hursday was an amazing day. We went back out to the Cadereyta today to grab some kids who just graduated kindergarten, six, and ninth grade. We loaded them and their moms on two buses and headed to a HUGE public pool to hang out, grill out, and give the students brand new back packs filled with all new school supplies for the upcoming year. Back2Back is really trying to encourage education and staying in school and this is one of the ways they do it. So we played hard all morning, most of the playing occured in the kiddy pool which was around 95 degree's and the water was rather not clear (you can do the math on that one). But the big pool was great, and our kids served like champs, loving on those kids all day. We then served all of them steak taco's and the local pastors and missionaries commented that it's probably been forever since any of the people in that community had steak. Seemed just like a typical afternoon in the park for us which put it in great perspective for our kids. So after that we put the kids and their mom's back on a bus and sent them on their way with lots of tears and waving goodbye, and we headed back to campus via a gas station for our kid's to fill up on sugary goodness. They've all had a great week, and it came out in our debrief time tonight. Tomorrow were cleaning up on campus in the morning then we head out for a El Pollo Loco Lunch followed by an afternoon cave expedition. We'll be staying in a hotel tomorrow night so this is our last night on campus. We'll see if I can get pictures up tomorrow night. See you all on saturday.
Love
-Jeff
Thursday, July 31, 2008
Wednesday, July 30, 2008
Mexico Day Five (Wednesday)
Today we took the kids from Manatial de Amor out to a national park for a good old hang out day. Some of the kids went in the pool that the park hide, while another half of the group (mostly older kids) went on a 'hike' which was mis-advertised. It was essentially the closest you could get to rock climbing without needing a rope, and at times, DC and I did kind of want a rope. I was on the mountain almost all day so I have no pool shots, but I do have a bunch from the mountain. One of the local girls ended up needing a lot of extra breaks while climbing so DC and I stuck with here which was just fine with us. It gave us a lot of extra time to take pictures. Tomorrow is our last day doing a work project so be praying for the endurance of our kids. Let's finish strong and give it everything we got tomorrow. Thanks for the prayers and encouraging words. It has really been uplifting for our students during debriefs every night.
Love
-Jeff
Love
-Jeff
MEXIC08-WEDNESDAY!
Wednesday was yet again another GREAT DAY here in Monterrey! After a quick midweek cleanup of our dorms we loaded up the bus to go pick up the kids from Manantial De Amor. All the boys, girls and little ones joined us on 3 full busses and we traveled to a canyon park in Monterrey that is literally surrounded by mountains on all sides, it was absolutely gorgeous!
We ALL partnered up with kids and had lunch then part of the group decided to go on a hike/mountain climb that was a hardcore climb up the side of one of the mountains while the other group either played games and colored or went swimming in a pool that they have there at the park.
The hiking team was gone for a couple hours climbing up a trail and exploring a small cave and avoiding as many cactus' as they could! The swim team pretty much spent the entire 2-3 hours in the pool swimming, tossing, splashing and dunking kids! Everybody had a GREAT time with their little buddies! We ended our time at the park with some tamales for dinner and then it was time to load up the busses and say goodbye to our new friends! We had spent the last 3 days with all these kids and the relationships that formed during that time were truly remarkable! The team kept their composure together to send the kids off with smiles and laughter, but there were quite a few tears once our bus had departed.
Tonight at debrief the team had an amazing time of sharing stories of the day's activities and the way that they interacted with their buddy. There were many stories, but in the end the team was confident that God has a plan for each and every one of those kids lives and that our time here was part of that plan. And even though it is sad that we have to part ways with our buddies, we know that they are going to be continually loved by Back 2 Back and the wonderful men and women that run Manantial de Amor and who knows, we may see them again next year!
We hit it hard one more day (Thursday) with an outreach to the Cadereyta and some play time with the kids there that we met on Sunday! Thanks for your continued love and prayers!
-Johnny
We ALL partnered up with kids and had lunch then part of the group decided to go on a hike/mountain climb that was a hardcore climb up the side of one of the mountains while the other group either played games and colored or went swimming in a pool that they have there at the park.
