Envision Mexico: First week

With the first team from Elma, WA at the end of our week in front of the addition we built

            It’s been quite a week here in Maneadero, Mexico!  Maneadero is just south of Ensenada and the location of Envision Mexico with the Christian & Missionary Alliance Church.  Groups come here for a week for construction, VBS, prayer ministries, and support for a few Alliance churches and a group-home for boys.  The Envision Mexico team also invites interns for one to a few months, and our family has been invited to serve in a similar capacity.

            On most week days, construction and prayer ministries take place in the mornings and VBS kids’ programs occur in the afternoons.  During this first week, we added onto two homes.  The family of the home in the picture above has five kids who were all sharing one room.  When the team arrived at the beginning of the week, the addition had only the foundation.  Now this family can now have some more space.

In our family, we worked less on that home than on the other one, but the kids and I did help with the painting.  The four of us spent more time on the addition on the other home, which also had only the foundation when we began.  The best pictures, of course, would have been when all four of us were working, but then we can’t take pictures!  We also forgot the camera until the last day when we were at different sites, so, unfortunately, we have no "before" pictures, but here are a couple:

            

In the afternoons, the team puts on a kids' program with songs, crafts, a story lesson, a memory verse, snacks, and games:

Envision Mexico also makes sure teams have some fun too.  So Wednesday morning the team takes a break from construction for a trip to “La Bufadora” (the blowhole) to see a great waterspout and do some market shopping:

Then on Thursday, the team ends a little early and enjoys the brilliantly warm water at the beach:

            All in all, we had a beautiful time with the first team we worked with, and we love and admire the staff here, made up not only of the American missionaries, but also the Mexican pastors and staff.

            Chris also began our entry into Mexico with a video-recording, which he’s now edited into two videos at these links.  The first one featuring our kids, ages 10 and 13, is classic:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yQ6HmieeGwc

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=taXgbaXmxIU

            We hope we’ll get a chance to post more updates to this blog.  If Mexico keeps up its strength in the World Cup, there may be more opportunities.  Gana Mexico!