If we go by the highs and lows that people have been sharing, this must have been one of the best days on mission so far. It seems to be getting better and better each day!
As you know from the other updates, getting acclimated here has been a bit of a challenge, everything just takes a little more energy because of the heat and humidity. But today, it didn’t seem to affect us as much (although we were happy when two of the guys took it easy in the afternoon when they needed to!)
We organized ourselves a bit different today because we wanted to take advantage of being in this new area to learn about the people here. While one group began work on the plaster outside the Church and the window fillings for the chapel, the other group embarked on a tour of the local pizza joint and then an organic farm (and then we swapped). It was interesting to see the way that they are able to cultivate the rocky ground here and get good crops and do it all in a way that uses only natural products (that they make themselves) and techniques. Who knew that chilies repel the bugs that attack many crops?
Once more, we found new young people helping us today. Since it is Saturday, a couple of the young guys from town started working in earnest on the gardens surrounding the church and a few of our missionaries got to try out their machetes! We also had a little “extra” landscaping to do in the back to prepare the ground for the scaffolding so we can do a bit more plastering higher up.
In the afternoon we had a new adventure awaiting us (well, as soon as our truck arrived). Since a few of our missionaries this year were on the mission last year, we went to Campamento (about a 20 minute drive away) to visit the people there and take a look at the completed Church.
Since we are all on Mexican time now, we didn’t worry too much when we arrived late back from the town. We went ahead and started Mass just after 7:00 and we had quite a good turnout from the town here! Afterwards we enjoyed our dinner and sharing time on the roof. The missionaries are really taking ownership of the mission and continue to think of ways in which they can all make a difference here even beyond the week that we have.
We are looking forward to tomorrow, our last full day of work and the day in which we will hold the “Olympics” for the kids.
Thank you for your prayers and keep them coming!
