Last Week's World Travels

Last week I was able to go on a work team to Magdalena.  I went over Thanksgiving with this group a couple years ago and loved it.  The group was really neat and the huge Thanksgiving dinner was a lot of fun to help prepare and of course, eat!  I have been able to keep in touch with several of the people in that group and knew that I wanted to go on that team again.  I wasn't able to go last year but this year I was.  I don't have a lot of pictures of the work we got done, but you can probably just assume it's the same as it is on every work team.  Concrete, organizing, cleaning, fixing things.... all the basics.  So rather I think I'll just highlight some of my friends and favorite memories of the trip.  There was a group of us 20-something girls that spent a lot of time together.  I knew all of them before but this week definitely solidified our friendship.  There were lots of laughs and lots of good talks between us and I was lifted up and encouraged by spending time with them.

It was so good to see Kristi again too.  It was fun seeing her and Joel's house.  Even though she's posted pictures online it's still hard to really envision everything.  And Beni is just as stinking cute as she says he is!  I was bummed that I didn't get a picture of all their boys together but I guess that just gives me an excuse to go back, right?  The picture of me and her is a self portrait which never really turns out really well but at least we got one together!

It was also a lot of fun to be with my cousins, Jared and Seth.  These two are the youngest of the family and for so many years that's how I defined them- my little cousins.  But both of them are all grown up now and making their own lives.  It's fun watching them be in the position I was in just a few years ago.  It's also neat to see them step up and take on leadership roles.  Plus, they're just a lot of fun.  They make me laugh. 

I also got to spend a lot of time with Tyler and Whit.  I miss being with them.  Moving to Colorado and Illinois puts a little damper on being able to see them very often.  So having a week together was great.

 I didn't get any good pictures of the Thanksgiving dinner but that was definitely a highlight.  Someone said that between the CVE family, the work team and people from the community there were around 400 there.  I had the privilege of being in the serving line and loved seeing all the people come through.  And by the end of the night I could say "Do you want potatoes?" and "Do you want this?" (pointing to the stuffing) fluently in Spanish!  Slow and steady, I guess.  Maybe next year I'll pick up on another important and frequently used phrase:)

Friday there was some cement work and brush clearing that needed to be finished up.  While most of the group went and did that a few of us stayed back to pack up and start cleaning the dorms.  We got as much clean as we could but there were a few things we couldn't do until everyone else was packed up.  So when the dirty crews came back to clean up we came to a good stopping point and then borrowed someone's car, drove into town and got us some fish tacos and ice cream!  My opinion?  They weren't as good as some people make them out to be and I would probably rather have regular ole beef tacos, but they were good and we had a lot of fun going!

We left around 3:00 on Friday afternoon and by 6:00 we were loaded back onto the charter bus in Nogales, ready to go.  But not before having a picnic of Little Ceasar's pizza in the Safeway parking lot!

Sleeping on a charter bus two nights in a row makes for much creaking, groaning and cramping of the bones and muscles.  But is it all worth it?  Oh yes.  I rolled into my driveway around 5:30 Sunday morning, cleaned up and slept a couple more hours before getting up for church.  It was a great week! 

Coming soon: "When You're Bored On A Bus..."