Another view

Viernes..."Friday"

2008-06-20T19:17:00.001-07:00

Today was our last day in Morales. After we all finished our assigned chores and breakfast, we had our usual morning reflection. When we were through with that we loaded on to a snazzy mercedes benz short bus to,tpeztlon, a city rich in spiritual and historical sites to see. A large majority of the group went to hike the mountain and some others stayed and did shopping and site saw the city more. I was one of the participants in climbing the mountain, and although it was a difficult challenge, the pure beauty and history of the mountain and the pyromid on the top was worth the journey. Once we got to the top, we were surprised by a bunch of odd animals that are inexplainable almost, youll have to look at pictures to get the real effect. Back to the interesting creatures, they were very entertaining but also frightning to watch fight for food and attempt to get food from the people on the top. Also on top of the mountain was an ancient pyramid from what I'm pretty sure was the Aztec tribe. The view from the mountain and the small pyramid was breath taking and worth every level of difficulty of the climb up. When we all got down from the mountain we went to lunch at a fabulous restaurant that was engulfed in tropical surroundings, on top of the relaxing atmosphere the food was spectacular, up there with the best we've had all trip! After a long lunch, the youth and adults split their seperate ways, the youth leaving earlier to let the adults pay for the check, haha. For the last section of the day we wandered the streets, buying jewelry and clothes along the way. Along with shopping we saw the convent which was made in 1550, that was incredible and mind boggling to take in the raw beauty and faith of it. We also saw a church which was also rich in faith and also very old, but when we got into the inside it was dampened by a creepy black wig on the jesus sculptures, Im not gonna lie, that freaked me out!
haha, well I hope yall are having fun in the mil,
MARY MARTHA

Jueves

2008-06-19T19:18:00.000-07:00

hellooo everyone
Today with our work done in the church we ventured on to tour with our friend Erick Friend (no pun intended ha). He met us at the diocesan center and gave us a quick information about what we were going to be seeing that day. Mostly we went to see a squatter village and a breakfast program that Erick is involved with. The squatter village is an area with 10,000 people in 16 acres of land that they do not own. The area used to be surrounded by railroad tracks before the railways in mexico were bought by an american company. The railways surrounding the squatter village however were simply canceled. The people living in this area have lived there for generations, yet the government is constantly threatening to take the land from them as it has now become extremely valuable. In this village there has been a breakfast program instated across from the kindergarten where kids who are enrolled in school (from preschool to university) can receive a hot breakfast. There are many other programs in this center for mothers on nutrition, sanitation etc. The program is sponsored by people in the states and gives money for school supplies and clothing as well as food baskets for the families. Touring these areas was truly an enlightening experience that I´m sure all of us will remember for many years. We may now come to appreciate the schooling that we receive and how lucky we are to be able to afford shoes and school supplies. I think that Erick Friend may have sparked an idea in many of us to encourage us to help others. He shared his own experiences with his youth group that caused him to start his programs here in mexico. Who knows maybe one of our youth group will be like our friend one day?

JOJO

And then the fourth day...

2008-06-18T19:15:00.000-07:00

Today was our fourth day in Cuernavaca and last day of work. Today we traveled to the church we have been working on for the last three days. But today was a special day because the youth decided that today would be dedicated to Diane Evans who was on the trip last year. So we had a brief momment of silence for her, and the youth including I made a pray of the people. Then we all got ready and headed on the road. When we got to the work site we got right to work mostly with touch ups and cleaning. After we finished that we had a servise for the brand spankin new paint job the crew painted themself with a little help from our friends here in Mexico. After the servise we had a fiesta and everything. The congragation played music, had singers, GREAT food, and even some dancing. We all had a great time but it ended too soon and we had to say good bye to our new brothers and sisters here in Mexico. We hugged, kissed (on the cheeck no worries) and maybe even some tears. But the best part was to see the smiling faces of the congragation and the very well deserved apluse that I thought would never end and wish it had gone on forever. So we got on the bus and traveled back to our home sweet home )for now). The thing that was the most different was that the bus was quiet and you could here the rain drops hitting the windows. I thought about today and looked back at this wonderful day and wondered how Diane Evans fit into the picture, well I think she is still with us today and help us not get too sad when we left and she also helped us perserver threw the hot sun beating on us like a egg getting fried on a skillet. Well she is in our hearts and our memories as is everyone back at home in Wisconsin. I am having a great time here and I can not wait to see you guys when I get back! Hope the weathers nice back there like it is here!!!!!!!!

