Just wanted to share that we had a baby calf join the group down here a couple days ago. I got to see it for the first time today. The cute little guy is getting his legs under him still. But it was fun to watch him as he wobbled and hopped around the pen today.
I'm helping Madi out in a second doing some outdoor education. We've got a series of puzzles that the boys have to run around and solve. I should have pictures from it that I'll add soon.
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Saturday, October 24, 2009
yep, I'm in Mexico
Wow, I can’t believe I’m coming up on two months already. It’s scary, I still feel like I still have two months with Alex here, along with Kat and Mike. Sadly, both are leaving in the next couple weeks.
This last week has been a very good, productive week. I’ve gotten some projects done, and my Spanish took off after being stuck in a flat for about a week.
Wednesday, I went up to the states and picked up Dn. Daniel. He came down and stayed with us through Friday. It’s possible he and his wife may be joining us in the future, permanently - a very exciting possibility! Dn. Dan, is a very kind and wonderful man. When I heard we were going to have him visiting, I thought to myself, “wow, this will be the first time in my two months that I’ll actually know more Spanish that another American at the orphanage.” How terribly I was mistaken. Dn. Dan walked into the office and one of our staff members greeted him saying, “como estas?” He laughed and then launched into an explanation about how the trip was, how the flight was, and how he’s enjoyed the time in California, ALL in Spanish. There goes my chance… guess I’ll be waiting until January to get off the bottom of the Spanish speaking totem pole. I felt a little better though, when I learned that Dn. Dan had been in the Navy and had spent 6 months in a Spanish school and then was sent down to Venezuela for an entire year. While this was back in 1990, he still knew quite a bit, and made a great impression on the boys and the staff. Everyone took to him very quickly.
Wednesday and Thursday I focused on getting the cross, and candles hung up in the church. Not the hardest job, but I had to prime, paint, finish, drill, screw, and attach these boards. Basically, there was a lot of little things that added up. I had a rather foolish moment while drilling. At one point my drill bit got loose, so I had to retighten the drill. A couple minutes later, it felt like it was getting lose again. Forgetting that just moments before this drill had been creating a large amount of friction with the cement wall, I grabbed the bit to see if it was loose. A sizzling sound came from my finger tips. I quickly realized that the bit was fine, instead I needed to tighten down some common sense. However, burnt fingers and all, I finished it Thursday, and it looks good. I joked later, that it was a good thing I got my Sentri pass done earlier in the week. As part of the Sentri application, you need to get fingerprinted. Had I waited until Friday, I wouldn’t have had any finger print on my left thumb and pointer finger. That would have been rather humbling to explain why I had not finger print.
Friday, I went and helped up in the office in the states. One of our staff member’s father, is having heart problems at the moment. Since she has not been able to be at the office much, I had to go and do a few jobs around the office. It won’t be long, but I may be going up there once a week or so for maybe a month.
Today, after breakfast I had to go help out up in the animal pens. We have a cow that looks to be really struggling with an illness right now. The poor thing couldn’t get off the ground, so I had to go in with a few of the older boys and staff and pick her up off the ground. I really hope she can make it, but we might be putting her down pretty soon here if she doesn’t recover. If she hadn’t been strong enough today to hold her own when we picked her up, we were going to have to put her out of her misery today. (I noticed they had the equipment ready to go, if we hadn’t been successful.
Speaking of which I had a bit of a, “oh, yeah I’m in Mexico” moment earlier this week. Since there is no trash system down here, the best way to dispose of trash is to burn it. A lot of locals will take their trash out into the middle of a field light it on fire and walk away, (with is still burning a lot of the time). So, I was on my way to put some trash our incinerator. Since the incinerator is right next to the animal stalls and you can always hear the different animals, chickens, a annoying rooster (who decides his alarm is 5am, and every ten minutes afterwards), along with a couple horses, cows and pigs.
However, this time I noticed two different things. First, there was a smell, vaguely familiar, but I couldn’t place it. It seemed to be coming from the incinerator, like something had been burnt. At the same time I realized that one of the animal sounds was missing. As I walked up to the incinerator, I discovered the culprit. I put the bag in the fire, then realized I had tossed the bag on a leg. A hoof was attached. Then I realized there was an animal ear next to it. Turns out it was butcher time at the orphanage and our beloved pig had met its end. After eating pork that evening, I walked out from the kitchen and noticed one of the ranch staff washing the pots and pans that had been used in the butcher process. All well and good, except that he was washing them in the spicket right next to my room. There was a definite smell exuding from the pots and water. As I walked into my room I discovered that this aroma also inhabited my room. All I could do was shake my head and think, “yep, I’m in Mexico”.
