Day 2-July 28

What a gorgeous day outside. The sun is shining and the mountains are beautiful. The teams broke up into their respective groups and we left the Tapias enroute to our construction sites. My construction team consisted of the Phillies (myself, Liza and KC), Stephanie, and Sylvia. Liz and Summer from GI were there too...we were the girl squad. We didn't have a name for our team until we were chanting on the way to Pastor Hoel's...first we were chanting "hoel, hoel, hoel" really loud...we were psyching ourselves up for the work to be done. Then all of a sudden Summer saw a stray dog and we all started chanting "stray dog stray dog..." (which aren't that hard to find they are everywhere...) As we continued on our way to the church Liz saw a DIRTY MATTRESS laying on the side of the road...so what is a bunch of girls to do...but chant dirty mattress, dirty mattress... and that my friends is how we were named TEAM DIRTY MATTRESS. We arrived at the church 5 minutes after we left (yes all of that took place in less then 5 minutes). We were working on the roof of the church which need repair because rain was leaking in. I attempted to climb the ladder to the highest part of the climb, but it was unsuccessful. it was way too high and the ladder wasn't very stable. not a good mix if you ask me. So Felipe found Carmen and I began setting up for the girls to have lunch. That was fun, although I couldn't talk to the girls I was able to still make them laugh and smile. Hopefully tomorrow I will be able to do some construction, I want to get dirty!!! After working for a while, we headed back to the Tapias for lunch, and then back out for VBS. The red van...which rocks by the way...consists of the Phillies, Felipe, Danielle, Liz, Alan, Austin, Carl, Stephanie, Sylvia, Vali, Roger and Ruth. We arrived at the church and the pastor was waiting for us. Some of the crew rode in his van with the doors open while he called the kids to VBS on a megaphone from his van. It was quite a sight. There were about 40 kids who showed up to hear the message of Jesus Christ. As some of the kids arrived they greeted us with big hugs. they were so excited to have us there. We tossed volleyballs around while we waited for more children to arrive. the Miami team had prepared a lesson on thankfulness and we did face paint. When we arrived back at the Tapias we relaxed for a little bit, but then Liz came in and asked if we wanted to go for ice cream. She told us we didn't have to come but we were welcome to...did she really think anyone would turn down ice cream?? did she realize how hot it was!??
we all loaded back in the van, and off we went to the ice cream place. It was sooooo delicious. The other team hadn't arrived back yet so we were keeping it a secret from them...haha yeah right. We prepped materials for the next days VBS and also for the rest of the week. We went to get some Coca-Cola's...cause by this point we were sick of drinking agua. We took Alan with us so that he could keep the thugs away... the soda there is cheap compared to what I am used to. A 1 liter bottle was $1.00. Well it is about time to head to dinner. talk to you later...
I forgot to write about this earlier...
when we were coming home from VBS earlier Felipe was following the Pastor back to the main road and once we got to where he thought he knew he was going he stopped following him. Well, as we were travelling down the ravine (yes ravine, they use them as makeshift roads), we realized they were all coming one way. Suddenly we realized there was a car behind us and we were thinking we were going the right way. well...it was the pastor waving at us trying to get our attention. He pulled up next to us and was laughing at us.
The fellowship with the Miami team has been great. They have welcomed us into their team ad we have made bonds that will hopefully last a lifetime.
While at dinner tonight Kayla caught the attention of Kacie and Liza. She was playing with stickers that Liza had brought and then would play "peek-a-boo" but instead would say "hola".
We have some amazing leaders here with us this week from global Infusion. They really know how to have a good time. I sat next to Larry, Liz and Verano during dinner. Larry just crack me up. He is such a goof ball...but he also has a heart for Christ. While we were finishing up dinner Felipe told us he had a surprise for us tonight- a trip to a lookout where we could see over the city of Juarez. We would have time to pray over the city and have a time of fellowship. That was not meant to be, because 5 minutes later Larry told Felipe that Matt said the road was closed. But that we will get to pray over the city on Friday when we take a hike up a mountain to giant Cross.
So we returned to the Tapias and relaxed a bit.
Hasta Manana!!