comings and goings

Yet again, I find myself writing weeks after my last entry. Things have been super busy recently and I’ve found myself having less and less personal time. Which is good, but of course this leaves little time for blog updating.

However, I’ll try to bring everything up to date. Since I last wrote…

We have a new intern, and I have a new roommate. Tim Morley, he’s taking off a semester from school and spending about three months of it with us. It’s great having another willing pair of hands around the place. He and I have teamed up on a number of projects recently. It’s been great having a roommate and friend to hang out with.

It has rained quite a bit over the last month and a half. It’s beautiful, the fields around the orphanage are covered in yellow flowers. Looking around you could never imagine how dusty and brown it is during the summer time. Currently, it looks more like the garden of Eden.

This weekend the boys were invited to a Soccer Tournament in Mexicali (about three hours away). So the ranch is pretty quiet with all the little ones off jugando futbol.

The orphanage has had another change, as our wonderful librarian Karen has left to move on to other things. She had spent almost two years here and did an amazing job. We all miss her here.

Later this week, I’ll be heading out with Madi, Tim and one of the older boys to go look at the new community that we’ll be building in this summer. I’m very excited. In the next few months Madi will be doing family interviews. Personally, I’m thrilled to be able to tag along and be able to help out.

Differing from past years, this year we will be building for families of native decent. Therefore, we’ll be building for some of the poorest families in the area. Sadly in Mexico there is a great deal of racism. Your skin color has a great deal to with how you are seen and treated in the community. People with darker skin are looked down upon. This goes all the way back to the Spanish settling in Mexico. When the Spanish came, they conquered the native people and became the highest in society. The Spanish of course had lighter skin and the natives darker. Ever since then, the lighter your skin implies that you have that much more Spanish blood in you and therefore are allowed into the higher societies. And vice versa, the darker you are the more native, and lower in society. A very sad thing to see but it is a fact of life for Mexicans.

Ironically, the reason you will see Mexicans have a mustache, or facial hair is due to the whole society order. The Spanish were able to grow facial hair, but the natives were not. Therefore, to show that they belong in a higher class, men will grow mustaches and facial hair to show they are of Spanish decent. I personally find it rather fascinating, and saddening to see this type of racism right in front of my eyes.

On lighter topics, this last week we went through vehicle checks and I was able to change the oil on the cars. I know, 19 years old, I should know how to do that already. However, now I do, and it never felt so good to come out of day, dirty and oily. J

As I’ve written before, life is becoming more normal here. It feels like home. The futbol games on Saturday afternoons, helping one of the boys fix their bikes, going for a walk with a little guy on my shoulders, working on chores with them, hanging out and watching a movie. St. Innocent’s become my home away from home and every day is a blessing to be here.

Thank you all for your prayers and support.

Take care, God Bless!

life keeps moving on

Hi all,

I just wanted to pass along some pictures. Life has been moving along normally. The boys are doing well and we're all excited to be entering the blessed season of Lent.

Recently, I've been working with the boys after school. Either with homework, or supervising them afterwards. Thank the Lord my spanish has been able to benefit from this time. It's very exciting, as sentences are really starting to come together and I'm able to have real conversations. Granted, it is 5+ months in, but better late than never right?

Thursday and Friday I spent the days importing donations into Mexico. It was pretty neat, Friday I had to go through customs and go through the lengthy process on my own. Things went well and I had a nice boarder guard who was very happy to see that they were donations for an orphanage. Yes, it is irritating at times when officials act a little too high and mighty. But every now and then you'll run into a real gem.

Enjoy the pictures, and keep us in your prayers,

Joel

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Please pray for us

Forgive me for not writing much over the last month. There have been some regrettable changes in the organization.

As many of you know, due to the economy the directors could not pay Fr. Michael Nasser, and Fr. Michael and his family had to leave a couple weeks back.

Secondly, and more recently, our wonderful librarian Karen was fired. I know from personal experience that she was a great blessing to the boys and the orphanage. We are all going to miss her being here.

These decisions have been confusing, and Project Mexico is caught in some serious turmoil right now. Please just keep us in your prayers. Pray that the Lord lets what is best for the boys happen. Talking to some of them recently, they seem very confused with these decisions as well.

Lord have mercy,

joel