mexico 2004 trip journal  

ConC Spring Break 2004 Mexico Trip Journal

This is the trip journal from the spring break (march 13-20) 2004 Christ on Campus work trip to Amor Ministries in Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua, Mexico to build a house for a needy family.   You can download this journal--text and images--in a single file (?.?MB .zip archive) by clicking here. Some pictures from the trip are here. Pictures from other years' trips are here.

(I numbered the pages starting at 39 because we actually just continued in the 2003 journal, since it didn't get filled up last year.)

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MEXICO 2004

03 13 04
  Alack! We've been on the road 12 1/2 hours and we've forgotten about the journal! I could've been reading the entries from last year.
  We just did multi-vehicle Mad Libs, and it was great fun. And contrary to what was written, I do have enough underpants for the trip. Who needs to change underwear, when you're not gonna take a real shower all week?
  Jess and I had plans for Spanish lessons on the drive too. Okay, here's our first group lesson (for whoever reads this):
  sopa ≠ soap   soap = jabón
sopa = soup
embarazada ≠ embarrassed
(everybody knows that one)

alcohol = alcohol   amor = love

Know you know some random things in Spanish.

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13 MARCH 04   8:26PM
OK so I guess we don't write on the backs of pages.?? [correct.]
Well it seems to me that people need to use a bathroom more often in the morning than they do in the afternoon/evening. My reasoning behind that opinion is that we stopped four times by lunch and twice from lunch to dinner. Now, this doesn't really have any point to it, other than a random observation.
Now passing BIG SPRING STATE PARK.
I also wonder about the whole going to YMCA on SATURDAY NIGHTS after we arrive in Odessa. This is my third year to come on the Mexico excursion and I don't think we have ever made it to Odessa in time to go to YMCA. I am glad that the people at Antioch arrange that for us, but I wonder if we will make it in time this year.
Other than that, I've been riding in T-Rev's truck listening to his wide ranging variety of music. Its pretty fun, Yahoo, Yeehaw Mexico here we come.
Jon Ford
I wish TJ could've come......

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                  Mar 13, 10:00PM
there's a trip journal! I was afraid we'd forgotten it,,,, Well first, I should say how lucky I am to be coming -- school nearly killed this trip for me -- thank's God, that's cool!
  Anyway big red update -- travis and amber should sit next to each other, as they shout to each other across the van alot. I've done a lot of sleeping as have Jess, Kristina, and eric, although in smaller quantities. Amber's radio thing is reall cool, and contains an impressive quantity of pear Jam. Big red is cool! Also, so is Christie, as I'm borrowing her sleeping bag.-- And Earplugs are great, too -- thank's Jeff.
  Thus, we arrive in Odessa -- tommorro, mexico, I hope God is able to be seen through us. I hope we remember he is with us always. Always,
--Joey Kotarek

22:30 CST 3/13/2004
Sorry I forgot to distribute the journal. I made sure to remember to bring it, but it didn't occur to me that I could forget to take it out of my backpack, but being a driver

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makes you more busy. Well, we're here in good old Odessa Antioch Christian Church. Some have retired. Carl W. and Sam are playing and singing (Sam harmony) "Worlds Apart." Sounds real good.

3/14/04   6:50AM
Morning! At last! I was lying in my sleeping bag waiting for a long time until I could get up.
Ready for dreams? I had two last night about my sleeping bag being infested w/ bugs! Maybe it's bc I read "Holes" by Louis Sachar yesterday. In one part, these two kids are in a hole that turns out to be a deadly, yellow-spotted lizard nest. The two kids have to sit still for a few hours until the lizards crawl off of them.
Anyway, in my second dream my sleeping bag was actually a solid, crawling mass of insects. When I woke up, I jumped up and spent a few minutes trying to decide if there really were any bugs there. After I woke up enough to think rationally, I decided it was just a dream.

