Some Details...And Pictures

Sorry I haven't posted any details of our trip yet. I have been trying to catch up on a weeks worth of school. Here is a link to some of our pictures: http://www.valesano.com/album2/index.html. We were staying at the Casa De La Tia. It was a lot nicer than I expected. There are a few pictures of the building and the room to give you an idea. It was a little strange doing things lke taking a shower and washing hands because afterwards, we would have to use had sanitizer because they have different bacteria in their water. We couldn't drink the water either so we had to buy bottled water for drinking and brushing our teeth.

The first couple days we spent relaxing and visiting various tourist attractions. There were a lot of Catholic Churches there. We visited several. They were amazing structures. We also visited a large site of ancient ruins called Monte Alban. I was amazed at how big they were and how much area they covered. There are a lot of good pictures we took of those. After that, we went to a wood carving shop. There were a lot of intricate carvings with incredible paint jobs. I bought some small ones for my sisters Hannah and Sarah. The food was good but it didn't really taste the same as the food from Mexican restaurants in America. After a while, many of us were craving American food like hamburgers. One night some went out and found a food stand that sold hamburgers and hot dogs. I didn't know a hamburger could taste so good! :D

On Sunday we went to a Mexican church in Oaxaca. They were very warm and welcoming to us. It was really interesting how even though we did not speak the same language, we could feel a connection with the people because we shared the same faith. In the church service, the worship team even played a few songs that I know like "The Love of God" and "Holy, Holy, Holy." It was exciting to relearn those songs that I already knew in Spanish. It was also interesting in the worship time how I could still worship God even though I didn't know what they were saying. Their faith was so genuine and their worship so sincere that I couldn't help but get caught up in it with them. I loved church. I was also surprised when they offered to take us back to our hotel. I know that it was an inconvenience for them but they refused to let us pay for a taxi. They were some of the most hospitable people I have ever met, as were all the Mexicans that I met including the poor ones that we went to help.

We started working on Monday. We split up into two teams and poured the floors on the latrines Monday, and then Tuesday through Friday we spent assembling the latrines. There are several pictures of the latrines being built. I was amazed that we finished all the latrines. Just about every one had little problems or mistakes and we still finished or nearly finished. One thing that amazed me was the people that we went to help would often go out and buy ice cold bottled water or pop for us. It just amazed me at how they went so out of their way to be hospitable to us and buy us something that they would never drink because they couldn't afford it.

After each team had finished their latrine for the day, we met at a local Bible club building (that Suzan and Arlene had helped make on a past team) for lunch. After lunch, we traveled to the Bible club that we were going to for the afternoon. By then everyone was sooo tired, but it didn't really seem to matter when we saw all the kids. At the Bible clubs we sang some songs, did a skit of the Prodigal Son (I got to be the son), taught a verse to the kids (Romans 3:23), sang another song, and then split the boys to play games and the girls to get their nails painted. I loved playing the games with the boys. At every bible club there was several boys that would really like me and that would hang around me for the whole time. There were a few boys specifically that come to mind that really made it hard to leave. Before we left each Bible club, we would hand out little presents that the kids in our own church's VBS had made along with a little cross necklace and some candy. The Bible clubs, especially the first one, was my favorite part of the trip.

On Friday, We only had one latrine to build so we did it as one team. It was really fun to work with everyone there. It was a lot less pressure because we had more people working. That day we finished in record time. After we had lunch that day, we split up into two teams again and did some house visits. Each team visited two houses. There we talked with the families about them. We talked about their kids, their husband or wife, where they worked, how much money the make, and anything else we wanted to know. Their stories were so sad but to see them and the hope that some of them had was amazing. Leaving the last house, it felt so strange that our trip was nearly over and we would be doing anything the next day.

One thing that I really like about this trip was the meetings that we had as a team every night. We met to talk about how our days went and to pray for each other. It was really nice to just talk about the day with someone who had experienced the same type of thing. I hope this give you a little more insight into what we did there. I will try to post more with other details or interesting things about the trip.

Stephen