-Ellen

P.S- Sorry for the bad spelling

Tuesday

2008-06-17T18:59:00.000-07:00

Greetings from Cuernavaca!
Today was another work day for the St. Christopher's crew. The day started out fairly cool, but by midday it was stifling. When we arrived we got right to work and found out that the Bishop and another worker had almost finished the peach colored sections of the walls, and that the artist was already painting the strips above the peach. EG started on "our room" aka the office. Once we finished that, we painted the doors black. In the church, people were also painting windows and doors black. A worker came arouind after us and dusted the color with a copper paint, to make it look "rustic." Some of the other youth painted one of the long walls that was in the direct sun. Along with our packed lunch, Padre Tony brought us "special ice cream," his version of a slushy.He shaveed the ice himself and used a special fruit that was native to the area, and the taste resembled strawberry. Along with that, he brought us a fruit cup. It was filled with mango, papaya, watermellon, pineapple, and cactus fruit. We all learned how generous Father Tony really was! After our break for lunch, the whole youth started painting the other wall white, and boy did that take a long time! Things were getting a bit slow after that, because all of us had to wait for our paint to dry until the next morning. At that time, the kids had finished with school and came around to talk to us. Two of the girls had a puppy, and it was the cutest thing. We ended our work day with Father Tony bringing us sodas. All of the things he had bought us, was payed for by him. The ride home was an hour and a half and when we got home we all played outside until it was time for dinner. Right now, it is raining, but it should help cool things down a bit. All the rest of the kids are out in the main room with MMK teaching them how to play "chicken butt," a game with dominoes. Tomorrow should be fun because we have the fiesta, as well as the days after that.
Adios, arevouir, aloha, and all the goodbyes in between
CN

Monday, June 16th

2008-06-16T18:55:00.000-07:00

As we drove up a small side street of the town, we finally arrived at the church. This church had a big front wall wall painted purely white. Despite the beautiful outside, it was easy to see that the inside required plenty of work in order for it to match the outisde. Upon sleepwalking out of the bus, we took a group picture with Father Tony on the sidewalk in front of the church. Father Tony wanted us to take pictures there, as well as in front of the church. After we took the pictures outside of the property, we walked to the entrance of the church for our second picture. As the first members of our group walked through the iron gate of the entrance of the curch, the blare of a trumpet and the rhythmic beat of drums broke out as a greeting. This caused all of us to stop in our tracks in order to fully comprehend what was happening. Two members of the church were playing music to greet us! From then on, we attracted plenty of attention throughout the day. As we worked on the church, walkers took long peers to see what we were doing. Locals brought all of us fruit cups for lunch. While walking through the town, glances and stares towards our group of sixteen Caucasians were common. The place where we attracted the most attention was at the ¨palace¨ in which we were invited to. There were reporters recording audio and video while the mayor talked with us and individual pictures were taken in a chair in front of two very important paintings of Mexican history.
We had a good first day of work and a very news experience with all the positive and the bit of negative attention given to our group.

- Thomas
PS. ¨don´t be sassy¨

Sunday, Day Two.

2008-06-15T19:22:00.000-07:00

This morning when we woke up we were all very refreshed after sleeping for the first time since we left. After we had showered we ate breakfast, which, for me, was cereal. We then went next door to the St. Michaels Sunday service. It was a very nice service with, what I thought, was a good sermon.

After church we got ready to go to town for lunch. We went to a seafood restaurant, Tia Licha. When we were there we all had to guess on what we ordered because the menu was in Spanish and we didn't know what was what! It turn out to be a nice meal for everyone.
After lunch we walked down a few miles to go shopping. The adults and kids split up for the afternoon. The kids bought jewlry and soccer jerseys and shorts as well as, because it was hot, water and juice. The whole group reconvined at five o'clock to take taxis home to the center.

Once we got back we hung out for a while, the kids played many rounds of kemp, and then ate dinner. After dinner the group had it's meeting and talked about the daily activity, which was to bring an natural object and explain it's meaning. Then some volleyball and soccer was played and then the neccisary trip to the Superama was had. After that we wound down and relaxed so we would be ready for a day of work tomorrow.

Our First Day!!!!

2008-06-14T19:20:00.000-07:00

Today was our first day in Mexico. For many, this is the second or third time doing this trip, but for a few others, this is the first time. As one who has completed the St. Christopher´s Service Trip to Mexico twice before, landing in the Mexico City airport had a very familiar feeling to it. After we walked through the airport and found our luggage, we took the same air-conditioned Volvo coach bus to the Diocese Center of Cuernavaca, where we are staying for the entire trip. Even the bus ride to the Center was very familiar to me. Driving up the steep, winding roads was just another journey to a home I had been to many times before. Upon arriving, we settled in, and ate our wonderful first meal (after all the airport food, a home cooked dinner was a relief.) Then, after eating, we met as a group in a community area and discussed our plans for the week. Jan also had an activity she had given us this morning, which was to think about a "tattoo" we could draw on ourselves that would represent something we bring to the trip. Some tattoos included footprints, hearts, peace signs, a soccer ball, smiley faces, a wave, and a few others.
It was an exhausting journey, but we´re all looking forward to the week ahead. Let the fun begin!!

-MRP

On our Way

2008-05-27T04:20:00.000-07:00

In just a few weeks we'll be on our way.
Much to see; lots of paint.