Senor ten piedad,
Joel
“Unless you try to do something beyond what you have already mastered, you will never grow. ~ Robert E. Osborn
This last week has been a very good, productive week. I’ve gotten some projects done, and my Spanish took off after being stuck in a flat for about a week.
Wednesday, I went up to the states and picked up Dn. Daniel. He came down and stayed with us through Friday. It’s possible he and his wife may be joining us in the future, permanently - a very exciting possibility! Dn. Dan, is a very kind and wonderful man. When I heard we were going to have him visiting, I thought to myself, “wow, this will be the first time in my two months that I’ll actually know more Spanish that another American at the orphanage.” How terribly I was mistaken. Dn. Dan walked into the office and one of our staff members greeted him saying, “como estas?” He laughed and then launched into an explanation about how the trip was, how the flight was, and how he’s enjoyed the time in California, ALL in Spanish. There goes my chance… guess I’ll be waiting until January to get off the bottom of the Spanish speaking totem pole. I felt a little better though, when I learned that Dn. Dan had been in the Navy and had spent 6 months in a Spanish school and then was sent down to Venezuela for an entire year. While this was back in 1990, he still knew quite a bit, and made a great impression on the boys and the staff. Everyone took to him very quickly.
Wednesday and Thursday I focused on getting the cross, and candles hung up in the church. Not the hardest job, but I had to prime, paint, finish, drill, screw, and attach these boards. Basically, there was a lot of little things that added up. I had a rather foolish moment while drilling. At one point my drill bit got loose, so I had to retighten the drill. A couple minutes later, it felt like it was getting lose again. Forgetting that just moments before this drill had been creating a large amount of friction with the cement wall, I grabbed the bit to see if it was loose. A sizzling sound came from my finger tips. I quickly realized that the bit was fine, instead I needed to tighten down some common sense. However, burnt fingers and all, I finished it Thursday, and it looks good. I joked later, that it was a good thing I got my Sentri pass done earlier in the week. As part of the Sentri application, you need to get fingerprinted. Had I waited until Friday, I wouldn’t have had any finger print on my left thumb and pointer finger. That would have been rather humbling to explain why I had not finger print.
Friday, I went and helped up in the office in the states. One of our staff member’s father, is having heart problems at the moment. Since she has not been able to be at the office much, I had to go and do a few jobs around the office. It won’t be long, but I may be going up there once a week or so for maybe a month.
Today, after breakfast I had to go help out up in the animal pens. We have a cow that looks to be really struggling with an illness right now. The poor thing couldn’t get off the ground, so I had to go in with a few of the older boys and staff and pick her up off the ground. I really hope she can make it, but we might be putting her down pretty soon here if she doesn’t recover. If she hadn’t been strong enough today to hold her own when we picked her up, we were going to have to put her out of her misery today. (I noticed they had the equipment ready to go, if we hadn’t been successful.
Speaking of which I had a bit of a, “oh, yeah I’m in Mexico” moment earlier this week. Since there is no trash system down here, the best way to dispose of trash is to burn it. A lot of locals will take their trash out into the middle of a field light it on fire and walk away, (with is still burning a lot of the time). So, I was on my way to put some trash our incinerator. Since the incinerator is right next to the animal stalls and you can always hear the different animals, chickens, a annoying rooster (who decides his alarm is 5am, and every ten minutes afterwards), along with a couple horses, cows and pigs.
However, this time I noticed two different things. First, there was a smell, vaguely familiar, but I couldn’t place it. It seemed to be coming from the incinerator, like something had been burnt. At the same time I realized that one of the animal sounds was missing. As I walked up to the incinerator, I discovered the culprit. I put the bag in the fire, then realized I had tossed the bag on a leg. A hoof was attached. Then I realized there was an animal ear next to it. Turns out it was butcher time at the orphanage and our beloved pig had met its end. After eating pork that evening, I walked out from the kitchen and noticed one of the ranch staff washing the pots and pans that had been used in the butcher process. All well and good, except that he was washing them in the spicket right next to my room. There was a definite smell exuding from the pots and water. As I walked into my room I discovered that this aroma also inhabited my room. All I could do was shake my head and think, “yep, I’m in Mexico”.