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3-14-04
Good morning! I'm excited about my first trip to Mexico. :insert: yay! it rained for alot of the way yesterday. I like rain alot. We had a fun car ride, not only did we make a giant play-list on Am's new handy dandy MP3 player, but we played 20 questions (Travis is Pauly Shore) and mad libs, ongoing stories, etc. i like early mornings (and late nights) with friends. i like all times with friends. anyways, sam (who doesn't use deodorant, (just kidding :) <3 you!) is waiting to write. so here's to our 1st day in mexico (almost). <3 you all.
Jess Egolf

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3-14-04
SHE'S SINGING NOW (EXCEPT I STARTED WRITING "SIGNING", & THAT WOULDN'T MAKE ANY SENSE, SO I CHANGED IT.)
SAM FROM THE PINK
CADDY

3-14-04 9:16 AM.
PSALM 134
COME, bless the Lord all you servants of the Lord, who stand by night in the house of the Lord! Lift up your hands to the Holy Place, and bless the Lord!
May the LORD bless you from Zion, He who made heaven and earth.

3-14-04 11:49 AM CT -- 10:49 MST
  We've stopped for lunch at...well I think the name of the place is Fort Hancock but it looks exacty like all the othe towns in the cracks of the scraggy mountains we've passed. Not that it's a bad thing, it's different then any other place I've been and it's exciting! At least for the first three hours. I can't wait to get to Mexico. I hope this week goes well.
Valerie Farris from the Green Baby
Carriage of Punishment

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3.14.04

"big red is like the little patches of velcro you glue to your leg"

(Travis, the shoe designer, responding to Joey's question of "Why is big red an intrinsically superior vehicle?"

it's lunchtime, it's breezy, and sunny and beautiful. Thank you God, for friends and laughter.
Jess E.

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Play that funky music - white boy

Mar 14, 5:00 pm (Mexico time) Wow, Carl W. plays the guitar pretty well. Good job Carl :). So, I was a little sad when I found out I had to drive the whole way to Mexico, but it wasn't bad. I got to drive a nice, cushy Suburban w/ lumbar, cruise, a great stereo system w/ a CD player, & great A/C. There were of course great people in the car too -- Sam, Lance, Kellie, Joseph, & Carl W. Vance joined us later on & took over driving, which made me happy beyond words. Good job Vance :)
Walkie talkie lingo has been fun, esp. mad libs. I'm happy we have walkie talkies. Friends are good. The food has been good. Music is good. The sun is especially good after much rain. People who volunteer to cook for us are awesome! Odessa church is good. God is of course good. What an awesome trip. Thanks God :)
Kendra

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3-14-04
MAN, THIS WEATHER IS SO MUCH DIFFERENT ALREADY FROM LAST YEAR! SHEW. MAYBE COMFORT SHOULDN'T BE OUR GOAL, BUT IT'S REALLY A BLESSING WHEN IT HAPPENS!

*SUPPER*

3-15-05 7:05am mountain time (minus 15m bc Amb's watch is fast)
  Morning again! And what a great one it is! I'm loving the weather. It makes it a lot easier to stay in a good mood.   Our third graders at school this year have been learning about condensation & evaporation. They should've been in our tents this morning for a nice lesson. At about 4:30 am a drop of water fell on my forehead. I didn't mind, though -- it's better than dust storms!

15 March 2004, roughly 7:15. And all is well... except my business is sick. Sicker and slightly whiny. And bad at spelling & grammar. At least the unique, bigger than a breadbox miner?al -->

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(BIG RED) is friendly and awesome!

3-15-04 Monday Around 4 - 5
  Ay! My arms have never been this sore before but it's been a great day. The children are adorable you can hear them laughing all around camp. It's also really hard not to pet the dogs. Anyway I hope the week goes well but not as HOT!
Valerie Farris

3-15-04
  A lot of people worked really hard getting the foundation finished today. A lot of framing was done also. It is neat to see these folks working for someone else.
TSallis

X

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3/15 7:30PM
  Me again! X'x x xxxxxx xxx (new thought direction)
  I didn't do lots of physically hard work today, but talking to the fam and trying to understand the man of the house was a

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(I took left-handed space on the back).

