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!