Senor ten piedad,
Joel
“Unless you try to do something beyond what you have already mastered, you will never grow. ~ Robert E. Osborn
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
Break from Spanish study for me... quick update for you
Sunday was a pretty easy going day. Hung out with some of the boys and took the day off.
Yesterday on the other hand, was a little different. I woke up and waited at the border for and hour and fifteen minutes to get through. Then I raced over to Calexico for another Sentri interview. Due to God’s grace and providence they did not realize I was missing a document they had required. Thankfully, I was able to escape and get my pass. Now I’ll wait 2-3 weeks in the border line for shipping. :-) Haha always an adventure when dealing with governments.
After getting home, I sat in on a little art class here at the orphanage. Madi’s mom is visiting and is a talented artist. She was showing the younger boys ways in which they can improve their drawings and add detail to their art. Just sitting in on the class, I learned a few new tricks myself.
Today has been chores around the ranch (orphanage). Watering plants and working on some agricultural parts of the orphanage, took up a good part of the morning. In addition Fr. Michael wants me to hang up some items in the church, Cross, candles etc. Since they can’t be right against the wall, I have to create a barrier a spacer of sorts between the items and the wall. I’m trying to search down a couple 2x4s, sand and paint them. In the end I’ll be putting clips on the wood to attach the Cross and candles. A simple job, but I just discovered we are destitute of all 2x4s! Everyone who has been down here before probably is gasping at the thought, but due to some recent construction projects we don’t have any. I’m going to head off to the hardware store later today and grab a couple things.
Since doing some measuring and prep for that all, I’ve been studying Spanish…
*Knock on door*
A couple minutes later…
I just talked with Fr. Michal about the church project and the Spanish. He just asked me to head down and clean up one of our guest trailers for a visitor coming tomorrow. I’ll head off to that!
Under His Mercy
Joel
PS – Thank you to everyone who emailed and wrote on my facebook wall on my saints day yesterday.
Yesterday on the other hand, was a little different. I woke up and waited at the border for and hour and fifteen minutes to get through. Then I raced over to Calexico for another Sentri interview. Due to God’s grace and providence they did not realize I was missing a document they had required. Thankfully, I was able to escape and get my pass. Now I’ll wait 2-3 weeks in the border line for shipping. :-) Haha always an adventure when dealing with governments.
After getting home, I sat in on a little art class here at the orphanage. Madi’s mom is visiting and is a talented artist. She was showing the younger boys ways in which they can improve their drawings and add detail to their art. Just sitting in on the class, I learned a few new tricks myself.
Today has been chores around the ranch (orphanage). Watering plants and working on some agricultural parts of the orphanage, took up a good part of the morning. In addition Fr. Michael wants me to hang up some items in the church, Cross, candles etc. Since they can’t be right against the wall, I have to create a barrier a spacer of sorts between the items and the wall. I’m trying to search down a couple 2x4s, sand and paint them. In the end I’ll be putting clips on the wood to attach the Cross and candles. A simple job, but I just discovered we are destitute of all 2x4s! Everyone who has been down here before probably is gasping at the thought, but due to some recent construction projects we don’t have any. I’m going to head off to the hardware store later today and grab a couple things.
Since doing some measuring and prep for that all, I’ve been studying Spanish…
*Knock on door*
A couple minutes later…
I just talked with Fr. Michal about the church project and the Spanish. He just asked me to head down and clean up one of our guest trailers for a visitor coming tomorrow. I’ll head off to that!
Under His Mercy
Joel
PS – Thank you to everyone who emailed and wrote on my facebook wall on my saints day yesterday.
Saturday, October 17, 2009
Battling in futbol, and with reptiles!
A day, filled with a number of little stories, was highlighted by an intense couple hours playing soccer with the older boys. For the first time since I’ve been here, I had some solid playing time with them. I was lucky to have been paired with one of the older (better) boys, and together we ended up winning most of the games. Surprisingly, I was actually able to hold my own. We won something like four games (to three goals), and I scored five goals total. Later, in the year the older boys play in a local league. The boys at the orphanage are all on the same team. I’m really trying to work hard so that I might be able to join the team and play with them!
In addition, today we had a summer intern, and a couple friends (who had also been on a work group this summer) come down for the day. They helped organize one of our equipment sheds, which was no small task. Afterwards, they were able to hang out with the boys and catch up on old friendships, and their futbol!
