We're Back and So Thankful

First of all, thank you to all of our encouraging commenters - we felt your support and prayers!

Second of all, thank the Lord with us for a safe trip and return to our wonderful homes and the blessings of this Thanksgiving Day with families and friends. Wow, it's overwhelming to come back and be so blessed with hot water, clean floors and all the comforts we live in here in the Estados Unidos.

There is much to share and we will do our best to bring you the highlights. Please chime in with your comments, team members. We'll post a few photos here but we have the whole enchilada of photo memory sticks posted here:

http://s190.photobucket.com/albums/z76/dvanessen/ELCA%20Mexico/


I, Leanne, feel so blessed to have gone on this trip with our ELCA students. And let me tell you, they were an amazing team. All of you parents should be very proud of your teens - they gave 110% in team effort and attitude in all the work projects and the ministry to the people of Maya Balam, near Bacalar.

So to begin, I will highlight the first day - we arrived at sunset on Thursday night in Cancun. Cory Bontraeger and Luis Babb met us and drove us 4+ hours to the mission site near Bacalar. His wife, Vanessa, had dinner waiting at 10 pm and we got our first meal under the pilapa, with warm tropical breezes and palm trees surrounding us.

The next morning we were briefed on our schedule and assigned work projects for the morning: varnishing the wooden play structure on the grounds, cutting brush in the driveway and we began to saw and sand wood for tables and benches (they don't have any for their campground).

We immediately feel the effects of this climate - heavy perspiration with the slightest exertion, swarms of blood-thirsty mosquitos, biting chiggers and ants that are easily stirred up in the grass and the jungle, and intense hot solar rays burning our gringo skin. Needless to say, the pool break following a delicious lunch by Vanessa was fabulous.

By mid-afternoon we are loaded up in the van for the 45 minute ride to Maya Balam, a small village of Guatamalan refugees that was settled in the 80's. The children greet us at the church building and we are plunged into the Spanish language, grasping for the few nouns and verbs we can remember. We all wish we had spent more time diligently preparing for the language barrier. Hugs, tickles, smiles and hand motions are the main tool we use as we play with the children, deliver a VBS lesson and craft and finally enjoy a delicious meal of local corn, boiled in the husks and served with chili powder and limes. We return home exhausted and excited.