The hiking team was gone for a couple hours climbing up a trail and exploring a small cave and avoiding as many cactus' as they could! The swim team pretty much spent the entire 2-3 hours in the pool swimming, tossing, splashing and dunking kids! Everybody had a GREAT time with their little buddies! We ended our time at the park with some tamales for dinner and then it was time to load up the busses and say goodbye to our new friends! We had spent the last 3 days with all these kids and the relationships that formed during that time were truly remarkable! The team kept their composure together to send the kids off with smiles and laughter, but there were quite a few tears once our bus had departed.
Tonight at debrief the team had an amazing time of sharing stories of the day's activities and the way that they interacted with their buddy. There were many stories, but in the end the team was confident that God has a plan for each and every one of those kids lives and that our time here was part of that plan. And even though it is sad that we have to part ways with our buddies, we know that they are going to be continually loved by Back 2 Back and the wonderful men and women that run Manantial de Amor and who knows, we may see them again next year!
We hit it hard one more day (Thursday) with an outreach to the Cadereyta and some play time with the kids there that we met on Sunday! Thanks for your continued love and prayers!
-Johnny
More Pics from Tuesday...
Here's some pics I snapped yesterday when i wasn't working. Most of them are from the group I was working with.
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
Mexico Day Four (Tuesday)
Great day today. We got up and worked around campus for a few hours, then after lunch the kids from Manantial De Amor came over for a pool party that included some donkey burgers for dinner. The kids left after dinner and the boys of the teams took on the staff boys in a little game of basketball which we, of course, one. Now we're just hanging out, John and I are playing euchre and every one else is playing kick the can. Good things. See you all tomorrow.
MEXIC08-TUESDAY!
WOOOOOOOO!!!!!! Today was another GREAT DAY! The team did SOOOOOOOOO well again today despite another HOT HOT DAY!
We started off on campus working for about 2-3 hours. Most teams that come to Back 2 Back spend one day helping out with the campus expansion. B2B has been building homes as part of their Hope program. Once children hit 15 or the 9th grade they are done with the public school system as well as the ability to live in a casa hogar. So the Hope program consists of these 6 homes (2 unfinished) that house 7-8 former residents of the casa hogars, through funding that comes into B2B, is able to send these students to high school and college while providing housing and food here on campus with a host family (like the Cooper's) who love and encourage and teach and pray and do everything possible not only to care for these kids but to show them Jesus and help them take steps. The program is seeing HUGE success as the first couple students are preparing to graduate college and enter the work force.
Here's a little perspective, only about 5% of the Mexican population is college educated. So that means two things 1) these students will have a GREAT opportunity to escape the cycle and provide for themselves and a future family and 2) the Hope program will be graduating 40-50 college educated students in the next few years who more than likely are following Jesus that will enter all fields of the workforce and will be influencing culture, government, politics, business, education and every other field they are entering! That is PRETTY AMAZING!
Ok, so that's the back story to what we were doing today! We were helping work on the last 2 homes. We had a team doing ThermoTek on the roof again, a team doing painting on the inside of one of the houses, a team painting outside, a team sorting and preparing backpacks for a back to school donation day in the Cadereyta on Thursday, a team digging a trench for some irrigation work, and teams building shelving and cleaning windows in the new Medical Facility on campus. The dream of that Facility is to have a place where the 400+ children in the casa hogars would have an opportunity for wellness check ups and all the normal shots and immunizations that we're used to here in the states! The team went crazy fast and got a TON done in the short time we had to work. The reason time was short was because the kids from Manantial De Amor were coming over for a pool party and a cookout!
The girls had the first turn in the pool while the boys started off playing soccer, games and legos! After that the girls hopped out and were playing games and spending some great time together while the boys hopped in the pool and had a great time! After that it was time for a cookout Mexican style consisting of cheeseburgers which include a slice of ham and guacamole! We had a great time!
Tonight then was the traditional B2B staff versus groups basketball game! And WE WON! Something tells me it may have helped having DC on our team....