While cleaning the chapel today, I was sweeping under a table. Suddenly, I realized something was alive underneath! Shocked I jumped back (and yelled), as a 10 inch long (I ended up measuring it), Alligator lizard ran out from underneath the table. The body was only half of the length, so when I saw the long tail I thought it was a baby rattle snake. Of course by the time I discovered that it was a harmless lizard, a few of the boys came running in to see what I had yelled about. Thankfully, even they were surprised with the size of the lizard, but then they laughed at my yelling about a little old lizard. Haha :-)
In addition, today we had a summer intern, and a couple friends (who had also been on a work group this summer) come down for the day. They helped organize one of our equipment sheds, which was no small task. Afterwards, they were able to hang out with the boys and catch up on old friendships, and their futbol!
While cleaning the chapel today, I was sweeping under a table. Suddenly, I realized something was alive underneath! Shocked I jumped back (and yelled), as a 10 inch long (I ended up measuring it), Alligator lizard ran out from underneath the table. The body was only half of the length, so when I saw the long tail I thought it was a baby rattle snake. Of course by the time I discovered that it was a harmless lizard, a few of the boys came running in to see what I had yelled about. Thankfully, even they were surprised with the size of the lizard, but then they laughed at my yelling about a little old lizard. Haha :-)
Friday, October 16, 2009
Catching up
Forgive me, I get behind and keep putting off updating the blog. Suddenly a week’s passed since I last wrote. My bad. Here’s a quick run down of the last week.
The weekend
I drove up early in the morning and met with a good friend, Christina Saad. She started attending Point Loma Nazarene University this year. Since I'm planning on applying to the school in November, I was excited to get a tour from a current student. After her showing me around the campus, my thoughts were, beautiful campus, Christian atmosphere, polite, kind students, pretty conservative and the school is positioned right at the beach. It was already a favorite of mine, and walking around the campus and being able to look to a view of the ocean from almost every spot we stopped, it’s hard not to love. --- Christina and I then drove from there to my friend Jenna’s (our SOYO Youth President) house. Jenna’s sister and a friend also joined the group, and we all drove up to the Torrance together. Friday evening was pretty relaxed and I got to catch up with some good friends.
In the morning we had our SOYO meeting. At the end of the meeting the service project for the day, was making three blankets for St. Innocent’s orphanage! I hadn’t heard about this beforehand, so it was a very pleasant surprise! I was very excited to be able to bring those down afterwards and give them to the boys. In the evening, we had Vespers at St. Matthew’s Church, and returned to the hotel.
Sunday we had a wonderful service at St. Matthews. After saying good bye to friends, the group who had come up from San Diego went out to lunch together. We hit the road and returned South. Christina had returned to San Diego with another friend, BUT, she had left her dorm keys in my Project Mexico car. So after getting back, I had to go and meet up with her. As fate would have it, she was at a concert, a free concert for Jason Mraz! I was thrilled to go and meet up with her, and some other Christian friends at the concert. It was a little bizarre, we had been listening to Jason Mraz on the way back to San Diego, and in a matter of minutes be listening to him live in concert! Just thinking about it still kind of amazes me.
The beginning of the week…
Monday and Tuesday were spent doing projects. Right now we’re trying to find get personal Bibles and other items for the boys to have so that they can have daily personal access to Christian material. Monday, I met with Fr. Michael and Alex. It’s always nice to have that meeting and just clarify what’s up for the next week - in addition to discuss any questions, comments, or concerns we may have. Working with them both has been great.
Wednesday, I drove all the way out to Calexico. I’m applying to get a Sentri pass which speeds up getting into the states tremendously. However, since our local office was booked through December, I had to drive 2 hours East. It was pretty disappointing when they asked for a couple files that weren’t required of other people in the past. Ah well. This summer when I was here for the week long trip, the group was told that the key to missionary work is patience, patience, patience. So take a deep breath, and wake-up tomorrow ready to go again.
Yesterday we had our bi-weekly meeting up in the States. Right now we really want to push the iCan Give 20.4.24 campaign. If you haven’t heard about it yet visit http://projectmexico.org/Campaign.aspx and check it out!!! When I got home I hung out with a few of the boys. Haha, it’s really nice to just be able to goof around and take a bit of a breather. One thing I do really appreciate is that it’s a big family here, so you can be yourself. With that mindset, I believe I’ve been able to get to know the boys on a more personal level. I’m talking with a family member, not someone I met less than two months ago.