X

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little mentally trying. God, I pray that you'll speak through me even when it's hard to understand what they're saying. I'm glad the kids got involved, mixing concrete and making tar babies. That's fun.
LS

  Mar 19, campfire
    ~ House is goig well ~ slabs done. only interesting development is that my new blue washrag turned me green,, I sense a great new wave of practical jokes,,,,

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3.15.04

I'm so happy that I came to Mexico (for so many reasons). i forgot how much I missed the whole -simplistic- being in the middle of nowhere thing. I love it. it's good for getting your mind off certain things and onto others.
the work today was exhausting, but hard work feels so good. we are all sitting around the campfire now making smores. there's lots of laughter :)

i'm looking forward to the rest of the week, spending time w/ friends, working on the house, playing with the kids. i'm so happy to be here.

God, thank you for all you have blessed me with. thank you for carrying me

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through so much. thank you for your amazing love.

thank you God, for bringing me here.
-Jess E.
8:47
Tried to burn my pants. It didn't happen. Oh well. I need to go to bed. Peace out, Carl B.

Monday, March 15 - 8:00pm - Kristina Partrick
  Singing around the campfire now. We just roasted s'mores. Concrete mixing was fun today. We got all the concrete done and a lot of the walls framed.   It was crazy hot-and-sunny today. I definitely wasn't expecting such nice weather. Feeling a bit sunsick now, but after such a lovely day, I can't complain. Not much more to say, and I'm probably too tired to say it anyway.

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Tuesday, March 16 - 8am - Kristina Partrick
  It's me again, trying to write in the van. It's another beautiful day. Work should be fun today. I've really been happy to be here, having fun with my Christian family, working hard in service, and enjoying the beauty of the desert. Thank you, Lord, for all those things.

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3-16 7:48pm
  Let's talk ab feces now! At the end of the week I'll give the report of how many times I pooped in Mexico. Last year -- twice. Year before -- twice on Th/Fri bc of food I ate.
  That's all. I just thought poop should be mentioned. I'm super tired & ready for bed.

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3.16.04   Jess Egolf

Sitting around the campfire now playing the "who am I" game. Sam just braided my hair. today was pretty hot. Seems like a lot of work got done. i was frustrated for a moment cause I messed up and tangled up the wire, when not getting it tangled up was pretty much my job. Oh well, from these things we learn :) I made a tiny 10 1/2 inch fireblock for the sake of chicken wire smoothness. it may have been the first time I've sawed anything. got to go to the store this morning. that was fun. reminded me so much of being in Chile. everything here does. okay this entry is getting farther and farther off topic --->

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I just want to say that I love and am proud of my ConC family.

i love being here.

thanks God for all your Love and blessings.

7:20am MST 3/17/2004 Wednesday
This retractible pen won't retract. That's dust. Yup, the weather has been pleasantly non-gale force. It was so warm the first couple nights that I was in shorts and T-shirt until going to bed ~11pm. I almost wish it would be colder at night and cooler during work time, but this does make for nice campfire times. I haven't hammered my fingers, though I have open blisters on the inside of my thumbs (mostly from concrete mixing and sand-sift-shovelling.) OK, time to get dressed.

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| hair after 2 days
-----------------
clumps of
concrete or dirt or sand or dust <---

{graphic}
the key is
to wear your
hat or
your
bandana
or both.

p.s. ask laura squires
how the man applied the
stucco. (tell her not to
forget the sound effects.)

by amber
(i'm the fat
chick in the
drawing.)

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CARL B.
3/17
    I am well today. today we stuccoed the walls. It was nice. We also ate lunch it was nice. I lay in the sand. It was nice too. Everything was nice. Even the children who wanted us to buy raffle tickets. A black dog wanted my pretzels. I stabbed him (only joking I never stabbed. I didn't even keep proper eye contact.
THE END

