Wonderful church service!

We are on our way back from the first church service in the new church in Liquidambar!

As you can see from the picture, it was filled to capacity! When we got there, we found out we were responsible for worship! So, Tito put a GREAT sermon together in 30 minutes, Doris and Tanika led song service, Renee and the VBS team led the children in the VBS songs and Gino had scripture.

After Tito's sermon, we presented Ramiro (the Elder) and Maggie a team shirt for their help during the week. We always have a couple of extra shirts for some of the church members that help out. Ramiro then thanked us for what we did. It was very touching.

The Sabbath where we dedicate the church is always moving and a very tearful goodbye. We are sad to go, but will keep them in our hearts always.

We head back to the University for our final meal there and then head to the excursion (or the second week of work for 6 of us). We pray that Bobby, Glenn and Thelma are feeling better. They were not able to make it today because they are a little under the weather.
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A rainy day in Buena Vista Coracol

We had a great, but wet day in Buena Vista Coracol. 10 of us went there first thing to build the one day church. We got the fram up in 3 hours and started on the roof at about 1 pm.

It was a beautiful day in the morning, but during lunch, a fog rolled in quick and the rain came shortly thereafter--a cold rain! We worked (slowly) through the rain and got one half of the roofing done. That took much longer than it normally would. Because of the rain, we couldn't walk on the roof. One of the Maranatha guys had to tie himself to a rope and crawl on the roof! It took over two hours just for that side.

The maranatha guys correctly said we shouldn't start the other side if we couldn't finish because it wouldn't hold without being complete. So, we helped clean up and left without it being finished. We are dissapointed, but know there is a reason for the rain!

The rest of the group stayed in Liquidambar and did a few other things like putting the roofcap, sign and steeple on. They also cleaned the church and put up pews for church tomorrow.

One of the deacons had wanted to play basketball with us since we visited with them in June. So, we had four of our team play against them today after they got done! It was a lot of fun, even though we beat them two games to none.

Our medical and dental had a very busy day as well, even though they had to wrap up early to pack up their equipment.

VBS had about 70 kids today as well. School wasn't in full session today either.

We are headed back to shower and have dinner--our last dinner and worship at the university.
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Fantastic program by the university last night

We are staying at a University. They have been so helpful to us. They wanted to thank us for our service by putting on a musical program for us last night!

They have some very talented students and faculty. We really enjoyed the show and thanked them for our time here.

We will be sad to leave here tomorrow, but will be happy with the work we have done.

We have another person sick today. Only having two people sick during the week is pretty good (except for those who are sick of course!)
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A rainy day in Buena Vista Coracol

We had a great, but wet day in Buena Vista Coracol. 10 of us went there first thing to build the one day church. We got the fram up in 3 hours and started on the roof at about 1 pm.

It was a beautiful day in the morning, but during lunch, a fog rolled in quick and the rain came shortly thereafter--a cold rain! We worked (slowly) through the rain and got one half of the roofing done. That took much longer than it normally would. Because of the rain, we couldn't walk on the roof. One of the Maranatha guys had to tie himself to a rope and crawl on the roof! It took over two hours just for that side.

The maranatha guys correctly said we shouldn't start the other side if we couldn't finish because it wouldn't hold without being complete. So, we helped clean up and left without it being finished. We are dissapointed, but know there is a reason for the rain!

The rest of the group stayed in Liquidambar and did a few other things like putting the roofcap, sign and steeple on. They also cleaned the church and put up pews for church tomorrow.

One of the deacons had wanted to play basketball with us since we visited with them in June. So, we had four of our team play against them today after they got done! It was a lot of fun, even though we beat them two games to none.

Our medical and dental had a very busy day as well, even though they had to wrap up early to pack up their equipment.

VBS had about 70 kids today as well. School wasn't in full session today either.

We are headed back to shower and have dinner--our last dinner and worship at the university.
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Completed church!

We finished the block and the roof today! It was really windy when we got here and we were worried that we couldn't get the roof on, but it died down.

We are happy to be done and only have a few things to do there tomorrow. A group of us will go to Buena Vista Coracol to build the One Day Church there tomorrow.
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A blustery 4th day

We had a good, but windy day. The wind was blowing over 20 miles an hour when we arrived. The tarps had all blown down by the time we got there!

We got the sides done and grouted, scaffolds down and raised on the ends and part of the ends done. Not quite as far as we wanted. We had some challenges with the last course that were not expected.

Our plan is to complete the block and the roof tomorrow. If we do we will be back on schedule.

As you can see from the picture of Rachael and Ernie holding a mud board on their heads, the team still has enough energy to have fun!

The Maranatha foreman, Margarito, came by today. He wanted to coordinate for the second church we are building on Friday. We have it all worked out and are looking forward to it!

The VBS team had the same number of kids today. They cancelled school tomorrow so they aren't sure how many they will have attending.

Medical saw about 55 patients today and dental also had a good day.
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Day 3 report

We are on our way back from our third day. VBS had another good day with over 90 kids. They are having some parents pull their kids out because they don't want them learning about Christ. However, the kids are sneaking back in to learn more!

Medical and dental had a strong day. They saw 10 dental patients and 80 medical. No issues today.