Today has been spent working on different projects. I had to do another vehicle check, and I’m again appreciating learning a little bit more about cars and trucks. I think it would be really nice to work for a mechanic for a summer or maybe take an elective class in college on automotive repair and maintenance. It can save you so much time and money in the long run. I’m also working to put together weekly and monthly schedules for myself. I’m realizing that if I just go with the task at hand, some of my smaller projects will continue to be pushed to the side more and more. Basically, I am just establishing days of the week as my watering day, or car day, and so on. Like anyone in their normal lives, I am having to set a schedule so I don’t have my room full of half done projects. To finish of the day, Fr. Michael invited me over to watch Flipper with the family. Always a blessing to spend time with the Nasser family. :-)
The weekend
I drove up early in the morning and met with a good friend, Christina Saad. She started attending Point Loma Nazarene University this year. Since I'm planning on applying to the school in November, I was excited to get a tour from a current student. After her showing me around the campus, my thoughts were, beautiful campus, Christian atmosphere, polite, kind students, pretty conservative and the school is positioned right at the beach. It was already a favorite of mine, and walking around the campus and being able to look to a view of the ocean from almost every spot we stopped, it’s hard not to love. --- Christina and I then drove from there to my friend Jenna’s (our SOYO Youth President) house. Jenna’s sister and a friend also joined the group, and we all drove up to the Torrance together. Friday evening was pretty relaxed and I got to catch up with some good friends.
In the morning we had our SOYO meeting. At the end of the meeting the service project for the day, was making three blankets for St. Innocent’s orphanage! I hadn’t heard about this beforehand, so it was a very pleasant surprise! I was very excited to be able to bring those down afterwards and give them to the boys. In the evening, we had Vespers at St. Matthew’s Church, and returned to the hotel.
Sunday we had a wonderful service at St. Matthews. After saying good bye to friends, the group who had come up from San Diego went out to lunch together. We hit the road and returned South. Christina had returned to San Diego with another friend, BUT, she had left her dorm keys in my Project Mexico car. So after getting back, I had to go and meet up with her. As fate would have it, she was at a concert, a free concert for Jason Mraz! I was thrilled to go and meet up with her, and some other Christian friends at the concert. It was a little bizarre, we had been listening to Jason Mraz on the way back to San Diego, and in a matter of minutes be listening to him live in concert! Just thinking about it still kind of amazes me.
The beginning of the week…
Monday and Tuesday were spent doing projects. Right now we’re trying to find get personal Bibles and other items for the boys to have so that they can have daily personal access to Christian material. Monday, I met with Fr. Michael and Alex. It’s always nice to have that meeting and just clarify what’s up for the next week - in addition to discuss any questions, comments, or concerns we may have. Working with them both has been great.
Wednesday, I drove all the way out to Calexico. I’m applying to get a Sentri pass which speeds up getting into the states tremendously. However, since our local office was booked through December, I had to drive 2 hours East. It was pretty disappointing when they asked for a couple files that weren’t required of other people in the past. Ah well. This summer when I was here for the week long trip, the group was told that the key to missionary work is patience, patience, patience. So take a deep breath, and wake-up tomorrow ready to go again.
Yesterday we had our bi-weekly meeting up in the States. Right now we really want to push the iCan Give 20.4.24 campaign. If you haven’t heard about it yet visit http://projectmexico.org/Campaign.aspx and check it out!!! When I got home I hung out with a few of the boys. Haha, it’s really nice to just be able to goof around and take a bit of a breather. One thing I do really appreciate is that it’s a big family here, so you can be yourself. With that mindset, I believe I’ve been able to get to know the boys on a more personal level. I’m talking with a family member, not someone I met less than two months ago.
Today has been spent working on different projects. I had to do another vehicle check, and I’m again appreciating learning a little bit more about cars and trucks. I think it would be really nice to work for a mechanic for a summer or maybe take an elective class in college on automotive repair and maintenance. It can save you so much time and money in the long run. I’m also working to put together weekly and monthly schedules for myself. I’m realizing that if I just go with the task at hand, some of my smaller projects will continue to be pushed to the side more and more. Basically, I am just establishing days of the week as my watering day, or car day, and so on. Like anyone in their normal lives, I am having to set a schedule so I don’t have my room full of half done projects. To finish of the day, Fr. Michael invited me over to watch Flipper with the family. Always a blessing to spend time with the Nasser family. :-)
Sunday, October 11, 2009
Safe!
Just wanted to say that I made it home from the states in one piece. I had a great time at the Fall Gathering with friends, new and old. On the way home I got to actually go to a Jason Mraz concert for free in Chula Vista. Awesome! I'll write more soon...
