my mexican adventure

the first thing i learned in mexico is that the desert in the winter is COLD! i wore two pairs of pants and four shirts every day...which may have been a bit obsessive, but i was just trying to stay warm.

this trip was with organized by a friend from college and we worked with a ministry called tapestries of life that i was really impressed with. the work they do is very well planned and organized and they seem to be very good stewards of the things they have been given.

four of the days were spent working on the orphanage they are building, which is called the casa de las gemas or the house of gems. everything they do and use to build this home for the children is quality. steve [the founder] has a thousand and one stories about how supplies, funding, and volunteers have come together at just the right time. 

the construction days were a lot like my days at habitat. we all divided up to work on a bunch of different projects. some guys put the ceiling up in the big atrium area in the middle of the building, there was a tile crew, and some others did some drywall mudding and sanding. my friend spencer and i were in charge of painting one of the rooms that will eventually house 13-15 year old boys [okay, technically spencer was in charge and i was the assistant to the head artist]. castle ministries, which is the organization i went with, has sponsored this room so they wanted a castle theme. not to brag or anything, but our room blows the other rooms out of the water. i can say that because most of the talent came from spencer, so it's not really bragging.

my stone wall

the grand entrance

on wednesday we took a break from construction for mercy day. on this day we purchase a lot [and i really mean a lot] of food to hand out in an impoverished neighborhood in mexico. we handed out groceries for over 250 families, and toys and stocking hats to lots of kids. it's humbling to know that some of these families may not have eaten in days and this food really is an answer to their prayers. the few hours that we are handing out the food is organized chaos, but again the tapestries staff had a plan for everything. we also handed out quality food...each family received beans and rice, meat, cheese, onions, tomatoes, carrots, peppers, eggs, bread and toilet paper.

we also rang in the new year while we were there, though our celebration was pretty low key. 

the whole gang: castle ministries and the wisconsin crew