Day 3 - Monday - All Hands on Deck!

It's Monday and we've weighed anchor and set out under full sails.  All of our crews are fully engaged.  We have seven main masts of activity that propel our ship.as we venture the deep in search of The Treasure...or Tesoro.  Those crews are home-bulding, food distribution, painting, working with the children at the home (which includes puppet people), the all-important galley cooks, the skit crew and, finally, the crew glorifying God (we all, hopefully, are members of that last crew and try to remain vigilant should anyone fall overboard or be carried away by a rogue wave so that we can reach out to pull them back to the safety of our one vessel -- the body of Jesus Christo).  (Sorry, for the long parentheticals.)

As you can see, everyone is busy.

Renee continues the Bob Webb tradition!

Does this qualify as Fruit of the Spirit?

Food Crew
They're unsung heroes and do such a great job keep us feed.  It's going to be embarrassing for many of us to come home from a mission trip and weighing more than when we left.  But it's not our fault.  The cooking crew of Deborah, Anne, Nancy and Nancy, Sharon, Renee and Randy.

The homesite and neighboring homes

House Building Crew

This crew was the first up and out to begin their mission...(Well, after running out of gas in Maneadero.  A story too good not to mention.  But also too good not to let Jeff McClain tell it.  Jeff was the person who ended up in a car with a stranger who spoke no English in order to get some gas for the truck.  Ask Jeff about it when you see him.  He'll tell you the story as only Jeff can....)  

Anyway, as I was saying, the house building crew was the first up and out to begin their mission to raise the first walls of what will soon be a home of a proud family.  Not only did they raise those walls, they raised the spirits of the little children in the neighborhood, playing with them and giving them a few things they'd brought to hand out.  Team leader Danny Alexander commented that Erica Goslowsky impressed him when she jumped up and said she'd handle the circular saw.  Then he discovered she'd never operated one.  But with proper and training and careful supervision (that's for Erica's parents), she made the cut.

Painting Crew
The painting crew goes in to Ensenada to paint at the school where the kids from the City of Children attend. You can imagine that the other kids might not be overly kind to children growing up at an orphanage.  So in addition to sprucing up the school and supporting the relationship between the City of Children and the community, it's our hopes that, as a source of pride, the kids from the City can point out to their schoolmates that it's their American friends who are helping out with the painting.  Pray we make them proud.

Seems like wherever Skid goes...he finds Waldo.

Food Crew
Today the food crew went to Cosco and Walmart (the Walmart stands near an Appleby's and a cinema in what the locals refer to as the American Corner) and purchased 300 hotdogs, buns, chips and drinks to prepare for the children near the La Iglesia de Christo (Church of Christ) in Maneadero as well as supplies for food boxes to be distributed.  Each box is filled with $20 dollars of food and will last a family for 6 weeks....

We set up to cook hotdogs at the church and we're immediately greeted by the preacher's son who was sporting a Siegel Stars t-shirt!  The highlight of serving hotdogs to the local families had to be Daniel Neely distributing toys.  He was immediately mobbed.  You'll just be able to make out the top of Daniel's head in the photograph above as he's pressed to the wall by the crush of children.  We're proud to report Daniel survived his close encounter....

Playing with the Kids Crew
Meanwhile back at the City of Children, our team entertained with puppets, played with the children and divided them into crews of their own for activities that help support our theme of Tesoro and John 13 & 14 (our text for the week).

The Skit Crew
The drama continues with our castaway kids deciding to pretend to be pirates so they can infiltrate the evil band and secure The Treasure for themselves.  Is that such a good idea?  Can you really just pretend to be part of a group without really become a part of it?  Arrgh, does Skits eternal admonition that "you are who you hang around" apply to pirates, too?  Should that be..."You arrrrrgh who you hang around?" Thankfully, Sirviente (the Servant) continues to watch over the group.  What exactly The Treasure is continues to be a mystery....  And don't we all mistake what the True Treasure is in life?  Another addition to this year's activity is the Interlude, a wild celebration of youthful exuberance that could strike at any moment.  There's no TV here.  And no need for it.  We are not only the sermon...we're also the entertainment.  I hope God is enjoying the show.

Festival of Sharing Winner Luke McConnell

As the Day Closed
We ended the day, exhausted in body but refreshed in spirit.  We sang the old youth group song -- Pierce My Ear -- and talked about our role as servants.  Skid asked the group to reflect on acts of service that witnessed in other's today.  It was uplifting to hear teens and adults eagerly recounting the scenes of service that they'd encountered today.  So often we dwell on what's wrong with our world, our church, our kids, ourselves and everyone around us.  We're not trained to look for the good.  It's there and needs to be celebrated.  Speaking of the good around us -- Luke McConnell was selected by the NBYG interns as the Festival of Sharing winner for Monday.  But it could have easily gone to a number of teens.  There's so many servant hearts... while we only have one FOS cap, there are crowns for many in heaven.

Readers, thanks for your comments of encouragement.  We'll be sharing those with the group.  Thanks, too, for sharing your kids, spouses, grandkids, parents and grandparents with us.  We hope you feel a part of this crew.  Because you're as much a part of this story as we are.  We hope that you, too, are journeying with us to uncover with us the Tesoro....

More pictures of each of these activities later in the evening.  Sorry these posts are running a day behind.  There's just a lot going on but we don't want you to feel left out.

BTW, we're sorry to hear about the heat wave that's hit Middle Tennessee.  Here, South of the Border it's 66 degrees.

At the Church in Maneadero...John Magnuson, this one's for you.