Trip Summary Joni and I traveled to Juarez with her family, my daughter Sara and a team of 43 people, including six medical professionals for our annual January trip. We built three houses for families in Kilometer 30, south of Cuidad Juarez. One house was built next to our library built last year. Caretakers will live in the house and watch over the library.
We had the grand opening for the library. (Photo Above) This included shelving books from an anonymous donor and those contributed by Fiesta Gardens School. These were added to books contributed by Menlo School the year before. We also installed computers and librarian desks. In addition, the tile and carpet were recently completed in the library. Also, the play structure outside the library was completed while we were there. The library will be open immediately for students to study after school.
The 12 students that we sponsor joined us. (Photo Above) They helped build the house next to the library. They also participated in the grand opening. Joni presented our 5 newest students with cross necklaces. We also presented blankets raised by Menlo School to Missions Ministries for distribution to the poor and clothes from many contributors.
The medical team treated over 100 patients. Including 3 pregnant ladies who received ultra-sounds. Many folks visited the New David L. Seabolt eye clinic, founded and staffed on our trip by Beth Seabolt and her assistant Julie Burlew.
Trip Diary January 18
We had a very early flight into Juarez. It was a direct flight but did have one stop in L.A. We arrived in El Paso around 1 PM and then had lunch at the airport. We proceeded to WalMart to pick up additional supplies including food, water, and food for the food outreach we would be doing on the trip. Unlike past years, we decided to forego eating dinner at a restaurant. Instead we bought our dinner and would travel to the team center before dark to eat. This was because of recent violence in Juarez resulting from the Mexican Government’s war on drugs. We felt it would be safer to not have the team out at night.
The team arrived at the Team Center in the Colonias without incident. We had a new route that took us on a new bypass highway above the city, giving us great views of Ciudad Juarez and El Paso. We unloaded and settled into our rooms. The team had dinner as a group in the kitchen. Everything was BYO. Sara and I had opted for the simple peanut butter sandwich, apples and chips. Many others we much more elaborate with roasted chicken, salads and microwaved cuisine. (Although I had told them I was not sure we had a microwave.) In good Christian fashion, everyone shared their food and I ended up having a little of everything. We shared some of our Oreos as well.
After dinner, we had a band practice outside in the Pavilion. Adam Cropper on electric piano and Kyle Tessier-Lavigne on guitar anchored the band. We had many other participants, including, but not limited to Jadyn Petterson-Rae (vocals), James Hughes (guitar and harmonica) and Sean Rule (guitar). Mackenzie Scanlan, Brooke Hobbs, Hanna Elmore, Sara Kline and yours truly joined in on vocals. Bill Elmore and I also hopped in on guitar at various times. Lots of others played tambourine or maracas. We also had a Turkish Darbuka (A sort of single bongo) that no one ever truly mastered except for maybe Kyle or Randy Elmore.
We started off the band on five songs. The most famous being “Lean On Me” and “God of Wonders”. We also worked on “Donde Esta La Biblioteca”, a little ditty that evolved from a song we made up while building the library on the trip the previous year.
The band really came together that first night after being a little shaky prior to the trip.
January 19
We woke early for devotionals at 7 am. Dave McCombs the new head of our hosts at Missions Ministries spoke a little about his faith and then I followed with a talk about searching for the big “Why” while on your trip to Juarez. Why are we here? Why does God call us to serve? Why are we on this trip and what are we going to find out that deepens our purpose for living.
Breakfast followed at 7:30. We had our usual feast from Chef Carlos. Scrambled Eggs, Pancakes, Bacon, Fresh Tortillas, Fresh Salsa, Juice, Potatoes and more and more food.
After breakfast we loaded up the bus and drove the 3 kilometers to our three build sites. We would build three houses with only the 38 people left over after leaving the medical team at the center. Usually we like to have 15 people per house, but several people had dropped out of the trip at the last minute for various reasons, including safety concerns. Since we had committed to three houses, we didn’t want to disappoint a deserving family by building only two. Fortunately our teams really stepped up and completed the houses on schedule.
After dropping off the first two teams, our team pulled into our site at the library. The house 12x36 foot slab is situated on a little rise about 40 feet from the library so that the residents can keep an eye on the building. Jose, Flora and their young son Jesus helped us build. They are a young couple very excited to get their own house. They were living with in-laws in a very small house nearby.
Our team consisted of 13 people - four adults and the rest 15 and 14 year-olds. Many of the students had traveled with James Hughes their teacher and coordinator for philanthropic endeavors from Sacred Heart Prep in Menlo Park. Also on our team were my Brother-in-Law Bill Elmore and His Brother Randy Elmore. Sara, her cousin Hanna, Adam Cropper and the rest of their friends made up the team. We were coached, guided and heavily assisted by Leo, the head builder and pastor for Mission Ministries, Jesus Malia, bus driver and head builder and two other teams Mexican team’s builders.