Under His Mercy,
Joel
Under His Mercy,
Joel
Thursday, October 8, 2009
New Boys!
Yesterday, we had the amazing blessing of adding two boys to the orphanage, Irwin and Andres. I feel especially blessed since I’ve gotten to hang out a lot with the boys. Irwin is 10 and Andres 8. Both seem very talented and well coordinated for their age. It was very surprising when after a goal, Andres got down and did a cartwheel/flip. Stunned for a second I asked “otre ves?” (again?) He proceeded to do a handstand and walk across the entire court on his hands. Throughout the day he would put on these little performances that made me wish I had some talent to match. The entire time, I kept thinking to myself… wait he’s only 8, what could he be doing in ten years?
Today, we had a board meeting down here at the orphanage. Essentially twice a year members of the board who live across southern California, come down to the orphanage and discuss current events, issues and successes. Before the meeting I was able to meet a number of the board members and I actually knew a few from our old church, St. Athanasius in Santa Barbara. However,I ended up doing some odd projects around the orphanage instead of attending the meeting. I fixed our church bell to ring clearly now, and I went to the hardware store to get some clips to hang the cross, fans, and candles in the church. In additon, I helped out with a little bit of electricity pipe hanging, and some computer projects as well.
Tomorrow, I’m headed up to LA for the Antiochian Western Diocese’s Fall Gathering. I’ll be up there for the weekend and I’ll be returning Sunday evening.
Thank you all for your prayers, and support!
Under His Mercy,
Joel
--- "It's always better to surprise people with your intelligence, instead of your stupidity. Therefore, when you talk about yourself, poke fun at your short comings, rather than building up amazing stories of your success. Then when the truth comes out, it won't disappoint."
Today, we had a board meeting down here at the orphanage. Essentially twice a year members of the board who live across southern California, come down to the orphanage and discuss current events, issues and successes. Before the meeting I was able to meet a number of the board members and I actually knew a few from our old church, St. Athanasius in Santa Barbara. However,I ended up doing some odd projects around the orphanage instead of attending the meeting. I fixed our church bell to ring clearly now, and I went to the hardware store to get some clips to hang the cross, fans, and candles in the church. In additon, I helped out with a little bit of electricity pipe hanging, and some computer projects as well.
Tomorrow, I’m headed up to LA for the Antiochian Western Diocese’s Fall Gathering. I’ll be up there for the weekend and I’ll be returning Sunday evening.
Thank you all for your prayers, and support!
Under His Mercy,
Joel
--- "It's always better to surprise people with your intelligence, instead of your stupidity. Therefore, when you talk about yourself, poke fun at your short comings, rather than building up amazing stories of your success. Then when the truth comes out, it won't disappoint."
Tuesday, October 6, 2009
Quote of the day...
"Adversity is another way to measure the greatness of individuals. I never had a crisis that didn't make me stronger." - Lou Holtz
Today I did another vehicle check and cleaned it. Met with Father Michael, and had a couple other small things. I'm looking forward to this weekend at the Antiochian Fall Gathering up in Torrance CA.
Today I did another vehicle check and cleaned it. Met with Father Michael, and had a couple other small things. I'm looking forward to this weekend at the Antiochian Fall Gathering up in Torrance CA.
Monday, October 5, 2009
The Handoff - no worries I'm not talking about the Chargers
Today, after breakfast, Alex showed me how to do maintenance checks on the project Mexico vehicles. It was a good learning experience for me. I wish I had a better mechanical IQ. Hopefully doing maintenance checks over the months to come will improve my vehicle literacy. In addition to the vehicles, he also showed me different patches of ice plant around the orphanage grounds that need to be cared for to help keep different hills from eroding. It looks like I’ve got some weeding to do here in the near future. All through the morning and into the early afternoon, Alex showed me all the ins and outs of his weekly jobs that I’ll be taking over now.
