Day Seven - Men's Monterrey Mexico Mission

We are done. What a fantastic week God provided for us! Thirteen guys who worked as a team and had fun at the same time. Helpful homeowners who really worked hard to prepare their lots and make our job easier. Very moderate weather that was very cool for this time of year. Our prayer is that in all we did we glorified God and showed his love to these families and this community. Once again the blog author is too tired to write a long description, but these pictures should give a good idea of our last day. We worked at the Casa Samuel project and just about finished putting on the siding. We are confident that their volunteers finished that by the end of the day. Then we visited each site and took pictures with the family (one family was not there). Check out the smiles on the faces of the families.

We finished the day with a visit to the Grutas de Garcia (caves of Garcia) which is an amazing cave about 12 kilometers from Renacimiento.

We fly home tomorrow morning with a wonderful feeling of accomplishment.

Buenas Noches from Monterrey.

Day 5 and Day 6 - Men's Monterrey Mexico Mission

The last two days have been very busy so no blog post yesterday.

Our usual routine is to get up about 5:30am, eat breakfast outside Rem's room on the second floor balcony and be on the road by 6:45 am. It takes about an hour to get to Renacimiento, so we usually get to the job site about 8am and have our morning devotion. The weather this week has been fantastic for our work. Tuesday was overcast with a cool breeze most of the day and Wednesday started out with a light drizzle and slowly cleared as the day went on. Most years it is much hotter than this year and obviously the weather makes a huge difference in our productivity and our good humor.

On Tuesday, we poured the slabs one at a time. The concrete trucks came at about 45 minute intervals which gave us time to work without feeling rushed. Pulling concrete with a come-along is tiring work,so we took turns working in the concrete. Here are some pictures of the pour process.



















On Wednesday we laid the first row of blocks with openings for the doors where the homeowners indicated. Getting the first row of blocks 'square' takes some skill, but we have some very experienced guys, so once we got going it went well. Still it takes a while to do seven slabs so we didn't finish till about 4 pm.





Tomorrow we will be at Casa Samuel to work on their food distribution hut. We will post some pictures of the completed slabs and families tomorrow night.

We are all well and happy that the work went so well. The old timers are unanimous in their opinion that these are the best slabs we have ever poured. Tonight we ate at a resturant owned by Marcos' and Jorge's nephew. Very good Italian food and a lot of laughs made for a very pleasant and enjoyable meal.

Buenas Noches from Monterrey

Day Four - Men's Monterrey Mexico Mission

The blog author is pretty tired, so instead of a lot of words, here are some pictures of the day. It was a long day at the job site( 8am to almost 6pm), but it was ultimately very successful. Actually a pretty comfortable weather day and everyone held up well. Tomorrow we pour concrete and if things go well, we may start on our project at Casa Samuel.

Morning Devotion John Chapter 15



Rookie Initiation



Getting Started



Construction Boss



Unexpected Demolition Project



Up On The Roof



Tailgater



Very Interested Observers



Erroll Starts His Own Soccer Camp



Almost Done



Buenas Noches from Monterrey

Day Three - Men's Monterrey Mexico Mission

Sunday is our day of worship,rest and preparation. We all attended church today at Camino, Verdad y Vida Presbyterian Church.



As is always the case, we were warmly welcomed and greeted by the congregation. Their service lasts about two hours and today we sang about twelve hymns and it was very much like our 4th service at FPC. Pedro Diaz, Marcos' and Jorge's dad preached today. He is 87 or 88 and very sharp. He lost his eyesight about three years ago, but that hasn't seemed to slow him down. His sermon was based on The Great Commission (Matthew 28: 16-20) and although we didn't understand his words, we understood his message.



After church, off to Chili's for lunch. After lunch, one crew went to the grocery store to buy breakfast and lunch foods and lots of drinks and another crew made a Lowes/Home Depot run for last minute tool purchases. You would think we were in the U.S. rather than Mexico.

Domino's pizza in the parking lot and a short meeting about tomorrow's schedule completed the day.



In the morning we plan to be on the road to the job site at 6:45 am to avoid the traffic and get an early start to beat the heat as much as possible. Tomorrow's task are to construct the forms for the slabs and hopefully start enclosing the food service hut for Casa Samuel. We hope that all the homeowners got their preparation work finished!

The guys on our team this year are Reagan Dean, Duncan McNeel, Phil Brand, Rem Bennett, Allen Hirons, Matthew Simonian, Alex Bretch, Gene Patterson, Erroll Eckford, Tony Harris, Mark Thompson, Howard Swinford and Brian Wright. Your prayers for us are greatly appreciated.