We set about building immediately after a prayer from the local Pastor Jesus. First we nail together the frame for the side and roof. These lay on the ground while we nail on the siding. After about two hours, we tilt up the sides and pop on the roof frame. Plywood then goes on the rood, followed by tar and roofing paper. Electrical cable is strung inside and we insulate the walls and ceiling. Because of my height I always end up doing ceiling insulation. A dirty, messy job, but a satisfying one. My 5-person team of Sean Rule, Jadyn, Bill and James made it fun and fast. Randy cut in the window opening and James set in the windows.
By 1:30, we were done with day one of building. It is amazing to see a house up and framed with the roof on in about 5 hours.
We picked up the other teams who were also done and headed back to the team center for lunch. Carlos had prepared his usual feast, but we had little time to loiter. We quickly sent the majority of the team to the new community center at Pastor Jesus’ church near the team center.
The team fed more than 100 people with ham and other food we had purchased at WalMart. This was followed by crafts and entertainment with the kids. There were balloon figures, face painting, nail painting (for the adults and kids), drawing, and other crafts. As always a favorite was the Polaroid photos of kids. They paste them in frames made from popsicle sticks and then decorate the frames. Thanks to the Rule family for getting al the film and making the frames. 110 photos went very quickly. This will probably be the last time we will use Polaroid’s since they have been discontinued. It was quite the scavenger hunt finding them in stores.
The remainder of the team went with me to the library in Kilometer 30. Although we had built the building in January of 2008 and painted it on the inside in February, it was still not up and running. It took almost a year to get the electricity hooked up by the government. We also needed to carpet and tile. These had been done and awaited our books, furniture and computers. These had all been recently purchased thanks to an anonymous donor through MPPC.
Our team put together tables, set up bookcases and delivered the books and computers to the site. The tables and bookcases were temporary while our final furniture comes in. But the team did put together two of the three librarian desks. These were the “ready-to-assemble” type with instructions written in a language roughly resembling English. Our intrepid team got them assembled anyway.
In the evening we all reassembled at the team center for a nice dinner, followed by testimony by pastor Jesus, who told us about his journey from gang member to church founder and pastor. Then the band practiced again.
Tuesday, January 20.
We did it all again the next morning. Assembling for devotions at 7 am. James Hughes and the students from Sacred Heart told us inspiring verses and stories about the joy of serving others. Many of the students had been on other mission trips.
Sean Reidy told an inspiring story of a woman saving sea stars. There was a big storm and the beach was covered sea stars all destined to die if they stayed in the sand. The woman was throwing them back in the water one at a time. A man came up and said, “What difference can you make with so many more than you can save?” The woman picked up another star, threw it in the ocean and replied, “It sure made a difference to that one.”
Similarly, we cannot house every family in need in Juarez, nor educate every child, but we make a big difference in the lives of the ones we do help.
At 8:30 it was back out to the houses and finishing the construction. Dry wall was hung, taped and mudded. The outside of the houses were painted and trimmed. Around noon we had finished our work. As a full team we went to each house to commission the house. Each family was told how much the construction meant to the team. Then the family expressed their thoughts to the team. We presented housewarming gifts of curtains, carpets, sheets and towels. Then the keys were handed over. As usual, tears flowed from both the families and the teams.
After lunch, the entire team headed back to the library to finish the work and have the grand opening. It was like a colony of ants as books were coded and re-shelved, computers were assembled. Thanks here to Brian Cropper and Sara Kline for working hard to get them all set up and running. There was one more desk to assemble as well. Swings were hung on the new playground equipment. The band played through the song list giving everything a festive feel. The JCEP kids helped by taking out trash, helping with books and performing other tasks.
Anahi and Blanca were there as well. They regaled us, in English, with stories of their adventures in college. Anahi decided to go on the lawyer track instead of administration. Blanca is studying psychology. They take a one our bus ride; with one transfer each way every day. They were very happy when we presented them with laptops. The Hobbs family had contributed one for each of them. The girls were very happy that they could now do their work on the bus or at home instead of having to go to the library.
When all was ready, we gathered outside for the ribbon cutting. With Joni and I flanking our librarian Susie and Brian and Sara holding the ribbon Susie did the honors and cut it. It was a satisfying moment in the two-year quest to get he library open.
Joni then presented the necklaces to our five newest sponsored children, Moises, Perla, Angel, Carla and Edith. We went inside for one more round of tunes from the Band. Everything concluding with one big sing-a-long of Donde Esta La Biblioteca. It was one of the best days I can remember.
In the evening we got one more treat when Carlos the chef brought a group of children he works with to the team center to perform dance moves and sing to 6 songs. It was a joyous performance. Nothing was as fun as watching Carlos wave his arms and sing while instructing the kids.
Now all that was left was to get up the next morning and head to the airport for the trip home. God had once again blessed us with a fantastic team to do his work in Juarez. As we were leaving, Joni and I were cooking up a plan for a third library. The work never ends.
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