I thought I would post again telling more about our week. We took a group of students from a christian school in Maine. They were the best group of young people we've taken!
The drive to the border was only supposed to take 8 hours but took about 12...Calixto could not stay awake, we pulled over twice for some much needed sleep! We had plenty of spare time so it worked out ok.
We arrived in Tamazunchale Sat evening. Sunday morning we went to a perspective new mission about an hour into the mountains. We were served a Sunday morning delicacy of mutton...which to put it mildly is not my favorite!! I did eat some with lots of salsa! It was there that Catherine gave away her new baby doll to a little girl. We returned to the Tamaz. church for their 20th anniversary service. This lasted 5 hours!! From noon until 5pm! It was great though, lots of praise and lots of clapping!
Mon-thur we spent in the village of Jalpa which is 3 hours into the mountains through some pretty rough terrain. We did get stuck twice just as we entered the town, but were able to get out pretty quickly. The team poured columns for the new church building and built 13 pews. Thanks to the templates my dad left we were able to get those done rather quickly and efficiently! We did have to tweek the plans a bit but they turned out nicely.
Jalpa is quite the remote place! As you can see in the pix below our bathing took place at the river. The "bathroom" was not very desireable, that's all I'll say about that! The kids handled it all very well. We slept ok at night although we were awakened every few hours by a cat in heat. When she stopped the roosters started crowing. Roosters in Mx don't wait until dawn...they start crowing in rapid succession at 2 in the morning. unfortunately I forgot to bring ear plugs! We had 2 services in Jalpa. We showed a movie each night and many people came forward for prayer. The prayer time lasted about an hour each night!
Catherine spent a lot of time playing with new friends and making tortillas with the women in the kitchen area. Everyone loved her and they were amazed by her hair, they couldn't quit touching it. One man even thought it was a wig!! Christopher helped return the empty buckets while pouring cement. He enjoyed spending time in the river! He always has fun playing soccer with friends in Tamaz. Of course they play on a steep incline in front of the church with a plastic bottle in lieu of an actual ball!
There is a lot more I could write but, that is all for now. Thanks for your prayers!

We're back from Mexico

Here we are hiking to the church in Jalpa. The area is beautiful! Notice Catherine's butterfly back pack!!
This is a coffee plant (or tree?) Christopher is showing some of the ripe beans
Catherine had fun with the ladies in the kitchen. This is a tortilla she made by hand!
We were able to make 13 benches. We had to tweek the plans a bit, but they came out pretty nicely!
Catherine sharing her toys during a church service
This is how we bathed for the 3 days in Jalpa. The kids loved it!
This is the new church in Jalpa. The team poured the columns. This like most village churches is built into the side of a mountain.
This is looking from the top of Jalpa where the church is located. You can see the rest of the town below. You can see part of the road (if you can call it that) straight ahead on the mountain.
The ladies are measuring flour to make bread for morning pastries. Catherine snuck a piece of dough!

This is the proposed site of a new church in Petapixcla (pet-ah-peesh-clah) This too will be built on the slope of the mountain.

and the last for now

 

yet another.

 

another update.

Ok this is part of my kitchen. I am trying picaso and I can't figure out how to post more than one picture to a post 

two updates

My first update is our new van. I am so excited. It is a 2005 used van so I got a good deal. It only had 27,000 miles on it compared to my other van which had 202,000. The other van was dieing. It has had a hard time of it these last 7 months. It did it's job well though. 

Mexico bound

We leave for Mexico tonight! We will try to pull out of here around midnight to make the 10 hour drive to McAllen (the border). The group we are taking is from a christian school in Maine. They fly in Fri around 5 pm and then our friend Charlie from NJ will fly in around 10 pm. Before they arrive we will have the whole day to rest and work out some last minute details.
We will cross the border early Sat morning (hopefully with no set backs!) and drive 8-10 more hours to Tamazunchale. We will be working at a mission church in the village of Jalpa about 2 hours from Tamaz. Since it is so far we will stay with families in Jalpa. That means conditions will be a bit more remote than usual. During the week we will show the Passion movie, share testimonies, preach and build pews. I'm not sure if there is cement work or not...but, most likely there will be! The main church in Tamaz. is having their 19th anniversary celebration on Sunday, which means we'll be in church well over 4 hours...we'll probably be clapping for 2 of those hours...non-stop...no kidding...your hands get very red and tired. I shouldn't complain, our God does deserve all of our praise and more!
This will be Catherine's first full week trip. She went once before but it was only for a long weekend, planning trip. The week should prove to be very interesting!!
Please pray for us while we are gone, we would very much appreciate it!! We will return on the 12th. I'll post pix when we return!

fun night

Well we were at the ER until 12:00 last night. Elizabeth hurt her foot practicing volleyball and then played the entire game on her foot. Our team has just enough players to play and if anyone can't they forfeit. Luckily it is just sprained. I just thought i was done with the ER for a while.

Our update

Ok here is the update on our house. The floors are done. We need to finish painting and put the trim up. My cabinets are coming on Friday and all of my appliances are coming on Saturday.

This is my new furniture. In the garage waiting to come in. It is a cranberry color. This picture makes it look rather bright. it isn't quite that bright. It is called cardinal red.
This is the livingroom. Brenda note the new warm paint color. It is actually a little darker than it looks.
This is the kitchen from the diningroom. That is not a doorway it is where the fridge was.
This is the diningroom with the piano sitting in the middle.
This is the kitchen from the livingroom. Yay it has hardwood floors too........

so as you can see we have a little ways to go but i will update after this weekend and there should be some more changes