week three recap

started week three off at the Cadareyta which I mentioned in an earlier post. i'm pretty sure that's also where Riverview group will go on their first full day here. one of the big projects there was to remove this giant water tank from a giant cement table and then demolish the cement table. they ended up rolling it from the table onto a roof and then finally transport it elsewhere. below is a picture of it rolling off the roof (Indiana-esque).

i think on Monday and Tuesday for Riverview group, we will be headed to Imperio de Amor (IdA--"Empire of Love"). It's a fairly newer property that I have been spending a lot of time at in the last week. here's a couple pictures with some girls over there with Ruby.


on Thursday, we took El Retiro Juvenil (ERJ) to Estanzuela which is a beautiful place to hike. there were some pretty little waterfalls every once in awhile and more butterflies than i've ever seen in my life. below is also a picture of Holland (another intern) and I sitting in front of a thousand foot drop.



last night was our last Interns' Night Out which was pretty bittersweet in itself. a few staff took us to a parent's summer home (their quinta) which was nothing short of gorgeous. full outdoor kitchen, dining room, amazing outdoor pool, tennis court, etc. I only remembered to take a few pictures at night, but they didn't turn out well--so I'll spare you.

so we're now gearing up for our last week here as interns and just finished all of our meetings and cleaning to do before the next group gets here in a half hour to be joined by four more groups throughout the day.

tomorrow is my day off and I was invited to come along with a staff family and some other interns who have the day off to hike to these natural waterslides that are about an hour and a half out. (Leah--this means that I'll probably be online around 3 or 4ish eastern time.)

if you could pray for overcast skies and heavy clouds, that would be amazing. they're needing tons of rain here as the casa hogars (children's homes) are quickly running out of water. we've gotten a couple light mists in the past two weeks, but that's about it.

week 2 awe

this last week absolutely flew by. i was with a group from Grace Chapel in Ohio all week long and was able to make a lot of great friendships along the way. individuals from one of the other groups here have made a website for Rayitos de Luz and can be found here. they hope to get a website up and running about each of the Casa Hogars being served by Back2Back.

one of my favorite moments from this week happened a few days ago. i was sitting with one of the girls from my Grace Chapel group, Ashley, during dinner when I turned to her and said, "You know, I feel extremely spoiled here in the sense that I get to have worship every single night." and she said, "Yeah, actually last night was the first night that I have ever enjoyed worship." I go, "Really?!" and she said, "Yeah, I actually just accepted Christ into my life this morning. I've gone to church all of my life and have never really owned it on my own and I decided I want to follow Him for the rest of my life. You're actually the second person I've told." I was kinda shocked and was like, "Oh.. wow. That's awesome! You should tell more people!" I asked her if she was interested in being baptized here in Mexico and she and a few other girls that I've been getting to know wanted to read into baptism. So we talked about baptism with some 10 other people that were interested alongside their pastor Jeff Greer. The next morning a few girls and I went over some more verses and last night around midnight, Ashley and 4 others were baptized. It was awesome to be a part of walking her through her public declaration to follow Christ.

On a completely different note, I've been talking a little to Jeff Greer about serving in Nigeria next summer as he is kinda overseeing growth at Nigeria's Back2Back site. They have just purchased 250 acres over there for their site and are going to expand to another 250 more acres really soon. They have 5 interns over there this summer and only a few staff. I don't know exactly if that idea will grow into more than just an idea, but it's definitely a dream worth chasing as I feel like God's really moving in my heart for that country.

I haven't uploaded a lot of my pictures from this last week to my computer but here's a few worth sharing.

A little girl at the Cadareyta. The Cadareyta and the Rio are both impoverished communities that Back2Back ministers to and provides meals for as often as possible to provide aid to parents in hopes up preventing them from dropping their children off at a Casa Hogar.


some funny boys and I at the Cadareyta.


my Mauricio from Villa de Juarez (VdJ) who I would love to take back with me to the states. he thought he was funny for telling everyone his name is Abuelo (grandpa in Spanish).


While everyone was staring at the mountains one morning: "Yeah... these mountains every day, they kinda get old after awhile... just kidding, this never gets old." --Tim Couch, house parent at Back2Back.

flexico

Hey guys! I have to say after one week, Monterrey has been phenomenal! I've been so busy with intern stuff--and I've been wanting to contact everyone since I got here, but today was my first day off!

I live with one staff member, five nannies, and five other interns (down a little path and through a gate from the main Back2Back area). Everything here is amazing... the KIDS! are so fun, the staff, the missionary kids, the interns, the groups, etc.

I have so much to say about everything, but I'll limit myself to just posting a few pictures as there are currently two pool parties going on here with kids from Casa Hogar Douglas (CHD)! CHD is one of the many orphanages that Back2Back supports and is actually just one mile from Back2Back. Yesterday, I spent the morning at CHD serving breakfast, and then later spent half the day there organizing trench digging for a new water line that is being installed today.

First picture of the trip! :) Some fav missionary kids and their new nanny Jess.


The palapas, one of the pools, and the Guck's house at B2B. The mountains actually extend to the top of this picture but it was kinda cloudy that day.


At a tienda down the street--Diane, a food queen, in the foreground.


These pictures are out of order and my battery is about to die. This was from climbing yesterday at Huesteca. Ricardo and his friend.


After breakfast at CHD


Making necklaces at CHD


More necklace making.


And more necklace making under a palapa.


At Huesteca... the pictures do no justice to this place!

More Huesteca


High fiving for the ball ceremony at CHD.


Alexa at the ball handing out ceremony, all the kids got a ball and shirt after soccer camp.


I forgot her name... :( but she's holding Santiago or "Toto."

More pictures from a CHD breakfast.

And again at CHD breakfast.

A guy from the McCollum group this week with some kids at the pool at Huesteca.


A couple of my girls from bible study... we were given two machetes for our project. Good day.


McCollum himself heading up soccer camp.

Alexa and I at El Retiro Juvenil (ERJ)... she really likes taking pictures.

Cony and I at ERJ. She's actually a neighbor, not resident at ERJ.

Girl from McCollum group with a dead tarantula and frog at the new Rayitos de Luz property. Gross.

Limes growing at new Rayitos de Luz property. We were the first group to work at the new property and they hope to have the kids moved in by the end of June!