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Wed 5:00 PM
  This was my first time to get sick during the week of building the house, but my third straight year of getting sick on a Mexico trip. I think I've been getting more sick every since I left Fayetteville. But yesterday I felt bad b/c I lost all my strength. I felt like I was more in the way than a help. I didn't know what I had. Yesterday, my stomach was cramping, I had to force myself to eat b/c I had no appetite, my muscles were more sore than just tiredness, and I know I had a fever last night b/c I was freezing around the campfire & no one else was. So, I tried to figure out what wicked ailment I had with all these random systems. So, this morning came & breakfast made me neasous (I can't spell!). After sleeping all morning I finally got my answer from my dear Mexican friend el Banyo. I think I feel better but it's too early to tell.
  Meanwhile, we have some real workers & teamwork going on b/c we're tearing it up. The double wide is above schedule. I felt bad about staying in camp today, but everyone was really nice about it. Well, I don't regret this trip but I don't have enough mental clarity to write anything entertaing or meaningful right now. Lord, I pray that no one else gets sick.       Jeff

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Thursday     6:53 AM
  WELL, THIS WILL BE OUR LAST DAY OF WORK AT THE WORK SITE. AND REALLY IT SHOULD ONLY BE ABOUT HALF A DAY AT THAT.
  I AM ABOUT TO LIST SOME THINGS THAT HAVE GONE WRONG AT THE WORKSITE THAT I CAN ATTRIBUTE BEING FIXED BY GOD:
  1. CONCRETE SLAB ON THE BACK SIDE OF THE HOUSE WAS PUSHED IN IN THE CENTER ABOUT THREE INCHES. THIS MEANT THAT BOTH OF THE WALL SECTIONS SHOULD HAVE TO BEEN CUT SHORT BY 3 1/2". WELL, "SOMEHOW" WE BUILT ONE OF THE WALL SECTIONS TOO SHORT, BUT IT FIT THE MODIFIED LENGTH. So, we only had to operate on Michael (the far back wall section).
  2. WE PUT A WALL IN BACKWARDS, AND THE DOOR-WAY HAD TO BE MOVED.
  3. WHEN BUILDING THE ROOF SECTIONS, WE ACCIDENTALLY USED SOME 8 PENNY NAILS INSTEAD OF 16 PENNY. THIS CAUSED SEPARATION BETWEEN THE JOISTS AND THE TOP PLATE. WELL, TO FIX IT WE NAILED AN EXTENSION ONTO THE TOP PLATE & INTO THE JOIST.
  4. ALSO WE FORGOT TO BUILD THE ROOF SECTIONS TO 24' center of JOIST. THIS IS IMPORTANT SO THAT WHILE LAYING PLYWOOD, THE SHEETS CAN BUTT TOGETHER ON A JOIST THE WAY THEY NEED TO

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(I AM WRITING ON THE BACKSED ~ OOOOHA)
THE BACKSIDE OF THE HOUSE LOOKED BAD BUT "SOMEHOW" WE GOT IT TOGETHER. THE FRONTSIDE OF THE HOUSE LINED UP NEAR PERFECTLY. (GOD'S GOOD, ISN'T HE?)
  1. WHEN LAYING THE PLYWOOD WE OVERHUNG A FEW SHEETS TOO MUCH OVER THE EDGE OF THE ROOF SECTIONS. THE HAND MITER SAW WORKED PRETTY WELL AT TRIMMING THOSE OFF.
  2. AGAIN ON THE BACKSIDE OF THE HOUSE, ONE OF THE RAKE WALLS HAD A WINDOW HOLE IN IT, WELL WE BUILT IT A 1/2" too small. TO FIX IT WE NAILED A MAKE SHIFT STUD ON THE SIDE OF THE EXISTING STUD THAT FORMED THE SIDE OF THE WINDOW. AND THEN CUT OUT THE ORIGINAL STUD WHERE THE TOP & BOTTOM OF THE WINDOW WERE NAILED TO IT.
  3. WHILE DOING WINDOW REPAIRS, LOTS OF STUCCO WAS KNOCKED OFF. FORTUNATELY THE STUCCO CREW WAS PATIENT WITH US & MADE REPAIRS QUICKLY AFTER WE WERE FINISHED.
  4. THE FRONT DOOR KNOB DIDN'T WORK. TOM SALLIS FIGURED OUT WHY IT DIDN'T WORK, BUT JAKE GOT THE AMOR GUYS TO GIVE US A DIFFERENT KNOB.
I'M SURE THERE HAVE BEEN MORE PROBLEMS THAN THESE THAT GOD HAS HELPED US RESOLVE & FIGURE OUT, BUT FOR NOW BREAKFAST IS ON.
JON FORD

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3.18.04

"Hope and a Straw"

(a song by Big Red
Joey K., Jess, Amber, Carl B.,

- this song is about a street dog we saw and thought was a donkey)
(a street dog = jugito, long story, ask Jess E.)