We had a great evening at worship and team debrief and now the team is hanging out playing cards, laughing and having fun together! Know that you are all loved!
-Johnny
We started off on campus working for about 2-3 hours. Most teams that come to Back 2 Back spend one day helping out with the campus expansion. B2B has been building homes as part of their Hope program. Once children hit 15 or the 9th grade they are done with the public school system as well as the ability to live in a casa hogar. So the Hope program consists of these 6 homes (2 unfinished) that house 7-8 former residents of the casa hogars, through funding that comes into B2B, is able to send these students to high school and college while providing housing and food here on campus with a host family (like the Cooper's) who love and encourage and teach and pray and do everything possible not only to care for these kids but to show them Jesus and help them take steps. The program is seeing HUGE success as the first couple students are preparing to graduate college and enter the work force.
Here's a little perspective, only about 5% of the Mexican population is college educated. So that means two things 1) these students will have a GREAT opportunity to escape the cycle and provide for themselves and a future family and 2) the Hope program will be graduating 40-50 college educated students in the next few years who more than likely are following Jesus that will enter all fields of the workforce and will be influencing culture, government, politics, business, education and every other field they are entering! That is PRETTY AMAZING!
Ok, so that's the back story to what we were doing today! We were helping work on the last 2 homes. We had a team doing ThermoTek on the roof again, a team doing painting on the inside of one of the houses, a team painting outside, a team sorting and preparing backpacks for a back to school donation day in the Cadereyta on Thursday, a team digging a trench for some irrigation work, and teams building shelving and cleaning windows in the new Medical Facility on campus. The dream of that Facility is to have a place where the 400+ children in the casa hogars would have an opportunity for wellness check ups and all the normal shots and immunizations that we're used to here in the states! The team went crazy fast and got a TON done in the short time we had to work. The reason time was short was because the kids from Manantial De Amor were coming over for a pool party and a cookout!
The girls had the first turn in the pool while the boys started off playing soccer, games and legos! After that the girls hopped out and were playing games and spending some great time together while the boys hopped in the pool and had a great time! After that it was time for a cookout Mexican style consisting of cheeseburgers which include a slice of ham and guacamole! We had a great time!
Tonight then was the traditional B2B staff versus groups basketball game! And WE WON! Something tells me it may have helped having DC on our team....
We had a great evening at worship and team debrief and now the team is hanging out playing cards, laughing and having fun together! Know that you are all loved!
-Johnny
More Pics
Hey guys, DC here, not sure if you guys hopped over to my blog to see any of the photo's I've been taking so I'm going to put the slideshows on here too.
FYI: I'm not a great photographer YET, but I love taking photo's and my goal in snapping photo's is to give you an opportunity to see what your students is doing throughout the day. Jeff is our official PROFESSIONAL photographer so expect greatness from his shots. I try to take as many photo's as I can of each kid as they are down here being the hands and feet of Jesus.
Also if you want to hear my thoughts on the day, hop over to my blog by clicking HERE.
-DC-
(There are a lot of photo's so to see all of them quicker just click on the slideshow and it should send you to my public gallery. If you're having trouble leave a comment and i'll give you the direct link.)
107 pics from the plane ride and first day:
370 from Sunday at the Cadereyta:
376 from Monday at Manantial De Amor
FYI: I'm not a great photographer YET, but I love taking photo's and my goal in snapping photo's is to give you an opportunity to see what your students is doing throughout the day. Jeff is our official PROFESSIONAL photographer so expect greatness from his shots. I try to take as many photo's as I can of each kid as they are down here being the hands and feet of Jesus.
Also if you want to hear my thoughts on the day, hop over to my blog by clicking HERE.
-DC-
(There are a lot of photo's so to see all of them quicker just click on the slideshow and it should send you to my public gallery. If you're having trouble leave a comment and i'll give you the direct link.)
107 pics from the plane ride and first day:
370 from Sunday at the Cadereyta:
376 from Monday at Manantial De Amor
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)