Dios abrió la puerta

            Five extremely small and slightly
wobbly structures are being built in the parking lot this week as practice in
case a time comes when someone will be living in whatever we come up with.  Despite the cracked cement foundation (oops)
and the somewhat jiggly walls (which were still strong enough for Tyler to sit
on to put up the roof) it’s coming along quite nicely.  In fact, I’m pretty sure we’re done since
we’re not gonna bother with corregated steel for a structure that we’re tearing
in 3 days or so since that’s not easily reused. 
Same with covering the walls – it’s apparently so easy that we don’t
need to waste materials practicing, but even with basically just a frame on
plywood and 10 separate pieces of concrete (hey no one can really tell and it’s
holding), I’ve gotten quite a few chances lately to try out some of the big boy
toys that aren’t usually needed at home. 
It’s been quite fun to swing around a sledgehammer, use the saw, hammer,
pick axe etc. and I gotta say I’m not half bad at it either.  We’re also building an outhouse for Maricia
and her family – the family we visit usually at least 3 times a week – so we’ve
been digging two giant holes that are much, much deeper than we thought
possible the first day.  At first the
ground was so tough to work with that the shovel would only get an inch or two
down, but it’s been moving quite a bit faster the last few days and although we
don’t get to visit them today, we should be done soon.  The structure itself looks
about done too- except for the paint. 
That will be fun.

            The family itself is awesome.  When we first started showing up the kids
stood behind Maricia in a straight line and were polite but a bit stand-offish
at the same time.  Basically I don’t
think they knew what to do with so many Americans, but now it’s been like an
180 degree shift.  Last Thursday the
leaders threw a huge fiesta and invited all of our ministry families and the
kids were hugging people they had never met. 
Hugs are big.  Of course I get a
hug from each member of the family when we first arrive and when we’re leaving,
but especially the girls love to give random hugs just for the fun of it.  Quite often in fact.  It’s cool. 
There’s also a huge stack of drawings on my bed right now with pictures
that they made for us.  Maybe two, two
and a half weeks ago we brought paper and markers to draw with them and since
then it has kinda taken off with the whole drawing thing.  It is really really cool and they are
excellent artists.  They even drew me a
kangaroo that they found in a book – seriously, I was planning on being an art
major for a while and I’m not sure I could do that. 

            So the ministry family is doing
great, my family of 8 is amazing and in addition to Tana, our leader who I’m
going to really really really really miss in Nica (who else gives me a huge hug
and says she loves me every time I see her! – yeah, hugs are big around here),
Seth Barnes Jr just arrived the other day from a few months in Nica so we get
to hang out with him I’m pretty sure until we leave for our 1 week ministry
away from the base so it’s been fun getting to know him, especially during
Jessica’s birthday dance party last night. 
He’ll be in Nica with us the entire time- the first month as a definite
leader and the rest as our host but even so I’m sure we’ll still be seeing a
lot of him throughout the six months- I’m excited.

            The one week ministry is a cool God
story.  The deadline for figuring out
pretty much everything- who we’ll staying with, where we’re going,
transportation, food, etc. etc. etc. was due yesterday at 3, and as of Tues
night we had nada.  A few connections
never got back to us and it wasn’t looking too good.  But we went over to Jonathan’s house (the
co-author of Crabgrass) to see his puppies while collecting sand/dirt to mix
into the concrete and he said if everything fell through, one of the guys
around here might have something open for us. 
Half of us went to visit Jonathan later that night to find out more, he
walked with us next door to Benito’s, and voila – everything is set.  Our questions were pretty much answered
before they were asked and there’s even a possibility of bringing a translator
with us since Jonathan knows a guy that loves going down there.  So- November 14th- 20th, the eight of us,
Benito and possibly his wife and a translator are loading into an AIM van and
driving about 4 hours south of here to an ejido slightly larger than this one,
with about 20 families.  There’s
basically no work down there so a lot of people end up coming here to find some
and due to lack of willing hands, the church building that they have been
trying to add two rooms to has had all of the necessary materials just lying
there waiting for – well, a group like us! 
I’m so excited.  Tom’s dad’s a
contractor so he’s worked on construction stuff for years now and Garrett’s big
on carpentry and the rest of us are learning pretty fast at how to do it right
with all this outhouse, shelter in the parking lot stuff.  Benito says we’ll love the place and all of
the Americans that go down there never want to come back so I’m really excited
to spend a week in a house made out of palm trees- probably not completely, but
he said something along those lines.  He
also mentioned riding a donkey which could be interesting.  Whether or not that ends up happening, I’m
definitely looking forward to an awesome week. 

            Then we’ll have about 3 days left
with the other teams before they head off to their big party/ layover in Dubai
and we’ll have the Gateway to ourselves (and a few parents I believe) for
another week before we leave for Nica on either the 30th or Dec. 1st (I’ve
heard both).  I guess I’m used to small
thanksgivings.  Even with the other teams
gone, I’m sure it’ll be a blast.  I will
miss them though.  There’s such a strong
bond in this place that steps out of team lines and it’s really cool so I’m
glad we’ll all have a week, or at least a few days together before coming home
– PARTY!!!  Maybe by that time I’ll be up
to it.

            Basically life is good.  I really miss you guys, but thanks for
letting me come – I need this.  I gotta
warn you though that you might not recognize the person that comes back- my
skin is now quite a few shades darker. 
hehe 🙂  Love ya!