CHORDS: G|   E
C|   C
D|   G
C|   D

____________
| you bring a straw
| i'll bring a dead jugito (x2)
|
| -we'll blow it up
| then we can see
| if it's a perro
| or a donkey

---->

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the sad part is he's dead
but we can bring him back to life
all we need is hope and a straw
we will bring him back to life

girls sing: jugitos de juarez

boys sing: our little living jugito

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3.18.04

so we are leaving tomorrow. it's gone by very quickly. today was a good day. we just finished up stucco-ing and stuff. we went to the market and got lost for an hour but it all worked out.
tonight our family came back to camp with us to eat dinner. they are really friendly people. I will list their names so I don't forget.
María de La Paz
Cristián
Mario
Héctor
Iván
Mary (a neighbor)
I don't know the dad's name. <-- Clemente
anyways. it was fun talking to them. i get nervous about using my rusty spanish but it's awesome to be able to communicate.

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this trip has definitely been full of blessings. i hope that our family is encouraged and will remember God's love for them. i could stay here in Mexico for awhile.
i guess the "challenge" now is the going home part. God, help me to remember all I've seen and learned here.
once again i want to say how much i love and am proud of my ConC family.
buenas noches Mexico!
- Jess E.

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3.18.04
I RECORD!
Lance completed unburying himself with no tools at the height prescribed by everyone in 43 minutes and 9.96 seconds.


I am really glad Jordan invited me on this mission trip. The hard work was a welcome change from the head work I usually do. Sharing the blessings I have was fun & a privilege. We went to the market in Juarez and got lost coming back to camp. I really believe God prevented 2 wrecks, maybe more. We were able to celebrate with our family tonight. That was an immense blessing. I am already planning how to present this during mission emphasis week. How marvelous that God can use me.
Tom Sallis 3-18-'04

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March 19th, 8:05am
So, lots of stuff has happened since I last wrote in here, and I'm sure others have written about the same stuff, but oh well. Probably the most exciting thing was that I got pulled over by the Mexican police. There was a speed trap on the side of the road, and they waved me to the side, suggesting I was speeding, which I was not. Needless to say, we said we were w/ Amor & building a house, and he said he would give us a chance. Maybe he didn't want God to be mad at him :) Also, I had to get ice & water from S Mart everyday. I learned my way pretty well at least, and discovered S Mart is like Wal-Mart b/c it makes you want to go & shop even when you don't need anything.
I found my biggest strength, as far as building goes, is probably stucco. It could be frustrating but I found myself wanting to do it.
The food was awesome everyday, and thanks so much for the blessing of Jim & Connie N. Bathrooms & showers were fine & definitely tolerable compared to what we could have had. I'd say I put my tp in the bucket more than 2/3's the time, which is good.
Other fun & interesting things....

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Lance's human hole, burying the tree & lighting it on fire, "cachucha game" w/ the kids, smores, pudding for dessert every night, handing out Little Debbies to the neighborhood kids, Mad libs, ... umm ... I can't think of anything else. The trip was awesome of course. God has truly blessed us. Thanks God! :)
Kendra

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3/19
lunch at a truck-stop restaurant. not bad. I forgot and threw my paper in the toilet 3 times, a big improvement from previous years. Here's what I got it out with: a fisher-outer stick once, luckily left there by someone else; a bag of melted raisinets I found on the ground in the stall that had possibly already taken one dive into the toilet; and the last time, w/ a plastic food wrapper from my pocket.

interesting quotes:
"Joey! Don't run with the shovel!"
(heard from inside my tent during the tree-burning ordeal)

Kendra: "I think I'm gonna go to the bathroom and try to get this out."
(speaking of the spot on her shirt, of course)
ls

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3-18-04

  This has been an awesome week! I loved it though it was really hard and painful at times. We're back in the states now but they're still there where we left them. That kind of makes me sad but in some ways I think they have a better way of life than we do.
  To be continued time to go shower!!!
Valerie
Oh to be clean

overheard a couple days ago:
"It's a small world, especially in Prairie Grove."