After the run through of jobs, I went to my room and worked on my Spanish. Tu pensar yo pueda aprendo muchas rápido después todo la practico. (You would think that I could learn quickly after all the practice.) Ah well, it’s coming, I definitely have improved tremendously since I arrived. My most recent step to improvement has been understanding Spanish accents. I can pronounce something correctly, and make a decent attempt to use a Spanish accent, however, hearing an authentic accent speak muy rapido, is different. Haha. I’m getting by though, as the boys laugh. :-)
I’m just about on my way to a Vesperal Liturgy to celebrate St. Innocent, the patron saint of the orphanage. After that I might get to skype video chat with my family! :-)
After the run through of jobs, I went to my room and worked on my Spanish. Tu pensar yo pueda aprendo muchas rápido después todo la practico. (You would think that I could learn quickly after all the practice.) Ah well, it’s coming, I definitely have improved tremendously since I arrived. My most recent step to improvement has been understanding Spanish accents. I can pronounce something correctly, and make a decent attempt to use a Spanish accent, however, hearing an authentic accent speak muy rapido, is different. Haha. I’m getting by though, as the boys laugh. :-)
I’m just about on my way to a Vesperal Liturgy to celebrate St. Innocent, the patron saint of the orphanage. After that I might get to skype video chat with my family! :-)
Saturday, October 3, 2009
Lazy Saturday? What's that?
Quick update before I head off to chapel for Vespers. 
This morning we all got to sleep in and have eggs and hash browns for breakfast! After breakfast, I helped spearhead the chapel cleaning. Once the chapel was cleaned I headed over to help with hanging electricity pipe on a fence. That took us almost to lunch. After lunch I just hung out with the boys, played a lot of soccer and a quick basketball game of around the world.
I got a couple pictures from Madi from last night. I wrote on facebook that it was a sunset for the ages... really it was. My blog header is one of the pictures, but here's a couple extra.
This morning we all got to sleep in and have eggs and hash browns for breakfast! After breakfast, I helped spearhead the chapel cleaning. Once the chapel was cleaned I headed over to help with hanging electricity pipe on a fence. That took us almost to lunch. After lunch I just hung out with the boys, played a lot of soccer and a quick basketball game of around the world.
I got a couple pictures from Madi from last night. I wrote on facebook that it was a sunset for the ages... really it was. My blog header is one of the pictures, but here's a couple extra.
Friday, October 2, 2009
Scouting out climbing opportunities
Today, after prayers and breakfast with the boys, I worked on some Spanish. After that, I went and helped out with this electricity project a couple staff members are working on. I had to spend most of my day working there. We’re putting in a new generator soon, in the eventual hope that the orphanage will eventually become self sufficient.
At about four, I tagged along with Madi as we drove down to Ensenada. She had a meeting with a climbing gym down there that she’s hoping to take the boys later this month. After talking with one of the guys at the gym, she showed me a little bit around Ensenada. It’s a neat town that is centered around its harbor. Fishing is the main business there, and there is a part of town that you can definitely smell the evidence. After watching an amazing sunset we headed back home.
At about four, I tagged along with Madi as we drove down to Ensenada. She had a meeting with a climbing gym down there that she’s hoping to take the boys later this month. After talking with one of the guys at the gym, she showed me a little bit around Ensenada. It’s a neat town that is centered around its harbor. Fishing is the main business there, and there is a part of town that you can definitely smell the evidence. After watching an amazing sunset we headed back home.
Thursday, October 1, 2009
Who am I?
A couple days ago when I was making donation runs, an internal question arose from a particular trip through the border. I wanted to write about it that night, but it struck me differently, and I didn’t know exactly what to think about it. After days of pondering, I still haven’t come to a conclusion. But I wanted to share it before it slipped into distant memory.
Monday, I was sitting in the line, inching my way forward to the land of the free, all the while dodging the many peddlers, salesman, and beggars. The salesmen I can handle, they generally seem to be well taken care of, have decent goods, and I can feel alright passing. The peddlers too, usually have some kind of hand crafted decoration, or Mexican item, that they can sell and seemingly get by. However, the beggars, and I mean the people simply standing out there in rags, asking for money, are the ones I’m lost with.
This particular day, I was driving in one lane, and came upon two girls, both about 10-12 years old. Ellena and Andrew, my younger brother and sister, are both in that age range, so see the girls reminded me of them. As I came up, one got down on her hands and knees, and the other stood on her back and attempted to juggle. The poor girl was not very good, but she seemed to do it with a smile. After juggling they would run around to the cars and ask for money, come back and do the same routine again. When I got up next to them, one of the girls came and knocked on my window. Like so many others that day, I shook my head, and “no, lo siento”, (no, I’m sorry). Her face dropped, her shoulders dropped. A minute later they started their routine again, but her face started to kill me. There are a number of true beggars in the line every day. If gave a dollar to every one, every time I’d pass, I’d need a whole new section of my budget to be dedicated to it. It would be different if it was one time into Mexico, and back. But if I’m living here for nine months, on a slim budget as is, I’ll have no funds by November. So I have passed on the other side, I wished somehow I could feel ok doing it. I drove down the line, beyond the girls, but then they decided to walk up the line towards me and again they performed right next to my window. This time they both knocked and I couldn’t say no. I rolled down the window and gave them each a dollar. They saw my water bottle and asked “agua?” I let them have it and they both were very excited and were very grateful. Still, I felt guilty for passing them the first time.
