Saturday

Today has been a really great day!

The team was split into girls and guys today as the boys went out to play soccer against the Mexican team.  Did they win? They definitely did not.  Much to our team's disappointment (especially Mike), the Mexicans are still undefeated...maybe Christmas?

Is this the look of defeat Cole?

Canada and Mexico!

While the boys played, the girls prepped for a lovely morning at Casa De Luz where we offered a health and nutrition class led by our RNs - Kate and Julia.  They gave the ladies of La Hermosa some fabulous information and included tips on healthy eating, including the four food groups into our meals and keeping active.  We followed the talk with tasting and demonstrating how to make a great breakfast cookie that is egg/flour/sugar free and tastes delicious!  One lady said she'll be making these cookies until her husband passes away!!

Julia sharing on the four food groups and nutrition

The ladies helping make the banana cookies

We also had the ladies help us make a healthy salad with an easy salad dressing.  Thanks to Krissi and Maddie, our demonstrators!  After demos, we headed into the other room to work up our appetites with a Zumba class.  The ladies were ALL smiles and so was I as we danced and sweat...who said working out can't be fun?

The response from the workshop was so positive from all the women that attended. They were eager to talk with Erin about continuing to meet and exercise and encourage one another.  It has been on Erin's heart to do a weekly fitness class - and so this was the kickoff!! Erin plans to continue getting together with the ladies every Saturday morning to encourage everyone in their health and wellness.  We were so thrilled to be a part of planting the seeds of health and care of our bodies into these women and as one woman responded to us, 'We are happier.'

Kate showing the ladies a serving size of rice

After our lunch, we headed to the mural wall to prep it.  We will be doing this art project with the kids on Monday and Tuesday afternoon.  We decided the paint needed to be peeled off and after a few hours of scraping, sanding and brushing, Mike came to the rescue with a power washer to get the paint off! It can be a lot of work to peel back the layers in our lives, but when their is a blank canvas, God can do whatever he wants with us and make something beautiful!!  And so it will be with this wall.  Looking forward to the final product!

The boys are over working on the team housing building as I type and I am happy to listen to the girls working on crafts for the kids this week and the hum of that power washer washing away the old paint.

Tonight, we will be able to relax a little bit more and tomorrow will be Church and team day as well as some prep for the rest of the week.

First 24 hours

It is hard to believe we have been in Mexico for only 24 hours!  We arrived safe and sound in Primo Tapia last night at about 10:30pm to a wonderful Mexican feast.  We met Christina, our host, and saw our beloved cook Rosa who happens to live right next door. 

After our late dinner, we went to work preparing our gifts for the kids at CDL.  Thanks to Rainbow Embroidery for their amazing help in embroidering each child’s name on a new beach towel.  What a special gift to give each child.  My prayer for each child in giving them their personalized towel was that they would know that Jesus knows their name.  He knows them personally and deeply and cares for every detail of their lives. 

After a late night, we were up early to the sounds of roosters and dogs in our new neighbourhood in the heart of Primo Tapia.  We got ready and headed to Casa De Luz to meet the children we’d be paired up with for the day.  We each were buddied up with one to three kids for our field trip to Las Canadas – a huge water park and camping resort.  The older children got to enjoy the pool, paddle boat rides and the toboggan waterslide and the little ones played at an amazing waterpark complete with spraying water and an assortment of slides. 

It was such a fun day…. A little chaotic at first as us white kids tried to care for Spanish speaking children…. But once we got to know our child(ren) and what they liked and wanted to do, we had a lot of fun with them.  I enjoyed watching my daughter, Abbi, interact with her partner Karol, who is also 5 years old.  Again proves that you don’t need to have the same language to have fun as they giggled and sang and played on the bus ride and splashed in the pool together. 

I thoroughly enjoyed

bonding with Karol as did the rest of the team with their children.  It was a great way to start our week here and gain their trust and build new relationships. 

Tomorrow will be another fun day as the guys head out to play soccer – it’s quite the match-up with lots of trash-talking…should be exciting to see how things turn out – will the Mexicans win again or will Canada prevail?

We will also be hosting a health and nutrition workshop for the CDL moms and La Hermosa families.  It will include some health talks from our nurses on the team, healthy food demos and Zumba/fitness class.  Then we’ll be off to prep for the rest of the week’s activities. 

Please pray for Christina, our Korean host, as she has been having knee problems and would really like to be able to participate in as much of our programs and events as possible.  We’re excited to walk with her and share our hearts and stories with her in ministry.