West Side Community Church Team Visit (7.26.12-8.4.12)

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(photos were not taken by Karl or I, but by members of the team or Loco Ministries)

We had a wonderful, work-filled, and moving week and a half with a group of 9 people from West Side Community Church (Traverse City, MI).  The team assisted with the work and expense of painting the inside and outside of our home and completed many repairs needed around the house.  They prepared the rooms for the 5 young woman who moved in on July 31st by cleaning, building wardrobes and beds, sewing curtains, and making the place a little more like home.  Many thanks to Laurie Pokas (my aunt & Godmother) and Dan Karlin who provided the funds via a book sale at church to pay for the much needed wardrobes (the girls' rooms are void of closets and storage space).

When we weren't working, we spent much of our time at Casa Hogar Lirio de los Valles (Lily of the Valley Orphanage) in Aldama and were able to have a brief lunch outing at Casa Hogar Adonai (another orphanage on the north end of Chihuahua).  We took some of the older girls (11 years and up) from Lirio to see the movie Brave (Valiente in Spanish), spent a day at the pool with the older boys (11 years and up) from Lirio, and had a blast at a water park named Tío Alberts with all of the kids from Casa Hogar Lirio de los Valles.

We did take a break to spend an afternoon in downtown Chihuahua where we enjoyed lunch, a little sight seeing, and a walk around el mercado del centro (downtown market).  Finally, we spent the team's entire last day at Casa Hogar Lirio de los Valles where folks were able to share their love, time, hugs, and good-byes with kids.  Many heart altering moments were had throughout their time spent in Chihuahua.

Karl and I are grateful for their dedication, hard work, positive spirits, and love for the kids and us.  It was an amazing 10 days.  ¡Muchas gracias a nuestros agmigos de West Side!

A few things I love about Chihuahua thus far - by kim

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1 - The fresh fruit here is amazingly delicious....pineapples, papayas, mangoes, tuna (fruit from a cactus), avocados, apples.  I make smoothies with some of my kombucha almost every morning.

2 - The Mennonite cheese, cream, and yogurt are something else.

3 - The corn and flour tortillas are great.  The tacos, burritos, and gorditas from the truck stands and little restaurants are so so good.

4 - I love that we can dry our clothes with the natural energy source of the sun.  It takes about 10 minutes for a shirt to dry out from the washer; 15-20 minutes for a pair of jean shorts.  It's sunny and dry and I love it.

5 - As hard as it's been, I love learning a new language and cannot wait to be able to communicate with the girls that will be living with us, the store clerk, our neighbors, the attendant at the full service gas station (they're all full service here), the lady who makes our gorditas, etc.

6 - I love the abarrotes (lil' markets) in our neighborhood.  On an evening walk, you will come across one every 4-5 blocks.  They are usually identified by a first or a last name.  For example, Abarrotes Garcia or Abarrotes Danny and are attached to the owner's home.  They carry groceries, cleaning products, toiletries, fresh tortillas, 5 gal. containers of water, some produce (tomatoes, fresh and dried chiles, garlic, onions, avocados, tomatillos, cilantro...), some have fresh bread, meat and eggs.  They're the lil' mom and pop store often with their kids working behind the counter.

7 - The city of Chihuahua was founded at the convergence of the Chuviscar and the Sacramento Rivers.  According to Wikipedia, it's been said that the name, Chihuahua, derives from the Tarahumara language meaning "between two waters".  Three dams were constructed in the rivers to create reservoirs.  One of these reservoirs, named La Presa Rejon on the Chuviscar River, has been made into a recreational park.  Here, you can fish, boat, bike, run, walk, picnic, etc.  There's a 4 mile trail around the reservoir that I enjoy running.  My friends, Emily and Belem, took me there last Friday and I fell in love.

to be continued...

What's going on?

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It's almost been a month since we've arrived in Chihuahua.  What have we been doing?

As we work on the house and get it ready for the girls to move in, we're slowly unpacking.  It's going well.  Memo, a friend of LOCO, has been a great help with repairs and getting the place functional.  He's been generous and helpful with his time and talents and has offered his services at a reasonable rate.  Thanks to Memo and his son, Diego, we have water throughout the house (w/ pressure), working toilets, sinks, showers, etc., lights and fans work, the air conditioning works ok (we don't use it much anyway), we have facing on the kitchen cabinets, and the list goes on.

Thanks to Edith (a staff member of LOCO and our Spanish teacher) we have a washer for clothes, the place has been fumigated (no more roaches or ants!), and we have signed a fair lease contract with our landlords.  We are grateful for Edith - a native to Chihuahua who is passionate about helping others, especially the orphans in the area.

We'll have 5 young women (ranging in ages from 18-21 yrs) moving in on July 31st.  These girls are orphans who have 'aged out' of the orphan care system.  We (LOCO Ministries) will be helping them procure funds for their college education and will be providing a home for them to learn and grow emotionally, intellectually, and spiritually.  The program is called Revive (same spelling in Spanish as in English) and will eventually include young men too.  We expect to be learning and growing along with and from these young folks as well.  We're excited to get things started.

Otherwise, we've been trying to learn Spanish.  It's been challenging but we're determined.  We have class 6 hours a day, Monday - Thursday.  It feels like we never have enough time to study and that we couldn't possibly study enough.  We will get it though.  Especially when the girls move in...we'll be forced to speak Spanish :)

We'll post pictures of the inside of our place soon.

Day 1 & 2 in Chihuahua 6/4-6/5/2012

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Mexico Border Crossing

We made it!  We crossed the border in Presidio, TX on Monday, June 4th.  Thanks for everyone's thoughts & prayers.

The border crossing went smoothly without many hiccups.  We did have to pull most of the belongings out of our trailer to be inspected in a very warm parking lot.  One of the few items we were taxed on were 6 cornie kegs (these are old soda pop kegs that I use for brewing).  When questioned about them by the border patrol agent I suggested they would be used for storing water, which they most likely will be.  We gladly paid our $17 in taxes, got our tourist visa (good for 6 months) and then registered our truck & trailer to receive a permit that allows us to tool around Mexcio in Hugger (our truck).

There were a couple of snags.  First, I lost my license by dropping it on the ground.  It was quickly returned to me by the agent who gave us our visas.  Phew!  Second, the truck & trailer were in different names (Kim & Karl respectively).  We didn't have a title for the trailer because its value is less than $500 and no proof of our marriage - what to do, what to do?!  We said a prayer & Ramon, the agent filling out the paperwork decided that if I signed the truck over to Karl that he could proceed with the permit paperwork.  Fantastico!  So, now Karl owns both the truck & the trailer.  I hope he stays with me :)

All the above was accomplished with us not speaking any Spanish except, Lo siento, no hablo espanol (I'm sorry, I don't speak Spanish) and all of those helping us speaking very little English.  To sum it up, it was a long day, but everyone was very helpful & kind.  We were thankful for the peace and a patience throughout the whole process that God gave us.  Thanks again for your prayers.

Rebecca met us in Aldama and we followed her into Chihuahua.  We stopped at the Gallegos' home and then headed over to our new home.  Our home will also be a home to Bonnie (who also works with LOCO), 5 teenage girls, and all visiting teams and individuals.  There are several rooms & bathrooms, 2 kitchens, a common area, and 2 outdoor patios (one upstairs & one downstairs).  It needs cleaning, painting & repair (plumbing, electrical, and carpentry).  We're anxious to get to work!  We will post pictures and progress updates as we go along.

Mexico Nov. 2011

click on the photo to view more pics from our November 2011 trip