We had a bit of a slow day today on construction. We got all done with 10 and got our window headers poured. We got about half of the 11th course done as well. We should get done with the side walls tomorrow and a lot of the end walls. We should still be able to finish as planned. We are suffering from the long commute! We have 3 hours of our day taken up with traveling. If we had one and a half of those back, I think we would be on schedule. Oh well--God has a plan and knows why we are where we are. Staying at the university has been good in a lot of respects, but the drive is tough.

Our team is still energized and anxious to get done. We had a few folks that were suffering from the heat that had to rest. All in all, no major health issues so far.
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Mell at lunchtime

When we eat lunch, we look for shade and a place to sit anywhere we can. Mell found an empty wheelbarrow to sit in today.
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Start of day 4

We had our first power outage this morning at about 5:45. People had to get ready in the dark and ate breakfast a little late. So, we are getting a late start.

We were warned that the power goes out from time to time so this is good that it has only happened once.
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Bobby loves chicken

Bobby and Ernie are our resident meatitarians. Bobby found a chicken wandering through the jobsite. Here is a picture of what he was about to do to it!

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Day two report

We had a good second day at the jobsite and a first day of VBS and medical.

We got all done with the 6th course and about half of the 7th. We also extended all of our rebar and set up our scaffold. I am happy with the teams progress. The maranatha crew is helping lay block as well! It was a hot day so hopefully everyone kept hydrated and enough sunblock on.

The VBS team had their first session today. They had over 100 kids today. In spite of some logistical challenges and computer crashes, they did a great job and the kids had a great time.

Medical and dental had their first day. They saw about 50 patients and Ed did major dental work on 7 patients. They also had the health department there to give immunizations.
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Day two report

We had a good second day at the jobsite and a first day of VBS and medical.

We got all done with the 6th course and about half of the 7th. We also extended all of our rebar and set up our scaffold. I am happy with the teams progress. The maranatha crew is helping lay block as well! It was a hot day so hopefully everyone kept hydrated and enough sunblock on.

The VBS team had their first session today. They had over 100 kids today. In spite of some logistical challenges and computer crashes, they did a great job and the kids had a great time.

Medical and dental had their first day. They saw about 50 patients and Ed did major dental work on 7 patients. They also had the health department there to give immunizations.
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On our way to the jobsite

We are making our way to Liquidambar for our first work day. We had a great afternoon and evening at the university.

After we ate dinner, we had our worship and each team went over their plans for today. Afterwards, the stuydents were playing basketball and asked if we could play with them. We had a few teams, but one was undefeated. Gino, Claudell, Tito, Cornell and one of the teachers didn't lose all night. We may play them again during the week, depending on tired everyone is.
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Awesome first day of work!

We had a great first day of work! We got the steel up by around 2 and then got ready to lay block. We had enough time to get all of the first course and half of the second. We weren't planninf on any block, so that was a bonus!

The crew did great, even with the waiting during the steel construction. So accidents except for Bobby hitting a little girl in the head with a shovel (by accident, of course).

We have a good Maranatha crew as well. Chiel and Alfredo said we did way better than Melvins team!

We are now making the long trip back for dinner, worship and games.
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Wonderful church service

By the grace of God, we made it to Liquidambar without further incident. The church members and pastor were still waiting for us even though we were 1.5 hours late!

We had a great service with the church. They will be a great group to work with.

We were able to see where the medical group and VBS is going to work at. As it turns out, the Maranatha crew are the same ones that worked with my dad's church a few weeks ago! I told them to not hold that against us!

We are headed back to the university now to eat.
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Sabbath School part two!

Well, bus number 2 had problems as well. 10 minutes into our drive, we blew a tire!

So, while they changed the tire, we continued with Sabbath School. The tire was changed (albeit to a tire with less tread than the one that blew......) And we are on our way.

We pray that God will be with us for the remainder of the trip.
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First night at the university

We made it to the university after a LONG drive! We had a ninja-style bus driver that was awesome. He had to contend with cows, fog and tight turning radius.

We got to the university without problems at around 2:45 in the morning. A VERY tired group had to lug the suitcases up the stairs in the pictures.

The rooms are nice and all together in one hall. We will head off for a few hours sleep before an 8 AM breakfast call.
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On our way to Church

We had a wonderful breakfast this morning in the cafeteria. The weather is great and the sun is shining.

We are on our way to the Church in Liquidambar where we will be working this week. We are traveling in a yellow school bus that we hope makes it all the way up the mountain!

I will have VERY limited ability to send blog posts as we have no phone service at the university and I don't think we have any on the job site. I hope I will find a patch of signal on the road to and from the job site.
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Sabbath School on the side of the road

Well, about 20 minutes into the drive to Liquidambar, the bus overheated. Apparently the fan stopped working and the radiator dumped.

The University folks went back into town to get another bus. While we were waiting, we had son service and Rachael led us out in Sabbath School. The weather was great and it was very nice outside.

We are now on our second bus of the day and on our way (we trust) to church!

God is with us and has a reason for this!

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Safe in Villahermosa

We have arrived safely in Villahermosa! All 34 of us (and our luggage) made it. Robert Mathador had a bit of an adventure getting to Houston from Atlanta, but made it!

We are now on our way to the University and have a 3 hour drive ahead of us. We will be a tired group in the morning, but praise God we are here with no issues and no problems at customs except for Bobby's beef jerky getting taken from him!
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