Of course this feeling was only doubled when 50 yards further, I passed an old woman in tatters also asking for a couple pennies. What am I to say, am I in worse condition? I have to hold on to my money because I have to pay for gas in a little bit? I can’t pay because I’d spend all my Mexico funds in a month if I gave to everyone who asked. But is that what Christ said? Did he say that we should give only when we had more money than we needed? Is there any justification for passing on the other side of the road, ever? Better yet, if I was in their position, would I not think that this young man driving in a mini van was better off then me? Would I not think that he could probably spare a couple bucks, what’s the difference to him?
At the judgment day we will be asked if we fed those who where hungry, thirsty, and those in need. To the goats he’ll say whatever you did not do unto the least of these, you have not done unto me. As I passed by, not even offering a dollar to these people, I sure felt like I knew what side I should be standing on at the judgment day – and I didn’t feel very good about it either.
What am I to do, is a question I’m trying to answer. In a sense I’m having an identity crisis, not necessarily just with myself. I keep asking who am I as an Christian? Who am I as an American? Who are they, as a person? Who are they, as a child of God? Who am I as their brother in Christ? Who am I to decide who I should give to, and who I should not? Who am I to judge? Who am I? …Who am I?
Monday, I was sitting in the line, inching my way forward to the land of the free, all the while dodging the many peddlers, salesman, and beggars. The salesmen I can handle, they generally seem to be well taken care of, have decent goods, and I can feel alright passing. The peddlers too, usually have some kind of hand crafted decoration, or Mexican item, that they can sell and seemingly get by. However, the beggars, and I mean the people simply standing out there in rags, asking for money, are the ones I’m lost with.
This particular day, I was driving in one lane, and came upon two girls, both about 10-12 years old. Ellena and Andrew, my younger brother and sister, are both in that age range, so see the girls reminded me of them. As I came up, one got down on her hands and knees, and the other stood on her back and attempted to juggle. The poor girl was not very good, but she seemed to do it with a smile. After juggling they would run around to the cars and ask for money, come back and do the same routine again. When I got up next to them, one of the girls came and knocked on my window. Like so many others that day, I shook my head, and “no, lo siento”, (no, I’m sorry). Her face dropped, her shoulders dropped. A minute later they started their routine again, but her face started to kill me. There are a number of true beggars in the line every day. If gave a dollar to every one, every time I’d pass, I’d need a whole new section of my budget to be dedicated to it. It would be different if it was one time into Mexico, and back. But if I’m living here for nine months, on a slim budget as is, I’ll have no funds by November. So I have passed on the other side, I wished somehow I could feel ok doing it. I drove down the line, beyond the girls, but then they decided to walk up the line towards me and again they performed right next to my window. This time they both knocked and I couldn’t say no. I rolled down the window and gave them each a dollar. They saw my water bottle and asked “agua?” I let them have it and they both were very excited and were very grateful. Still, I felt guilty for passing them the first time.
Of course this feeling was only doubled when 50 yards further, I passed an old woman in tatters also asking for a couple pennies. What am I to say, am I in worse condition? I have to hold on to my money because I have to pay for gas in a little bit? I can’t pay because I’d spend all my Mexico funds in a month if I gave to everyone who asked. But is that what Christ said? Did he say that we should give only when we had more money than we needed? Is there any justification for passing on the other side of the road, ever? Better yet, if I was in their position, would I not think that this young man driving in a mini van was better off then me? Would I not think that he could probably spare a couple bucks, what’s the difference to him?
At the judgment day we will be asked if we fed those who where hungry, thirsty, and those in need. To the goats he’ll say whatever you did not do unto the least of these, you have not done unto me. As I passed by, not even offering a dollar to these people, I sure felt like I knew what side I should be standing on at the judgment day – and I didn’t feel very good about it either.
What am I to do, is a question I’m trying to answer. In a sense I’m having an identity crisis, not necessarily just with myself. I keep asking who am I as an Christian? Who am I as an American? Who are they, as a person? Who are they, as a child of God? Who am I as their brother in Christ? Who am I to decide who I should give to, and who I should not? Who am I to judge? Who am I? …Who am I?
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