The Classrooms

Randy's Blog

Randy is still down in Mexico with the Stockton group, and he is updating his own blog: http://www.randywray.com/

Please be sure to check it out to see how the project progresses!



--Rochelle

The work is not over yet!

The Eugene, Arlington, and Tacoma groups have made it home safely, but the project continues with a new group from Stockton.


Some of the walls are up on the second story classrooms!



Stay posted, there is more to come via email with Randy.

Rochelle

Day Nine --- Are we there yet?

We finished out the drive today and got into town around 6pm! It feels wonderful to be home, showered, and soon rested!

The trip all in all was a great experience, despite the minor setbacks.

We're home, we're safe, thank God.

When we left the work site in Ensenada, the base of the second floor classroom was nearly completed. The Tacoma group was planning on staying a few more days to finish out the work.




Until the next adventure...


Rochelle, and the Mexico Mission 2007 Team

Day Eight -- Thursday, The border

Thursday morning we woke early and headed towards the states!

A long drive but finally we made it across the border with little trouble.

We dropped off a family from Virginia at the airport in Long Beach, and drove to Stockton to stay the night at the Wray's house. We got in at about 1 or 2 am and fell right asleep.

--Rochelle

Day Seven --- Wednesday (Again)

Landon is no longer allowed to touch the computer.


SOOO..... if you understood that last entry, disregard it, if you dont, then dont worry about it. heh.


Okay so today, we are finishing up the support for the second floor classrooms and we will begin to build the floor.

¡Everyone is safe and having fun!

Bryce loading the truck for a trip to the the dump.

The men at work, planning...

More scooping... fun fun fun!

Brandon can be the new support beam.

Jess Skywalker

A view from the top:

Joist pushing, at its best

Soon to be the 2nd story floor--

Time for lunch!!! Burritos by the bunches! YAY!

Josh will getterdone

YAY

Day Seven --- Wednesday

Hola, soy Landon, yo estoy creando el blog entrada para hoy. todo el equipo murio. yo necesito un ride a Portland. Entonces, si una persona puede manejar a Ensenada, yo lo pagare como seis o siete pesos. Gracias.

PS- Rapido por favor, porque si yo paso mas tiempo en mexico, yo no entendere ingles nada mas.

Day Six -- Tuesday

The day is far from over but so far we destroyed a little more, pulled a lot of nails, avoided injuries, and now we're doin' laundry!

It's only 11am, so maybe we'll tell you more of what we do tonight another time.

---------------------------


PART TWO

By the end of the day we had demolished the roof of the church kitchen and covered area, and had put the beams up for the new second story floor.







The big strong men lifted the beams up above to the high heavens.

Day Five -- Monday

Disclaimer: The computer I am using to update will not correct my spelling errors, because it uses spanish. So, HUSH.

Monday,

We destroyed the place. We got to work!!! Yay!!! Among many happy hearts there were 2 ankle injuries, 1 puncture wound, numerous abrasions and bruises, and red marks (from paint, mostly). We tore off a roof, painted, took nails out of wood, hammered nails into wood, played with heavy beams, got squished by them a little, and painted them red, it was an all around party! But really, it feels so good to work hard, and especially knowing that it is all for God and other people, and you are doing a good thing! We really are doing well!

We ended with a devotional, SHOWERS, and then we slept like rocks.

Day Four -- Sunday

The day started out with a wonderful church service. The feeling you get is amazing when you are worshiping with people in multiple languages with different backgrounds. Even if you cannot understand every word, you can see God working through people, and you can understand how they feel. We stayed at the church until about 2:30, we sang songs in english and spanish, and Randy gave the lesson in both languages. After the sevice we all ate together as a group, it was an amazing spread of food prepared by the ladies of the church. (They have been feeding us all very well!!) We eventually left the church building and went shopping out on the town for a few hours, we took a lot of pictures, but they are no longer with us.

We had dinner at a taco bar called "MkTaco"! It was Delicious! We enjoyed being together and of course, the Mexican Coke, (it really tastes better down here). After dinner we went back to the church where most of our group were going to sleep that night along with Jess and some others from different groups. The girls moved all of their things from Javier's where they slept on Saturday night, and we got ready for another devotional.

Our devotional focused on the idea of putting others before yourself and the verse that states "May the first be last and the last first." We discussed in depth how we should react when we are treated unfairly, and how we should always be aware of where other people are coming from, and what they've been through. Having this devotional, I feel was God preparing us for what was to happen next. While we were in the church building, singing and praying and talking, we were robbed. Someone came through the gate and into the back room where the girls had put their things, the van was also rummaged through. They stole Tim's laptop, three digital cameras, a suitcase full of clothes, backpacks with ipod/mp3 players, and a whole pile of camera cards that we had been uploading to the laptop. I really do feel that this was something God wanted us to be prepared for, because after our devotional, I feel like our reactions were all fairly calm and rational. I know that having all my clothes stolen, and my camera that was VERY important to me, I would have felt a lot worse if I wasn't already in such an understanding and Godly mindstate from studying the word with others.

Needless to say, this situation is why we haven't updated in a few days. We have very few pictures from sunday, or any days before that, except for the few that are on the blog.

Now I am updating from Javier's computer, and the updates may become less frequent but we will try to recap each day.

I hope all is well in Oregon!

Rochelle

Day Three --- Saturday "Hola Mexico!"

Thank you very much Long Beach Church of Christ for letting us stay!














Today we woke up way too early, after getting home from at 0130 and with little sleep we were thinking we would leave Long Beach very early, but we didn't.

We started our morning with fresh coffee and fruit...

Then we met up with the Arlington group, and headed south.

We made a pit stop at In-N-Out Burger to eat and let others catch up with us.

7 miles later we are over the border and following Randy and Jess driving the Mexican way toward Ensenada.

Upon arriving in Ensenada, we were greeted by Javier and his beautiful family, and back at the church we met up with the group from Tacoma.

Now we're headed for bed! What a day, what a day!

Day Two --- The Happiest Place on Earth (Disneyland)

Friday, Day Two:

woke up tired and sore from sleeping on the floor in the kiddie-classrooms in Long Beach. Then off to breakfast at Polly’s.

From there we got out our big piratey-scrolly maps, and sailed to Disneyland. We found a secluded parking spot, miles away from the park… and hiked across a gauntlet of shopping, to make our way to “The Happiest Place on Earth!” LET THE FUN BEGIN!!!

Yay!!!!! The night ended with an amazing fireworks show!

This post made possible by the even tired-er minds of Tim and Rochelle…

Video of a Roller coaster: WOOOOOOOOhoOOOoOO!!

PS: We want to give out awards at the end of the trip. What are some good titles? “Best Packer” “Early Bird” Things like that… got any ideas? Leave a comment!