Friday 3/19/2004 20:11 CST
Odessa, TX YMCA
Well, we all got clean. There were "short" showers (low showerheads) and even shorter ones. We got to the church B4 5:00pm It was still hot, Becky noted. It's the first time we've been in Odessa at that time of day. We had to wait a couple hours for showers, so we hacked, played our new guitars, and watche VeggieTales. Trevly

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(cont'd)
I got a guitar at the mercado ayer, after four previous trips of considering. $35 It is blue. Seems to work ok. Kristina and Carl B. both got guitars too, both sort of pinkish but you can tell them apart b/c Carl's now says "This is Carl's guitar. He bought it in Mexico." all over the top in sharpie. And it won't tune (6th string) all the way up to E. Kristina also got a gig bag (total $50). I couldn't decide not to get a gig bag for $15 but also couldn't decide to.
¶The first night in camp Lance and I w/ help from Tom built and installed a lantern post from pallet scrap lumber. It turned out well and to be well worth the effort, allowing everyone to see each night. Next time, though, we should bring 2 or 3 real lamp poles.
¶If there's one lesson I learned building this house, it's Haste makes Waste. Seems like if we had done lots of things a bit slower, we would have finished sooner and with a better product.
¶We're eating at Gattiland now--like last year.

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Quotable:
"You're so cocky, you strut when you're sitting down."

Lance Allen Hall is a challenge-seeker.

"I'm afraid of my left leg."
--Amber
(she's not hack ambidextrous)

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Friday, 19, 2004, 11:25 P.M
  My fourth year. Odd thinking its over. This, my last trip.
  First I owe a huge thank you to Christy W, Jen S. (I'm pretty sure it was her chair), Jeff R. (ear plugs are the best thing ever), and countless others for thier support and assisstance in getting me on this trip. I wasn't able to bring so many things, and everyone was willing to share thier stuff with me.
  My favorite part of these trips is the kids, and I thank God so many came on the last day, and we were able to have so much fun with them. In that day, we loved them, and they us. I love the instantaneous affection possible with kids.
  God be with the family in our house,
  the people in Juarez. Be with us all.
  Peace of Christ rest with us all.
- Joey Kotarek

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SATURDAY   7:26 AM CENTRAL TIME
  So, we are in Odessa at Antioch Church waiting to leave. "All my bags are packed, I'm ready to go...."
  Just some more things I would like to say about our trip.
  God's provision is wonderful, and sometimes goes unnoticed. Coming on this trip, I have had some back pain that makes me quite uncomfortable. Throughout our week I never had to mix concrete or stucco. I can see that as God's provision for me not to further irritate my back. Also, throughout every day of work my back did not hurt. The great thing about that is that I didn't take any anti-inflamitory medicine, or any other kind of medicine. So, yes I am glad that God provided for me in that way.
  I also want to thank everyone else for being willing to do as much as they all did.
  Also, I talked to TJ last night on the phone. She said that she misses everyone and wishes she could've come this year.
  So we're about to leave now. In about 13 hours we'll be in Fayetteville, AR.
Jon.

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SAT 8:05 AM
It was nice not driving this year. You can get a lot of reading done in 4 days of travel. My most memorable part of the trip -- besides being pulled over -- is the rush stucco finish late Thursday night. We mixed half a batch after dark and patched the holes around both doors and all four windows. Next year -- put up trim before the stucco. The biggest blessing I had on this years trip was Kellie coming along. She's awesome. If you don't know her very well, you should change that.
--JOSEPH


SAT 4:04 PM
So I haven't written in this thing all week. I didn't even know about it until the second or third day, at which point I decided to wait and leave my observations until I was through observing. Observation #1:
  I am only good for repetitive, manual, physical tasks.
When trying to level the foundation boards I knocked a corner loose, which shortened one side. While trying to help hammer fire blocks for the walls, I looked at the wrong marks and hammered them in the wrong place, which T-Rev had to fix.

