I'm baaaaaack!

I'm home from El Paso and I have so much to tell you about. I went into this trip thinking that we would be able to help this little church, but I had no idea that we would make the impact we did and that they would impact me so much more. I got an eye opening education, a little (very little) glimpse of an immigrants situation, both legal and illegal. I've mentioned on this blog before, and it bares repeating, I'm not for illegal immigration, but I understand why it occurs. I'll tell you for a fact, that everyone on this trip has a new perspective on the whole situation. While we were there, we were able to build four, triple bunks. What is that exactly? Check this out:You can see the group on the bottom are sitting on the bottom bunk, without the mattress, then you can see the second and third bunks. These were built without plans, the bunk crew only used photos of regular bunks, then added a third to the top. I was really concerned that they wouldn't be very stable, as was the crew building them, but I can tell you that they are very stable as you can tell by the number of people on this one. I spent the first two days replacing ceiling tiles and adjusting the ceiling so it was all the same height, never done it before, but not too challenging. Here is the tile crew and our finished ceiling above us:

The ceiling looked like plans for a roller coaster, up and down, up and down. We were able to knock most of the hills and valleys out, leaving it surprisingly level. We also built shelves, painted and a few other odd jobs, but the best thing we did was bring hope to the pastor of Cristo Rey (more on that later). This little church, Cristo Rey, does amazing things with very little. They support over 100 kids in Juarez, putting them through school, even though they don't have any idea how they will pay the mortgage of the new building they just bought. They support Dr. Mendoza, who runs two clinics in Mexico that charge people what they can afford, including nothing if that is what they have. We heard how the church would be voting on their budget the Sunday after we left, and it was a -$45,000 bottom line. How can they do that you might ask? Faith. More faith than I will ever know. They subscribe to the, the more you give away the more you get back, school of thought. It has worked for them for 15 years, so whose to say it won't continue to work. In God, all things are possible, the proof is in El Paso. The trip was fantastic, as always, with a great group, most of who I all ready knew. Of the 14 people who went, there was only one first timer. I always feel that the returning missionaries prove that this trip is worthy of our time and money. If it wasn't, people would loose interest or drive and the mission would die. There are numerous people on this trip that I know will be there every year, barring a major life change or schedule conflict. We were able to spend time talking to members of the church, and I'll share pieces of their stories in a future post. There was one night that I felt my Christian responsibility was tested, and whether I failed or not I don't know. I'll share that as well, but I'm tired, so I want to go to bed. One last picture for this post. This is the group on our mountain top church service on Sunday more. Behind us is El Paso at the base of the mountain and waaaaaay in the distance, Juarez.