since the dirt had to be pick-axed first and then dug out...and hauled out bucket by bucket, to an assembly line where the dirt was being dump for fill. Plus a cement area (patio? part of the old house?) had to be demolished.....which had to be done with a sledgehammer and pick ax and a "freakin" crow bar. Chief sledgehemmer chiefs included Steve Homiack, Zach Shields, Rhys Gadbois, Stephen Marti, and Logan Johnson. I watched this activity for several hours and basically it was nuts....Steve Homiack had the most "fun' of all I think. He actually seemed to enjoy this activity which was very hard physical labor. They swung and hit and swung and hit......and at the end of the day, we had half of the cement we needed to demolish done with the rest to finish tomorrow.
We will end up pouring a foundation at this house once all of the prep work is done.
The family once again prepared a great lunch for us - meatballs and beans and rice with some super spicy sauce (if you wanted it) plus all the corn tortillas you could eat. plus homemade "melon" juice which was excellent - from a watermelon.
Right after dinner, we visited a large orphanage for girls in Tijuana run by Catholic nuns. Capacity of this orphanage was 60 girls, from ages 1 to 18......the youngest we saw was 3years old in the courtyard. The older kids played a game of soccer with our boys and gave them a pretty good game....and the younger kids played tag and jump rope and swung and chased and climbed and made friends with our kids very quickly. We also had a dance party with the kids from the orphanage - dancing to Achy Breaky Heart and some fast country tunes...and even the Hokey Pokey in Spanish. The kids made some great friends with these young girls and it was very hard to leave. I am sure many of your kids will have some stories about the traffic and driving in tijuana getting to the orphanage.....it was highly interesting......no wonder insurance to drive in mexico is expensive. All arrived in one piece and got back to the posada just fine.
Tomorrow promises to be another physical labor work day but the kids are being very resilient and I have not heard any complaining......not from anyone,....which has been terrific.
Please continue your prayers for our group. The experience has been terrific. Hopefully I will be able to upload some pictures from our experiences today.
Carole Marti and the Mission Trekker Team 2011
Carole- we know how tiring you must be at the end of your day but I really want you to know how VERY MUCH we enjoy (and need) reading your blog. Thank you, THANK YOU!
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