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When doing both the walls and roof, nobody had told me there were 2 different kinds of nails. Nobody realized anything was wrong until we already had the walls up and were putting the roof on, at which point several people noted that it looked like it was coming apart in places. I kept my mouth shut. When sawing particle board, I couldn't stay on the penciled lines, which is probably why the ceiling wouldn't square off. Even when mixing stucco, I dumped too much water in the mix, which made that batch take an extra ~half hour to be ready to use. I did manage to do an okay job troweling the foundation and stirring/hauling cement. Stretching out the chicken wire also went pretty well, and was kind of fun, too.
Observation #2: Racism and elitism are ugly, disgusting, and alive.
Seeing all of the billboards and newspaper ads I noticed how fair-skinned all of the "public faces" were. It made me think of the "race" section on internet surveys, where "white, hispanic" and "white, nonhispanic" are

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two separate options. I can't imagine the pain God must feel when humans take the gifts and blessings He gave us in diversity distort them to be used as instruments of alienation and subjugation. It makes me fearful of how it might find root in my heart. "Every color, every race, all are covered by God's grace." (sorry about the penmanship, I'm trying to write in the car). It also made me mad/sad to see the poorer Mexicans with dark skin, the ones who were living casualties of their own society's injustice, continue that injustice by slurring us as "gringos" and "gringos perros" (maybe vice-versa, can't remember) I didn't speak much Spanish this week, even though I know some, but I tried to keep my ears open. While the family we built for was never anything but cordial, some of the neighbors and children (who, granted, might not know better) definitely did not appreciate our help/presence. I am going to endeavor to keep an eye out once I am back in my "sphere" to see how much of this elitism I've allowed to surround me. While I'm fairly comfortable that any existing division will not be centered around race, (well, as much as can be expected in a

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monochromatic group), I have become uneasy reflecting on the amount of academic, economic, and ideological superiority some of my friends express. I pray God will show me how to best combat these dangerous mentalities, and prevent them from inundating my own attitudes.
Observation #3: My dad doesn't apperently possess an inate, genetic compulsion to embarass me in front of my friends. While this was a debatable topic earlier in life, this was cleared up this week when he did not act like "one-of-the-guys," nor like a taskmaster; he acted like my father that loves me. Not that I really expected different. Unlike so many of my peers, friends, or people in their families, I have never had cause to doubt my father's love and devotion to me, our family, or God. It has been wonderful to have him here with me and my friends working in Mexico. I am so glad he has gotten to know my friends and how we interact. I love him so much and am so glad for this opportunity.
Observation #4: I can entertain my friends so that everyone has fun. The mad libs were a big hit; I felt like everyone enjoyed

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them, and no one go offended. In retrospect, I feel like this my main contribution to the week. It was something everyone got to participate in and everyone enjoyed. I need to focus my efforts more in this area and less on shock-value.
These are my main observations. It is now 5:20 and raining. Valerie's worried that the disposable camera in her bag will be ruined, but is too self-concious to say anything. I'm ready to sleep in a real bed and have my stomach not hurt. I think this was a very powerful week, but time will tell how God uses it to change me and my view of His world.
Sallis
Jordan
Observation #5: I just remembered I wanted to write and say what an encouragement Jeff Reece & Travis Crone have been to me this year. I didn't realize it until I reflected on how much I cared about them interacting with my dad, and then I realized I was trying to integrate the important men in my life. Jeff's quiet maturity and Travis's outspoken ideological/spiritual differences have both helped to stretch and challenge me.

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OK we're all home around 8:40pm. The end. Good story. Yeah God.

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Aunt Mary's address --> Calle Gillermo villa lobos Manzana 6. Lote 22 #45 calle altero alvarez #45

key: <3 sideways heart, :) sideways smiley

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