Buenas Noches from Monterrey.

Day Two - Men's Monterrey Mexico Mission

Day two started early for Howard and Brian (well, early by our standards).

Our first task was to retrieve our tools from the storage compartment under the front steps at Camino, Verdad y Vida Church (The Way, The Truth, and The Life). Both our tools and the tools that the Senior Highs use are stored in this space and it is full and pretty akward to get into! We decided to pull out everything and do an inventory of all the tools. This turned into about a three hour project with lots of dirt and dust. It is a mundane but very necessary task. We verified that all the power tools were functional and then made an equal distribution of tools back into the storage boxes. Here are some pictures of the 'cave' and the tools being sorted.











Then we loaded Pepe (our truck) with all the tools we will need this week.



While we were working, we were listening to the radio in the truck and managed to run down the battery. Fortunately, Marcos' sister Lali was home and graciously gave us a jump start from her car. After a delicious Big Mac lunch from McDonalds we made our daily trip to Renacimiento. Our framing lumber was being delivered just as we got there,so were able to get it and our tools stored in Casa Samuel's building and locked up. This is a young man from the community that helped us load the lumber into the building for safe storage. We were very grateful for the help!



Our next task was to select a family to replace the family that had moved away. Pastor Eva from Casa Samuel gave Marcos a list of seven or eight families that were eligible and identified which families had the greatest need. We visited the first family's home, but no one was home. Fortunately,the second family was home and eagerly agreed to let us build a house for them. Of course they only have about a day to clear the site and move the bano (bathroom), but they agreed they could get it done. This is a picture of Beatrice.



After a quick shopping trip to Walmart to buy a coffee maker (an extremely important piece of equipment!), we were off to the airport to pickup the rest of the team. The severe thunderstorms in Atlanta delayed their takeoff for about an hour and a half, but they arrived safely and in good spirits. Thankfully, we can all sleep in a little tomorrow before heading off to church.

Buenas Noches from Monterrey!

Day One - Men's Monterrey Mexico Mission

After breakfast, we drove out to Renacimiento to meet with Marcos and visit each of our building sites. Most of the families understandably wait until the last minute to tear down any structures that are where we need to pour the slab. Sometimes it is their living quarters and sometimes their outhouse. So, it is important that we go out to assess their progress and make sure the build site will be clear and ready for us on Monday morning.

For the first time in our memory, one of the families has moved away since our last trip in February when we confirmed that they would be receiving a house. We don't know the situation, but their neighbors said they moved quite a distance away. We are now faced with the dilemma of choosing a replacement family. With the help of the ladies of Casa Samuel and prayer, we are confident we will be directed to the family with the most need. The selected family will only have Saturday and Sunday to prepare their lot, but where there is a will there is a way. Here are pictures of the other families we will be building for.


















This year we are undertaking an extra project above and beyond just pouring the slabs. Casa Samuel is building a new food distribution hut next to their main building (for which FPC helped provide funding). Last year we placed time capsules in the foundation of the main building in loving memory of Dan McIntosh and Jerry Silvers. Both of them made numerous trips to Mexico in service to others and we miss them very much. Our project this year is to put siding and two serving windows on the structure which has been built. Here is a photo of community families waiting for food distribution in this hut.



Our next stop was the lumber yard to order framing lumber for the slab forms.This is the same company we used last year because they provided good lumber and good service. Very much a mom and pop sort of place.




Our last stop was the concrete company to order and pay for 7 loads of concrete in cash. That is a lot of pesos. Of course, none of these places are close to one another so we did a good bit of driving which is always exciting in Monterrey. Successful driving in Mexico requires assertiveness that takes some readjustment in driving style. Thankfully, we made it through unscathed.

Tomorrow, we will go to pick up our tools from the storage bin at the church. This is the Presbyterian church that has been our our partner in this mission work for over twenty years. Marcos and Jorge worship there and their father Pedro was pastor there for many years. After we assess the tool situation, we will probably make a trip to Home Depot for any replacement tools we may need. Then we will drive out to Renacimiento to store the tools at Casa Samuel and make the selection for family to receive the seventh home. Hopefully our framing lumber will also be delivered while we are there.

The final task of the day will be to get our rental 15 passenger van and go to the airport to pickup the rest of our team on Saturday night.

We ask for your continued prayers that in everything we do we will glorify God.

Buenas Noches from Monterrey