Mexico Mission - Day 5...The Rock Pile

Wednesday, June 25

Day 5 of the trip--day 3 of manual labor. And I'm still able to walk upright--amazing. The whole mission team decided to start an hour early this morning and leave the site an hour early so we could fit in some good ol' tourist-type shopping.

I began the day with a little shoveling, then resorted to a relatively easy, sit-down job--removing old rusty nails from the wood of a shed that had fallen down. We were re-using the wood to use as concrete forms and the old nails were being pounded out straight for re-use. Nothing is wasted. What a novel concept! My job in the shade didn't last long and I was, again, handed a shovel. Lots of concrete work going on now and they needed buckets and buckets of gravel and sand to mix the concrete. My job--relay bucket thrower and gravel shoveler. (I'll have to update my resume.) As 5-gallon buckets were emptied into the cement mixer, they were literally THROWN to me, then I threw 4 of them back to the sand pile to be refilled, and kept 2 for myself to fill with gravel. I must say, I'm a good bucket relayer (except for the one that I caught with my knee...ouch!) and at least there was a few minutes of rest between filling to allow the cement mixers to do their thing. It was during one of those "in between" times, as I was leaning on my shovel, looking out at all the busy workers--helping each other, taking care of each other, laughing together and even some of the wheel barrow runners singing--that I found myself brushing away tears...again. Fortunately, the 100+ temperatures made it difficult to tell tears from sweat.

The "old" folks, taking a break and surveying their accomplishments.

"descanse por un momento" (rest for a moment)

As mentioned before, we left the job site early for a shopping trip. No shower...just a few swipes with a baby wipe and we were good to go. I'll bet we were the dirtiest, stinkiest, sweatiest tourists those shopkeepers had ever seen. I bought a "Monterrey" t-shirt, and a couple of bottles of vanilla, but other than that, there really wasn't much to see, want, or buy. The real excitement wasn't until after we returned to the hotel. Ted (oh great keeper of the passports and visas) had somehow LOST the famous BLACK BAG that held these precious items. He remembered having it while he was sitting on a bench outside one of the shops, then didn't think about it til we got back to the hotel. So, accompanied by the Hotel Manager, Ft. Gibson's bus driver, and his daughter, Kristen, he drove back to the market (about an hour away). As news spread throughout our group, panic also set in. I remember saying, "well, someone has hit the jackpot--13 U.S. passports--hot commodity in Mexico. There is NO WAY we will ever get them back." I was already making plans to call Neal, tell him where the copy to mine was, and have him fax it to the hotel. Then I said, "no....there is a way.....let's pray that God leads an honest person to that bag!" Within 15-20 minutes of that prayer, we saw Ted come strolling down the hallway, black bag in hand. He quickly assured us that all the passports were there, as well as money he had in the bag. Praise God!!!! He had gone to that bench, went inside the shop and the shopkeeper said someone had found it and given it to him. So it went through the hands of TWO honest people.

Joel and Justin had the privilege of choosing the restaurant for tonight's dining pleasure. They wanted "authentic" Mexican cuisine and got directions to a place within walking distance of the hotel. As we approached the restaurant, we could see carcasses hanging in the window. Are you kiddin' me? We're eating THERE???? The carcasses were goats, cooking over an open fire. As we perused the menu, everything seemed to be made of goat. The waiter took orders and when he came to me I politely said, "Nada, gracias."

The evening devotional was by the pool, as some other group had reserved "OUR" conference room. But it was still good, just a little harder to hear the speaker. After devo, we headed back to our rooms to pack up, since we're leaving the country tomorrow immediately after lunch, directly from the job site.

The Spanish phrase for today is "VIDA DIGNA" conveying the idea of "Living a Life Worthy." Eph. 4:1 says, "As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received." "VIDA DIGNA"